Chapter 491 — Persuasion

"You can't be serious? All three of you..." Yang Ce stared at the three women in astonishment. He hadn't expected them to be so resolute and unwavering. He sighed. It seemed their minds were made up and nothing could change them now—so having a child, then, was not out of the question after all. At the very least, if something were ever to happen to him, his parents and Mengyan and the others would have something to hold on to.

"Yang Ce, we mean it," Chen Shutang said. She glanced at Zhou Yanning and Lin Yanhe, then slowly nodded.

"Mom, what do you think?" Yang Ce scratched the back of his head and looked at his mother with some embarrassment.

"That's wonderful, of course..." Mother Yang's earlier displeasure melted away in an instant. "If there's a grandchild on the way, then go off and be busy wherever you like—ten years, twenty years, I don't care. I'll have my grandchild to play with!"

Yang Ce was instantly sweating. Surely this wasn't how it worked? A grandchild arrives and the son is forgotten—had he gone from prized possession to irrelevant bystander in the blink of an eye?

Still, it was just as well. At least it diverted his mother's attention, and saved him no small amount of explaining.

Dinner that evening was ordered from the Songjiang International Hotel. The family of six sat around a small round table, and because it had now been settled that a grandchild was to be born, Father and Mother Yang did not dwell too much on the matter of Yang Juehuan's mission.

In their view, the mission was probably not very dangerous. If it were dangerous, it could not possibly have gone on so long. The more dangerous the task, the quicker it was over—so this kind of protracted campaign was most likely a matter of a troublesome job to settle, but by the same token relatively low in risk.

Besides, Chen Shutang had explained it: this enemy had been driven off once already by Yang Ce back in Songjiang, and this time they were merely tracking him to his lair. So Father and Mother Yang both reasoned that anyone chasing another man down must be stronger than the one being chased—and if Yang Juehuan was formidable, how could the enemy possibly escape?

And the reason it was taking so long was simply that the enemy was cunning, never staying in one place, and thus troublesome to track down.

When it came time to sleep, Yang Ce slept in the same room as Chen Shutang, Lin Yanhe and Zhou Yanning—in what used to be his own room. The bed was a little small, but if they squeezed together, it would do.

Chen Shutang was excited, and a little nervous too. After all, it was her first time preparing to try for a pregnancy, and every woman's heart races at such a moment. And today happened to fall in her fertile window, which greatly increased the odds of conceiving.

Lin Yanhe, on the other hand, was rather troubled. Her period had just ended, and today was the safest of safe days—there was simply no way she could conceive. This realization left Sister Lin looking thoroughly woebegone. "Sister Mengyan, the great task of continuing the family line falls on you!"

Her words left Chen Shutang a little embarrassed. "But there's still Jiajia, isn't there?"

"I... mine just finished too..." Zhou Yanning flushed bright red. "A few days ago at the resort, I had mine as well. It's only been over for four days, so it should still be a safe period..."

"What? You're not serious—then it's only me?" Hearing this, Chen Shutang was even more worried than the others. She couldn't help but smile bitterly. "There's no chance for the two of you, and if I still can't get pregnant, won't I go down in history as the guilty one?"

"So, Sister Mengyan, you'll have to work hard!" Zhou Yanning blinked. "We won't compete with you tonight—we'll let you have Yang Ce all to yourself. You mustn't let us down!"

"Fine! Then I'll go all out—no sleep for me tonight!" Chen Shutang bit her lip. "Yang Ce, come on, let's start right now..."

Yang Ce broke out in a sweat. He hadn't expected that when Chen Shutang went wild, she could be this wild...

At first Chen Shutang was still a little embarrassed with Zhou Yanning and Lin Yanhe in the room, but the moment she thought of how important it was to continue the Yang family line—and how Mother Yang was waiting for her to produce a child—she could not afford to care anymore, and let herself go.

Lin Yanhe, for her part, was fine. She and Chen Shutang had attended to Yang Juehuan together before, so apart from blushing a little, she was not much affected.

But Zhou Yanning was different. She had never been through any of this, and now, watching the man she loved rehearse with her sister in real life upon the bed, she could not help but feel parched and dry-mouthed. Her body twisted involuntarily; she did not want to watch, and yet she could not tear her eyes away...

"Jiajia, what's wrong?" Lin Yanhe noticed that something was off with Zhou Yanning and asked at once.

"I... I... I'm feeling a little wanting too. Am I a bit of a lecher?" Zhou Yanning was rather embarrassed. "I know perfectly well that Mengyan and Yanhe are doing this to have a child, and yet I want to join in too..."

Hearing this, Lin Yanhe's face went red as well. "Jiajia, to be honest, I'm feeling it too, but I can still hold myself back. You... why don't you go ahead too?"

"I..." Yang Ce was on the bed with Chen Shutang, but he had heard the exchange between Zhou Yanning and Lin Yanhe, and could not help smiling. "Jiajia, come over here quickly, and let your Sister Mengyan rest a while..."

"I... I'd better not..." Zhou Yanning turned shy. After all, it would be her first time—how could she dare join the fray just like that?

In the end, Zhou Yanning did not join in, and Yang Ce and Chen Shutang were quite worn out as well. The four of them squeezed onto Yang Juehuan's little bed and fell asleep in each other's arms. Early the next morning, Yang Ce said a word to his parents—there were still other matters to attend to, and he could not stay home forever.

Yang Ce also wanted to see Liu Yan. He was his godfather, and since he was about to leave for Yunnan, naturally he had to say goodbye to him as well.

And there were Xiao Qing, Sun Jie, Zhao Ying, Huang Yan... and Su Ya—he had to bid each of them farewell too. After all, the journey to Yunnan in three days' time was now imminent.

Father and Mother Yang's gazes fell at the same time on the bellies of Chen Shutang and the other two, which made the three of them rather bashful.

Yang Ce laughed. "How could it be that fast? Give me a few days to do my best, and I promise you'll have a grandchild to hold!"

"That's more like it! Then off you go. Yang Ce, when you visit your godfather, don't go empty-handed—just take along the things you brought yesterday?" Mother Yang pointed at the gifts Yang Ce had carried over the day before.

Yang Ce was caught between laughter and tears. "Mom, those are for you and Dad. I'll buy some more to see my godfather. How could I take them back with me?"