Chapter 124

“You… how did you know?” Lin Feng stared at her in surprise, and even the steamed bun plopped right onto the table.

Zhao Shuqing arched an eyebrow. “Is that really so hard to guess?”

She glanced at Lin Feng’s slightly rounded belly and said to her, “I’ve been back for a while now, so naturally I investigated everything that happened to you before. I know what surgery Xu Tang performed on you, and I got hold of all the preserved records. Doing the math, it’s been about three months, right?”

Lin Feng looked down at her own little belly and murmured in a daze, “I guess so.”

Zhao Shuqing spoke to her in a gentle tone, as if negotiating. “By human customs, you should go to the hospital for a checkup around three or four months, then set up your prenatal file. After that, you have to follow the doctor’s orders and come in every month to check on the baby. Don’t you want to see what it looks like?”

Lin Feng furrowed her brows lightly and hesitated before saying, “What if it’s a little monster?”

She still remembered what Zhao Shuqing had once said—that if Lin Feng got pregnant, it would definitely be a “little monster.”

And now, that little monster was right there in Lin Feng’s belly. Could Zhao Shuqing really overturn her old opinion and accept it?

Zhao Shuqing hadn’t considered that angle. She looked at Lin Feng’s furrowed brows, took her hand, and said, “No matter what it is, it’s our child, isn’t it?”

Lin Feng seemed to wrestle with the idea for a long time. Over a minute passed before she finally gave a slight nod.

Before they set out, Zhao Shuqing called the obstetrician-gynecologist. The doctor was surnamed Hu, and upon hearing that Zhao Shuqing was coming, she told her to come straight over—she’d arrange for them to be checked personally.

“Could you do it yourself?” Zhao Shuqing glanced at Lin Feng, who was bundled up tightly in the passenger seat, and said to the person on the phone, “I’d rather not have anyone else know.”

Dr. Hu hesitated for a moment but agreed.

Once they were in the car, Zhao Shuqing fastened Lin Feng’s seatbelt for her and adjusted her scarf and coat. The camel-colored scarf hid half of Lin Feng’s face, and with her head of long brown hair, no one would bat an eye if Zhao Shuqing introduced her as her little sister.

“We’re heading to the hospital shortly,” Zhao Shuqing told her. “I’ve already arranged it with the doctor. This time, we’ll just do an ultrasound.”

Lin Feng tugged at her scarf, revealing her chin. “What’s an ultrasound?”

Zhao Shuqing wasn’t entirely sure how to explain it. “It’s sort of like a mirror that lets us see what’s going on inside your belly.”

Lin Feng had no experience with this. She’d originally thought a checkup meant slicing open the belly.

But from Zhao Shuqing’s explanation, it didn’t sound so dangerous.

When they arrived at the hospital, Zhao Shuqing led her straight to the outpatient area. Dr. Hu took them to the ultrasound room and handled the exam herself.

“Lie down on the bed, then unbutton your clothes and expose your belly,” Dr. Hu said from her seat in front of the machine. She addressed Lin Feng, who was masked and scarfed. “If it’s hot, take off the scarf. No one’s around but us.”

Lin Feng didn’t dare remove it, afraid of being recognized. Dr. Hu didn’t press and simply applied coupling gel to the probe before pressing it to Lin Feng’s belly. The cold sensation made her shiver.

Zhao Shuqing stood by, soothing Lin Feng. “It’s okay. It’ll be over soon.”

Lin Feng stared up at the ceiling. A monitor hung right above her head, showing exactly what was happening in her belly at that moment. The black-and-white image shifted around before settling on one area, where two bubble-like shapes were faintly visible inside.

“Twins,” Dr. Hu said with delight. “Both babies are developing nicely.”

Lin Feng’s eyes widened at that. She stared at the two little forms on the screen—curled-up tiny figures.

Zhao Shuqing saw them too. She turned to Lin Feng and found her gazing intently at the image, which made her chuckle softly.

Dr. Hu scanned from every angle before telling Zhao Shuqing, “The limbs are fully formed and developing well, though they’re a bit on the small side. When was your last menstrual period?”

Lin Feng was too focused on watching her babies to hear the question.

Zhao Shuqing had no idea what “last menstrual period” meant either. She stared blankly at Dr. Hu, who sighed and explained to the two new moms, “I mean the first day of your last period. Do you remember when?”

Zhao Shuqing glanced at Lin Feng, who stared back just as blankly.

Mermaids didn’t have periods, did they?

Zhao Shuqing felt a bit awkward and couldn’t exactly explain that Lin Feng was a mermaid—that might scare the doctor. Instead, she said, “It was IVF. Here’s the date.” She handed over the prepared documents.

Dr. Hu examined them carefully. Realizing this wasn’t the standard hospital procedure, and after Zhao Shuqing mentioned it had been done in the laboratory, she didn’t pry further.

“About fourteen weeks,” Dr. Hu said, looking at the two babies on the screen. She asked Zhao Shuqing, “We can see the genders now. Do you want to know?”

Before Zhao Shuqing could respond, Lin Feng spoke up eagerly from the bed.

“Yes.”

Lying there with her clothes lifted, Lin Feng fixed her sea-blue eyes on Dr. Hu. “I want to know the genders.”

“Alright, it’ll take a bit longer then.” Dr. Hu didn’t mind. At fourteen weeks, the genders were visible. Soon, she told them, “Both are girls.”

Lin Feng’s eyes lit up. She looked at Zhao Shuqing in thrilled surprise.

Zhao Shuqing smiled too, squeezing Lin Feng’s hand. She thanked Dr. Hu gratefully. “Thank you, Doctor.”

Dr. Hu printed out the images without fuss. While Lin Feng adjusted her clothes, the doctor added, “Go ahead and do a fetal heart monitoring next. Your babies are a little small, so make sure to supplement their nutrition.”

Zhao Shuqing nodded repeatedly. “Got it, got it.”

Out of the ultrasound room, Lin Feng clutched the report and examined it from every angle, beaming all the while. Those were her little fish inside—two of them.

Zhao Shuqing leaned in for a look, but suddenly noticed something off.

It hadn’t been clear on the screen before, but now printed out, she could see a faint, translucent curve at the bottom of each baby’s legs—like fish fins.

Zhao Shuqing’s heart tightened, but seeing Lin Feng’s excitement, it was clear she hadn’t noticed anything unusual.

During the fetal heart monitoring, Zhao Shuqing showed the report to Dr. Hu and asked about it.

Dr. Hu peered at the images, puzzled. “I didn’t see that in the ultrasound room.”

Zhao Shuqing’s spirits sank. “Could we do another ultrasound?”

“We can,” Dr. Hu replied. “After the heart monitoring.”

Lin Feng was listening to her babies’ heartbeats right then. The two little fish had strong, vigorous heartbeats—alternating so loudly it was almost deafening.

“They’re beating so fast,” Lin Feng said worriedly to the nurse beside her. “Is that okay?”

“No problem at all,” the young nurse replied with a smile. “Fetal heartbeats are naturally fast. Such a powerful rhythm means they’re healthy, right?”

Lin Feng grinned and nodded.

By the time Zhao Shuqing arrived at the fetal heart monitoring room, Lin Feng was nearly done. Zhao Shuqing had just walked in when she heard an enormous racket—like a chorus of croaking froglets. She later learned it was the babies’ heartbeats.

“That’s so loud,” Zhao Shuqing said in astonishment. “Are they really that strong?”

The young nurse laughed. “A little extra oomph is a good thing. It means they’re healthy.”

She had a point. If they weren’t robust, they wouldn’t have survived Lin Feng’s thousands of miles swimming back and forth across the ocean.

Lin Feng was reluctant to remove the monitor. She wanted to keep listening to her little fish’s heartbeats, so Zhao Shuqing pulled out her phone and recorded it for her to play at home later.

As they left the fetal heart monitoring room, Zhao Shuqing told Lin Feng, “We need to do another ultrasound.”

Lin Feng picked up on the gravity in Zhao Shuqing’s tone and hesitated before asking worriedly, “Is… is something wrong?”

“It’s a minor issue, probably nothing serious,” Zhao Shuqing said, taking her hand. “Let’s just do it again to check.”

Lin Feng gazed at her anxiously and nodded slowly.

This time on the bed, Lin Feng had lost her earlier excitement. She watched the two babies on the monitor. Perhaps from walking a bit, their arms and legs were stretched out now, revealing a faint ripple around the legs—like a fish’s fin.

Dr. Hu was baffled, but Zhao Shuqing and Lin Feng knew exactly what it was. That ripple on the legs looked just like a fin.

In the end, Dr. Hu told them, “We’ve never seen anything like this. You should go to a bigger hospital for a more thorough check—see if there’s some other issue.”

Zhao Shuqing thanked her and led Lin Feng downstairs.

In the elevator, Lin Feng stared at the floor and suddenly said, “It’s a tail.”

Zhao Shuqing glanced at her and softly murmured her agreement.

It did look like a tail.

Lin Feng looked up slightly and whispered, “Isn’t it normal for little fish to have tails? They should be… fine, right?”

The ultrasound looked odd, but Lin Feng was a mermaid. Baby mermaids having tails shouldn’t make them monsters, should it?

Though why two legs? Mermaids only had one tail.

Lin Feng was deeply worried, afraid Zhao Shuqing might blurt out that it was a little monster. She watched her tensely and asked, “Should we try another hospital?”

Zhao Shuqing turned to her, seeing the worry in Lin Feng’s eyes. She reached out slowly and gently rubbed her cheek.

“Another hospital would probably show the same thing,” Zhao Shuqing said softly. “We can already see the tail. If the babies grow more, it’ll be even clearer.”

The doctors would panic then, and word might get out that Lin Feng was a pregnant mermaid.

No more routine hospital checkups. She needed to find somewhere reliable.

Before Zhao Shuqing could think of a good option, the elevator dinged open. She and Lin Feng turned to see it packed with people at the doors.

Yue Jiuchu stood there in a black sweater, black cargo pants, and a long black trench coat—only her face standing out as pale against the darkness.

She glanced at Lin Feng, then at Zhao Shuqing, and raised a hand in greeting.

“Hey, long time no see.”