Chapter 1: and

"Congratulations, you are pregnant. There are two gestational sacs; it’s twins."

Yuan Xi, clutching the medical report in her hand, felt her heart, which had been hanging by a thread, die completely upon hearing the doctor’s words.

The doctor noticed the young woman in the blue suit dress showed no joy. "If you don't want them, you can still have a medical abortion now."

Yuan Xi tightened her grip on the report. "No, I want to keep them."

Before the words had even faded, a melodious ringtone echoed. Yuan Xi answered the phone, and a furious male voice erupted from the other end.

"Secretary Yuan! What time do you think it is? We are at a critical stage for the company's IPO, and you actually dare to take leave? Did I ever approve your leave?"

"Get back to work immediately!"

"I want to see you within half an hour."

Listening to the voice on the other end, Yuan Xi held the phone a little further away. "Understood, President Gu. I will be back in a moment."

"In a moment? I said return immediately, right now—"

Yuan Xi hung up before the person on the other end could finish, asking the female doctor in front of her, "Doctor, if I want to keep these two children..."

Before Yuan Xi could finish, her phone rang again. She answered it helplessly.

Gu Hanchen’s enraged voice blared from the phone: "Yuan Xi! How dare you hang up on me? Who gave you the nerve? Do you want your year-end bonus cut in half? Where are you right now?"

"I'm at the hospital," Yuan Xi said, then added, "President Gu, I'll call you back in a bit."

"The hospital? What kind of illness do you have? As long as you’re still breathing, you have to come back to work. I’ll hire the best doctors in all of Jiangcheng to come to the company; you return to the office immediately, right now."

Yuan Xi hung up on him again and asked the doctor, "I drank quite a bit of alcohol when I conceived, and the children's father... was also in a drunken state. Will that affect the babies?"

The doctor looked at the report on the computer. "Do you usually drink heavily?"

"No, not at all. I rarely drink; it was just that one night I drank too much."

The doctor pondered for a moment. "Currently, the embryos are still small, so I cannot give you a definitive answer on whether they will have Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. As long as you attend your prenatal check-ups regularly, it shouldn't be a major issue. If, by that time..."

Yuan Xi’s phone rang again. Seeing Gu Hanchen’s name on the screen, she hung up directly and turned the phone off.

The doctor smiled faintly. "You're very busy. If the prenatal check-ups don't go well later, you can choose not to keep them, but no matter how busy you are, you must attend your check-ups on time. I’ll start by prescribing you some folic acid."

Yuan Xi thanked her, and after leaving the office, a nurse led her to the pharmacy to pick up the folic acid.

When Yuan Xi returned to her car with the folic acid, she saw that there were already thirty missed calls on her phone.

Opening them, she saw they were all from either Gu Hanchen or his assistant, Special Assistant Wang.

Yuan Xi leaned against the car and pressed her temples. The company she worked for, Michen Games, was founded six years ago.

From her senior year internship until after graduation, Yuan Xi had been working as a secretary for Gu Hanchen at Michen for five years, watching the company grow from a small startup into a giant in the gaming industry.

Gu Hanchen was the young master of the Gu family, one of the four great wealthy families in Jiangcheng. He hadn't originally intended to run Michen seriously; he had simply spent countless amounts of money on games and been treated like a fool by several gaming companies, so he decided to develop a game that would satisfy him instead.

Over the years, although Yuan Xi was Gu Hanchen’s secretary, her workload was no lighter than that of the President himself.

For five years, she had never taken a single day off.

Today was the first time she had taken sick leave since becoming a permanent employee, and she was already being hounded to death by a capitalist.

The private hospital where Yuan Xi had her check-up was in the city center, and it took only ten minutes to drive to Michen’s headquarters, the Lintian Building by the river.

Just as she parked in the building's parking garage, she saw two young women in luxurious clothing walking toward her car in high heels. One was carrying the latest Dior Lady Dior bag, and the other was carrying a Hermès Mini Kelly.

Yuan Xi recognized them instantly: one was Yu Xiaoxiao, the fiancée designated for Gu Hanchen by his family, and the other was Chu Yan, the daughter of Jiangcheng’s richest man.

Yu Xiaoxiao walked up to Yuan Xi’s ice-berry pink Panamera and patted the hood. "New car? Did Gu Hanchen buy this for you?"

After getting out of the car, Yuan Xi felt a headache coming on at Yu Xiaoxiao’s words.

Jiangcheng had four great wealthy families: the Chu, Bo, Gu, and Yu families. These families were all interconnected through marriage, and Yu Xiaoxiao was the fiancée chosen by the Gu family for Gu Hanchen.

However, this young lady of the Yu family had always believed that because Yuan Xi had been Gu Hanchen’s secretary for five years, she must have an illicit relationship with him.

Yuan Xi smiled faintly. "Miss Yu, I bought this car with my own salary."

"Your salary?"

Chu Yan walked up to Yuan Xi. She was quite a bit shorter than Yuan Xi, but her voice was filled with mockery and contempt. "In our eyes, this isn't a particularly expensive car, but on a normal secretary's salary, you still wouldn't be able to afford it."

Chu Yan warned, "Yuan Xi, I advise you to recognize your place. Gu Hanchen is not someone you can covet."

"I have never coveted President Gu."

Yuan Xi sighed helplessly. "No oppressed corporate slave would ever fall in love with their boss."

Yu Xiaoxiao frowned. "You still dare to argue? Gu Hanchen hasn't stopped saying 'Secretary Yuan' this and 'Secretary Yuan' that for the past few days, and you still won't admit it?

I’ve looked into your background. You were trafficked as a child, and after your foster parents passed away, you even had to borrow money for your tuition. Five years after graduation, at 26, you can afford a car and a house in the center of Jiangcheng—isn't that all because you seduced Gu Hanchen?"

"Yuan Xi, I am getting engaged to Hanchen soon. Have some shame and leave Michen immediately."

Yuan Xi forced a professional, faint smile. "Miss Yu, I really have no thoughts about President Gu. In my eyes, Gu Hanchen is just my boss, nothing more."

Chu Yan crossed her arms and looked at Yuan Xi. "Yuan Xi, there are plenty of little sparrows like you in our circle who want to fly up to the branches and turn into phoenixes."

There was nothing but sarcasm in Chu Yan’s eyes. "But the ugly duckling can turn into a swan because it was a swan to begin with. As for you, you simply aren't qualified to be a daughter-in-law of the Gu family.

I advise you to resign early to save yourself some face. Don't harbor delusions of going from a secretary to the President's wife."

Yu Xiaoxiao reached out and pinched Yuan Xi’s face. "Yuan Xi, you’re delusional if you think you can steal my man. You aren't qualified. I suggest you be sensible and resign quietly."

Yuan Xi shook off Yu Xiaoxiao’s hand. "Miss Yu, I have no interest in President Gu. Please show me some respect."

Chu Yan said, "If you have no interest, then resign to prove your innocence. Since we’ve said this much today, you should have some shame. Respect is something you earn for yourself. You’d better weigh the consequences of offending the Chu family in Jiangcheng."

Yuan Xi touched her flat abdomen. Seeing the elevator arrive in the garage, she stepped inside, not wanting to get further entangled with Yu Xiaoxiao and the others.

After all, as Chu Yan said, in Jiangcheng, she couldn't afford to offend either the Chu family or the Yu family.

When she reached the 58th floor, as soon as Yuan Xi stepped out of the elevator, she saw the mournful faces of the junior secretaries in the office.

"Sister Xi, you're finally back! You have no idea how furious President Gu is!"

Yuan Xi entered the President’s office. Gu Hanchen was sitting on his leather chair, cold as frost. In front of him were three floor-to-ceiling windows, offering a panoramic view of the bustling traffic and prosperity of downtown Jiangcheng.

The young president was full of imposing pressure, shouting angrily at Yuan Xi: "At a critical time for Michen’s IPO, you actually took leave to go to the hospital without waiting for approval? Do you know how many things you’ve delayed? And you didn't answer my calls and turned your phone off. I suppose you don't want your year-end bonus this year, right?"

Yuan Xi felt a wave of nausea. She covered her mouth with her hand and ran to the trash can, where she began to retch.

Gu Hanchen looked at Yuan Xi and sneered coldly: "Stomach trouble? Even if it’s stomach cancer, you have to keep working for me until the company goes public!"

Yuan Xi squatted by the trash can and vomited for a long time, thinking of Yu Xiaoxiao and Chu Yan in the parking garage...

Then, listening to Gu Hanchen’s self-centered words, she suddenly felt that she was quite ridiculous herself.

It had been five full years since she joined Michen. She hadn't taken a single break, was misunderstood by her boss’s fiancée, and even if she had "stomach cancer," she was still being exploited by her boss...

This corporate slave life—she didn't want to do it for even one more day.

Yuan Xi steadied herself against the desk and slowly stood up, looking at Gu Hanchen: "President Gu, I am pregnant. I am resigning."