The Man in the Black Sweater - Chapter 17 — Stunned by His Shouting

At two in the morning, Luo Xu, wearing pajamas and looking utterly disheveled, knocked on Pei Yan’s bedroom door.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Luo Xu grabbed his hand and pressed it against her belly, wide-eyed and panicked. “Feel this!”

Beneath his palm came a strong thump — like someone inside was dancing to a drumbeat.

“I think he’s about to break out of my stomach! What do I do?” she cried, her face tense. “Is this normal? Could he kick hard enough to tear my belly open?”

Pei Yan pulled his hand back calmly. “No. Go get dressed — we’re going to the hospital.”

“Maybe… we can just go tomorrow? It’s just a bit of movement, otherwise everything feels fine…”
Before she could finish, her voice suddenly faltered, and she bent over, clutching her stomach.

Pei Yan reached for the coat draped over the sofa and wrapped it around her shoulders.
“Can you still walk?” he asked.

“Yeah… it just hurts a little,” Luo Xu said, doubling over. Her brows knit tightly like two little worms.

She wasn’t someone who complained easily, so she was clearly frightened by this strange reaction.

Pei Yan put an arm around her waist and guided her downstairs.
That’s when Luo Xu noticed — he was already fully dressed, except for the coat he had thrown over her.

“You… didn’t sleep?” she asked.

“No. I had some work to finish.”

He’d made time in the day to take her to the fashion show and then had dinner with her afterward. His time was precious — so whatever he’d spent on her, he was now making up for elsewhere.

Guilt pricked her. “Next time, don’t go out with me. Staying up late isn’t good for you.”

Pei Yan helped her into the car, then went around to the driver’s seat, fastened his seatbelt, and said, “I’m used to it. It has nothing to do with you. Still hurting?”

From the back seat, Luo Xu looked at the back of his head. “No, it’s gone now.”

With him there, everything in her body somehow felt safe and calm again.

At the hospital, the doctor finished the examination and said, “It’s normal uterine contractions. They’ll happen more often as the pregnancy progresses. Nothing to worry about.”

Luo Xu gaped at her. “Normal? How can this pain be normal? Are you even a real doctor? Do you have a heart?”

Because of a previous argument, the two were already familiar enough to have added each other on WeChat.
So now the doctor just smiled. “Every mother goes through this. They’re all strong.”

“So you’re calling me dramatic?”

“I said — be strong.”

“Oh wow, who are you insinuating that about?”

The tension was rising fast — Pei Yan had to step in before it escalated.

“If everything’s fine, let’s go home,” he said, glancing at the doctor as he turned.

“You— that look of yours,” the doctor said dryly, “are you trying to provoke doctor-patient conflict?”

“Exactly!” Luo Xu jumped in, pointing at the doctor. “Do you even know who he is? He could buy this entire hospital and have you reassigned to clean toilets!”

The doctor raised an eyebrow. “Sorry, but we’re a public hospital.”

Luo Xu’s momentum faltered. She looked helplessly at Pei Yan, silently pleading for backup.

He just looked at her and asked, “Who told you it’s okay to throw your weight around like that? Isn’t the doctor-patient relationship tense enough already?”

Luo Xu’s lips drooped as she shot the doctor a glare.

Pei Yan turned back to the doctor. “And you — the key to healthcare reform is de-administration. Public hospitals will soon no longer be under civil service management. You really think you’ve got a job for life? You should be aiming higher.”

Luo Xu snickered, watching the doctor’s face twist with annoyance.

“Let’s go,” Pei Yan said, gently turning her head toward the door and nudging her out.

The doctor sat back at her desk, fuming, and decided to watch some dramas to vent her frustration.

Moments later, Luo Xu popped her head back in through the doorway and said cheerfully,
“I’m making a cake tomorrow — so eat a little less at lunch, okay?”

Then she waved with a grin and left.

The doctor’s inner monologue: She doesn’t exactly look like the gentle, domestic type… I’d better eat two bowls of rice tomorrow just in case.

On the way back, Luo Xu fell asleep in the back seat.
At first, it was to avoid being scolded again for her “abuse of authority,”
but soon the exhaustion took over, and she really did drift off.

Anyone who’s napped in a car knows — when it’s moving, you sleep deeply.
But the moment it stops, you wake up.

Two minutes after the car came to a halt, Luo Xu stirred awake.
But she kept her eyes closed, pretending to sleep, wondering if she should wait —
maybe he’d carry her upstairs like the male leads in dramas always did.

Ten minutes passed.

Neither of them moved.

She kept pretending to sleep.
He didn’t budge an inch.

Twenty minutes passed. Her neck was starting to ache, and he still hadn’t moved.
Forget it — clearly, she wasn’t the kind of woman who’d ever get carried to bed by a man.

Luo Xu pretended to wake up, stretching lazily before opening the car door and stepping out.
After walking a few steps, she realized no one was following her.
She turned back and leaned against the driver’s side window, peeking in.

He had fallen asleep — brows furrowed, his expression tired and drawn.

Luo Xu pressed her nose and cheek against the cold glass, her eyes tracing the curve of his brows down to his lips. The smooth, clean lines looked as if God himself had carved them with care.

How unfair, she thought — that someone so perfect could still be a face she couldn’t remember.

Based on past experience, she could only remember a person’s face for six months to a year. But clearly, they didn’t have that kind of time together.

In another month, she wouldn’t see him again.
So she let herself look — a few extra glances, just enough to keep the image buried somewhere in her heart, even if someday she couldn’t recall his face.

The car window fogged up from her breath. She wiped it clean with her sleeve, clearing a small circle of glass.

When she looked again, his eyes were open — turned toward her.

She smiled, knocking playfully on the window. “Come on, let’s go inside and sleep!”

Pei Yan: “…”

“Separately!” she quickly clarified. “I’m not trying to take advantage of you!”

Pei Yan sighed and opened the door, stepping out.

Luo Xu took a step back, smiling. “Thank you for taking me to the hospital. Get some rest — good night!”

Then she hurried toward the house as if something were chasing her, stumbling a little on the steps.

“Careful—” Pei Yan called from behind, his heart lurching.

Thankfully, her yoga training paid off — she wobbled but caught her balance in time.

“Wow, that was close…” she said, still a bit shaken.

Pei Yan strode forward, grabbed her arm, and snapped, “Why are you always so careless? Don’t you realize your condition is special now? Do you have any awareness of being a mother? Any sense of responsibility toward your child?”

Luo Xu froze, staring at him in shock.

He let go of her arm, clearly upset, then turned and pushed open the front door, walking in ahead of her.

A while passed — no footsteps followed.

He drank a glass of water, set it down, and went back to the doorway.
She was still standing outside, her head bowed. He couldn’t tell if she was crying.

Pei Yan clenched his fist, loosened it, then clenched again.
She was pregnant, her emotions unstable, and yet he had lost his temper like that.

“My tone just now was inappropriate. I scared you,” he said softly. “I’m sorry.”

Luo Xu rubbed her nose and smiled faintly. “It’s fine. You meant well.”

“Were you crying?” he asked, lowering his head to try to see her face.

She scratched at the corner of her eye and smiled. “I said I wasn’t mad. I’m actually… kind of happy, which probably makes me sound insane, huh?”

Pei Yan placed a hand on her forehead. “Did my yelling knock your brain loose?”

She actually looked up at him and gave a silly grin — fully playing along.

He sighed, grabbed her hand, and led her inside. Her fingers were ice-cold.
“If you stand out here any longer, you really will freeze your brain,” he said.

He poured her a cup of hot water and placed it in her hands.
As warmth spread through her palms, her nerves finally calmed down.

“…Your tone just now reminded me of my mom,” Luo Xu said with a small laugh. “When I first got to New York, I almost got tricked by a man. When she found me, she was furious — scolded me, hit me, and then cried while hugging me.”

She looked up at him, still smiling. “So when you call me stupid, you’re not wrong.”

Pei Yan stood in front of her, raised his hand, and gently patted her head.

“You’re not stupid,” he said — the first time the decisive Mr. Pei had ever contradicted himself so completely.

“Thanks…” Luo Xu lowered her head, hiding her reddened eyes.

“Where is your mother’s grave?” he asked quietly. “I can help bring her back here.”
It was all he could offer — to do what was within his power to comfort her.
He still remembered that day in S City — how she had gazed down at the city from the plane with such longing and excitement.

Her mother, he thought, must have loved that city even more deeply than she did.

Luo Xu turned her head slightly, avoiding his gaze, and said softly, “That’s probably not possible… I scattered her ashes at sea.”

“…”

“She was never free in her whole life,” Luo Xu said. “I wanted her to be free, just once.”

A woman abandoned by her husband, ruined by drugs — she had never truly lived for herself.
Nor had she ever wanted to live well for her child.

She had given up on herself — but Luo Xu couldn’t let her go.

Luo Xu stood up, rubbed at the corners of her eyes to wipe away the dampness, and smiled faintly. “I’m a little tired. I’ll go up and sleep first.”

“Watch your step,” he said, stepping aside — that was all.

Luo Xu was grateful for his silence — for not asking questions, for sparing her the last shred of her fragile pride.

“Thank you.”

With her head lowered, she walked past him toward the stairs.

After a few steps, she could feel him following behind.

She quickly wiped away the tears from her face and hurried her pace.

Once inside her room, she closed the door, crouched down with her arms around her knees.
Her mouth opened as if to cry — but no sound came out. Only tears that fell quietly down her cheeks.

On the other side of the door, Pei Yan stood still, listening to the faint, stifled sobs from within — so soft, like the whimpering of a small animal trying hard not to be heard.

To be honest, he was beginning to resent that woman he had never met.

To abandon Luo Xu like that — how could anyone be so heartless?