Chapter 1: The Ex-Boyfriend's Premarital Examination

"Mm... I'm here."
In the hospital, lying on the bed, Yu Zi bit her lower lip in discomfort. Her gaze wandered and she noticed that the man standing by her bedside was indeed a man; her feverish cheeks cooled inch by inch.
The person conducting her premarital examination was actually her ex-boyfriend, Xie Yuhuai!
Was he here to take revenge on her?
Boom.
Yu Zi's mind exploded. She hurriedly hung up the call with her fiancé, sat up, and tugged her dress to cover her legs. Her tongue twisted, "Why... why are you here? Where's the doctor from just now?"
Two months prior, to appease her family's pressure to marry, she'd randomly chosen someone as her marriage partner.
Then, half a month ago, she scheduled today's premarital checkup.
When she arrived, a female doctor greeted her.
Now, not only had the doctor's gender changed, but he'd turned out to be the very ex who had cheated and caused their breakup...
Xie Yuhuai, on the other hand, seemed relaxed. His roguish face showed a hint of doubt. "If the doctor isn't here, where else should he be?"
It was a perfectly normal question, yet Yu Zi couldn't help but perceive an undertone of ambiguity. Her gaze darted away from Xie Yuhuai's face, only to inadvertently land on his slender, well-defined hand.
Just moments ago.
He'd examined her...
Yu Zi's entire face flushed crimson, and visions of Xie Yuhuai serving her, whispering her name in a low voice, flashed before her eyes.
"Yu Zi."
"Miss Yu?"
"...," Yu Zi snapped back to reality, but her body tensed into a taut bow.
Xie Yuhuai observed her discomfort, removed his finger cot, and tossed it into the bin. He explained, "From the very beginning, I was your attending physician. The female doctor you saw was just an intern."
"She had to attend to something, and if you want her to come back, you'll have to wait until midnight."
Half a month ago, Yu Zi hadn't paid attention to which doctor she'd booked.
She never imagined she'd run into Xie Yuhuai.
Meeting him again, especially a man who had once shared intimacy with her, made her heart race wildly. She dryly refused, "I want another doctor!"
Her rejection did not anger Xie Yuhuai; instead, he remained patient. "I'm afraid any other doctor won't be able to see you for another half month."
Yu Zi was about to retort, but then remembered it had already taken half a month to schedule this appointment. She swallowed her words.
Her marriage couldn't be delayed.
If she postponed, her family's side would start moving on the share of property that belonged to her...
Reluctantly, Yu Zi said, "Continue."
"Alright, don't be nervous. If you get too tense, something could go wrong," Xie Yuhuai replied with a meaningful smile.
"I'm... I'm not nervous," Yu Zi insisted stubbornly.
After lying back down, her body blushed red like a shrimp, desperately avoiding any contact with the man.

Xie Yuhuai lightly patted her knee. "Relax."
He spoke casually, but being forced to accept an examination from her ex-boyfriend, Yu Zi relied on her dwindling rationality to resist, barely restraining the urge to kick him as his fingers explored.
Those few minutes felt like half a century to Yu Zi.
After getting out of bed, she kept tugging at her collar, trying to let the wind in and dispel the heat from her body.
Xie Yuhuai sat at the computer desk, read the report, and glanced at her.
Perhaps the discomfort had gradually faded.
With Xie Yuhuai in a white coat, his gaze now serious rather than previously flippant, Yu Zi felt inexplicably nervous. Her fingers twisted the hem of her clothes. "Is there anything wrong with me, Dr. Xie?"
She instinctively wanted to address him by his full name.
But, realizing it was inappropriate, she settled for the formal title.
As soon as she finished, a shadow fell over Xie Yuhuai's narrow eyes. He tapped the data on the screen with his long fingers.
"You have some inflammation. If left untreated, it could affect marital relations and may cause issues when you want children in the future."
"...,"
So it was a matter about having children.
Yu Zi slowly released her grip on her clothes and reached for the report on the desk.
A slender hand suddenly covered hers.
Warm, it made her spine stiffen. She looked up abruptly, meeting Xie Yuhuai's probing gaze.
"Will you have children with him?" Xie Yuhuai's voice was a few tones lower, having lost its previous ease.
Yu Zi quickly withdrew her hand, clutching the report along with it. Staring at the man who had once cheated on her, memories surged.
He had once promised to love her forever, to cherish her forever, yet secretly betrayed her.
Nothing disgusted her more than infidelity.
She had no idea what right he had to ask such questions after their reunion.
Yu Zi sneered, "Of course I will. If I feel like it, maybe I'll have ten or eight."
"...," Xie Yuhuai, usually laid-back and careless, realized that ever since he'd finished her examination, his mind had been in a state of intense focus and tension.
He almost instantly sprang to his feet, pressed his hands against the desk, and stared deeply into her eyes, searching for something.
Perhaps a lie.
But he found none.
"You'll have children with him. What about me? What am I?" There was clear dissatisfaction in Xie Yuhuai's voice.
Yu Zi found it baffling. "Can't a doctor treat himself, Dr. Xie?"
"Oh..." Her gaze swept over the name badge on Xie Yuhuai's chest. "You're a gynecologist, not a neurologist. No wonder you ask your ex-girlfriend such strange questions."
"It seems we haven't even broken up yet!" Xie Yuhuai's nerves twitched, and his voice unconsciously rose.

The dignified elegance vanished in that instant.
Yu Zi rolled her eyes.
To outsiders, it might have seemed as though she'd done something wrong.
She had no desire to argue further and retorted sharply, "You cheated and didn't break up—am I supposed to keep you around for New Year's?"
Back then, after she broke up with him, she quickly blocked all his contacts.
Xie Yuhuai disappeared from her world completely.
Now, upon meeting again, he had become her attending physician.
What an ill-fated encounter.
All she wanted now was to leave quickly, to vanish from the ward, and she strode toward the door.
A flicker of unprecedented panic flashed in Xie Yuhuai's amber eyes. He hurriedly came around from the desk. "Cheated? Yu Zi, in the past twenty-four hours, twenty-three of them I spent by your side..."
He refused to admit the past in every way.
Yu Zi abruptly stopped, irritated, and cut him off, "I don't have time to listen to your explanations or reminiscences. I still have to go shopping with my husband."
"Yu Zi!" Xie Yuhuai called out in a loss of control, all traces of initial composure gone, but the woman opening the door ignored him completely.
Xie Yuhuai chased after her anxiously and collided headlong with the female doctor who had just entered.
The doctor apologized repeatedly, "S-sorry, Director, I spent too long in the restroom..."
Xie Yuhuai had no mood to respond and strode out, his gaze landing on the descending numbers of the elevator. Annoyed, he changed direction, heading for the emergency stairs.
Yu Zi quietly emerged from the restroom, patting her chest.
Luckily, she ran fast enough and hadn't been entangled by that scumbag.
Her phone rang at just the right moment.
"Yu Zi, what happened just now? Don't be afraid, I'm already at the hospital you mentioned. I'll come find you right away."
Her fiancé, He Yu, sounded concerned from the phone.
Yu Zi felt much more at ease and entered the elevator going to the second floor. "I'm fine, don't worry. I'm in the elevator now, see you soon."
Her fiancé, He Yu, was a shy, socially awkward man. Hearing her say she was fine, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Standing by the hospital entrance, Yu Zi saw He Yu's car and moved to approach it, but urgent footsteps sounded behind her.
"Miss Yu, there are a few more precautions on your report."
"...," She was caught again!
Seeing Xie Yuhuai circle around to the front, Yu Zi had to step back and put some distance between them.
The man stood against the light, scrutinizing her openly, his gaze almost penetrating into her eyes.