Chapter 466: The Compromise

That was the idea Feng Kun had come up with. Pei Ziheng had two choices: to let the child stay with her or to send the child to Li Lei. Feng Kun had said, Pei Ziheng is too proud to allow Li Lei to find out the truth. As long as you can set your heart on pushing these two choices, he will definitely be the one to give in eventually. Xiao Ling, he will agree to have the child stay with you.

Xia Ling's heart was pounding, hoping against all hope that Feng Kun would be right. She tightened the baby in her embrace out of fear, and the little one started crying in discomfort.

The way Pei Ziheng looked at her was terrifying, it looked almost as if he could swallow her alive.

Xia Ling forced herself to stop shivering as she looked him straight in the eye. "You can hold me to my word."

"Do you know that you're courting death?" Pei Ziheng enunciated every word clearly.

Xia Ling's voice trembled. "As long as you don't hurt my child, we can talk about things on good terms. Pei Ziheng, if you won't let this child stay with me, then at least let him be with his biological father."

Pei Ziheng weighed his options.

It wasn't going to be difficult for Xiao Ling to spread the word about the child's identity. If he had to make a choice between the two options, he would rather raise the bastard child than to let his love rival find out the truth.

Pei Ziheng took two steps forward.

Xia Ling backed off step by step until she had reached the wall.

Pei Ziheng looked down at the child in her arms.

The child seemed to resemble Xia Ling, with no visible trace of Li Lei's genes.

After many moments of silence, he finally muttered in all seriousness, "Xia Ling, this is the last compromise I'm making for this little bastard."

"You... agree to let me keep him?" She was bursting with joy on the inside, but made sure to clarify his words.

Pei Ziheng turned around and instructed Nanny Zhou, "Set up another nursery room, as far away from the master bedroom as possible, and don't let me see him." The nursery room he had prepared earlier was meant for his first child. It was right beside the master bedroom so that he could take a look at his child the moment he woke up. But this child... this bastard was not fit for that.

Nanny Zhou just understood what was going on, and was more than happy to get started on it. Although she could understand why Mister would want to send away a child that was not even his, she felt that this child was simply too pitiful. Having Mister accept him was the best possible outcome for this situation.

"Thank you, thank you..." Xia Ling said to Pei Ziheng as he walked away. She was in tears of joy.

Pei Ziheng did not turn around.

Since he had decided to keep the child by their side, Pei Ziheng could now publicly announce the birth of the child.

It was completely different from the announcement of Xia Ling's pregnancy. This time, it was just a statement in the news, and not a single press conference was held. A reporter asked, "Mr. Pei, this is your oldest son and the future successor of the Pei magnate. His birth must be such joyful news, but why is it kept so low profile?"

Chu Chen responded to the question on Pei Ziheng's behalf.

Chu Chen had his camera-ready smile on. "The child is too young and won't be able to cope with too much public attention. Being low profile is good. Only when a child is free from the pressures of wealth and power can he grow healthily."

There was such a saying in Ancient China — that a child should not be too pampered, nor should he bear the pressures of wealth and fortune at a young age. Since members of the public had heard of this saying before, they expressed understanding towards his decision and even felt closer to the Pei magnate because of such heartwarming reasons. Look, this successful man was raising his child the same way as the average person.

Only Pei Ziheng knew that all those reasons were rubbish. The actual reason was that the child was not his flesh and blood, and did not deserve such a celebration.

He could not even look at the child without feeling annoyed.

But living under the same roof meant there was no avoiding it.

Having an infant at home meant a lot more hustle and bustle. There was so much to do on a daily basis — feeding the child, changing his diapers, letting him get some sun, calming him down during his tantrums...

Xia Ling did not have any experience taking care of children, and Nanny Zhou already had too much on her plate; hence, Pei Ziheng employed three more nannies for the household. All three of them lived in the villa as well, and Pei Ziheng found the house increasingly crowded and frustrating.

He tolerated it day after day, just so he would not have to send the child to Li Lei.

When he was angered, however, he would think: Li Lei is such a jerk, what kind of father is he, having a child but not even raising him?! He must make sure to raise the child well and groom him to go against Skyart Entertainment in future. It would be best if he could acquire Skyart and leave Li Lei in tears.

Pei Ziheng had it all planned out ideally, but the reality was a different matter.

This child seemed to have a weaker constitution than others and was harder to pacify. He cried incessantly at the slightest of sounds or change in the environment.

Everybody in the villa was all caught up with the child. Even with the three newly employed nannies around, Nanny Zhou did not have much time to relax either. She would spend any spare time helping them out and giving them advice on child rearing.

That was not the main issue.

What mattered was that even Xia Ling was spending all her time and attention on the little infant, and had stopped having dinner with Pei Ziheng like before. Pei Ziheng had managed to get her a few times, but she was always distracted at the dinner table.

Eventually, Pei Ziheng's wrath was incurred. "Xia Ling, don't make me direct this anger towards your child."

That was when Xia Ling realized the severity of the matter and obediently accompanied him for dinner.

Once she was done with dinner, she would go straight to the nursery room to take care of the child. When he wasn't crying, he would smile at the sight of people, and flail his little arms and legs adorably.

All the servants in the household liked him.

Nanny Zhou adored him as well and took very good care of him — showering him, patting him, and even bringing him lots of toys. But Xia Ling was always guarded against her and would not allow her to be left with the child alone. It was probably just her being over sensitive and paranoid, but ever since the incident about the abortion medicine, she was not about to take any chances.

The child's sleep often did not last beyond a couple of hours, and he often woke up crying.

Xia Ling was always awoken by his cries in the middle of the night and had to go to the nursery to check on him.

She would feed him, change his diapers, and then coax him to sleep.

Day after day, it was beginning to take a toll on her.

The lack of sleep had shown on her now haggard and pale face.

Pei Ziheng was very unhappy. "There are nannies to attend to him when he cries, why do you have to go to all that on your own?"

Xia Ling dared not anger him and quietly rebutted, "It'll be different from my care anyhow."

Pei Ziheng squinted his eyes at her. "You'd better have a proper sleep now, you'll have tons of opportunities to take care of a baby when you have my child. If you're not interested in sleeping and recuperating, we can have my child right now."