Chapter 39: It Must Be a Misdiagnosis

Why hadn’t I noticed before that Shangguan Xiyue could be so stubborn?

No matter how much I explained that I was fine, she simply turned a deaf ear to it.

“Do you want to grab a mirror and take a look at your face right now?”

As she said that, I pulled out my phone and glanced at my reflection in the screen.

A flushed yet sickly pale face of a girl stared back at me from the dark glass.

I immediately fell silent, stopped resisting, and let her lead me toward the infirmary.

At that moment—

I suddenly remembered: she was my best bro.

Maybe… I should just go with the flow.

The vivid, overwhelming nausea was yet another reminder of what I’d become.

I had no idea how other people experienced morning sickness, and I wasn’t sure if mine was considered severe.

All I knew was: I felt absolutely miserable.

And then, in an unguarded instant, my mood took a sharp dive.

My gaze blankly fixed on the floor as I let Shangguan Xiyue drag me forward like some lifeless puppet.

I’d once heard someone say that during pregnancy, a woman develops an intense maternal love toward her unborn child.

It was an evolutionary instinct passed down through generations—genes fighting to survive and be passed on.

To put it more simply: during pregnancy, the body releases a flood of hormones to awaken a mother’s instinct to protect her child.

A mother…? I muttered to myself.

At least right now, I didn’t dislike the ghost baby.

Maybe I was even a little afraid of her.

After all, how could someone completely powerless dare to feel compassion toward the stronger one?

I let out a sudden, bitter laugh.

The nausea that had just settled flared up again, rising from the pit of my stomach.

I instinctively pulled away from Shangguan Xiyue, squatted down on the ground, and dry heaved repeatedly.

At that moment, I couldn’t hold back my emotions any longer.

Was I sad? Or…?

As I tried to trace the source of my sorrow, I found myself at a loss.

It was as if I were a drifting water plant, uprooted, spiraling in an emotional sea that crashed around me as I curled into myself on the ground.

Maybe it was loneliness.

A burden I couldn’t confide to anyone—only something I could silently carry alone.

I used to think of myself as a strong person.

But now, ever since carrying this ghost fetus, I found myself unable to say a word.

I was someone who could always talk myself through anything.

But right now, kneeling on the ground, dry heaving until my throat was raw and sore, I could only silently try to digest my own emotions.

Shangguan Xiyue gently patted my back.

Seeing me in such a miserable and helpless state made her chest ache faintly.

Anyone would feel unsettled watching their closest friend like this.

“Come on, we’re going to the hospital.” Shangguan Xiyue sensed that I wasn’t in the mood to talk, so she kept her words brief.

I nodded obediently.

Going to the hospital wasn’t a bad idea. Hearing what a doctor had to say might help.

Enduring this all alone and forcing myself to stay strong—eventually, it would just lead to emotional collapse.

The only problem was… I wasn’t even sure if the hospital could find out what was really going on with me.

“They can,” came a soft voice in my head.

A mother’s heart is linked to her child’s—my ghost baby could vaguely sense what I was thinking and responded to my unspoken worry in a whisper.

“Last time, I hadn’t taken shape yet. I didn’t have a real body. But now, I’m no different from a normal baby.”

After gathering all her ghostly energy into a solid core, she was beginning a brand new life.

She had already awakened some time ago.

She just… didn’t know how to comfort people.

So she hadn’t said anything until now.

She could sense my emotions, and though she remained silent, her tiny heart felt just as empty.

A heavy pressure lingered in her chest.

If only I were already born… she thought.

Then, maybe she could reach out with her chubby little hands and hug the sorrowful girl in front of her.

Did she feel heartache for me… because I was her mother?

The ghost baby’s gaze drifted outward, eventually aligning with the clouds in the sky.

*****

Outpatient Clinic, University Hospital.

I handed over my ID, completed the registration, and was soon led to the gastroenterology department.

The attending physician pushed up his glasses, briefly glancing at Shangguan Xiyue who stood behind me.

“When did the nausea start?”

“Did it happen after lunch? What exactly did you eat?”

I answered honestly, “It started after lunch. I only had a bowl of century egg and lean pork congee.”

“Any pain when I press here?” the older doctor asked while jotting something down on his chart.

“No.”

The elderly doctor took the test results handed over by the nurse.

“Blood routine… Normal temperature, normal blood pressure.”

Shangguan Xiyue was even more anxious than I was and quickly spoke to the doctor, “Could it be food poisoning? Start an IV right away if needed, give her some of those special meds, and if she needs gastric lavage or anything, just get it all done immediately—don’t miss a single step!”

The doctor raised his hand and adjusted his glasses again, revealing a pair of cloudy, aged eyes beneath them.

He stared at my silent, downcast face for a moment, clearly already forming a conclusion.

“Family member, please don’t worry. Step outside for a bit—I need to have a few words with the patient alone.”

“Alright.” Shangguan Xiyue exited and waited outside.

The doctor looked at me and asked calmly,

“Young lady, when was your last period?”

His blunt and straightforward question made my face flush red in an instant.

I couldn’t very well say I’d never had one before, so I quickly made up a harmless lie,

“It’s been a while.”

“Hmm.”

The doctor nodded, jotting down a few lines on the chart.

“Let’s start with an HCG test. If possible, we’ll also do a detailed ultrasound.”

He didn’t say anything more.

I quietly accepted the payment slip and left the consultation room, lips pressed into a tight line.

“How did it go?” Shangguan Xiyue looked at my low-spirited expression, reaching out to shake my thin frame as if trying to pull my scattered soul back into place.

I raised the slip in my hand.

“We need to pay first.”

Shangguan Xiyue took the bill and her voice rose in surprise as she read it aloud,

“HCG, progesterone… and an ultrasound?”

“You’re not food poisoned, so why are they testing for this kind of stuff?”

Her voice trembled with confusion and shock, but the moment she saw my tight-lipped silence, her words came to an abrupt halt.

“Xiaoyan…”

“You…”

She looked as if she’d been struck by lightning.

While her stunned words hung in the air, my fingers, curled slightly at my side, had gone pale pink from clenching too tightly.

I kept walking forward, alone, in long silence.

She already had her suspicions.

But she didn’t dare speak them out loud—afraid it was just her imagination, afraid she was being paranoid.

After paying the fees, I went to the examination area.

Blood flowed out into the syringe.

I stared at the dark red stream from my vein.

The sharp prick of the needle that had just pierced my skin—

No longer hurt at all.

The results didn’t take too long to come out.

But it didn’t feel quick, either.

As we waited in anxious silence, it was Shangguan Xiyue who first took the report.

Row after row of densely packed numbers, yet her eyes locked immediately onto just two entries—HCG and progesterone.

The clarity of the data analysis made her fall completely silent.

We didn’t go back to the elderly doctor.

In the quiet hallway of the hospital, my voice suddenly sounded unusually cool, with a faint trace of brokenness—at least, that’s how Shangguan Xiyue felt.

“Let’s go register in another department.”

This silly girl… she must have just found out too.

Compared to her shock and disbelief, I should have been the one struggling most to accept it.

Shangguan Xiyue followed behind me, eyes fixed on my narrow shoulders. In her heart, she kept repeating to herself over and over:

It must be a misdiagnosis. It has to be a misdiagnosis.

No… no way…

To be absolutely sure, one final step was still needed.

In the outpatient hall, the nurse asked me softly and kindly.

My gaze dropped slightly, and my always-gentle, youthful voice suddenly sounded particularly sharp to Shangguan Xiyue’s ears:

“Please help me register for obstetrics.”

Behind me, Shangguan Xiyue’s fists had already clenched tightly upon hearing that.

Gynecology and obstetrics are technically two different departments—with very different implications.

Registering for obstetrics usually means the person intends to carry the pregnancy to term.

Registering for gynecology usually means… you’re there to end it.

Xiaoyan…

Shangguan Xiyue murmured silently in her heart, her expression growing increasingly.

—Fifteen minutes later.

The obstetrician took my report, then had me lie down on the B-scan machine.

I could see Shangguan Xiyue’s tightly furrowed brow.

I gave her a faint smile, signaling that I was okay.

But clearly, the result was not what she wanted.

Seeing me behave so obediently and sensibly only made her heart ache even more.

Just who was the beast that did this to her?

Shangguan Xiyue gritted her teeth so hard they nearly cracked.

How could someone lay a hand on her?

She used to be such a lively, adorable little sister—and now look at what she’s become…

Shangguan Xiyue tried once again to comfort herself.

It’s definitely just a misdiagnosis.

We’ll know for sure once the results come out.