Chapter 293: Pregnancy Brain

On a summer afternoon, sunlight filtered through the soft halo simulated by the Living Quarters of the "New Era" Base's ecological zone, spilling into the bright, spotless room. The Xia family, having survived a life-and-death ordeal, had finally regained its former peace. Xia Tian, thanks to Qin Feng's intervention, was recovering at an astonishing speed—not only had he regained consciousness, but the damage to his nervous system miraculously left no serious aftereffects. At this moment he was leaning on the sofa, enjoying the leisure of a survivor, watching his little daughter Nannan play with toys on the carpet.

As for Xia Wan, once her father was out of danger, she threw all her energy into even more rigorous training. Qin Feng's words—"Control yourself"—were branded into her heart like an iron stamp, driving her to constantly push her limits, trying to fully master the ever-growing Bloodline Power within her.

Yet within this gradually returning calm, another subtle ripple was quietly spreading through Su Wenqian.

Since her pregnancy was confirmed, Su Wenqian had become a key protected figure within the "New Era." She was already a top-tier researcher, and now most of her frontline research tasks had been temporarily lifted, leaving her responsible only for relatively relaxed data analysis and theoretical work. Lei Dong treated her like she was made of glass—careful, meticulous, attentive to every need.

But recently, Lei Dong and those around her had noticed that Su Wenqian seemed… off.

This "off" wasn't physical discomfort—it was a kind of mental, laughably endearing "fogginess."

At first, it was just small things. For instance, she'd walk around the whole house holding her communicator, looking for her communicator; she'd tuck a research report she'd just finished reading into the fridge; during meetings, she'd suddenly forget a very familiar technical term, standing there blankly for ages, her expression dazed and innocent.

Lei Dong assumed it was pregnancy fatigue and tenderly told her to rest more.

But the situation seemed to be getting worse.

That day, Lei Dong cut a meeting short early, thinking he'd go home and have lunch with Su Wenqian. He opened the front door and caught a faint burnt smell. His heart tightened, and he hurried into the kitchen, only to find Su Wenqian staring blankly at a pot on the stove that was billowing bluish smoke, an empty spaghetti package still in her hand.

"Wenqian?" Lei Dong called out tentatively.

Su Wenqian turned her head, saw Lei Dong, and her face showed an expression of relief mixed with confusion: "Ah-Dong, you're back? That's weird—I clearly boiled it for ten minutes like the instructions said, so why is the water gone and the pasta still hard?"

Lei Dong: "…" He walked over, turned off the heat, looked at the clump of carbonized, fused-to-the-bottom "spaghetti" in the pot, then at the package in Su Wenqian's hand that read "Boil in water for 10 minutes," then glanced at the bottle beside it clearly meant for "cooking pasta," its label showing a giant olive oil illustration, and was momentarily speechless.

He took a deep breath, doing his best to keep his tone calm and loving: "Honey, cooking pasta… requires water. And this is oil, not water."

Su Wenqian blinked, looked at the empty pot, then at the oil bottle, and a dawning realization mixed with a touch of silliness spread across her face: "Ah! Right! You need to add water! No wonder something felt off…" She patted her own forehead and said in frustration, "How did I get so stupid!"

Lei Dong didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He stepped forward and embraced her, saying softly, "It's fine, it's fine, you're probably just tired. What do you want to eat? I'll make it."

Similar incidents kept happening.

During an important internal video conference, Su Wenqian, as a core member, needed to speak. Before the meeting, she had double-checked her materials and confirmed everything was in order. Yet when her turn came to speak, she faced the camera and, with great seriousness and perfect clarity, delivered a full five-minute review report on "The Correlation Between Pregnancy Nutrition and Early Infant Brain Development"—completely off the topic of that day's meeting: "Deep Space Probe Energy Efficiency Optimization."

The entire conference room fell silent. The attendees exchanged glances, wanting to laugh but not daring to. On the other end of the screen, Lei Dong's mouth twitched, and he could only forcibly interrupt, awkwardly reminding her: "Dr. Su, today's topic is… energy efficiency."

Only then did Su Wenqian snap back to reality. She looked at the first page of her prepared PPT on energy displayed on the screen, and her face instantly flushed to the tips of her ears, wishing she could crawl into a crack in the floor.

Another time, she solemnly told Lei Dong that she had locked a top-secret document in her office safe. But when Lei Dong urgently needed that document, he searched the entire safe and couldn't find it—only to discover it was sitting peacefully on the living room coffee table, used by her as a coaster, pressed under a few teacups.

Incidents like these were too numerous to count.

Lei Dong, who had initially found it amusing, gradually grew worried. He privately consulted the Base's obstetrics specialist. The specialist smiled and told him this was a classic case of "pregnancy brain," medically termed "cognitive function changes during pregnancy." It was mainly caused by drastic hormonal fluctuations during pregnancy, declining sleep quality, and attention being more focused on the baby—leading to short-term memory decline and difficulty concentrating, usually temporary and gradually recovering after childbirth.

"Many expectant mothers go through this, just to varying degrees," the specialist reassured him. "Dr. Su herself is a high-intensity intellectual worker, so she may feel this change more acutely. A little more understanding and companionship is all that's needed."

Hearing the specialist's explanation, Lei Dong felt somewhat relieved. But watching his usually sharp, capable, meticulous lover now and then reveal that adorably dazed, foggy girlish side, he felt both amused and an indescribable tenderness and heartache welling up inside.

That evening, Su Wenqian, having once again walked into the wrong door at the lab that day (she'd walked into the men's restroom—luckily no one was inside), was feeling glum. She leaned into Lei Dong's arms and muttered dejectedly: "Ah-Dong, have I gone stupid? Am I going to stay this stupid forever?"

Lei Dong looked down at her slightly furrowed brows and worried eyes, and his heart melted completely. He kissed the top of her hair, his voice low and gentle: "Stupid? Who said that? My wife is the smartest woman in the world."

"But…" Su Wenqian tried to say more.

"No buts," Lei Dong cut her off firmly. "You've temporarily borrowed the share of smarts that belongs to our baby. Once he (she) comes out, you'll be that all-powerful Dr. Su Wenqian again. And…" he paused, a hint of laughter in his voice, "the way you are right now is pretty cute."

It was a different kind of cuteness from her usual cool, sharp intelligence—slightly silly, a little dazed, yet more real, more endearing.

Su Wenqian looked up, half-believing: "Really?"

"Of course." Lei Dong held her tighter and chuckled softly, "But until I find an effective way to help you 'recover' your IQ, the household utilities and your important documents will temporarily be left in my care, my 'little scatterbrain' doctor."

Su Wenqian was tickled into a burst of laughter by his teasing and gave him a light punch. The gloom in her heart lifted considerably. She buried her face in his warm chest, feeling the slight movements of the baby in her belly, a complex mix of helplessness, happiness, and anticipation flowing gently through her.

"Pregnancy brain" might have brought plenty of trouble and embarrassment, but it also let her experience a different kind of being completely cared for—a lightness where she could occasionally relax, even "act silly." Perhaps this was the baby's Gift to its busy mother before arriving—a special stretch of time that allowed her to temporarily set aside her elite mask and peacefully enjoy being slow-witted and pampered.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the Base, Xia Wan, having finished high-intensity training, couldn't help but smile when her mother told her about Su Wenqian's recent "exploits." She thought of Dr. Su's usual cool, rigorous, meticulous demeanor, then contrasted it with the foggy image her mother described—"boiling pasta without water," "going off-topic in meetings"—and felt the contrast was huge, yet carried a warm, lived-in charm.

The nurturing of life, it turns out, is not only solemn and sacred, but also accompanied by such laughably endearing "little accidents." Amid her intense training and hidden worries about the future, this brought her a touch of ordinary, genuine warmth.