Shuilian was left alone at the entrance of the Civil Affairs Bureau.
Occasionally, people passing by would glance at her curiously.
But in Shuilian’s eyes, every gaze carried mockery.
City people always looked down on villagers like them.
She nervously twisted the corner of her clothes, standing with her head lowered.
After a while, a dull pain began to spread through her lower abdomen.
Her mind went blank—her period was about to come.
Previously, to fake a pregnancy, she had taken medicine to delay it.
She thought she would have conceived by now—but Lin Zhengxian had proven useless.
This time, it would likely come heavily.
Cold sweat broke out all over her body.
This time, she wouldn’t be able to keep up the lie.
Inside, Lin Zhengxian was divorcing. Soon, she would become the legitimate daughter-in-law of the Lin family.
And that 2,000 yuan—when they married, she must make Lin Zhengxian buy her a pair of gold earrings.
No matter what, she had to find a way to deceive Yang Sufen and Lin Zhengxian.
As Shuilian was thinking, Yang Sufen—who had been sitting under a tree—suddenly shouted, “They can’t divorce!” and ran over.
Shuilian bit her lip. This was an opportunity.
She stepped forward and blocked Yang Sufen’s path.
“Mom, what’s wrong? Why can’t they divorce?”
“Move aside!” Yang Sufen was in a hurry to stop the divorce and had no time to explain.
But Shuilian, who had always been obedient and never questioned anything, seemed possessed.
She tightly grabbed Yang Sufen’s arm.
“Mom, if Zhengxian doesn’t divorce, how will he marry me?”
“I’m already pregnant with his child!”
The complexities of welfare housing allocation couldn’t be explained in a few words.
Yang Sufen tried to pull her arm free. “Let go first!”
But Shuilian tightened her grip, her nails digging into Yang Sufen’s flesh.
“Mom, you have to explain clearly!”
Yang Sufen yanked her arm free and tried to leave, but Shuilian grabbed her waist.
One tried to leave, the other blocked her desperately.
In the struggle, Shuilian lost her balance and fell heavily to the ground.
“Ah!” she cried out, clutching her abdomen tightly.
Staff from the Civil Affairs Bureau rushed over.
“What happened?”
On the ground, Shuilian looked in agony.
“My stomach… it hurts so much… the child…”
At the word “child,” Yang Sufen panicked.
She crouched down and saw that Shuilian’s dark blue pants were already soaked with blood.
Yang Sufen’s legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground.
“My grandson! My grandson! What do we do?!”
Shuilian weakly tugged at a staff member’s sleeve.
“Comrade… my husband is inside… please help me… help me…”
The staff member didn’t dare delay. “Alright, I’ll go find him.”
Inside the Civil Affairs Bureau, Lin Zhengxian was still arguing with Jiang Yunling.
“Yunling, we’ve been together for so many years, and we have Qiqi. Do we really have to divorce?”
“A divorced woman will be criticized. And if Qiqi grows up without a father, she’ll be bullied.”
Jiang Yunling looked at him silently, waiting for him to press his fingerprint on the divorce certificate.
Lin Qiqi let out a cold laugh—after all, the ones who had bullied the original host the most were the Lin family themselves.
“Even though I have a son now, Qiqi is still my biological daughter. If we sever ties, people will say she’s unfilial.”
Seeing persuasion fail, Lin Zhengxian switched to moral pressure.
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I took that 2,000 yuan just to prevent the hospital from cheating us.”
“In the future, we can live happily with that money.”
“And Shuilian has a good temperament. If we don’t divorce, and my relationship with Qiqi continues, once the son is born, he’ll be your son too. I can even have Shuilian come serve you at home.”
Lin Qiqi nearly felt sick.
“Lin Zhengxian, this is socialist New China. You still want to practice that old feudal system of multiple wives? Do you even know what bigamy is?”
Hearing her call him by name instead of “Dad,” Lin Zhengxian’s expression darkened.
He cared deeply about his pride—this was like trampling his dignity.
“Lin Qiqi! I’m your father!”
He slammed his hand down, pointing at her.
“You think you’re something valuable?”
“I’m giving you a final chance out of pity!”
“Otherwise, once my son is born, who would want you two?”
“One cripple, one useless girl—fine, let’s divorce! I’ll wait for the day you come begging me to take you in!”
With a fingerprint pressed, a seal stamped, and the household registration split—
The divorce was finalized.
Lin Zhengxian was about to say more when someone shouted from the doorway:
“Lin Zhengxian! Is Lin Zhengxian here?”
“What’s going on?”
Lin Zhengxian raised his hand. “I’m here—I’m Lin Zhengxian.”
“Hurry outside! A woman has been pushed down—she looks like she’s miscarrying. She asked me to find you!”
“What?!”
He stumbled out in panic.
Shuilian lay on the ground, pale, clutching her abdomen.
But her eyes remained calm, fixed on the entrance.
The moment she saw Lin Zhengxian, tears streamed down instantly.
“Zhengxian… our son… he’s gone!”
She collapsed on the ground, appearing utterly devastated.
Blood stained the ground beneath her.
People gathered around, whispering.
“She’s pregnant?”
“Why not take her to the hospital?”
“Looks early… with that much blood, it probably can’t be saved.”
The child… gone?
Their Lin family’s long-awaited heir—gone?
Lin Zhengxian’s head buzzed. Grabbing Shuilian’s hand, he demanded fiercely:
“Who pushed you?!”
If he found out who harmed his son, he would make them pay dearly.
But Shuilian only cried, lips pressed tight.
“I’m asking you—who pushed you?!”
He roared, and she cried harder.
Her tear-streaked face full of grievance, she finally said weakly:
“Zhengxian… don’t ask…”
A bystander pointed at Yang Sufen sitting nearby.
“It was her—I saw it myself.”
Lin Zhengxian stared at Yang Sufen in disbelief.
“Mom, why did you push her?!”
“Why would I push her?” Yang Sufen repeated blankly.
She shook her head repeatedly.
“No… I didn’t… I was just trying to find Zhengxian… they can’t divorce…”
She muttered for a while, then suddenly looked up.
“Did the divorce happen?”
“You’re still asking that?!” Lin Zhengxian threw the divorce certificate in front of her.
“It’s done! It’s done! It’s done!”
“Done…” Yang Sufen’s hands trembled as she flipped through it.
“It’s really done…”
“The house is gone. The grandson is gone!”
“Everything is gone!”
“I don’t want to live anymore!”
At that moment, Lin Qiqi and a staff member were helping Jiang Yunling outside.
“It’s all because of you, you wretch!”
Seeing them, Yang Sufen scrambled up and charged toward Jiang Yunling.
“Jiang Yunling, you cripple—you lied to me!”
“You made our Lin family lose both the house and the grandson—I’ll kill you!”
She rushed forward like a madwoman.
Before anyone else could react, Lin Qiqi was already prepared.
She grabbed Jiang Yunling’s crutch and thrust it forward.
It struck Yang Sufen squarely in the abdomen.
Yang Sufen cried out and fell.
Two men rushed over, twisting her arms behind her back and pinning her to the ground.
“Behave yourself!”
But she kept screaming:
“Jiang Yunling! Lin Qiqi! I’ll kill you!”
“Give me back my house! Give me back my grandson’s life!”
Lin Zhengxian looked at Shuilian lying on the ground, crying.
At the blood—the child he had lost.
At his own mother, pinned down and screaming madly.
Suddenly, a crushing pain filled his chest.
His vision blurred. He could barely stand.
Reaching out toward Jiang Yunling and Lin Qiqi, he called weakly:
“Yunling… Qiqi…”
Lin Qiqi adjusted Jiang Yunling’s crutch and softly said, “Mom.”
Jiang Yunling withdrew her gaze from the chaos, closing her eyes briefly.
“Let’s go.”
She held onto Lin Qiqi’s arm and slowly walked away.
Their figures, supporting each other, grew more and more blurred in Lin Zhengxian’s eyes.
Finally, he collapsed.
Behind him came two heart-wrenching cries:
“Zhengxian!”
But neither Jiang Yunling nor Lin Qiqi looked back.