1979, Winter.
Nancheng City Hospital.
“Sister, can… can we start?”
Start?
Start what?
A bewildered Jiang Ci looked at the woman before her who had taken off her pants and was lying on the abortion surgery table.
What was the situation?
Wasn’t she just at home livestreaming fortune-telling for people?
How did things change in the blink of an eye…
A wave of dizziness hit her.
A flood of memories that didn’t belong to her surged into her mind.
She realized with a shock that she had seemingly transmigrated into a book.
She had entered a “period drama” wife-chasing crematorium novel she had once read, titled The Infertile Mogul’s Fertile Little Wife.
And she was the cannon-fodder older sister of the female lead.
In the original book, the female lead’s younger sister had gotten pregnant with the male lead’s child while engaged to someone else, while the male lead had gone down to the countryside, completely unaware. In a fit of desperation, the sister sought out the original owner of this body to help her perform an abortion.
The original owner performed the surgery for her. Later, the male lead returned to the city after being injured while taking a bullet for a high-ranking official, and his old flame with the female lead was rekindled.
Upon learning about the abortion, he used his means to force the original owner to the countryside to avenge his unborn child.
Then, in a remote place where the reach of the law was long and the emperor was far away, he plotted to marry her off to an old widower who had seven or eight children and had already lost three wives.
In the end, the original owner was tormented to death by the old widower.
When Jiang Ci looked at the younger sister on the surgery table again, she broke into a cold sweat.
“Put your pants back on. I can’t do this surgery.”
Jiang Ci took off her white coat. She hadn’t lived long enough yet, and she certainly didn’t want to die.
Even if she had transmigrated into a book, she wanted to live a good life.
“Sister, why can’t you do it? If you don’t help me, no one will. If Father finds out, I—I’ll be beaten to death, boohoo…”
The female lead, Jiang Wanwan, covered her face and began to sob quietly in distress.
With her fair skin and delicate features, she looked indescribably fragile, like a willow in the wind.
“Wanwan, it’s not that I won’t help you, but I am a doctor of Chinese medicine. I really can’t perform an abortion surgery.”
In truth, the original owner was skilled in both Western and Chinese medicine, a true all-rounder.
However, Jiang Ci was a practitioner of Daoist Medicine. She knew a bit of medical skill, but not much; she was better at divination and palmistry. She definitely didn’t know how to perform surgery! To avoid exposure, she could only say this.
“Sister, don’t lie to me. If you don’t want to help me, just say it. Boohoo… actually, you just want Dad to beat me to death, don’t you? You’re just jealous that I’m our parents’ biological daughter while you’re just an adopted one, isn’t that it?”
Sob, sob.
Jiang Ci: “…”
“Heh! Jiang Wanwan, please use your brain when you speak. Did I get you pregnant? Did I tell you to get involved with some random man when you knew you were already engaged?”
Enough was enough.
When she was reading the book, how did she not see through the female lead’s true colors!
“Jianguo isn’t some ‘random man.’ Jiang Ci, I won’t let you talk about him like that…”
Heh.
“Right, he’s not a random man, he’s your lover. Since your love is ‘as firm as gold,’ then why do you want to abort his child?”
“I… I… I didn’t want to. It was Mom who forced me, boohoo… You’re all forcing me, you all look down on me. I knew it…”
You don’t know squat.
Jiang Ci threw down her white coat, too lazy to waste words on the female lead.
Outside, Mother Jiang was restless, pacing back and forth anxiously.
Seeing Jiang Ci come out, she hurriedly went to meet her. “You little white-eyed… Xiao Ci! How did it go? Was it successful? Where’s Wanwan? How is she?”
“I didn’t perform the surgery on her…”
“What?”
Before Jiang Ci could explain, Mother Jiang’s face immediately fell, and her voice rose an octave.
This caused people in the hospital corridor to look over.
Realizing this, Mother Jiang quickly lowered her voice. “Why didn’t you do it? Do you know she’s about to marry into Commander Pei’s family? You just don’t want things to go well for her. You’re jealous that your sister can marry into the Pei family, so you did this on purpose, didn’t you…”
Jiang Ci: “…”
“Do I need to be jealous of her?”
Jiang Ci didn’t want to say anything too harsh. After all, this was the body’s foster mother. Although the foster mother was biased and hadn’t treated the original owner well since childhood, she had still raised her.
She wanted to leave her some dignity.
“You—how are you talking to me?” Mother Jiang was stunned by the change in Jiang Ci.
The previous Jiang Ci did whatever she was told, never hitting back when struck or talking back when scolded.
She had always been timid and subservient.
Today, she actually dared to speak to her like this.
“How am I talking to you? You’re forcing me to bypass the hospital’s formal procedures to perform an abortion on Wanwan. You’re asking me to commit a violation and ruin my future. How do you expect me to talk to you?”
In the original book, not only did the original owner perform the abortion through the back door for Jiang Wanwan, but she also performed a surgery outside her department. This was a serious violation of hospital regulations.
She was not only singled out and criticized in a hospital-wide meeting but also given disciplinary action.
Suspension pending observation.
“You—you, you’re revolting! Wanwan is your sister. As her elder sister, why shouldn’t you help her? You really are an ungrateful white-eyed wolf. I’d be better off raising a dog than raising you.”
Mother Jiang was furious.
She had a forceful personality and was used to having the final say at home. Now, Jiang Ci had snapped back at her twice in a row.
How could she stand it?
“Oh! Is that so? Then let the dog do the surgery for her!”
She wasn’t going to put up with this anymore.
Jiang Ci’s mind was a mess right now. She needed some peace and quiet to sort out her current situation.
Having said that, she turned and left.
Mother Jiang was both angry and anxious. She wanted to chase after Jiang Ci, but seeing Jiang Wanwan come out sobbing, she was too heartbroken for her own biological daughter to care about anything else.
Just as Jiang Ci turned down the stairs, she ran straight into a stern-looking Father Jiang. He was accompanied by two guards.
The three of them walked toward Jiang Ci.
Jiang Ci froze for a moment.
Before she could react, Father Jiang had already approached her and called out, “Xiao Ci, you’ve come at just the right time. I happen to have something to discuss with you.”
“Dad, what is it? Why are you at the hospital? Is…”
As Jiang Ci spoke, she couldn’t help but glance behind her, seeing Mother Jiang looking everywhere for her.
Her mind stirred.
If she remembered correctly, at this point in time, Father Jiang didn’t know yet that Jiang Wanwan was pregnant.
Heh!
Jiang Ci took a subtle step back, standing still against the corner of the wall.
Simultaneously, Father Jiang leaned toward the wall with her. This position was perfect; from behind Jiang Ci, one couldn’t see Father Jiang standing diagonally across from her at all.
“I’m fine.” Father Jiang waved a hand at Jiang Ci, then signaled for the guards with him to leave first.
Only then did he continue, “It’s Pei Jiran. He’s been injured and hospitalized, and he doesn’t have any family left. He has no one by his side while he’s in the hospital. You work here, so put in some extra effort to look after him. Also, don’t tell your mother or your sister about this. It’s just a minor injury, and I don’t want them worrying unnecessarily.”
Pei Jiran!
Another cannon fodder in the book, just like her. Because he was the marriage partner arranged for Jiang Wanwan by the previous generation, the male lead later became jealous and caused Pei Jiran to be sabotaged during a mission.
He had died without a whole corpse.
Jiang Ci nodded. “Alright, I understand, Dad. I’ll definitely…”
“Jiang Ci…”
Mother Jiang’s voice came from behind, cutting Jiang Ci off.
Because they were around a corner, Mother Jiang couldn’t see Father Jiang.
She stomped over angrily and yanked Jiang Ci, causing her to stagger. “Jiang Ci, whether you like it or not, you’re doing that surgery today! If you dare delay Wanwan’s marriage to Jiran, I won’t let you off!”