Niuniu seemed to really understand. Her belly grew quiet and stopped moving.
Only then did Chen Mianmian notice that her waist and abdomen were covered in bruises.
From the memories, all of them had been caused by the female character herself, beating her own body in an attempt to abort the child.
As her hand touched the bruises, a flood of the woman’s memories surged into her mind.
Before, not knowing much about her, Chen Mianmian had thought the woman was simply terrible—a character created by the author to anger readers.
But after going through her memories, Chen Mianmian shivered.
On the surface, the woman’s family had three siblings, and she was the middle one.
But in reality, her mother had given birth to nine children—eight of them girls.
Among those eight baby girls, aside from the eldest sister and the woman herself, the rest were either sold or killed at birth.
When the woman was not yet three years old, she had witnessed her mother suffocating a newborn baby sister.
Chen Jinhui was the only son her mother had, the family’s hope—the one meant to carry on the family line.
The woman loved and trusted her younger brother. After discovering she was pregnant, she originally wanted to go back to her ex-husband, but she believed Chen Jinhui’s lie that Zhao Lingcheng didn’t want the child. That was why she gritted her teeth and kept punching her belly, trying to get rid of Niuniu.
Her stomach growled, and hunger pulled Chen Mianmian back to reality.
She said softly, “Niuniu must be hungry. I’ll eat something now. If I’m full, you’ll be full too.”
Her stomach growled again and moved slightly, as if Niuniu was responding.
Gently patting her belly, Chen Mianmian couldn’t help but say, “Niuniu is such a good girl.”
She had never married or had children, focusing entirely on her career. Now in her late thirties, she had barely even dated.
After years of hard work, she had finally bought a comfortable apartment and accumulated savings in the tens of millions.
But as she grew older, her sense of loneliness deepened. She didn’t want marriage, but she did want a child.
Suddenly becoming pregnant was hard to adapt to, but her instinctive love for children made her want to keep and raise the baby.
First, she needed food. Following her memory, she opened the green bag hanging on the wall.
Inside was an oil-paper package. Opening it, she found half a dark cornbread bun and a cold boiled potato. She put them back and instead took out a foil packet labeled “yak milk powder.” After smelling it to confirm, she decided to eat that.
On the windowsill was a glass jar, which the woman used as a cup.
Taking the thermos from the corner, Chen Mianmian made herself a cup of milk powder.
But the water was too hot to drink right away.
So she grabbed Chen Jinhui’s wool coat hanging on the wall.
Feeling inside the inner pocket, she was delighted—it contained a wallet, and it was quite thick.
Inside were eight one-yuan bills and three five-yuan bills. In a hidden compartment, there was also a 20-yuan deposit slip.
This money was originally Zhao Lingcheng’s divorce compensation—200 yuan in total.
But after she got the money, Chen Jinhui had shamelessly taken it and spent it himself.
Putting the wallet back into her pocket, Chen Mianmian took a sip of milk powder—too hot!
As she blew on it, she heard Chen Jinhui shouting outside, “Why would I lie? My second sister really hit me!”
Then a woman’s voice exclaimed, “Second sister… could she have gone crazy?”
This was the Northwest, a place called Quancheng.
Chen Mianmian was staying in a state-run guesthouse in the city center.
It was a courtyard surrounded by two-story buildings, with a tiled house at the entrance serving as the front desk.
The woman had hidden here to have an abortion because her sister-in-law, Xu Xiaomei, worked here as an accountant.
Chen Jinhui had just found his wife, and the two were tending to his wounds.
Xu Xiaomei didn’t believe her sister-in-law would hit her husband, because Chen Jinhui was the pride of his rural family.
Though from the countryside, he had moved to the city and secured a respectable, stable job.
His mother and sisters adored him so much they would practically give him their flesh if he asked—especially his second sister.
The idea that she would hit him was unbelievable.
While wiping his wounds, Xu Xiaomei asked softly, “Has the fetus been aborted? Did second sister go crazy from the pain and start hitting people?”
Getting hit wasn’t a big deal—the important thing was to get rid of the child quickly.
Chen Jinhui trembled in pain and sighed, “Abort my foot. She hasn’t even taken the medicine yet.”
Xu Xiaomei paused. “Then what about your promotion? And my brother’s job?”
Chen Jinhui couldn’t understand why his usually obedient sister had suddenly changed so much.
If she didn’t abort the child, how could she marry Section Chief Wei? How could he get promoted?
Seeing her husband hesitate, Xu Xiaomei said, “If we wait any longer, it’ll be too late. Why don’t we force her to drink it?”
Chen Jinhui hesitated. “She’s changed—she’s fierce now. What if she shouts and someone hears?”
Xu Xiaomei patted him and whispered something, then added, “Bitter first, sweet later. We’re doing this for her own good.”
After a long hesitation, Chen Jinhui nodded. “She’s my sister. She’ll forgive me.”
…
Chen Mianmian continued sipping the hot milk powder while searching through the bag.
According to transmigration rules, she wasn’t going back.
Even if she didn’t take the abortion medicine, she might still face a difficult labor and severe bleeding.
If she wanted to safely give birth, she had to act now.
She pulled out a red-covered notebook and flipped through it quickly.
Zhao Lingcheng also worked in Quancheng, but not in the city—he was stationed at a military-industrial base deep in the desert.
That place had the most advanced medical equipment in the country, and its military hospital had the best doctors selected nationwide.
If she didn’t want to suffer permanent damage from childbirth, she had to return to the base.
The notebook listed many contact addresses, but when she found Zhao Lingcheng’s, she skipped it.
After the divorce, Chen Jinhui had used her name to repeatedly ask him for money.
Fed up, Zhao Lingcheng had instructed his unit to reject any correspondence from her.
Flipping a few more pages, Chen Mianmian’s eyes lit up.
It was the address of Zhao Lingcheng’s aunt, Zhao Hui.
She was also in Quancheng, and if Chen Mianmian could contact her, everything would be resolved.
She closed the notebook and was about to leave when the wooden window creaked open.
A girl’s face appeared outside. “Classmate Chen, what were you arguing about just now?”
The girl wore a staff uniform. Chen Mianmian found her familiar but couldn’t recall where she had seen her.
She was an employee here and also Xu Xiaomei’s colleague. Unsure of her intentions, Chen Mianmian stayed silent.
The girl continued, “Accountant Xu’s husband went into the storage room and took a long rope…”
Glancing toward the main gate, she added, “It sounded like he said he was going to tie someone up.”
Following her gaze, Chen Mianmian saw Xu Xiaomei looking around near the entrance, while Chen Jinhui was nowhere to be seen.
The post office was right across from the guesthouse, where she could send a telegram to Zhao Hui.
But Chen Mianmian knew Xu Xiaomei wanted to get her three brothers into the railway system.
That was why she was so eager to marry the woman off to Section Chief Wei.
If Chen Mianmian went directly to the post office, would Xu Xiaomei not try to stop her?
Thinking this through, she quickly copied the address and wrote a message on a piece of paper. She tore it out and handed it, along with five yuan, to the girl.
“Please go to the post office and send a telegram to this address. Also…”
She added, “Go to the police station and find the highest-ranking officer. Tell them someone is trying to traffic me.”
Holding her belly, tears streaming down her face, she said, “I’m pregnant. Please help me.”
The girl immediately said, “Okay, okay.”
Then added, “Lock your door and windows tightly. I’ll bring the police to rescue you.”
From experience, Chen Mianmian knew that showing vulnerability to another woman often brought genuine help.
Xu Xiaomei glanced over, and the girl quickly lowered her head and left.
Chen Mianmian watched closely as the girl exited, circled around, and entered the post office.
She finally let out a breath of relief. But when she looked for Xu Xiaomei again, she was gone.
Chen Mianmian stayed alert and kept preparing.
She couldn’t rely entirely on a stranger. She had to be ready to escape at any moment.
Then she noticed a problem—her belly was too big to button her padded jacket.
Usually, the woman tied her stomach tightly with cloth to fasten it, but that would compress the baby.
April in the Northwest was still cold. Without a padded jacket, she would catch a cold.
After thinking, she took off the jacket and put on Chen Jinhui’s wool coat.
She didn’t know what it was made of, but it was light, warm, and roomy.
The green bag contained milk powder, grain coupons, and her introduction letter—all essential items she had to carry.
Just as she finished getting ready, Chen Jinhui returned.
His hands were empty, but his bulky waist revealed a coil of rope hidden there.
Xu Xiaomei followed closely behind, holding two towels in one hand and a bowl of bitter herbal medicine in the other.
It was clear—they planned to force her to drink it.
Xu Xiaomei deliberately said, “Really, why did you upset second sister for no reason?”
Then she patted her husband. “Go apologize. She loves you most—she’ll forgive you.”
Chen Jinhui pushed the door, found it blocked, and said with a smile, “Second sister, I’m here to apologize.”
In a coaxing tone, he added, “Open the door. If you want to hit me, go ahead—I’ll take it.”
He was the only son in the family, and with their father gone early, his mother and sisters spoiled him endlessly.
Even if he wanted the stars in the sky, they would climb a ladder to get them.
Now that he was humbling himself, how could his sister refuse?
Once she opened the door, they would tie her up, gag her, and force-feed the medicine.
After the miscarriage, he would comfort her, and she would surely forgive him.
But Chen Mianmian was not the original woman—and when it came to causing trouble, she was far more experienced.
She pushed open the window and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Everyone come look! Forced abortion! Forced miscarriage!”
Xu Xiaomei, who had status and cared about her reputation, was startled. “Second sister, aren’t you ashamed? Stop shouting!”
A divorced woman being pregnant and secretly having an abortion—how disgraceful. And yet she dared to shout it out?
Chen Jinhui panicked and slammed the door. “Second sister, open up! Let’s talk!”
There were many guests in the guesthouse. Hearing the shouting, many opened their windows.
Chen Mianmian, a skilled lawyer, raised her voice even louder:
“The leader said production must keep up, and population must keep up too! But you’re forcing me to abort—this goes against current policy. You’re counter-revolutionaries! Everyone, come catch the counter-revolutionaries!”
“Counter-revolutionary abortion”—what a shocking phrase.
Many guests came out to watch.
People murmured, “Who would dare to abort in this day and age? That’s counter-revolutionary!”
Xu Xiaomei quickly said, “She’s crazy—don’t believe her!”
Chen Jinhui couldn’t understand why his sister had suddenly gone mad.
Didn’t she want to marry a powerful leader and become an official’s wife? Didn’t she want him to rise in status?
Still, he tried to persuade her patiently as he approached the window.
“Second sister, Officer Zhao doesn’t want you anymore. The whole village is laughing at you. If we don’t want to be laughed at, you need to marry someone better. Think about Section Chief Wei…”
Before he finished, he jumped up and grabbed the windowsill.
He planned to climb in, shut the window, tie her up, and silence her.
As long as he told others she was crazy, no one would care.
After the abortion, once she married the official, she would understand his intentions and forgive him.
That’s what Chen Jinhui believed.
But what he didn’t know was that Chen Mianmian had deliberately left the window open to lure him.
Just as he was about to climb in, a pot of boiling water was thrown at him, splashing over his head and face.