“Feifei!”
Yan Songyu’s face was pale, and beads of sweat dripped one by one onto her pillow. Her flailing hands knocked over the vase on the table.
*Crash—*
The crisp sound of shattering porcelain jolted Yan Songyu awake from her dream. Blue irises scattered across the floor.
Yan Songyu’s vacant gaze moved from the ceiling to her surroundings. This place… so familiar… Wasn’t I pushed down the stairs by Jiang Chengli and Zhou Yue? I’m not dead? Who saved me?
She stared blankly at her hands, but then her eyes fell on the calendar on the bedside table—February 21, 2002.
February 21, 2002!
Yan Songyu was wide awake now. She… had been reborn!
This place… was the Hai City First Maternity Hospital, where she had given birth to Feifei twenty-three years ago. Feifei!
Her Feifei was switched by Jiang Chengli and Zhou Yue tonight. Ignoring the discomfort in her body, Yan Songyu got out of bed and stumbled toward the neonatal intensive care unit. No, she would absolutely not allow this to happen again!
Yan Songyu made her way to the neonatal intensive care unit. Because Rui Xin was a shareholder of the First Maternity Hospital, her daughter had a private nursery. She opened the door, went in, and frantically checked the baby’s right hand. There was no red mole on the web of the thumb, but there were three dark spots on the leg. This wasn’t Feifei. She had already been switched!
She hurriedly picked up the baby and went to the adjacent nursery. Fortunately, there weren’t many newborns today, only seven. Yan Songyu quickly found Feifei.
A tiny little Feifei was sleeping peacefully in her small crib. The information card hanging beside her showed that her mother was Zhou Yue, and the red mole on the web of her thumb also matched.
She reached out to feel Feifei’s breath. A living Feifei!
Overcome with joy, Yan Songyu began to cry as she deftly switched the babies back. She held Feifei and gave her a kiss. This time, she would never let Feifei suffer so much again. Her precious baby!
“Waaah, mmm-waah~”
As she was leaving, a faint cry suddenly came from behind her.
Yan Songyu’s steps faltered. She glanced back at the baby in the crib. Her adopted daughter from her previous life, Yan Mu, was awake. Afraid of attracting a nurse, Yan Songyu ignored the slight pang in her heart and left with Feifei in her arms.
Just as she carefully placed Feifei back in the crib in the private nursery, the door opened.
She turned around in alarm, only to find it was the young nurse assigned to care for Feifei. The nurse approached with a smile. “Mrs. Yan, are you here to see the baby?”
“Where did you just go?” Yan Songyu’s expression changed as soon as she breathed a sigh of relief. If it weren’t for this nurse’s negligence, it wouldn’t have been so easy for Jiang Chengli and Zhou Yue to switch Feifei in her past life.
“I… I’m sorry.” The young nurse’s face turned pale. “Mrs. Yan, I just went to the restroom. I think I ate something bad and have an upset stomach. Other than going to the restroom, I’ve been guarding here the whole time. I really have been taking good care of Miss Yan.”
She apologized with tears in her eyes, “I’m sorry, I’m really sorry.”
“Forget it. Stop crying. Can you stay here and watch her properly from now on?”
Yan Songyu guessed that the young nurse had also been schemed against by Jiang Chengli and Zhou Yue, as she had repeatedly insisted that her daughter not be left alone for a second, 24 hours a day.
“Yes, yes! I absolutely won’t leave for a single step until my shift ends.”
Yan Songyu gave the soundly sleeping Feifei another kiss before leaving. But she still had things to do. She couldn’t rest easy, but the observation period wasn’t over, and she was worried about Feifei’s physical condition. In her past life, Yan Mu’s health had been very frail; she had fallen ill several times after going home, nearly driving Yan Songyu mad with worry.
After much thought, Yan Songyu called Feng Yu.
“Hello, Song Yu.”
“It’s me, Feng Yu. I need to ask you for a favor.”
“Go ahead.”
“Can you help me find two reliable people to come to the hospital and guard my daughter? Human traffickers are so rampant these days, I’m really worried.”
“Okay, I’ll be there soon.”
While waiting for Feng Yu, Yan Songyu sat on the bench outside the nursery, her eyes fixed on the door.
Feng Yu arrived very quickly. Yan Songyu glanced at the time. Only ten minutes?
“How did you get here so fast?” Yan Songyu asked in surprise.
“I live next door,” Feng Yu explained quickly. He frowned, seeing her sitting on the cold bench in a thin hospital gown, and immediately took off his coat to wrap around her. “Don’t you know you can’t get chilled right after giving birth? You came out wearing so little.”
Yan Songyu hadn’t felt the cold at all, perhaps because her heart was burning with the fire of revenge. Now that Feng Yu mentioned it, she shivered.
“I’ll take you back to your room first, then I’ll come and stand guard for you.” Feng Yu tried to pull Yan Songyu up, but she broke free.
“No, I want to stay here and watch over Feifei. No one can take my Feifei from me.” Yan Songyu was like a frightened bird, even a bit paranoid.
Unable to persuade her, Feng Yu could only let her be. But he ran to the nearby nurse’s station and asked the dozing on-duty staff for a cushion.
“Put this under you. The bench is cold.”
“Thank you!”
Seeing her staring intently at the nursery, Feng Yu’s lips moved, but he ultimately didn’t ask his question and just sat down beside her.
Fortunately, the men Feng Yu had called also arrived quickly. Two tall, sturdy men greeted him as soon as they arrived, “Brother Yu.”
“This is the room. There’s only one baby inside. Guard it well and don’t leave her alone.”
“Got it. Don’t worry, Brother Yu.”
As Yan Songyu left, she kept looking back every few steps. Feng Yu reassured her, “Don’t worry. They’re both retired soldiers. I did them a small favor once, so they’re absolutely reliable.”
“That’s good.” Yan Songyu grasped Feng Yu’s hand gratefully. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known what to do.”
She felt a wave of exhaustion. Already weak from childbirth, her mind was a mess of information upon waking, and she had been on high alert for so long. Her body couldn’t take the strain.
Feng Yu supported Yan Songyu for a short distance, but seeing the cold sweat on her forehead, he simply scooped her up into his arms. “Can you tell me why now?”
Yan Songyu had no intention of telling him something as incredible as being reborn. Just as she was about to pretend to be asleep, she saw two figures in the garden below through a window. She clutched Feng Yu’s sleeve. “Take me to the garden on the first floor.”
Feng Yu was about to urge her to go back to her room and rest, but then he followed her gaze and saw Jiang Chengli. “Alright.”
“A Cheng, I’ve made up my mind. I’ll take Yan Songyu’s daughter and move to the slums. A pampered and precious person like Yan Songyu would never set foot in a place like that in her entire life. That’s the only way to ensure our daughter’s identity is never discovered.”
“If Yan Songyu ever gets suspicious, you must take charge of arranging the DNA test. That’s the only way to deceive her. I don’t want my daughter to end up like me.”
Jiang Chengli remained silent, seemingly still lost in the fear of his guilty conscience.
Zhou Yue’s eyes darkened slightly as she continued to plead, “A Cheng, I no longer hope for a future with you, and I won’t bother you again. The Yan Family will never find out your secret. I just want our daughter to be well. Can’t you even agree to this small request?”
“Both children are your daughters. Think about how the Yan Family treats you, think about the gossip in the village and even the whole town. They said you were marrying me, but it turned into you marrying into my family. Your family wasn’t even at the wedding, and even your daughter has to take the Yan surname. Don’t you hate it at all?”