The night was dark and windy, with thunder and lightning flashing, as a torrential rain poured down outside.
Inside a dilapidated tiled house, a woman clutched her swollen belly in agony, her face pale and bitter as she begged for mercy beneath a man.
“Please, let me go. My stomach hurts—I’m about to give birth!”
The thin, sleazy man seemed displeased by her pleas. He lifted his head from her fair neck, his triangular eyes flashing with malice, and slapped her hard across the face.
“What are you yelling about! It’s your good fortune that I, your lord, fancy a big-bellied woman like you!”
With that, he roughly tore open her clothes, revealing a bright red bodice beneath. The crimson undergarment made her already fair skin look even more alluring and seductive.
The triangular-eyed scumbag let out a wild laugh and bent down again, like a pig rooting for food, gnawing at the woman’s body.
Her belly ached more intensely, her face as pale as paper, and even her pleas for mercy grew weaker. She closed her eyes in despair.
She had only gone to town today to buy some rouge, but who would have thought this thug would follow her, and now she had ended up like this!
With a sudden gush—
The triangular-eyed scumbag, who was in high spirits as he lay on top of her, felt a warm, wet sensation beneath him. He froze in disbelief—had this woman pissed herself?
And she’d pissed all over him!
But the woman was grimacing in pain. She knew—her water had broken!
The man cursed and straightened up, his arousal doused. He looked at his wet, dripping pants and felt nothing but disgust.
In revulsion, he slapped her twice more. “Disgusting wench! You dare piss on your lord? I’ll beat you to death!”
Still unsatisfied after a few hits, he grabbed the woman by the hair and slammed her head against the corner of the bed frame!
A trickle of blood seeped from her scalp beneath her black hair, quickly streaming down her face. The woman let out a pained cry, then, eyes wide open, collapsed onto the bed like a limp rag, her breathing stopped.
Seeing this, the man’s hands trembled. She wasn’t dead, was she?
He’d only meant to teach her a lesson—he didn’t want to kill anyone!
Cold sweat beaded on his forehead. He reached a shaking hand toward her face to check her breath, but before he could, his hand was seized by a pair of cold, soft hands.
The woman who had just lain there with lifeless, staring eyes had come back to life, her slender hands gripping the scumbag’s wrist tightly.
As Qiao Yan regained consciousness, she saw a hand reaching toward her face. Assuming someone was attacking her, she grabbed it and squeezed with all her might.
“Who are you? Why are you attacking me!”
The man, still shaken, felt only the excruciating pain of the bones in his wrist slowly cracking. His face twisted in agony as he snarled, “You bitch! You were faking death!”
Qiao Yan didn’t understand his words. She looked around at her surroundings—paper-paned windows, wooden furniture, everything shabby and run-down. A lit candle cast dim light, and there wasn’t even electricity!
Where was this? Had she fallen off the cliff and been rescued by a farmer in the mountains?
Her thoughts raced, but she didn’t loosen her grip on the scumbag’s hand—if anything, it was tightening!
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot up from her lower abdomen. It was a searing, heart-wrenching agony unlike anything she’d ever felt, as if something was trying to burst out of her body. She instinctively let go of the man’s hand and clutched her belly.
But the moment her hand touched her stomach, Qiao Yan froze. Whose belly was this? Why was it so huge!
Before she could figure it out, another wave of pain hit her, so intense she clenched her teeth, desperate to cry out. A rush of wetness pooled beneath her, and with the pain, fluid gushed from between her legs.
Now she understood—she was giving birth! She, a twenty-three-year-old lifelong single woman, was giving birth!
Recalling the time-travel novels her coworkers had enthusiastically recommended, Qiao Yan guessed she must have transmigrated!
But if she was going to transmigrate, why not make her a princess or at least a village girl? What the hell was this—starting off by giving birth?
Could she die in childbirth and go back?
Cursing the damn heavens repeatedly in her mind, Qiao Yan was drenched in sweat from the pain, racking her brain for the childbirth scenes she’d seen in TV dramas.
How did it go?
Oh right—deep breaths. Inhale, exhale, then push!
Following that method, Qiao Yan found it utterly useless. The pain was so bad she wanted to slam her head against the wall and die on the spot!
The scumbag, now freed, clutched his broken wrist and stared in shock at the woman giving birth right in front of him. A murderous glint flashed across his face.
You bitch! You dare snap my hand? Today I’ll make it two deaths for one life!
With a vicious expression, he walked over to Qiao Yan, ready to strangle her.
Qiao Yan, desperately trying to deliver the baby, was already irritated by the pain, and this sleazy man had to come right up to her looking for death. Her fiery temper ignited instantly!
Bearing the pain, she scrambled up from the bed, grabbed the man’s hem with one hand, yanked him toward her, and then raised her other hand to grip his throat!
Caught off guard, the man lurched forward, flailing to fight back—but it was already too late!
The man was restrained, unable to breathe. He struggled, raising his hand to try to pry away the claw that gripped the throat of his fate, but it was futile in the end.
Qiao Yan applied pressure bit by bit, and a cracking sound came from the man’s neck. A trickle of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, dripping onto the back of her hand.
His face flushed red, his eyes bulging, staring in terror at the grim reaper before him. Finally, with a crisp crack, his cervical spine snapped, and the man’s head lolled to the right, losing all signs of life.
Qiao Yan released her grip, and the man immediately collapsed to the ground like a dead dog!
She wiped the blood from her hand and glanced at the corpse on the floor with disdain: “Didn’t you know women aren’t to be messed with? A woman in labor is even less so!”
Just as she finished showing off, a sharp pain struck her belly again, and Qiao Yan nearly fell to her knees!
Someone save her! Giving birth hurts so much!
Enduring the intense pain, she dragged a pillow and blanket to prop herself up, shifting her body to lean her lower back against them. She pulled off her pants, spread her legs, and pushed with all her might to give birth.
But no matter how hard she tried, the little one in her belly just wouldn’t come out!
Exhausted to the point of collapse, sweat soaking her hair, Qiao Yan panted and negotiated with the little creature in her womb.
“Little ancestor, please… let me off the hook. This is my first time being a mother too, there’s no need… to torment me like this!”
“Come out, and I’ll buy you tasty treats and fun toys, okay? If this goes on, neither of us will see tomorrow’s sun!”
“You little brat! You remember this—once you’re out, I’ll spank your butt until it’s black and blue!”
She chattered on, bargaining with the little one inside for a long while, trying coaxing, pleading, and threatening, but still, it wouldn’t come out!
Time slipped away, the rain outside stopped, and the sky gradually brightened. Qiao Yan, weak from the pain, stared blankly at the paper-covered window with dull eyes.
The labor pains continued, but she seemed to have grown accustomed to them, her expression serene. Perhaps fate had sent her through time just to experience the joy of childbirth, only to let her kick the bucket afterward.
After all, how could she be so lucky as to live another life?
Her strength drained away, her body growing cold. Qiao Yan resignedly closed her eyes, only pitying the little one in her belly who had yet to be born.