“Ah~ ya~ ya~ Ma~ma~”
Li Wanqing’s head was throbbing with pain.
She had gotten drunk and made a scene all night. She had only fallen asleep at dawn, and her mind was still as muddled as a bowl of paste.
Yet the child’s cries of “Ma~ma~” kept echoing beside her ears, making her headache even worse.
After being in love for five years, she had finally gotten a bitter result.
The wedding banquet had not even started, yet her man had already gotten into bed with another man…
The shock of it was enough to make her feel as if she had been struck by five bolts of lightning at once!
No!
She couldn’t take it anymore!
She felt so sick she was about to throw up!
Li Wanqing rolled over and sat up, only to freeze in shock.
This wasn’t her room at all!
The walls were made of yellow mud. The furniture was old and worn. Even the enamel cups and kettle had an unmistakable old-fashioned feel to them…
A wave of dizziness washed over Li Wanqing, and she collapsed back onto the hard wooden bed.
Before she could recover, a pair of soft little hands climbed onto her cheeks.
They were burning hot.
“Hu~ hu~ Ma~ma~”
Li Wanqing’s nerves tightened. She abruptly sat up and stared in horror at the frail little child on the bed.
Whose child was this?
After a wave of excruciating pain, a mass of memories that did not belong to her was forcibly poured into her mind.
She had transmigrated!
She had become a military wife in the 1970s who was despised by her husband’s family!
The original owner was also named Li Wanqing. She was an educated youth who had forced a soldier into marrying her, only to be abandoned by her military husband for two years, with him neither contacting nor caring about her.
The child lying on the bed was the original owner’s one-year-and-three-month-old daughter, Cheng Nuo.
—And at this moment, the little girl was babbling softly.
【Mama… Nono doesn’t feel good… Nono hurts so much!】
Li Wanqing: “…Who’s speaking?”
There were only the mother and daughter in the room. She hadn’t said anything. Could it be this little one in front of her?
But how could such a tiny child possibly speak so clearly?
……
Li Wanqing’s head suddenly went “buzz.”
Could it be that she could hear the little girl’s thoughts?
While she was still stunned, the little one crawled over to her and weakly leaned against her body.
The child’s cheeks were unnaturally flushed. She looked thin and weak, making anyone who saw her feel heartbroken.
Clearly, the only sounds coming from her mouth were childish babbles, with “Mama” being the clearest word she could pronounce.
Yet Li Wanqing could understand every word she was saying.
【Mama… it hurts… It hurts so much… It really hurts…】
In an instant, tears streamed down Li Wanqing’s face.
It was as though the child before her were the daughter she herself had carried for ten months and given birth to. Her heart clenched painfully.
Li Wanqing knew this was most likely the emotional response left behind by the original owner.
But faced with such an adorable little girl, she simply couldn’t remain indifferent.
“Be good, Nono. Mama is here. Mama will take you to see a doctor right now.”
Li Wanqing got out of bed and searched through the original owner’s belongings, but after turning everything upside down, she couldn’t find even a single cent.
Seeing that the child was barely holding on, Li Wanqing gritted her teeth, picked her up, and rushed out of the room.
“Mother-in-law, Nono has a fever!”
“Please give me some money. I’ll take her to the clinic to get an injection to bring her fever down.”
Liu Yufen had been resting in the main room. When Li Wanqing shouted, she was so startled that she nearly jumped out of her skin.
The harvest rush had just ended, and she had finally gotten a chance to rest. Yet this cursed wretch had come to ruin it!
“What are you yelling about?!”
“She’s just a bastard child. If she dies from the illness, so be it!”
“You want money too? No way!”
Li Wanqing: “…This damn old woman!”
Every other word out of her mouth was “bastard child.” Did she have to keep putting a cuckold’s hat on her own son’s head before she would be satisfied?
The original owner had married into the Cheng family and given birth to her daughter less than eight months later.
The child had clearly been premature, yet this old woman insisted on calling her a bastard!
But this wasn’t the time to argue with her. Getting the money came first.
“Mother-in-law, Nono really is your biological granddaughter!”
“Even if you only consider the child’s father, I’m begging you. Could you give me a few yuan?”
“Bah!”
Liu Yufen spat on the ground and cursed even more viciously.
“You shameless piece of trash! How dare you mention the third son!”
“When the third son comes back, just wait for your divorce! Take this bastard and get the hell out of here!”
Back then, the third son had saved her life, yet she had repaid his kindness by forcing him to marry her.
When he refused, she threatened to report him for taking advantage of her, making it impossible for him to return to the army.
The day after they got married, the third son had been so furious that he returned to his military unit.
And he had been gone for two years.
He only sent his military allowance home and had never once mentioned this woman.
It was obvious how much he hated this shameless woman!
And as for this bastard child, there was even less to say.
They hadn’t even told the third son about her!
Looking at her daughter’s crimson face in her arms, Li Wanqing clenched her back teeth tightly.
She silently repeated the word “忍” three times before finally suppressing the anger burning inside her.
“Mother-in-law, Nono is still so young. A fever can kill a child.”
“I’m begging you. Please save her first!”
“Consider the money a loan. I’ll pay you back with interest.”
Pay her back?
With interest?
She sure knew how to make empty promises!
She didn’t have a single penny. What could she possibly use to repay it?
Liu Yufen impatiently roared, “Get lost!”
“If she’s going to die, then go die somewhere far away. Don’t bring bad luck to the Cheng family!”
Cheng Nuo writhed uncomfortably in Li Wanqing’s arms, babbling and waving her little hands as though she were trapped in a nightmare.
【Mama, don’t die. Don’t leave Nono behind!】
【Grandma, don’t sell Nono. Nono will be good… Nono will listen…】
【Ah… it hurts… It hurts so much… Nono’s leg hurts!】
【Nono doesn’t want to beg for money… Nono wants Mama… Nono wants to go home…】
Li Wanqing froze.
What did those words mean?
An unbelievable thought flashed through Li Wanqing’s mind, and her heart instantly ached beyond words.
This child… had been reborn?
Even though Li Wanqing herself had transmigrated into this world, she was still utterly shocked when she realized this!
Compared with her, Nono was just a child!
Her biological mother had died young, and then her own grandmother had sold her!
Judging from Nono’s thoughts, there was a very good chance she had been sold to… human traffickers!
Li Wanqing had once seen children with missing limbs begging on the streets. The moment she imagined Nono becoming one of those children…
Her heart hurt so badly that she could barely breathe!
In her previous life, a car accident had permanently taken away her chance to become a mother.
That was why she had been so thoroughly deceived by her boyfriend, who claimed he didn’t mind not having children.
Who could have known that he was only using that weakness to control her, making her obediently help him hide the fact that he simply “wasn’t attracted to women”?
Although she had eventually exposed the videos of that pair of scumbags on the giant screen at their wedding, allowing everyone to witness their disgraceful behavior…
The pain of never being able to have children had nevertheless taken deep root in her heart.
She had been utterly devastated!
And now, Heaven had actually given her another chance to become a mother.
Of course she would cherish it!
The original owner had been an honest woman who was easy to bully. She loved her daughter, but she lacked the ability to protect her.
Since Li Wanqing had now taken her place and survived in this world, she would definitely protect her daughter for her!
From this day forward, Cheng Nuo would be her own daughter!
Looking at the tightly closed door, the coldness in Li Wanqing’s eyes continued to build…