“Take this bastard away!”
The delivery-room door was kicked open.
Lin Zhiyong’s voice crashed through the room like a thunderclap, leaving Xia Anxin’s heart numb with terror. She looked toward the sound in alarm.
Lin Zhiyong and Xia Guifang rushed in with two bodyguards. Then they snatched the baby right out of the nurse’s arms.
Looking at Xia Anxin, exhausted on the delivery bed, Lin Zhiyong said coldly, “How dare you secretly give birth to this bastard whose father is unknown behind our backs? You’ve brought shame on the Lin family! I’ll get rid of this child. You’ve behaved shamelessly. From today on, get out of the Lin family. You don’t deserve to be a daughter of the Lin family!”
“No! Dad, this is my child with A-Ting! He’s not a bastard!” Xia Anxin struggled to sit up, but she was so drained from giving birth that she fell straight off the bed onto the floor.
Ignoring the blood covering her body and the pain racking it, she struggled toward Lin Zhiyong, tears streaming down her face. She clutched his trouser leg and begged, “Dad, I’ll leave the Lin family. I won’t drag you into this. I’ll never come back and disturb you again. I’ll raise the baby myself. Please, I’m begging you—don’t take him away.”
When Lin Zhiyong didn’t so much as waver, she reached helplessly for Xia Guifang’s hem. “Mom… Mom…! Please, help me!”
But Xia Guifang only recoiled in disgust, repelled by the blood and filth on Xia Anxin’s hand. She urged Lin Zhiyong from the side, “Hurry up. They’re waiting.”
At that, Lin Zhiyong looked at the disheveled Xia Anxin without a trace of pity or compassion. He kicked her away and said coldly, “That’s not for you to decide!”
Then he turned and left with the baby in his arms.
Xia Anxin struggled frantically to get up. “No! Stop! Stop!!! Don’t take my baby! Give him back! Give him back to me!!!”
Lin Zhiyong hurried off, as though afraid someone might catch up with him.
Desperate, Xia Anxin finally managed to stand, but the pain in her abdomen suddenly intensified. Her legs gave way, and she collapsed back onto the floor.
A pool of blood spread beneath her.
Staring after Lin Zhiyong and Xia Guifang, she screamed, her eyes filled with hatred. “I’m your daughter too! I’m your own flesh and blood! Why? Why are you treating me like this?”
Years ago, Xia Guifang had been pregnant with twins. She gave birth to Xia Anxin and her older sister, Lin Ziyu.
Unfortunately, Xia Anxin was born with a large black birthmark on her face, ugly and frightening to look at.
The Lin family had a thriving business, and Lin Zhiyong was deeply superstitious. That very day, he called in a “master” to read the girls’ fortunes.
The master said Lin Ziyu would bring prosperity to the Lin family, while Xia Anxin had been born to bring Lin Zhiyong misfortune.
On hearing this, Lin Zhiyong had the nanny take Xia Anxin to the countryside the very next day. He even allowed her to take only Xia Guifang’s surname, forbidding her from using Lin. To the outside world, he claimed that Lin Ziyu was the Lin family’s only child.
From then on, Lin Ziyu was the wealthy family’s cherished daughter, envied by everyone and treasured by her family.
Xia Anxin, meanwhile, was trampled into the mud, ignored for eighteen years.
Four months ago, somehow Lin Zhiyong found out she was pregnant. He called and gave her a vicious scolding, then ordered her to get an abortion.
But she was already six months along!
How was having an abortion any different from killing her own child?!
Besides, A-Ting must have disappeared suddenly because something had happened to him. She believed he would come back!
She couldn’t kill their child!
She had to wait for him to return with the baby!
To keep the child safe, Xia Anxin had been hiding away, not even daring to go for a prenatal checkup.
At last, when the baby was about to be born, she spent all her savings to find a remote little clinic and beg a doctor to deliver the child.
But who could have guessed that, the moment the baby was born, Lin Zhiyong would suddenly barge in and try to take him away?
“A-Ting… where are you…? Where on earth are you? Hurry and bring our baby back! It hurts… my stomach hurts so much…” Trembling with pain, Xia Anxin looked helplessly toward the doctor and nurses, who had been stunned by the commotion.
The doctor at the small clinic had taken the job hoping to make some extra money. Seeing how much Xia Anxin was paying, he’d let greed get the better of him and agreed to deliver the baby.
Now he was completely panicked.
Then he saw the blood beneath Xia Anxin and went pale. “Quick! Get her back on the delivery bed!”
If she died in their clinic, it would be a major disaster!
They carried Xia Anxin back to the delivery bed. Her abdomen clenched with pain, and the agony grew more and more intense.
The doctor hurriedly examined her. His expression changed, and he said to Xia Anxin, “Miss Xia! There’s… there’s another one!”
Xia Anxin froze. Then a fierce will to survive flared in her eyes.
With her bloodied hand, she gripped the doctor’s wrist tightly. “Doctor, please! Help me! Please help me!!!”
…
Three years later.
Yecheng High-Speed Rail Station.
Xia Anxin gazed at the enormous billboard inside the station, her expression complicated.
The renowned film and television superstar—Lin Ziyu.
Without thinking, Xia Anxin raised a hand and touched the birthmark on her cheek.
They were twin sisters, yet their looks were worlds apart, and their fates were as different as heaven and earth.
On the billboard, Lin Ziyu wore an expensive golden gown. She looked radiant and untouchable.
It was said that Lin Ziyu had once been pregnant with a child of the Leng family, one of Yecheng’s most powerful families. Her status had risen because of the child, and after entering the entertainment industry, she had swept up major awards with the help of the Leng family’s resources.
As for Xia Anxin… terrified that Lin Zhiyong would discover Er Bao, Xia Yinuo, and take him away, she had fled back to the village with her child in the middle of the night.
She had stayed hidden there for three years.
Now her son was old enough to start kindergarten. The countryside simply couldn’t offer the same educational resources as the city, and Xia Anxin was also worried about what had become of Da Bao.
Running away forever wasn’t a solution. In the end, she decided to return with her son.
Xia Anxin looked at the little tyke beside her, Xia Yinuo, her gaze softening.
No matter what, she still had her precious son, Nuonuo.
A loud voice suddenly rang out from the crowd.
“Xia. An. Xin!”