Chapter 5: Flesh and Blood

Du Ying'er made such a commotion that everyone inside and outside the Zhong family compound heard it, and even people in the neighboring courtyards craned their necks to see what was happening.

Zhou Yongxin was obviously flustered too, standing up in an instant as if to go out and check what was going on. Then, as if suddenly recalling something, he hurriedly turned back to glance at Zhong Xiao.

There was indeed something inscrutable in Zhong Xiao’s gaze.

Zhou Yongxin hastened to explain, “Xiaoxiao, I... I wasn’t worried about her, honestly, I was just concerned for your little sister. She screamed so terribly just now.”

Zhong Xiao sneered, “What’s so frightening about a fall? Didn’t I fall from just as high yesterday? She’s not some woman with child—just a tumble and it’s the end of the world?”

As soon as Zhong Xiao finished speaking, Zhou Yongxin’s face changed, turning pale in an instant.

Zhong Xiao smiled coldly. She had just stood up when outside, Yang Yuehe let out a piercing scream:

“Oh! Blood... so much blood! Huacheng! Huacheng! Come quickly... take her to the hospital, hurry!”

But just then, even though Du Ying’er had already slipped into semi-consciousness, she forced herself to grab Yang Yuehe’s sleeve, her face twisted in pain as she clutched her stomach and pleaded:

“Mom, we can’t go to the hospital... we can’t...”

Du Ying’er knew her own situation all too well. If she went to the hospital now, the doctors would discover she was pregnant.

Pregnant before marriage.

There would be no need to wait for retribution—she would be dragged out and drowned in the pig cage on the spot.

Yang Yuehe stared first at the deathly pale Du Ying’er and then at the dark red blood pooling on the ground, which seemed to flow from between her daughter’s legs...

As a woman who’d been through it all, something seemed to snap in Yang Yuehe’s mind. She looked at Du Ying’er in utter disbelief!

At that moment, Zhou Yongxin and Zhong Xiao descended from the second floor at an unhurried pace.

Yang Yuehe whipped around to glare at Zhou Yongxin. Seeing his ashen face and shifty eyes, she nearly fainted from rage.

But in that critical moment, just as Du Huacheng was about to call for an ambulance, Yang Yuehe stopped him, her tone uncharacteristically harsh:

“Send for a barefoot doctor!—Quickly!”

...

Du Ying’er lost consciousness inside, while Du Huacheng somehow found two female barefoot doctors to treat her.

Outside the room, Du Huacheng was still berating Yang Yuehe.

“How could you not send her to the hospital? She’s bleeding so much—how can you trust two barefoot doctors at home?”

Yang Yuehe fixed Zhou Yongxin with a deadly glare, wishing she could tear off his skin!

She knew about Du Ying’er and Zhou Yongxin.

But she’d only instigated Du Ying’er to approach Zhou Yongxin in order to have her persuade him to win Zhong Xiao’s trust, so they could trick Zhong Xiao into going to the countryside.

She never expected Du Ying’er to fall in herself—not only that, but to end up pregnant!

Pregnant before marriage—if anyone found out, it would be a crime punishable by death on the spot. The Zhong family was already under intense scrutiny. If there was even the slightest misstep, everyone would go down together!

And her carefully laid plan to “sacrifice Zhong Xiao to protect the rest of them” would die before it even began.

With this in mind, Yang Yuehe had no patience for Du Huacheng’s emotions and replied coldly, “Given how sensitive things are, if we make a big scene at the hospital, others will seize on it, accuse us of bourgeois behavior, say we make a fuss over nothing and demand to be waited on—then what?”

Du Huacheng paused, feeling that Yang Yuehe’s attitude seemed off, but after considering it, he found her reasoning plausible.

Zhong Xiao stood apart from the others, while Yang Yuehe and Zhou Yongxin were consumed with worry for Du Ying’er.

Yang Yuehe, whose eyes were usually gentle, now showed a glint of ruthless calculation.

Zhou Yongxin’s face was full of worry. He thought of the solemn oath he’d just sworn before Zhong Xiao, and his scalp prickled with dread.

Retribution... Could it be? No, that was impossible. Even if there was retribution, it couldn’t possibly come this quickly. Zhong Xiao wasn’t some Underworld Judge—how could she be so effective?

Just then, the barefoot doctors emerged from Du Ying’er’s room. One of them pulled down her cloth mask and said, “The adult will be fine, but the child cannot be saved. I advise you to go to the hospital. If you delay any longer, it might endanger the mother.”

Yang Yuehe stepped back, Zhou Yongxin’s face turned to terror, Zhong Xiao wore a cold smirk, while Du Huacheng looked utterly bewildered.

Each of the four showed a different reaction, leaving the barefoot doctors dumbfounded.

Du Huacheng was the first to speak. “What do you mean, the adult and the child? What child?”

The long-silent Zhong Xiao suddenly exclaimed, “Oh my, could it be that my little sister was pregnant? And after this fall, she lost the baby?!”

Yang Yuehe could no longer hold back her tears, and as Du Huacheng realized what was happening, his eyes bulged and his voice shot up several octaves:

“Outrageous! Absolutely outrageous! Ying’er isn’t even married—whose child is it? Is she not afraid of being beaten to death in the street?!”

The group erupted in argument outside Du Ying’er’s door.

Yang Yuehe insisted on taking Du Ying’er to the hospital at once, but now it was Du Huacheng who stopped her: “No! Absolutely not! If we go to the hospital, the entire Zhong family will be ruined! We’ll all be labeled as hooligans!”

Yang Yuehe wept as she pleaded, “Do you want to just stand by and watch Ying’er slip away, bleeding to death? Huacheng, Ying’er is your own flesh and blood!”

Before Du Huacheng could reply, Zhong Xiao suddenly cried out from the side.

“What! Father, Du Ying’er is your biological daughter?!” Zhong Xiao feigned shock, her face cycling through hurt, disappointment, and sorrow. “She’s only a year younger than me—no, only seven months! So you were already with her mother before I was even born...”

With a sharp “smack!”, the hand Zhong Xiao had pointed at Du Huacheng suddenly swung around and landed hard on Yang Yuehe’s face.

“You lied to me! Didn’t you say Du Ying’er was your child from a previous marriage? So you were already involved with my father while my mother was still pregnant with me! You liar! You shameless woman!”

The abrupt turn left everyone stunned—no one expected Zhong Xiao to stir up trouble so suddenly, least of all Yang Yuehe.

Twice in one day she’d been slapped by Zhong Xiao—first on the right cheek, now on the left—so hard she nearly lost control of the persona she’d maintained for twenty years, tempted to curse Zhong Xiao to her face.

But Yang Yuehe swallowed her rage, forcing herself to sob, “Xiaoxiao, please forgive Auntie, it’s my fault... but right now, the urgent thing is to save Ying’er, or else... someone could die!”

Zhong Xiao looked at the unconscious Du Ying’er lying inside the room.

With pointed meaning, she said, “Who knows which stray cur’s bastard she was carrying—the man is probably hiding in the shadows, too cowardly to show his face, both vile and spineless, unworthy of being called a man!”

“And as for my little sister,” Zhong Xiao continued, lashing out indiscriminately, “to carry a child out of wedlock—doesn’t she fear that her child will suffer retribution for her sins?”