On the day Qiao Nuan gave birth, it was raining cats and dogs. In just a few hours, the streets were flooded. There was a major power outage in the neighboring city, and the generators in the maternity and child care hospital were not working.
Qiao Nuan was in a bad state at the time. The doctors had to perform a C-section on her due to their limited medical resources. Halfway through, the anesthetic failed, and Qiao Nuan woke up before the baby was taken out…
Later on, her maternal grandfather found Qiao Nuan. Although Grandpa hated Qiao Nuan’s mother who had run away from home, he gave Qiao Nuan considerate care and also helped Qiao Nuan take care of Qiao Ning for the sake of their blood ties.
Qiao Nuan always thought that her delivery process was similar to that of a pregnant woman who gave birth on the same day. However, she learned another unacceptable truth from Qiao Lin…
“Nuan Nuan, it was raining cats and dogs in the neighboring city. Daddy was stuck on the highway. That’s why I didn’t come to accompany you when you gave birth…”
Qiao Nuan’s lips curled into a mocking sneer. “You don’t have to protect your image as a good father in front of me. I know what kind of man you are. You just have to get to the point. Stop talking nonsense!”
“Nuan Nuan, I’m just explaining to you why I didn’t rush to the hospital right away…”
Qiao Lin’s expression was awkward for a moment. He paused for a moment before continuing, “When I arrived at the hospital, the doctor told me that your child died a few hours after delivery because the incubator couldn’t be used…”
“What nonsense are you spouting?!” Qiao Nuan’s face instantly turned pale and her breathing quickened. She stared at Qiao Lin and said, “My child is clearly alive and well. He’s still by my side just now…”
“Nuan Nuan, that’s not your child. That’s just a bastard child…” Qiao Lin let out a long sigh, “I was worried that you wouldn’t be able to withstand being triggered like your mother. At that time, I happened to meet a single mother who didn’t want to have a child, so I took her child back home…”
Hearing this, Qiao Nuan couldn’t help but tremble. She closed her eyes and recalled everything that had happened five years ago in her mind. Scenes flashed across her mind, and then Qiao Nuan grasped some information…
She opened her eyes and stared at Qiao Lin. “You’re lying to me!”
“What? Nuan Nuan, I’m not lying to you…”
“You just said that you bought a child to prevent me from being agitated. Actually, it’s not… five years ago, when you first told me that there was an accident, you wanted to tell me that the child had died, right?”
Qiao Lin himself could not remember what he had said five years ago, so how could he admit it now? “Nuan Nuan, you remembered wrongly…”
Qiao Nuan ignored Qiao Lin’s explanation and continued to recall, “At that time, you saw my grandfather and your expression became very ugly. Then, you told me that the child was being treated for malnutrition… Why did you lie? Why did you feel guilty?”
“No, I didn’t feel guilty…” Qiao Lin shook his head and denied it. However, he avoided Qiao Nuan’s gaze and did not dare to make eye contact with his daughter who had a burning gaze.
“You do have a guilty conscience!” Qiao Nuan snorted coldly, “At that time, many of the hospital’s equipment could not be used. If something happened to the child, it would be easy to understand. However, you have a guilty conscience. That means that you have done something wrong to my child and me, right?”
“This is just your guess, Nuan Nuan. I’m your father. How could I possibly hurt you?” With a pale face, Qiao Lin shook his head, trying to reason with her.
Qiao Nuan had already thought of the reason. “In the few months after I found out that I was pregnant, you kept trying to persuade me to send the child away. A few days before I gave birth, I stopped talking. It seems that you’d found a way to get rid of my child!”
Speaking up to this point, Qiao Nuan’s entire body turned cold. She did not realize that her eyes were already red. She only felt that her entire body was bathed in anger.
She reached out and grabbed Qiao Lin’s shirt collar. She did not care that Qiao Lin was slightly suffocated and his face seemed to be turning blue.
“What did you want to do to my child at that time? Just like what Hou Ting said, you wanted to kill that child, right? That way, you could get rid of your daughter’s illegitimate child who was born out of wedlock and cover up the scandal of the Qiao family…”
“No, that’s not it…” Qiao Lin patted Qiao Nuan’s arm with all his might and explained with difficulty, “Nuan Nuan, I’m really not that heartless. At that time, I only wanted to hand the child over to a barren couple to raise. That would be good for you and the child…”
After carefully observing Qiao Lin’s expression, Qiao Nuan realized that he did not seem to be lying at the moment. She slowly let go of his hand and Qiao Lin could finally breathe properly.
He panted for a while and said, “Nuan Nuan, your child did die after it was born. I only hid my true intentions, but everything I did after that was out of kindness…”
“Shut up! I never want to see you again!” Qiao Nuan closed her eyes, her voice filled with suppressed anger. “Get lost before I change my mind, or I’ll make you bleed like Qiao Yu!”
Qiao Nuan, who was full of hostility, made Qiao Lin tremble in fear. At that moment, he truly felt that Qiao Nuan was an unreasonable lunatic like her mother. He had long been scared out of his wits and did not dare to stay by such a lunatic’s side, so he left the hospital in a hurry..