Chapter 041

Shao Jingqiu had been waiting here all afternoon. She didn’t remember how long she had been sitting, only that her body had grown stiff. When she finally stood up, she stumbled and nearly fell, but Xiao Xia caught her just in time.

That afternoon, countless people had watched with their own eyes as the child walked through the set, identifying criminals one by one. They marveled at the boy’s extraordinary abilities, but Shao Jingqiu’s thoughts went much deeper.

As each criminal was pointed out, a scene from many years ago replayed over and over in her mind.

She had been incredibly driven in her youth. Even when heavily pregnant, she refused to stop working. Although her family and husband disagreed, no one could sway her. Because of this, when the baby decided to come earlier than expected, her pre-booked hospital and postnatal care center¹ were useless. While attending a local event, the child entered the world without warning.

It was a very healthy baby. While in the womb, she had been lively and active, giving her mother quite a hard time. When she was born, her cry was loud and clear. Despite being premature, she was healthy and of a good weight. She had large eyes, just as beautiful as her mother’s.

Her family and husband rushed to her side that night. When they scolded her for running around while pregnant, Shao Jingqiu didn’t argue. Giving birth had exhausted most of her energy. She finally stopped working and began to recover with her child.

That day, she was simply doing what she always did, taking a short afternoon nap with her baby.

After giving birth, her body was very weak, and she needed sleep to regain her strength. Before she closed her eyes, the child was right beside her, a tiny palm clutching her thumb, her sleeping face as lovely as a little angel’s. She only slept for a short while, but when she woke up, the child was gone.

There were so many people there – her family, her husband, the doctors and nurses. There were so many people nearby, so many eyes watching. How could her child just vanish?

It was only a small local hospital with a shortage of staff. There had been no grand conspiracy or clever scheme. She was simply unlucky. A criminal had passed by her room, saw that no one was guarding it, and took advantage of the lapse in attention to carry her child away. The surveillance cameras captured a stranger carrying the baby, but no one suspected a thing. The villain walked right out the main gate in broad daylight and disappeared with her child into the crowd.

It was a long time ago. Surveillance cameras weren’t as ubiquitous as they are now, and it just so happened that some cameras were broken. It felt as if all the misfortune of a lifetime had converged at once, as if every bad thing that could happen had hit her. She searched with all her might, but found nothing.

Whenever she closed her eyes, Shao Jingqiu would remember that day.

The weather had been so clear. The sun was warm, shining through the window and making her drowsy. Her child had been lying in her arms. In her later nightmares, she was always startled awake by the sound of crying. She would search around in tears, only to find her arms empty.

When she was taken from her mother’s side, was that child crying?

She continued to work desperately.

She used work to numb the pain and earned vast sums of money to pour into the search. Whenever there was news, she would drop everything and go in person, but the results were always disappointing. Perhaps because of her persistence, she received news years later that the criminals had been caught.

It was a large-scale criminal syndicate that moved across the country, committing many crimes. According to their confession, the disappearance of an influential star’s child had created a massive social impact. Consequently, shortly after taking her child from the hospital, they faced a severe crackdown. They fled everywhere, hiding in increasingly remote places. Later, to avoid trouble, they simply abandoned the child by the roadside.

As for that child, she might have died in some desolate corner long ago.

Shao Jingqiu had collapsed.

She followed the criminals’ confession to that place. It was a remote and backward area, mountains upon mountains, with pitted dirt roads that made it easy to hide. The people there were ignorant. Every year, many unnamed baby girls died. Her child happened to be unwanted. So many years had passed that not even a trace could be found.

But that was her child!

She had done so many good deeds and never asked for anything in return. Could the heavens not grant that child just a tiny bit of luck?

Everyone urged her to stop. Her family told her to give up, and when her husband urged her to have another child, Shao Jingqiu firmly chose divorce.

If even she gave up, who else would save that child?

She prayed to the gods, bowed to the Buddha, and sought out various Masters for fortune-telling. Some pointed her in a direction, others told her to accumulate merit through prayer, and she did it all. If she was given a direction, she went to search. If she needed to accumulate merit, she gave away her fortune. Anything, she would do anything.

It was okay if she couldn’t find her, as long as that child was living well in some corner of the world. Just living was enough.

As long as she was healthy and safe. And if she could ask for a little more, she only hoped that when the child encountered difficulties, someone would reach out a helping hand.

However, every time she was startled awake by a nightmare, Shao Jingqiu still held onto a fantasy.

If, if it were possible…

“I… I want a fortune-telling!”

Handing over a ten-yuan bill dampened with sweat, the flame called hope burned in her chest. It burned wildly. Even if it burned out in a single breath, she would use her life as fuel to keep it burning persistently.

“I have a daughter,” Shao Jingqiu said devoutly, speaking her wish to the deity before her. “I want to find her… I want to know where she is!”

“Whether she is alive or not, wherever she is, I want to find her!”

“Hmm?”

Qiao Man held Lu Jianxing’s hand, looking at the tearful person before him with some confusion. After hearing the request, he tilted his head and did not take the bill held out to him.

“But haven’t you already found her?”

He pointed his finger at the girl beside her. This girl, who had been given a helping hand and had walked out from the mountains step by step, was currently looking at him nervously, her heart full of simple, sincere blessings and hope.

Qiao Man said, “She’s right next to you.”

“…What?”

Shao Jingqiu froze.

Someone beside her took a sharp, soft breath and said in disbelief, “Me?”

Without warning, large tears rolled down her face, pitter-pattering onto the smooth stone tiles.

How had she not noticed?

Shao Jingqiu’s lips trembled. She tried her best to widen her eyes, but her vision was blurred. Her trembling fingertips acted in place of her eyes, being the first to “see” the girl’s young face.

Her face was rough, marked by years of sun and wind. She didn’t possess a delicate, nurtured beauty, but she had bright eyes like a forest fawn, eyes just like her mother’s, always looking at her with admiration and longing. This was her child.

She had survived and grown up somewhere, healthy and safe.

…

“Sister Xiao Xia is Auntie Shao’s daughter. I knew it the first time I saw them.”

Eating hot fried chicken, Qiao Man held up two greasy fingers and said, “There’s a Kinship Line between them, a long one, connecting them together.”

Qiao Man leaned affectionately against Lu Jianxing, rubbing his head against him, and said happily, “Just like Xingxing and me, we’re tightly connected too.”

Lu Jianxing fell silent for a moment before offering a tactful reminder. “I remember you saying that those who do fortune-telling can’t see their own fate.”

“That’s right,” Qiao Man said cheerfully. “Maybe it’s because I did some good deeds, so I had really, really good luck. In that moment, just for a tiny bit, I calculated that we shared a kinship. That’s why I recognized you the instant I saw you-“

“I’m your dad!”

“Unlike Auntie Shao, I found you the very first time I saw you!”

Whenever the subject of their first meeting came up, Qiao Man was incredibly proud.

There were so many parents in the world separated from their children, just like Auntie Shao, but only he had found his child right away.

Xiao Man was super amazing!

Lu Jianxing opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. “…”

Forget it.

He picked up a fried chicken drumstick and held it to the child’s mouth. “Just eat. Have some more.”

Overjoyed, Qiao Man opened his mouth wide and took a huge bite.

Having heard the whole thing, Maomao finally closed his hanging jaw.

He looked conflicted. It wasn’t until they finished the fried chicken and the cake, and he watched the child, whose belly was now round and full, scurry off to the bathroom with his greasy hands held high to wash up, that Maomao finally sidled over to Lu Jianxing’s side with a troubled expression.

Fearing the child in the bathroom might hear, he whispered, “Brother Lu… do you want to go get another paternity test?”

What if it’s actually true?

Lu Jianxing: “…”

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Translator’s Notes

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1. postnatal care center: Refers to a ‘yuezizhongxin’ (月子中心), a facility where new mothers stay for a month after childbirth to recover. This practice, known as ‘sitting the month,’ involves specific dietary and lifestyle restrictions believed to restore the mother’s health and is a significant cultural institution in Chinese society. ↩