Leaving Xinghua Village

Chapter 40

To avoid complications from a long delay, the rescued people had to be sent back to the city quickly. This was to prevent the villagers from organizing a riot once they realized what was happening. Naturally, Yun Song was also on the list of those returning to the city.

In her heart, she still hadn’t decided whether to tell Xingzi about her child.

Fortunately, the woman came looking for her on her own.

Xingzi looked even more haggard than before. Upon seeing Yun Song, tears began to flow uncontrollably before she could even speak.

Xingzi wiped her eyes. “Immortal Lady… I… I wanted to ask…”

Yun Song sighed inwardly.

After Xingzi mistook her for the Immortal Lady, the first thing she had prayed for was the health of the child in her womb.

At that time, the young Xingzi likely believed that children in the village were simply prone to early deaths, unaware of the dark truth behind those tragedies.

So she had prayed for the child to grow up healthy. She hadn’t prayed for a specific gender, which meant that to her, it wasn’t the most important thing.

Yun Song was filled with sympathy for this young mother who had lost her children. Previously, when she hadn’t seen the woman in person, she had considered whether telling her might bring about other troubles.

But seeing her now, seeing this young mother in such agony, Yun Song found it difficult to restrain herself.

“I wanted to ask, Immortal Lady, my child… she is now…” Would the child become a ghost? Had the child gone to be reincarnated?

The immense grief of losing two consecutive children had torn her apart. No one had noticed her pain. She desperately wanted to talk to the Immortal Lady, to ask where children went after they died, and if they were suffering…

Yun Song asked, “If your child were still alive, would you be happy?”

Xingzi looked at Yun Song, her eyes gradually brightening as a glimmer of hope entered her world.

Yes, yes, Ming Wen was an immortal. Her child had been delivered by an immortal, so how could the baby be dead?

“Immortal Lady, you said it yourself. My father-in-law is my father-in-law, I am myself, and a child is a child…” As she spoke, she moved to kneel.

Yun Song quickly supported her, feeling a jolt of anxiety every time someone tried to kneel before her.

Yun Song told her what had happened at the cliff, including the fact that the Village Chief and the others had placed the babies there to die.

Xingzi’s eyes widened. A ringing sound seemed to erupt in her ears. Several times she tried to speak, but her throat felt blocked by something terrifying, and she couldn’t make a sound.

She didn’t say it was impossible; this was indeed something they were capable of doing.

Seeing her reaction, Yun Song confirmed she hadn’t misjudged the woman’s character. She said, “The child is in the city now. A couple is looking after her.”

When Yun Song’s grandmother had received her call, she hadn’t just contacted the Ping City police; she had also called her colleagues.

Grandmother was a retired university professor. Her colleagues were either fellow retired professors or her former students who were now teachers at the university themselves.

One particular couple had never been able to have children. So, on this workday, they had taken leave and followed Yun Song’s grandmother here.

After they arrived, they naturally saw the child in Yun Song’s arms. At first, they thought it was Yun Song’s own baby.

At the time, Yun Song had to give a statement, explain the situation to the Ping City police, and work with them to develop a rescue plan.

So, this middle-aged couple took the child to the hospital for a checkup. When the couple arrived at the hospital and tried to hand the baby over to the doctor, the tiny child gripped the woman’s collar with her small hand, unwilling to be taken away.

By the time Yun Song finished her statement and came out, it was already afternoon. The child was with the couple. They had bought a baby carrier, and the woman was carrying the child on her back while the man carried bags of baby supplies in both hands.

Clothes, socks, shoes, bottles, and formula.

Everything an infant should have upon entering this world, this baby now had.

When the couple saw Yun Song, they chatted with her cautiously, indirectly asking about her future plans for the child.

How could Yun Song not see through them? The couple had likely already gone through a mental process:

• This child is so cute.

• This child is truly destined to be with us.

• Yun Song is a university student and can’t raise a child, and her grandmother is so old.

So, Yun Song told them the truth about the child’s background in private.

The more the couple heard, the more furious they became.

“This child has a destiny with you, and a destiny with us as well. Could you leave the child with us?”

Therefore, when Xingzi asked if they were good people, Yun Song told her the truth.

“They are my grandmother’s students. Both are university teachers. They don’t have children of their own and have wanted one for years. They are kind-hearted, helpful people who visit our home every Lunar New Year.” It was actually they who had introduced the skilled traditional doctor to her grandmother.

Xingzi still felt a deep sense of loss. That was her child. But looking at the surrounding layers of mountains, she understood that if she brought the child back here, it would only harm her.

Finally, she only asked, “They… they will be good to her, right?”

“I’ll see them during holidays and festivals in the future. I’ll keep an eye on things.”

They were very devoted to the child.

Originally, they planned to use formula, but after hearing someone say there were issues with formula, they began asking around for anyone with extra breast milk.

They had driven there, and considering the drive back, they were also picking out a child safety seat.

It was a cruel reality, but compared to being killed ten days after birth here, the child would receive the best possible care there.

Xingzi imagined it. She imagined the child being well cared for in the city. She nodded, her tears falling. “That’s very good then.”

It really was very good.

When she had prayed to the Immortal Lady, she had prayed for the child to survive, to be educated, and to go to the city.

Now, all of that had come true.

This was a good thing, truly a good thing, a wonderful thing. She was happy for that child.

Her tears continued to fall.

Yun Song handed her a tissue. She always felt a pang of pity for a mother’s tears, but that child was someone she had rescued from the cliff. She would never, ever send her back.

And so, she took a step back and said, “If you are willing to go to the city…”

“I don’t have any money…” Xingzi shook her head reflexively. “I don’t have any skills either. I only know how to farm and raise chickens…”

She had never left this place. On one hand, she was afraid to leave, and on the other, she felt a deep sense of guilt toward that child.

This guilt, combined with her own understanding of the world, led her to the conclusion that if the child didn’t have her, she would have a better future.

Among all the people here, even the boys, several generations might not be enough to produce a single child who could make it to university. Yet her daughter could directly become the child of a university teacher.

If she went there, would they still be able to treat the child as their own flesh and blood? Moreover, she had an older daughter. Would she have to take her older daughter to the city too? What would they live on? Would those people be willing to help her again?

Furthermore, if she left, what would happen to her parents’ family? What would happen here?

The moment she ran away, would the Village Chief’s family let it go? They would either constantly harass her parents’ family or search for her everywhere.

They would never let it go. She knew it. Everything was like vine after vine, locking her firmly in place, making it impossible for her to move an inch.

She looked at Ming Wen, knowing in her heart that she would likely never encounter Ming Wen again in this lifetime.

She thought for a moment, wiped away her tears, and spoke quickly, “Immortal Lady, can I ask one more favor of you?”

“Go ahead,” Yun Song said, still not correcting the title of Immortal Lady. She knew that the woman needed an Immortal Lady right now.

“Don’t tell anyone about this. Don’t tell me any more news about her, and don’t tell them anything about me. Just act as if I am already dead.”

She was still young. She didn’t know if she would change in the future, and she was faintly afraid that she might.

Since she had already made her choice.

Then she was willing to give that child a future without any worries or burdens.

It was the final fulfillment of her motherly love at this very moment.

Yun Song understood what she meant. She had countless things she wanted to say, but in the end, they all stuck in her throat, and she couldn’t utter a single word.

Over there, the police came to call for her. They were heading back.

As Yun Song walked out, she saw the woman standing under the doorframe. The square frame boxed her in. She seemed to want to step forward, but she stopped almost immediately.

She stood there, watching Yun Song from a distance, becoming the final image frozen in Yun Song’s memory of Xinghua Village.