Side Story: Mother (2)

(Wuxi Li’s perspective)

Jiang Man’s hematopoietic stem cells were continuously infused into Zong Yanlei’s body without causing fever, rejection, or any adverse reactions. In just three days, his immune system began to rebuild, and his spirits improved day by day.

“What did you say?” Wuxi Li stood behind the curtain, momentarily doubting whether she had misheard.

“I want a child with Jiang Man.” Zong Yanlei leaned against the headboard, writing something on his electronic screen. He didn’t even look up when he spoke, as if this was a matter of course that didn’t need explanation. “I’ve researched it. On Daiyu, same-sex couples can undergo assisted reproduction. We just need to use Jiang Man’s bone marrow cells to generate eggs, combine them with my sperm, and use an artificial womb. That way, we can have a child.”

Wuxi Li was terrified by this shocking idea, but what she feared was not the proposal itself, but Zong Yanlei’s mental state, she felt that Zong Yanlei might have gone mad.

“Who will raise this child in the future?” She forced herself to calm down and ask the question that most worried her.

“Of course it’s me.” Zong Yanlei finally looked up from behind the electronic screen. “He is my child. If I can’t raise him myself, why would I bring him into this world?”

“But you’re getting married to the princess next month.”

“I don’t love her.”

“But she’s a princess, how could she possibly raise someone else’s child for you…”

“She’s pregnant.”

Wuxi Li froze. Her sensitivity to royal scandals made her feel like a stressed cat, the hairs on the back of her neck almost standing on end.

She knew Zong Yanlei; he never said anything without basis. Since he said Chu Luo was pregnant, then Chu Luo must be pregnant.

“When did she tell you?” Wuxi Li raised her hand and clutched her forehead, her temples throbbing with pain.

“Not long ago,” Zong Yanlei said calmly, “she raises her child, and I raise mine. Isn’t it fair?”

Upon hearing this, Wuxi Li’s headache worsened: “That’s not how you use the word ‘fair.’”

Zong Yanlei did not argue further.

“Mother, please.”

Wuxi Li froze again. She slowly lowered her hand and looked towards the curtain, but could only see a blurry white figure.

He was begging her.

She couldn’t even remember the last time he begged her.

“Please, I need a child.” He almost murmured at the end, “I really… really need a child.”

Based on her understanding of Zong Yanlei, Wuxi Li suddenly realized that his desire for Jiang Man’s child might not be out of spite, nor to use the child to compete for Jiang Man’s attention. He wanted a child because he needed one; otherwise, he would see no “hope.”

Wuxi Li clenched her fist, her nails digging into her palm: “Jiang Man is still in the basement. If you’re willing, we’ll lock him up for life.”

A long silence followed behind the curtain. After a series of complex thoughts and struggles, Zong Yanlei ultimately did not agree.

“Let him go.” He sighed, as if saying just those three words had exhausted all the strength he had just mustered. He tossed the electronic screen aside, fell to his side, and his voice was so soft it was almost inaudible, “I don’t want to see him again.”

After a while, Wuxi Li quietly lifted the curtain a little. Zong Yanlei unauthorized copylay curled up on his side on the bed, his eyes closed. Even in his sleep, his brows were still tightly furrowed.

Although he survived, he was like a hollowed-out tree, once so indestructible, now easily broken by the slightest touch.

She knew she should have been tougher: continuing to imprison Jiang Man and using him to control Zong Yanlei would have been a million times more reliable than creating a child. But looking at the figure before her, so pained and exhausted like a wounded animal, she couldn’t say a single word of refusal.

Ultimately, she agreed to Zong Yanlei’s proposal. To mitigate potential future risks, she had Butler Li prepare a “Parental Rights Waiver,” along with two gold bars, and gave them to Jiang Man.

She didn’t intend for Jiang Man to know about the child’s existence, nor did Zong Yanlei, so the contents of the agreement were obscured.

A month later, Zong Yanlei had fully recovered and held a grand wedding with the princess. Three months later, they announced the good news that she was pregnant with twins. The royal family had not heard the cries of new life for many years, and this news plunged the entire country into a sea of jubilation, like a spring breeze sweeping across a long-silent sea.

Since the princess was carrying a child conceived out of wedlock, the delivery date would be more than a month earlier than the publicly announced date. However, since it was a twin pregnancy, there was a risk of premature birth, so this was understandable.

The only problem was that, in this way, the child on Daiyu Island must also be “cut out” from the artificial womb at the same time and sent to Penglai.

These two children, one Chu Luo’s with her lover, and the other Zong Yanlei’s with a Wo person, represented grave crimes of tainting the royal bloodline that Wuxi Li had helped conceal. But at that time, she couldn’t care less about anything else.

In the face of madness and death, she preferred that Zong Yanlei live a mad life.

Four months later, Chu Luo gave birth to a baby girl at full term in Bazel.

That evening, Zong Yinzhuo, who was only eight months old and as fragile as a kitten, was sent to Baiyujing and placed directly in an incubator.

Zong Yanlei stood outside the incubator, his gaze fixed on the small, rosy-skinned child. His lifeless eyes lit up, as if a hollow tree had finally come back to life, sprouting new branches and leaves.

“He looks a lot like you when you were a child,” Wuxi Li commented.

Through the transparent glass, Zong Yanlei gently touched the baby’s eyes with his fingertips, his tone tinged with regret and helplessness: “Only the eyes resemble Jiang Man’s.”

When the little one was brought in, his eyes were slightly open. They were bright red, beautiful eyes.

This trait was too obvious. For the rest of his life, he would have to inject a special drug every forty-eight hours to conceal this Wo gene.

Three days later, the doctor assessed that although the baby was premature, his body temperature and breathing were stable, and he could leave the incubator and go home with his parents.

On the day she was discharged from the hospital, Chu Luo gently lifted the swaddling clothes in the baby carrier and peeked inside. Her bodyguard lover was visit our site standing behind her, holding their child.

“He’s so small,” she looked up and asked Zong Yanlei, “Have you thought of a name for him yet?”

Zong Yanlei looked tenderly at the sleeping child and said slowly, “His nickname is ‘Xiao Mitang,’ and his formal name is…” He looked at Wuxi Li as he spoke.

Several months ago, he asked Wuxi Li if she could name the child. Wuxi Li thought about it for a long time and finally decided on one.

“Zong Yinzhuo, Jade Tiger,” she said.

Chu Luo smiled and carefully tucked the child in: “What lovely names.”

Chu Luo and Zong Yanlei, each carrying an infant, slowly walked out of the hospital gate. A crowd of reporters were already waiting outside, all eager to grab the headlines.

Amidst the flashing lights, the newly minted parents beamed with genuine happiness in front of the cameras.

Wuxi Li stood behind them when she suddenly spotted a familiar figure in the crowd. The woman had a beautiful face that rivaled even that of nobles, and a pair of rare blue-green eyes. She was also holding the hand of a little boy who looked to be five or six years old.

That was Sha Lan, Zong Yanlei’s biological mother.

Wuxi Li’s expression changed, and she immediately ordered her bodyguard to bring the woman to see her.

In the spacious van, Sha Lan was roughly grabbed by the arm and thrown inside, while the crying child was shoved into another vehicle.

Sha Lan anxiously kept looking at the car, and when she turned around, her eyes were already filled with tears.

“Madam, I mean no harm. I just want to see the young master… If you don’t want to see me, I’ll leave immediately! Please… please don’t hurt my child!”

Wuxi Li narrowed her eyes: “Your child?”

Since Zong Yanlei was thirteen, Sha Lan had never come to ask for money again. Wuxi Li thought she was long dead in some ditch, but unexpectedly…

She lowered her gaze, glancing at the platinum ring on Sha Lan’s ring finger. Not only was she married, but she also had a child.

“I’ve changed, I’ve really changed!” Sha Lan pleaded, kneeling before Wuxi Li and grabbing her trouser leg as she used to. “Madam, I married a good man. He doesn’t care about my past and loves me very much. I know how to love now, I know how to be a good mother… I just… I just want to see that child and say ‘I’m sorry’ to him in person. That’s really all!”

Wuxi Li raised her hand and gently lifted her chin with a smile on her lips, but Read on her pure blue eyes were filled with frost.

“Do you know what kind of genetic disease he has?”

Sha Lan was stunned, and a teardrop slid down her well-maintained cheek.

“Do you know how much medication he needs to take every day?”

“Do you know which university he attends, what his hobbies are, what his favorite food is, what his favorite book is, and what his favorite movie is?”

Wuxi Li’s voice was as cold as the deepest part of the sea.

“When he was sick, I put him in front of you, but you ignored him and didn’t show any concern, only asking me for money; when he was dying, you settled down to get married and be a good mother to your youngest son, without even thinking of visiting him; now that he’s alive, you suddenly remember that you want to be a good mother and apologize to him?”

Aside from dealing with Zong Shen’an, Wuxi Li rarely acted so harshly or emotionally, but she couldn’t help it.

“Madam, I really…” Sha Lan cried, “I really meant no harm.”

“Enough, stop pretending!” Wuxi Li pinched Sha Lan’s cheeks, quickly pressing red marks onto her fair ​stolen content​skin. “He is my child.”

Her mouth spoke faster than her brain. A second after the words left her mouth, she realized what she had said.

Then it dawned on her: Yes, that was her child. That was her child.

He belonged to no one else but her.

“Don’t ever appear in front of him again.” Wuxi Li released her hand, glaring at her coldly, her tone dangerous, “Otherwise… I guarantee that you will lose everything you have gained, including your husband and your child, overnight.”

Sha Lan trembled, her eyes filled with fear.

Wuxi Li withdrew her gaze: “Get lost.”

Sha Lan couldn’t say a word. She hurriedly opened the car door, stumbled to another car, and carried the little boy out. She hugged the child tightly, glanced back at Wuxi Li, and then quickly left without looking back.

After that, Sha Lan never appeared again.