In reality, Shen Zhijing had stood there for a majority of the night.

Initially, Shen Zhijing stayed in her room. However, she could not sleep, as she still could not swallow the idea. So, she went out to the hallway and stood in front of the door where she waited.

She did not expect to hear Ruan Danchen's passionate moans throughout the night. Shen Zhijing sobbed and gasped as she wondered about how Qi Chenglin went down on Ruan Danchen.

Shen Zhijing felt only envy as Qi Chenglin, and Ruan Danchen had sex in the room. She even imagined that she was the woman inside.

Finally, Ruan Danchen came out with dark circles around her eyes from lack of sleep. Nevertheless, her skin still glowed. Her skin even had a hint of flush, especially on her cheeks. They looked delicate and beautiful. Those were only minimal signs, but Shen Zhijing could already tell how good Qi Chenglin was in bed.

Shen Zhijing's eyes flushed with envy. She clenched her teeth, but Ruan Danchen turned her gaze away from her and walked past with an impassive expression. Suddenly, Ruan Danchen heard the door closed behind her. She stopped in her steps and turned her head around. However, Shen Zhijing had gone into the room, and the door was shut.

Ruan Danchen's stomach twisted intensely. She returned to the guest room that she was in the day before.

Her daughter had slept with a stranger for her benefit, and yet Liu Ronghua was not the least bit worried. She slept like a baby on the bed.

She only woke up when she heard Ruan Danchen closed the door. When she saw that it was her daughter, she quickly sat up.

"Danchen, how did it go?" Liu Ronghua asked hastily.

Ruan Danchen glanced at Liu Ronghua without any expression on her face. She frowned and then went into the toilet without saying a word to her mother. She locked the door.

"Danchen!" Liu Ronghua yelled as she got off the bed and chased her to the toilet.

Ruan Danchen turned on the tap and sat on the toilet bowl lid. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

After what felt like an eternity, she finally calmed down. She washed her face with cold water and stared at her disheveled face through the mirror. There were horrible dark lines around her eyes, and her face was as pale as a ghost.

She held onto the side of the sink with both of her hands. Suddenly, she chuckled. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she laughed maniacally.

She did not even know how she felt at that moment. However, she knew that she felt aggrieved. She felt as if something had been snatched from her, and yet it was not her virginity, nor was it her innocence. It was something that she could not describe, and it made her awfully dejected.

Liu Ronghua paced anxiously in front of the toilet door. Finally, the door opened, and Ruan Danchen came out with a blank expression. She grabbed her bag from the table and headed toward the door.

"Danchen, where are you going?" Liu Ronghua followed behind her and grabbed her arm.

Ruan Danchen pulled her arm away. "I've done my part. There's no need for me to stay here."

She rushed out of the room, but Liu Ronghua stopped in her steps. She did not dare to chase her as she was afraid that Qi Chenglin would notice that.

When Ruan Danchen passed by Qi Chenglin's room, she could not help but pause in her steps. She turned her head and glanced at the room. As she clutched her bag tightly, she bolted down the stairs.

…

…

Shen Zhijing stood beside the bed. She stared at Qi Chenglin's half-exposed body with love and greed. She unbuttoned her shirt slowly and stripped herself naked. Then she climbed onto the bed.

When she was about to tuck herself under the blanket, she saw the red splatter of stain that Ruan Danchen had left. She sulked. Then she scooted toward Qi Chenglin, who was still sound asleep and cuddled herself into his embrace.

She frowned when she smelled Ruan Danchen's scent on his body. Shen Zhijing pressed her lips firmly together as her hands slid down Qi Chenglin's body, past his abdomen, and finally, she grabbed at his private part.

However, no matter how much Shen Zhijing teased him, he did not react at all. Shen Zhijing's frowned again. Was she really that unattractive? Finally, she got under the blanket. She did it until her mouth was numb, and yet Qi Chenglin was still deep in his sleep. He had no reaction at all.

Shen Zhijing had no choice but to give up. She told herself that Qi Chenglin was too tired. He had been drugged too strongly and was completely drained of energy. Then she laid back into his arms.

…

…

At around seven in the morning, Aunt Li opened the door and walked into the room, just as they had planned. When she saw Qi Chenglin and Shen Zhijing laid naked together on the bed, she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Her screams shocked Qi Chenglin back into the land of the living. The moment he opened his eyes, he felt a weight in his arms.

When he looked down, Shen Zhijing had coincidentally just woke up as well. She wrapped herself in the blanket shamefully. With an intense blush, she stared down on the bed, as if she was too afraid to look at Qi Chenglin.

Qi Chenglin squinted his eyes. Shen Zhijing had pulled the blanket toward herself, and so he could only grab a pillow to hide his modesty. When he looked around the room, he immediately noticed the red stain on the bed. He looked at Shen Zhijing dumbfoundedly. He tried to remember what happened the previous night. He knew that he had a woman with him, and that little fact alone unbridled him.

However, was that woman Shen Zhijing?

As he pondered about that, Shen Jialiang dashed in hastily. When he saw the two of them, he widened his eyes and fumed, "Qi Chenglin, what are you doing! I was kind enough to let you stay at my house for the night, and yet you— My daughter— You—"

Qi Chenglin's eyebrows knitted. His throat was dry for some reason. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse. "This should be my guest room."

"I… You got drunk yesterday, so I came over to see how you were doing. I wanted to check if you were feeling alright. But you grabbed me so suddenly and—" Shen Zhijing merely glanced at him once, then turned away again bashfully. Her hands clasped onto the blanket tightly.

"Qi Chenglin, you are so brave! How dare you steal my daughter's innocence in my house!" Shen Jialiang yelled as he pointed his finger furiously at Qi Chenglin.

"I don't remember drinking much yesterday night. How could I have had so little self-control?" Qi Chenglin narrowed his eyes skeptically.

When he had a moment of clarity the night before, he realized that he had been drugged, and he knew that the Shen family tried to frame him. He knew that he had been too young and too naive to underestimate the Shen family's shamelessness.

Nonetheless, it did not matter as the Shen family would never admit that.

"How am I supposed to know? Qi Chenglin, you are caught red-handed in our home, and yet you still won't admit to it?" Shen Jialiang raged.

Qi Chenglin was remarkably composed. His voice was still hoarse, but he asked, "Then what do you want me to do?"

"What do I want you to do? Do I have to spell it out for you? I want you to take responsibility for my daughter!" Shen Jialiang shouted furiously.

Qi Chenglin's lips curled up into a taunting smile as he stared calmly at Shen Jialiang. Shen Jialiang thought that Qi Chenglin would never agree to his demands so easily, but he already had plans for if he refused.

Shen Jialiang knew that Qi Chenglin would eventually find out that they had drugged him. However, they were in their home turf, so how could Qi Chengzhi's words compete with them?

Thus, he did not expect it when Qi Chenglin said, "Fine."

His lips curled up into a sneer, but it showed neither a hint of anger nor annoyance.

…

…

Even though Ruan Danchen had returned to her hostel and started to attend her classes, Shen Jialiang still sent his people to monitor her behavior. He also commanded Liu Ronghua to buy pregnancy kits for her every week.

A month later, Ruan Danchen tested positive for pregnancy. She also confirmed it at the hospital. Shen Jialing demanded that the university suspend her classes temporarily, and he made her stay at home all day. He could not risk anything to go wrong.

Half a month later, Liu Ronghua joyfully announced that Shen Zhijing was engaged to Qi Chenglin. It was because the Shen family had shown him the results of the pregnancy test.

Throughout her pregnancy, Shen Jialiang ordered his driver to bring Ruan Danchen health tonics every day. He also had her brought to the hospital for regular check-ups.

However, no one expected that Ruan Danchen would give birth prematurely, about two months before her due date.

The doctor put her under anesthesia and performed a caesarian section surgery to deliver the baby.

When Ruan Danchen woke up on the hospital bed, she saw that only Liu Ronghua was with her.

Ruan Danchen was terrified when she saw her mother's ashen face and blood-shot eyes. She put her hand on her belly, and she noticed that there was a huge wound across it. The anesthetic had lost its effect, and it hurt like hell.

"Where's the baby?" Ruan Danchen asked with trembling lips. She was so petrified that her eyes welled up with tears.

Even though she knew that the child would never be hers, she still felt a maternal bond with the baby. After all, she did spend the last seven months with the baby in her stomach, and she had watched her belly grew little by little daily. It was only natural that she would be reluctant to part with her baby.

"They couldn't save the child." Liu Ronghua turned away as if she could not bear to see Ruan Danchen's grief.

"What? How is that possible?" Ruan Danchen felt as if half her soul had left her body.

She was not the typical surrogate mother as she had made the child with Qi Chenglin through natural means. She had long developed feelings for the child in her stomach.

She touched her belly, but it no longer protruded. The child was gone; the little life that resided inside her was gone. Ruan Danchen felt incomplete. Half her soul was gone.

Her body tremored as she sobbed silently. "I was so careful during pregnancy… I was so cautious… Why… Why was it born prematurely…"

"Danchen, please don't dwell on this. Even though the child is gone, you'll still have more opportunities in the future. This premature birth won't affect your future pregnancies. It is an accident that no one wished for, and the Shen family doesn't blame you for it. The child came out early. When it was taken out, it was already… It was not breathing." Liu Ronghua held Ruan Danchen's hand. "The doctors have tried, but they couldn't save him."

"Why… How did this happen…" Ruan Danchen turned her face away as if she did not want to look at Liu Ronghua.

Even though she knew that the child would not be hers after it was born, she still wished for the child to be born healthy. Despite that, it did not even get a chance to the world, or to see its mother.

Even a single glance would satisfy her!

She wanted to see the child too, and to engrave it in her memory forever.

"Was… was it a boy or a girl?" Ruan Danchen asked as she wept.

"It was a boy," Liu Ronghua murmured.

"My child, I'm so sorry… I'm sorry… My baby… It's all my fault… I didn't take care of you… I'm sorry…"

…

…

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" Ruan Danchen woke up abruptly on the bed with a face full of tears. She fixed her gaze on the familiar ceiling of the room that she rented.

She was still in a daze, so she could not differentiate between dream and reality. Her tears flowed endlessly. Her heart ached as she felt a massive weight pressed against her chest. She felt suffocated.

Ruan Danchen panted heavily and trembled weakly. She wiped her tears with a handkerchief, and it was only then that she was certain that she was indeed in her rented room.

She sat up slowly, and in exhaustion. It had been a while since she last had that dream, but it had returned, and it was much more intense and severe.

She dried her tears and then blew her nose. She got off the bed and went into the washroom that was adjacent to her room. She stared at her disheveled face through the mirror. She looked like she did that morning.

When Liu Ronghua told her that the child was gone, she did not suspect anything. While she recovered in the hospital, Liu Ronghua only came by occasionally. She had merely employed a maternity matron to take care of Ruan Danchen.

Once her wound healed and she had completed her month of confinement, she discharged herself from the hospital without informing Liu Ronghua.

At that time, she still had more than two months before school resumed, so she applied for a full-time job as a cashier in a fast-food restaurant. She also went to the university to make arrangements so that she could resume her classes and to apply for a student loan.

When school started again, she resigned and only worked part-time. Eventually, she saved enough money to pay for her school fees and to repay the loan.

During that whole time, Liu Ronghua never contacted her even though she did not change her phone number.

One day, she saw a news article on the Internet mentioned that the Qi family had retracted from their engagement with the Shen family. Previously, there were rumors that Qi Chenglin's fiancée, Shen Zhijing, was pregnant. Since Qi Chenglin went back on the engagement, the world assumed that the child was not his.

However, not long after that, another news portal reported that Qi Chenglin's son celebrated his first birthday. Everyone was confused because not many people knew that he had a son. They calculated his son's birthday, and they deduced that he was not Shen Zhijing's son either because his birthday was two whole months before her due date.

So, the world came up with another theory. They thought that Qi Chenglin must have had another woman on the side, and that was why he refused to marry Shen Zhijing. Qi Chenglin was immediately thrown into a whirlpool of insults. People condemned him as a love rat, a cheater, and many other names.

Nonetheless, even though Shen Zhijing claimed to be pregnant, there was no news about the birth of her baby. Therefore, some informed sources speculated that she was not pregnant in the first place, or that Qi Chenglin had been duped.

All the spectators and journalists were thrown into confusion with all those theories. Eventually, no one cared about that news anymore.

When Ruan Danchen saw the news, her heart stopped. She made some calculations based on the information on the news, and she knew that Qi Chenglin's son was born around the same time she went into labor.

She did not know the exact date, and so she did not dare to dive into the matter just yet. She was also afraid that the Qi family would misunderstand her intentions.

She would have still given them the child had he survived. Even though she wanted to raise him, she knew that it was impossible, so she would rather not harbor hopes for that. She only wished for the child to be healthy. She really wanted Qi Chenglis's son to be her child.

After she had her suspicions, she arranged a stakeout outside of Qi Chenglin's family home to catch a glimpse of the child. However, her efforts were in vain. She tried to get more information from the news, but the Qi family had protected the child too well, and not a single information was leaked to the media.

So, she went to see Liu Ronghua. Initially, she resolved to have as little contact as possible with her mother. However, since she wanted to uncover the truth about her child, she did not hesitate to go see her.

Unfortunately, the apartment that they lived in had a new owner then. Liu Ronghua had long moved out.

Ruan Danchen was worried about her mother. She wondered if Shen Jialiang had kicked Liu Ronghua out of his mansion because she failed to help the Shen family to achieve their goal.

If that was the case, then Ruan Danchen regretted that she did not contact her for so long. Liu Ronghua could not survive on her own, so she was extremely concerned about her.

If Shen Jialiang had really abandoned her, Ruan Danchen would definitely step in to take care of her.

However, when Ruan Danchen called Liu Ronghua, her words were slurred and vague. Liu Ronghua ended the call in haste. She did not even manage to tell Ruan Danchen about her situation.

So, Ruan Danchen decided to go to the Shen family's home and question Shen Jialiang herself. She was surprised to see Liu Ronghua walked out of the courtyard, and she was dressed elegantly and luxuriously. She entered the Shen family's car and left the compound.

Ruan Danchen hid outside the Shen family's courtyard and waited. At around four in the evening, Liu Ronghua returned to the mansion. Ruan Danchen waited until midnight, and yet Liu Ronghua never came back out.

Chills surged through Ruan Danchen's body. It looked like Liu Ronghua had successfully moved into the Shen family's home. Otherwise, Shen Jialiang would never have let her waltz in and out of the house whenever she pleased.