It really seemed like Niuniu could understand, the belly quieted down, no more squirming.
Only then did Chen Mianmian realize her waist and belly were covered in blue and purple bruises.
Recalling the past, those were all marks the Female Supporting Character had given herself in an attempt to induce a miscarriage.
When her hand touched the bruises, a flood of memories belonging to the Female Supporting Character surged into her mind.
Originally, not knowing the Female Supporting Character, Chen Mianmian thought she was just a simple, extreme person.
A character crafted by the author solely to annoy readers.
But after flipping through the Female Supporting Character’s memories, she couldn’t help but shiver.
On the surface, the Female Supporting Character’s family had only three siblings—she was the middle child, the second.
But in reality, her mother had given birth to nine children in total, eight of whom were daughters.
Anniversary Celebration
Of those eight baby girls, except for the eldest sister and the Female Supporting Character, the rest were either sold or killed right after birth.
Before she turned three, the Female Supporting Character had witnessed her mother pinching her newborn baby sister to death.
Chen Jinhui was the only boy her mother had ever given birth to, and he was the whole family’s hope—the true glory of the ancestors.
The Female Supporting Character doted on and trusted her younger brother, and after discovering she was pregnant, she had originally wanted to go back to her ex-husband. But she believed Chen Jinhui’s lie that Zhao Lingcheng didn’t want the child, which led her to grit her teeth and punch her belly again and again, trying to get rid of Niuniu.
Her stomach rumbled, hunger pulling Chen Mianmian back to reality.
She spoke softly,
“Niuniu, you must be hungry. I’ll eat something now—when I’m full, you’ll be full too.”
Her stomach gurgled twice more, squirmed again, as if Niuniu was responding to her.
Patting her belly gently, Chen Mianmian couldn’t help but say,
“Niuniu is such a good girl.”
For the sake of her career, she’d never married or had children.
She was in her thirties and had barely dated.
After more than ten years of hard work, she finally bought a comfortable, spacious flat and had an eight-figure savings.
But as she got older, the feeling of loneliness grew heavier.
She didn’t want to get married, but she really wanted a child.
Suddenly transmigrating into a pregnant woman was hard to adapt to, but her instinct to love children made her want to raise the baby.
She’d better find something to eat first.
Relying on memory, she opened the Green Schoolbag hanging on the wall.
Inside was an oil-paper package.
She opened it and saw half a piece of dark cornbread and a cold cooked potato.
Chen Mianmian put them back, then pulled out a tin-foil packet labeled [Yak Milk Powder].
She sniffed it to confirm it was milk powder—she’d eat that.
There was a Canned Bottle on the windowsill, which the Female Supporting Character used as a water cup.
Lifting the thermos from the corner, Chen Mianmian made herself a cup of milk powder.
But the water was too hot to drink for now.
So she grabbed Chen Jinhui’s woolen overcoat hanging on the wall.
Feeling inside the inner pocket, her heart leaped with joy—there was a Wallet, and it felt thick.
Inside the Wallet were eight one-yuan notes and three five-yuan notes.
Flipping through the compartments, she found a Deposit Book for 20 yuan.
This money was actually the divorce compensation Zhao Lingcheng gave the Female Supporting Character—200 yuan in total.
But as soon as she got the money, Chen Jinhui shamelessly took it and spent it himself.
Putting the Wallet back in her pocket, Chen Mianmian took a sip of the milk powder—ouch, too hot!
As she was blowing on the milk powder, Chen Jinhui’s voice sounded outside: “Why would I lie to you? It really was my second sister who hit me.”
Immediately, a woman’s voice followed: “Second Sister, could she have gone crazy?”
This was the Great Northwest, and this place was called Quancheng.
Chen Mianmian was staying at the State Guesthouse in the city center.
It was a courtyard formed by interconnected two-story buildings.
At the main entrance was a tiled house serving as the front desk.
The Female Supporting Character was hiding here to get an abortion because her sister-in-law, Xu Xiaomei, worked here as an accountant.
Chen Jinhui had just found his wife, and the two were tending to his wounds.
Xu Xiaomei didn’t believe her second sister-in-law would hit her husband, because Chen Jinhui was a golden phoenix who had flown out of the countryside.
Though born in a rural village, he’d come to the city for work and landed himself a respectable Iron Rice Bowl.
His whole family doted on him so much they’d give him the flesh off their bones if they could—especially the second sister-in-law.
Saying she’d hit him was simply unbelievable.
As she wiped her husband’s wounds, Xu Xiaomei asked softly,
“Did she lose the baby? Did Second Sister lose her mind and start hitting people?”
It didn’t matter if her husband got a little beaten—what mattered was that illegitimate child; it needed to be gotten rid of quickly.
Chen Jinhui was trembling in pain, but sighed,
“Lose the baby? She hasn’t even taken the Abortifacient Medicine yet.”
Xu Xiaomei’s hand paused.
“Then what about your promotion, and my brother’s job?”
Chen Jinhui was baffled too.
His always obedient second sister had suddenly changed her temperament.
If she didn’t get an abortion, how could she marry Wei Section Chief?
How would he get promoted?
Seeing her husband hesitate, Xu Xiaomei said,
“If we wait any longer, it’ll be too late. Should we just force it down her?”
Chen Jinhui hesitated.
“She’s changed. She’s become so fierce. What if she makes a scene and someone hears?”
Xu Xiaomei patted her husband and whispered something, then added,
“Bitter first, sweet later. We’re doing this for her own good.”
Chen Jinhui hesitated a long time, but still nodded.
“She’s my sister—she’ll forgive me.”
Chen Mianmian sipped the scalding milk powder as she continued rummaging through the schoolbag.
The rules of transmigration meant she couldn’t go back.
Even if she didn’t take the Abortifacient Medicine and waited for a Natural Birth, she might still face Difficulty in Childbirth and Massive Hemorrhage.
If she wanted to give birth safely, she had to act now.
She found a red-covered Notebook in the bag and quickly flipped through the pages.
Zhao Lingcheng was also working in Quancheng, but not in the city itself—he was deep in the desert at the Military Industrial Base.
That place not only had the country’s most advanced medical equipment, but the Military Hospital doctors there were also the best and most skilled, selected from all over the nation.
If she didn’t want to suffer childbirth injuries, she had to get back to the Military Industrial Base.
The Notebook listed many contact addresses, but when she found Zhao Lingcheng’s, Chen Mianmian skipped over it.
Because after the divorce, Chen Jinhui had used her name to ask him for money several times.
He got so fed up that he told his unit to reject any letters from her.
Turning a few more pages, she found an address that made her eyes light up.
It was Zhao Lingcheng’s younger aunt, Zhao Hui’s.
She was also in Quancheng, and as long as she could contact her, everything could be solved.
Closing the Notebook, Chen Mianmian was about to go out when the wooden window creaked.
A girl poked her head in from outside and asked,
“Classmate Chen, what were you arguing about just now?”
The girl was wearing a waitress uniform.
Chen Mianmian found her face familiar but couldn’t recall where they’d met.
She was an employee here and Xu Xiaomei’s colleague.
Not knowing her intentions, Chen Mianmian stayed quiet.
The girl added,
“Accountant Xu’s husband just went into the storeroom and took a long rope, he…”
Glancing toward the main door, the girl continued,
“He said something about tying someone up.”
Following the girl’s gaze, Chen Mianmian saw Xu Xiaomei peering around at the entrance, but Chen Jinhui was nowhere to be seen.
The post office was right across from the State Guesthouse—she could send a Telegraph to Zhao Hui from there.
But Chen Mianmian knew that Xu Xiaomei wanted to get all three of her brothers into the Railway System.
That was why she was so eager to marry the Female Supporting Character off to Wei Section Chief.
If Chen Mianmian went to the post office herself, would Xu Xiaomei really not try to stop her or mess things up?
Thinking of this, she quickly jotted down the address and a message in pencil, tore off the paper, and handed it along with five yuan to the girl.
“Please, could you go to the post office and send a Telegraph to this address for me, and also…”
She added,
“Go to the Public Security Bureau and find the highest-ranking Leadership. Tell them someone’s trying to kidnap me.”
She stuck out her belly, tears streaming down her face.
“I’m a pregnant woman, you have to help me.”
The girl quickly said,
“Alright, alright!”
She added,
“Bolt the door and shut the windows tight, I’ll go get the police to rescue you right now.”
From Chen Mianmian’s experience, as long as she showed her plight to another woman, she could almost always count on selfless help.
Xu Xiaomei’s gaze swept over, and the girl quickly lowered her head and left.
Chen Mianmian stared unblinkingly and saw the girl leave the main gate, circle around, and enter the post office.
She let out a sigh of relief, then looked for Xu Xiaomei, but found she had disappeared too.
Chen Mianmian didn’t relax her guard and continued to busy herself.
She couldn’t put all her hope in a stranger—she had to be ready to run at any time.
Then she realized a problem: her belly was so big that her cotton coat couldn’t be buttoned up.
Usually, the Female Supporting Character would use a cloth strip to bind her belly and barely fasten the buttons, but that would squeeze the baby.
The April weather in the Great Northwest was still cold—if she didn’t wear a cotton coat, she’d catch a cold.
What to do?
After thinking it over, Chen Mianmian took off the cotton-padded jacket and put on Chen Jinhui’s woolen overcoat.
She didn’t know what kind of wool it was made from, but although it was oversized, it was light and especially warm.
There was milk powder and Vouchers in the Green Schoolbag, and her Introduction Letter—she needed to carry them all.
Just as she finished getting herself ready, Chen Jinhui returned.
He was empty-handed, but judging by the bulge at his waist, he’d wrapped a length of rope around himself.
Xu Xiaomei followed right behind, a towel in each hand and a bowl of bitter medicine.
It looked like the couple had decided to force her to take the medicine.
Xu Xiaomei deliberately said,
“You really are something. Why did you make Second Sister angry for no reason?”
She slapped her husband again.
“Go apologize to Second Sister. She loves you the most—she’ll forgive you.”
Chen Jinhui gave a push, saw the door was blocked, and said with a smile,
“Second Sister, I’m here to apologize.”
He added playfully,
“Open the door. If you want to hit me, go ahead, I’ll take it.”
He was the only boy in the family, his father had died early, and his mother and two sisters doted on him so much they would have given him the flesh off their bones.
If he wanted the stars in the sky, they’d build a ladder to fetch them for him.
Now that he’d humbled himself to apologize, how could a sister not open the door?
Once she opened the door, he’d tie her up, cover her mouth, force the medicine down, and after the miscarriage, coax her a bit—how could a sister not forgive her brother?
Unfortunately, Chen Mianmian wasn’t the Female Supporting Character.
And when it came to causing trouble, she was the ancestor of Chen Jinhui.
She pushed open the window, took a deep breath, and shouted,
“Someone come quick! Miscarriage! Forced abortion!”
Xu Xiaomei was the accountant here, she had status and cared about her reputation.
The sudden shout startled her.
She hurriedly said,
“Second Sister, aren’t you ashamed? Shut up!”
Divorced but pregnant, hiding in a guesthouse for an abortion—what a disgraceful thing, and she dared to shout about it?
Chen Jinhui grew anxious, banging on the door.
“Second Sister, open up, let’s talk this out!”
The guesthouse was full of guests, and at the shouting, many people opened their windows.
But Chen Mianmian was a top lawyer—the sharpest weapon she had was her tongue.
She shouted,
“The Leadership says productivity must keep up, and so must the population! But you’re forcing me to have an abortion—aren’t you going against current policy? That’s counter-revolutionary! Everyone, come catch the counter-revolutionaries!”
Forced abortion, counter-revolutionary—what explosive words.
Many guests came out of their rooms to watch up close.
People began to gossip,
“Who dares get an abortion these days? Who dares be counter-revolutionary?”
Xu Xiaomei was quick-witted and shouted,
“She’s crazy, just raving! Don’t believe her, everyone!”
Chen Jinhui couldn’t understand why his second sister suddenly seemed crazy.
Didn’t she want to marry a big official and be a Section Chief’s wife?
Didn’t she want Wei Section Chief to promote him and bring glory to the family?
But walking to the window, he still tried to reason with her,
“Second Sister, Officer Zhao doesn’t want you anymore. The whole village is laughing at you. If you don’t want to be laughed at, you have to marry a better man. Think about Wei Section Chief…”
In a flash, he grabbed the window sill and jumped up.
Once inside, he’d close the window, tie her up, cover her mouth.
If they just told others she was crazy and having a fit, no one would care.
Once she lost the baby and married the big official, she’d understand his intentions and forgive him.
That was what Chen Jinhui thought—he really believed he was doing it for his sister’s good.
But what he didn’t know was that Chen Mianmian had deliberately left the window open to lure him in.
Just as he was about to jump through, a kettle of boiling water was flung at him, drenching him from head to toe.
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