Volume One, Chapter One: The Child's Parentage Is Unknown
She was pregnant, but she didn’t know who the father was.
All she remembered from that night was that there were five men in that room. Her childhood sweetheart and fiancé, and several princes of the capital’s elite, hailed as the sons of heaven. The drug was too strong, the night too wild—she recalled little, believing her beloved Shang Lu had finally accepted her.
But the morning after, rumors of her entanglement with the heirs of powerful families swept through the city. Shang Lu, who had always cherished her, confronted her: “Are you sure the man you slept with was me?”
The other four denied any connection, vanished without a trace, and left her to bear all the shame and ridicule alone. They said, “Li Qiuning, you are the most shameless, licentious woman in the capital.”
It was all just a punishment to avenge her sister, a lesson for stealing another’s life. She deserved to be trampled.
She thought that being pregnant would make Shang Lu reconsider and agree to the engagement, but at the engagement banquet, he said, “The child in your womb is a bastard. Who would marry a woman so used up? You would only stain my family’s name.”
From then on, Li Qiuning could only survive in the shadows.
The young master of the Rong family, who once obeyed her every whim, forbade her from working properly at her sister’s request. She fainted several times from exhaustion, only to hear, “Don’t sully my sister’s path.”
The third young master of the Lu family, celebrated as the youngest and brightest surgeon in the medical world, cold and ascetic, would smile gently at her—but in the end, to please Li Qingran, he dragged her onto the operating table, determined to cut the child out.
He said, “Just dig it out and we’ll know whose it is. It’s definitely not mine. Ranran believes me.”
Her childhood playmate, now a rising star in the entertainment industry, once promised to dedicate his first award to her. But when Li Qingran cried, he wrote her name on the trophy before countless fans.
When they met again, standing atop the pyramid where everyone looked up to him, he mocked her plight: “So you finally have a day like this—kneel and beg Ranran to spare you.”
The most aloof and pure monk in the circles, renowned for his discipline and virtue, rumored never to touch women nor worldly affairs, once prayed for her safety, descended from the high temple, and promised no one would ever harm her.
Yet at Li Qingran’s request, he ordered her leg broken, nearly caused her to miscarry, banished her from the capital never to return, all to avoid upsetting her sister.
Li Qiuning and her child were abandoned.
Until her death, she atoned for the life she had stolen.
Just a door away, her fiancé and her sister were inside, tangled together.
“Sixth Brother, aren’t we being unfair to Qiuning?” her sister said.
“She was unfair to me long ago. Don’t mention anyone who spoils the mood now,” he replied.
He coaxed, she laughed.
Now that she was reborn, she would never waste her time on others again, nor seek affection. The child inside her belonged to them; she would not keep it.
…
After hearing those harsh words for so long, she had become numb. Li Qiuning placed the hangover soup at the door and turned away.
If she wanted to let go, she had to take away everything that held her back.
But she hadn’t expected Shang Lu, who should have been locked in battle with Li Qingran for hours, to return so soon.
He saw her packing, and despite her pregnancy, lit a cigarette without concern.
He strolled to the balcony, impatience written all over his face. “What are you doing? Starting trouble again?”
Li Qiuning said nothing, silently packing her things.
Shang Lu made a phone call. “Bring her over later, you guys can play first. The birthday gift is the one we prepared before; she’ll like it.”
Tonight was Li Qingran’s birthday. The group of young masters had rented the entire Xiling Mountain for the little princess. The night’s fireworks and the early-blooming hibiscus stunned the whole city; these special honors once belonged to Li Qiuning.
Those reckless young men used to say: “There’s only one princess in the capital, and that’s Li Qiuning.”
But now, she no longer felt jealousy or anger—none of it mattered to her anymore.
Shang Lu finished his call and turned back to see her icy demeanor. “I’m asking you.”
Li Qiuning picked up her suitcase, removed the engagement ring from her finger, and looked at the man she had loved for so long, her heart dry and empty. “Let’s call off the engagement. I’ll abort the child…”
Before she finished, Shang Lu’s expression darkened, he threw away his cigarette, approached her menacingly. “Cancel? You think you have a choice?”
“Shang Lu, isn’t this what you wanted? You always knew the child wasn’t yours. This engagement was always a joke. Let’s let each other go…”
She tried to step back, but he grabbed her arm forcefully. She looked up at him, resolute, with no regrets.
Shang Lu’s features, always handsome, now seemed cold as a brewing storm. “The child isn’t mine—how dare you deceive me, Li Qiuning!”
He ignored her plea for release, furious. She really had a bastard with another man!
Which of the other four had touched her?
Her arm hurt from his grip, and she couldn’t understand his madness. “Enough! You’re the one who drugged my wine, Shang Lu. You have no heart! That night, I thought it was you, so I… You toyed with me like that—of course the child isn’t yours!”
“You should ask those four whose child it is—but it doesn’t matter. Tonight, I’ll abort it!”
Shang Lu’s face was grim, about to speak when he saw a figure at the door, his gaze turning even colder. “Still arguing? You tried to poison Ranran. I punished you—what’s wrong with that? You’re vicious!”
“I saw you flirting with them—don’t think they’ll show you any mercy.”
He lost control and pushed her.
Li Qiuning slammed into the cabinet behind her, her delicate brows knitted, one hand clutching her stomach, her face pale with pain.
“Stop pretending. It’s just a bump,” Shang Lu sneered, reaching to pull her up.
Sweat broke out on Li Qiuning’s forehead as she tried to push him away. “It hurts…”
Shang Lu eyed her suspiciously, but still took out his phone to call an ambulance.
Outside, someone bumped into something, seemed to cry, and hurried away.
“Ranran!” Shang Lu abandoned his fiancée without hesitation and chased after her.
Li Qiuning, biting her lip, steadied herself against the cabinet and slowly stood. She had never seen Shang Lu care so much for another woman—so it was simply something she could never have.
She called an ambulance.
After much difficulty, she arrived at the hospital.
The doctor said her situation was critical, surgery would be needed to save the child, but a family member’s signature was required.
Seeing her weakness, the nurse called her family for her.
She had listed her parents, but found herself blocked—who gets blocked by their own parents?
Her contacts were full of numbers; the one marked as “special attention” was her fiancé. The nurse dialed immediately.
It rang for a long time before he answered.
“What is it?” Shang Lu sounded extremely impatient.
The nurse, looking awkward, said, “Your fiancée is in critical condition. You need to come to First Hospital…”
Cold and ruthless, Shang Lu replied, “Still putting on a show? Li Qiuning, you really can’t let me go…”
“Sixth Brother, who are you calling? Is it your sister?”
“Better off dead,” he said, and hung up.
Beeps echoed.
Li Qiuning, remembering all that had happened in her past life, thought perhaps this child really shouldn’t be born. Pain drained all color from her face. “Doctor… abortion. I don’t want the child…”
The pain was too much; she fainted.
“Ning’er.”
She remembered hearing this voice when she died in her last life—someone told her not to die.
Was there someone who cared about her?
Li Qiuning slowly opened her eyes, staring at the white ceiling, her hand instinctively reaching for her belly.
Was the child gone?
Her vision cleared bit by bit, and she noticed a man standing by her hospital bed.
She recognized him, her fingers clutching the blanket, eyes wary.