Chapter 33: The fact that she is still alive only proves your incompetence.

Outside the police station, Li Jingyan walked out, still dazed by the feeling of having narrowly escaped disaster. Liu Yanyan followed closely behind, a strange, almost provocative smile playing on her lips.

"Why did you bail me out?" Li Jingyan asked, his voice raspy and laced with suspicion. He knew exactly what he had done, and the bruises on Liu Yanyan were undeniable proof.

Before she could answer, his attention was drawn to a car parked at the entrance—a Rolls-Royce Phantom, its pitch-black body radiating a nobility that felt entirely out of place in this neighborhood. The rear window slid down slowly, revealing the imposing, naturally authoritative face of Qiao Guodong.

"Get in," he commanded, his tone brook no argument.

Liu Yanyan immediately moved with fawning eagerness, opening the door and slipping inside first. She sat pressed against Qiao Guodong, her posture intimate and sycophantic. Li Jingyan hesitated for a heartbeat before stooping to sit in the spacious backseat, directly opposite the pair.

The atmosphere inside the car was suffocating. Li Jingyan watched as Liu Yanyan leaned almost entirely against Qiao Guodong, and his stomach churned with nausea. Worse, Qiao Guodong’s hand rested naturally on her nylon-clad thigh, stroking it absentmindedly. Li Jingyan whipped his head away, his disgust intensifying.

"Mr. Qiao, what is this..." Li Jingyan forced himself to speak, fighting back his discomfort.

Qiao Guodong stared at him, his eyes sharp as a hawk’s, cutting him off to drop a bombshell: "Li Jingyan, or perhaps I should call you... Qiao Jingyan?"

Li Jingyan froze, his pupils constricting. "What... what do you mean?"

"I mean that you are my flesh and blood!" Qiao Guodong’s tone carried a condescending, charitable arrogance. "Your mother was just a woman I kept without a formal title. The Qiao family is complicated; I had you raised outside to keep you safe. It’s a pity your mother had such a short life, and then you were adopted by that Wang Xiulian—it took me quite some time to find you!"

This sudden revelation of his lineage exploded in Li Jingyan’s mind like a thunderclap. He was Qiao Guodong’s son? Qiao Chenye’s half-brother? After the shock passed, an overwhelming sense of ecstasy and ambition instantly drowned out any lingering resentment over being abandoned. He was Qiao Guodong’s son! What did that mean? It meant he, Li Jingyan, had climbed to the top in a single leap; he was no longer a poor boy living under someone else’s thumb! Theoretically, his status was not far behind Qiao Chenye’s.

"Father..." The word slipped out, colored by tentative, eager confirmation.

Qiao Guodong looked satisfied at the ambition he saw in the young man’s eyes and gave a grunt of acknowledgement. "Since I’ve found you, you must return to the family. The Qiao bloodline cannot remain drifting outside." His hand remained on Liu Yanyan’s leg, but his tone was that of a man discussing a misplaced object he had finally recovered.

Liu Yanyan snuggled into Qiao Guodong’s side, her eyes fixed on Li Jingyan with naked provocation and glee, as if to say: "Look, you couldn't have me, you looked down on me, and now I’ve become your father’s woman—your nominal elder. What can you do now?"

The look in her eyes and the sordid atmosphere of the car made Li Jingyan feel like he was sitting on pins and needles; the nausea was rising to his throat. He burst out, "Father! Since I am to return home, such a momentous occasion requires me to bring my wife, Wen Yan! She is my legally wedded wife, and she should return with me!"

He pushed the door open and scrambled out, desperate to escape this suffocating space and to grab onto Wen Yan—the only "clean" anchor he still subconsciously felt he had.

***

He dialed Wen Yan’s phone repeatedly, but no one answered. A nameless anxiety seized him, and he immediately took a taxi back to the home they had shared for five years.

The hallway seemed to have been renovated; it was unusually clean, and the neighbors across the hall had moved. He fished out his keys and opened the door, only to be greeted by a deathly, hollow silence. Wen Yan was gone. Most of her belongings were missing, and the air held a stale, dusty scent.

He slumped onto the sofa, looking around the space that was filled with memories but now felt incredibly cold. Five years of time flickered before his eyes—Wen Yan’s tenderness, her tolerance, her kindness... Only now did he realize what a precious treasure he had once possessed!

"I was truly blind... How could I have traded her for a piece of trash like Liu Yanyan, that slut who belongs to everyone..." He covered his face in agony, consumed by regret. This home was, in the end, to be abandoned completely—in a way he had never imagined.

***

Inside a VIP room at the hospital, Wen Yan woke up from a light sleep.

"System, perform a full body scan. What is going on?"

"Ding! Detected that the host has inhaled a large dose of a potent special-effect drug. It has caused strong irritation to the early-stage embryo, triggering symptoms of a threatened miscarriage. Bed rest is required."

"Pregnancy? I’m pregnant?" Wen Yan touched her lower abdomen in shock, unable to believe it.

"Host, data indicates you are 4 weeks and 3 days pregnant. Given your recent frequent intimate activities with Mr. Qiao Chenye without contraception, this result is logical."

Wen Yan: "...We can't just hold hands while dating, can we? I'm almost thirty!"

System: "But this system advises caution when 'driving,' especially..."

"Shut up!" Wen Yan was both annoyed and amused, but a tremendous sense of joy and the protective instinct that followed instantly filled her heart. She was going to be a mother! She was carrying Qiao Chenye’s child!

After the joy faded, she sank into confusion. In this world, she couldn't even protect herself—how was she supposed to protect this child?

Just then, Nurse Xiao Li walked in smiling with a treatment tray: "Miss Wen, it's time for your medication." Qiao Chenye followed, walking to the bedside to look at Wen Yan with concern. He asked tenderly about her condition, his eyes full of affection.

Wen Yan asked immediately, "Do you know too?"

Qiao Chenye blushed instantly, but then grabbed Wen Yan’s hand and swore, "Wen Yan, I don’t want to use the child to force you. Even though I want this baby very much, the choice is yours."

The sudden news of the child had indeed stunned Wen Yan, and Qiao Chenye’s words left her deep in thought.

Nurse Xiao Li skillfully prepared the medication, ready to inject it into the IV bag. Just as the needle was about to pierce the cap, Wen Yan keenly noticed that the label on the small vial in her hand was abnormally blurry!

"Xiao Li!" Wen Yan’s voice turned sharp. "What medicine are you holding? What were the doctor's orders for me?"

Xiao Li’s movements stiffened, and the smile on her face turned forced. "It's... it's a new order from Dr. Duan, to supplement some nutrients..."

"Nutrients?" Wen Yan’s eyes turned icy. "Dr. Duan is very clear about my condition, isn't he? Do nutrients need to be dissolved in sodium chloride?"

"System, scan!"

"Alert! Detected high-concentration misoprostol in the solution! It is highly likely to induce a miscarriage!"

The string in Wen Yan’s mind snapped! She slammed her hand down and, without hesitation, ripped the IV needle from the back of her hand. Beads of blood oozed out, but she didn't care; her eyes, like ice blades, shot toward Xiao Li. "You’re trying to give me an abortion drug?"

Nurse Xiao Li’s face turned deathly pale. Her hand shook, and the syringe fell to the floor. She stammered, "I... I didn't... You're talking nonsense... Miss Wen, I understand your situation, but... I was just following orders. Please don't be agitated."

Qiao Chenye reacted instantly, his rage surging. "Someone, come in!"

Bodyguards rushed in from outside, quickly restraining the terrified Xiao Li.

"Investigate! Take this medicine and every drug she has used today for analysis! Find out who is behind her!" Qiao Chenye’s voice was cold enough to freeze someone solid. He looked at Dr. Duan, who had rushed over at the noise, his gaze terrifying.

"Duan Mengsheng! Your hospital truly is full of 'talent'! The security is garbage, and even a nurse in the VIP ward can be bought to poison a patient? Exactly whose hospital is this?"

Dr. Duan’s expression was extremely ugly. "Little Ye, there must be a mistake. Little Li is a good person, a simple girl. Maybe she was taken advantage of."

Wen Yan pressed down on the bleeding site and slowly sat up, cutting off Dr. Duan’s excuses. The gentleness and facade of the past were gone from her face; a sharp, ruthless aura of maternal protectiveness flared to life. She swept her gaze over Xiao Li and finally landed on Qiao Chenye.

"Qiao Chenye," her voice was not loud, but it carried an undeniable command and cold killing intent. "Find out who has the reach to touch my child."

She gently stroked her still-flat abdomen, her eyes filled with the grim resolve of a mother beast protecting her young. "It would be best if they never have the strength to speak a single word again—about me, about the child, or about you."

"If our relationship is exposed, it means you are incompetent! Do you understand me?"

Qiao Chenye met her gaze and saw a coldness and determination he had never seen before. He nodded heavily and signaled to Assistant Liu.

"Clean it up."

Assistant Liu understood immediately and dragged the ashen-faced, begging Nurse Xiao Li out of the room. From that day on, no one ever saw the nurse named Xiao Li again.

The room returned to silence, leaving only the scent of disinfectant and a faint, lingering trace of blood. Wen Yan leaned against the headboard, looking out the window, a storm brewing beneath her calm exterior. She was no longer the Wen Yan who only knew how to defend herself. Anyone who threatened her child would pay a price they could not afford.

Fortunately, Qiao Guodong’s attempt to kill the child was born of fear that his son’s inheritance would be blocked; he had not discovered the truth about Wen Yan and Qiao Chenye.

"Retaliation against Nurse Xiao Li successful: System points rewarded: 2."

"System, this world really is full of villains." Wen Yan could not imagine that the Nurse Xiao Li who had been so gentle with her was actually one of the villains.