“Ms. Lu, due to your current physical condition, we cannot proceed with the abortion.”
The words from the doctor felt like a verdict — sealing her fate once and for all.
Clutching the medical report, Lu Zhiling stumbled out of the hospital, her mind blank.
She ran — fled — until her trembling legs carried her to an old, abandoned outdoor playground.
The place was overrun with weeds, and half of an old cruise ship replica stood there, its hull covered in moss, forgotten by time.
Lu Zhiling ran frantically, her breath ragged, her chest burning. When her shoes slipped off, she didn’t even bother to pick them up.
Sharp gravel bit into her soles, and the mix of mud and blood quickly stained her pale feet.
The sunlight overhead was scorching, flooding the world in blinding brightness — yet her own world was nothing but darkness.
Behind her, footsteps echoed — the pursuers were getting closer.
Fumbling in panic, she found the wooden planks leading up the cruise ship’s side and climbed aboard. Once inside, she sank to the floor and curled up in a corner, hugging her knees to her chest.
Her whole body trembled uncontrollably.
Her white dress barely covered her thighs, already bruised and scratched. Over her eyes was a thin layer of white silk — her world forever shrouded in its colorless veil.
She looked so frail, like a small reed flower (sedge flower — delicate wild grass that withers easily) that could crumble with the faintest touch.
“Where did that blind girl go?”
A young man’s rough voice broke the silence. Two figures stumbled in — a man and a woman — both panting from the chase.
Hua Ping clung to Feng Chao’s arm, frowning at the mud splattered on her high heels.
“Ugh, what a filthy place,” she muttered in disgust.
“You were supposed to keep an eye on her,” Feng Chao snapped. His tone was low, laced with impatience as his gaze swept across the empty playground.
After a moment, he forced a smile and raised his voice.
“Zhiling, be good, stop running around, alright? Come home with me.”
“…”
“That’s good news, you know? That child you’re carrying — it’s Bo Wang’s! The eldest son of the Bo family!” he coaxed with false warmth. “If you give birth to his child, we’ll never have to worry about money again. So come out now, and be careful — don’t hurt the baby. I promise, I won’t hit you anymore.”
Hearing that familiar voice, Lu Zhiling’s entire body froze.
Then, cold dread crept through her veins.
She remembered everything — the nightmare she could never wake from.
At fifteen, her family had gone bankrupt. Not long after, a sudden fire took them all away, leaving her the sole survivor — and blind.
Afterward, she was taken in by Feng Zhensheng, a loyal old servant of her family. She lived in his home for five years, quiet and obedient, trying to adapt to her darkness.
Then last year, Feng Zhensheng’s only son — Feng Chao — returned from studying abroad. He was attentive, gentle, always saying the right words.
He often brought her small gifts, spoke softly, and treated her as though she were fragile glass.
She had been so foolish. She thought perhaps, after all the cruelty of fate, she had finally encountered a little warmth.
But once she agreed to be with him, the mask slipped.
This “gentle” man turned into a wolf in sheep’s clothing — prying into her past, questioning whether she had any inheritance hidden away from her fallen family.
When he learned she had nothing left, his tenderness turned to violence.
He began to beat her, to humiliate her — even sleeping with her caregiver, Hua Ping, right before her blind eyes.
Their depravity deepened with time. They borrowed money from loan sharks to gamble and, after losing everything, decided to hand her over as payment.
That night — in a nightclub glowing with neon and the scent of wine — they met Bo Wang, the eldest son of the powerful Bo family (one of Jiangbei City’s most feared and wealthy clans).
Greed flashed in their eyes.
Without warning or explanation, they shoved her into Bo Wang’s private room.
The air there was thick with intoxicating perfume — a mix of expensive alcohol and the faintly sweet, dizzying scent of aphrodisiac incense (a common trope in Chinese novels where rooms are scented to arouse or disorient).
But Bo Wang was not a man one could toy with.
The eldest son of the Bo family — cold, ruthless, and untouchable — a man whose name alone could make the underworld of Jiangbei tremble.
That night, he took her.
When Feng Chao and Hua Ping tried to barge in to demand money, Bo Wang’s bodyguards beat them half to death before he left, as calmly as if nothing had happened.
And who bore the consequences after that?
Lu Zhiling.
Feng Chao beat her for nearly a month — until she could barely get out of bed.
Then came the nausea, the vomiting, the missed period.
When Hua Ping and Feng Chao realized she was pregnant, their delight was cruel and feverish. They dragged her to the hospital, planning to use the child in her womb to blackmail Bo Wang once again.
Lu Zhiling understood everything — their greed, their cruelty, their bottomless shamelessness.
So she ran.
This was her only chance to escape those demons.
If she failed today, if they caught her… a blind woman like her would never see freedom again.
The faint crunch of footsteps on dry leaves reached her ears — sharp, distinct. Her sense of hearing had long grown keen in darkness, and she could tell it was them.
Feng Chao. Hua Ping. And someone else — another set of heavier footsteps. They’d brought help.
Her breath caught. She bit down hard on the back of her hand to keep from making a sound.
The footsteps drew closer and closer — each one like the tick of a countdown leading to her end.
Even the air felt suffocating.
Then — they stopped.
A faint scent drifted toward her, cool and woody, tinged with something clean yet dangerous.
Before she could move, a tall figure cast its shadow over her.
The space seemed to shrink around her, filled with that aura of quiet dominance.
Then came a low, hoarse voice — calm, but sharp as ice — from above her head:
“Miss Lu, whose child is it that you carry?”