Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“…Yes.”

Meng Qingxue was stunned by her analytical ability. After a pause, she said, “I really can’t bear to let the child go. This is my flesh and blood and very first child, so I absolutely don’t plan to abandon it. Maybe it’s due to my maternal instinct. Just imagine how painful it is to abort the child, where it’s a hard separation of kinship.”

“Did the man let you down in any way?” asked Chu He suddenly.

Her eyes turned vacuous and moody for a while as her eyelashes drooped quietly. She then burst into sudden laughter. “I can’t say that he let me down. I guess it was my wishful thinking from the start. Now that I’ve woken up from my dream, I shouldn’t continue obsessing over him. I just want to go to a quiet, small city, rent a small house, give birth, and raise the child in peace.”

“There aren’t many vacant houses available for rent in this city for the locals are rather conservative. They’re very much unwilling to put their houses on lease.” The other woman suddenly turned the subject around. “If you don’t mind, you can stay at my place.”

“Your place?”

“Yeah.” The policewoman continued speaking. “I bought a house for myself last year. It isn’t big, but there’s an extra room. If you don’t mind, you can stay there.”

“Really?”

Meng Qingxue was overjoyed.

She did not expect to find a reliable source of residence so soon, and the important thing was that the person who would be providing the accommodation was a police officer, so at least her personal safety was as good as guaranteed!

“How about the rent?”

“There’s no need for rent, is there? The room is empty, anyway, and it’s just gathering dust at the moment.”

She was unsatisfied, though. “The rent should be counted! Regardless if your room is in use or not, I must pay for my lodging since I’m staying with you! There’s no doubt about this.”

“If you insist on paying, then let it be 300 yuan. The rent here isn’t expensive in the first place.”

She agreed right away.

After keeping quiet for a long while, Chu He suddenly commented, “It’s hard to raise a child alone. As a single mother, you will suffer doubts and ridicule from everyone around you. Expenses, like food, clothing, etc., will take a toll on you like a mountain pressing on your shoulders. I understand how you feel, though. When I learned that I was pregnant, the natural maternal instinct in women kicked in at once despite me not having any memory of my child’s father. Indeed, I was very reluctant to let the child go.”

“No memory of the child’s father?!” Meng Qingxue was shocked to hear that. “How could that be? Don’t you know how the child came to be?”

Looking straight ahead with an expressionless face, the policewoman replied, “Five years ago, when I woke up, I was already at a commoner’s house here in Yan. This city is next to the sea, and according to them, I was fished out from the waters. When the locals found me, I was unconscious and lying on a large wooden board. As the limbs were frozen stiff, I didn’t fall from the board into the sea. I barely had any memory when I woke up; I didn’t even know my name. The name ‘Chu He’ was something I gave myself.”

“No memory at all?” She probed cautiously. “Is it a case of amnesia?”

The other acknowledged it with a hum. “The back of my skull was bleeding and seemed to hold traces of having been hit by a hard object. The doctor said that I have no memory of my past probably because of the impact on my head.”