Chapter 289: Trying to Substitute
Dahua’s eyes lingered greedily on the pristine stack of fresh, new diapers resting on the bedside table—not a single patch or stain in sight.
“Don’t worry, little sister, I’ll help you out,” Dahua said. Without waiting for permission, she unceremoniously set her own bundled infant down at the foot of Sheng Wanyan’s bed and reached out, intending to scoop Yi Yi up and cradle her.
Sheng Wanyan’s brow furrowed sharply, and she thrust her hand out to block the woman’s advance. She lunged forward to shield Yi Yi, but the sudden, jerky movement pulled painfully at her weak lower body, making her wince.
“I said no! Don’t you understand plain English?”
Dahua looked thoroughly aggrieved by the harsh rejection, quickly trying to defend herself. “Sister, I’m only acting out of the goodness of my heart. It’s not good for a baby to cry like that; she’ll ruin her throat.”
Sheng Wanyan took a deep, steadying breath, looking at her with utter disbelief. Is this woman out of her mind? “Your own child is crying up a storm too,” she countered coldly. “Perhaps you should be more considerate of your own daughter’s throat.”
Dahua’s mind was entirely consumed by Sheng Wanyan’s child. She was desperate to build a rapport and get close to Yi Yi so she could execute her plan. But Sheng Wanyan was incredibly alert—could she have somehow deduced what was going on? No, that’s impossible, Dahua reassured herself. I haven’t breathed a word of my thoughts to a single soul.
“It’s fine, sister. I’ll soothe my own little girl in a moment,” Dahua pressed on smoothly. “I just heard your baby weeping so pitifully from across the room, and my heart simply ached for her.”
Sheng Wanyan’s expression grew menacingly dark. This woman’s own baby had been crying so relentlessly over the past few days that her voice was completely hoarse, yet Dahua hadn’t shown a shred of maternal sympathy; now she was suddenly losing sleep over a stranger’s child. Sheng Wanyan was no fool; it didn’t take a genius to see right through her transparent act.
Yi Yi’s cries grew louder and more frantic, but Sheng Wanyan was physically drained and lacked the strength to properly handle her. Even so, she refused to yield an inch. “I can pity my own child just fine. You should worry about tending to your own daughter. Furthermore, you haven’t properly washed in days, and my daughter cannot tolerate the smell.”
With that, Sheng Wanyan bypassed the grime completely, leaning over to scoop Yi Yi directly into her arms and holding her close against her chest. She wrapped herself protectively around the baby, completely sealing off any opportunity for Dahua to get near them.
Dahua frowned at the ironclad vigilance. Realizing she was completely blocked, she had no choice but to scoop up her own patched bundle and retreat to her cot.
When Gu Tingxiao returned with the steaming basin of water, he found his usually fastidious wife clutching the crying baby tightly against her chest, her entire posture rigid and humming with tension. His heart skipped a beat. Setting the enamel basin down on the table, he hurried to the edge of the mattress.
“Wanyan, what happened?”
Sheng Wanyan was in a fragile state. The postpartum hormonal shift had left her nerves raw and her emotions highly volatile. She was fiercely territorial, utterly refusing to let anyone outside her immediate family touch her child. Deep down, she felt a profound, instinctual certainty that Dahua harbored malicious intentions and was plotting something horrific.
Leaning in close, she whispered the details of the encounter directly into Gu Tingxiao’s ear. As he listened, his features hardened into a mask of pure, freezing anger.
Sheng Wanyan knew she was currently too weak to defend her daughter on her own. Thank goodness her husband had returned from his mission; if she had been left entirely isolated in this ward, she couldn’t bear to think of what might have happened.
“Do you think she’s actively trying to switch the babies?” she whispered, her voice trembling.
Gu Tingxiao had reached the exact same conclusion. Not wanting to worsen her panic, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly against his chest and murmuring gentle words of comfort to help her relax.
Overwhelmed by the terrifying realization of the danger, Sheng Wanyan couldn’t hold back her anxiety, and silent tears began streaming down her cheeks. Gu Tingxiao tenderly brushed the moisture from her face, cradling her until her breathing finally evened out.
“Don’t be afraid, sweetheart. I’m right here, and I won’t leave your side for a single second,” he promised fiercely. “The moment my brother-in-law drops by, I’ll coordinate with him. We will ensure there is always an extra pair of eyes anchored in this room.”
Sheng Wanyan nodded, swallowing her fear. She knew she was hyper-vigilant, but as a mother, she refused to expose her newborn to even a fraction of a percent of risk. She would gladly lay down her life before allowing any harm or injustice to touch her daughter.
However, little Yi Yi’s growing neat-freak tendencies presented a logistical challenge. Every single time she soiled her diaper, Gu Tingxiao had to fetch fresh hot water from the corridor supply line. He didn’t possess the ability to split himself in two; if he was out managing the logistics, he couldn’t guard the bedside. Furthermore, he eventually had to use the restroom himself, creating brief windows of vulnerability that someone could easily exploit.
Gu Tingxiao continued to whisper soothing reassurances, gradually anchoring her frayed nerves. “I’m here. I will protect both of you.”
Once Sheng Wanyan fully calmed down, she carefully transferred the fussing Yi Yi into his hands. Gu Tingxiao meticulously set to work, managing his very first diaper change with absolute precision. He could have sworn he used the gentlest touch of his entire life to wipe his daughter’s bottom clean. The moment the fresh cloth was secured, Yi Yi let out a soft sigh and fell comfortably asleep.
Gu Tingxiao then assisted Sheng Wanyan into a fresh change of clothing, only relaxing once both mother and daughter were perfectly clean, tidy, and resting.
Following the scare, Gu Tingxiao’s protective instincts doubled. He refused to step away from the crib for even a second, deliberately holding his bladder until Mother Gu arrived at the ward before he finally went to use the restroom.
When Mother Gu delivered their dinner and learned of the encounter, she was so thoroughly enraged she wanted to march right over to the adjacent bed and demand a reckoning. The malicious intent was so glaringly obvious that even a stray dog could have decoded Dahua’s plan.
“Tingxiao, I’m going to head back across the lane and brief your grandparents on the situation immediately,” she instructed sharply.
True to her word, Mother Gu threw Dahua a look of scathing, icy disapproval before gathering her things. If that peasant thinks she can casually swap her child to inherit a life of luxury, she can think again, she thought bitterly. The bloodline of General Gu’s granddaughter is absolute, and no outsider will ever usurp her place!
The moment Mother Gu reached the compound, she marched straight into the Sheng residence, delivering an incredibly vivid, urgent breakdown of the ward dynamics. Hearing the details, Grandpa and Grandma Sheng felt their blood pressures spike, their hands trembling with righteous fury.
“Wanze! Pack your things and head straight to the hospital,” Grandpa Sheng barked, his voice booming. “You anchor yourself beside your little sister and do not leave her until she is formally checked out of that building.”
Standing nearby, Pan Yue was thoroughly stunned by the revelation. How could that village woman possess the absolute audacity to even dream of smuggling her child into the Gu lineage? Even if it were her own flesh and blood, she wouldn’t dare risk navigating the formidable aura of the Old General!
Yet, Pan Yue was well aware that infant swapping was a rampant, terrifying reality in this era. If a tragedy occurred within the chaotic walls of the facility, tracking down a missing newborn was an almost impossible task. “Grandma is entirely right, Wanze. Go set up camp in the ward and wait until Wanyan is discharged. I have Huzi well in hand at home, so you don’t need to fret over our chores.”
Sheng Wanze nodded with grim intensity. His beautiful little niece had barely been in the world for twenty-four hours, and some vulture was already circling her crib.
“While this is technically just our suspicion based on her behavior, the world is full of such wicked acts,” Grandpa Sheng noted, leaning on his cane. “Regardless of whether she’s truly bold enough to try it, we must build an absolute defense to eliminate the possibility.”
The elderly man knew all too well how common these tragic baby-switching dramas were in the countryside. Frequently, opportunistic relatives or strangers would substitute one infant for another, and once the families scattered back to their respective districts, the truth remained buried forever. If a child vanished into the vastness of the rural provinces, a family could dig three feet into the earth and still find themselves staring at a cold trail.
“Don’t worry, Grandpa, Grandma,” Sheng Wanze resolved, steeling his shoulders. “I will maintain a twenty-four-hour watch alongside Tingxiao.”
With the logistics finalized, Sheng Wanze wolfed down his dinner and marched straight back to the military hospital, establishing a strict, alternating night-watch rotation with Gu Tingxiao.
Back in the ward, Dahua watched the sudden reinforcement at Sheng Wanyan’s bedside with a sinking heart. Her brow furrowed into a tight, frustrated knot. Why on earth were there suddenly two imposing, broad-shouldered men guarding that specific corner through the night?
Worse still, both of them were trained, active-duty soldiers. With them anchored to the floorboards, how could she possibly execute the next phase of her plan? Dahua searched frantically for a vulnerability, but she wasn’t granted a single opening to even catch a glimpse of Sheng Wanyan’s child.
The moment she tried to shift her weight or inch closer under the guise of being friendly, the two soldiers would slowly turn their heads, locking her in a synchronized, freezing stare. The sheer, lethal intensity in their eyes struck such a primitive chord of terror in her chest that she automatically shrank back into her blankets, not daring to advance another step.
She had pinned her final hopes on the quietest hours of the midnight shift, assuming the exhaustion would eventually force their eyelids closed. Creeping silently out of her sheets, her hand reached out, slowly and soundlessly parting the edge of Sheng Wanyan’s heavy privacy curtain.
But the exact millisecond the fabric parted, she froze.
Staring right back at her through the darkness was a pair of terrifying, lethal eyes that looked entirely ready to end her life. Gu Tingxiao stood up seamlessly from his seat, gliding across the small space until he stood directly over her, his cruel, unyielding gaze locked dead onto her throat.
