Chapter 292: What Can You Compare With? ? ?
They had initially assumed that Gu Tingxiao alone would be difficult to handle, but it turned out that Sheng Wanyan’s brother was just as formidable.
The two men had established an airtight system. Whenever Gu Tingxiao had to step away, Sheng Wanze would sit directly next to the crib, his eyes never leaving the baby. Dahua and her mother-in-law had waited hours for Sheng Wanze to leave for a restroom break, only to watch him stubbornly hold out until Gu Tingxiao returned before he would even stand up. Once Gu Tingxiao was back on duty, he was even more rigid, refusing to move a single inch. They had completely blocked any opportunity for the women to make a move.
The old lady was growing frantic. If they waited until Sheng Wanyan was discharged from the hospital, their window of opportunity would slam shut forever. Over the past few days, she had intentionally made sure her daughter-in-law was well-fed, throwing what little money she had into buying actual meals just to fatten up the baby girl. She needed the infant to look roughly the same size as Sheng Wanyan’s daughter so the switch wouldn’t arouse immediate suspicion.
After a few days of steady feeding, the newborn had finally gained a bit of weight. Now, all they needed was a single lapse in security. Dahua and her mother-in-law exchanged a tense look, both completely aligned in their desperation. They had to resolve the matter within the next forty-eight hours, or they would lose their chance at a life of luxury.
That evening, Gu Tingxiao left the ward to take a quick shower. Spotting his departure, Dahua gave her mother-in-law a sharp nod and slipped out into the corridor after him.
When Gu Tingxiao stepped out of the shower facilities, he found Dahua waiting in the dim hallway. She was leaning heavily against the wall, panting in short, exaggerated gasps.
“I’m sorry…” she whimpered, looking up at him weakly. “I suddenly feel terrible. Could you… could you please help me up?”
Gu Tingxiao took one look at her theatrical display and turned toward the nurse’s station without a second thought, intending to call the duty staff.
Panic flared through Dahua when she realized he refused to touch her. She needed to buy time and delay his return to the ward to give her mother-in-law an opening. At the same time, a wave of desperate vanity washed over her; she genuinely believed that if she pushed hard enough, no man would be able to resist her.
Seeing him step away to call a nurse, Dahua lunged forward and lunged for his hand. Gu Tingxiao twisted his torso with practiced military reflexes, causing her fingers to miss his skin entirely, only catching the coarse edge of his jacket fabric.
“Brother Gu, please don’t bother,” she cooed, trying to soften her voice. “I’m alright. I just need a moment to rest against you.”
Gu Tingxiao pulled his clothing from her grip, his expression entirely dark. If there was nothing wrong with her, why was she making a scene in the corridor? He had zero time for this nonsense; he needed to get back to the ward to help his wife wipe down with warm water.
“Oh!”
Seeing him walk away, Dahua let out a sharp cry, clutched her chest, and sank directly onto the concrete floor, effectively blocking his path. Tears welled in her eyes as she looked up at him, trying to project an aura of vulnerable beauty.
“Brother Gu, I… my chest feels so tight and uncomfortable,” she whispered, a suggestive ripple in her eyes. She unbuttoned the top constraint of her shirt, leaving little doubt about her invitation to any normal man. “Could you… give me a massage to ease the pain?”
Meanwhile, back inside the ward, the old lady glanced stealthily at Sheng Wanze. Cradling her granddaughter in her arms, she rolled her eyes, reached beneath the patched blanket, and delivered a vicious, hard pinch directly to the infant’s thigh.
The baby erupted into a sharp, piercing wail.
“Oh, why are you crying so terribly?” the old woman fussed loudly, rocking the infant with theatrical anxiety. “Are you hungry, my sweet? Shh, shh.”
After a moment of noisy coaxing, she turned an embarrassed, helpless look toward Sheng Wanze. “Soldier, could I trouble you to run down the hall and fetch some hot water for me? The poor child is weeping so hard, she must be starving, and it’s simply not convenient for me to leave her.”
Hearing her voice, Sheng Wanze’s eyes narrowed into slits. When he raised his head, however, his features had smoothed into a perfectly neutral expression. “We have a full thermos of hot water right here at our bedside. We can lend you some.”
The old lady choked on her next words, completely caught off guard. How on earth does this brat’s mind work so fast?
“Oh… thank you for your kindness,” she muttered stiffly.
Forced to accept the water, she retreated to her cot to brainstorm another distraction. She laid her granddaughter on the mattress, aggressively tore back the patched quilt, and stripped the diaper off the infant, tossing it aside.
Adopting a thoroughly flustered expression, she marched back over to Sheng Wanze. “Soldier, I’m terribly embarrassed. My child just soiled herself, and I’ve completely run out of clean diapers. Could you be a good soul and run down to the dispensary to fetch a clean one for me?”
The moment Sheng Wanze sat back down on his stool, the old woman was hovering over him again.
“That’s inconvenient,” Sheng Wanze replied, his voice flat. “I have a strict responsibility to watch over my niece.”
“Oh! It will only take a single minute,” the old lady pressed, offering a wide smile. “Go ahead, I can easily keep an eye on your niece while you’re gone.”
She assumed her persistence was wearing him down, entirely unaware that beneath Sheng Wanze’s honest, farm-boy exterior lay the mind of a remarkably cunning fox.
Sheng Wanze stood up slowly. The old lady’s heart leaped with pure excitement—the opportunity had finally arrived!
But instead of walking toward the exit, Sheng Wanze simply stepped over to her bedside area, his gaze scanning the cluttered surface. He raised an eyebrow, pointing toward the foot of her mattress. “Auntie, aren’t there several clean, folded diapers resting right there on your daughter-in-law’s bedding? Did your eyesight fail to catch them?”
The old lady froze, her face turning a violent shade of crimson. She spun around and realized that Dahua had indeed left a neat stack of fresh diapers on the frame before leaving, having simply forgotten to store them in the cabinet.
A wave of dizzying rage rushed through her. That useless, clumsy idiot! She can’t do a single thing right and always manages to ruin my plans!
“Oh… is that so?” the old lady stammered, her voice trembling as she frantically tried to cover her tracks. “My goodness, I truly am getting old. My eyes must be failing me completely. You young folks certainly have sharp sight.”
With a dark, humiliated expression, she slunk back to her corner. Looking down at the screaming newborn girl, her resentment boiled over. Cry, cry, cry! she thought viciously. You useless, money-losing creature, all you know how to do is scream and cause problems!
Back in the corridor, Gu Tingxiao looked down at the woman sprawling at his feet, the gaze in his eyes turning completely lethal.
“Do you truly believe we are blind to what you and your mother-in-law are orchestrating?”
Dahua’s breathing hitched, her dramatic tears freezing as she stared up at him in absolute, horrified disbelief. “Y-you… Brother Gu, what nonsense are you talking about?”
Gu Tingxiao’s eyes locked onto her throat, his voice dropping to a terrifying, quiet register that made her instinctively shrink back against the concrete wall. “If you ever dare attempt to target my daughter again,” he whispered, the promise of violence sounding chillingly effortless, “I will personally snap your neck.”
Dahua frantically threw her hands over her throat, her lips trembling violently as a wave of primitive terror paralyzed her. “I… Brother Gu, you’ve completely misunderstood…”
She tried desperately to summon a defense, but Gu Tingxiao didn’t waste a single watt of energy on her lies. “I share zero connection with you, and I am certainly not your brother.”
Dahua bit her lip until it bled. Looking at his icy posture, she realized with a sinking heart that this formidable man’s capacity for gentleness was reserved exclusively for Sheng Wanyan.
Gu Tingxiao turned to march back to the ward, but before stepping through the door, he threw one final, devastating glance over his shoulder at her pale face.
“Furthermore,” he scoffed, his eyes flashing with unvarnished disdain, “your face and figure cannot begin to compare to my wife’s. You are a joke.”
The sheer, biting sarcasm in his look struck her like a physical blow, leaving her body feeling utterly frozen.
Once the heavy ward door clicked shut behind him, Dahua stared down at her trembling hands. She looked at the single unbuttoned constraint of her collar. Further down lay her ill-fitting, shapeless tunic covered in a dozen ugly, coarse patches, terminating in a pair of cloth shoes with a gaping hole near the toe. Beneath the rough fabric, her skin was dark from labor, her hands calloused and raw. Her chest was small and flat, resembling that of an malnourished, underdeveloped adolescent girl.
She raised her rough fingers to touch her face; the skin felt like coarse sandpaper.
A vision of Sheng Wanyan flashed through her mind. Even throughout the grueling final months of her pregnancy, Sheng Wanyan’s complexion had remained flawless, fair, and radiant. Though she had gained a bit of maternal weight, her facial features remained exquisitely beautiful, and she carried herself with a natural, noble elegance. When it came to the sheer physical grace of a woman who had just transitioned into motherhood, the chasm between them was an unbridgeable gulf.
A violent sob tore from Dahua’s throat. She collapsed into a tight squat on the corridor floor, burying her face in her hands as she wept hysterically.
As a woman, she envied every single facet of Sheng Wanyan’s existence. They were both wives, both mothers, yet one was protected and revered like an heirloom by her family, while the other was discarded and abused like a stray animal. How could the universe allow such a cruel, vast disparity?
We both gave birth to a daughter! Why does she have the right to survive in luxury, dining on fine grains every single day, while I am left to starve in the dirt?!
