Chapter 1 — Mother-in-law Trick Me into Raising Tieu Tam's Son

After giving birth to a pair of dragons and phoenixes, my mother-in-law's entire family was beaming with joy, busy coming back and forth to take care of me. But when I looked at two newborn babies sleeping soundly in diapers, I couldn't feel happy. Clearly I remember when I went for a prenatal check-up, the doctor diagnosed a singleton pregnancy. Yet after leaving the delivery room, everyone congratulated me on giving birth to two children...

1

Trying to support my shaking hands, I lifted myself up from the bed with my exhausted and sore body. Just as I was about to go down and change my clothes, my mother-in-law - Mrs. Truong Que Lan - stepped forward to stop me.

"Tieu Van, your body is still very weak, you can't move freely. Soon you have to breastfeed the two children."

Listening to her words, my mind suddenly became vague.

"Mom... you said two kids? When will there be two again? Haven't I only given birth to one child?"

My voice was weak, without any strength, but I still tried to turn my head to look at her, my eyes filled with doubt.

"Tieu Van, what are you talking about? You're so tired that you're confused. As a mother, you even forget to give birth to children. You must know, now you are the biggest hero of our Vuong family! Thanks to you, our family has another set of twins like this!"

For some reason, my mother-in-law's eyes seemed to have a strange magic power, making me unable to control myself, just immersed in it. I don't know how much time passed, until I gradually regained consciousness from my reverie, patted my forehead, and whispered softly:

"That's right, didn't I give birth to twins? Why has my mind become worse and worse since giving birth..."

I pretended to blame myself, patting my head as if trying to keep my mind awake.

"Okay, okay, Tieu Van, women's memory declines after giving birth, so don't blame yourself too much. After a while, it will be okay."

My mother-in-law gently patted my shoulder to reassure me, then took the two children from the nanny's hands and placed them in the small crib next to my bed.

"Tieu Van, it's almost noon, I have to go home and prepare a nutritious meal for you. Remember to rest well, don't be too tired."

Before leaving, my mother-in-law also gave me worried instructions, making the nanny next to me unable to hide her admiring eyes looking at me.

"Yes, mom, don't worry. I'll just change into comfortable clothes and then lie down on the bed to rest right away."

I smiled gently, my eyes seemed to implicitly show my obedience to my mother-in-law.

"Aunt Vuong, please go out and rest first. If you need anything, I will call. Now I want to take a nap."

As soon as my mother-in-law left the nursing center, I immediately found an excuse and cleverly sent Aunt Vuong - the nanny - out.

"Yes, please rest. If the children make noise that affects you, just call me to pick them up."

It was only when the "click" of the door closing rang in my ears that the defensive wall in my heart gradually let down. I walked over to the crib, looked at the two babies sleeping soundly, but couldn't bring myself to smile. Because in what little memory I have left, I remember very clearly: the results of the prenatal examination were clearly written as a singleton pregnancy. My eyes stopped on the little boy whose body was almost two circles larger than the girl's. I knew for sure that I was not this child's biological mother. But now and then Hey, in order to leave this place safely, I had to continue to pretend as if I had really been successfully "hypnotized" by them. I started to realize something wasn't right, maybe about a week ago. That day, after putting the two babies to sleep, my whole body was tired, my back and shoulders ached. I was about to soak in the hot tub to relax a bit, when an unexpected image flashed through my mind.

2

Even though it only passed by in the blink of an eye, I still keenly grasped that piece of memory. That was the image of the pregnancy test results when I was five months pregnant - I suddenly remembered, that day the doctor smiled and told me that there was only one small life in my belly, and she was growing very healthily. That's right, obviously I'm only carrying one child. So why… do I have two kids now? That night, when I looked at a boy and a girl lying in my arms, I fell into complete chaos. Couldn't sleep all night. I constantly calculated and reasoned about everything in my head. Even though I didn't want to believe it, the scary thoughts still lingered and refused to go away. I remember very clearly, after giving birth, because I couldn't stand the intense pain, I temporarily lost consciousness. When I woke up, my entire family, from my husband Vuong Dao to everyone else, were all happily surrounding the hospital bed. Amidst that warm scene, I also felt warm inside. Just as I was about to open my mouth to ask where my baby was, Vuong Dao's cousin suddenly laughed and said: "Sister-in-law, you are really good! You gave birth to a pair of dragons and phoenixes at once! My cousin should give you a thumbs up!" At that moment, Vuong Dao also grabbed my hand, his face full of sadness: "Wife, you have worked hard."