Chapter 2 — Swapped at Birth

Clearance Manh entered the room holding a medical chart.

Lady Van, the records are entirely clear. The baby’s vital signs were completely normal after birth, but by the early hours of the morning, acute asphyxia occurred. We immediately carried out emergency resuscitation. Master Lu was present and signed off on the entire procedure.

I looked directly at her:

Then seal the emergency room, seal the remains, and seal the transport records.

She frowned slightly:

Your emotional state is unstable right now. You are in no condition to make such decisions.

I did not continue to argue with them. My mother handed me her phone, and I dialed the police.

This is Chung An Maternal and Child Hospital. Someone has swapped my newborn child.

The room fell instantly silent. The expression on Lu Time Modest’s face shifted abruptly.

Tang Hidden, do not make a scene out of this.

I stared straight into his eyes:

From the very moment you laid hands on my daughter, this matter had already become monumental.

I instructed the driver to bring Pine Seed to the emergency stairwell just outside the treatment wing. My mother went downstairs holding a sterile gauze pad containing a preserved sample. Ten minutes later, she sent a short video. After sniffing the blanket that had been wrapped around the infant’s remains, Pine Seed suddenly recoiled, letting out a low, distressed whimper from deep within its throat. Then, lowering its head, it began to sniff the ground frantically, dragging its leash as it lunged toward the elevator. Even the animal knew. My daughter was not here. Yet right outside the hospital room, the elders of the Lu family had already rushed over. Lu Time Modest’s mother, Zou Wan, stood at the doorway, her face etched with exhaustion and deep resentment.

The child is already gone, and everyone feels the sorrow. You have just given birth; stop harassing the police and the hospital further.

The head nurse also chimed in with a gentle tone:

Many mothers experience a psychological phase of denial. It is a completely normal self-defense mechanism of the mind.

Clearance Manh let out a heavy sigh:

Lady Van, what you truly need right now is rest, not an investigation.

Lu Time Modest looked at me with reddened eyes.

Tang Hidden, you must accept reality.

Everyone gazed at me with looks that mingled pity with guarded wariness. They acted as though I were genuinely a mother who had lost her mind. My daughter was clearly still alive and well. Yet this very world had already begun drafting a death certificate in her stead. I raised my head and spoke only a single sentence:

Bring my dog up here. It can find my daughter.

4. The police had not yet arrived, but Lu Time Modest had already summoned a psychiatrist ahead of time. The specialist carried an evaluation case, speaking in a soothing, measured tone:

Lady Van, we are merely conducting a simple postpartum trauma screening.

I burst out laughing.

I called the police to report that my child has been stolen, and your very first reaction is not to investigate the baby, but to examine my brain?

Lu Time Modest rubbed his temples:

Tang Hidden, your level of aggression right now is far too high.

I looked at him coldly:

Are you afraid that I am too clearheaded?

His gaze darkened instantly. Zou Wan immediately stepped in front of him to block my view.

Tang Hidden, Time Modest stayed by the bedside watching over the child all night long. The baby is gone, and he is grieving more deeply than anyone else. You cannot heap all of this suffering onto him.

I was so furious I almost laughed aloud.

What exactly is he grieving over? Is he grieving because his meticulously laid plan suffered an unexpected flaw?

Enough!

Zou Wan’s voice grew piercingly shrill.

You have no evidence whatsoever, yet you turn around to slander your own husband. In what possible way has the Lu family ever wronged you?

I did not bother to argue with her any further. I instructed the driver to keep recording the video. Pine Seed remained blocked outside the stairwell door, unable to enter the restricted medical zone, yet it continued to bark relentlessly toward the staff elevator. Each bark grew more urgent and frantic than the last. When my mother returned, her expression was icy cold.

Down in the second basement level, there is a newborn transport vehicle. The driver stated he was heading to the provincial maternal and children’s hospital. The incubator has already been loaded onto the vehicle, but the dispatch slip has not yet been stamped.

My heart hammered violently against my ribs.

Whose child is it?

My mother looked straight into my eyes:

The registered name reads the daughter of Hua Pure Jade.

Lu Time Modest abruptly raised his head.

Mother, please do not meddle in these affairs.

My mother cast a freezing glare at him:

Do not call me mother. You are not worthy.

I pulled back the hospital blanket and swung my legs over the side of the bed. The moment I stood upright, my knees turned to water. The surgical incision flared with such intense pain that dark spots danced before my eyes. Lu Time Modest reached out to steady me, but I violently brushed his hand away.

Do not touch me.

I dragged my IV pole forward toward the doorway. A nurse hurried forward to block my path, but my mother instantly stepped in front of her:

Which of you dares lay a hand on my daughter?

The hallway was brilliantly lit, illuminated to a blinding degree. At the very end of the corridor, the doors of the service elevator were slowly sliding shut. I could smell it. Hanging faintly in the air was an exceedingly delicate scent, drifting outward from that portable incubator. I lunged forward with everything I had.

Stop right there!

The driver forcibly slammed his hand against the elevator door control, compelling the doors to slide open once more. Inside the car, Hua Pure Jade sat in a wheelchair, draped in a pale shawl, her complexion as white as bleached paper. Cradled securely in her arms was a neonatal incubator. Nestled within it, a baby girl was sleeping peacefully, the tip of her tiny nose flushed a soft pink. The fragrance lingering just behind the infant’s ears acted like a tightened cord, slowly choking my heart. Hua Pure Jade clutched the incubator tighter to her chest.

What on earth do you think you are doing?

I stared straight into her eyes:

Give me back my daughter.

Tears instantly spilled over her lashes:

This is my child. Lady Van, I have deep sympathy for the fact that you lost your baby, but you cannot simply snatch mine away.

Lu Time Modest rushed forward, lowering his voice into a tone charged with heavy warning.