"Liang Xiaocheng? Liang Xiaocheng, you may enter now." A nurse called out loudly at the door of the gynecology surgery room.

The young girl, sitting on a bench outside the door, shuddered slightly. Biting her teeth, she stood up and walked inside.

While washing his hands, the doctor glanced at her, "The abortion?"

Liang Xiaocheng silently nodded. Her pallid face was entirely devoid of color, saying nothing at all.

Checking her medical record, the doctor looked up again, "Your fetus is already seven and a half weeks, very healthy. You may want to reconsider?"

She was a slender girl who couldn't stop trembling. Her fingertips seemed pale from the force, and her mind was clearly in turmoil. As a seasoned doctor with more than twenty years of experience, he couldn't help but want to give her another opportunity to reconsider.

"No need to." Liang Xiaocheng did not lift her head, but her voice was faint yet clear, sounding a touch dry.

The doctor nodded, then pointed to the obstetric examination table inside the room, "Take off your trousers and lie on there."

Liang Xiaocheng glanced at the chair, which could be described as crude, then silently walked over and lay down.

The piercing coolness of the metal under her stimulated her ankles, as if all her blood was congealing in the cold. She quietly closed her eyes, the slight trembling of her eyelashes and a furrowed brow betrayed her tension. Anyone unaware of the situation might mistake her to be asleep.

Liang Xiaocheng didn't desire the probing or sympathetic looks the doctors and nurses were giving her. She would rather endure this torment alone if possible.

It was pain, but maybe once the physical pain came, the bitterness in her heart may cease.

The doctor had just said that the baby was almost two months old and was very healthy. If born, wouldn't it be beautiful because it would have a handsome father?

Yet, why was she pondering this now? Liang Xiaocheng couldn't help but shake her head.

Before making this decision, she indeed considered asking for Lu Zhanchen's opinion. However, they have been married for more than three months, and she has only seen him twice.

The first time was at their wedding ceremony; the second time was when he came home drunk in the middle of the night and took her straight to bed.

After a full night of commotion, when she finally woke up from her stupor, he was nowhere to be seen. If it weren't for the dark red mark on the disheveled bedsheet, she would have thought it was all a dream.

Well, what was done was done. After all, since the day of their marriage, she had never intended to preserve her maidenhood. However, the sudden appearance of a child caught Liang Xiaocheng off guard.

For the first time in her life, she called Lu Zhan Chen.

"Hello, who is this?" Lu Zhan Chen's voice was just like him, calm and indifferent.

"Liang Xiaocheng."

"What is it?"

"I would like your opinion on something."

"I'm busy. Make the decision yourself."

"Zhan Chen, whose call is that?"

Beep beep...

A delicate female voice and a string of busy signals reminded Liang Xiaocheng how displeasing her actions were. In fact, she already knew her questions were unnecessary.

Their union was only a political marriage, a mere exchange of benefits.

If he doesn't even like himself, how could he be willing to have a child with her?

——

"Who's on duty today? Why hasn't the trash been taken out?"

Suddenly, the stern reprimand from the doctor had Liang Xiaocheng reflexively open her eyes.

Her gaze involuntarily fell on a plastic bin next to the examination table. It contained a mess of bloody stuff—ugly and stinking of blood.

"Wait a minute!"

Liang Xiaocheng's heart felt as if it had been suddenly gripped tightly by a large hand, causing her such pain that she could hardly breathe. Struggling, she asked, "What... is this?"

No one responded.

But the meaningful looks the doctors and nurses were throwing her made her instantly understand—

In a while, the precious life in her belly would also be thrown in here, discarded like trash!

——

Liang Xiaocheng didn't know how she made it out of the operating room. At that moment, she was without an ounce of energy, as if her feet were walking on cotton.

Her mind was in utter chaos, so much so that she didn't even notice that she'd walked past the elevator, until she heard the sound of the elevator doors opening behind her.

"Zhan Chen, what if my body is still not suitable for pregnancy, what should we do?"

"Don't worry, the child is not important, your health comes first. If we really can't have one, we can always look for a surrogate in the future."

Liang Xiaocheng's body stiffened, and she subconsciously pressed herself tightly against the wall, hiding in the shadows.

Her eyes widened as she watched her tall and handsome husband, tenderly escorting a frail-looking woman out of the elevator and walking towards the obstetrics and gynecology department.