“If it weren’t for seeing how wealthy that family was, I think my biological son could have lived a life without worrying about food or clothing. Do you think I would have willingly taken you back?”
Back then, at Haicheng Maternal and Child Hospital, Zhang Xiangping had already seen Su Lan while she was still pregnant.
Zhang Xiangping, heavily pregnant, had been going alone—walking, cycling, taking rickshaws—to the hospital for checkups. At the entrance, she happened to notice Su Lan several times. Every time, Su Lan stepped out of a black sedan, always assisted with the door and helped along by someone.
That woman radiated elegance—beautiful, wearing dresses, chauffeured, her long hair perfectly smooth and flowing, unbound, gleaming in the light.
Compared to her, Zhang Xiangping felt ashamed and unworthy, thinking she didn’t even resemble a woman. She wore work clothes almost every day, loosening the waistband of her pants as her belly grew, leaving red marks around her waist.
Zhang Xiangping realized they lived in completely different worlds.
The other woman had money; she did not.
The other woman came from a wealthy family; she was utterly ordinary.
When had Zhang Xiangping first entertained the thought of swapping children?
It was while she and that beautiful woman were lying in the delivery room, giving birth together.
She was sweating, crying out in pain, while the other woman, having received the rare and expensive epidural, lay calmly on the other bed, even watching her and offering encouragement.
As the pain relief lasted, they talked about their children.
Zhang Xiangping didn’t speak much; she knew she couldn’t compare. She listened as the beautiful woman described the nursery she had prepared—on the second floor of her villa, complete with a crib, a cradle, and all sorts of toys.
She said she had originally planned to give birth in Hong Kong, where cesarean births were painless, but due to timing had to come to the hospital instead. She said she had hired a nanny who would care for the baby, since she had to return to work, and that she would use formula—of a brand as good as breast milk.
Zhang Xiangping listened, tears streaming down her face, feeling a mixture of sorrow and envy. Her own child would have nothing—no crib, no toys, diapers made from old cloth.
She laughed and cried simultaneously, mourning both her fate and her child’s.
When the babies were delivered, they were placed on the tables. The nurse went to fetch the cloths to wrap them, and in a moment of impulse, Zhang Xiangping switched the colored wristbands on the two babies before the nurse returned, then quietly returned to her bed, unnoticed.
She watched as the nurse wrapped the babies: her own child was handed to the beautiful woman’s bed, and the other woman’s baby was placed with her.
At that instant, Zhang Xiangping smiled—this was the best gift she could give her child.
“Mom loves you.”
Now, facing Zhang Xiangping and her brazen denials, Jiang Luo spoke calmly: “You did love your son. You swapped the babies. Your biological son grew up in a villa, drinking imported formula, showered with love from his parents and siblings. Your ‘sacrifice’ was worth it.”
Zhang Xiangping feigned ignorance. “What are you talking about? Are you crazy? Nonsense! I could never do such a thing!”
Jiang Luo looked at her. “If you won’t admit it now, I have plenty of ways to make you say it later.”
“What do you want!?”
Zhang Xiangping slammed the table. “I’m your mother! I raised you for eighteen years!”
Jiang Luo remained unfazed. “The work you did at the silk factory, the house in the Jiang family lane—any of that, I wouldn’t even need to lift a finger. A word to my subordinates, and plenty would be willing to help me…”
“You dare!!!” Zhang Xiangping shouted.
Jiang Luo smiled faintly, eyes cold. “After all this, what’s there left for you to fear admitting?”
“Ah~” Jiang Luo’s voice shifted. “When you went to America to see Zhao Mingshi, he didn’t acknowledge you, did he? Tickets were expensive, right? Visa arrangements cost money too, right? Compared to Jiang Jianmin, who could give a wealthy, capable child a life-changing future, you weren’t that upset, were you?”
“In your heart, you sacrificed yourself so Zhao Mingshi could have the best life. Seeing him so capable, wealthy, successful… you felt relieved, didn’t you?”
Jiang Luo watched Zhang Xiangping’s expression shift—her face revealing colors of panic and shame. “Why didn’t you tell him the truth? If you told him, maybe he would have acknowledged you. After all, you ‘gave’ him everything he has today, didn’t you?”
He pulled out his phone. “Do you want me to…”
Zhang Xiangping jumped up. “Don’t call him!”
Jiang Luo glanced at her, smiling. “Don’t call? Why? Afraid to tell him?” His tone was leisurely. “You orchestrated all this for him… what do you want?”
Zhang Xiangping shouted, flustered.
Jiang Luo, holding the phone, smiled faintly: “I only need one word from you: Did you swap the babies back then?”
“Yes… yes, I did!” Zhang Xiangping shouted. “But you’re not allowed to call Mingshi! Don’t disrupt his life!”
“Why?” Jiang Luo pressed, eyes sharp. “Why did you swap the babies?”
Zhang Xiangping screamed: “She was so proper! Her hair so smooth! Wearing a dress! Getting out of a car! Why? Why should her child be born into wealth while mine only had rags for diapers!?”
Before she could finish, a figure emerged from behind the screen—lunging toward Zhang Xiangping, almost roaring: “What did you say!? What did you say?!”
Zhang Xiangping froze, terrified. It was the very woman she had envied—Su Lan.
Now over fifty, Su Lan remained beautiful, impeccably dressed, graceful. But her face now showed not warmth, only shock and disbelief. “What did you say? What did you say? You swapped the babies! You did it!?”
Zhang Xiangping tried to dodge, denying: “I didn’t! I didn’t swap the babies! Not me!”
“It was him!” Zhang Xiangping pointed at Jiang Luo. “He made me say it! He made me do it! I didn’t swap the babies!”
Su Lan refused to believe her, grabbing Zhang Xiangping, shouting: “Are you telling the truth or not? What really happened?!”
“Why would you do this? Why swap my child? We had no enmity!”
Zhao Guangyuan, standing nearby, protected Su Lan. He scolded Zhang Xiangping: “Tell the truth!”
“I didn’t swap the babies!” Zhang Xiangping screamed.
From behind the screen, Zhao Mingshi slowly emerged, his face frozen in disbelief.
Zhang Xiangping, seeing him, seemed paralyzed.
Mother and son stared at each other. Zhang Xiangping’s eyes reddened. “You dared to come back? Why are you here? Didn’t you stay in the U.S.? My son!”
She cried: “I loved you so much! How could you not acknowledge me? I gave you the best, and yet you look at me like a stranger!”
Su Lan, already distraught, lunged at Zhang Xiangping again, shrieking, panicked: “You deliberately swapped the babies! You did it!”
Su Lan, having lost all composure, grabbed Zhang Xiangping’s hair, striking her.
“You have no right! You abandoned him to the U.S.! Everything he has now is from his own effort, not yours!”
Zhao Guangyuan tried to pull them apart. Zhao Mingshi stood dumbfounded, rooted to the spot—what? It wasn’t a mix-up? It was deliberate?
So it was true… his life had been stolen from Jiang Luo?
Jiang Luo calmly sipped his tea, as if the chaos in the room were invisible. He rose leisurely and walked toward the door, leaving.
Zhao Mingshi, ignoring the commotion inside, walked stiffly after him, glancing at Jiang Luo’s retreating figure.