Chapter 1Finding Mother

A "Finding Mom" video went viral online.

A five or six-year-old boy, standing in front of a backdrop of yellow earth, sang "Mommy, where did you go?" His eyes were filled with tears, a truly pitiful sight.

Kind-hearted netizens helped in the search. Celebrities and influencers posted, "Come home, little boy's mom! Your child misses you!" urging their followers to help.

Finally, someone found the mother's address and posted her information online.

Just as everyone was cheering for the successful search, for the family reunion, for the child's suffering to finally be over, my doorbell rang.

The boy from the video, along with his father, his grandmother, and a crowd of reporters, appeared at my door.

* * *

The child was even thinner and smaller than in the video. When he saw me open the door, he rushed in wildly and clung to my leg.

"Mommy! I finally found you! I looked for you for so long! I was so scared I'd never see you again!"

He burst into tears, as if to pour out all the suffering of his search and his longing for his mother.

"Mommy, I missed you so much! Grandma and Daddy missed you too! This is great, we're finally all together again!"

Not a single reporter on the scene was unmoved.

I looked down at the live stream open on my phone. The topic was already number one on the hot search list.

And in the camera's lens, I stood, a cold and out-of-place figure in this supposedly heartwarming scene.

The audience's comments were a one-sided attack:

[This isn't what I imagined. Shouldn't a mother and son cry and hug when they're reunited?]

[As a mom, I can't stand seeing kids cry. The way he sang in that video broke my heart. Seeing his mom's reaction makes it even worse.]

[Chen Xiaohan, do you even have a heart? Your child is crying his eyes out, and you won't even hug him!]

[I say we dox Chen Xiaohan and ruin her reputation! Make it impossible for her to live in the city! Then she'll have to go back with her kid, and the family can be whole again!]

...

A reporter shoved a microphone right in my face.

"Ms. Chen! Xiao Bao is such a good, sweet boy. How could you have been so cruel as to abandon him back then?"

"This video has been trending for days. You didn't even come forward. Don't you feel any guilt?"

"This child has been kneeling and hugging you for so long, and you're still completely cold! Ms. Chen, are you a mother? Are you even human?"

One heavy accusation after another pushed the atmosphere, both on-site and in the live stream, to a fever pitch.

Hundreds of thousands of viewers flooded the stream. I watched the numbers climb, my fists clenched tightly.

It's not enough. This still isn't enough!

With everyone staring at me, I let out a cold laugh.

"What makes you so sure I'm this child's mother?"

"My personal information is all over the internet. What makes you think that I, a graduate from the Central University of Finance and Economics, would marry someone from a remote mountain village?"

"Let's take a step back. Do you have the child's birth certificate? A marriage certificate? Do they have my name, Chen Xiaohan, written on them?"