Chapter 3Finding Mother

At my words, their faces changed.

The reporter said angrily, "We're just trying to help a child find his family. How can you be so cruel?"

The live stream viewers had now swelled to over a million. Even official government media accounts had entered the stream to watch.

My heart pounded. I was waiting for the police.

Zhang Qiang's eyes darted around, and then he pointed at my chest and shouted.

"You're not going to give up, are you?"

"You have a birthmark on your chest! A face can look similar, but can a birthmark?"

"All you have to do is pull off her shirt, and you'll know if she's my wife!"

The stream's chat lit up with gifts and jeers.

[Wow, she won't do it. Confirmed: heartless mother.]

[A disobedient woman needs to be beaten. Zhang Qiang is too soft on her.]

[Someone needs to teach her a lesson for the child's sake. She won't even let her family in!]

Zhang Qiang wheeled himself forward and, before I could react, yanked my collar open.

He froze.

"Where's the birthmark?"

The reporters were also stunned.

A moment ago, they had been convinced. But now, the "proof" Zhang Qiang spoke of was nowhere to be found.

"Mr. Zhang... are you sure you have the right person?"

"Do you have any ID, any documents at all?"

"Or just tell us the hospital where he was born! With this many people watching, the hospital could check its records!"

I, too, looked at the three of them, curious to see how they'd answer.

After all, I had searched for years and never found a birth certificate.

The old woman trembled, then burst into tears.

"What documents! Xiao Bao was born at home!"

"We're poor! We live in the mountains! The hospital is too far! We'd never make it in time!"

"You city people talk so easily! Have you ever thought about us, the people in the gullies?"

"We sold everything we had, spent all our money, just to come here and find you for Xiao Bao's sake!"

"How can you say such things? You're breaking our hearts! You're breaking the hearts of all the poor farmers struggling to get by!"

The reporter was shamed into silence. Xiao Bao, hearing his grandma, screamed at the camera.

"Mommy! I'll save all my yummy food for you! Please come home!"

"This family can't be without you! I can't be without you!"

Zhang Qiang, seeing his son, also began to cry.

"Xiaohan, I won't force you. If you won't admit it, fine. But can you at least let Xiao Bao stay here?"

"He's your son! Can you really stand to hear him crying for 'mommy' in his sleep?"

"I can live without a wife, but Xiao Bao can't live without a mother!"

He kneeled before me.

"Wife, if you don't love me anymore, you don't have to come back."

"Just let my mom and Xiao Bao stay. I'll go. I won't be a burden. But the child is innocent!"

The live stream was now at ten million viewers.

The reporter, excited, pushed me to agree.

"Ms. Chen, Mr. Zhang has compromised this much! Are you still going to deny it?"

"Look at the comments! This is the ending everyone wants!"

At that moment, my phone rang. It was my boss.

"Chen Xiaohan, that 'finding mom' story is huge. Our clients are calling me about it."

"Admit you're the mother. Now. Spin this into a heartwarming story."

"Your husband said you don't even have to go back. Just keep the kid."

"The stream has ten million viewers! Do it! It's great PR for the company!"

"Your promotion or your termination depends on what you do next."

He hung up. I glanced at the viewer count, then at the people in front of me.

Zhang Qiang, hopeful.

The grandmother, weeping.

Xiao Bao, who whispered, his voice only for me, "Mommy, you have to be good. Daddy breaks the legs of people who aren't good."

I saw the police officers who had just arrived. I pinched the flesh of Xiao Bao's arm, hard, and spoke calmly.

"No marriage certificate. No birth certificate. They didn't know the mother's address, and at first, they didn't even know her name. Doesn't that seem strange?"

"Am I really so stupid that I would fly 5 hours away to a remote village to get married while I was in high school?"

"Or maybe... behind this 'search for mom'... is a much more cruel truth?"

"I am not his mother. His mother is already dead!"