"Xin'er, you're awake?" Kristino asked, gripping the woman's hand anxiously.
Du Ruoxin's eyes were blurry, her mind sluggish. The pain in her chest was so palpable it made her gasp for breath, her face turning purple.
"Xin'er? Are you alright?" Kristino waved his hand in front of her eyes.
Du Ruoxin: "—"
"Why aren't you speaking? Don't scare me." He desired her, but he didn't want to end up with a mere shell of a woman, soulless.
"Wake up, look at me and talk..."
Kristino reached out to caress her face, but the woman's eyelashes fluttered, and scalding tears rolled down. "Brother, take me away..."
She didn't want to stay here anymore, didn't want to be by Rong Jingyang's side, didn't want to be deceived like a fool. She wanted to leave, far away, to be gone from him forever.
She didn't want to believe him anymore!
"Okay." Kristino was overjoyed.
He scooped the woman up horizontally and rushed towards the door, "I'll take you away immediately."
I'll take you home immediately.
From now on, I will never let you leave me again.
You are mine. Anyone who dares to snatch you away, I will kill their entire family!
"And Doudou," Kristino said as he walked, "I'll have someone pick up Doudou. She'll leave with us."
Du Ruoxin's daughter, a descendant of his Rothschild family, he would absolutely not allow her to be left out in the cold.
Du Ruoxin wept silently. Upon hearing her daughter's name, a sliver of reason pierced through her chaotic thoughts, "No—"
She didn't want to take Doudou away.
Not now, at least.
Kristino put Du Ruoxin into the car and looked at her quizzically. "Hmm?"
Du Ruoxin buried her head and said, "I'll come back for Doudou next year."
She remembered her mother-in-law's biggest regret was not witnessing the growth of her three children before they turned four. That was why her father-in-law had pressured Rong Jingyang and his siblings to marry and have children early, to compensate for the regrets of their youth.
Mother-in-law...
No matter how much of a scoundrel Rong Jingyang was, Feng Linwan had truly been good to her. This was a way to repay her mother-in-law's favoritism and protection over the years.
"I'll come to pick her up when Doudou turns four," Du Ruoxin said softly.
Kristino: "—"
After a moment of silence, he didn't ask further and replied, "Alright."
—
Grace went to Sichuan, taking the Qin family's private jet. Two hours later, she arrived in the city of pandas—Chengdu.
The plane landed directly at the Xindu Panda Breeding Research Base. As soon as they disembarked, the two women rushed towards the "maternity ward."
Shengsheng had not yet successfully given birth to her panda cub!
They were so anxious!
The obstetrician had given Shengsheng a labor induction, hoping to stimulate uterine contractions and relax the cervix to help the panda mother deliver quickly.
Due to hours of labor, Shengsheng was also showing signs of weakness and low spirits. The doctor quickly administered an IV drip to replenish her energy and prevent infection.
Panda childbirth differs from human childbirth. Pandas cannot undergo a C-section because they would scratch the wound with their claws, causing the wound to suppurate and become infected, endangering their lives.
Therefore, whether she could give birth depended entirely on Shengsheng herself.
Grace watched Shengsheng whimper in pain, her heart tightening with anxiety.
"Let me try," she said.
Zhan Lan and the doctor looked at her in surprise. "You know how?"
Grace: "I've helped deliver babies for gorillas, tigers, and lions."
When she wasn't working at the research institute, she enjoyed exploring and extreme sports. She often ventured into the animal kingdom and explored nature with a group of wildlife conservationists.
Once, she had the fortune to assist several animals with difficult births, some with stillborn fetuses, others that survived.
Zhan Lan and the doctor looked astonished. "Ah?"
Tigers and lions? Such fierce carnivorous animals, just hearing about it was terrifying!
Just then, Qin Yunxi stepped forward. "I'll go with you."