Qiao Qianning was currently looking down, glancing up from time to time to observe the man sitting on the plain cloth sofa in front of her.
He was a tall, mature man in a dark suit, with a lit cigarette between his fingers. He had slightly curly hair that gave him a rebellious air, piercing deep eyes that seemed to see right through her, and sensual thin lips. She knew his slender fingers, currently holding the cigarette, would soon be caressing her body.
Actually, coming here tonight was her own willing choice; she had no one else to blame, so what did she have to complain about? Thus, she took a quiet, deep breath.
Beigong Cang finally snuffed out the cigarette in his hand and asked Qiao Qianning, who was standing nervously in front of the door, "How old are you?"
"Twenty-one," her voice trembled slightly.
"Still studying?"
"Yes, junior at A University."
"If you do get pregnant, what's your plan?"
"Um…" Qiao Qianning paused briefly, because this was the reason she came tonight, to have a child with the man before her, take the money, leave the child, and then leave. She continued, "Lady Beigong said if I get pregnant, I would take a break from school and stay here for the pregnancy."
"How much is my mother paying you?" Beigong Cang asked further.
"Two hundred thousand." Two hundred thousand, to the powerful Beigong Family, was just a trivial sum. But for the Qiao Family, caught in a storm, it was life-saving money.
Beigong Cang couldn't help but curl his lips into a cold sneer. Poor families always sing about pride and ambition, but when it comes to a matter of life and death, a measly two hundred thousand is enough to sell their bodies and children. How laughable.
He went on, "Do you know what giving birth entails?"
"I... I know." Qiao Qianning lowered her head even more. She knew what would happen next; she had prepared herself on the way here.
"When did you last have your period?"
"Um… the 7th."
Upon receiving her answer, Beigong Cang quickly did the calculation in his head, then said, "Alright, take off your clothes." As he spoke, he stood up and also began to unfasten the buttons of his Armani suit.
Watching his actions, Qiao Qianning gasped, but she also knew that she had no way out. She reached for the zipper of her cheap tracksuit and slowly started to strip off her clothes, along with her dignity.
Body intertwined with body, he penetrated her wildly. Yet her body remained ice-cold throughout, passively enduring his manipulation. Tears silently slid down, absorbed by the soft comforter on the large bed below.
Qiao Qianning stared blankly, the harsh light from the ceiling forcing her to shut her eyes.
What on earth was she doing?
She was an orphan, taken in by the Qiao family at the age of four. Father Qiao had unfortunately contracted leukemia last year, but a bone marrow transplant cost a prohibitively large sum of money. Her brother, Qiao Fantian, worked several part-time jobs for the sake of their father's illness, frequently so exhausted that he would collapse at work. Her sister, Qiao Qianxue, was also ready to donate bone marrow to their father. And herself? A person unrelated to her by blood, who had raised her for seventeen years, what could she do to repay him?
While everyone was fretting over money, Mother Qiao somehow learned through some channel that the Beigong Family was looking for someone to bear a child for them. If it was a girl, they would pay two hundred thousand, and if a boy, they would pay four hundred thousand. Just by getting pregnant, she could get the two hundred thousand.
So much money, enough for Father Qiao's surgery. Qiao Qianxue was to donate bone marrow to her father, and such a task naturally fell upon the adopted daughter, Qianning.
Under the gaze of her family, in her father's eyes of desperation, and in gratitude for their kindness to her, she, Qiao Qianning, came to the Qiao family's villa, stripped bare, enduring the humiliation that man gave her!
"Come back the night after tomorrow, and I will have Uncle Zhang drive to pick you up," Beigong Cang said coldly as he dressed himself after everything was over.
She sat up, pulled over the clothes scattered on the floor, and silently put them on herself. She didn't cry because her tears had long since dried up.
"It's getting late, I'll have Uncle Zhang take you back," he said, and then he opened the room door, calling downstairs, "Uncle Zhang, take Miss Qiao home."
"Yes, Young Master," answered a hoarse voice from below.
By then, Qiao Qianning had tidied her clothes and walked out of the room. Beigong Cang, however, stepped into the room without so much as a glance at her and closed the door behind him.
The black sedan moved slowly through the filthy alley. The dim streetlights outside cast their light on Qiao Qianning's face, leaning against the car window, so pale, so helpless.
The car finally stopped in front of a row of bungalows. She opened the car door, and softly said to the driver inside, "Thank you," before getting out of the car.
A mother and daughter emerged from the bungalow under the awning—that was her foster mother and sister. Mother Qiao frowned slightly as she approached Qianning, asking worriedly, "Qianning, how did it go?"
Qianning let out a soft breath, "It was okay."
"That's good! That's very good!" Her mother's brow immediately smoothed out.
On the side, Qiao Qianxue also started laughing, calculating something, then rushed back into the house, shouting at her father, who had lost all his hair due to chemotherapy, "Dad! Dad! Qianning is back. If all goes well, we can get two hundred thousand in about twenty days, and then you can have the surgery."
Hearing her voice, Father Qiao struggled to sit up in bed, looked at Qiao Qianning standing at the door, and let out a deep sigh. When he had taken in this child, he had merely wanted to give her a life of full bellies and warm clothes, never imagining that it would come to this.
Qianning walked to her foster father's side and gently said, "Dad, I'm back. It's late, you should rest."
Father Qiao's lifeless gaze could only drop helplessly as he nodded and lay back down.
"Bang!" A loud noise made all four people in the house turn toward the door. There stood a dark-skinned man with a slender frame, wearing shabby work clothes and disheveled hair. He shouted at the people inside, "You're all heartless! Having your sister do such a thing!"
He was Qiao Fantian, the eldest son of the Qiao family.
"Fantian..." Mother Qiao's words were choked, unable to be spoken.
It was Qianxue who spoke up loudly instead, "What do you mean by saying that? All three of us were raised by mom and dad. Now that dad is sick, what's wrong with doing everything we can to raise money? If it weren't for my bone marrow being the only match for dad, I wouldn't have had Qianning take on this task. Brother, why can't you understand?"
Qiao Fantian didn't listen to Qianxue's words; his eyes were fixed on Qianning,
Qianning kept her head down, saying nothing. Fantian knew that whatever he said now was already too late.