Extra Story: Lu Ruoxi - The Thorned Rose - Switched

Wang Cuifen glanced at her wristband to confirm the location.

Then, she exchanged a look with Zhang Lin standing not far away.

Zhang Lin’s face was pale, but she gave an almost imperceptible nod.

The moment had come.

Wang Cuifen took a deep breath and stood up.

“I’ll go prepare some milk. A few of the babies are due for feeding soon,” she said in a hushed voice.

Zhang Lin murmured a vague acknowledgment, but her eyes darted toward the far end of the nursery.

Wang Cuifen stepped into the milk preparation room, her heart pounding uncontrollably.

She forced herself to stay calm—every step had to be executed flawlessly.

Just as she walked out holding the milk bottles, chaos erupted.

“Ah!—”

Zhang Lin suddenly let out a sharp, terrified scream.

“Sister Wang! Come quick! This baby… this baby isn’t breathing!”

Her voice, like a blade, sliced through the nursery’s tranquility.

Wang Cuifen’s heart clenched—the plan was in motion.

She hurried over and saw a male infant, placed farthest from the Yang Family’s crib, his face deathly pale and limbs limp.

“Quick! Call a doctor! He… he’s turning blue!” Zhang Lin cried out, her voice trembling.

The commotion immediately alerted the nurses at the station.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” they shouted, rushing in.

Everyone’s attention instantly zeroed in on the “critically endangered” baby boy.

“Get the oxygen bag!”

“Bring the vital signs monitor!”

The noise set off a chain reaction—other infants began wailing.

“Oh no, why are all the babies crying now?”

Under the guise of checking on the others, Wang Cuifen and Zhang Lin swiftly moved to the cribs of the Lu and Yang Families.

The chaos—shouted orders, frantic footsteps—created a perfect, unnoticed void for the two women.

Now!

Wang Cuifen’s body moved with a speed and decisiveness she hadn’t known she possessed.

In seconds, they scooped up two infants.

The babies slept soundly, oblivious to the turmoil around them.

Wang Cuifen pulled a specially crafted miniature pair of pliers from her pocket.

Click.

A sound so faint it might as well have never happened.

The Lu Family heiress’s wristband snapped off.

She quickly stuffed the broken band into her pocket.

Then, from another pocket, she retrieved the wristband Liu Mei had given her and fastened it onto the baby’s wrist.

Next, she repeated the process with Yang Honglian’s daughter, whom Zhang Lin held.

In moments, the two infants were switched.

The entire operation, shielded by the pandemonium, was seamless.

“You two! Stop standing there—come help!” a nurse barked from across the room.

They rushed over, their faces etched with just the right amount of panic.

“How is he? How is he?”

Just then, the baby boy let out a loud, robust cry.

“Wah!—”

“Oh… oh! He’s fine, he’s fine!” the nurse said, bewildered.

“Must’ve been milk stuck in his throat… How were you feeding him?”

After another check, the nurse confirmed the baby was perfectly healthy—just a little flushed from the scare.

A false alarm.

Everyone exhaled in relief.

Wang Cuifen felt her back drenched in cold sweat.

She glanced at Zhang Lin, who kept her head down, shoulders still trembling slightly.

...

5:00 a.m.

Liu Mei reappeared at the nursery entrance.

This time, she carried a discharge checklist.

“The Yang Family’s here to pick up their baby. The discharge is processed. I need to verify the infant’s details,” she stated matter-of-factly.

The nurse on duty had changed shifts.

The new nurse didn’t recognize her, assuming she was just another staff member.

After a glance at the paperwork, the nurse nodded.

Liu Mei strode in.

She went straight to the crib marked with the character “Yang.”

Bending down, she picked up the still-sleeping baby girl.

The wristband on the infant’s arm bore a discreet mark—one she’d made herself.

A faint, icy smirk curled at the corner of Liu Mei’s lips, unseen by anyone.

With a pen, she decisively checked off the list.

Cradling the baby, she walked out of the nursery, out of the brightly lit hospital.

At the back entrance, a rundown van was already waiting.

The window rolled down, revealing two rough, expressionless faces.

“This the one?” one of the men asked, exhaling a cloud of smoke.

“Mm,” Liu Mei replied, handing over the swaddled bundle.

She didn’t spare another glance.

As if she hadn’t just passed over a living, breathing child—

but a piece of cargo, utterly disconnected from her.

The man took the baby and carelessly tossed her onto the back seat.

Startled awake, the infant let out a piercing wail.

“Shut that thing up!” the other man snapped irritably.

The van’s engine roared to life.

In seconds, it merged into the empty late-night streets, vanishing into the darkness.

Its destination? Wherever Li Xiujian had specified.

The farther, the better.

The poorer, the better.

Just keep the girl alive—that was the only requirement.

Liu Mei stood there until the taillights disappeared completely.

The autumn wind was cold.

But as it brushed her face, she felt nothing at all.

She took out her phone and sent a text message to Li Xiujian.

"B has been sent away. Mission accomplished."

Then, she deleted the message.

She also erased all call records with Yang Honglian.

Turning around, she walked back into the hospital building.

Her face regained its numb, placid expression.

As if nothing had just happened.

She was still that inconspicuous file clerk.

Meanwhile, in the nursery.

The baby girl wearing the Lu Family's wristband—Li Xiujian's biological daughter—lay in a warm crib.

Waiting for daybreak, when she would be taken back to that gilded cage as the Lu Family's most treasured prize.

Less than five kilometers away, the van carrying the Lu Family's heiress stopped at an abandoned gas station.

The two men inside handed the crying infant over to another couple.

"Delivery complete. Payment settled."

"Damn brat cried the whole way. Bad luck."

The couple inspected the baby.

Confirming it was a healthy girl, they tossed over a wad of cash, took the child, and boarded an even shabbier van.

...

At 10:30 in the morning.

Wang Cuifang and Zhang Lin splurged on a taxi to the bus terminal.

They barely carried any luggage—just a few personal belongings.

They had merely told their supervisor that an elderly relative had fallen and they needed to go home.

Then they left without another word.

When the supervisor got their call, he grumbled about their sudden departure during such a busy period.

The bus terminal was on the outskirts of the city.

Just one more turn at the next intersection, and they'd arrive.

The light turned red.

Wang Cuifang and Zhang Lin sat in the backseat, barely daring to speak above a whisper, yet both lost in fantasies of how to spend their sudden windfall.

The light turned green.

The taxi started moving, turning left—

When suddenly, a truck barreled from the right and slammed into it.

The rear half of the taxi was crushed beneath the truck's wheels.

Chaos erupted instantly.

The screech of metal, brakes, and horns tangled together.

Some called the police, others stepped in to direct traffic, a few tried to organize rescue efforts.

But no one noticed—the two women in the backseat were already beyond recognition.