Lu Ruoxi Side Story - Thorny Rose - The Journey Home

"Are you saying you took this child from human traffickers?"

"Yes."

"Where are the traffickers now?"

"They got away."

"Were there any other witnesses?"

"There were many people at the service area, but... everyone's gone home by now."

"So there's no evidence to prove what you're saying is true?"

The officer set down his pen.

He looked at Ye Sanqi as if he were staring at a liar.

Or worse—an irresponsible father trying to abandon a baby girl.

After all, even in this day and age, cases of rural families discarding infant girls still happened.

"Listen, comrade, child trafficking cases are rampant. It's hard for us to believe you when you're holding a baby with no clear origin."

"I'm telling the truth!"

Ye Sanqi's face flushed with desperation.

"Here's what we'll do," the officer stood up.

"Leave the child with us. We'll send her to an orphanage. You can give a detailed statement, and then you're free to go."

Leave her?

Send her to an orphanage?

Ye Sanqi glanced down at the baby in his arms.

She was fast asleep.

Her tiny fingers clutched the fabric of his shirt.

He remembered what his coworkers had said—orphanages were overcrowded.

The caretakers were stretched too thin.

Children went hungry, left cold.

His heart twisted like a needle had pierced it.

He couldn’t leave her here.

Clutching the baby, he bolted from the police station as if fleeing.

Behind him, he could almost hear the officer’s scornful scoff.

……

Ye Sanqi was utterly hopeless now.

Reporting to the police had led nowhere.

His money was dwindling fast.

Formula, diapers, cheap motels—

Every expense chipped away at what little he had left.

Panic set in.

With the baby in his arms, he wandered aimlessly through the city streets.

Skyscrapers loomed, traffic roared past.

Nowhere felt like a place he belonged.

That afternoon, rain began to fall.

Autumn rain—cold enough to bite.

Ye Sanqi took shelter under the awning of a bank.

The baby in his arms grew feverish.

She was sick.

Feeling her burning forehead, Ye Sanqi’s heart raced with fear.

He rushed into the rain, sprinting to a small clinic.

The doctor gave her a fever reducer and prescribed some medicine.

The money in his pocket dwindled further—so little left that he could hardly face Zhang Cuilan when he returned.

The rain kept pouring.

Ye Sanqi sat on the clinic’s front steps, holding the now-sleeping baby, her fever subsided.

Drenched, shivering, and starving, he stared down at her.

For the first time, a thought crept into his mind.

Abandon her.

Leave her at the hospital entrance.

Or on the doorstep of some wealthy-looking home.

That way, she might live.

With him, she’d only starve.

The thought coiled around his heart like a venomous snake.

He stood up and walked, step by step, toward the city hospital ahead.

Its entrance blazed with light.

All he had to do was set her down.

Turn away.

And it would all be over.

His hands trembled.

He looked down at her one last time.

Just then, the baby stirred awake.

She didn’t cry.

Her dark, shining eyes—round as grapes—

Fixed on him, quiet and steady.

Then, her tiny mouth curled.

She smiled.

A toothless, pure grin.

Her little hand wriggled free from the swaddle.

Somehow, it found his rough, scarred finger—and grasped it.

Ye Sanqi froze.

A warmth spread from that touch, flooding his entire body.

All his hesitation, his pain, his despair—

Crumbled before that smile.

He bent down, brushing his stubbled cheek gently against hers.

"No more running," he whispered to himself.

"Let’s go home."

……

On the bus back to Anhe County,

Ye Sanqi sat by the window again.

He wrapped his coat around the swaddled baby.

Outside, harvested fields stretched endlessly.

A narrow stream wound through them,

Glittering under the sunlight.

So small, yet unwavering,

Flowing forward without rest.

Ye Sanqi gazed at it, lost in thought.

He wasn’t an educated man.

Hadn’t read many books in his life.

But in that moment, clarity struck him.

He leaned down and murmured to the baby,

"From now on, your name is Ruoxi, alright?"

"Ye Ruoxi."

He gave her his surname.

She was his daughter now.

……

Three days later,

Ye Sanqi finally returned to the urban village in Anhe County.

His home stood at the deepest end of an alley—

A crumbling two-story house.

The wooden door creaked as he pushed it open.

Zhang Cuilan was in the courtyard, scrubbing laundry.

She froze when she saw him.

Then her eyes locked onto the bundle in his arms.

"Ye Sanqi! You’ve got some nerve!"

Zhang Cuilan flung the wet clothes aside and sprang to her feet.

Her voice was shrill, piercing.

"Knocked up some woman out there and brought the bastard home?!"

"Shut your mouth!"

Ye Sanqi roared back.

He’d never raised his voice at her like this before.

"She’s my coworker’s kid! He ran off with some woman and left her behind! I took her in out of pity!"

It was the lie he’d rehearsed the entire journey.

"Your coworker’s kid?"

Zhang Cuilan sneered.

"You expect me to believe that? Since when do people just hand over babies for free?"

"I’m not lying!"

His face burned red.

"We’ve been married all these years without a child. Haven’t you always wanted one? Now we have—"

"I wanted my own flesh and blood! Not some stray you picked up! A worthless burden!"

Her words made Ye Sanqi’s face pale, then flush again.

Holding the baby, he stepped forward.

He lifted the swaddle toward Zhang Cuilan.

"Just look at her."

His voice softened, pleading.

"Look how sweet she is."

Ye Ruoxi, disturbed by the noise, blinked awake.

Her eyes met Zhang Cuilan’s furious glare.

She didn’t cry. Didn’t fuss.

Just watched, silent and calm.

Zhang Cuilan’s curses died in her throat.

She stared at the baby.

Those dark, grape-like eyes—so clear they mirrored her own reflection.

She remembered the doctor’s diagnosis years ago.

The whispers behind her back from neighbors.

The suffocating silence of this house.

Her resolve wavered.

"Fine. We’ll keep her."

After a long pause, Zhang Cuilan spoke again.

But her tone remained icy.

"I’ll feed her. Nothing more. Don’t expect anything else from me."

"If she gets sick, if she dies—don’t come crying to me."

"And every cent you earn goes to me. Not a penny less."

Ye Sanqi exhaled in relief.

He knew this was her final concession.

"Alright," he agreed.

"Whatever you say."

……

Jingzhou.

Li Xiujian ended a call.

A cold smirk tugged at his lips.

His men had reported everything—including how they’d pressured the man who rescued the baby girl to back off, leaving no loose ends.

"Clean up the trail," was all he said.

He didn’t care where the baby girl was sold.

Nor did he care who picked her up.

All he wanted was for her to vanish from every official record.

That way, twenty years later,

when he placed this piece back on the board,

it would have the greatest impact.

As for that nosy construction worker,

Li Xiujian didn’t even spare him a second thought.

Just an ant.

Incapable of stirring even a ripple.