Atlas Studios

  Atlas Studios

  She grabbed onto Xia Ruoxin’s blouse and bit on it, treating it like a milk bottle.

  Xia Ruoxin smiled helplessly. Who would say her child was well-behaved? In fact, she had a temper. Take now for example.

  Her fingers touched Rainy’s tiny face tenderly while the little one continued to munch on her blouse, not bothering about her. She stopped smiling. Look, she’s angry and throwing a tantrum.

  She picked up the milk bottle quickly and placed it by Rainy’s mouth. The little girl finally released her hand and held the bottle.

  What a temper for her age. She pulled the blanket, covered her daughter’s legs, and rested her hand on the girl’s hair. She had a head of beautiful hair; it was black and thick, like her mother’s.

  She sketched her daughter’s face carefully. It has been a month, and she has grown and looked more like her. In a way, her black pupils resembled him. She was very fortunate that the child resembled her. She could not see a hint of the other man on her baby.

  She was her daughter and nobody else’s.

  “Rainy, did you know that? Mommy loves you very, very much.” She held her sleeping daughter in her arms carefully, with her face touching the little girl’s tender face.

  “Rainy, you can be discharged tomorrow. We can go home. Even though our home is very old and Mommy is very poor, you must believe that Mommy will love you with everything.

  “Everything that Mommy can achieve.”


  The check-up showed that Rainy was indeed fine. Her fever was gone, and she was a healthy baby again. Xia Ruoxin carried her daughter out of the hospital together with what little clothing she had. It had been a few days since she came outside. The sunlight made her eyes sting.

  She looked at Rainy who was evidently happy. She looked around frequently, and Xia Ruoxin wondered what she was excited about.

  Her small hands grabbed Xia Ruoxin’s hair. She wasn’t strong so Xia Ruoxin did not feel any pain.

  When they were back at the small warehouse, Xia Ruoxin put her daughter to bed before going out to collect the laundry from the various households. She was penniless now. If she didn’t find work soon, both she and Rainy would starve.

  She went from one house to another. Soon, she had a huge bundle of laundry in her arms, and she made her way back to the warehouse. In her hand was some money given by everyone when they heard that her child was sick. They said she received more for their laundry because the material was thicker and harder to wash. Her eyes were red the whole time. At her most helpless and troubled time, the ones who lent her a helping hand were the strangers. Not her relatives, mother, or husband.

  She opened the door and saw that the little one has woken. She did not know how long she has been awake, but she reached out with her hands and kept mumbling.

  Xia Ruoxin hurriedly put the clothes down and ran over. She carried her daughter and touched the nappy. It was wet. She put her daughter in her coat to warm her little cold body up with her own body temperature.

  As she looked down, she put her hand on the child’s face.

  She seemed to love the warm this way as she fell into a deep sleep. There were countless nights when she was cold, and Xia Ruoxin would always use her own body temperature to warm her insensible daughter.