Chapter 219: Loud at Midnight

Chapter 219

The night was dark. Pei Jing hurried back to the delivery room.

The items had already been packed up, and his two children had also been taken home to be looked after. Only Zhi Xia still insisted on staying behind to wait for Pei Jing to come back.

The couple exchanged a glance, and Pei Jing nodded. Zhi Xia understood—they had caught the perpetrator.

An ZhiXian and Pei JianGuo were still there, along with those two other families' children.

The bigger child was Li Xiusheng, Wang Caixiang's cousin. That woman had initially agreed with the baby swap plan, but after giving birth to a son herself, she felt there was no longer any need.

Her selfishness had provided Wang Caixiang with an opportunity.

The police likely wouldn't detain her, but the neighborhood committee and ideological education committees would certainly put her through reeducation, which was punishment enough.

The smaller child was clearly premature, with purple-reddish skin that did not look healthy.

The most pitiable was the baby girl who had died from being drugged. According to Wang Caixiang's confession, the newborn girl had been abandoned at the hospital entrance and happened to be picked up by her.

Preferences for sons over daughters were common enough that abandoning infant girls did happen from time to time. The police were checking the maternity records over the past few days for families who had given birth to girls, in hopes of locating the child's biological parents for education.

"Uncle, what should we do with these two kids? We still can't confirm which one is really ours." Pei JianGuo and the others still didn't know that neither of these children were the right one.

Pei Jing walked over to take a look. Shen Hongmei was still undergoing emergency treatment. The police had contacted the child's father, Fu Yunqi, to come pick him up, but in the meantime, they hoped Pei Jing's family could help look after the child.

Without any hesitation, Pei Jing had refused.

After everything that had happened, asking them to care for Shen Hongmei's child was simply unacceptable, not just for Zhi Xia who had just given birth, but also for Pei Jing as a victim.

"The hospital will be responsible for the smaller child. We'll have our people watch him temporarily while waiting for the father to come get him," said Pei Jing. Then he asked, "Has the father of the bigger child come by?"

"He came to ask for the child in the afternoon, but we didn't let him take the baby. He hasn't been back since." On the surface the man had seemed concerned about his child, but in reality, he didn't seem as caring as one would expect. In short, something seemed off.

If someone was truly anxious about their child, they should be standing guard no matter what, not afraid that others might snatch their baby away.

As An ZhiXian finished speaking, the realization struck her. Frowning, she asked, "What's going on? Could neither of these children be the right one?"

Pei Jing hesitated briefly before nodding. "We've found the child. He hasn't been brought back yet. The hospital staff and the parents will come soon, then they can take these two children away separately."

"No need to keep waiting then. We can take them over right now," said An ZhiXian, clicking her tongue. These two kids weren't easy to take care of, and they weren't her family's children anyway, so getting them back sooner rather than later would make things easier.

It was his fault, and apologies meant little when said too many times until they lacked sincerity.

In any case, they had managed to locate the child, which was the silver lining.

Pei Jing carried Zhi Xia out of the hospital and into a deserted corner to retrieve their son from the dimension space.

On the return trip, Pei Jing held his son while Zhi Xia walked at an unhurried pace chosen to accommodate her condition.

The ordeal could be considered over and done with now.

Pei Jing was reluctant to let go of the child in his arms, who seemed more and more good-looking the more he looked—not any child from another family could compare.

Zhi Xia had fallen back asleep. Even for someone with great abilities, an iron constitution still needed rest.

Loud, raucous noises suddenly erupted from next door. Having just woken from her nap not long ago, Zhi Xia groggily opened her eyes.

Meanwhile, the baby slept deeply without moving an inch, only occasionally smacking his lips.

"Did the noise wake you?" Pei Jing got up to tuck her quilt snugly. "I'll go see what's happening."

It turned out to be Zhang Zhi's family arguing with the hospital staff. He was Wang Caixiang’s cousin and brother-in-law.

After this baby swap incident occurring right when they came to deliver their child, Zhang Zhi felt uneasy about the entire situation.

Moreover, looking at the baby who had been returned to them, he suddenly developed strange doubts—what if this child wasn't of his seed either?

After all, newborns were difficult to identify accurately, and so many babies had been switched around and shuffled between different hands. Just that afternoon, they were told this child might not be his, yet that night the infant was handed back to them, claimed as his own.

Without definitive proof, he couldn't simply accept what others said at face value.

Zhang Zhi felt awful at the possibility that the hard-awaited son might not actually be his own blood. His resentment even extended toward his wife, Li Xiu.

Furthermore, he wanted the hospital to take responsibility. Things couldn't just end like this.

Yet the hospital staff blamed his family instead. After all, Li Xiu had participated in the baby swap scheme too. She only refrained from subsequent actions because she happened to bear a son. If she had birthed a daughter, she doubtless would have wanted to trade for someone else's son.

The hospital hadn't even demanded accountability from them yet, but here Zhang Zhi was kicking up a row first.

Once again, the police were called out in the dead of night.