Chapter 3 Adoption_1

The young female attendant on duty inside the small motel quickly stood up as Sister Lin entered, asking politely, "Big sister, who are you looking for?"

With a cheery smile, Sister Lin replied, "Young lady, I'm looking for Shen Wenru and Li Xiuxia who are staying in room 202. I'm a relative of their family."

The female attendant asked her, "Do you have your ID with you?"

Sister Lin had left in a hurry and hadn't brought her ID; she could only offer an apologetic smile and say, "Look, young lady, I rushed out so quickly that I forgot to bring my ID. Could you make an exception and let me go up to see them?"

Upon hearing Sister Lin didn't have her ID, the attendant immediately became stern and told her, "I'm sorry, but that won't work. Without ID registration, I can't take responsibility if something happens."

Although the eighties no longer required an introduction letter when going out, ID checks remained very strict.

Sister Lin could only plead with the young attendant, "Please, young lady, I'm begging you. Let me go up. I will come down very quickly, okay? Please?"

But the attendant stood firm on the rules, "No, you either go home and bring back your ID, or... I can go up and notify the guests in room 202 to see if they're willing to meet you."

Under normal circumstances, Sister Lin might actually have gone back to get her ID before returning, but in today's special and urgent situation, how could she possibly go back to the Ning Family to fetch her ID?

When Sister Lin heard that the attendant was willing to kindly go up and notify Shen Wenru and Li Xiuxia, her face beamed with joy, and she quickly said, "That's wonderful. Thank you, young lady. Please go and inform them, and I'll wait right here for them to come down!"

"All right, wait here for a moment then," the attendant said.

As the attendant was about to go upstairs, she saw Shen Wenru and Li Xiuxia coming down with their luggage.

The female attendant immediately smiled at Sister Lin and said, "There, I don't need to go find them for you; they're coming down themselves."

Seeing Sister Lin, Shen Wenru and Li Xiuxia also broke into happy smiles and greeted her warmly, "Sister Lin, what brings you here? We were just about to head back to our hometown!"

Glancing at the female attendant, Sister Lin quickly pulled Shen Wenru and Li Xiuxia aside into a corner, and in a low voice said, "Wenru, Xiuxia, I have a child here that no one wants. I've brought her over to ask if you might want this child. If so, take her and go right away."

Seeing how anxious Sister Lin was, Shen Wenru and Li Xiuxia were more shocked than pleased, "A child? Whose child? Is there something wrong with the child?"

Sister Lin quickly said, "Don't ask whose child it is. This child has had a hard life. As soon as she was born, she was despised by her family because she was born with an extra eye on her forehead. The family said they wanted to kill her. I couldn't bear it, so I brought her to you. If you don't want her, then I'll have to abandon her outside, and her fate will be left to the heavens."

Hearing this, Shen Wenru and Li Xiuxia looked at each other, uncertain.

After a moment, Shen Wenru finally asked Sister Lin, "Where is the child? Let us see her!"

Sister Lin quietly lifted the corner of a cloth from the basket to reveal the small infant within.

Shen Wenru and Li Xiuxia looked down and met Tianxing's big, round eyes.

These eyes, like the stars, were twinkling with dazzling starlight.

Li Xiuxia couldn't help but praise them, "What beautiful eyes! Such a pretty child, too. How could they bear to abandon her?"

The moment Shen Wenru and Li Xiuxia laid eyes on Shen Tianxing, they couldn't help but fall for the child.

Li Xiuxia, looking at the little one's smooth, clean forehead and recalling what Lin's sister had said, couldn't help but ask in confusion, "Lin's sister, didn't you say that this child had a third eye on her forehead? Where is it?"

It was then that Lin's sister too realized that the third eye on the little one's forehead had vanished!

She felt a great surprise in her heart, "What's going on? Clearly, when she came out, she had a third eye on her forehead, but now it's gone. It's so strange! So strange!"

Shen Wenru and Li Xiuxia carefully examined the child's body once more and found that apart from being a bit small, the little one seemed perfectly healthy. The couple exchanged a glance and made their decision.

Shen Wenru cautiously asked Lin's sister again, "Lin's sister, there really won't be a problem if you give this child to us, will there? We don't want to bring the child home, only to have something happen later on. That would be a huge problem, and we don't want to end up with nothing for our troubles."

Lin's sister replied in a low voice, "Didn't I tell you? Her family considered her a monster and wanted to kill her. They asked me to do it, but I couldn't bear to, so I thought of you. If you truly want her, I'll go back and tell them that I've already sent the child to the west. All you need to do is raise this child as your own, and it will be a great deed on our part."

Without further hesitation, Shen Wenru nodded and said, "Alright, we'll take the child. We will treat her as if she were our biological daughter and will never mistreat her! Lin's sister, rest assured!"

Seeing them say this, Lin's sister immediately passed the basket to them.

She repeatedly cautioned them, "Leave with the child quickly, and if it's not important, better not come back to Capital City. That family is not to be trifled with. If they find out what I did, neither of us will have good days ahead. Do you understand?"

Shen Wenru and Li Xiuxia nodded promptly, "We understand. We'll check out of our room and leave immediately. Lin's sister, you can go back first!"

Lin's sister, wiping her eyes with a smile, said, "Alright, then I'll be leaving first. Be careful on the way, and may you have a smooth journey!"

"Yes, it will be smooth," they replied.

After Shen Wenru saw Lin's sister out, he returned and asked Li Xiuxia to watch the child for a moment, then quickly went to find the waitress to check out. Soon after, the couple, with Shen Tianxing in tow, hurried toward the train station for Capital City.

After nearly five and a half hours on the train and a transfer from the county city, Shen Wenru and Li Xiuxia finally returned to their hometown---Xiaoshu Village in Dafang Town, Suzhou.

As soon as they returned to the village, countless people greeted them.

"Wenru, you're back?"

"Oh my, whose child are you holding? Don't tell me you two picked her up while you were out?"

Shen Wenru, with a good nature, replied with a smile to the villagers' teasing, "This child, she's ours now. From now on, she'll be our biological daughter. We've given her a lovely name, Shen Tianxing, which means the stars in the sky."