Chapter 1 Prologue

In the scorching heat of July, the indoor temperature in City A reached thirty-five degrees, hot like a furnace. The midday sun hung high in the sky like a fiery ball, with tens of thousands of glaring sunbeams scattering from the sky, deliberately pushing the temperature to its peak.

On the streets, hardly any pedestrians could be seen, only vehicles braving the blazing sun, speeding on the roads with their air conditioning on, traveling so fast as if a moment's delay would melt their bodies under the sun. Even the occasional pedestrian hurried by, shielding themselves with an umbrella.

But beneath the flower beds of the People's Square in City A, a crowd had gathered. Sheltering under umbrellas, they formed circles upon circles, constantly pointing and commenting, their eyes filled with pity, rage, and accusation.

Beneath the flower bed was a small cardboard box lined with newspapers and topped with a layer of cloth. In the center of the box lay a child who looked to be only a day or two old. The infant was wrapped only in a large cloth, very small, seemingly premature, probably weighing only about three or four pounds. Perhaps hungry, the child did not even open their eyes, simply crying out with a mouth wide open, sounding like a meowing cat.

"Such a sin, to abandon such a small child! If they really couldn't raise the kid, they could have given it to someone else. To leave them here is to willfully let heaven take them," lamented the proprietress of a shop next to the square as she made her way into the crowd. She held a baby bottle in her hand, filled with half a bottle of cow's milk, and while picking up the infant, she placed the bottle into the wailing child's mouth.

Though the baby's cries were shrill and weak, and their body frail, fortunately, they could feed. The baby immediately began to suck on the bottle's nipple, drinking the milk.

"Right, the child's parents are really heartless," the surrounding crowd also voiced in accusation.

In the 21st century, with most families having only one child, who would have the heart to abandon a newborn baby? Yet the parents of this baby were so merciless as to abandon them (him/her) under the flower bed in the square, clearly intending to let the sun take her life. Look, the poor little face was burnt a bright red.

"Who, among you, could take her home to raise?" suddenly suggested a middle-aged woman, scanning the people around her. "She looks premature but probably healthy. If we let her be abandoned here, surely she will be scorched to death. Take her home or send her to the hospital."

The crowd looked at each other, with some saying, "It's not easy raising a child these days. We are all workers, with our own children and elderly to support. We can't afford it."

Some said, "We're not even married yet, how could we dare adopt a child?"

Some suggested, "Call the police, let them deal with it."

The shop owner who fed the baby looked at the crowd with a sigh after finishing feeding the infant, "Even if we call the police, they would only send her to the orphanage. Eventually, if no one adopts her, she'll grow up in the orphanage. Ah, poor child."

"It's better to send her to the orphanage than to let her die here from sunstroke or starvation."

"Is the child a boy or a girl?"'

Suddenly, someone from the crowd blurted out.

"If abandoned, must be a girl," someone responded. In fact, no one had checked whether the child was a boy or a girl; people had habitually assumed that most abandoned children were girls.

City A is a large metropolis with people coming from all over the country. Some people still harbor feudal thoughts of male preference. To have a son carry on the family line, they would flee to another place to have children. Maybe this baby was abandoned by such people trying to evade the family planning policy.

The shop owner who held the child gently checked and then murmured softly, "It's an intersex, half male, half female!"

Half male, half female?

The crowd buzzed.

Being born intersex, with both male and female reproductive organs, one could potentially live as a man or as a woman.

"No wonder they were abandoned," someone whispered regretfully.

"Actually, it's still their parents who are heartless. Science has advanced; they could have had surgery for the child to make them a son or daughter. If they had surgery, everything would be resolved," someone else in the crowd sighed.

"Probably it's the high cost of the surgery that's the issue."

As the crowd was busy talking, a black Mercedes drove by. Seeing so many people standing under the hot sun around the flower bed in the square, Fan Shaoming grew curious. He parked his car on the side of the road, got out, and made his way into the crowd.

"What's going on?" asked Fan Shaoming coolly, his gaze falling on the sleeping infant in the shop owner's arms. The child had eaten their fill and fallen into a deep sleep in the owner's embrace, completely unaware of whether they would survive to see another day.

Noting Fan Shaoming's suit and refined air, young and handsome with a gentle yet somber, dignified aura, someone replied, "This child was abandoned by their parents, very pitiful, and also born intersex."

"Abandoned?" A look of disapproval flashed across Fan Shaoming's indifferent handsome face. How could there be such heartless parents in the world?

Born intersex?

The shop owner placed the sleeping child back into the box, stood up, and heaved a deep sigh, "We better call the police. Let them send her to the hospital to see if the doctors are willing to perform surgery."

If the government stepped in, she believed the doctors, who usually cared about money, would agree to perform the surgery on the child.

Fan Shaoming stepped closer, standing over the cardboard box, looking down at the sleeping infant inside. So small, like a kitten. It was the first time he had seen such a small child. At twenty-six, as the president of Sanyang Group, he didn't even have an official girlfriend. In that moment, looking at the peaceful little face of the child, he felt a sudden urge: he wanted to take this child in.

The child was intersex, but he wasn't afraid. He had money, he could afford the surgery to make the child normal.

He knew that if he did this, it would certainly cause a sensation in high society, but he wasn't afraid.

He was an illegitimate child himself, the biological flesh and blood of the old Jun Family master. When the old master announced his identity to the world, the high society was shocked by his story.