Courage

Xu Ruyi had never gone through this process before. Perhaps because of that, she felt trapped in an inexplicable panic, her heart hanging there, suspended... unable to settle.

As she stamped the forms and paid at the counter, she could not help asking, "When did this procedure start? I remember there didn't seem to be such a requirement when I was young."

"How would I know?" the young man behind the window replied. "I think District 3 was the first to implement it. It took a long time before it spread here."

Xu Ruyi frowned slightly. "Making pregnant women listen to this before the operation—isn't that cruel?"

"If you think it's cruel, then don't abort it." The young man glanced at her. "You can bear to abort a baby this big, but you're afraid to look at it?"

Xu Ruyi's face immediately burned, yet she had no way to refute him. It was as if she were doing some shameful, unspeakable evil, and therefore deserved other people's humiliation and punishment.

After a while, the man slapped the form down onto the marble countertop.

"Go hand in the receipt over there."

Xu Ruyi deeply disliked the young man's contemptuous attitude, but when she took the form, she still instinctively said thank you. The thanks that slipped out made her burn with shame and indignation, but that moment had already passed, and there was nothing she could pursue.

When Xu Ruyi returned, Ding Xueyang saw her mother's embarrassment at a glance.

She rose from her seat. "Did it go smoothly?"

"It did." Xu Ruyi lowered her eyes and smiled. "Come on, let's go upstairs."

In the silent, dim little room, the doctor spread cold gel over Ding Xueyang's belly, then used the ultrasound probe to press repeatedly against different parts of