sbdcsierra Chapter 454 You Can Blame Me
Chapter 454 You Can Blame Me
Her eyes were wet and slightly dazed, as if she couldn't distinguish between reality and illusion.
He just stared at Lu Yangyang, his eyes fixed on her.
Lu Yangyang took out the pills from her bag, put them in her mouth, lifted her chin and helped her swallow. After a while, she checked her pulse and finally confirmed that she had survived.
Lu Yangyang had treated many external injuries in the past, and she had encountered patients on the verge of death before, whether in small-town clinics or when she followed Wen Yu to see patients in the capital. She had encountered patients in very critical condition, but this was the first time she had to make a choice: to save this girl or to save the unborn child.
No one made the decision, and she was left with only two choices.
Although she had experienced many things, this was the first time she had experienced something like this. She didn't know if her choice was right, nor did she know what the girl wanted. In the end, she followed her own heart, but she didn't know whether this choice was a blessing or a curse for the girl.
She reveres life and the act of living, but she should also respect a person's choice regarding their life.
Lu Yangyang stared intently at the girl. In the dim light, only their eyes were clear. "I made the choice for you. I couldn't let you and the child live at the same time. I chose you. You can blame me."
The girl moved her lips, but no sound came out.
Her hands, already stiff and numb, as cold as a stone from the mountainside, touched Lu Yangyang's hand, once, twice, finally tentatively grasping it. Tears welled in her eyes, and she silently uttered two words to Lu Yangyang.
"Thanks."
Lu Yangyang understood.
Suddenly, a girl rushed towards Lu Yangyang like a madwoman. Her hands and feet were still bound with iron chains, and she was some distance away from Lu Yangyang. She struggled desperately, reaching out her hand to Lu Yangyang, her voice hoarse, "You, you help me too! I don't want it, I don't want it! I'd rather die than give it to this bastard! Please, give me the medicine, please..."
A girl next to her kicked her hard and laughed lewdly: "Hahaha, you little bitch, that's your child! How could you have such thoughts? Why don't you want him? He's so well-behaved! You'll get married eventually. Giving birth is a woman's life. How could you have such thoughts? You bitch, you bitch!"
Then she looked at Lu Yangyang and said angrily, "And you, are you new here? Who did you marry? Are you pregnant? Look at you, you can only come here if you have a child. Those who don't have children are just played with and then thrown to the wolves! You should be grateful, you should be grateful that this child saved your life, otherwise you would be nothing but bones by now. How can you be so vicious as a woman? When a woman gives birth, who doesn't save the baby? Who saves the mother? What a joke, what a joke, hahaha! This is a woman's fate. My sister-in-law died like this, so many women in the village died like this. You're a midwife, don't you understand this? If you go out like this, you'll be beaten to death, you know that? You'll be beaten to death!"
"This is a woman's fate, it's all fate, what choice do you have? What is choice anyway? Hahahaha, it's all fate, who has a choice? What you choose, does it even matter?"
Their voices stirred the underground chamber, which had been silent for who knows how long, for the first time. The girls, who had long been numb and listless, let out a silent lament in the face of fate.
Who are they?
They were of marriageable age, and indeed they were married off—to human traffickers. But the traffickers didn't lack girls like them for their amusement. So, they were treated like objects, manipulated until they were done with, then discarded anywhere. They were penned up like livestock, but at least livestock get some light and water; these girls were treated worse than livestock. Those with children were thrown here and locked up; those without children, whom they had grown tired of, were disposed of. Selling them would be easily discovered, so it wasn't as clean as simply getting rid of them. After all, there were mountains all around, so it didn't matter where they were thrown. As for those who died in childbirth, they died, so be it. Women couldn't be sold, but children could. The newborn was taken away, and the woman was disposed of.
What kind of fate is this? But this is their fate.
Whose fault is it? Blame yourself for coming into this world to suffer like this.
The dimly lit, enclosed room was filled with an unbearable stench, and the environment was so harsh that it was impossible for anyone to stay in such a space.
When Lu Yangyang entered, she was so overwhelmed by the stench that she could barely open her eyes, but now, amidst the suppressed wails, she could perceive nothing at all.
For the first time, she realized that words were utterly powerless when it came to these girls.
They weren't trafficked. They may have had families who cared about them, but compared to the men in the village, that was nothing. From the very beginning, they were meant to be sacrificed. No matter what others imagined about their lives—whether they were dead or married into a celestial palace and lived a good life—they could never go back, and had nowhere to go back.
They have all been tacitly "sacrificed".
If that's the case, who would care how they sacrificed themselves?
Even if Lu Yangyang rescues them all now, they are all pregnant and, in the eyes of outsiders, are already married. Who would take them in?
They have nowhere to go; how will they survive?
They all knew this, so all they could do was wait to die; it was the only thing they could do.
There was a faint commotion outside; it must be Luo Jing returning with his men.
Lu Yangyang reached out and picked up the girl who had just given birth. As she was about to stand up, Lu Yangyang looked at the tiny swaddled baby beside her and asked, "Want to take a look?"
The girl turned her face away in resistance.
But after a pause, he turned his face away and reached out his hand.
Lu Yangyang placed the swaddled baby in her arms. The girl didn't look at it, but closed her eyes.
Lu Yangyang picked them up together.
"If you have nowhere to go after you leave here, I'll take you in," Lu Yangyang said.
Lu Yangyang couldn't bring herself to offer any words of comfort. For these tragic survivors, the most difficult things were how to survive, how to face the malice and gossip that would devour them once again, and how to make a living. If one day, the Great Zhao Dynasty could be so tolerant as to give these unfortunate people a chance to make a living, perhaps even in the most difficult circumstances, they could see hope.
But not now.
Having fallen to this state, they have no way to survive, and leaving this place will also leave them with no way to survive.
I wish there were one day.