"Ms. Liu, you are suspected of being involved in an arson case that happened twenty years ago. Please come to the police station with us and a.s.sist in the investigation..."

The policemen clipped a pair of handcuffs on Liu Xin's wrists and took her out of the funeral home. Xu Zijin recovered from the shock and immediately ran after them.

Suddenly, a car came near at high speed and hit Liu Xin with bone crunching force. She was struck with a loud bang and somersaulted through the air to land like a rag-doll on the ground!

"No!"

Xu Zijin screamed and rushed over. "Aunt Liu! Aunt Liu!" She reached out and wanted to pick up Liu Xin who was bathed in blood, but dared not to touch her because of fear of hurting her. "Hold on! The ambulance will arrive shortly..."

Liu Xin looked at Xu Zijin and her lips moved in an attempt to speak, but her internal organs had been injured and she was continuously vomiting blood. Only some meaningless voices could be heard from her throat.

She mustered up all her strength to lift her hand, struggling to touch Xu Zijin, however, before her fingertips could reach her stepdaughter's face, she ran out of her strength and her hand dropped to the ground. This poor woman closed her eyes forever.

"Aunt Liu!" Xu Zijin cried sadly, but the woman who had always treated Xu Zijin as her own child, was dead, unable to comfort Xu Zijin. A sharp pain shot through her heart and she raised her voice in great weeping, "Ah--"

Suddenly, Xu Zijin fainted. When she woke up, she found herself lying on the bed in the hospital.  She looked blankly at the white ceiling, dazed and dizzy, as if she were still in a dream.

However, soon she recollected what had happened before she lost consciousness.

'The Xu Consortium is bankrupt. Dad and Aunt Liu are dead...'

All the bad memories rushed into her mind uncontrolled. She clenched her fists and recalled the scene of blood continually streaming from Liu Xin's nose and mouth.

The mere thought of Liu Xin pained Xu Zijin who immediately sat up, pulled out the needle of the infusion tube and attempted to leave. But as soon as her feet touched the floor, she felt a sharp pain and collapsed onto the floor.

Just then, a nurse came in, startled to see Xu Zijin fall to the floor. She rushed over to help Xu Zijin up and rebuked, "Are you crazy? You should lie on the bed for a good rest."

Xu Zijin grasped the nurse's hand and asked anxiously, "Where is Aunt Liu?"

"Do you mean the woman who had a car accident yesterday?" The nurse continued, "She died of fatal wound despite the emergency treatment. I am terribly sorry for your loss but you should restrain your grief and accept fate." She sighed, "I know that the successive deaths of your family are a great shock to you. But for the sake of your unborn child, you should cheer up and look after yourself properly."

The unborn child?

Xu Zijin turned around and looked at the nurse in shock and disbelief. "My unborn child?" she murmured.

The nurse replied, "Yes. You are three months pregnant. Aren't you aware that you are carrying a baby?"

Xu Zijin shook her head and said, "You must be kidding. I was forced to have an abortion ten days ago. My child is dead."

Xu Zijin gave a bitter smile. Her child had already died in the stormy night ten days ago. Its father, Fu Sinian, had killed it with his own hands.

The heartache of losing her child tortured her day and night and she could not sleep.

"You didn't have an abortion. Look at this picture. The child is still in your womb. You are beautiful and you will surely have a beautiful baby." The nurse took out a picture of an ultrsound radiography, handed to Xu Zijin and continued, "But you are so weak that you have a sign of miscarriage. So, in the following days you have to stay in bed. You'd better keep in a good mood and rest for your baby."

Xu Zijin stared fixedly at the black image on the picture and subconsciously covered her slightly swollen belly with her hands. Suddenly, she felt the movement of the fetus.

Xu Zijin's eyes lit up, her heart overwhelmed with joy. This unborn child meant so much to her as it gave her the courage to carry on living.

'My baby… It's still in my womb. I'm not alone in the world.'