Chapter 208 Exchanging a Sister for a Brother

Chapter 208: Swapping a Sister for a Brother

Ji Guiying heard her younger brother fuss a few times beside her and remembered that after changing her sister's diaper, it was now his turn.

As soon as she opened the little one's diaper, he peed all over himself.

Everyone in the room couldn’t help but laugh. "What a goofy kid!"

The little girl holding her sister looked on with envy. "Wow, a boy! That’s so lucky!"

She sounded truly envious, but Song Xilan didn’t know how to respond. She had originally thought she was carrying a girl and had her heart set on having one.

So she said, "A sister is just as good. Boys and girls are equal."

The little girl shook her head seriously. "No, they’re not. If my mom had a brother, Dad and Grandma wouldn’t ignore us. They’d make good food for Mom, and she wouldn’t lose her milk for the baby."

"Auntie, look—you had a boy, so Grandma and Uncle treat you well. You even get chicken soup and everything. The little brother has formula. If you’d had a girl, you wouldn’t have gotten any of that."

Song Xilan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, while Jiang Chengxiao took offense. "I’m not like your deadbeat dad. In our family, boys and girls are treated the same. Look—we have two babies, a son and a daughter, and both are our treasures!"

Song Xilan gave him a warning tug. "Why are you saying these things to a child?"

She knew the girl’s family favored boys over girls. Pointing this out would only make her feel worse.

Jiang Chengxiao retorted, "But we can’t let her think that favoring boys is just how things should be!"

As he spoke, he tested the temperature of the water in the bottle and, finding it just right, added the formula. "Watch carefully—this much water, this much formula. Don’t get it wrong."

"Then give it a good shake, and it’s ready to feed the baby. Here, you try."

The infant was starving. The moment the bottle touched her lips, she sucked fiercely, draining it in no time. It was hard to believe this was the appetite of a baby only two days old.

Ji Guiying came over to teach her further. "After using the bottle, you must wash it thoroughly. Before the next use, it’s best to rinse it with boiling water. Come on, I’ll take you home."

After Ji Guiying returned from seeing the girl off, the family briefly discussed the sad situation before moving on.

That evening, Ji Guiying went home, and Jiang Chengxiao stayed overnight to watch over them.

Finally, when both the adults and the two babies had fallen asleep, Jiang Chengxiao let out a sigh of relief and lay down to rest.

Suddenly, the door creaked open, and a small figure slipped inside.

Though the room was dark, the light from the hallway revealed the shadow sneaking toward the cribs.

Jiang Chengxiao had initially wanted to see what the intruder intended, but when the shadow reached for his child, he could no longer hold back. He flicked the light on. "Hey, what’s going on?"

Then he realized—the shadow was the same little girl who had come earlier begging for milk, still holding her sister, whom she had set aside. Her hands were now busy unfastening his own baby’s diaper.

Confused, Jiang Chengxiao asked, "You here to swipe our diapers? If your sister needs some, just ask! We can give you some. No need to steal!"

Song Xilan, now awake, rubbed her eyes. "What’s going on?"

Jiang Chengxiao replied, "This kid came to steal diapers."

Song Xilan sighed. "Chengxiao, pack up some diapers, clothes, and swaddles for her. She’s got it rough—her family probably didn’t prepare anything."

Jiang Chengxiao shook his head. "Poor kid, born into that mess."

Suddenly, the little girl fell to her knees.

Startled, Jiang Chengxiao quickly reached out to pull her up: "No, no, absolutely not! Giving you stuff is no big deal, No need to bow like that!"

But the little girl refused to get up no matter what, crying and begging them: "Please, I beg you, have mercy, give me the baby boy. I’ll swap my sister for him. If we have a brother, Grandma and Dad will come take Mom and us home. You don’t care about having a boy anyway, so can I trade my sister for your brother?"

Song Xilan and Jiang Chengxiao were stunned.

What kind of crazy idea is that!

Who’d want your messed-up family’s kid!

Jiang Chengxiao understood now: "So you weren’t stealing diapers earlier—you were checking the baby’s gender so you could take my son away?"

"Uncle, please have pity on me. If we don’t have a brother, Mom, my sister, and I will all be beaten to death by my dad."

"Are you really this naive or just pretending? I’d have to be out of my mind to send my own son to suffer in your family. Listen, I don’t hit women or children, and since you’re just a kid who doesn’t know any better, I’ll let it go this time. Now get out of here!"

The girl tried to plead again, but Jiang Chengxiao couldn’t hold back any longer. He grabbed the ugly little baby and shoved her into the girl’s arms, then picked her up and threw her out the door.

Slamming the door shut, he dusted off his hands: "Talk about bad karma. We try to help someone and end up with a backstabbing brat. She’s got quite the imagination—thinking she could dump her sister on us to live off us!"

Song Xilan said, "Do you think she came up with this herself, or did her mom put her up to it? If she couldn’t trade with us, would she try someone else?"

"Who else would be that stupid? It’s not that easy to swap babies. But we’d better be careful. I’ll go tell the doctors and nurses to warn everyone to stay alert."

Soon, the way everyone looked at the mother and her daughters went from pity to suspicion.

Every baby is precious to someone—if one were stolen, it would cause a lifetime of pain.

No one shared food with them anymore, and of course, no one was willing to help feed that poor little baby. Even the hospital started kicking them out—not only couldn’t they pay the hospital fees, but they almost got us in major trouble.

If a child really went missing in the hospital, the hospital would be implicated too.

After learning about their situation, Song Xilan couldn’t feel sorry for them. They brought this on themselves.

If they knew how much the husband’s family favored boys over girls, why did they keep having girl after girl?

And to even think of trading another family’s misery for their own happiness—that was downright despicable.