I's Baby Maternity Center.
The experience at maternity centers varies greatly with different price points.
The most basic maternity center might just be a larger residential property, with each room accommodating a pregnant woman, and all facilities and furniture being shared.
Women tend to be more irritable during pregnancy, and a bunch of pregnant women together are prone to quarrel easily.
The slightly more expensive maternity centers are comparatively more formal and might offer private rooms.
I's Baby Maternity Center belongs to this category, providing independent private rooms.
Inside a south-facing, private room on the second floor, an Asian couple was packing their belongings.
"Honey, isn't it too early for me to move into the maternity center? There are still three months to go before the baby is due, and it's going to cost quite a bit more."
The man said, "Lili, don't worry about money anymore. We have enough now.
What you need to do now is to rest and take care of the baby in your belly until it's born."
Liu Xiaoli caressed her belly, "I know."
"Is there anything else you need? I'll go buy it."
"No, we already have enough."
The man nodded, holding his wife's hand, "Lili, I have to go now, but I'll come back to see you tomorrow.
Call me if you need anything."
The woman, reluctant to see him go, asked, "What are you planning to do about... them?"
"Like I said, don't worry about anything. Just focus on taking care of yourself and the baby. I will handle the rest." The man spoke and then prepared to leave.
Still concerned, the woman said, "Chao, don't call them for money anymore. It's too risky, and we already have enough to spend."
"I know. I will handle everything. After it's all over, I'll come to be with you." The man seemed to avoid telling his wife too much as he turned to leave.
"Click." As the man opened the door to exit, he saw two dark gun barrels pointing at him.
Police Detective Bureau.
Robbery and Murder Department, interrogation room.
The man was handcuffed to the interrogation chair, constantly looking around with a visibly uneasy expression.
The interrogation room door opened, and a young man with black hair and a black man entered.
Luke placed the documents on the table and looked over at the man, "What's your name?"
The man glanced at Luke, "Wang Chao."
"Do you know why you were arrested?"
Wang Chao nodded, "I... kidnapped two people."
"Mrs. Kenneth and a little girl."
"Why did you kidnap them?"
"She got what she deserved; she's a liar."
"That Mrs. Kenneth. If it hadn't been for her, none of this would have happened," Wang Chao sighed and fell into reminiscence,
"Originally, my wife and I just wanted to work in America for a few years, save some money, and then go home. Later on, my wife got pregnant, and we started to focus more on pregnancy-related issues and saw Mrs. Kenneth's Moments postings on WeChat.
Our thoughts began to change.
Back home, opportunities abound, but competition is fierce. We have neither impressive educational backgrounds nor special skills. Returning home would just mean more hard labor for us.
From what I understand, doing manual labor here pays better, and with the high housing prices back home, we couldn't afford to buy a place either.
Drifting around in the city or abroad... we're drifting either way, so we might as well stay where the income is higher.
That's why we considered staying.
Afterward, we contacted Mrs. Kenneth on WeChat. She told us that if we had our child at the maternity center, the baby could obtain legal status here.
If the child had legal status, it would be easier for us to sort our own status out.
At the time, she made it sound so great that my wife and I were both tempted.
We did everything we could to gather the money and sent my wife to the maternity center she recommended.
But many things were not as we expected. The maternity center wasn't as good as we thought.
The living environment, food, services, and medical care were all subpar.
One night, when my wife went out to use the toilet, she found a puddle of water on the floor that hadn't been cleaned. The floor was slippery, and since she was heavily pregnant and already less agile, she slipped and fell.
To my anger, instead of taking her to the hospital immediately after the accident, they sent her back to her room to rest...
By the time I arrived, it was too late. We couldn't save the baby," Wang Chao banged his fist on the interrogation chair, overwhelmed with emotion,
"I was so angry I wanted to kill. We hadn't been here long and owed money from borrowing for the move. Most of what we'd earned had gone to pay off debts, and the rest went towards the maternity center's fees.
To take care of my wife and our baby in such a way, how could they make such ill-gotten gains with a clear conscience?"
Luke asked, "Which maternity center was it that you went to?"
"Meicong Maternity Center."
"That maternity center shut down later. Were you involved with that?"
"Yes, I made the report.
That maternity center was making blood money. Before payment, they promised the moon—talking about how great the accommodations were, one-on-one care, maternal meals, and so on.
But after we paid, everything changed.
Still, we had paid and moved in, so we just had to suffer in silence.
We didn't even have legal status. How could we fight them?
After the incident, the more I thought about it, the angrier I became and I reported the maternity center.
It's for the best, so they can't deceive any more people.
Even to this day, I still believe I did nothing wrong."