A peasant girl travels through time with a hospital, rising to become an empress.

After the banquet, the villagers helped clean up and gradually dispersed. As night deepened, most of the villagers went to sleep, and the whole village became quiet, save for the occasional bark of a dog.

In Liu Yan's new house, everyone had finished washing up and was ready to rest.

Tuantuan and Tiedan had been running and playing with the village children all day and were already fast asleep. The two little guys lay sprawled on the bed, their bodies spread out in a big "big" shape, their little mouths slightly open, making soft snoring sounds, like two sleeping pigs.

Liu Yan tiptoed into the children's room, carefully tucking them in and then covering them up again where they had kicked off. Just as she turned to leave, a loud, jarring thud echoed from outside the yard, like a heavy object falling to the ground.

She was startled, afraid of waking the child, so she quickly tiptoed and closed the door, then walked into the courtyard by the moonlight.

In the courtyard, Old Qiao was sitting on a dark, indistinct object. Liu Yan approached and realized that there was a person under Old Qiao's buttocks! As she got closer, she immediately recognized the person as Nie Erzhuang, whom she hadn't seen in a long time.

Although the person in front of her hadn't changed much in terms of facial features, he looked completely different from the person she remembered.

The Nie Erzhuang of the past was tall and strong, with broad shoulders, a face full of fat, and a fierce look in his eyes. But the man in front of him had sunken eyes, big dark circles under his eyes, a sallow and thin face, protruding cheekbones, and a strong smell of alcohol that was so pungent it made people nauseous. He looked like a down-and-out stray dog.

"This guy was lurking around outside our courtyard late at night, walking back and forth along the wall, sometimes eavesdropping, sometimes peeking into the courtyard through the cracks in the wall. I think he was probably trying to steal something, so I dragged him in when he wasn't looking!" Old Qiao said, stepping on Nie Erzhuang's shoulder with disgust in his eyes.

Looking at Nie Erzhuang's hopeless state, Liu Yan felt a surge of physical disgust. Suppressing the urge to vomit, she frowned and demanded, "Nie Erzhuang, what are you doing here?!"

Old Qiao looked down at the person on the ground, who was dead drunk and groaning, and couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "Is this Nie Erzhuang? Did Little Swallow go blind before?"

Old Qiao knew that Liu Yan had married and divorced Nie Erzhuang, but he never expected that the scoundrel in front of him was Nie Erzhuang. How could he have fallen for such a thing?

At this moment, Huang Zhenzhu, Liu Xiong, Gu Xiao, and Nie Qianqian were also awakened by the noise and came out after putting on their clothes.

As soon as Liu Xiong saw Nie Erzhuang, his anger flared up instantly. He rolled up his sleeves and was about to step forward to beat him up, cursing, "Nie Erzhuang, how dare you come here! I'll break your legs!" Liu Yan quickly raised her hand and pulled him back.

Nie Erzhuang was drunk and his head was spinning. Hearing Liu Yan's voice, he groggily raised his head and stammered, "I... why can't I come? This is... this is my home, I... why can't I come?"

"This is Qianqian's and my home, not yours!" Liu Yan was so angry that she trembled all over, her chest heaving violently. This was simply a scoundrel!

"We divorced a long time ago. We made it perfectly clear back then, so why are you still trying to make trouble now???"

The word "divorce" was like a needle, unexpectedly waking Nie Erzhuang up a bit.

He froze, his eyes gradually turning bloodshot. His voice, which had started as a low murmur, slowly turned into a roar, until finally, he roared like a wild beast that had lost its mind: "Divorce? Yes, we're divorced! But Nie Qianqian is my daughter, Nie Erzhuang's daughter! My blood flows in her veins! That will never change! Even if we're divorced, separated, and cut off all ties, she's still my daughter! What's wrong with me coming to see my own daughter?"

His voice completely cracked by the end, his throat so hoarse it sounded like coarse sandpaper rubbing against each other, harsh and unpleasant to hear.

Then, he stared at Gu Xiao, his eyes filled with twisted smugness: "And another thing! Gu Xiao passed the county exam with top honors, right? Even if he did, he's still the son-in-law of the Nie family! This honor belongs to the Nie family, not your Liu family!"

He stared intently at Liu Yan, his eyes a mixture of hatred, triumph, and madness, repeatedly uttering the last sentence:

"It belongs to the Nie family! It belongs to the Nie family!"

As he spoke, he suddenly burst into maniacal laughter, "No matter how successful you, Nie Qianqian, and Gu Xiao become, Qianqian is still my child! You will never be able to escape this relationship until you die! No one can look down on me!"

Liu Yan felt as if all the blood in her body was boiling instantly, as if all the blood rushed to her brain, making her so angry that she almost fainted.

Nie Qianqian spent the first half of her life in misery. She was useless, afraid to give back, and afraid to step out. It was Nie Qianqian's strength and ability that led her out of the quagmire and gave her a new life.

But she couldn't protect Nie Qianqian, and at this very moment, she had to let Nie Qianqian and Gu Xiao be humiliated by someone like Nie Erzhuang!

She's useless!

She can't do nothing!

She couldn't bear to see Nie Erzhuang humiliate the two of them, or to see Nie Erzhuang use his status to blackmail the child.

She completely lost her usual composure, pulling Nie Qianqian behind her like a mother hen spreading her wings to protect her chicks. Her eyes widened as she roared at Liu Xiong and the others, "She's not! Qianqian isn't your child!"

The air seemed to freeze, and everyone was immobilized.

"what?"

Liu Xiong stared at Liu Yan with his mouth slightly agape, his face filled with shock.

Nie Qianqian was completely dumbfounded. Standing behind Liu Yan, she looked bewildered and thought to herself, "Has Mother been so angry with Nie Erzhuang that she's lost her mind? Why is she saying such nonsense?"

Everyone present was stunned, their eyes all turning to Liu Yan, filled with surprise and confusion.

Liu Yan had long ago vowed in her heart that she would never shed a single tear in front of Nie Erzhuang again, but at this moment her emotions were too intense, her heart was churning, and tears still welled up in her eyes and slid down her cheeks.

She wiped away her tears, her voice firm: "You heard me right! Even if I, Liu Yan, was blind and married the wrong person, Nie Qianqian has no blood relation to you whatsoever! Don't even think about using that relationship to bind her!"

Nie Erzhuang finally realized what Liu Yan meant and struggled to get up from Qiao Lao's grasp. His face contorted with rage, he roared at Liu Yan, "You...you dare to lie to me? She's the child of you and another man?!" Nie Erzhuang was like a jackal trying to break free of its restraints. If Qiao Lao hadn't been skilled in martial arts and strong enough to hold him down, he would have already attacked.

"I'm not as despicable as you!" Liu Yan was so angry at these words that she trembled all over and retorted sharply, almost screaming.

"Our child died long ago! Died on that cold winter night!"