The doctor assigned to her post-abortion care had been explicitly instructed. The anesthesia administered during the dilation and curettage procedure barely registered, leaving Gu Yingxi writhing in agony as she developed visceral fears about ever becoming pregnant again.

Pushed out of the operating room on a gurney, Gu Yingxi nearly fainted from the excruciating pain. Her younger sister Gu Yinnuo wailed hysterically for permission to share her hospital room, claiming she needed time to atone for her sins and care for her grieving sibling who had just lost her child.

Yingxi's fear of Yinnuo intensified with each passing day, yet she couldn't refuse the girl's demands. After all, Yinnuo's leg amputation was a direct consequence of Yingxi's relationship with Song Minran. When Yinnuo interrogated her about unanswered phone calls - a question that struck at Yingxi's guilty conscience - the older sister found herself powerless to resist, enduring both terror and physical torment as doctors arranged their joint hospital room.

This arrangement defied protocol; major post-operative patients shouldn't share floors with minor surgery cases. But Yinnuo's contrite demands left no choice but for Gu Xian to write a fat check while forcing smiles through clenched teeth until the nurses relented.

What had once been a bond of sisterly affection now carried an undercurrent of guilt. Yingxi found herself perpetually on edge around Yinnuo, her former insecurities about their relationship magnified by the younger girl's relentless demands. Her body - already weakened from prior procedures and this latest miscarriage orchestrated through Yinnuo's violent methods - required careful recovery, yet Yinnuo's vengeful heart saw only opportunities for cruel retribution.

After over a month of shared hospitalization, Yinnuo had become a skeletal shadow of her former self. The betrayal by Song Minran that cost her leg had left emotional scars deeper than any physical wound. The two sisters emerged from the hospital looking like tragic ghosts - Yinnuo's gaunt figure radiating eerie menace while Yingxi bore the visible marks of trauma.

Song Minran himself was a shell, his once-vibrant spirit eroded by the weight of these events. Early one morning as he scrambled to complete discharge procedures for both sisters, the Song family suddenly appeared at their doorstep.

Mr. and Mrs. Song had been delighted when their brilliant son finally found a girlfriend - after years of singular devotion to academics - but their joy turned to alarm upon discovering he'd abandoned university entirely for this relationship. When Professor Fang's cryptic inquiry revealed Minran hadn't set foot on campus in weeks, the couple immediately traced his whereabouts back to the hospital.

Their confrontation with Gu Xian proved fateful. The moment Mr. Song spotted Yingxi among the departing family members, all thoughts of academic negligence vanished - for there stood the woman who had once shattered both their hearts and his life's trajectory.

Mrs. Song remained oblivious to her husband's euphoria, too preoccupied with guilt over Minran's injured girlfriend. But Yinnuo maintained eerie calmness; hatred had replaced love in her heart now that she was maimed while Minran had moved on. Her steely demeanor prevented any discussion of breaking the engagement.

With Mr. Song's enthusiastic support - he saw the situation as divine providence for future family visits and clandestine meetings with his beloved Yingxi - Mrs. Song begrudgingly accepted this precarious truce. Gu Xian could only watch in horror as her daughter navigated this toxic web.

When Mr. Song reappeared at their doorstep, Yingxi's relief was short-lived. The man who once defiled her body and dragged her to police station on trafficking charges now pursued her with unsettling vigor. Though his advances were clumsy compared to Minran's refined charm, the raw desperation in his old eyes stirred primal fear.

Her physical condition worsened daily since that botched pregnancy - blood clots persisted despite herbal treatments, and intimacy itself had become a source of anxiety. Yet rejecting Mr. Song meant risking exposure about her past with him, especially given her status as future mother-in-law to Yinnuo's betrothed. This unspoken tension turned every visit into torturous theater.

Meanwhile, Ning Yunhuan observed these family dramas unfold like a twisted fairytale. Years of experience had taught her that the heroine always emerged stronger from adversity - whether through unexpected allies or dangerous entanglements. Her new TV station thrived under Lan Lingyan's secret promotions, while her scripted dramas enjoyed surprising success.

But when Yinnuo appeared at school gates with that same deathly pallor as before, something about her gait betrayed the missing limb. The girl who once shimmered with youthful innocence now radiated the aura of someone decades older.

"Ning Miss." Her hoarse greeting stopped Ning in her tracks just as bodyguards materialized like shadows to flank Yinnuo's lopsided frame.