Chapter 1 Nine Children

• Grace Thompson forced her eyes open. Seeing the face of the person lying next to her, she nearly screamed out in fright. It was Christopher Knight—the future head of the Knight Group and the campus idol of Imperial University…
• At that moment, snippets of memories from last night flooded into her mind. It seemed like she had gotten drunk last night and then ran into Mr. McDreamy here. Oh, my God! What on earth have I done? If those ardent fans of his find out about this, my life is going to be miserable!
• Thus, she hurriedly sneaked out of the room while the other party was still sleeping… However, as soon as she stepped out the door, a large palm covered her nose and her mouth. After that, she lost consciousness.
• By the time she woke up again, she found herself on a yacht. In front of her sat the treasured daughter of the Johnson Group, Bethany Johnson—also known as the campus belle of Imperial University. Upon seeing her, Grace couldn’t help developing an ominous feeling in her heart. In the next moment, her hair was fiercely yanked upward.
• “Ow!” She was forced to lift her head and cried out in pain, “Bethany, what are you doing? I’ve never offended you, so why did you kidnap me?!”
• “Never offended me?” Bethany’s beautiful face was twisted with jealousy. “Grace Thompson, don’t you know that Christopher is mine? How dare you touch him?! Why don’t you take a look at that face of yours!”
• After taking great pains and planning this for so long, she had finally found a chance to approach Christopher today. But it was all snatched away by this ugly b*tch! If it wasn’t for her, I would have successfully gotten with Christopher!
• “I—” Then, Grace recalled something, and her face burned red.
• “B*tch!” Bethany felt an intense hatred rising up in her at the sight of Grace’s embarrassed expression. “Throw her off the yacht!”
• Staring into the churning waters of the river next to the bed, Grace’s complexion turned pale. “Bethany! This is an accident! Christopher and I—”
• “You are not worthy of calling Christopher by his name!” Bethany’s sense of reason was completely consumed by the flames of jealousy. Thus, she instructed her bodyguard, “Move it!”
• “Yes, Miss Johnson.”
• “Bethany, you can’t do this! Let me go—ah!” With a large splash, Grace was thrown into the river.
• Looking at the surging river, the corners of Bethany’s mouth curled up with the satisfaction of getting her revenge. This is the Lucent River, famous for its raging currents! Grace Thompson, you did this to yourself! How dare you snatch everything that should have been mine?!
• …
• Nine months later, in an inconspicuous private residence located at the northernmost side of an economically-inaccessible village deep in the mountains, Grace lay on a shabby wooden bed. She watched, pale-faced, as the babies by her side were taken away, one by one, while she remained helpless. “Children… My children—ah!”
• “Hurry up; there’s another baby!” The eyes of Natasha Foster, who was standing nearby, were shining with greed.
• At this moment, Grace couldn’t hold on anymore and lost consciousness. When she woke up again, it was already the next day.
• Bam! The door was pushed open and Natasha walked in. Looking at Grace condescendingly, she said, “Grace, I can’t believe you had some use in you after all. To think that there were nine…”
• “My children! Where are my children?!” Grace yelled heartbreakingly, struggling to support her weak body as she got up and grabbed at Natasha’s hand. Nine months ago, she had been rescued by Natasha’s parents. Ever since then, her nightmare had begun.
• Natasha shook off her arm in disgust. “I’ve been admitted into a university abroad. Can you give me a million in tuition fees?”
• “A million?” Grace couldn’t believe that Natasha was extorting such an exorbitant amount of money from her.
• Then, Natasha squatted down next to her, patted her face forcefully, and sneered, “Although the two weakest ones have died, the other seven were not a bad haul. At least it was worth it letting you freeload at our house for such a long time.”
• Died? Impossible! I clearly heard their cries! Besides, they were doing well yesterday! They were just a little weak! “Return them to me!” Grace burst into anger suddenly. Lowering her head, she slammed into Natasha with all her force.
• Natasha was caught off guard and fell to the ground heavily. The pain shooting through her body made her anger flare up immediately, and she picked up a feather duster lying by the side and started beating Grace with it. “How dare you slam into me?!”
• Grace protected her head and tried to avoid being beaten but failed miserably. Her body was in an extremely weak condition and couldn’t take the beating. Thus, she soon passed out from it.
• “How inauspicious.” Throwing the feather duster aside, Natasha called several men over. “Throw her out into the mountains!