“But… why did you turn into a girl? When did this happen?”
Melissa’s face betrayed a struggle. She was unsure whether to believe the young girl before her.
“It happened like this: after I was kidnapped…”
Left with no other choice, Chen Xuanqiu recounted the entire incident, detailing every single event.
“Oh, my poor child! It’s all my fault for being useless, for not protecting you.”
As a woman prone to emotion, Melissa wept torrentially after hearing the tale. She had never imagined that her “son” had endured such immense suffering during the kidnapping, truly a brush with death.
“Uh… Xiaoqiu… it’s not that we don’t believe you, but what you’re saying is truly difficult to accept. As far as I know, no country in the world has developed gender reassignment drugs, let alone a small private laboratory.”
Chen Degao, however, remained far more rational.
“Dr. Wei said it was a result of perfect timing, location, and human factors. My body differs from that of an average boy, possessing naturally higher estrogen levels, which allowed the experiment to succeed.”
Chen Xuanqiu could only try her best to explain.
“Even if that’s true, why did you keep it a secret from us?”
Chen Degao pressed further.
“Dr. Wei told me I was the first person in the world to successfully undergo gender transformation, so I couldn’t let anyone know, or it would lead to trouble.”
Chen Xuanqiu continued her explanation.
Chen Degao fell into silence, evidently finding her reasoning plausible.
“Then what evidence do you have to prove everything you’ve said?”
Chen Xuanzhu, standing nearby, spoke up. Her brother had been kidnapped for her sake and for their family, and she absolutely would not permit anyone to impersonate him. She needed absolute confirmation.
“I have no proof, but think about it: if I weren’t Chen Xuanqiu, why would I be speaking Ceylonese?”
After a brief silence, Chen Xuanqiu chose a roundabout strategy to prove her identity.
“What’s so surprising about that? There are tens of millions of people in Ceylon who speak Ceylonese.”
Chen Xuanzhu silently shook her head, clearly unconvinced by this reasoning.
“But there’s no one else who looks exactly like you, is there?”
Chen Xuanqiu countered.
Chen Xuanzhu was immediately rendered speechless by these words. She, too, felt such a coincidence was virtually impossible.
After a moment’s contemplation, Chen Xuanzhu walked over to Chen Xuanqiu and reached out a small hand towards her “brother’s” face.
Chen Xuanqiu was now a startled bird, instinctively flinching away from the touch.
Her parents also looked at their daughter strangely, unsure of what she intended to do.
“If you want me to believe you, don’t move.”
Chen Xuanzhu warned.
Fearing her sister, Chen Xuanqiu obediently held her head still.
Chen Xuanzhu reached out and gently pinched, then rubbed, her “brother’s” smooth cheek. Finally, she murmured, ‘It doesn’t seem to be a human skin mask or plastic surgery.’
Hearing her sister’s words, Chen Xuanqiu was momentarily speechless. ‘Where in this world could one find such a realistic human skin mask?’ she thought to herself.
“I think she truly is Xiaoqiu.”
Melissa immediately declared her conclusion.
“Could you answer a few questions for me?”
Chen Xuanzhu asked after a moment of thought.
“You… you can ask.”
Chen Xuanqiu stammered slightly. Lacking the original owner’s memories, answering questions was her greatest fear.
“What is our maternal grandfather’s name?”
Chen Xuanzhu posed her first question.
“…”
Chen Xuanqiu was utterly dumbfounded. Although she had recently “dreamed” about scenes from Ceylon, the experience was fleeting. She genuinely didn’t know the name of this body’s maternal grandfather.
“What date is our maternal grandmother’s birthday?”
Chen Xuanzhu, frowning, posed her second question.
A look of struggle crossed Chen Xuanqiu’s face. ‘Should I just pick a random date?’ she wondered, ‘At least then there’s a chance, however slim, of getting it right.’
“How old is Mom this year? And what day is my period?”
Chen Xuanzhu, quite leniently, asked two more questions.
Chen Xuanqiu abandoned even the pretense of struggle, merely lowering her head in resignation.
“You don’t even know such simple questions. How do you expect us to believe you’re my brother? Hm?”
Chen Xuanzhu’s expression turned somewhat unfriendly.
“After taking the super estrogen, I lost most of my memories. If you don’t believe me, you can certainly take me to the hospital for a paternity test.”
Chen Xuanqiu was left speechless, her last hope resting on a paternity test. She knew that the only way to prove her identity now was through this body’s DNA, though whether it would succeed was uncertain.
‘You’ve taken super estrogen, and your DNA has drastically changed. Most notably, the Y chromosome has become an X chromosome; it’s almost as if you’ve become an entirely new person,’ Chen Xuanqiu vaguely recalled Dr. Wei telling her. She genuinely wasn’t sure if a paternity test would even be effective on her now. This uncertainty was precisely why she had hesitated to confess to her family all this time.
The family of three sank into a profound silence, each contemplating how best to handle the current situation.
“Let us think this through. Until then, you are to stay quietly in your room and not go out, or we’ll immediately call the police.”
Chen Degao issued the warning, then led his wife and daughter out of the room.
Watching her family leave, Chen Xuanqiu suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of relief. Though she didn’t know what the outcome would be, at least she no longer had to live in constant dread.
Chen Xuanqiu closed the door, then began unbinding her chest, layer by layer. Soon, the two painfully constricted mounds beneath were revealed. Forcibly flattening such a prominent bust every day had been nothing short of torture for her.
‘From today onward, you are completely free,’ she thought.
Chen Xuanqiu gazed at her chest and let out a long sigh of relief, feeling as though her entire being had been reborn.
****
Chen Degao and his family of three entered the living room, where they fell into a brief silence.
“There’s no need to think any further. I believe she is Xiaoqiu.”
Melissa was the first to lose her composure. Her “son” had endured so much suffering for this family, and she yearned to compensate him properly.
“Melissa, Xiaoqiu is our son. It’s best to be cautious about this matter.”
Chen Degao remained uneasy, fundamentally disbelieving that gender transformation was a real phenomenon.
“So what do you want to do? Drag ‘him’ for a paternity test? You know that would damage our relationship.”
Melissa reminded him.
Chen Degao let out a long breath. He understood this perfectly well, which was why he hadn’t immediately taken his “son” to the hospital.
“No need. I have a way to confirm her true identity.”
Just then, Chen Xuanzhu, who was nearby, seemed to have an idea, and a faint smile touched her lips.
****
Chen Xuanqiu quietly waited for the outcome in her bedroom. Although the future was uncertain, she felt no anxiety, instead savoring the present moment of ease. Ever since transmigrating into this world, she had been “acting,” and it was utterly exhausting.
As for escaping, Chen Xuanqiu had never considered it. Given her connection to the kidnapping and the added complication of impersonation, escape was simply not an option.
Not long after, Mother Melissa entered the bedroom, carrying a tray of breakfast.
“Qiu, you must be hungry.”
Melissa placed the tray on the cabinet.
“Mm.”
Chen Xuanqiu smiled, feeling a warmth spread through her heart that her mother would still bring her food at such a time.
“Oh, you know? You’ve looked like a girl since you were little, and because of that, you’ve suffered a lot. Sometimes I used to think, how wonderful it would be if you had been born a girl, so you could live a normal life like other children.”
Melissa said, dotingly stroking her “son’s” small head.
Chen Xuanqiu obediently offered no resistance, simply savoring her steamed bun.
“I knew it was just a meaningless fantasy, but I never dreamed that one day you would actually become a girl! Thank God!”
Melissa devoutly made the sign of the cross over her chest.
“You… you believe I’m your son?”
Chen Xuanqiu quietly inquired, raising her head.
“As the saying goes, a mother’s heart is connected to her child’s. I have never once doubted your identity.”
A gentle light shone in Melissa’s eyes.
Tears welled in the corners of Chen Xuanqiu’s eyes. She felt deeply moved, yet a trace of guilt lingered, for at best, she was only half of the “Chen Xuanqiu” they knew.
****
Thus, a quiet day passed, as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.
That evening, Chen Xuanqiu gradually began to feel a discomfort in her lower abdomen—a strange, bloated ache mixed with a slight dragging sensation.