A Vengeful Ex-Wife

Chapter 353 Oedipus Complex

Upon seeing her son, the sickly woman cheered up instantly. "Bob, my dear, let me hug you," Maria said.

Ever since she had handed the child over to Norman, she had rarely gotten the chance to see him, so she had missed him more than ever.

Norman considerately put Bob down on the bed, next to her side. One of Maria's hands was still connected to the IV tube and it would be inconvenient for her to hold the child in her arms, so she could only hold him with her free hand and play with him.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Norman raised an eyebrow and asked, "How did you end up in the hospital?"

Maria smiled. "Nothing serious. I just drank too much yesterday."

Norman smirked. "Is this how James takes care of you? Maybe you should consider getting a new man."

In fact, there were a lot of men who had feelings for Maria, but they had either already been turned down by her, or they hadn't had the chance to confess their feelings before she had become James' woman.

Of course, no one in the entire H City dared to fight with James for a woman, so none of them would pursue her now. Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

Perhaps Norman was the only exception, but what he felt for Maria was not romantic love.

Maria patted Bob's buttocks, which were covered by a diaper, and replied helplessly, "With this baby here, how can I think about that?" She had indeed thought about getting a new man before, but

whenever she thought about Bob addressing someone other than James as "Dad," an inexplicable guilt came over her, and she didn't have the guts to go through with it.

If James found out about the truth, she might never have the chance to see her son again.

With a smile, Norman said, "I know that women are usually willing to sacrifice themselves for their children. But I can't believe that you, Maria, have also chosen to take this path!"

"I am a mother, after all," Maria replied softly, with a hint of pride in her voice. Since it was possible to give Bob a complete family, she didn't want to take that away from him just for her own selfish reasons.

Bob, who was lying next to Maria, beamed at her the whole time, happily waving his arms and legs in the air.

Norman looked at him and snorted. "I think this boy has the Oedipus complex. Look at him. He is so happy to see you that he doesn't even maintain his dignity."

'Men are all so arrogant. They'll never understand,' Maria thought, feeling dumbfounded. Touching her son's little face dotingly, she complained, "Mr. Shen, he's only a few months old. It would be more surprising if he doesn't love his mother, right?"

Norman reluctantly nodded. Maria's words did make sense, so he had no argument.

Since he had brought Bob along, he didn't stay for a long time. Within less than half an hour, the two of them left the hospital.

James' dinner appointment finished an hour later. As soon as he got into the car to head back to the hospital, his bodyguard reported to him in a low voice, "Mr. Xi, Mr. Shen came to the hospital earlier."

James glanced at the bodyguard expressionlessly. "What else?"

"He came with Bob, sir."

James turned away and faced the window without saying anything else. The thought of Norman carrying his son around every day made him feel uneasy. What if people started thinking that Bob was born to Maria and Norman?

James had originally planned to let Norman take care of Bob for a few more months, but now, he realized that the best thing to do was to take Bob back as soon as possible. In that case, he would have to think of a way to make Maria confess to Bob's real identity on her own.

When he reached the hospital and pushed open the door to Maria's ward, he saw her sitting on the bed and playing with her phone. She seemed to be in high spirits, perhaps because she had just spent time with Bob.

Seeing him walk in, Maria raised her head and greeted him with a smile. "Are you done?"

"Yeah,"

James said, slinging his coat over the chair before sitting down beside her. Then, he sniffed the air and asked tentatively, "Was there a child in here?” "What?" There was a hint of panic in Maria's voice as she stole a glance at him.

"There is the smell of milk powder, like... how Bob smelled." James' eyes blankly scanned the air, not looking at the woman on the bed at all.

In fact, the faint smell of milk powder did linger in the air, but it was not obvious enough for him to notice it. He had just said this on purpose, to see how she would react.

Maria felt a little guilty. Did this man have a dog's nose? "Oh, you have such a sensitive nose! Just now, a child from another ward was running about and crying for his mother. When he passed by my ward and saw me, he came in and stayed for a while," she lied, keeping her voice as steady as possible.

James nodded. "I see." He seemed to believe it, because he stopped asking questions after that.

Maria put her phone aside and shifted to a more comfortable position, causing the upper part of her hospital gown to slide up her skin and reveal the scar on her lower abdomen.

Noticing it out of the corner of his eye, James lifted the gown and stared at the scar carefully. Before he could say anything, however, Maria irritably tugged down the gown and covered the scar. "It's so ugly! There is no need for you to look at it."

James casually asked, "How did you get such a deep scar?"

Maria's heart skipped a beat. "Didn't I tell you? I got it because of the appendectomy."

"Okay." James just watched her silently without saying anything else.

She shifted a little under his unnerving gaze. Why was this man acting so strange tonight? 'Could he have found out that Bob is his son?

But there's no way! If he suspected that, he would have immediately searched for Bob and taken him to do a paternity test.

But Bob is still with Norman, and James hasn't searched for him, which means that he probably doesn't suspect anything,' she thought to herself.

"It's getting late. You should sleep now so that you can get some rest and recover sooner," James said softly, pulling the quilt over her body.

Maria blinked up at him. "What about you?"

"I have some work to finish. I'll go to sleep after that."

"Okay." Because she was sick, Maria was too exhausted to say or think anything else. With a feeble yawn, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

In the dead of the night, James walked steadily and forcefully down the corridor of the hospital.

He came to a stop at the duty room of the attending doctor and knocked on the door.

The doctor opened the door and squinted at the man standing outside with groggy eyes. When he saw that it was James, he immediately sobered up. "Mr. Xi, is there something wrong with Ms. Song?"

"No. I came here to ask you a question."

The doctor's shoulders relaxed. "Oh, okay. Please go ahead, Mr. XI." "If a woman has an appendectomy, is it possible for her to have a deep scar on her abdomen?"

"Could you please tell me where exactly the scar is?" "It's in the middle of her abdomen."

"Well, in that case, no. The incision for an appendectomy is usually made on the lower right abdomen, so that's where the scar would be. If the scar is in the middle, then it's much more likely to be a result of having a caesarean section. Of course, I can't rule out the possibility of trauma, but the probability of that is very low," the doctor explained seriously.

"Okay, thank you." As James walked away, he slipped into deep thought.

Although he had confirmed Bob's identity, he still wasn't clear about the rest of the matters surrounding his birth. But judging by the information that he had found out so far, Maria had given

birth to the child a few months ago at OYT Hospital in the US, and she had had a caesarean section delivery.

That must be why she had refused to give him a child right away. Instead, she had asked him to wait for three years, because a woman who had given birth to a child through caesarean section needed to recover completely before getting pregnant again.

However, James still couldn't figure out why she hadn't just told him that Bob was his son. As they said, it was hard to guess what was going on in a woman's mind.

Maria was discharged from the hospital at noon the next day. Just before she was discharged, the doctor came into the ward to give her instructions for her recovery. She was forbidden to drink alcohol or eat spicy food. She had to have a light diet. James carefully listened to everything so that he could take care of her.

When they went downstairs and got into his car, his phone vibrated.

Maria leaned over and watched James take out his phone. The caller ID showed the name "Gary.'¹

She caught a glimpse of the picture on the screen as well, just before James picked up the call.

"Go ahead," he said indifferently.

"Mr. Xi, I've found out that several people are involved in the charity foundation established by Mrs. Zheng, and there are indeed many shady things happening behind the scenes. The details of the donations are mostly hidden and not made public. Mrs. Zheng also seems to have made a few fraudulent donations. Tens of millions of dollars were donated in her name to the poorer localities, but it turns out that they didn't receive any money at all."

Maria, who was leaning on James' shoulder with her ears perked up, could clearly hear Gary's words through the phone.

"What about Sean?" James asked.

-