Volume 1, Chapter 101: The One Who Can Stand Behind Her

Huo Mingting stared deeply into Ye Sheng’s dark eyes, seeing the stubborn yet resolute light within them, and was struck with a fierce shock.

They had been married for three years, divorced for three years—six years in total since they first met—and yet, this was the first time he had ever heard Ye Sheng openly express what she truly wanted.

And the moment she voiced her desire, Huo Mingting’s immediate reaction was: he wanted to give it to her.

Was she mad?

Or was he?

“Why?”

Huo Mingting looked at Ye Sheng in confusion. “Is it really worth getting so angry over a hat? Or is it because Qin Minshu donated bone marrow to Cong’er that you’re upset?”

“Ye Sheng, it’s not that simple.”

Huo Mingting earnestly reasoned with her, laying out the facts: “You’re Cong’er’s mother, and you’re a doctor—you should understand what donating bone marrow means to a leukemia patient. Qin Minshu saved Cong’er’s life. No matter what else has happened, as parents, shouldn’t we show her some grace for that?”

“You can’t reject this just because you dislike Qin Minshu. Is a woman’s jealousy really more important than a child’s life?”

His voice grew heated as he spoke, not only failing to understand her but also feeling a measure of disappointment.

All along, Huo Mingting had thought Ye Sheng was a reasonable woman. He hadn’t expected that, when unreasonable, women were all much the same.

But Ye Sheng’s heart had long since grown numb and cold.

In past lives and this one, for Cong’er’s illness, her bones and her heart had been hollowed out completely.

Cong’er was her child—she could never not love him—but the irony was that after giving everything, she was still being reproached by Huo Mingting?

Despised by someone like Qin Minshu.

To endure once was a sign of her good temper; to endure twice was to degrade herself.

“Yeah, Qin Minshu is willing to donate bone marrow to Cong’er for your sake. She loves you so much. How can you not marry her?”

Ye Sheng lifted her head and met Huo Mingting’s gaze, a faint, bitter smile playing on her lips.

“You two are in love, your bond is unbreakable. No one should interfere or come between you. So you should give me Cong’er’s custody. I’ll take the child far away from you and Qin Minshu. That’s better for you, for Qin Minshu, and for Cong’er—a perfect solution. Why refuse? If you love Qin Minshu, you should consider her feelings in everything.”

She spoke with a weary earnestness. “You have to understand, we ‘women’ are very petty. No matter how gentle or magnanimous Qin Minshu is, she wouldn’t want to be a stepmother to another woman’s child. You can tell just by how she cut Cong’er’s hat.”

Ye Sheng sighed deeply. “Mr. Huo, don’t turn every woman in your life into a hateful old witch like me. How do you expect to live then?”

Huo Mingting: “...”

How could he not hear the sarcasm beneath her words? The bitter irony?

She knew exactly how to provoke him.

She knew all she wanted was for him to surrender Cong’er’s custody. But no matter how much he still cared for her, he would never give her custody.

Ye Sheng was selfish and irresponsible.

Just like when she left without a word three years ago—she didn’t love the child so much, nor did she love him that much.

Huo Mingting gritted his teeth.

The damned thing was, why did such a woman still haunt his thoughts?

Why did she even make him entertain the idea of remarriage?

Could it be true that people were all fools—that the more unattainable something was, the more one desired it?

“Ye Sheng.”

A warm, steady voice came from behind. Ye Sheng turned almost instantly and saw Huo Lindong standing there, her nose stinging uncontrollably.

Her eyes immediately reddened.

It was as if a child who had suffered injustice outside had finally found the adult to stand up for her.