Volume One, Chapter 67: Xiaobei's Mysterious Origins

Ye Sheng had been exercising on the balcony for a long time.

When Huo Lintong returned home from work, Ye Sheng was still on the exercise bike, not yet dismounted. She was dressed in a hooded sweatshirt, the cap pulled low, almost entirely concealing herself.

Yet, even from a distance, Huo Lintong could sense the oppressive gloom surrounding her.

"You're back?"

Ye Sheng hadn't dared to wear headphones, afraid she might not hear if there was any movement from Xiaobei. The moment Huo Lintong walked in, she stopped the bike. She'd been pedaling for who knows how long; her legs were numb, and she was drenched in sweat.

Huo Lintong responded, changed shoes at the entrance, and looked at Ye Sheng.

Her expression was as calm as ever, betraying no unusual emotion. After her workout, a flush tinged her cheeks. "Xiaobei's asleep."

Huo Lintong opened the bedroom door for a glance, saw the little one sleeping soundly, and quietly retreated.

Ye Sheng waited for him to come out before saying, "Brother Lin, you should rest early. I'll be heading back."

"Ye Sheng." Huo Lintong called out to her.

She turned. The corners of his lips lifted in a faint smile. "Will you have a drink with me?"

...

Both had showered and changed into loungewear. In the living room, they uncorked a bottle of red wine at the bar.

"Would you like to smoke?" Huo Lintong said, "If you want, I can have the convenience store downstairs bring some up."

Ye Sheng had just taken a sip of wine and nearly choked at his words, coughing twice as she looked at Huo Lintong. "Brother Lin, why do you sound like you're coaxing a child?"

Huo Lintong chuckled. "Drinking and smoking—those are ways adults comfort themselves."

"I won't smoke. I don't actually crave it. Only when I want to bite someone or curse do I think about smoking."

Ye Sheng knew Huo Lintong never smoked and seldom drank. Tonight, he was drinking with her only because he saw she was in a bad mood.

Their glasses clinked softly in the air.

Huo Lintong had just taken a sip when he heard Ye Sheng say, "Huo Cong threw away the blue woolen hat I knitted for him."

A shadow crossed Huo Lintong's brow, and his expression darkened.

"Xiaobei stood up for me, got upset with Huo Cong, and didn't speak to him all day," Ye Sheng said with a faint smile, though there was a touch of desolation in it, her lips gradually flattening. "...Honestly, I'm not a very good mother. My child and I aren't close. Back at the Huo family, it was always his grandmother and aunt who took turns looking after him. Only when he was going to bed or when he was ill would I have a chance to hold him. Huo Cong doesn't like me. I can't even fight for custody against his father."

Otherwise, what mother would willingly hand over the child she risked her life to bring into the world to a man?

"It's about personality," Huo Lintong said. "You get along very well with Xiaobei."

Ye Sheng smiled softly. "Xiaobei has a wonderful temperament—cheerful and warm-hearted. He gets along with everyone."

But Huo Lintong shook his head.

"He may seem outgoing, but Xiaobei is actually a child with very little sense of security. That has a lot to do with being abandoned by his adoptive parents at the hospital when he was little."

Ye Sheng was startled. "Adoptive parents?"

Her face changed as she recalled her third brother once saying that Xiaobei was a child Huo Lintong had picked up at the hospital. She had thought it was nonsense.

Huo Lintong nodded. "I found Xiaobei at a county hospital. He was just over two years old and had just been diagnosed with leukemia. He'd been abandoned at the hospital. Later, when the hospital staff called the police, they learned that Xiaobei had been picked up at someone's doorstep by a couple who couldn't have children. Seeing how fair and pretty he was, they secretly kept him. But when he turned two and suddenly fell ill..."

Ye Sheng trembled all over, recalling the agony she felt when Cong'er was first diagnosed with leukemia, as if her heart had been ripped apart.

She hadn't imagined that Xiaobei's story would be just as fraught.

"And then?" Ye Sheng's throat tightened.

Huo Lintong drank half a glass, emotions flickering over his usually composed face. "At the time, I was leading a team on a project in Pingliu County. Xiaobei was an ideal research subject, so I decided to have the hospital take on his case. Unexpectedly, when it came time for the bone marrow match, my blood type and marrow were a perfect match. DNA testing confirmed it—he was my own child."

Ye Sheng's eyes widened, and she sat in shocked silence for a long moment.

—

That night, the two of them talked for a long time.

When Ye Sheng returned to her place, she was still reeling from the revelation of Xiaobei's strange origin, sitting on the sofa for a long while before regaining her composure.

Her phone rang, startling her—it was an unfamiliar number.

"It's me." Hearing Huo Mingtin's voice, Ye Sheng instinctively frowned and replied coldly, "If it's not about the child, just hang up. I'm exhausted."

Huo Mingtin's voice was hoarse, as if he were smoking, the sound of exhaled smoke drifting through the receiver. "Ye Sheng, I'm tired too," he said.

Ye Sheng sat quietly, saying nothing.

After a long pause, Huo Mingtin spoke again. "The little blue hat you knitted for Cong'er—I accidentally got it dirty. If you have time, could you knit another for him?"

Ye Sheng let out a bitter laugh. Were this father and son teaming up to make a fool of her?

"Huo Mingtin, do you think I have nothing better to do? Or do you think I'm soft and easy to push around, so you can order me about like a maid?"

Huo Mingtin frowned. "That's not what I meant..."

"I'm not knitting him another. You have money, buy him one yourself."

With that, Ye Sheng hung up.

Huo Mingtin sat on the small balcony off the bedroom, smoking with his back to the child, completely unaware that Huo Cong had woken at some point and overheard their conversation.

She was never going to knit him a hat again.

Her love for him was so small, it was gone the moment she said so.

Huo Cong closed his eyes, and tears slid from the corners, soaking his pillow.