Volume One, Chapter Seven: In the End, Was She the One Who Bullied Him?

Huo Mingtian was visibly agitated, the corners of his eyes flushed with red. As the chosen successor of the Huo family, he was indisputably a favored son of heaven—what did he ever desire that he could not obtain? Countless women dreamed of marrying him, yet Ye Sheng had dared to divorce him!

That marriage was, without question, the most disastrous chapter of his twenty-nine years, the greatest stain on his life. In the three years since Ye Sheng had left, Huo Mingtian would sometimes wake in the middle of the night, so furious that he’d rise from bed to smoke, unable to fathom why it had all happened. The woman who had once adored him so deeply, who had nearly died giving birth to his child—she had simply left, just like that…

Everyone said Ye Sheng must have found someone else, a better prospect, and that was why she divorced him. Huo Mingtian refused to believe it—how many men could surpass him? With Ye Sheng’s background and circumstances, a man like him was already the best she could have hoped for. If anything, it was he who was lowering himself, not the other way around.

But today, seeing that man and the child at the entrance of that obscure research institute, a rush of blood had surged to Huo Mingtian’s head. In that moment, he felt like the greatest fool in the world.

“Are you out of your mind?” Ye Sheng, her arm aching from his grip, frowned coldly. “If there’s something wrong with you mentally, there’s a psychiatric hospital thirty kilometers from here. You should go get your head checked.”

She broke free from his grasp. “Let go!”

Huo Mingtian hadn’t expected Ye Sheng to be so strong; caught off guard, he staggered as she pushed him away.

Huo Cong had just reached the clinic door when he saw this scene. Without a word, he rushed forward and shoved Ye Sheng. “You hit my dad! Why are you bullying my dad?”

Unprepared for the attack from behind, Ye Sheng stumbled forward, her knee striking the corner of the coffee table. Pain shot through her, her brows knitting tightly.

She turned, only to see her son standing before Huo Mingtian like a little wolf cub, eyes fixed on her as if she were their enemy.

In that instant, it felt as though all the blood in her body froze; she struggled to breathe. The clinic’s harsh light made her complexion pale, her eyes glittering like water-soaked diamonds. Looking at Huo Mingtian, she forced a faint smile. “In the end, it seems I’m the one bullying you?”

Her words were soft, as if all the strength had drained from her. Gazing at the father and son before her, images from the past flickered through her mind. She remembered her former self, dying miserably on the operating table, and could only muster a bitter smile.

Huo Mingtian watched as Ye Sheng’s back hunched, her hand gripping her wrist so tightly it turned white, her entire figure seeming on the verge of shattering.

He gently moved Huo Cong aside, stepped forward, and reached out to Ye Sheng. “Are you alright…”

But before his hand could touch her, Ye Sheng stepped back, avoiding him, her eyes wary and her spine straightening defensively.

“Leave.”

Her face was once again as cold as frost, as if the momentary fragility he’d seen was nothing but an illusion.

—

After driving the debt-collecting pair of father and son away, Ye Sheng worked a while longer in the clinic, not returning to her hotel until nearly midnight. The local county committee and Haici Hospital had both been considerate, arranging a single room for her.

Too exhausted to even shower, Ye Sheng collapsed into sleep the moment she lay down.

That night, she was tormented by nightmares again.

Vivid red blood, like a water snake, slithered down her wrist to the floor, pooling into a dark lake. She curled into a tight ball from the pain, waking with a start, cold sweat on her forehead.

Beeep—

Her phone rang. After a few steadying breaths, Ye Sheng answered.

There was a critical patient in the clinic; the regular doctors couldn’t handle it and had to call Ye Sheng for help.

It was indeed a severe case: lymphoma, beyond the capabilities of the county hospital, requiring surgery in the provincial hospital. The patient, terrified at the prospect of surgery, sprang up, shouting about having no money and cursing Ye Sheng as an incompetent doctor, making a scene.

Ye Sheng had seen many such patients before. Living all their lives in these mountain valleys, when illness struck, they endured as long as they could; only when they couldn’t bear it anymore would they visit the village clinic for some medicine or an IV drip. They harbored an instinctive fear of hospitals.

The lives of the poor are cheap—not because they don’t want treatment, but because they don’t dare to seek it.

“Director Ye, he’s just a troublemaker. Don’t take it to heart,” Dr. Chen comforted her. Today was supposed to be Ye Sheng’s day off, yet he’d called her in, only for this commotion to erupt.

“Don’t say that. The environment is different.” Ye Sheng’s mood remained steady. “Have the county committee contact his family and educate them about medical knowledge. His condition isn’t beyond hope yet. If he registers here, most of the surgery costs at the provincial hospital can be waived later.”

“We do what we must. As long as our conscience is clear, that’s enough.” She addressed all the medical staff with these words.

The morning’s incident had dampened everyone’s spirits, but after Ye Sheng’s words, they all nodded in agreement. Dr. Chen hurried to make arrangements.

Once there, leaving was not so easy.

Ye Sheng made her rounds in the neighboring clinic area. There were quite a few patients receiving IV drips. Suddenly, she heard someone call, “Shengsheng!”

She turned and saw Huo Lintong and his son, Huo Xiaobei.

Huo Xiaobei, hooked up to an IV, sat on the hospital bed waving his small hand at her. “Hi.”