Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
As Xia Moyan had expected, the surgery was an ultimate success.
Both man and boy were wheeled out of the operating room and into the intensive care ward, where Xia Ling accompanied them.
With both of them in a deep sleep, the ward was silent. She went over to Shaohui’s side first and saw his pale, sickly demeanor. Only when she felt that his breathing was stable could her uneasiness fade a little. She reached out and stroked his face; this child had such a tough life, having lost his parents at such a young age, and encountered such an accident not long after being adopted.
She felt bad, thinking that her destiny had rubbed off on the child.
She sighed quietly and went over to Li Lei. Li Lei’s eyes were tightly shut and his lips were a dull purple from the blood loss. She remembered what the doctor had just said, “In order to save the child, Mr. Li donated more blood than was acceptable and safe for a human. He’s extremely weak now and needs extra care and rest.”
“Thank you.” She mumbled.
The man lying on the bed did not respond.
Xia Ling thought that it really is a blessing that Li Lei and Shaohui were of the same blood type. Otherwise, Shaohui wouldn’t have made it. Then again, she couldn’t understand how Shaohui, who had O-type blood all this while, was suddenly found to have such a rare type. How could it be so coincidental? Moreover, it was the same type as her late child.
Her heart pounded furiously. The answer was calling out to her.
She scrutinized Shaohui’s face like never before, and noticed that his eyes and brows looked extremely familiar — they were like hers. On second look, she found that there were some similarities between him and Li Lei.
In that instant, she got a pair of scissors.
She carefully cut a strand of Shaohui’s hair and sealed it in a ziplock bag, before cutting one of her own and sealing it in another. Then, a thought hit her, and she went to cut one of Li Lei’s strands too.
She left the ward and looked for Wei Shaoyin.
“Isn’t your household the most impressive pharmacological family in the world?” She asked.
Wei Shaoyin was still busy making music in his studio. On hearing that, he was frustrated. “Don’t mention them! The best in the world are all perverse!”
Xia Ling was speechless. Ah Wei, your music is one of the best in the world too, no wonder some people call you Unreasonable Wei. Even so, this was still an important matter that she needed his help in. “You people have a laboratory, right? Can you help me test the DNA of these three sets, to determine if they’re of a parent-child relationship?”
She handed Ah Wei the three ziplock bags.
Ah Wei’s look was one of despise. “Just for such a small issue? You could get any hospital to do this, why bother those maniacs in my household?”
Xia Ling said, “I can’t put my mind at ease if I let outsiders do it.” Although practically any hospital could get it done, she dared not take any risk after Shaohui’s blood-type incident. She wanted to find somebody she could trust.
Wei Shaoyin was reluctant to approach his family members, and asked her in an unfriendly tone, “Whose hairs are these? Let me make things clear, if it’s some distant relative of yours trying to ask for a favor, I’m not agreeing!” She did not know how much of a nightmare it was for him to face his family, much less ask for their help.
Xia Ling quietly said, “It’s Shaohui’s and mine.”
She chose not to disclose anything about the third strand.
After all, if this child turned out not to be their biological son, there was no need to kick up a fuss.
Wei Shaoyin was shocked. “Yours and Shaohui’s? Isn’t he your adopted child? Xiao Ling, your child passed away four years back!” The moment the words left this mouth, he instantly felt he had gone overboard. In a nicer tone, he said, “I’m sorry, I was just too shocked.”
Xia Ling smiled sadly. “Just take it that I’m hoping against all hope.”
Wei Shaoyin took the three strands of hair and promised that he would give her an answer as soon as he could.
Not long after, she received a call from the nanny who had been accompanying them in the ward, saying that Li Lei had awoken. Xia Ling rushed to the hospital to see him.
As she entered the ward, she saw that Li Lei was quietly looking at Shaohui in the neighboring bed, with eyes wide open.
He kept this strange expression when Xia Ling arrived and greeted her with a smile, “Xiao Ling.”
Xia Ling walked over to him. “You’re up? How do you feel?” She saw the gentle hue of sunlight illuminate the side of his face. Oh, he looked so handsome. And the way his eyes sparkled, it made her feel a little less worried.
“I’m fine.” He smiled. “My immune system is strong. As long as I get some nutrition, I’ll recover in no time.”
But things were not as simple as he made it out to be. This time, the excessive blood loss had hurt his body system, and he would need to take extra care of himself and undergo treatment to recover well. Having heard from the doctors beforehand, Xia Ling knew that he was just consoling her and instantly felt warm and touched by his gesture. She picked up an apple from his bedside and began paring it for him.
Her skills were still rough, and he couldn’t bear to look at how her hands moved.
Li Lei looked at her for a while before whispering gently, “You’re really beautiful.”
Her hands paused for a moment as some pieces of the apple fell. “You’re already so ill, how do you have the mood to joke.” She chided gently.
Li Lei said, “I’m sorry.”
She looked up at him, confused.
“I did not take good care of Shaohui.” Li Lei said.
Xia Ling shook her head. “No, it’s me. I did not take good care of him.” She paused before going on sadly. “Maybe this is my life, I’m bound to jinx the people around me.” She had already decided to consult her brother once things went back to normal. If she was one who couldn’t keep the people around her safe, she’d have someone else adopt Shaohui instead.
Despite the immense love she had for the child.
In any case, that was not a good reason to put a child’s life at risk.
She felt even worse about herself on that thought.
Li Lei comforted her. “Life of a jinx? There’s a way to resolve it for sure. Just look at these past many years, after emergencies and crises, haven’t things turned out alright eventually? Xiao Ling, you have an amulet now. I will share half of your destiny with you. Be it Shaohui or the other people closest to you, they’ll all be fine.”
That was what he exchanged a smooth-going life and a whole road of kowtows for.
Xia Ling had so much to think about.
She intuitively looked towards Shaohui, who was sleeping soundly. Yes, if not for Li Lei, Shaohui wouldn’t have got the blood he needed in time.
A while later, Pei Ziheng came too.
When he saw that Li Lei was paring an apple for Xia Ling, his expression turned dark.
Xia Ling turned around.
Pei Ziheng gathered his emotions and asked nicely, “Is Shaohui alright?”
Xia Ling handed Li Lei the apple and stood up. “Pei Ziheng, we need to talk.” With that, she left the ward first.