Ning Yichu nodded slightly, then turned his back to He Shixia and lay down, pulling the quilt over himself, intending to sleep.
After a while, he heard He Shixia carefully get up, turn off the lights in the room, and make a move to leave.
With his eyes closed, Ning Yichu suddenly said, “I thought you might want to keep the child. Like saying, ‘This time, I’ll take good care of you during your pregnancy, and the premature birth and difficult labor won’t happen again.'”
He Shixia paused at the door, his hand on the doorknob.
“Would I really persuade you to keep the child, knowing you’re in danger? Ah Ning, do you really see me as someone who would do that?” He Shixia replied softly.
“Believe it or not, from the start, I wanted you to give up the child. Setting aside the rarity of male pregnancy, pregnancy and childbirth are inherently dangerous, especially since you’re not in good health.”
He Shixia spoke, his lips curling bitterly, “But in the past life, I didn’t say it because I thought you really wanted the child. With your previous suicide attempt, I was afraid that if I suggested you abort the child, you’d overthink it. Besides, without experiencing it, it was just theoretical talk. I underestimated the danger.”
“In the past life… after you were gone, I raised the child alone for three years. In this life, without him, I do feel a bit reluctant, but he already lived a lifetime with your life.”
He Shixia looked at the figure lying on the bed with his back to him, his gaze softening, “If I could, I’d trade my life for you to live well in the past life. Now… even though we have a second chance, having died once isn’t a good thing. But no matter how much I think about it, the past life can’t be changed. I just hope in this new life, you can live entirely as you wish, without any concerns.”
Ning Yichu chuckled, “So deep in love, He Qing Sheng. If I had heard these words before I died in the past life, I would have been moved to tears like a clown.”
He Shixia awkwardly gripped the doorknob.
In the past life, when Ning Yichu was nine months pregnant, he accidentally fell down the stairs and went into premature labor after being bumped. He died from complications after childbirth, and He Shixia wasn’t by his side.
At that time, He Shixia was filming on set.
“I later saw… you called me back then…” He Shixia said, his throat tight.
Ning Yichu still lay with his eyes closed, resting on the soft pillow, responding indifferently, “Yeah, I was dying. The hospital room was empty, and I felt so lonely. I just wanted to talk to someone. After thinking it over, it seemed like only you would say a few polite words… Luckily, you didn’t pick up, or I would have been so embarrassed. How can someone live such a failed life?”
After a brief rush of footsteps, Ning Yichu was embraced through the quilt by He Shixia.
He Shixia held him tightly, not caring that his hair, wet from Ning Yichu’s earlier splash, stuck to Ning Yichu’s face. Ning Yichu even smelled the metallic scent of blood from He Shixia’s neck.
“I’m sorry…”
“I’m sorry… I came back too late…”
“I’m sorry, I thought… you probably didn’t want to be around me anyway, so I thought I’d come home a month before your due date, so I wouldn’t be in your way before then…”
“But the filming wrapped up late, and I was just a day late… I’m sorry… I won’t make the same mistake in this life. I won’t miss any of your calls again…”
“I’m sorry, Ah Ning…”
Listening to his choked remorse, Ning Yichu felt nothing, even inexplicably wanting to laugh.
“Is it really that sad? Then let me tell you something even worse,” Ning Yichu murmured, “Guess… in the past life, how old did the child live to after you died?”
He Shixia was stunned, and after a while, he replied, “My parents were very fond of the child…”
From He Shixia’s response, Ning Yichu confirmed that he truly didn’t know about the existence of the original novel’s plot. He just lived three years longer than Ning Yichu in the past life and had those detailed memories.
Ning Yichu chuckled, “After you died, they blamed me for your death, and by extension, they didn’t like the child either, even though he was yours. They didn’t want him to stay in the He family.”
He Shixia felt a chill run through his body.
“On the Ning family’s side, Ning Zeshu took the child in—such a kind person, right?—because of the child, Ning Zeshu coincidentally met my biological uncle and found my biological parents. At that point, the child was no longer needed.”
Keeping the child would only trouble Ning Zeshu, causing him worry, wasting his time, hindering his love life, and diverting the attention of Ning Yichu’s biological parents, affecting the benefits Ning Zeshu could gain.
A tool should naturally be sensible and not trouble the protagonist.
“Ning Zeshu’s admirer—not the one who killed you, the murderer was caught—because of jealousy over Ning Zeshu’s new relationship, which was with my biological uncle, wanted to kill him too. But that day, my uncle happened to take the child out to play, and in an accident, the child lost his life, but my uncle survived.”
After all, the protagonist can’t die.
And this plot point in the original novel was also a point of tragedy. Ning Zeshu was deeply pained by the child’s death, yet received much comfort. The protagonist was also deeply pained and felt guilty, leading to a breakup crisis, another melodramatic plot.
Ning Yichu thought about the original plot and found it quite amusing.
He Shixia listened to him narrate plainly, only feeling a surge of blood in his throat, almost unable to speak.
Because Ning Yichu didn’t deny it, He Shixia still believed that Ning Yichu, after dying in the past life, watched the subsequent events unfold as a spirit.
Just watching helplessly, seeing the child he exchanged his life for being raised by people he disliked, becoming a bridge for others to meet, watching his biological parents and uncle treat Ning Zeshu kindly and even lovingly, watching his child die… how painful it must have been.
He Shixia quietly held Ning Yichu, “…I’m sorry.”
Ning Yichu found him annoying, “Then go die.”
He Shixia apologized, “I can’t right now… I need to arrange the surgery, investigate the truth about the hotel incident. Besides that, is there anything else you need me to do immediately?”
Ning Yichu opened his eyes, raising an eyebrow, “Yes, give me all your assets, everything.”
He Shixia laughed, “Alright, then you’ll have to give me pocket money in the future.”
Ning Yichu: “Get lost.”
He Shixia got up, kissed Ning Yichu’s hair by his temple, then tucked him in, “Sleep.”
Ning Yichu pulled the quilt over his head.
Maybe it was the emotional rollercoaster of the night, the turmoil in his heart, but after falling asleep, Ning Yichu had some bizarre dreams and then started to run a fever.
He Shixia left the bedroom, went to the bathroom to clean up his wet and messy state, changed into pajamas, and then called the He family’s family doctor via the intercom, asking them to bring over gauze and iodine to treat the bite on his neck.
Then he sat on the sofa in the living room, staring at the bedroom door, unmoving for a long time.
It wasn’t until dawn that He Shixia snapped out of it.
He glanced at the morning light outside the window, suddenly feeling a panic in his heart, as if the person in the bedroom was just a daring dream, and opening the door would reveal no one on the bed, only cold air.
He Shixia hurriedly got up, walked to the bedroom door, took a few deep breaths, and then carefully pressed down the doorknob.
The room was very quiet, with no sound of another person’s breathing. He Shixia’s heart skipped a beat, and he took a few steps inside, only relaxing when he saw the rise and fall of the bed.
He continued walking a few steps towards the window, intending to draw the curtains to prevent the sunlight from disturbing Ning Yichu’s sleep.
Before pulling the curtains, He Shixia glanced back at the person on the bed, and then he noticed that Ning Yichu’s face was unnaturally flushed, and his lips appeared somewhat dry.
“Ah Ning…” He Shixia exclaimed in panic.
Ning Yichu, in this illness, slept in a daze for two days. Occasionally, he opened his eyes, but the scenes before him were fleeting, leaving no solid impression in his mind, and he fell back into a stupor.
When he finally woke up, he felt as if a lifetime had passed, and with the realization that he had been reborn, he felt a sense of relief.
He Shixia, who had been anxiously watching over him for the past few days, looked somewhat haggard.
Seeing Ning Yichu finally fully recover from the fever and regain consciousness, He Shixia cautiously spoke, as if a slightly louder voice would shatter the jade-like person before him.
“Ah Ning… how do you feel now?”
Ning Yichu’s throat was a bit dry and hoarse. After sipping half a cup of water, he felt better.
He was helped by He Shixia to sit up, leaning against the headboard, looking towards the window.
Seeing this, He Shixia stepped forward and slowly drew the curtains open.
Sunlight poured in from outside, and Ning Yichu closed his eyes briefly, then said, “I’m hungry.”
He Shixia breathed a sigh of relief, “Alright, I’ll have someone bring up some food. You’ve just recovered, so you should start with something light…”
“No, I want to go downstairs and eat myself,” Ning Yichu said.
He Shixia hesitated, “…Alright, I’ll help you change your clothes, okay?”
Ning Yichu noticed his reaction, “What, am I so unsightly that I shouldn’t go out?”
“No,” He Shixia denied without a second’s delay, then honestly added, “It’s just… because of the injuries on my neck and face, and these past two days I’ve been sorting out the asset list, which involves the He family’s shares. The share transfer can’t avoid the board of directors, and the family already knows I’m giving the shares to you. There’s been a lot of arguing these past two days, and I’m afraid seeing them will affect your mood.”