In the end, when Youzi managed to turn a plate of oddly shaped cucumber and pork slices into a dish, she had already burned a blister on her hand.
On the table were two dishes: the burnt cucumber and pork slices.
And Lin Ting’s perfectly cooked sweet and sour pork ribs, complete with color, aroma, and flavor.
“Youzi, time to eat!”
Youzi loved sweet and sour pork ribs the most.
Especially when her mom made them.
As she reached out with her chopsticks to grab a piece of sweet and sour pork ribs, Lin Ting gently tapped them away.
“Until you learn how to cook cucumber and pork slices properly, you’re not allowed to eat the sweet and sour pork ribs I made.”
Xiao Youzi suddenly felt so wronged.
Her long eyelashes grew damp, and tears threatened to fall.
Lin Ting said sternly, “No crying. Eat the burnt cucumber and pork slices you cooked.”
She herself picked up a piece of sweet and sour pork ribs. “Starting today, you need to understand that if you want to eat something, you have to learn how to make it yourself. If you want to get something, you have to earn it through your own efforts. No one is obligated to fulfill your needs or help you.”
Lin Ting appeared to be focused on her bowl of rice, but she was actually stealing glances at Youzi’s injured little hand.
Cuts from the knife, burns from the stove.
It was heartbreaking!
That night, Youzi ate the burnt cucumber and pork slices she had cooked, unable to understand why her mom had suddenly become so strict.
When it was time to sleep, she hid her grievances in her heart and looked at Lin Ting with longing eyes. “Mom, can you hold me and sing me to sleep? I’m scared.”
Lin Ting replied, “Youzi, the second rule of Mom’s new rules is that from now on, you sleep by yourself. No one is allowed to sing you to sleep.”
With that, she turned off the light and went out to the living room.
She spread a blanket on the sofa in the one-bedroom apartment’s living room.
Around midnight.
Tiptoeing into the bedroom, Lin Ting looked at the sleeping Xiao Youzi.
A deep sense of guilt washed over her entire being.
Holding Youzi, she choked back sobs:
“Youzi, I’m sorry!”
“Mom isn’t a good enough mom. I won’t be able to stay with you as you grow up.”
“In the future, you’ll have to rely on yourself.”
That night, Lin Ting hardly slept at all.
…
The next afternoon.
Jiang Yu was still in the pharmaceutical research and development lab.
He called an emergency meeting in the conference room.
Looking at the group of medical professors, he politely asked:
“Professors, when is the earliest this batch of specific anti-cancer drugs can enter the clinical trial phase?”
One of them, Professor Xie, with graying hair, had been working on this anti-cancer drug project with Lin Jiang Pharmaceutical Group for over twenty years.
He had the most authority to speak. “President Jiang, at least two more months.”
Two months.
He couldn’t wait that long.
His mentor, in the late stages of lung cancer, had only about a month left to live.
A heavy, oppressive atmosphere enveloped him and everyone present.
He sighed helplessly at the inevitability of life, aging, illness, and death. “Starting today, we’ll work in two shifts, day and night, to speed things up.”
Professor Xie, speaking on behalf of everyone, said, “President Jiang, to meet the market deadline, everyone has been working overtime for the past year. The final stages require even more caution and attention to detail; we can’t afford any carelessness. Working day and night shifts can lead to fatigue and mistakes.”
Concerned about his mentor in the late stages of lung cancer, Jiang Yu stood up and bowed to everyone. “I believe in all of you. I’m counting on you!”
As he left the conference room, Jiang Yu received a phone call.
It was from an unfamiliar landline number.
Jiang Yu didn’t answer.
The landline number kept calling back.
Jiang Yu finally answered the call, and an anxious voice on the other end asked, “Hello, is this Jin Yi’s father?”
Jin Yi’s father?
Xiao Youzi?
“Who told you I’m Lin Jin Yi’s father?” He clearly wasn’t.
Teacher Li on the phone anxiously said, “Jin Yi’s father, Jin Yi’s mother left this contact number. I know you two have separated, and Jin Yi is under her mother’s care, but her phone has been unreachable. Jin Yi has a cold and a fever of forty-one degrees, and is now in the hospital. Can you come to the hospital?”
The image of a small, adorable, and sensible figure immediately appeared in Jiang Yu’s mind.
Although he wasn’t Xiao Youzi’s father, upon hearing that the school couldn’t reach Lin Ting, he still set aside his important tasks and rushed to the hospital immediately.
Xiao Youzi lay on the hospital bed, receiving an IV drip.
Beside her, Teacher Li, who had her hair tied in a fishtail braid, apologized:
“Jin Yi’s father, I’m sorry. We didn’t want Jin Yi to get sick at school either. But when Jin Yi was dropped off at school this morning, her condition was already off—her eyes were red and swollen, and her voice was hoarse. We didn’t expect her to develop a fever in the afternoon.”
How could Lin Ting be a mother?
Jiang Yu’s anger suddenly surged. “Lin Ting’s phone has been unreachable?”
Teacher Li shook her head.
Suppressing his anger, Jiang Yu politely said to Teacher Li, “Teacher Li, thank you for your trouble. Please go back first. I’ll contact Lin Ting.”
After Teacher Li left, Jiang Yu sat on the chair beside the hospital bed.
Xiao Youzi’s fever hadn’t subsided yet.
By now, she was already delirious, her eyes tightly closed.
Her long eyelashes fluttered incessantly, trembling slightly.
Her small hands even reached out fearfully into the air.
“Mommy, no.”
“Mommy, hold me.”
The child seemed to have been frightened by something.
Even with her eyes closed, her eyelids were visibly swollen from crying.
Jiang Yu looked at her.
This wasn’t his daughter.
But he particularly liked children, especially girls.
He couldn’t bear to see a child suffer like this.
It must be Lin Ting who hadn’t taken good care of the child.
She really didn’t deserve to be a mother.
At that moment, Lin Ting was also in this hospital.
While at the market, the weakened Lin Ting had fainted.
A kind-hearted person had called 120 and sent her to the hospital.
When she woke up and found herself lying in a hospital bed receiving an IV drip, she also saw many missed calls from the school on her phone.
It was only three in the afternoon.
She hadn’t missed the time to pick up Youzi from school yet.
Could something have happened to Xiao Youzi?
Suddenly, she felt as if her heart were being clawed at.
Just as she was about to call back to ask about the situation, her phone suddenly rang with an incoming call.
“Lin Ting, how could you be a mother?”