Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Chen Jue's hand paused slightly as he sliced the angelica root, but only for a moment before he continued.

Huo Jilin went on, having replayed everything from beginning to end many times, ready to lay it all out for Chen Jue:

"In the past, I did reject your research topics and your opinions multiple times, but I was looking at it from the perspective of Huachen Pharmaceutical, from the perspective of the country. For example, the 520 in-vitro embryo development project was something that had to be done."

Chen Jue set down the knife and slowly stood up: "Huo Jilin, you underestimate me. In medicine, every topic is open to interpretation—everyone has their own view. Academic discussion allows for disagreement. I state my own opinions, and you're free to hold yours. That's perfectly reasonable. But your utter disregard for human life—that I cannot accept."

Chen Jue thought he would never get angry at this man's words again. He thought he'd already seen the worst of this man, but he never imagined this person had no limits whatsoever.

How could he just pretend the past never happened?

How could he so easily forget Xinhe, who risked her life to carry his child?

In this man's heart, he only had his Huo family, only his talk of serving the country and its people? How ridiculous—if he treated his own family so coldly, how could he claim to serve his country?

How could he so shamelessly cast himself as the righteous one?

Huo Jilin's face turned cold as well.

"Is that really how you see me? In your eyes, am I really the kind of person who treats human life like dirt?"

By the end, Huo Jilin couldn't help getting angry himself.

He was a cold person, devoid of sentiment, but he had never treated human lives as nothing. Where exactly had he done that?

Did the deaths on the battlefield count for something? If the enemy came at him with a sword, wasn't he supposed to fight back?

He was a soldier, defending his country and his home—how could there be no casualties?

In modern Iraq, countless people died every day, let alone in this era of swords and spears.

He had steeled himself more than once. Does anyone think it's easy being a soldier?

Did he think it was easy to cross that line of killing another human being?

Chen Jue shot back icily: "Are you saying you're not?"

Huo Jilin met his eyes directly: "Say what you mean. I have a lot of blood on my hands, but not a single one who didn't deserve to die. As for your death..."

Huo Jilin took a deep breath and continued: "As for your death, I apologize. I never expected things to turn out that way."

Chen Jue had already stopped thinking about his own death.

He had paid the price for that tragedy—two lives lost. There was no point in dwelling on it.

Looking at the man who still didn't see his own faults, Chen Jue found himself ridiculous too. If Huo Jilin knew what he'd done wrong, he wouldn't be such a cold-blooded person.

Chen Jue couldn't be bothered to argue anymore, so he said quickly: "Fine, since you still don't know what your problem is, let me tell you. The people you killed defending your country—I won't judge that."

He took a deep breath, his gaze sharp as he looked at Huo Jilin: "What I find disgusting about you is your coldness. Knowing full well your wife had a severe heart condition and couldn't have children, you still insisted she carry one—and day by day, you pushed her closer to death."

Chen Jue's fingers trembled as he clenched his fists, struggling to keep his voice steady: "Throughout that process, she had so many chances to end the pregnancy and live, but you shut down every single one. You disregarded another person's life. Even if that person was your wife, you had no right to disregard her life like that. She belonged to herself—she had the right to decide her own fate. Or do you think an heir for the Huo family matters more than a living, breathing person?"

If Huo Jilin really loved kids, he wouldn't have proposed the 520 embryo plan. What he wanted was simply to continue the family line—which made it even colder.

Huo Jilin kept watching him, waiting until he finished, then paused for a moment before saying: "You're right about one thing—she was her own person. She had the right to decide her own life or death, and the right to decide whether to keep her own child."

Huo Jilin stared into his eyes and said word by word: "The child wasn't mine. I had no right to make that choice for her."

He hadn't told the doctors before because Jiang Xinhe's partner had died, and Jiang Xinhe was his wife at the time. To the outside world, they were a married couple.

As for the child, Chen Jue was even more wrong—he didn't like kids at all.

He was gay. He'd known from the start he'd never have kids.

Chen Jue froze in place.

He had finally spoken the suffocating pain and confusion that had weighed on his heart, confronting the man himself—only to find he'd been blaming the wrong person.

This left him standing there in silence, at a loss for words for a long moment.

For a split second, the head nurse's words crossed his mind. He thought she was right—marriages between wealthy families were complicated, beyond what ordinary people like him could grasp.

If Jiang Xinhe's child wasn't Huo Jilin's, then he really had no reason to hate him.

Huo Jilin's explanation came to him as if muffled: "Jiang Xinhe's lover was her senior in the same program. He died saving a child who had fallen in the water.

Jiang Xinhe was devastated, and her health deteriorated rapidly. Later, during treatment, they discovered she was pregnant, and that gave her the will to hold on.

She said it was fate, because they'd both decided never to have children. After all those years without one, she believed it was the last gift her lover had left her. Because of this child, she found a reason to live.

So she kept the child."

The Huo and Jiang families were old friends, both in the medicine business.

Jiang Xinhe was a few years younger than he was. They'd often played together as kids, and she was like a little sister to him.

He knew Jiang Xinhe's personality. Maybe because of her health, everyone in her family spoiled her, and she'd grown into someone who never took no for an answer—stubborn as hell.

Huo Jilin told Chen Jue the past plainly. He hadn't told him before because it was a private matter—he wouldn't bring personal matters into work.

Besides, given where their relationship stood at the time, it wasn't appropriate to discuss such things.

He could have stopped there, but Huo Jilin added one more line for some reason: "I couldn't talk her out of it, so I gave her a place to stay.

At the time, I also needed someone to marry for the sake of an alliance. She and I were getting what we each needed."

He was gay. He'd never marry or have kids in this lifetime. So teaming up with Jiang Xinhe worked out perfectly.

Being thirty and still single was unusual among these old families, because arranged marriages for business had always been the most stable arrangement since ancient times.

He didn't care what others thought of him—he knew his own abilities and how he ran Huachen Pharmaceutical well enough. But if it could save him trouble—keep his cousins from parading their kids in front of his grandfather every day and making snide comments at him—that would be nice.

He absolutely hated that kind of behavior.

Of what Huo Jilin said, Chen Jue only took in the first half—only what mattered to him.

So that was it, he thought. No wonder Jiang Xinhe's words to the child were so sad.

She wasn't talking to the child—she was talking to her dead lover.

He'd assumed Huo Jilin treated Jiang Xinhe badly. He'd assumed Jiang Xinhe was forced to have the child for the sake of the family alliance.

It turned out he'd been wrong.

So the "fate" she spoke of meant this. And the "one life for another" she mentioned meant this as well.

She hadn't wanted to live in the first place.

If it weren't for this child, she might not have survived that long. And he had to constantly urge her to get rid of it.

Chen Jue unconsciously steadied himself against the wall behind him, feeling exhausted.

The hatred and confusion that had kept him going until now were gone. There was no one left to hate, and the only executioner left was himself.

When he couldn't let go or forgive himself, he had hated Huo Jilin, holding him half responsible for Jiang Xinhe's death.

But now he realized the person he hated didn't even exist—he had already sacrificed himself to save others.

Jiang Xinhe's lover hadn't died intentionally. He had died, and he hadn't even known about the child's existence before his death.

Jiang Xinhe had insisted on keeping the child to preserve the bloodline of the child's deceased father, or perhaps it was this child that kept her going;

And Huo Jilin was even more innocent—he had only wanted to give Jiang Xinhe and the child a home.

Only he had failed to handle it properly, resulting in the deaths of both mother and child—by his own hand.

Chen Jue looked up blankly at the sky, finally understanding in that moment that only he had been wrong, which was why heaven punished only him.

So he was the only one left to take responsibility for that child.

Chen Jue understood now. His vision darkened, and his chest churned violently, as if he might cough up blood. He wished he could, like in a martial arts novel, trade his life for another's and die on the spot.

But in reality, he instinctively reached for the wall to steady himself.

Huo Jilin frowned at Chen Jue, who looked about to collapse. He had thought that explaining everything would make Chen Jue feel better, but he noticed Chen Jue looked even worse, as if something inside him had shattered.

He was like ice suddenly cracking, like the moon's reflection shattering in water—the last bit of light in his eyes was gone.

Huo Jilin stepped forward a few paces: "Chen Jue?"

They had always kept their distance—just nodding acquaintances, separated by the conference table at meetings.

The closest they had ever been was when Huo Jilin stood over Chen Jue's body after he died.

And back then, he hadn't even had the strength to reach out and drape the white cloth over him.

So even now, wanting to get closer to Chen Jue, he instinctively held back.

Chen Jue came back to himself and looked at him, opening his mouth as if to apologize to Huo Jilin for blaming the wrong person, but for some reason his throat felt sealed shut, and not a single sound came out. In the end, he turned and walked away.

"I need some time alone."

Huo Jilin's footsteps halted in place.

For lunch, Huo Jilin made shredded chicken and cabbage congee. The new mother had left plenty of ingredients.

He made two simple but nutritious dishes and set them on the kang table. Chen Jue was packing his bag. Huo Jilin's eyes flickered, and he said softly, "Let's eat first."

Chen Jue nodded. Though he didn't smile at Huo Jilin, his expression had returned to his usual stoic look, and no one could tell anything from his face.

Huo Jilin ladled him a bowl of congee: "Chicken congee, have some more."

Chen Jue silently drank two bowls, ate a steamed bun, and a plate of vegetables.

Huo Jilin couldn't read his mood. Judging by how much he ate, he seemed fine.

But just as he was about to clear the dishes, he heard Chen Jue say, "I'm leaving. Thank you for all the care these past days."