Within Apartment 404, the couple had reached an agreement.

Yin Qiang never expected that such a good thing would happen to him. He rubbed his hands together, his excitement clear on his face. This was the Wei family! Even just a little bit of the Wei family’s leftovers was enough for them to live comfortably for the rest of their lives. 

The son was supposed to take care of his parents. This was a matter of course. Plus, they thought of every possible method so that their son could live a good life. This was all the more reason for their son to be grateful to them.

Yin Qiang slowly started to imagine the life of luxury awaiting him: a spacious and luxurious mansion, an inexhaustible amount of alcohol, young and beautiful women…

“Yin Qiang…”

A timid voice interrupted Yin Qiang’s fantasies. He frowned in dissatisfaction and squinted at the disheveled woman before him. He wanted to get angry, but, after thinking about it, he held back his temper and said, “Juan'er.” 

Zhou Juan’s eyes widened when she heard this affectionate nickname. She almost couldn’t believe it because Yin Qiang had never spoken so softly to her before. He had either called her a bitch or called her by her full name.

Her heart was moved, but Zhou Juan still voiced her misgivings. “Yin Qiang, why did you suddenly want to do a paternity test?”

Yin Qiang said gruffly, “I didn’t do it. Someone left the certificate at our door.”

Speaking of this, he suddenly realized the issue at hand. He rushed out of the kitchen and started looking around. Finally, he found the scattered sheets of paper on the floor and rushed over to pick it up. He said to Zhou Juan, “Shit, someone knows Yin Mingzheng isn’t my kid!”

Zhou Juan hadn’t expected that the paternity test actually wasn’t done by Yin Qiang. This was a huge shock to her. She also rushed out of the kitchen and grabbed the paternity test to look over it. “Who? Who is it?”

She had buried this secret for nearly fifteen years, and no one had caught her in all that time. However, someone had now anonymously sent a paternity test to their door.

Did this person know that she switched the kids? Was it someone from the Wei family?

The more Zhou Juan thought about it, the more frightened she became. Her face was as pale as a sheet, and she had dried blood sticking to her cheeks. Her entire person looked like a ghost. 

“Did someone find out?” Yin Qiang also thought of this. He asked fiercely, “Who did you tell?”

Zhou Juan hurriedly shook her head, “I didn’t! I never told anyone anything!”

When she saw Yin Qiang’s face getting darker and darker, she rushed to explain herself, “He probably doesn’t know the truth. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have waited fifteen years to reveal it! It’s definitely not the Wei family either. If it was the Wei family, they would make a big show and send a lot of people. Maybe…maybe this person just accidentally found out that the two of you aren’t father and son…look!”

Zhou Juan flipped to the last page of the paternity test. “It only says your name, not mine. This means that this person isn’t sure about my relationship with Yin Mingzheng.” 

Yin Qiang frowned. He grabbed the paternity test results and skimmed through it. “That makes a little bit of sense.”

“Perhaps…” Zhou Juan turned back into her usual cowardly self and spoke cautiously, “Perhaps that person thinks the same thing as the other people in the community.”

“What is that?” Yin Qiang snorted and put the paternity test away. “What are the neighbors saying this time?”

Zhou Juan swallowed and said, “T-they think that I cheated on you and that Yin Mingzheng is some other man’s child.” 

“Bah!” Yin Qiang reached out and pushed her, pushing Zhou Juan to stumble back a few steps. “How dare they say that shit about me?”

He had completely forgotten that, when he was fighting with Yin Mingzheng, the one who called Zhou Juan a cheater was him.

Zhou Juan tentatively suggested, “We can’t let anyone find out about who Yin Mingzheng is, and we can’t reconnect with our son just yet. Why don’t we just…go along with it?”

“What?” Yin Qiang widened his eyes and pointed at her nose. “You want me to admit that I got fucking cheated on?” 

Vfflcu atja Tlc Hljcu kjr jybea ab yfja tfg jujlc, Itbe Aejc tegglfvis rjlv, “Ktfc, ifa’r pera rjs atja Tlc Zlchtfcu kjr jvbqafv! Lf’r cba sbeg xlv, jcv tf’r cba ws xlv flatfg!”

“Ktja’r wbgf ilxf la!” Tlc Hljcu qea jkjs tlr olrar jcv rmboofv. Lf qjmfv jgbecv atf ilnlcu gbbw klat tlr tjcvr bc tlr tlqr. Ktf wbgf tf atbeuta jybea la, atf wbgf rjalrolfv tf kjr klat atlr gfreia.

His real son could continue to stay in the Wei family, and he didn’t have to admit to something as embarrassing as being cheated on.

“Just tell people that Yin Mingzheng was adopted.” He waved his hand and settled the matter like that. 

“Wooooo—”

“What’s that sound?” Yin Qiang was thinking about something when he was interrupted by the noise. He irritably kicked a wine bottle on the floor.

Zhou Juan trembled as she spoke. “I-it seems to be an ambulance.”

“Tch!” Yin Qiang snorted. He crumpled the paternity test results into a ball and said, “Also, we need to find the person who sent us this paternity test. We can’t let him ruin everything!” 

Shu Ning sat on a blue plastic chair in the hospital. He was bent over, pressing his hands against his forehead. The air around him was gloomy and despondent.

“Is Yin Mingzheng’s family here?” A nurse walked out of the emergency operating room with a sheet of paper in her hand and looked around.

Shu Ning bounced off the chair and quickly walked over. He replied, “I’m here! I’m here!”

The nurse stared at him suspiciously. “Are you family?” 

Shu Ning responded, “We’re classmates, neighbors. We’re really good friends.”

The nurse looked up again, but she couldn’t find anyone else. She asked Shu Ning, “Where’s the family?”

“They’re not here.”

“They’re still not here?” The nurse wasn’t very happy. “Do you have his family’s contact information? Tell them to come to the hospital immediately.” 

“Yes, I will.” Shu Ning quickly took out his cell phone and called Zhou Juan.

“The patient has cerebral hemorrhage and will be admitted into the ICU shortly. Let the family know that they’ll need to prepare 100,000 yuan.”

Cerebral hemorrhage? ICU?

Shu Ning had been listening to the beeping of the outgoing call when he was stunned by this news. In an instant, it was as if someone had slapped him across the face. He felt dizzy and numb all over. 

“Hello?” The call connected, and Zhou Juan’s voice rang out from the speaker of the phone.

The rims of his eyes slowly turned red. Shu Ning came back to his senses and said, “Mrs. Zhou, Yin Mingzheng fainted just now. I sent him to the hospital. The doctor said that he had a brain hemorrhage. Please come over quickly.”

“Brain hemorrhage? Alright, I’ll be right there.”

Seeing that Zhou Juan was about to hang up, Shu Ning hurriedly said, “Wait, the doctor said that you need to get together 100,000 yuan.” 

“One hundred thousand?!” Zhou Juan’s voice was sharp enough to pierce his eardrums.

“Yes, one hundred thousand.” Shu Ning slowly loosened his grip on the phone, trying to keep his voice as calm as he could. “Please come to Lanzhou Hospital as soon as possible.”

After spitting out that last sentence, Shu Ning hung up the phone and slowly sank to the ground.

Was it his fault? 

Was it because of the paternity test? Because of this test, Yin Qiang beat Yin Mingzheng and caused Yin Mingzheng to suffer from a brain hemorrhage?

Shu Ning’s entire body felt ice-cold.

The doors to the emergency operating room opened, and the medical personnel walked out pushing a gurney.

Shu Ning jumped up like a frightened animal and hurriedly made space for them. 

On the gurney, Yin Mingzheng had an oxygen mask on his face and a saline drip attached to his side. His beautiful face was deathly pale, and his eyes were shut tight.

Shu Ning chased after the doctor and said, “Doctor, how is Yin Mingzheng?”

The doctor paused and took off his mask. He asked, “Are you his classmate?”

Shu Ning nodded quickly. 

The doctor’s face was very grave. “Yin Mingzheng has serious injuries all over his body. His head was probably injured before and resulted in a blood clot in his brain. Today, he received a blow to the head, causing the blood clot to burst. This was the cause of his cerebral hemorrhage…what I want to know is how exactly did he get these injuries? ”

When they peeled off his clothes and saw his body riddled with scars, everyone in the emergency room had been given a fright.

The patient was just a fourteen year old child!

Shu Ning was overwhelmed by a burning fury and clenched his fists. He didn’t have any intention of concealing the truth. “His dad beat him!” 

The doctor was stunned for a moment. Then, he started cursing. “Domestic abuse! That’s the very definition of domestic abuse! His previous injuries were never treated properly. If he hadn’t been sent to the hospital today, there’s a chance he would have suddenly died one day! Do you have any idea how serious a blood clot is?”

The doctor angrily pointed at his own head. “It’s like having a ticking time bomb inside your brain. It won’t seem like an issue at first, but, after a while, even the slightest impact could cause a brain hemorrhage! The consequences of a brain hemorrhage are very serious. It could cause paralysis or even death!”

Shu Ning’s heart jumped to his throat. “Then, Yin Mingzheng…”

“He’s still young. He should be able to get through it.” 

“What a scumbag!” the doctor cursed once more. “He still has a blood clot remaining in his brain. We’re sending him to the operating room on the fifth floor to perform a craniotomy. Have his family members head there after paying the fee!”

“Okay.” Shu Ning trembled as he spoke. “I can cover the fee.”

The doctor put his mask back on and hurried away.

Shu Ning filled out the form for inpatient care. He wasn’t very familiar with how things worked around here, so he ran around for quite a while before finally getting everything settled. Finally, he used the 20,000 yuan he had on him to pay the advance fee. 

After everything was sorted out, Zhou Juan called and informed him that she had arrived at the hospital.

Shu Ning hurriedly went out to meet her. At the door of the emergency department, he finally caught sight of Zhou Juan and Yin Qiang rushing forward.

“Is Mingzheng all right?” Zhou Juan wore a large hat to cover up the injuries on her head. She looked completely normal, other than a slight bruise on her face. “What’s this about a brain hemorrhage? Why do we need to bring out 100,000 yuan?”

Yin Qiang scoffed. 

Shu Ning resisted the urge to beat the shit out of Yin Qiang and said to Zhou Juan, “It’s because of Yin Qiang. The doctor said that he had blood clots due to previous injuries, but no one had realized it before. After getting beaten up today, the blood clots burst and resulted in brain hemorrhage…”

“I don’t understand. I don’t understand medical terms.” Zhou Juan waved her hands again and again.

Shu Ning clenched his fists. “It means that his head was injured a long time ago! And you didn’t even take him to the hospital! You beat him up today, and now he has a brain hemorrhage!”

His eyes turned red as he questioned Zhou Juan. “Yin Mingzheng’s still so young, and yet he was beaten that many times. Why didn’t you take him to the hospital?” 

Zhou Juan didn’t know how to react. She didn’t dare look him in the eyes and responded evasively, “When I was beaten, I didn’t see a doctor either. Hospitals are so expensive nowadays, and the doctors can’t be trusted. Even if you’re perfectly fine, they’ll still tell you that you’re sick. All they do is push a bunch of tests and medicine onto you…”

Shu Ning didn’t want to talk to her anymore, so he turned his attention to Yin Qiang, who was acting as if this had nothing to do with him. “Why did you have to hit him? He’s just a kid! And you were so cruel! Do you even have a conscience?!”

When Yin Qiang heard Shu Ning’s accusations, his attitude hardened. “Am I not allowed to hit him if he doesn’t listen? It’s only natural for a father to beat his son!”

Shu Ning spat, “If he dies, you’re going to end up sitting in jail.” 

When Shu Ning brought up jail, Yin Qiang and Zhou Juan were both scared out of their skin. “That’s not possible!”

“Then, you better pray that Yin Mingzheng doesn’t die.” Shu Ning didn’t want to waste his breath on these two pieces of trash. He turned around and said, “Let’s go. He’s undergoing surgery in the fifth floor operating room. Let’s go pay the fee…”

After taking a few steps, he realized that neither of them were following him. Shu Ning turned his head and tried to push down his rising anger. “Come on. What are you standing there for?”

Zhou Juan and Yin Qiang didn’t move. 

Shu Ning suddenly felt like his body temperature had dropped by a few degrees. His eyes slowly widened. “You…”

“W-we don’t have any money,” Zhou Juan stammered. “You know what our situation is like. We wouldn’t be able to get together 1,000 yuan, let alone 100,000.”

Yin Qiang huffed, “Even if I had a thousand yuan, I won’t use it on him! He’s not my kid, so why should I pay for him?”

Zhou Juan hesitated for a moment and said to Shu Ning, “Shu Ning, the truth of the matter isn’t what everyone thinks it is. Yin Mingzheng isn’t Yin Qiang’s child, nor is he my child. I didn’t have relations with another man. Yin Mingzheng was adopted.” 

Shu Ning understood what they meant. “You’re not gonna take responsibility?”

“He’s not my kid! Why should I give a damn about him?!” Yin Qiang said fiercely, rubbing his aching face.

Shu Ning’s face flushed with anger. “You were the one who injured him! He’s lying on a hospital bed because of you!”

His voice was a bit loud. There were a lot of patients in the surrounding area, and they slowly started circling around them. 

The crowd made Zhou Juan uncomfortable. She pulled at Yin Qiang’s clothes.

Yin Qiang threw her off and stared at him menacingly. “He hit me first! I just fought back! He deserved to be beaten to death! That little bastard!”

Shu Ning was shocked.

Yin Qiang shouted at the people surrounding them, “He made the first move, so I retaliated! Even if he dies, it’s none of my business!” 

“He’s your son! How could you say that about him?” Shu Ning was furious. “It was obviously you who made the first move!”

“Where’s the evidence? Do you have any evidence?” Yin Qiang spread his hands and started acting shamefully. “We’ve already done our part raising him until now! Now you want us to spend 100,000 yuan on him? Keep dreaming!”