The Snow Where I Left You

Chapter 4

Liang Jingnian frowned and didn’t take the jade pendant.

His voice turned cold. “He Xi, are you really this desperate for money? You took so much when we divorced; did you blow it all in five years?”

He didn’t know.

That money wasn’t enough.

Not even close.

I nodded, my voice barely a whisper. “After I remarried, my husband gambled. I had to pay off a lot of his debts.”

Liang Jingnian looked up at me, his brow furrowing deeper.

I paused, then continued softly, “My child was born premature and has a weak heart. It cost me a fortune.”

“Liang Jingnian, my life is pretty miserable.”

The first part was a lie.

The second part was the truth.

I hadn’t remarried.

But my child was indeed premature, spending over forty days in an incubator.

A long tube had been inserted through his nose, reaching all the way to his heart.

Back then, I was all alone, dragging my post-surgery body to stand in front of that incubator.

I cried until I nearly went blind.

He was so small, so frail.

Wearing an oxygen mask, his tiny body struggled just to take a breath.

During that time, the doctors issued countless critical condition notices.

Every single time, I signed them.

That month spent gambling against the Grim Reaper was an agonizing hell.

Because of the premature birth, He Chen spent his entire first year in the hospital.

Fevers and spitting up milk were constant occurrences.

The most devastating blow was when the doctors told me the boy had a heart condition.

He had his first surgery at five months old.

When he was wheeled out, he was covered in tubes.

Such a tiny little bundle, swallowed by the white bedding until he was almost invisible.

All I could see were the countless tubes.

Ones going down his nose, ones coming out of his mouth, ones wrapped around his chest, and others connected to his hands and feet.

I wanted to hold him.

But I was terrified of hurting him.

I could only carefully hold his cold, tiny hand, telling him over and over to be strong.

Remembering the past, my eyes grew moist.

Liang Jingnian watched me, his fingers clenching, a ripple of emotion stirring in the depths of his eyes.

The moment I looked up, he quickly masked it.

“You don’t have children, so you probably don’t know how much it costs to raise one,” I said, pinching my fingertips to hold back the tears.

Liang Jingnian’s Adam’s apple bobbed. His dark eyes locked onto mine, his voice low and husky. “How do you know I don’t?”

Oh.

He did have a child.

I had seen the photos on his phone once.

Back then, he was holding a newborn, gently kissing the baby’s wrinkled face with a look of pure tenderness.

Their child must be so happy.

Born in the best hospital.

Sleeping in the softest cradle.

Wearing the warmest clothes.

My child had none of those things.

I gritted my teeth, suddenly losing all desire to keep up this entanglement.

I turned to leave.

“He Xi, I’ll give you a chance.”

“Fifty thousand yuan. Apologize to me, and I’ll give it back to you.”

His tone was exactly the same as it was five years ago-calm to the point of being cold-hearted.

He didn’t understand how someone could be so desperate for money.

So desperate they would throw away their dignity.

Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, I suddenly snapped.

“I don’t want it! I don’t want it no matter how much you offer!”

My blood felt like it was flowing backward.

I scooped up my thermos from the ground and turned to walk away.

Liang Jingnian grabbed my arm, his grip tight. “He Xi, calm down. Think this through.”

“You used the kid to get on the trending searches and force me to show up. Wasn’t it all for money?”

Ha.

As if I had nothing better to do than get involved with him.

I tried to suppress my rage, but in the end, I couldn’t hold it back.

“That’s still better than you fathering a little bastard with someone else while we were still married!”