Ji Ziming gently embraced his woman, his familiar scent calming the latter’s heart.
In a soft voice, Pei Ge said, “Let’s just put this incident with our son behind us.”
“Put it behind us?” The man narrowed his eyes as he spoke in a ruthless tone. “How could I possibly let that woman continue staying in our family? No matter what she plans to do by staying here, I won’t let such a thing happen again!”
“No!” She looked up. The desolation and anxiety in her eyes made his heart ache.
“Why not? She harmed our son, so how could we forgive her just like this?”
He growled in a low voice as he looked at her with confusion swirling in his dark irises. “No one can bully the person who is important to me.”
“Have you thought of how chasing her out would affect our son? For instance, he refused to eat the porridge I made. He wouldn’t have agreed if you hadn’t threatened to chase Qu Jingwan out of the house.”
“But she—”
“Just do this for our son and me. Let her stay in the family for my sake. Have you forgotten what the doctor said? He can’t be stressed out given his current condition. He can’t cry for a prolonged period. If it happens, his eyes…”
She could not complete her sentence. The more she spoke, the sadder she got. She felt as though something was stuck in her throat as her voice started breaking.
“I…”
Ji Ziming felt his heart soften as he watched her cry with her head lowered. “Fine. I chase her out, but I won’t let her continue being arrogant in the house, either.”
His eyes shone with ruthlessness as he regarded Qu Jingwan through the glass door.
The latter was wearing a white cotton dress from Chanel’s early autumn series. Her usual, bright red lipstick was switched to a light pink color today. She wore a golden Sandia bracelet on her wrist. She looked so different from her usual self, but he was still repulsed by her.
When one hated another, even if the other did something one usually liked, the former would still not like the latter one bit. Rather, the former would feel even more disgusted because he would only see it as a taint to what he liked.
“Then, let her stay a bit longer in the family. If she repeats this mistake, I won’t let her off this easily. When that time comes, no matter what you say or how my mom reacts, I will chase her out myself.”
“I’m not asking you to let her stay in the family indefinitely. It’s just that our son can’t be away from her right now for fear of his condition worsening just like what the doctor said.”
“If his condition can’t be controlled, we’ll bring him overseas for treatment.”
“If we suddenly bring him away, his condition may spiral out of control. That won’t do.”
“What if he gets more estranged from you as he gets closer to Qu Jingwan?”
“As long as his condition can slowly recover, I won’t mind him getting estranged from me.” She paused for a while before continuing. “I believe that he’ll remember me one day—remember his siblings and that we’re truly family.”
Ji Ziming looked at this little woman, who was overflowing with motherly love that he almost did not recognize her. She would rather suffer this humiliation and sorrow for their son’s sake.
“Okay. I’ll let her off just this once.”
Inside the ward, after Qu Jingwan was done feeding the boy porridge, she started telling him a story; it was about a knight and a princess, as well as the history of other countries. Madam Ji sat beside the two and watched them with a smile. By her side were An An and Ran Ran, who happily and excitedly circled their brother and auntie.
“Second brother, hurry and get well soon. I’m still waiting to build a castle with you when we get home. This time, I will be the prince and you can be princess, okay?” Ran Ran blinked her large eyes at her pale-faced boy. She pursed her pink lips and smiled at him as she repeated her words. “Hurry and get well soon. We are waiting for you to come home.”
“Mhm.” Ji Chi nodded. Some color returned to his face as he smiled at his sister.
“Go home? The doctor said that Ji Chi has to remain at the hospital for a few days.” Ji Ziming’s cold face, coupled with his tall stature and form-fitting suit, made him seem even more apathetic as he narrowed his obsidian eyes at Qu Jingwan.
“You can’t go back yet. There will only be your mom to take care of you here in the hospital.” He then continued.
“That won’t do. Isn’t it better to bring Baby back home to rest? We have a nutritionist and a doctor there, too. Even if he—”
“No. He must stay at the hospital.” He insisted, totally unaffected by his mother’s reason. Instead, he turned to look at the lady with more resolve.
“Miss Qu has stayed long enough for a visit. Please consider leaving to let Ji Chi rest properly.”
“I-I… Can we talk?”
Qu Jingwan stuttered. Her eyes were gentle and pitiful. “I just want to talk to you. Is that okay?”
“Are you going to talk to me about my son staying at the hospital? Fine. I’ll let you talk about that to me. Let’s go out.”
His lips curled up. Under his look of suspicion, the lady toned down her attitude, which was unlike that night at the hotel, where she was akin to a bewitching rose; today, she was a pitiful butterfly that was drowning.
“Thank you.” She lowered her head and went to the living room of this VVIP ward.
Madam Ji followed them both. She saw his son sit opposite the lady with his legs crossed, while the lady stood before him as though a child awaiting lecture.
“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have let Baby drink honey juice. If not for me giving him that, he wouldn’t become like this. It’s all my fault.”
“Do you think there’s any meaning in you admitting your mistake to me now? Are you going to promise not to do this again to challenge my bottom line, or are you going to test my—”
“No. It’s not like that. Believe me; I’m truly sincere toward him.”
“Is your sincerity for pushing my son to his death or making him listen to your words alone?”
He narrowed his cold eyes at her, the air around him frightening the latter.
“Ziming…”
“Is ‘Ziming’ a name you can call? You are merely my fiancée in name, and we don’t really have any relation at all. You…”
