Today, my mood has been complex all day.
So, after work, Jiang Nan Fang decided to visit Ke Teng at the hospital.
She didn't know why, but whenever she felt down, she wanted to see him.
Perhaps it had become a habit, or perhaps she was anticipating his full recovery.
Regardless, she went.
Arriving at the familiar floor, the familiar room, she pushed the door open and looked inside.
The room was empty.
Jiang Nan Fang's first reaction was to doubt she had entered the wrong room.
However, she stepped back out and checked again.
It was indeed the correct room.
Ke Teng wasn't there, nor was Ke Jing Yu.
Could it be that Ke Teng had suddenly recovered, or that they had found better doctors and left?
Her heart couldn't help but pound erratically.
She hurried to the information desk to find a nurse.
The busy nurse, barely able to keep her feet on the ground, looked up at her.
"He's gone for emergency treatment, didn't you know? He's been in for over an hour!"
"Sudden palpitations, quite dangerous. You should go upstairs quickly."
What?
Ke Teng's condition had worsened again?
Sudden palpitations?
Why hadn't Ke Jing Yu told her?
Jiang Nan Fang didn't even wait for the elevator, rushing up the stairs instead.
A whiff of smoke drifted from the stairwell. A slender, tall figure stood with their back to the light.
It was Ke Jing Yu.
Jiang Nan Fang hurried towards him, "Mr. Ke..."
Ke Jing Yu looked dejected, raising a cigarette to his lips and taking a slow drag.
"You're here."
"Why didn't you call me?"
"I was just about to."
"How is Ke Teng?"
"The doctor says his condition is very bad."
The hope that had ignited just minutes ago was doused by a bucket of cold water.
Jiang Nan Fang felt a chill from her head to her toes.
"But he's been very stable lately, how could this suddenly happen..."
Ke Jing Yu shook his head, pressed the cigarette into the nearby trash can, and extinguished it.
Then he turned to look out the window.
"Perhaps this is his fate, the fate of our Ke family. Made by women, ruined by women."
"I suppose my life has been truly ridiculous. Losing my wife in my prime, my son in my old age, life holds no meaning."
Jiang Nan Fang's body trembled.
She couldn't bear to imagine Ke Teng leaving Ke Jing Yu all alone.
A middle-aged man, a white-haired father mourning his son, she had experienced the pain of losing a child and couldn't fathom the magnitude of such a blow to him.
Nor could she imagine how she would live with a clear conscience for the rest of her life if Ke Teng were to pass away.
"Mr. Ke, please don't think too much about it. Ke Teng is a good person, he will surely be blessed with good fortune."
"Don't bother with such lies," Ke Jing Yu had clearly prepared himself for the worst.
He slowly turned his head, looked at her, his mouth opening and closing as if he had something to say but hesitated.
It was her who had dragged them into this situation.
If she hadn't known him, Ke Teng would surely be fine.
What else could he possibly be hesitant to say?
Jiang Nan Fang felt that kneeling would be entirely appropriate.
"Mr. Ke, please speak your mind."
Since she had brought it up, Ke Jing Yu paused and said.
"I know this might be moral coercion for you, but I truly have no other way."
"You know, Ah Teng likes you, truly likes you."
"From childhood, this child has always been determined, making decisions on his own, which has always troubled me. But when it came to finding a girlfriend, he never disappointed me."
"You are the first girl he brought to me, and the only one with whom he said he wanted to spend his life. Of course, his taste is excellent, and I admire you very much."
Jiang Nan Fang felt even colder.
At this moment, why was he repeating this to her? What did he want?
Ke Jing Yu continued slowly.
"I spend every day in the hospital with him, accompanying him for various tests, watching his physical functions decline, and my heart is truly in immense pain."
"I only have this one child in my life, and this vast family fortune, it was all meant for him..."
"Nan Fang, if Ah Teng is gone, I will lose the will to live. Do you understand what I mean?"
"I understand."
Jiang Nan Fang wished she could bury her head in the ground.
"It's all my fault, I've wronged you and Ke Teng."
Ke Jing Yu interrupted her.
"At this point, saying these things is meaningless. We should be thinking about how to remedy the situation."
"The doctor gave me a suggestion today. I thought about it for a long time before telling you. While his physical functions are still relatively normal, Nan Fang, could you bear him a child?"
Jiang Nan Fang felt as if a lightning bolt had struck from the sky.
Her vision suddenly flashed with intense light, and then she experienced tinnitus.
Her mind buzzed, and she could only hear a few heavy words from a distance.
Bear him a child.
Ke Jing Yu was actually asking her to bear Ke Teng a child!
Jiang Nan Fang had considered that if Ke Teng recovered and insisted on marrying her, she would marry him as compensation.
But this was merely a foolish thought that arose from her guilt.
To be specific, when it came to something like having a child, she had truly never considered it.
Her mind buzzed for a while before she could hear Ke Jing Yu's voice again.
Ke Jing Yu said.
"I know what you're thinking right now. Even if Ke Teng's physical functions have deteriorated, it's not difficult for the Ke family to have a child left behind. There are countless women in the world."
"Why must it be you? Nan Fang, you know the reason."
"If he didn't have someone he liked, I might have chosen a girl with outstanding appearance, demeanor, and education, and simply left a descendant for the Ke family."
"But now he has you in his heart, and he surely hopes that child will be a combination of the two of you. So, can you agree to my request?"
Jiang Nan Fang didn't know how she left the hospital.
All she knew was that after Ke Jing Yu patted her shoulder and told her to go back and think about it carefully, giving him a reply as soon as possible, she felt like she was floating.
She drove in a daze the entire way.
Purely by inertia, she parked the car in the underground garage of her apartment complex.
Her mind was a whirlwind of Zhan Bei Jue and Ke Teng's faces.
Her heart was in turmoil.
She had to admit her own weakness.
Even though she had wanted to separate from Zhan Bei Jue countless times, at this critical moment, she still couldn't let go of him.
In all her years, the only man she had ever been involved with and fallen for was him.
How could she just discard him?
But Ke Teng...
If she had a child with Ke Teng, even if Ke Teng passed away later and they had no marital relations, she would still become part of the Ke family.
Rui Rui and Ge Er had been raised by Zhan Bei Jue.
They had lived well in her absence.
She was very relieved about this.
Was fate telling her that it was truly time to let go?
As if she had never returned to Nan Cheng, never known of their existence.
To completely abandon them again, leave them to Zhan Bei Jue, and then start a new life for herself?
She was in so much pain.