The Scummy Top Desperately Tries to Win Back His Ex After the Breakup - Chapter 12

Jiang Zui answered the phone in a frantic rush, hurrying to a secluded spot to take the call.

“Auntie Zhao,” Jiang Zui said, his voice trembling slightly. “About, my mother,”

Auntie Zhao was a longtime classmate and close friend of his mother, Lin Yan. If she was calling, it could only be to discuss his mother’s condition.

After a few brief pleasantries, the woman on the other end suddenly sighed. “Xiao Zui, you should find some time to come home.”

Jiang Zui’s heart skipped a beat as a foreboding sense of dread washed over him. Sure enough, Auntie Zhao’s next words hit him like a bolt from the blue, freezing him in place.

“Your mother has a serious heart problem. She needs a heart transplant.”

The phone fell to the ground with a thud. Jiang Zui remained standing there, dazed, his mind a complete blank. He barely knew where to begin processing such news.

A transplant? How could this be? The news was too sudden. How could this have happened?

With the situation so grave, Jiang Zui canceled all his upcoming appointments and rushed home.

The number of times he had returned over the years could be counted on one hand. His mother avoided him, and he, in turn, nursed his own grievances; they had not seen each other for two years. Recently, as he gained some fame, he had thought about returning, but he always felt a wave of homesickness mixed with dread at the last moment and backed out.

He never expected that the catalyst for his return would be such devastating news.

Following the ward number Auntie Zhao had sent, he searched through the hallway room by room.

“The last room on the end, 0621,”

Jiang Zui found the spot and stood before the door. He took a deep breath and was about to push it open when he heard voices coming from inside, causing him to stop in his tracks.

“Xiao Zui is finally coming home. Do not put on that face again. Is the relationship between you two not bad enough already?” Jiang Zui recognized the voice as Auntie Zhao’s.

The room fell silent for a moment before a female voice, painfully familiar to Jiang Zui, spoke. “I am doing this for his own good.”

“How is this for his own good? If the child likes something, let him go do it. You were bitten by a snake once and now you are afraid of every rope. You are just afraid he will end up like his father, are you not?”

“Should I not be afraid?” Lin Yan’s voice rose sharply. “Was Jiang Haoming not foolish enough? He abandoned a perfectly good job and resigned to tell me some nonsense about his dreams.”

She began to breathe heavily, her voice thick with suppressed sobs. “Did I not support him? I shouldered all the family expenses alone during the time he quit. Did I say anything?”

“But what did he do? To get those damn books published, he sold his body to men! Do you know, when Jiang Zui told me he wanted to act, he looked exactly the same as Jiang Haoming did when he told me he was quitting to write full time.”

“How can I not be afraid? A place like the entertainment industry, who can come out of that world untainted if they want to make a name for themselves? His grades were not bad in school. Would it not be better to find a clean job after graduation and live a stable life?”

“My husband became a male prostitute. Must my son follow in his footsteps?”

Auntie Zhao seemed unable to listen further and interrupted her. “Xiao Zui would not do that. I know you have had a hard time all these years, but you cannot equate Xiao Zui with Jiang Haoming. You, just calm yourself down.”

She sighed and walked toward the door. As she pulled it open, she came face to face with Jiang Zui, who was standing there in a daze. She stepped back awkwardly. “Xiao Zui, you, when did you arrive?”

If he had been standing there for a long time, he must have heard everything Lin Yan said. The matter of Jiang Haoming had always been a thorn between mother and son. Now that Lin Yan had said those things, what would Jiang Zui think?

Jiang Zui gave the woman a forced smile. “Auntie Zhao.”

He walked into the ward and looked at the woman on the hospital bed. Her face was pale, her lips were a dark purple, and her features remained gentle, yet several years of absence had clearly left the marks of time upon her.

“Mom.”

Lin Yan glanced at him. Jiang Zui noticed a glint of tears in the corners of her eyes, but she quickly and silently wiped them away. “You are here,” she said.

“You should leave,” Lin Yan added. “I am fine.”

“Lin Yan! You,” Auntie Zhao was exasperated. “You are,”

Jiang Zui interrupted her. “You are fine even though you need a heart transplant?”

His voice grew louder, acting as a vent for his emotions. “How long were you going to hide this from me? Do you truly see me as the same kind of person as Jiang Haoming? You are about to undergo such a major surgery and you did not even tell me. If Auntie Zhao had not informed me, how long were you going to keep me in the dark?”

After his outburst, Jiang Zui looked at Lin Yan with rapid breaths, his neck stiff with stubbornness. “Not everyone is Jiang Haoming.”

The atmosphere between mother and son was strained, and neither spoke again. Finally, Auntie Zhao smoothed things over, pulling Jiang Zui aside to relay what the doctor had told her about Lin Yan’s condition. The more Jiang Zui heard, the darker his expression became.

Lin Yan’s heart problems had not started yesterday, but she had always assumed it was a minor ailment and ignored it. By the time she finally came to the hospital because she could no longer endure it, the checkup revealed it was already terminal.

Auntie Zhao shook her head. “She cannot hold on much longer. This surgery is urgent.”

A profound sense of powerlessness washed over Jiang Zui. He closed his eyes. “In such a short time, where can we find a matching heart?”

“The doctor said we have to use an artificial heart to hold on for a while until a match is found,” Auntie Zhao said. “Waiting for the hospital could take forever. If we really want to be fast, we can only look for private suppliers through medical institutions.”

“However,” she hesitated, “the price of that kind of heart source is truly terrifyingly high.”

Jiang Zui remained silent for a moment before giving an answer that seemed unrelated to the topic. “I have been doing quite well lately.”

“I have filmed scenes, taken on endorsements, and signed with a very good company,” he said. “I, I have some savings. I can take it all out. If it is not enough, I can make up the difference later.”

Auntie Zhao looked at him for a long time before finally letting out a sigh. “It must be hard on you.”

“I will let you know if anything changes with your mother. When you are busy, do not worry too much.”

Jiang Zui nodded. “I am sorry for the trouble.”

Auntie Zhao exchanged a few polite words and then left. Jiang Zui wandered alone through the hospital corridor. The air, heavy with the scent of disinfectant, drifted into his nose, stinging his senses.

In those few minutes, many memories of Jiang Haoming surfaced in his mind.

In truth, no one could have guessed Jiang Haoming was that kind of person. In Jiang Zui’s childhood memories, he had a very happy family: a gentle mother and a tall, handsome father.

Lin Yan could be quite stubborn about certain things sometimes, but Jiang Haoming never forced her to change. He would just smile like a perfect gentleman and say to Jiang Zui, “Look at your mother.”

He was a very easygoing and romantic man, idealistic like all talented writers. The only thing he refused to budge on was his resignation to devote all his energy to his dream: writing.

The family did not say much. Lin Yan shouldered all the expenses without a word. It was exhausting and high pressure. Jiang Haoming would hold her guiltily and say, “I am sorry.”

“I will write a good work. Just wait for me a little longer,” Jiang Haoming would promise her.

Lin Yan would smile in his arms. “Then you must be quick. You need to write many books, earn a lot of money, and then take our family out to play.”

Jiang Zui said, “I want to go to Europe.”

Jiang Haoming scolded him. “You truly are demanding. Do you know how much it costs to go to Europe?”

In fact, Jiang Zui did not really want to go to Europe; he was just talking nonsense. But Jiang Haoming took it to heart.

Later, Jiang Haoming did indeed achieve it. His books were published one after another and became bestsellers. He earned a lot of money, and Lin Yan finally did not have to work so hard.

The only flaw was that Jiang Haoming became very busy after gaining some success. Strange calls always came into his phone, and he would leave the house from time to time after answering them. Consequently, the travel plans to Europe were postponed again and again.

Then the scandal broke. Jiang Haoming’s reputation was ruined, and his published books were exposed as plagiarism. Everything changed.

Later, Jiang Haoming died.

To this day, Jiang Zui still refused to believe it was all true. He did not believe that his father, who was noble and idealistic at his core, would do such filthy things.

It was at this moment that his phone rang. His dull eyes brightened slightly when he saw the caller, but he could not hide his exhaustion. He answered, “Pei Youting.”

The man’s pleasant, magnetic voice came from the other end. “Where did you go? Xu Yan said you pushed back all your appointments for the past two days. I called you a few times just now and you did not answer. What happened?”

“Something happened at home, so I came back to check,” Jiang Zui replied simply. He did not want to pass on the negative emotions from his family matters to others, so he brushed it off lightly. “I will be back in two days. I did not hear the phone,”

Pei Youting laughed. “That is good. I thought something had happened to you. I was so worried that I could not even focus on the reports during the morning meeting.”

His voice was clear and comforting. A short conversation was enough to make Jiang Zui’s heart soften involuntarily. Jiang Zui’s furrowed brow relaxed, and it felt as if a sweet spring was flowing through his heart.

“Pei Youting,” Jiang Zui spoke up urgently just as the call was about to end.

“Yes?”

Jiang Zui hesitated for a moment, then spoke softly and a bit shyly. “I miss you.”

There was a brief silence on the line. Pei Youting was stunned for a moment before he said softly, “I know.”

“Me too. Come back early.”

The call ended there. Pei Youting set his phone aside casually. At this moment, the secretary standing nearby saw that the boss’s expression, which had been as tender as water, gradually turned indifferent after the call ended.

“His state is not quite right,” Pei Youting said. “Have someone look into what happened at his home.”

The secretary nodded, holding her documents, and prepared to leave Pei Youting’s office. Just as she was about to exit, Pei Youting suddenly called out to her.

“Since Jiang Zui is not coming back tonight, have the one from the last social gathering come over instead. At nine o’clock, have him wait for me at Building X of Lishui Garden.”

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