Chapter 18

　　Cigarettes, one after another. Bi Yuan sat in the car, watching the bustling traffic on the road, until the streetlights came on, still unable to escape his memories.

That entire day, Bi Yuan felt lonely. From the moment he followed Xu Yang into the hospital and saw him distraught over “Xiaoyue” in the operating room.

　　He had never imagined that there could be someone in this world who would be willing to sacrifice everything for him, just like Xu Yang had done for Xiao Yue.

He had always believed that people in this world would do anything for money, just like his so-called stepmother, who was the same age as his sister.

　　When his mother gave birth to him, she was already 46 years old, and her physical functions were no longer as robust as those of a younger woman. When he was three years old, his mother passed away due to illness. Less than a year later, his father, who was already 60 years old, welcomed a so-called stepmother who was the same age as his sister.

　　She was his mother’s young maid, who had been taking care of him since his birth. Who would have thought that overnight, she would become his stepmother? This change was too much for him to process.

　　As he grew older, his grandfather’s health deteriorated day by day. By the time Bi Yuan was 17, his grandfather was already in his late 70s, and the family’s affairs could no longer be managed, relying entirely on the young wife who had been married into the family. It was also that year that his grandfather suffered a stroke due to a cerebral hemorrhage. After recovering, he gradually lost his mental faculties, becoming as mentally impaired as a three-year-old child.

　　It was then that Bi Yuan realized how ugly human nature could be. And these ugly events kept coming one after another, more dramatic than any TV show.

　　Ever since the old man had married the young maid into the family, there had been endless comments about her within the clan, both praise and criticism. However, out of consideration for the young man, who was still a child, they had never let him know about it.

　　Unfortunately, the old master stubbornly believed that time breeds affection. The young maid had cared for the bedridden mistress for years and must have developed some feelings for the family and the young Bi Yuan.

　　In truth, this was merely the old master being blinded by his own situation.

After the old master suffered a stroke, the young maid’s true nature was revealed. Not only did she begin to divert the family’s assets, but she also started selling off fixed assets. At the time, the two older sisters were studying abroad, leaving only the young son still in school at home. This situation emboldened the young maid even further.

　　But such days did not last long. The relatives in the family only knew that a few years after the old master fell ill, the young maid suddenly disappeared without a trace, leaving behind a large fortune, but no one knew what had happened in between. Soon, the two daughters of the Bi family, who had been studying abroad, returned to the main house and took over the old master’s vast financial empire.

　　No one knew where the young maid had gone, nor what changes the Bi family had undergone during those years. All they knew was that Bi Yuan, now an adult, had begun to act like a spoiled playboy, spending his days idly, relying on his two older sisters to manage the family business while he loafed around.

　　Relatives would say, “You’re no longer a child, stop loafing around. Look at your two sisters; they’ll eventually marry out. How can you let the family’s vast business fall into the hands of outsiders?”

　　Or, “It’s a shame that your grandfather and your late mother went to such great lengths to have a son, yet they never considered how useless you are now. How can you possibly live up to your grandfather’s expectations?”

　　Bìyuán never cared about such words, no matter how harsh they were. Even after coming out, he ignored the unbearable remarks, continuing his seemingly decadent life to test the theories he believed in.

　　It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be a successful person everyone could be proud of. After all, he was already in his thirties, yet he still didn’t focus on his career. It seemed as though he truly couldn’t live up to the old man’s expectations. But Bi Yuan was lonely. From the moment he was born, he had never felt the kind of love and acceptance from his mother that was deeper than blood.

　　His two older sisters gave him pampering, not maternal love. As the only son in the family, who wouldn’t love and cherish him? But that kind of love was different from the love that comes from a mother, and he could tell the difference.

Perhaps someone might say, “You have a mother too, don’t you? Your stepmother is your mother, isn’t she?”

　　Could that be the same? Before the old man became senile, the young maid did fulfill her duties, appearing to care and show affection in a proper manner. But Bi Yuan saw through it clearly—it was a performance devoid of warmth.

As he grew up, he sought love and warmth everywhere, only to repeatedly fall into a vicious cycle. It was partly his fault for being too dazzling, and partly because the stench of money clung to him. Over time, he stopped caring. He just thought that people in this world would do anything for money, just like that maid, who cheated on her husband and stole money.

The streetlights started to turn on one by one, and there were more and more noisy sounds around him, telling the stories of each passerby, but none of these stories had anything to do with him.

　　He was just an outsider sitting in an expensive metal box.

The coldness and warmth of human relationships in this world seemed to have nothing to do with him. All the warmth he felt came from the reflection of the metal box, a tiny, insignificant amount that he gave himself.

　　He picked up his phone and called Li Mu.

“You don’t know anyone at the medical university, so can you access the records at the affiliated hospital?”

“Hmm, I want to check a medical record, see what the situation is…”

“Let’s take a look first. Whether I can help or not, we’ll see later. I’m afraid money won’t solve it…”

“Hmm, I’ll wait for your call…”

　　After chatting with Li Mu for a while without explaining why he wanted to check, he hung up the phone and extinguished the cigarette he had just lit. Looking at the cigarette butts scattered outside the car window, he suddenly felt that his mouth had no taste. He thought about getting up to buy a pack of Marlboro Black Ice from the nearby convenience store, but after thinking about it, he bought a piece of gum instead.

　　He had been sitting in the car all day, hadn’t eaten, and was still wearing the same clothes he had worn when he met Xu Yang yesterday. He hadn’t even thought about going home to change. Plus, after smoking all day in the car, he didn’t want to walk into the hospital smelling like smoke.