Chapter 6: A Stack of Cash

Xie Zhao paused, instantly snapping back to reality.

Who else could this person be but his biological mother, Tian Xiufen?

In his past life, he had been driven back to the Xie Family.

His heart and mind had been consumed by the agonizing pain of betrayal and abandonment.

He had never noticed Tian Xiufen’s deep maternal love for him.

How could he have missed it?

She had secretly saved eggs for him, given him the cleanest steamed buns, and even slipped the rare piece of meat they got during festivals into the bottom of his bowl when no one was looking.

Xie Zhao’s eyes grew warm.

He stared at Tian Xiufen for a moment before squeezing a word out of his tight throat. “Mom, I’m here.”

Tian Xiufen froze.

Stunned, her first reaction was to wonder if she had misheard.

Mom?

Was he calling her?

The voice sounded familiar. It sounded like… her second son.

But why would he call her Mom?

Ever since he returned at the beginning of the year, he had never looked her in the eye. Over the past year, her heart had gradually grown cold.

But yesterday, Xie Zhao had suddenly come to her door, saying his wife was about to give birth and they were going to the county seat for it. She simply couldn’t rest easy, so she had boiled some eggs and brought brown sugar, setting out at the crack of dawn.

Tian Xiufen hesitated, not daring to answer.

But Xie Zhao stood up again, turned on the light in the ward, and called out softly, “Mom, I’m over here!”

Tian Xiufen finally saw him clearly.

Xie Zhao stood before her, looking at her with a smile.

There was no disgust or revulsion in his eyes. He was so obedient and well-behaved, calling her Mom.

Tian Xiufen’s nose suddenly tingled, and tears began to stream down her face.

“Yes!”

She replied quickly, her voice trembling.

Although she didn’t know why Xie Zhao had suddenly acknowledged her, her heart felt as if a sun had risen in the middle of a freezing winter, filling her with warmth.

“Muyu gave birth to two girls. They’re a bit thin, though, so they need to stay in the hospital for a couple of days to recover. Don’t worry, they’re both healthy.”

Xie Zhao said with a soft smile.

Tian Xiufen nodded and finally walked inside.

She placed the blue cloth bundle she was cradling onto the bedside table and gently unwrapped it.

“I got up early this morning to boil these eggs. I just gathered them from the coop yesterday. I boiled plenty, so both of you eat up. Don’t go hungry.”

She said softly.

Only then did Xie Zhao see that inside the bundle was a large, white enamel mug wrapped in thick clothing. Though the top was covered in a layer of snow, a bit of steam was still rising from the inside.

It was clear that Tian Xiufen had held it tight against her chest to keep it warm the entire way.

Lin Muyu woke up around this time.

She opened her eyes, called out “Mom,” and then propped herself up to take the eggs handed to her.

Once they finished eating, Tian Xiufen immediately busied herself.

She had brought a washbasin with her, so she went to fetch hot water, wiped Lin Muyu down, helped her change into clean clothes, and took the pants stained with postpartum discharge to wash.

Only then did Xie Zhao realize how careless and superficial his own caretaking had been.

Knock, knock…

There was a knock on the ward door, and a young nurse walked in, leading a heavily pregnant woman.

“You’ll be in bed three. You’re going to give birth tonight, so don’t go wandering off.”

The pregnant woman nodded. She was clearly starting to experience labor pains, and sweat beaded on her face.

After settling the woman in, the nurse glanced at Xie Zhao. “Family of bed one, come with me for a moment.”

Xie Zhao was startled and quickly stood up.

His heart thumped, fearing that something had happened to the babies. He followed the nurse to the doorway, only to hear her say, “Comrade, you need to pay your fees. The hundred yuan you deposited yesterday is already used up. The babies are a bit weak, and the mother hasn’t produced milk yet. The formula the hospital feeds them is quite expensive, and there are also some development-promoting medicines. It all adds up.”

She hesitated, then added, “It will probably take another two hundred yuan. Comrade, see when you can…”

Xie Zhao was stunned.

He hadn’t expected it to be so much!

In this day and age, two hundred yuan was no small sum.

After all, even those with government jobs only earned thirty or forty yuan a month!

He paused, quickly calculating in his head. But his brief hesitation made the nurse think he was wavering.

“If you really don’t have the money, I can speak with Doctor Huang to switch to a cheaper brand of formula and cut back on the medicine. It should be fine…”

“No!”

Before the nurse could finish, Xie Zhao frowned deeply and shook his head, cutting her off.

“We want the best!”

His expression was dead serious as he looked at the nurse. “I’ll pay it by this afternoon at the latest. I definitely won’t fall behind. You can rest assured.”

The nurse was taken aback.

To be honest, when this man brought his wife in yesterday, the hospital staff hadn’t had a good impression of him.

And for good reason.

Just looking at the pregnant woman was enough.

What kind of pregnant woman was that thin?

And with twins, no less!

She had fainted several times from exhaustion during labor. If Director Huang hadn’t been so experienced and patient, the babies definitely wouldn’t have made it, and the mother would have been in grave danger too!

Could a man like this really care about his wife?

Once the medical funds ran out today, the nurses at the station taking care of the babies grew anxious.

None of them dared to come over and ask for payment!

After all, in this era, baby girls weren’t valued. How many people quietly abandoned their baby girls the moment they walked out the door?

On top of that, he looked like a husband who didn’t care about his wife. Coming to ask him for money seemed like a surefire way to get yelled at and hit a brick wall!

Who would have thought that Xie Zhao would agree without a second thought?

And he even demanded the best!

Huh?

The young nurse finally found Xie Zhao a bit more agreeable.

Beaming, she smiled and nodded at him.

“Don’t worry, Comrade. We’ll make sure to take good care of your little girls! They’re so good!”

With that, the nurse turned and left happily.

Xie Zhao turned back to the ward, only to see the tense, worried faces of Lin Muyu and Tian Xiufen the moment he walked in.

He quickly reassured them.

“The babies are fine! They’re doing great, eating and drinking. Don’t worry.”

Only then did Lin Muyu breathe a sigh of relief and lie back down on the bed.

She opened her mouth to ask more, but in the next moment, Tian Xiufen reached out to tuck her blanket in, coaxing her, “You need to rest properly. Don’t you want your milk to come in soon so you can feed the babies?”

“Don’t worry about things here at the hospital. Second Boy and I will handle it. The most important thing for you is to rest and recover!”

Lin Muyu hesitated for a moment, then nodded and closed her eyes to rest.

Tian Xiufen glanced at Xie Zhao and walked over to him.

“Come here.”

Tian Xiufen led Xie Zhao out into the hallway.

Before Xie Zhao could ask anything, Tian Xiufen pulled a tightly wrapped blue floral cloth pouch from her pocket.

“Take this money.”

Xie Zhao looked down, his expression freezing for a moment.

Inside the blue cloth pouch was a thick stack of money.

At a glance, it was a messy mix of loose bills and coins. Most were two- and five-yuan notes, but there were also three Da Tuanjie^[1] bills, some metal coins, and a few fen^[2].

“Your eldest brother came back from the mine yesterday for the New Year and brought some money. Your dad and I scraped together some more. Take this for now. If it’s not enough, I’ll have your dad borrow some. Just take good care of your wife and the babies first, we can worry about the rest later.”