Chapter 158 - 157: You’re Back?

Chapter 158: Chapter 157: You’re Back?

Gu Qingyin was completely baffled. ’What’s happening? They couldn’t have seen Da Bao next to me, could they?’

Da Bao’s expression darkened. "Knock again."

Gu Qingyin glanced down at her, then raised her hand to knock again.

This time, a disheveled man opened the door, reeking heavily of alcohol.

Gu Qingyin wrinkled her nose and took a step back. "Da Bao’s father?"

Having spent his whole life at the bottom of society, the man had never seen a woman as beautiful and elegant as Gu Qingyin. He stared, completely transfixed, only snapping back to reality when she spoke.

"Yes, I’m Da Bao’s father," the man said, then immediately grew wary. "It’s no use coming to us. We’re broke. If we had money, I wouldn’t have just left my own daughter at the hospital."

"You just left her at the hospital?" Gu Qingyin’s gaze darkened. "Is that why Da Bao died?"

The man was stunned. "Da Bao’s dead?"

Gu Qingyin found the situation utterly absurd. "Your daughter died at the hospital, and you, her father, didn’t even know?"

The man looked sheepish. "I... I guess I thought this day might come..." But he hadn’t expected it so soon. After they’d abandoned Da Bao at the hospital, they had dodged every call from there. On the rare occasion they answered and realized it was a doctor, they’d hang up immediately.

"Are you from the hospital? Here to tell us to collect the body?" The man’s eyes darted around. "If we have to pay off her medical bills to claim the body, then we don’t want it. Just consider it a donation to the hospital."

Heartbroken and angry, Gu Qingyin glanced at Da Bao with concern.

Da Bao, however, was calm. She even managed a small smile. "Auntie, tell him the rest of my treatment didn’t cost anything. The hospital took pity on me and waived all the fees."

Gu Qingyin did as she was told, then asked if they could speak inside. The man let her in without asking for any details.

As expected, the inside of the house was a mess, but it was still reasonably clean. It was clear Da Bao’s mother was a diligent woman, just spread too thin. It must have been very difficult for her to maintain even this level of cleanliness.

The man sat back down at the dining table, first taking a gulp from his glass. Only then did he gesture to Gu Qingyin. "Sit. No need to be formal."

Gu Qingyin pulled a chair over, keeping some distance from the dining table.

The man gave an unconcerned laugh and bellowed, "Ning Hong, we have a guest! Come out and pour her a glass of water!"

The words had barely left his mouth when the sound of a baby crying came from the bedroom.

Gu Qingyin was about to say it wasn’t necessary, but footsteps approached from the other room. To her surprise, Ning Hong actually came out to pour the water!

"You should go check on the baby first," Gu Qingyin urged. "I’m not thirsty."

Ning Hong neither spoke nor stopped. She deftly poured a glass of hot water, mixed in some cool water, and handed it to Gu Qingyin. "The temperature should be just right," she said in a low voice. "Go ahead and drink."

Gu Qingyin took the glass. "Thank you. You should go check on the baby."

Still, Ning Hong didn’t move. She cautiously glanced at the man.

The man scoffed. "Kids just like to cry. If you ignore him, he’ll be fine in a bit." He waved a dismissive hand. "Go on, check on him. Don’t let him bother our guest."

Ning Hong breathed a sigh of relief and quickly returned to the room to soothe the baby.

Da Bao glanced around, then followed Ning Hong into the bedroom with a worried expression.

Witnessing the scene, a very inappropriate phrase popped into Gu Qingyin’s head: ’An alcoholic father, a weak mother, and a broken daughter.’

’If Da Bao hadn’t died, isn’t this the perfect setup for a novel’s heroine? The suffering of my childhood will become the driving force for my future! What doesn’t kill me will only make me stronger...’

Her thoughts spiraling further and further off-track, Gu Qingyin shook her head and took a sip of water.

"What illness did Da Bao have? Why did you leave her at the hospital? As I recall, there are all sorts of social assistance programs available now, not to mention plenty of online fundraising platforms. Did you not consider any of those?"

The man heaved a theatrical sigh. "They said it was some kind of genetic disease. The name was a mouthful, I didn’t remember it. Basically, a genetic mutation. She wasn’t going to live long. The hospital didn’t even have any medicine for it. What else could I do but give up?"

’Genes?’ Even though Gu Qingyin didn’t know much about medicine, she knew that any illness associated with the word "genetic" was difficult to treat.

"Even if it was incurable, you could have brought Da Bao home. What’s this nonsense about just leaving her at the hospital?"

The man’s eyes bulged, his voice full of a confidence he had no right to possess. "Little Treasure isn’t even a year old! If she died at home, what if it brought bad luck to Little Treasure?"

Gu Qingyin couldn’t believe that such words could come from a father’s mouth. The words "ignorant" and "superstitious" didn’t even begin to cover it. He didn’t deserve to be a father at all!

Huo Yunjing, who was inside the pendant, also heard this baffling statement. He was so enraged that he materialized and kicked the man’s stool out from under him.

With a loud CLANG, the man toppled to the floor, letting out an agonized howl.

Huo Yunjing hovered cross-legged in mid-air, sneering down at the man.

Hearing the commotion, Ning Hong rushed out from the bedroom holding the baby. When she saw the man on the floor, she first let out a visible sigh of relief, then quickly rearranged her features into a mask of concern. "How did you fall?"

Gu Qingyin saw it all clearly and couldn’t help but be secretly amused. She chimed in, "He probably had too much to drink. A little alcohol is fine, but too much is bad for your health."

As the man recovered, he also concluded he must have been drunk and lost his balance. ’What’s the alternative?’ he thought. ’That Gu Qingyin pushed me from two meters away?’

"Well, aren’t you going to help me up?!" He felt he’d lost face, and to save what was left of his pride, his tone toward Ning Hong turned even nastier. "I fall down and you don’t even help? What are you doing bringing Little Treasure out here? To watch the show? I don’t hit you for a few days and you get bold, is that it?!"

Ning Hong flinched instinctively and looked around for a place to set the baby down. But seeing nowhere suitable, she unexpectedly shoved the child into Gu Qingyin’s arms and then hurried over to help the man up.

Gu Qingyin was dumbfounded, looking down to meet the gaze of the little one in her arms.

The little one showed no fear of strangers. After staring for two seconds, he actually giggled at Gu Qingyin.

Gu Qingyin couldn’t help but smile back, though she sighed internally. ’A good kid, it’s a shame he’s stuck with parents like these.’

With Ning Hong’s help, the man got back on his feet. Ning Hong quickly righted the chair, and the man sat down, completely ignoring what had just happened. "Didn’t you say you had something to tell us about Da Bao?"

"Yes." Gu Qingyin handed the baby back to Ning Hong and said bluntly, "To be precise, Da Bao has something she wants to say to you."

"Are they... words that Da Bao left behind before she... passed?"

She was her own flesh and blood, after all. At the mention of Da Bao’s name, Ning Hong’s eyes couldn’t help but redden.

Seeing this, Da Bao, who was standing nearby, smiled and comforted her softly, "Don’t cry, Mommy."

But of course, Ning Hong couldn’t hear her.

Gu Qingyin, however, felt a surge of annoyance. ’What were you doing when she was alive? Now that she’s dead, you finally know how to cry.’

"Do you want to hear it or not? If not, then forget it. I’m not going to force you."

Ning Hong nodded frantically. "Yes, we want to hear it! We’re the ones who failed her." A tear slipped from the corner of her eye.

Da Bao instinctively moved forward to wipe away her mother’s tear.

Ning Hong froze. The cool sensation on her cheek was too distinct to be ignored, too real to be dismissed as a hallucination.

"Da Bao... you’ve come back?"