Zheng Quan arrived at the High-Ranking Cadre Ward of Haizhou Medical University Affiliated Hospital well past ten in the evening.
Zi Yan lay asleep on the hospital bed, his face peaceful, showing no signs of pain. The intravenous anti-inflammatory and painkillers were clearly working.
Zheng Quan placed the still-warm Cucumber and Shrimp Dumplings on the bedside table without waking Zi Yan.
His fingers gently stroked through Zi Yan’s scattered, pure white hair on the bed.
Zheng Quan pulled over a stool and sat quietly in front of the bed, gazing at Zi Yan’s delicate features.
Moonlight slipped through the window, casting a silvery glow on Zi Yan’s refined face, making him look holy and serene, like the Moon Goddess herself.
If it weren’t for Zi Yan, Zheng Quan would probably be attending a banquet right now.
An elderly gentleman who once served in Haizhou and recently retired in Jingcheng had returned to Haizhou.
Zheng Quan had been close to him when he was still in Jingcheng. This time, with the gentleman’s return, Zheng Quan should have been there to host a welcome dinner.
“Heh…” Zheng Quan smiled bitterly and shook his head.
Forget about the banquet.
At the end of the year, Haizhou was about to hold the International Fashion Festival.
The person in charge had sought Zheng Quan’s approval, but Zheng Quan had asked Deputy Mayor Wang to handle it.
That morning, a local food manufacturing company in a township, one of Haizhou’s major taxpayers, reported water pollution and planned to relocate their factory outside Haizhou.
Zheng Quan had handed this matter entirely over to Mayor Li.
Under normal circumstances, Zheng Quan would have personally overseen every detail. But right now, he had to be understanding of a father already exhausted to his core.
After a moment, Zheng Quan stood and walked to the window.
This was the High-Ranking Cadre Ward of Haizhou Medical University Affiliated Hospital — a spacious single room. Especially this window: wide and bright, it looked out without a hint of claustrophobia.
Zheng Quan looked out and saw calmness.
The sky was clear, free of the morning’s haze, with a few stars twinkling.
The hospital was located on the western outskirts of Haizhou City, right next to Haizhou University’s campus, perched on a solitary island in the middle of a lake.
Zheng Quan remembered that five years ago, when the city expanded and land became scarce, he had approved this reserved land for Haizhou Medical University, which was then still located downtown.
A bridge connected Haizhou to the island, which was thickly forested. Both the university campus and hospital were nestled within.
The lake’s waters were clear and filled with fish; faint insect chirps could be heard, and the fresh air was a balm for the lungs.
Far from the city’s noisy distractions, this was an ideal place for students to study in peace and patients to recover with ease.
Yet, even in such a serene and elegant place, Zheng Quan’s inner turmoil showed no sign of easing.
Zi Yan had been rushed to Haizhou Medical University Affiliated Hospital by ambulance around noon.
Coincidentally, the Emergency Department was being toured by the university president, who was also the hospital director, along with some graduate students.
They had quickly taken charge of Zi Yan upon his arrival.
Outside the emergency room on a bench, Zheng Quan sat, wracked with anxiety.
It was late October; the city’s centralized heating, promoted by Zheng Quan, had long since started.
The hospital’s heating was turned up high, making Zheng Quan’s already restless mood even more agitated.
The pervasive smell of medicine in the air only deepened his unease.
What exactly was wrong with his child?
Two months had passed since Zheng Quan brought Zi Yan in, and until now, Zi Yan had been perfectly fine.
This sudden illness caught Zheng Quan completely off guard, giving him a splitting headache.
“Ah…”
He felt his blood pressure rising, pressed a hand to his forehead, and took a deep breath.
After a long wait, the director finally emerged from the office, scanning the room.
Upon seeing Zheng Quan sitting on the bench, he said, “Secretary Zheng, your daughter is stable, but…”
Zheng Quan’s heart tightened.
As a family member of a patient, the worst words were always “but” following a seemingly good update.
“Let’s wait for the test results. I hope it’s not what I’m fearing…” the director said, shaking his head.
Hearing this, Zheng Quan’s anxiety only worsened.
“Director, what exactly is wrong with my child?”
The director didn’t answer immediately. Two hours later, he invited Zheng Quan into his office.
By then, it was late afternoon, and the room was dim. The director switched on the light and sat across from Zheng Quan.
He was silent for a long time, opening his mouth several times, wanting to say something, but unable to find the words.
The director had a great deal of respect for this young Haizhou leader.
When the city expanded, no matter how he leveraged his connections, he couldn’t secure this island land for the hospital.
At that time, the city’s deputy mayor in charge of urban renovation intended to sell the land to developers to build a villa district, so naturally, he refused the director’s request.
“Ten years to grow trees, a hundred years to nurture people. How can education not be the priority?”
Eventually, Zheng Quan heard about this and took charge at a meeting, deciding to allocate this scarce reserved land to Haizhou Medical University. How could the director not be grateful?
Now, holding the X-ray images, the director’s palms were sweaty.
The director was sixty-three this year; his son was already forty.
His son, a graduate of Haizhou Medical University, had remained to work at the hospital and was now the deputy director of the Endocrinology Department.
The X-rays of Zheng Zi Yan’s abdomen were taken by the director’s son himself.
If someone told him that the son he had raised for decades, the one he was preparing to pass the family legacy on to, was actually a case of true hermaphroditism, essentially a girl…
Putting himself in Zheng Quan’s shoes, the director knew this truth was unbearably harsh.
But Zi Yan’s condition…
After much hesitation, the director spoke: “Secretary Zheng, please prepare yourself mentally for what I’m about to say. It concerns your child’s future.”
Prepare myself mentally?
“Mm.” Zheng Quan nodded, his voice trembling.
The director took a deep breath and pushed the X-rays toward Zheng Quan.
Zheng Quan looked at them, but, unfortunately, not being medically trained, he couldn’t understand much.
The director chose his words carefully: “With current medical standards, this condition would be identified at birth. Usually, surgery is performed around age two or three to correct it. It is very rare for a patient to reach this age without treatment, as in your child’s case.”
Zheng Quan didn’t grasp the details, but he caught key words like disease and surgery.
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he asked, “Director, what exactly is wrong with my child?”
This time, the director did not hesitate: “Secretary Zheng, from a physiological perspective, your child is actually female, completely female.”
“The patient has a very rare form of female pseudohermaphroditism. The external male genitalia have no function.”
“The reason for the severe abdominal pain and fainting is that, with the onset of puberty, her fully developed female reproductive organs have started to function.”
“The surge of estrogen causes hormonal imbalance, but more importantly, in her current condition, menstrual blood cannot be discharged, leading to blood clots accumulating in the uterus. Without early surgical intervention…”
The director’s voice trailed off, but Zheng Quan no longer heard anything. His mind went blank.
His child, Zheng Zi Yan, was actually a girl?
His thoughts spiraled, memories of Zi Yan’s childhood surfacing.
Also in a hospital.
Zheng Quan remembered a winter when Zi Yan was four years old.
Zi Yan was born on February 7th; that day should have been Zi Yan’s birthday.
Instead of working overtime as usual, Zheng Quan left work on time and bought Zi Yan his favorite chocolate Black Forest Cake.
“Sir, here is your order card. The cake will be delivered to your home in two hours.”
Just as Zheng Quan took the card and turned to leave the bakery, his phone rang.
It was the nanny surnamed Dong, whom Zheng Quan had hired to care for Zi Yan while he was busy at work.
Through tears, the nanny said over the phone, “Director Zheng, Zi Yan has pneumonia and has been admitted to the hospital. Please come quickly.”
When Zheng Quan rushed to the Children’s Hospital, Zi Yan was unconscious with a high fever and had been transferred from the emergency department to the Intensive Care Unit.
His nanny was crying with red eyes.
A middle-aged doctor appeared and asked, “Who is Zheng Zi Yan’s family?”
“I am,” Zheng Quan answered. “I’m his father.”
The doctor looked at Zheng Quan’s youthful appearance, sneered, and said harshly, “How did you even become a father?”
“What?” Zheng Quan was stunned.
“This child is malnourished, with low resistance. And it’s been several days of fever at home before finally being brought to the hospital. The lungs are almost white.”
“Prepare for a critical illness notice.”
The doctor left, and Zheng Quan was utterly confused.
The night before, at eleven, Zi Yan had already been asleep and didn’t look feverish at all.
Malnourished?
Counting the extra fifteen hundred yuan per month that Lina sent back, he and his wife gave the nanny an additional fifteen hundred yuan monthly just for Zi Yan’s meals.
How could his child be malnourished?
(And that was over ten years ago — fifteen hundred yuan was a lot back then.)
Suddenly, Zheng Quan seemed to understand something and looked sharply at the nanny. The nanny burst into even harder sobs.
After repeated questioning, the nanny finally told the truth.
A few days ago, Zi Yan had been coughing and running a fever. The nanny thought it was just a minor illness.
Following how she cared for her own son in the countryside, she gave him two fever-reducing pills daily and didn’t inform Zheng Quan.
As for malnutrition…
The nanny broke down in tears and confessed everything.
Her son had owed tens of thousands in high-interest loans. If she didn’t pay a monthly installment, those men would come to chop off her son’s hands and feet. She had no choice!
Zheng Quan understood.
He was out early and home late, always eating at the company canteen, never at home. This gave the nanny an opportunity to skim off food.
So, the nanny only bought the cheapest old rice and noodles, tough stalky vegetables, and hardly any meat for Zi Yan all month.
She lied to Zi Yan, saying the family was poor and this was all they could afford. So even though Zi Yan was often hungry, she didn’t tell Zheng Quan because she was well-behaved and trusted the nanny.
Even the clothes and toys Lina sent from Antwerp were sold by the nanny at flea markets.
At least the nanny had some conscience and bought milk powder for Zi Yan, so his complexion wasn’t bad enough for Zheng Quan to notice immediately.
The nanny had calculated carefully: with all the cost-cutting and her salary, her son’s loan would be paid off in about a year.
After that, she promised to treat Zi Yan well.
She planned to tell Zi Yan the family’s financial situation had improved once the loans were cleared.
But unfortunately…
The nanny never got to see that day.