"Director Li, please, save my mother."
In the bustling hospital corridor, Jiang Chen, regardless of the cold looks from passerby, gripped his mother's attending physician's hand tightly and begged desperately, almost to the point of kneeling.
"Let go of me!"
Director Li yanked his sleeve away in disgust and said coldly, "I've told you, when the 100,000 yuan is in the account, that's when I'll perform the surgery on your mom."
Jiang Chen pleaded urgently, "My mom's condition is critical. Please, make an exception and perform the surgery first. I promise I'll gather the money afterwards."
"Make an exception? Do you think our hospital is running a charity?" Director Li yelled, "If you can't afford the treatment, discharge and wait for death at home. Get out and stop occupying the hospital bed. Scram!"
After yelling, Director Li pushed Jiang Chen impatiently to the side, sneered disdainfully, and strode away.
The words of Director Li cut deep into his heart, and Jiang Chen could no longer contain himself; he sat down on the ground and wept aloud.
His father had been gone for many years, and he had been struggling at the bottom of society, depending solely on his mother.
But now, his hardworking mother lay on the hospital bed, her life hanging by a thread, and yet he couldn't gather enough money for the surgery. Their home had no savings, and he had already borrowed all he could; he was at his wit's end.
What should he do? Just watch his mother die before his eyes?
No! Absolutely not!
"It seems I have no choice but to beg them once again."
Having made up his mind, Jiang Chen wiped away his tears, stood up, took a deep breath, and ran out of the hospital.
Bracing the cold wind, Jiang Chen arrived in front of a mansion.
This was the home of his wife, Li Liyun.
Li Liyun was Jiang Chen's high school classmate, with outstanding looks and a wealthy family background. Jiang Chen had chased after her for two whole years.
But how could Li Liyun ever look favorably upon a poor boy like him? Moreover, their contact had broken off after Jiang Chen dropped out of high school in his senior year due to the accidental death of his father.
However, unexpectedly, a few years later, Li Liyun developed leukemia and couldn't find a compatible bone marrow donor. Desperate, the Li family offered various rewards, even including a promise of marriage, but to no avail.
Jiang Chen, learning of this by chance, stepped forward and turned out to be a successful bone marrow match for Li Liyun, saving her life and fulfilling his wish to take her as his wife.
But the Li family wasn't grateful to Jiang Chen; instead, they were extremely dissatisfied.
Because Jiang Chen was poor!
Even though Jiang Chen slaved away for the Li family, he received not an ounce of respect in return. Instead, he became the utter disgrace in their eyes; abuse and beatings were commonplace.
His mother too fell into depression because of this and developed heart failure, now teetering on the brink of death.
Jiang Chen had thought that the Li family, with their wealth of over a hundred million, would provide some assistance in gratitude for him saving Li Liyun's life. However, every time he asked for help, he was either met with vile abuse or humiliated to the core, failing to get even a single penny.
Given Jiang Chen's resolute nature, he had no wish to beg them again. But to save his mother's life, he had no choice but to return to this place.
After pausing for a moment, Jiang Chen clenched his teeth and entered the Li family's residence.
The Li family's estate was vast and luxuriously decorated, exuding opulence and wealth.
However, Jiang Chen couldn't lift his head here, for he had only ever received humiliation in this affluent household.
Suddenly, footsteps approached.
"I say, it's been quite a few days since we've seen that loser Jiang Chen."
"His mom is about to die, and he's probably out there trying to borrow money again."
"Heh, what a loser. I really don't understand how our missus ended up marrying him. It's like a fresh flower stuck in cow dung."
Hearing this, Jiang Chen knew it was Li Liyun's mother, Xu Yan's two bodyguards. His head dropped even lower, trying to avoid them, but it was too late.
Upon seeing Jiang Chen, one of the bodyguards blurted out, "Jiang Chen, what are you doing here?"
The other one immediately sneered, "Don't tell me you're here to borrow money again?"
"No way? His skin is that thick? Haha."
Their tones were mocking, their eyes filled with heavy disdain.
Jiang Chen looked up, and before he could speak, a displeased female voice asked, "What's going on here?"
Then, the beautifully dressed Li Liyun stepped behind the two bodyguards. Upon seeing it was Jiang Chen, she was momentarily stunned, before her lips curled into a mocking, ice-cold sneer. With her pale chin lifted slightly, she looked at Jiang Chen with arrogance and said nothing more.
"Jiang Chen?"
Soon after, Xu Yan, dressed in a fur coat worth hundreds of thousands, also arrived beside Li Liyun. Recognizing Jiang Chen, her expression changed immediately as she pointed towards the door, "Get out now. I don't want to see this loser."
"Did you hear that?" The two bodyguards stepped forward, one on each side of Jiang Chen, and sneered with a laugh, "Hurry up and scram."
Their eyes gleamed ferociously as they stared at Jiang Chen, as if looking at a dog about to be kicked out of the house.
Jiang Chen clenched his fists, his face flushing with anger.
He knew coming here would bring him humiliation. But he hadn't expected to be treated like trash—he wasn't even allowed to speak before they wanted to throw him out.
Too heartless!
He gritted his teeth, looked at Li Liyun, and mustered the courage to plead, "Liyun, lend me a hundred thousand yuan. My mom really can't make it."
Li Liyun shook her head and let out a derisive laugh, as if she had heard a ridiculous joke, then she regained her cold and arrogant demeanor, looking at Jiang Chen as if she was seeing a clown at the circus.
"You still want to borrow a hundred thousand from us? Impossible!"
Xu Yan, however, let out a shrill scream, pointing at Jiang Chen and scolding, "Stop daydreaming, get lost and take care of the funeral arrangements. The sooner she dies, the sooner she's reincarnated."
Hearing these words, sharp as knives, Jiang Chen trembled with rage, not daring to look at Xu Yan and continued to plead with Li Liyun, "Liyun, I beg you. No matter what, I am still your husband."
Li Liyun raised an eyebrow, still not speaking. But it was clear from her slightly narrowed eyes that they contained undisguised contempt and aversion.
"Jiang Chen, you truly have no shame," Xu Yan shrieked as if bitten by a scorpion, pointing to her daughter, "look at our Liyun, as beautiful as a fairy, and you, this piece of trash, aren't even worthy of one of her fingers!"
With that, a mocking glint appeared in Xu Yan's eyes, "I don't mind telling you the truth, I am about to take Liyun on a blind date. That man is the eldest son of Zhang Corporation, with family assets of over a billion, and good-looking to boot. Compared with him, you're nothing but a pile of dog shit."
"Mom, why are you telling him about this?" Li Liyun pushed Xu Yan gently in a shy rebuke, though her face couldn't hide her delight.
Jiang Chen felt the world go dark in front of his eyes, nearly fainting from the humiliation.
These mother and daughter weren't even leaving him the last shred of dignity!
At that moment, Jiang Chen truly wanted to turn and escape this place that had left him with no self-respect. But he couldn't run away. To save his mother, he had to endure any humiliation.
Suppressing boundless humiliation and heartache, Jiang Chen fell to his knees with a "thud."
"Auntie, Liyun, I beg you. I will divorce Liyun right now and won't ask for anything. All I ask is, on the account that I once saved Liyun's life, lend me a hundred thousand to save my mom."
Tears erupted from Jiang Chen's throat in a wail, and hot tears streamed down his face.
Xu Yan was initially startled, then an even denser disdain and mockery filled her eyes: What a loser, thinking kneeling would be of any use?
But before she could speak, Li Liyun suddenly turned cold and stepped forward.
"The divorce is inevitable!"
Li Liyun coldly strode over to Jiang Chen and, looking down on him with disdain, she said, "But you have the audacity to say you saved my life? Ridiculous."
"With the wealth of our family and the generous reward we had offered, I would've been saved sooner or later. You were just a coincidence!"
Li Liyun's voice was as cold as ice, her eyes only showing coldness and disdain, without a hint of guilt.
Tears still in his eyes, Jiang Chen looked up at Li Liyun in disbelief, unable to comprehend that she could say such things.
"Jiang Chen, you always thought I should be grateful to you, right? Wrong! I hate you!"
Li Liyun suddenly spoke through clenched teeth, her beautiful face twisted with malice:
"Hate you, this toad, for sullying my innocence!"
"Hate you, this good-for-nothing, for becoming my husband and making me the laughingstock of our social circle!"
"Hate you for nearly robbing me of the chance to find a good man!"
"And all of this, because of that little favor you think you did me!"
Li Liyun's words were like a series of icy knives, plunging deep into Jiang Chen's heart.
My God, so in her eyes, my life-saving favor was just a little bit of self-righteousness.
"And now you still want to ask me for money?"
Li Liyun continued to sneer, "That's right, I have money. But I won't give you a penny!"
Hearing these cold, heartless words, Jiang Chen completely despaired and collapsed, hugging Li Liyun's legs and wailing, "No, please, save my mom. She's dying."
"Why should I care if your mom dies? Get lost!"
Li Liyun kicked Jiang Chen away as though kicking away an ant.
"What are you staring at, get him out of here!" Xu Yan also screamed, signaling to two bodyguards with a vicious look.
The bodyguards got the message and swarmed over, knocking Jiang Chen to the ground.
Jiang Chen desperately protected his vital points, but couldn't withstand the beating from the two bodyguards, and soon he was bloodied and bruised.
In the end, the bodyguards tossed him out of the Li family's house like a dead dog.
"This ring was forced on me by your mom; now it's just the right time to give it back to you."
Li Liyun stood by the doorway, removing a ring from her pinky and throwing it towards Jiang Chen, "Take it to pawn for some money, or, leave it to bury with your mom."
At the sound of this, Jiang Chen, overwhelmed by anger, blacked out on the spot.
"Useless trash," Li Liyun sneered again and turned back into the house.
However, what she didn't see was that as the ring hit Jiang Chen's head and blood seeped into it, it faintly gleamed.
Then, above Jiang Chen's head a fine crack appeared, and a mist invisible to the naked eye emerged, whooshing into the top of his head.
Suddenly, a dragon's roar echoed in Jiang Chen's mind…