Chapter 488 Mom, why are you crying?

"Lawyer Zhou, please wait, please."

Sun Lu suddenly broke free from her assistant's hand, stumbled forward, and grabbed Zhou Mubin's suit sleeve tightly, her knuckles turning blue from the force.

Tears fell like beads from a broken string, landing on Zhou Mubin's sleeve and leaving a small wet patch.

Her shoulders trembled violently, and her voice was choked with sobs, barely forming coherent sentences. "I know... I know you don't want to see me, but I'm truly desperate. My mother is in the hospital and needs surgery. Please, for my sister's sake, lend me some money to save her life..."

Zhou Mubin's body stiffened abruptly, his hand gripping the document tightening abruptly, causing several creases to appear on the edges of the paper. "What happened to Jin Ping?"

His brows furrowed deeply, and his eyes were filled with astonishment.

Sun Lu cried so hard she could barely breathe, her hands gripping the hem of her clothes so tightly that her fingertips frayed the fabric.

Sobbing, she explained the situation: "My mother had been complaining of abdominal pain for three months. At first, we thought it was just her old stomach problem and didn't take it seriously. It wasn't until last month when the pain became so severe that she couldn't straighten her back that she went for a checkup, and it turned out to be late-stage pancreatic cancer. The doctor said she needs targeted therapy and surgery as soon as possible, and the total cost will be 800,000 yuan. We haven't been able to afford it in all these years, and we can't contact my sister. We've borrowed from all our relatives and friends, but they either say they don't have the money or simply avoid us. We're really desperate, and only you can help us. Lawyer Zhou, please help our family for the sake of how much my sister has worked for you all these years."

Zhou Mubin listened in silence, his gaze falling on Sun Lu's red, tear-filled eyes. The hardened defenses in his heart finally cracked.

He disliked Jinping and couldn't stand the vampire mother and daughter.

But Jin Ping is, after all, Cui Xiao's biological mother.

He couldn't stand idly by.

Zhou Mubin picked up his phone, his finger hovered over the transfer screen for two seconds, and finally entered an amount of one million.

When the notification sounded that the transfer was successful, he put his phone away, his tone still distant and indifferent, "You don't need to pay this money back, but don't ever show your face in front of me again."

Sun Lu looked at the payment notification on her phone and was about to kneel down when Zhou Mubin quickly stopped her.

After she left, wiping away her tears and thanking him profusely, Zhou Mubin leaned back in his office chair, wearily rubbed his temples, and unconsciously tapped his fingers on the desk.

He knew better than anyone about Cui Xiao's family feud, and that she had completely cut off contact with her family over the years, so much so that even Sun Lu didn't know her exact address.

Zhou Mubin paced back and forth in his office for a full hour. The sunlight outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was perfect, and the glass curtain wall of the financial center reflected dazzling light, but his heart was heavy with melancholy.

He opened his contacts, his fingertips repeatedly stroking the screen, which lit up and then dimmed.

Finally, he took a deep breath and pressed the dial button.

The phone rang five times before being answered. Cui Xiao's voice was hoarse from just waking up, with a hint of barely perceptible detachment, "Hello?"

"It's me, Zhou Mubin."

He deliberately slowed down his speech, trying to make his voice sound calm and even, avoiding conveying too much emotion. "There's something I feel I should tell you. Your mother is seriously ill. She's been diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer and is currently hospitalized."

The other end of the phone fell into dead silence. Zhou Mubin could even clearly hear Cui Xiao's breathing coming through the receiver.

It started off calm, but gradually became rapid, as if it was trying its best to suppress something.

A full half minute passed before her hoarse voice, thick with nasal tone, finally came through, each word sounding as if squeezed out from her throat: "...I understand."

Zhou Mubin lowered his voice even further, as if afraid of disturbing her, "Cui Xiao, I asked a friend who is a doctor, and he said that once this disease is diagnosed, it means that there is not much time left. No matter how many grudges there were in the past, she is still your mother who gave birth to you and raised you. Come back and visit her, so that you don't have only regrets later."

After another long silence, Zhou Mubin could faintly hear Xiao Nuomi's voice coming from the other end of the phone.

"Mom, why are you crying?"

Then came the sound of Cui Xiao sniffling. After a few seconds, she spoke again, her tone deliberately calm, "I'll think about it."

She paused, then, as if gathering a great deal of courage, added, "Thank you for telling me all this, Zhou Mubin."

“These are all things I should do.”

After Zhou Mubin finished speaking, the two fell into an awkward silence again, with only the sound of each other's breathing coming through the receiver.

He knew that Cui Xiao must be feeling very turbulent at that moment, so he didn't say anything more and finally hung up the phone.

Sunlight streamed through the blinds in the office, casting dappled shadows on the floor. The files on the desk were still open, but Zhou Mubin could no longer muster any interest in working.

He leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling, feeling as if a huge rock was pressing on his chest.

For the next two days, Zhou Mubin felt as if he were being pulled by an invisible thread. While working, he would unconsciously reach for his phone, afraid of missing any messages from Cui Xiao.

Until Wednesday evening, his phone suddenly rang. He sat up straight instantly, his tone even carrying an urgency he himself didn't realize, "Little Nuomi, do you miss your uncle?"

"Uncle Zhou, my mom and I are going to Grandma's house." Little Nuomi's clear voice was filled with excitement, like a sweet candy hitting Zhou Mubin's heart. "We're leaving tomorrow."

Zhou Mubin's hand tightened around his phone, his heart skipped a beat, and he quickly asked, "Really? Going with Mom?"

"Yes, Mom packed a lot of clothes."

...

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Mubin could no longer remain calm.

He immediately convened the core team members, broke down and assigned the unfinished cases one by one, entrusted the final signing process of the cross-border M&A case to his most trusted lawyer, and even arranged the review of supplementary agreements late at night.

After finishing all this, it was already past midnight. He rubbed his aching temples, opened the ticketing app, and booked the earliest flight to H City without hesitation.

The next morning, Zhou Mubin headed straight to the airport with a simple suitcase.

As the plane passed through the clouds, he gazed out the window at the endless sea of ​​clouds.

He both looked forward to reuniting with Cui Xiao and worried about her complicated emotions when facing Jin Ping.

I wanted to be there to support her, but I was also afraid of offending her, as her defenses hadn't completely softened yet.

The six-hour flight felt longer than dealing with the most difficult cases; he just wanted to arrive as soon as possible. He missed his daughter.

I miss Cui Xiao even more.

Meanwhile, Cui Xiao and Xiao Nuomi arrived in H City ahead of them.

It's not a large place; it lacks the hustle and bustle of port cities and Shanghai, and its pace of life is not as fast.

Cui Xiao took her daughter to the hotel to drop off their luggage first, and then headed to the hospital.