More than ten kilometers away at Suicheng People's Hospital, young Jin Zhenliang had just parted ways with his parents-in-law downstairs in the inpatient department.

After Xue Jing left, the hospital received an emergency notice that the inpatient floors would be under closed management after 8:00 a.m. All wards would be closed to visitors on a floor-by-floor basis. Family members who needed to accompany patients were required to bring a valid negative nucleic acid test report from that day, complete the procedures, and then eat and live with the patients. Before the closed management was lifted, no one was allowed to freely enter or leave the inpatient department.

Before 5 o'clock, two long queues had already formed at the 24-hour nucleic acid testing point next to the outpatient department. The faster queue on the left was reserved for medical staff, while the queue on the right was full of family members of patients who needed to accompany them.

Both had stayed up all night, but compared to Xue Jing's effortless and neat appearance, Jin Zi looked like an overnight fried dough stick that had just been deep-fried in oil.

His hair was disheveled, his eyes were bloodshot, and he stood at the back of the line with his head down, hunched over like a shrimp, moving with the slowly advancing queue. He held his phone in his right hand, while his left hand swiped the calendar back and forth on the screen, mentally planning how to ask the leaders of the Cultural Bureau for leave.

When Xiaoyu had the accident, the director, whose trip was not yet over, made an exception and allowed him to return to Suicheng first. This was already a great favor in terms of work. The driver's duty is to be on standby at all times. In the years he has worked at the Cultural Bureau, he has never taken an extra day off for personal reasons, and he even worked while sick with a cold.

If I take another week off, will my boss fire me as a contract worker?

His mother was getting old, and he was already married with a family. He had heavy responsibilities and couldn't afford the stress of changing jobs.

He really needed that salary of 3,200 yuan and the social insurance and housing fund contributions that his employer made on time.

At the beginning of the year, Xiaoyu and he had discussed whether they should save some money for a down payment on an old apartment in the county town, given the recent sharp drop in second-hand housing prices. Her mother's old house was dilapidated and unbearable in the summer due to its hot, humid conditions and insect infestations, but in the winter, the outdoor water pipes would freeze, leaving the house without running water for at least two months.

The wish was good, but I never expected that natural disasters and man-made calamities would be unavoidable. After this hospital stay, the building has lost another toilet. I don't even want to think about it now.

After typing away on his phone for ages, when it was Jinzi's turn to scan the code to pay, he finally sent a leave request filled with "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry" to Director Zhao, trying to gain the leader's sympathy.

Jinzi took off his mask, stood at the window with his mouth open in a horse stance, and after a cotton swab had been applied to his throat, he quickly put the mask back on.

The results of a single-sample test can be obtained in as little as two hours, so he is not able to enter the inpatient department to stay with his wife for the time being.

As dawn broke, the vendors at the hospital entrance began to open for business. Jinzi bought two of the cheapest steamed buns from the breakfast cart, lingered for a while, and then added two sugar pancakes and a tea egg to her order, paying via WeChat together.

After buying his own breakfast and the sugar pancakes that Xiaoyu liked, he chose a spot that wouldn't obstruct pedestrians, squatted on the steps next to the flower bed, held the plastic bag in his hand, and stuffed the two steamed buns into his mouth one after the other.

After finishing the steamed buns, I thought about it and decided to put the eggs away, keeping them warm in my arms along with the sugar pancakes.

After filling his stomach, he had nothing to do, so he started repeatedly refreshing the nucleic acid test results on his phone app.

When I was scrolling through it for the twenty-first time, the phone rang. The caller was Ha Yue, who had just rushed home from Xue Jing's house.

She listened to what Xue Jing had to say, but she didn't have time to think about her relationship with him. She only remembered that after sending Xue Jing a message, she casually put the phone on the kitchen windowsill.

Ha Yue was filled with anger because Xue Jing was such a terrible person. He hadn't even explained such a big thing to Jin Zi. She felt she had to tell Jin Zi right away, both morally and logically.

This is probably because advising someone to have an abortion is, after all, a sin.

Ha Yue always used euphemistic language when talking to the neighbors on the phone, but Jinzi sensed that what she meant was the same as what Teacher Xue had hinted at to him a few hours earlier.

Perhaps it was because they were from different social classes, but Xue Jing did not approve of the couple's decision to have the child.

It is said that a close neighbor is worse than a distant relative. Aunt Siqin and Zhao Chunni were already very close. Ha Yue was genuinely worried about Jinzi and Xiaoyu's future life. Jinzi knew all this, but he still did not agree with Xue Jing's "modern" ideas.

After Ha Yue finished speaking, he wiped his eyes, removing the white oil accumulated on his inner eyelids. He forced a signature goofy grin at the legs that kept passing by. Jin Zi's lips curled up, but the usual warm smile didn't reach his eyes. He said, "Sister, did Brother Xue Jing send you to persuade me?"

Perhaps because of this connection—that he came to the hospital in his place—Jinzi no longer calls Xue Jing "Teacher," but instead calls him "Brother."

“I know you mean well, but between the two of us, we can’t possibly abandon this child. There’s nothing to consider.”

Ha Yue was still pondering on the other end of the phone. Jin Zi remained silent for a while, then lowered the corners of her mouth slightly and whispered to her.

“This isn’t just my opinion… Xiaoyu has been dreaming of having a child for the past few years. Asking her to have an abortion would be like taking her life.”

Jin Zhenliang and Cao Xiaoyu held their wedding six years ago and registered their marriage four years ago after reaching the legal age. They still do not have children.

Ha Yue had heard from her mother about the young couple next door who seemed unable to conceive naturally and were trying in-vitro fertilization after returning home in the past two years. She particularly disliked Zhao Chunni gossiping about other people in front of her, especially about such private matters between couples; prying into such things was extremely impolite.

Furthermore, with an increasing number of couples choosing to remain childless in society, she didn't pay much attention to her neighbor's childlessness.

But now, Jinzi's words confirmed to her that they were not childless by choice; they were a couple who desperately wanted children and had even spent a lot of money on in-vitro fertilization.

Like any couple who follow the usual path, Jinzi and Xiaoyu never imagined they wouldn't get married when they were dating, and even after they actually got married, they never imagined they would become the unconventional couple without children.

Falling in love, getting married, having children, taking care of parents, and earning a little money to make ends meet are their most ordinary goals in life. Whenever they talk about the future, they envision a happy family of three enjoying cherry blossoms falling on the ocean. If conditions permit, they also hope to have both a son and a daughter after their first child starts school.

But fate played a cruel joke on this simple couple.

In the second year of their marriage, Xiaoyu, who had been taking folic acid to try to conceive but had not been able to get pregnant, suggested that she and Jinzi go to the hospital for a reproductive check-up.

The woman has blocked fallopian tubes, and the man has a high rate of sperm abnormalities. Both of them are in their prime reproductive years and appear to be in excellent health, but they have been told by doctors that they are facing the dilemma of infertility.

From then on, their married life was forced into another long and arduous journey.

Although the infertility problem affected both of them, it was Xiaoyu who suffered the most. Jinzi lost count of how many times she had her blood drawn and how many needles she had been inserted into her abdomen. At first, Jinzi would accompany her to the hospital for injections, but later he simply couldn't find the time. Xiaoyu didn't complain, and she would ride her electric scooter to receive the injections as prescribed by the doctor at the designated time.

Sometimes it's the People's Hospital, sometimes it's the community hospital, but more often than not, Jinzi, after driving all day and dozing off on the sofa, rides her electric scooter alone to the emergency room to find a nurse at night.

At that time, Cao Xiaoyu's mind was filled with thoughts of getting injections. Her biggest fear was that there would be injured patients in the emergency room at night, resulting in a shortage of nurses. Because her injections had a time limit, if it was a little late, all her previous hard work would be in vain.

The happiest thing for Cao Xiaoyu also came from getting injections. As long as she got the medication into her body before the scheduled time each day, she would be happy all day long. Before going to bed, she would chatter on and on with Jinzi, saying that she could feel that she was one step closer to having their baby.

After ovulation induction and ovulation, the egg retrieval finally took place. The surgery was over, and two embryos were successfully fertilized. Jinzi hugged Xiaoyu and laughed until tears streamed down her face. But little did they know, their nightmare was about to continue.

Because the egg retrieval surgery caused ovarian damage and ascites, the two frozen embryos were not implanted into the uterus the following month. After Xiaoyu finally recovered, the implanted embryos were biochemically miscarried three weeks later, and the second one was the same.

This was their first IVF experience; they then tried a second and a third time.

When the pregnancy test failed for the last time, Xiaoyu, who was swollen from long-term hormone injections, held the test stick and cried like a baby. Jinzi hugged her and looked at her large parting in her hair.

When they first started dating, Jinzi loved Xiaoyu's thick, shiny black hair. She wore it in two pigtails, each braid as thick as a rolling pin.

However, over the years, due to frequent injections of large doses of drugs, insemination, and miscarriages, she seems to have aged more than her peers. Her hair can only be combed into a thin tuft, and even the top of her head has started to go bald.

Jinzi felt sorry for her, but no matter how much pain she felt, it couldn't be more painful than her pain.

Her body was riddled with wounds, and her mind must have been the same.

So that day, Jinzi hardened her heart and told Xiaoyu that they could no longer do IVF because they really didn't have any money left. Each IVF cycle cost 60,000 yuan, and medical insurance wasn't available; it was all out-of-pocket. They had invested all their savings over the years, and even Siqin Tuoya's funeral money was gone.

They can't afford it anymore, and they don't dare to do it anymore.

Jinzi was adamant, and Xiaoyu wailed, hit him, cursed him, and pinched him. After several days of this, he kept saying the same thing, "I'm not doing it anymore." He even tore down all the children's posters that Xiaoyu had pasted on the bedroom walls and threw them into the trash can.

Because their parents had promised to grow old together during the tea ceremony, divorce was not an option for them as a couple, so Xiaoyu had no choice but to agree to give up IVF.

After recounting these family matters that he had never told anyone else, Jinzi felt much lighter. He thought that although Xue Jing would not understand their dedication to continuing their bloodline, Ha Yue would definitely understand.

Even if people from big cities are friendly, they are filled with a calmness that is out of place with them. Xiaoyu is carrying a living person in her belly. Even in the worst case, if the child has a physical defect, it is still their own flesh and blood. How can they kill someone?

"Sister, so now we accept whatever the child may be, good or bad. Being able to become a family is a blessing from God. At worst, Xiaoyu and I will support him for the rest of our lives."

"Blood ties are not so easily severed. Didn't you come back from Jicheng for Aunt Zhao's sake?"

“We all value family too much. In the end, isn’t everyone just living with their own little family? Without a family, where would anyone be?”

"Oh, right! Sis. Brother Xue Jing paid 30,000 yuan for my hospital fees. I don't have that much money on WeChat right now, but tell him not to worry. My mom has more than 20,000 yuan in her retirement savings account, and my salary for this month will be paid soon. The hospital is temporarily under lockdown, so I'll transfer the money to him at the bank when I get back."

When the nucleic acid test report popped up, Jinzi quickly hung up the phone.

The headset went dead, and all Ha Yue could manage was a barely audible "But..."

Yes, even though Jinzi spoke so many touching words about "blood ties and family affection," Ha Yue still felt from the bottom of her heart that the couple shouldn't have taken such a risk.

What is the concept of family? Is passing on bloodlines really that important? To say something that goes against the three cardinal guides and five constant virtues, if it were her, Ha Yue believes she would definitely choose to cut her losses as soon as her first IVF attempt failed, right?

Besides, children who are brought into this world have no choice. If something unexpected happens, would he or she be willing to bear this great family love?

Only Jin Zhenliang and Cao Xiaoyu had the final say. Her suggestion was insignificant; that was all she could say.

Just as she misunderstood Xue Jing's cold-bloodedness, Jinzi also misunderstood her "human touch".

If before making the call, Ha Yue was filled with contempt for Xue Jing, now, in a daze, Ha Yue suddenly had the illusion that she had been abandoned by both worlds.

When she was in Jicheng, she was a carefully crafted person from Suicheng; after returning to Suicheng, she became a Jicheng person who had lost her roots at heart. She was like a rootless weed, drifting aimlessly and never being accepted.

Jicheng did not completely take away her deep-rooted rural spirit, but it taught her some self-preservation and the ability to weigh pros and cons, which were ingrained in her.

It turns out she wasn't one of "people like us" either; like Xue Jing, she would never agree with Jinzi and Xiaoyu's decision. But at least Xue Jing had his own standards; he chose to respect the fate of others.

But when she made the call, she arrogantly believed that she was doing a good deed and that her neighbor was doing something foolish.

But who is she? A person who would never sacrifice herself for the next generation, a person who retreats to her hometown to pretend to be filial because of her own failures. She seems to be no one, living in a vacuum that eliminates all emotional fluctuations.

Ha Yue stood in the kitchen, slowly moving the phone away from her ear. Before she could catch her breath, she heard a series of hurried footsteps.

A sharp pain shot through her right hand, and Zhao Chunni, who should have been lying in bed asleep at this hour, snatched her phone from behind.