When Ning Qingxue came out of the storage room, Xu Wei was nowhere to be seen. She knew Xu Wei had taken offense. She probably saw her as a terrible woman. Am I really that bad? Ning Qingxue asked herself but couldn't find an answer.
She didn't sleep all night. The next morning, Xu Wei had already left for work. After packing a few of her things, Ning Qingxue stared blankly at a jar in the corner of the courtyard—Ye Mo used it to boil herbs. Was he really using those herbs just to peddle fake medicine on the street?
Her eyes swept over to a black plastic bag in the corner—it held Ye Mo's small medicine box with all his sales supplies. She had just picked up the bag when someone knocked on the courtyard gate.
Opening the gate, she saw Li Mumei standing there.
Li Mumei looked around the yard and, not seeing Ye Mo, asked curiously, "Where's Ye Mo?"
"He went out yesterday and hasn't come back," Ning Qingxue replied instinctively.
"Oh, I brought a bank card. Whether he wants it or not, we should still give him something. After all, we've used him this whole time. Also, your parents are going directly to Yuzhou—they're not coming to Ninghai. We'll meet them there," Li Mumei said casually.
"No need for the money. I already gave him a card with 500,000 yuan. That should be enough compensation," said Ning Qingxue, shaking her head.
Li Mumei was startled. "Where did you get 500,000?"
"From Beijing—when we left, I brought it. You helped me arrange it," Ning Qingxue replied.
"Oh… that card? It was frozen the same day we left Beijing. I found out later and forgot to tell you," Li Mumei said helplessly.
Ning Qingxue froze. A frozen card? Then she mumbled, "So that means… all this time we've been spending his money? No wonder he seemed so hesitant about things…"
"What did you say?" Li Mumei asked. Ning Qingxue's voice was so soft she couldn't catch it.
"I…" Ning Qingxue suddenly remembered something and rushed to pick up Ye Mo's plastic bag. She opened the medicine box inside, her hands trembling.
There were seven or eight small bottles, a packet of silver needles, his ID card—and the bank card she had given him. There were also a few oddly drawn talismans and an unaddressed letter.
Holding the card, her hands shook. If there were a hole in the ground, she would crawl into it without hesitation.
All this time, she thought Ye Mo had been living off her money. She had even shamelessly taken 2,000 yuan from him, lived in his space, eaten his food—feeling completely justified. Only now did she realize how ridiculous she had been. She had been using Ye Mo's money the entire time—and yet, he never said a word.
No wonder he had looked so reluctant when they ate at Huiguang Gourmet that day. When it came time to pay, he even pulled out five- and ten-yuan bills. And she had ordered a bottle of wine worth over 2,000 yuan.
At the bottom of the box was a stack of documents. When she picked them up, a deafening buzz filled her ears. Her face turned pale, and she almost collapsed.
"Qingxue, what's wrong?" Li Mumei rushed to support her.
Without answering, Ning Qingxue hurriedly stuffed the papers back into the box, then told her, "Mumei, wait for me outside."
She ran into her room and slammed the door shut.
"Qingxue, are you crying?" Li Mumei stood dumbfounded outside. She had clearly seen tears on Ning Qingxue's face.
In her memory, Ning Qingxue had never cried—no matter how painful life got. But today, she cried.
What could have happened to make her cry like this?
Inside, Ning Qingxue sat on the bed and reopened the box. The documents were all blood donation receipts. The most recent one was from a few days before her classmates came to eat.
Ye Mo had been selling his blood.
And she had taken 2,000 yuan from him. She had dragged him to a fancy dinner that cost over 3,000. One meal alone took several blood donations to pay for.
She had even mocked him—saying he was getting stingier, the food worse.
Why hadn't he said anything? Was it pride? Or just disdain?
What kind of man does that?
Could he really be the same "useless son" kicked out of the Ye family and rejected by the Ning family?
If the sea was the widest thing in the world, Ye Mo's heart was even wider. He was that kind of man.
But in his eyes—what kind of woman was she? Arrogant, heartless, cold.
Drip. Drip. Ning Qingxue's tears poured onto the blood donation slips, blurring the ink.
Perhaps she was shedding all the tears she hadn't cried in 22 years. She couldn't stop the regret, guilt, and pain from surging inside.
"Come take a look—ancestral remedy, cures all ailments! Headaches, injuries, fevers, nearsightedness—nothing I can't fix!"
Ye Mo's voice still rang in her ears. But the man was gone. How laughable that back then, holding a golden cake, she had hoped the city enforcers would chase him away.
How laughable—his voice was laughable then. Now, all she felt was heartbreak. That cake may have been bought with his blood. Yet she had hidden to the side, munching it while mocking him.
Ignorant, wasn't he?
When she and Zhou Lei had finished eating and waited for Ye Mo to pay, he had taken out crumpled bills—and she had felt ashamed.
In this moment, Ning Qingxue hated herself.
Bang bang! Someone knocked at the door again—it was Li Mumei.
But Ning Qingxue heard nothing. All she could hear was Ye Mo's voice:
"No, that's too expensive."
And her own cold reply:
"It's just a meal. A few thousand yuan, that's all."
A few thousand yuan? That was how many times Ye Mo had to sell blood?
He was still a student. Where else could he get money?
She instinctively pulled out the 2,000 yuan Ye Mo had given her. Only a few hundred remained. She had always found that money dirty. But now, for the first time, she held it and felt pain.
He had stayed outside, under the tree, or on a stone slab, because he had no money.
Xu Wei saw it. Why couldn't I?
I'm sorry, Ye Mo.