Chapter 49 - Seed of doubt

Chapter 49: Chapter 49 - Seed of doubt

Ying Rui remained seated outside the ICU, one hand pressed against his aching forehead.

The words that young man had spoken kept circling inside his head, refusing to leave him alone.

She bullies him.

She tried to kill him.

She tried to have him kidnapped.

Every time he thought about them, his headache seemed to become worse.

Ying Rui slowly lowered his hand and stared blankly at the floor.

"Is it true?"

His voice was so quiet that no one around him could hear.

"Did Yuxin hurt Mao Mao?"

He needed to know.

He needed to confirm it himself.

For most of his life, Ying Rui had spent more time outside his own home than inside it. His work had always kept him busy, and whenever he did return home, he rarely stayed for more than a day before finding another reason to leave.

But the real reason wasn’t work.

It was Ying Mao.

The little boy reminded him too much of his late wife.

It wasn’t that Ying Mao looked exactly like her. There were only certain things about him, the shape of his eyes, the innocent way he looked at people, and sometimes even the small expressions on his face. Every time Ying Rui looked into those innocent eyes, he was reminded of the woman he had lost.

The guilt inside him became unbearable.

So he stayed away.

He had convinced himself that it was better that way.

Yuxin was Mao Mao’s stepmother, and she was the one who stayed at home. She was the one who took care of the children while he handled the company and everything outside the house.

Whenever he called, she always gave him updates.

"Mao Mao came first in his class again."

"Mao Mao has been playing with his brother lately."

"He likes that game you bought him."

"He ate well today."

Every time he asked how his son was doing, Yuxin had something good to tell him.

Because of that, Ying Rui had never thought there was a problem between them.

He had assumed that Mao Mao and his stepmother had a decent relationship.

Perhaps not a close one, but at least one where the child was cared for.

Now, for the first time, a seed of doubt had been planted in his mind.

Ying Rui reached for his phone.

He immediately called the head butler.

The call connected after only a few rings.

"Master Ying?"

"Has Mao Mao ever been bullied at home?"

There was no hesitation in the butler’s answer.

"No."

Ying Rui’s brows furrowed.

"Mao Mao has always been treated with the utmost care by everyone here. How could he possibly be bullied?"

The butler sounded genuinely confused.

Ying Rui didn’t answer immediately.

He looked toward the ICU doors.

"Are you certain?"

"Yes, sir. The servants have always been instructed to look after Young Master Mao carefully. Nobody would dare mistreat him."

Ying Rui slowly lowered the phone.

The answer should have relieved him.

Instead, the strange feeling inside his chest remained.

If Mao Mao hadn’t been bullied by the servants, then what exactly had happened?

And why had that young man spoken with such certainty?

Ying Rui looked toward the CCTV monitor in the waiting area.

His house had cameras almost everywhere. He had installed them years ago for security, and the footage was continuously recorded.

He immediately accessed the system.

One by one, he began going through the recordings.

Everything appeared normal.

The servants moved around the house as usual. Ying Mao went about his daily routine. Ying Di was there as well.

Nothing seemed strange.

There were no obvious arguments.

No one appeared to be hurting Mao Mao.

Ying Rui continued watching.

Minutes became hours.

His eyes eventually became dry and sore, but he refused to stop.

He rewound certain parts and watched them again.

Still nothing.

Everything looked calm.

Almost too calm.

Ying Rui leaned back in his chair and rubbed his tired eyes.

"Then why..."

His voice trailed off.

Why would Jua Haisin lie?

He had no reason to make such an accusation.

Ying Rui had barely spoken to that young man before today. There was no reason for him to deliberately create trouble between him and Yuxin.

But if the cameras showed nothing unusual, then what was he supposed to believe?

His gaze slowly moved toward the glass door of the ICU.

Through it, he could see Jua sitting beside Ying Mao’s bed.

The young man was holding his son’s small hand carefully between both of his own.

He looked tired.

His pale face still carried traces of worry, but he hadn’t left Ying Mao’s side for even a moment.

Ying Rui stared at the scene for a long time.

There was something about the way Jua looked at his son that made him feel strangely guilty.

It wasn’t the look of someone pretending to care.

He genuinely cared about Mao Mao.

Perhaps even more than Ying Rui himself had.

Ying Rui lowered his gaze.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was missing something.

There had to be more.

If the cameras showed nothing, then perhaps he simply hadn’t been looking in the right places.

He needed to know what happened inside his own house.

Ying Rui took out his phone again.

One by one, he began cancelling every meeting scheduled for the next few weeks.

His secretary called almost immediately, asking if something had happened.

"Cancel everything."

"But, President Ying, some of these meetings have already been arranged—"

"I said cancel them."

His tone left no room for argument.

There was silence on the other end.

Then the secretary quietly agreed.

Ying Rui ended the call and looked once again through the glass door.

His son was still sleeping.

Jua was still sitting beside him, quietly watching over him.

Ying Rui leaned back against the waiting chair and closed his eyes.

"For once..."

He murmured softly.

"I’ll see what happens under my own roof."

He had spent years avoiding his own home.

This time, he would stay.

He would watch.

And he would find out exactly what had been happening to his son.

A few hours later, Ying Rui finally stood up from the waiting chair.

He had been sitting there for so long that his back was beginning to ache, but he didn’t seem to notice. His eyes remained fixed on the ICU door before he finally glanced toward the young man sitting inside.

Jua Gu had barely moved.

He had been beside Ying Mao the entire time, occasionally checking the boy’s face and adjusting his blanket whenever it slipped down.

Ying Rui walked to the hospital canteen and returned a short while later carrying two meals.

He stopped beside Jua and placed one of the boxes on the small table.

"Eat."

Jua looked up at him.

Ying Rui pointed toward the food.

"You haven’t eaten anything since coming here. You should eat and rest properly."

Jua stared at him blankly for a moment before looking down at the meal.

He opened the container without saying anything and began eating.

Ying Rui sat down opposite him.

For a while, neither of them spoke.

Jua ate with surprising gusto, as though he hadn’t eaten in days. His cheeks puffed slightly as he chewed, completely ignoring the man sitting across from him.

Ying Rui watched him for a few moments.

Then Jua suddenly looked up.

"I’m interested in men."

Ying Rui’s expression didn’t change.

"I know."

Jua narrowed his eyes slightly.

"But I’m not interested in your sons."

There was a faint frown on his face, as though he had become tired of having to explain the same thing.

"So don’t send me away."

Ying Rui remained silent.

"Mao Mao needs me," Jua continued. "And so does Ying Di. I have to be there to protect them."

There was no hesitation in his voice.

He said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Ying Rui quietly watched him continue eating.

There was something strange about this young man.

He had just accused Ying Rui of being a failure of a father, yet he was sitting in front of him eating hospital food without the slightest trace of fear.

Most people would have been nervous around him.

Jua didn’t seem to care.

After a while, Ying Rui asked, "What are your future plans?"

Jua looked up.

"Future plans?"

"College. Work. Something like that."

Jua swallowed his food and thought for a moment.

"No plans."

Ying Rui raised a brow.

"No?"

"I just want to watch Mao Mao grow up healthy and happy. That’s all."

His expression softened slightly when he mentioned the boy.

"As for studying, I’m not interested."

Ying Rui stared at him for a moment.

"You’re only being financially taken care of because you’re young."

Jua continued eating.

"Once you turn twenty, that will stop. What will you do then?"

Jua paused.

He slowly looked up at him and raised one eyebrow.

"I don’t know."

Ying Rui waited.

Jua shrugged.

"I’ll survive somehow."

The answer was so casual that Ying Rui almost didn’t know how to respond.

"You’ve never thought about it?"

"No."

"What if you can’t find work?"

"I’ll find something."

"What if you don’t have enough money?"

"I’ll figure it out."

Ying Rui stared at him.

The young man’s confidence was strange.

He wasn’t saying these things because he had some carefully prepared plan for his future. He genuinely didn’t seem to care much about what happened to himself.

His only concern seemed to be the two children.

Ying Rui’s gaze slowly shifted toward the ICU door.

"You really care about them."

Jua glanced toward Ying Mao.

"Of course I do."

He picked up another dumpling from the box and ate it.

"They’re good kids."

There was a brief silence.

Ying Rui looked at the young man sitting across from him.

For the first time, he wondered just how much he had missed while staying away from home.

He had spent years believing that providing money, arranging a comfortable home, and asking someone else to take care of his children was enough.

Yet now a young man who had nothing to gain from it was sitting beside his son’s hospital bed, refusing to leave.

Ying Rui lowered his eyes.

Perhaps he really did need to stay home for a while.

Perhaps there were things he needed to see with his own eyes.