Chapter 1 The Poor Do Not Deserve to Live

In a noisy corner of the ward, a little girl of only three or four years old curled up on a hospital bed. Her small hand covered her stomach, and her dirty little face was filled with grievance and pain.

By the bedside, the young Zhan Yun's eyes were bloodshot as he watched his daughter An'an in discomfort, his heart aching to the point of suffocation.

"Damn heaven, why should An'an suffer like this! If anything, let it come at me!" Zhan Yun roared in his heart.

"Daddy, An'an's tummy hurts so much, is An'an going to die? An'an heard people say when you die, you can't see anything anymore, An'an is afraid of the dark..."

An'an's soft murmur pierced Zhan Yun's heart. He clenched his fists so tightly that his fingernails nearly pierced his palms.

But in front of An'an, Zhan Yun could only endure his pain, squeezing out a smile on his face, "Don't be afraid, An'an. You won't die. As long as Daddy is here, nothing will happen to you."

An'an blinked at Zhan Yun, "Mm, An'an believes in Daddy. When An'an's illness is cured, I will help Daddy with work."

After saying that, An'an gently closed her eyes and tilted her head, resting her little face on the back of Zhan Yun's hand. Only in this way could she feel a little more comfortable.

At that moment, a nurse pushed the door and entered. The noisy ward suddenly quieted down a bit.

Upon entering, the nurse immediately pinched her nose, her face full of disdain, "It stinks to death!"

The nurse, named Tang Yan, always had a foul face for people in the general ward, but most relatives bowed and scraped before her, afraid of offending her.

At this time, Tang Yan walked straight to Zhan Yun and An'an's bedside. Zhan Yun quickly stood up and asked Tang Yan, "Nurse, how is An'an's condition?"

Tang Yan's face was stern as she tossed a bill at Zhan Yun:

"The disease has been diagnosed. She's been poisoned."

"Poison?" Zhan Yun's heart clenched. As expected, the inevitable had come...

Tang Yan then spoke rapidly, "There's only one medicine that can cure this poison. The hospital has a supply of this medicine, and it can save her if you have the money."

After speaking, Tang Yan looked at Zhan Yun with a mocking expression, her demeaning attitude clear in her eyes.

Zhan Yun quickly looked at the bill, five hundred thousand!

At that moment, Zhan Yun's heart felt as if it had been gripped fiercely. So much money, how could he afford it!

And just at that moment, Nurse Tang Yan suddenly said in a sarcastic tone, "Five hundred thousand, tsk tsk... not a small sum. If you don't have the money, you might as well take your child and get lost. Our hospital doesn't take in poor people. Poor souls don't deserve to live in this world."

As Tang Yan's voice dropped, the noisy relatives around them fell silent.

Everyone knew that Tang Yan liked to put on a sour face, but to speak so harshly to a patient's family member was unprecedented.

The whole room suddenly turned their surprised gazes towards Zhan Yun, curious as to what the matter was.

Zhan Yun himself was also stunned. He had not offended this nurse, had he? At this moment, Zhan Yun was very upset, "How can you speak like that?"

But Tang Yan just sneered, "You must be Zhan Yun, huh? Haha, the son-in-law who married into the Feng Family, you are quite famous!"

After Tang Yan finished speaking, other patients' relatives in the ward all suddenly realized, and quickly, many started to point and talk about Zhan Yun:

"So he's that son-in-law Zhan Yun? Haha, that's the biggest joke in Peiyang City! His name really is legendary."

"I heard he's just a good-for-nothing, weak as a kitten, only able to mooch off his wife and barely scrape by, so he became a live-in son-in-law," someone said.

"Hey, don't just casually call him a live-in son-in-law, that's an insult to the term. The typical live-in son-in-law isn't as shameless as he is!" another chimed in.

"Exactly. Back then, in order to become the Feng Family's live-in son-in-law, he knelt outside their front door for three days and nights with a baby that had just been born, making those unaware think the child was Feng Lingxue's own. In reality, she didn't even know him. It's just so shameless."

"Feng Lingxue is famously strong-willed in Peiyang City, the dream lover of many men; I really don't know if she was out of her mind to have agreed to his moving in and even let him bring a child."

Everyone had their say, their faces filled with mockery, each remark more cutting than the last.

Zhan Yun could only clench his fists tightly, because he had no comeback; what they were saying was true.

But what did they know!

In the sickbed, An'an saw everyone laughing at her dad, and she immediately gripped Zhan Yun's hand in fear, "Daddy, I'm scared... I want to go home..."

Zhan Yun hurriedly comforted An'an, "Don't be scared, An'an."

But Tang Yan was still aggressively taunting him, her face full of disgust: "Hey, why don't you take that burden of yours and scram? Without a penny to your name, staying here is useless; we don't do charity work here."

As soon as Tang Yan's voice fell, An'an on the sickbed burst into tears upon hearing someone call her a burden, something that terrified her the most.

An'an had suffered bullying while with Zhan Yun over the years; everyone called her a burden. She hated the nickname, but she was powerless to change it, and all she could do was cry.

Zhan Yun could endure being laughed at and humiliated himself, but An'an was his life. Seeing An'an cry, Zhan Yun couldn't hold back any longer.

At that moment, Zhan Yun stood up abruptly, his fists clenched tight, and he shouted, "Shut your mouth!"

Tang Yan sneered coldly, full of scorn: "What are you acting tough for? When your child is sick, only you stick by her. The Feng Family doesn't see you as human at all. Do you really think they'd cough up five hundred thousand to save your daughter?"

"Without money, the toxin will quickly take her life!"

Tang Yan's words hit Zhan Yun where it hurt the most; he couldn't let his anger interfere with his child's illness.

Frantically, Zhan Yun pulled out his phone, scrolling through his contacts, desperate to borrow money for an emergency.

Tang Yan glanced at Zhan Yun's phone and burst into raucous laughter: "Hahaha... That's hilarious, is that a phone from ten years ago? Where'd you fish out that relic?"

"Pretending to call for help, I don't believe for a second you'll manage to borrow any money!"

The others around also laughed; hardly anyone used such a low-end phone these days.

Someone took pleasure in his misfortune: "To be the Feng Family's live-in son-in-law, yet leading a life even worse than an ordinary person, is quite ironic."

"Easy living off a woman? If you choose that path, you have to kneel down and swallow your pride, no matter how humiliating."

Listening to all this, An'an suddenly covered her face with the blanket and began to sob, chastising herself in between her tears: "Wuu wuu wuu... It's all An'an's fault, An'an shouldn't have gotten sick, it's all my fault, I don't want to get treated..."

Zhan Yun's heart ached, he promptly soothed An'an: "Don't be scared, An'an, daddy will definitely save you, don't be scared..."

As he spoke, Zhan Yun continued to dial numbers, hoping to borrow money.

Then Zhan Yun found his mother-in-law Gao Lan's number. He knew that his mother-in-law had money; at the beginning of the year, she had spent three hundred thousand just on a jade bracelet. If she were willing to help, An'an could be saved.