Chapter 058 I Will Not Be a Father

He Yunqing gazed at the baby’s pure and innocent smile, and couldn’t help but let the corners of his lips lift into the faintest trace of a smile. The warmth that unconsciously flowed from his eyes was enough to make the coldest frost thaw and the deepest snow melt.

Jiang Yao watched the harmonious and tender scene before her, momentarily lost in thought.

He Yunqing lifted his eyes with quiet composure, catching Jiang Yao’s expression with precise clarity. “Would you like to hold him?” he asked.

Jiang Yao quickly shook her head. “I can’t, I… ”

Before she could finish, the infant was already in her arms.

She cradled the child gingerly, terrified that any misstep might harm him. Yet as she stared into those guileless, trusting eyes, even her own lips betrayed her by curling into a gentle smile.

There is nothing in this world more sacred than a child.

In every child’s heart dwells a deity, untouched by the chaos and impurities of the world.

Jiang Yao cherished this feeling.

When she was a child herself, she had already lost the right to truly be a child.

She often wondered what sort of world it was, the world that belonged solely to children.

Cradled in her arms, the infant fell asleep without even realizing it.

With stiff, cautious movements, Jiang Yao quietly laid the baby back in the crib, tiptoed to a chair nearby and sat down, as if she had accomplished some momentous task. She exhaled a long breath.

“It’s not so hard after all, is it?” she said, grinning wide.

He Yunqing made no comment, simply sat beside her, pulling out his phone and burying himself in research on childcare.

Jiang Yao tilted her head, watching his serious expression, and couldn’t help but sigh. “He Yunqing, if you ever become a father, you’ll certainly be a good one.”

He Yunqing put away his phone, glanced sidelong at her, and leaned his upright frame gently back. “I will never be a father.”

“Huh?” Jiang Yao was taken aback. “Why?”

Her first thought was…

She opened her mouth, “Don’t tell me you…”

He Yunqing’s eyes grew cold and sharp; he shot her a sideways glance.

Jiang Yao closed her mouth, pursed her lips in disappointment, and after a moment added, “It’s all right, your family runs a hospital after all. With how advanced medicine is these days, so many illnesses that used to be incurable can now be treated.”

A hospital?

He Yunqing couldn’t help but think of He Huaian’s somewhat aged face.

He didn’t want to see that face again, not even in memory.

At least He Huaian still had the chance to grow old.

He wondered, if his mother had lived, what she would have become. She had loved beauty—would she have occasionally fretted over a new wrinkle on her face?

But there were no more what-ifs.

His mother, and his little sister who had barely been born, were both gone forever.

Jiang Yao watched as He Yunqing’s expression grew colder and more severe, inch by inch, until it seemed to freeze the very air.

She instinctively moved her chair farther away from him. “No wonder, with all your qualities, you don’t even have a girlfriend. All right, all right, I won’t say another word. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

He Yunqing suddenly glared at her.

Was that really the reason he didn’t have a girlfriend?

“You’d better tell everyone!” He Yunqing retorted icily.

“What is wrong with you…” Jiang Yao began.

Perhaps their voices had grown too loud, for the baby in the crib woke and began to wail.

Jiang Yao rubbed her head and went over to the crib. “Is he hungry? I’ll go make him some formula.”

After searching for a good while, she finally found everything she needed, prepared the formula according to the instructions, and when she turned back, she saw that He Yunqing was already holding the baby again.

She handed the bottle to He Yunqing.

He Yunqing carefully tested the temperature before feeding the child.

The baby, content with the bottle, quieted almost immediately and began to drink happily.

It didn’t take long for the bottle to be emptied.

Jiang Yao went to wash the bottle while He Yunqing put the baby down again.

No sooner had he set the child down than the crying resumed.

“What now?” Jiang Yao said helplessly, hands on her hips as she looked at the infant.

She was beginning to realize that caring for a child was no simple task.

The baby’s cries were even more terrifying than the alarm on a Monday morning.

He Yunqing had no choice but to pick the child up again. Strangely, the moment the baby was in his arms, the crying stopped.

Jiang Yao clicked her tongue. It seemed this child simply liked being held.

He Yunqing paced back and forth, rocking the baby until he drifted off to sleep again, then gently laid him down.

But as soon as he did, the baby woke and began to cry anew.

“Let me try this time,” Jiang Yao said, waving her hand.

She picked up the baby and, copying He Yunqing, walked around the room, but the cries only grew louder.

Jiang Yao was at her wits’ end, looking to He Yunqing for help.

He Yunqing had no choice but to take the baby again. The moment he did, the baby quieted.

“Hey, you little rascal!” Jiang Yao scolded with a mock-stern face. “Are you picking favorites already?”

The two of them tended to the baby until evening, when finally, exhausted from fussing, the child fell asleep alone in the crib.

Jiang Yao and He Yunqing lay side by side in their chairs, staring wearily up at the ceiling.

“How can someone so tiny have so much energy?” Jiang Yao murmured, her eyes glazed with fatigue.

He Yunqing simply grunted, not wanting to waste a single extra word.

Taking care of a baby was far more exhausting than anything he had endured in the dance studio—not just physically, but emotionally.

So, when Mr. Zhou returned late that night, he found two people gently leaning against each other, fast asleep.

“Ahem.” Mr. Zhou cleared his throat.

He Yunqing woke first. He glanced at the still-sleeping Jiang Yao, then made a silent gesture for Mr. Zhou to keep quiet.

Mr. Zhou smiled knowingly and lowered his voice. “My fiancée told me what happened—thank you both so much.”

He Yunqing nodded lightly. “The child is yours now.”

Mr. Zhou nodded, turning to gaze at the peacefully sleeping baby. “She fell after drinking too much, didn’t she?”

It wasn’t hard to guess, considering the empty bottles strewn about.

“Yes.”

Mr. Zhou sighed. “She’s had a hard time. This child isn’t ours, but belongs to my sister, who died in a car accident. My fiancée originally refused my proposal, but because of this baby, she said she wanted to give the poor child a complete family.”

He Yunqing hadn’t expected there to be such a story behind it all.

He nodded thoughtfully. “I wish you happiness.”

Mr. Zhou shook his head. “She has someone else in her heart, someone she wants to find but can’t bring herself to look for. After all these years, I’ve never truly entered her heart.”

“Forgive me for oversharing,” Mr. Zhou said, glancing back at He Yunqing with a smile. “It’s late, and you two haven’t eaten yet, have you? Why don’t I treat you to a midnight snack?”

“Midnight snack?” muttered Jiang Yao, who sneezed in her sleep and suddenly woke.