A Heartless Omega Regrets It When I’m Dying - Chapter 25
After her vital signs were measured, Lin Wantang was assigned a bed in a single-patient room.
For most of the time thereafter, she was the only person in the room. The attending physician would occasionally push open the door, ask a few questions about her medical history, allergies, and current medications, jot them down on a clipboard, and then leave.
Once the door closed, the entire room returned to silence.
It was so quiet that she could even hear the sound of her own breathing.
Fortunately, during this observation period in a general ward, the use of mobile phones was not prohibited. Lin Wantang picked up her phone, intending to browse recent news to pass the time.
The screen lit up, and news notifications scrolled down one by one. Lin Wantang flipped through them aimlessly, not caring what the news was actually about, simply wanting to get through this long and tedious time.
She suddenly stopped at an entertainment news item, her fingertip hovering over the screen without continuing to slide down.
This was actually a very ordinary push notification; the general idea was to congratulate a certain actor from a certain production crew on successfully wrapping up their scenes, accompanied by several pictures of the actor in costume holding flowers and smiling at the camera.
If the name of the drama and the character had not been so familiar, she would not have paid attention to such trivial entertainment news.
Time really flies.
If she hadn’t been replaced back then, her wrap-up day should have been even a few days earlier than the actor in this news.
But there are no “ifs.” She had actually conditioned herself to stop looking back at this matter, but seeing this wrap-up notification so suddenly still made her feel a bit sad.
She didn’t know if it would be possible for her to continue acting in the future—in fact, there might not even be a “future.”
Like a stranded ship with its anchor sunk deep in the mud, she didn’t know if there would be another chance to sail back into the sea.
Lin Wantang remained silent for a moment and then turned off her phone, stopping herself from thinking about these pessimistic things.
Just as she placed her phone on the bedside table, the doorbell rang.
Lin Wantang thought it was a nurse on a routine check-up and didn’t pay much attention. During her stay, she had become familiar with the various rhythms of the doorbell.
She lowered her eyes, her fingertips unconsciously stroking the white bedsheet, her gaze fixed on a point in the void.
The door to the ward was gently pushed open, and a familiar voice came from the doorway.
Lin Wantang looked up abruptly, a lingering daze still in her eyes that she hadn’t had time to pull back.
“Wantang, your mothers have come to visit you.”
It was a very gentle voice filled with a smile, ringing in her ears again after many years. Hearing it once more, Lin Wantang froze for a moment, not knowing how to react.
As Lin Shen finished speaking, she had already walked to the side of the hospital bed. She discreetly scanned the ward, slowly leaned over, and then took hold of Lin Wantang’s hand that was resting outside the covers.
Shi Cen stood inside the ward door but quite far away. After entering, she only moved a few steps toward the bed before stopping. Her beautiful brows were slightly furrowed, as if she were enduring something.
Lin Wantang did not speak. Her cool hand was held by Lin Shen’s, transferring the warmth from Lin Shen’s palm; for a moment, she felt dazed.
When she was young, she had always hoped her mother would stroke her forehead or hold her hand the way she did with Shi Huan, but she rarely had her wish fulfilled. Now, being treated this way after becoming an adult, she still felt a surge of instinctive attachment just as she had in her childhood.
But after all, she was no longer an ignorant child.
Rising along with that attachment was a hint of suspicion.
Lin Shen rarely cared about her; ever since the college entrance exam, she felt she had fulfilled her responsibilities. So why would she suddenly find out she was ill and come to visit after so many years?
It was just that the afternoon sunlight diffused through the white curtains, casting a soft halo on Lin Shen’s concerned and worried face—the very look Lin Wantang had yearned for as a child but had never actually seen.
Lin Wantang’s hand was held tighter and tighter, her palm growing warm. Like a withered leaf that had hung on a branch in late autumn for too long, she was finally enveloped by warm sunlight.
Perhaps people who are ill are psychologically more fragile.
Those habitually erected defenses and unyielding instincts receded like the tide at this moment. Lin Wantang did not pull away; she just lay there quietly, looking at Lin Shen.
“Tangtang, how did you become so thin? Mama is truly heartbroken.”
Lin Shen never let go of Lin Wantang’s hand. It was just that after so many years, she didn’t remember exactly how she should address her, so she simply called her by her nickname.
Her gaze remained fixed on Lin Wantang’s face, just like using a key that hadn’t been used for years—trying to insert it into the lock, turning it gently, and then observing if it could open.
“It’s alright.”
Lin Wantang tried to pull her hand out of Lin Shen’s grasp, but she couldn’t move it; instead, Lin Shen held on even tighter.
“I had my assistant bring some nutritional supplements.” Lin Shen lowered her head, closing the distance between herself and Lin Wantang: “Wantang, you are too sensible, so Mama has always been very reassured about you all these years.”
She paused, her voice continuing to drop: “I didn’t expect you to suddenly fall ill with this kind of disease…”
Lin Wantang didn’t answer again; she didn’t quite know how to face this version of Lin Shen.
The atmosphere drifted in, yet it also felt as though it were frozen in place.
“Wantang, Mama hasn’t been able to sleep or eat well since hearing you were ill.” Her voice carried the weight of her words: “I will have you transferred to another hospital and contact better experts to treat you. It’s just that recently, I have also run into some difficulties on my end.”
“It’s okay.” Lin Wantang’s lips curved slightly, her smile very faint, as if she had finally heard familiar words: “I can understand.”
She knew that a mother like this would always feel a bit of a guilty conscience if she let her daughter fend for herself. So, making a special trip to visit like this would provide comfort later on.
To Lin Wantang’s surprise, however, Lin Shen did not leave—she even continued to hold her hand.
If it weren’t for the fact that Lin Wantang was visibly physically weak at this moment, she would have fled the very next second.
Lin Shen paused, her gaze sweeping over the indifferent Shi Cen not far away, and then pulled it back.
“Wantang,” her voice grew even softer: “Can you help Mama this once? If you are willing to help, Mama can come and spend more time with you in the future. We are mother and daughter; we should support each other, right?”
Lin Wantang lowered her eyes, her gaze falling on Lin Shen’s equally slender knuckles. This hand was holding so tight, as if truly afraid of losing something.
But in all these years, this was the first time this hand had held on so tightly, yet it was only to use her.
All the faint illusions about her mother that had remained in her heart from childhood washed over the beach like the last wave of a receding tide and then vanished completely, leaving nothing behind in the end.
She could not possibly help Lin Shen, but she was curious as to what matter Lin Shen could not solve herself and instead had to use blood relations as a rope to force a daughter she hadn’t seen in years to help.
“Is there anything I can help with?”
Lin Wantang spoke quietly, and soon saw part of Lin Shen’s worried face gradually replaced by expectation and joy.
“Actually, for you, it isn’t a particularly difficult thing.” Lin Shen’s speaking speed gradually increased. “Wen Zhiqing wants to acquire our group recently. Can you help Mama persuade her to change her mind?”
She paused and added: “Of course, it would be best if she could give up the idea of acquisition. If that’s truly not possible, when the personnel structure is adjusted after the acquisition, can our positions be retained?”
Lin Shen’s entire face was occupied by fervent hope. Lin Wantang looked at her and understood that Lin Shen must truly be at the end of her rope now to be so desperate as to seek help in such a manner.
Even if she hadn’t divorced, it would be impossible for her to influence Wen Zhiqing’s thoughts.
Lin Shen was truly being somewhat delusional.
“This is Wen Zhiqing’s work; I have no way to interfere.”
Lin Wantang stopped speaking after saying this. Having learned the purpose of Lin Shen’s visit, she no longer wanted to waste time talking to her.
“How could there be no way to interfere? Before…” Lin Shen suddenly paused for a moment and quickly masked it with a smile: “You’ve been married for so many years, and you are her Alpha. Isn’t it perfectly normal for her to listen to your thoughts?”
She was still holding Lin Wantang’s hand, but the posture was more like gripping Lin Wantang’s abnormally thin wrist due to illness, as if a drowning person had caught the only floating piece of wood: “Mama knows you are a sensible child. Just help Mama this once, okay?”
Lin Wantang looked very seriously at the posture of the mother before her. There were some fine wrinkles on Lin Shen’s face, and a strand of silver-white had appeared in her hair; she realized that Lin Shen had also grown old.
It was just that the way she treated her was still like treating a young child—clearly using her, yet still having to put on the cloak of love first.
Lin Wantang originally wanted to press the bell to call a nurse to ask these two people to leave so they wouldn’t disturb her rest anymore. But that hand ultimately stayed where it was and did not rise.
She thought of a better way.
She looked at Lin Shen, her tone as calm as if she were stating something unrelated to herself: “Mama was able to find out I have a terminal illness; did she not find out that Wen Zhiqing and I are already divorced?”
The expression on Lin Shen’s face froze for an instant; she indeed had not found any news of Wen Zhiqing’s marital change. She even suspected that this daughter she hadn’t seen in years was lying.
But Lin Wantang had never lied to her.
“We divorced just a few days ago.” Lin Wantang smiled: “Besides, looking at this ward, one can guess, right? Would President Wen let her partner have surgery in a place like this?”
Based on Wen Zhiqing’s style of doing things, she indeed would not.
Lin Shen had only scouted news saying that Wen Zhiqing had recently gathered the world’s top specialists in gland departments and had even persuaded the founder of pheromone disorder treatment to come out of retirement. She followed this lead all the way, and only by following the trail did she find out her daughter was suffering from a terminal gland disease.
But this hospital could only be considered ordinary in all of North City, and looking around the ward, she found nothing special about it; Lin Wantang indeed had not enjoyed any of those top-tier medical resources.
Lin Shen began to waver; Lin Wantang’s state indeed looked more like someone left to fend for themselves in this ordinary hospital.
If her daughter had already divorced Wen Zhiqing, then this day had been wasted for nothing. Lin Shen’s gaze moved away from Lin Wantang’s face and fell toward the window. She thought she must find a new way out as quickly as possible.
She let go of the hand that had been clutching Lin Wantang’s fingers.
“Wantang, then you rest peacefully. Mama won’t disturb your rest anymore.”
As she spoke, the fervent glow on her face faded bit by bit, until only a gray, defeated undertone remained.
Lin Wantang pulled her hand back under the covers and nodded politely as a way of seeing her out.
Shi Cen was the first to push the door and leave. Lin Shen followed behind her, gently closing the door after walking out.
The ward returned to silence, leaving Lin Wantang alone.
Lin Wantang let out a long breath. She didn’t feel lonely; she only hoped that no one other than medical staff would come to disturb her again.
But things went against her wishes; the doorbell rang again soon.
It rang only once. After that, there was no sound of the door opening, no footsteps, and no one spoke. It seemed more like someone who had pressed the wrong doorbell, realized they had found the wrong ward, and then quietly left.
Lin Wantang withdrew her gaze from the ward door.
She was a bit tired; she was already weak after being hospitalized, and Lin Shen had drained too much of her energy.
Lin Wantang closed her eyes, wanting to sleep peacefully for a while.
But just then, the doorknob turned once, slowly revealing a crack. As the crack grew wider and wider, she saw a familiar face outside the door.
Lin Wantang was jolted awake.
She watched Wen Zhiqing walking closer and closer to her, and her heart began to throb.
Clearly, Wen Zhiqing didn’t even know she was ill until the divorce; why would she appear in this ordinary ward at this moment?
Besides, Lin Shen and Shi Cen had only just left not too long ago; she didn’t know if Wen Zhiqing had encountered them.
Lin Wantang’s fingertips were trembling slightly.
She was very afraid, but Wen Zhiqing didn’t say a single word.
The Omega’s face was pale. The sunlight through the curtains shone on her face, making it look like beautiful white porcelain with a bright glaze. But her gaze did not fall on Lin Wantang; instead, she stared blankly at the white curtains.
Everything here was too similar to her dream.
It was so similar that she felt a bit dazed, unable to distinguish whether she was currently awake or still in that dream.
After a long time, Wen Zhiqing’s deep black eyes finally moved away from the curtains and slowly looked at Lin Wantang. Those eyes were as black as a bottomless pool; when light fell into them, it was swallowed up, reflecting nothing.
Lin Wantang tried her best to control herself and remain calm, but her palms were already seeping with cold sweat, and her fingertips were trembling slightly with cold.
Whether during hospitalization or surgery, causing a medical accident would be far too easy for Wen Zhiqing.
Wen Zhiqing could absolutely take her life just as she had taken her role—if she wanted to.
She had bet everything and spent all she had, selling every asset under her name, to finally scrape together this surgical fee and finally have a tiny bit of a possibility to continue living.
But Wen Zhiqing had come again.
Lin Wantang had always been a materialist. But when a person is ill, they are more sensitive and prone to overthinking than usual. she couldn’t help but think it was the same every time in the past—every time she kindled hope and was about to touch the light, she would fall into a deeper valley than before, more or less because of Wen Zhiqing.
She didn’t know exactly how much Wen Zhiqing hated her. Clearly they were already divorced, yet Wen Zhiqing still pursued her to this ordinary ward, chasing her to cut off her last path.
Lin Wantang trembled even more violently, fear mixed with anger; she couldn’t even think as rationally as before.
“Are you cold?”
Wen Zhiqing saw Lin Wantang’s body shivering slightly and instinctively thought she was still too cold, so she looked around for a way to raise the room temperature.
She was also very exhausted at this moment. While unconscious, she had undergone another physical examination, but it only detected minor issues like a slight increase in white blood cell count due to temporary fluctuations in immune strength.
No one knew the real reason why Wen Zhiqing had fainted. Everyone was guessing that President Wen might have worked too long on the acquisition plan without a break, so her body couldn’t hold up.
Only Wen Zhiqing knew it wasn’t like that.
But she hadn’t figured out the real reason herself—or rather, she simply didn’t have time to think about it.
Because all her thoughts collapsed in the same direction, finally leaving only one thought: that Lin Wantang might die.
But she had seen Lin Wantang just a few days ago; she had touched Lin Wantang’s cool fingertips and remembered the way Lin Wantang lowered her eyes and seriously wrote her name with a pen.
Those memories were all still there, and they were so clear, like things that had happened just yesterday. But the person in those memories might die on a certain day.
Perhaps on some day in the future, she would never see Lin Wantang again.
This possibility sparked an unprovoked fear in Wen Zhiqing. she couldn’t think rationally about anything and could only constantly urge her subordinates to gather the world’s top specialists in the gland department at any cost.
As for herself, she had to see Lin Wantang in person. This liar used to be so good at making a fuss and playing the victim, but now that she had such a disease, she remained silent—she was probably already terrified out of her wits.
At this moment, Wen Zhiqing was still persistently looking for a way to adjust the room temperature. She hadn’t used this kind of old-fashioned air conditioner and didn’t know how to adjust it. But Lin Wantang was lying weakly on the bed shivering; she couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.
“I’m not cold.”
Lin Wantang was silent for a while and then said softly.
“Actually, I’m just a bit afraid.” Lin Wantang paused for a bit, as if organizing her words: “I always thought you didn’t know. But actually, we are already divorced, and I won’t interfere with you anymore, right?”
Wen Zhiqing looked at Lin Wantang. Lin Wantang seemed a bit urgent, a faint flush rising on her pathologically pale face, like a stroke of water-dyed cinnabar spreading on rice paper.
But she didn’t understand what Lin Wantang was actually saying. Those words fell into her ears, yet she couldn’t piece together a complete meaning no matter what.
“Truly. I was only an eighteenth-tier minor actress to begin with, and the role in the last drama I filmed was also taken away. Even if I am lucky enough to survive, I probably won’t have any roles to play.”
There was a faint layer of shimmering moisture in Lin Wantang’s eyes, and her voice was a bit raspy: “No one knows you once had a failed marriage. The success rate of this surgery is only 10% to begin with. Please just show some mercy and let me go this once, okay?”
These reasons drifted out of Lin Wantang’s mind in a panic and then formed into words; there wasn’t even complete logic between the sentences, like catkins flying wildly in the wind. She didn’t know which ones might be able to persuade Wen Zhiqing and which ones were useless, so she could only list them all one by one.
Wen Zhiqing was still silent.
Lin Wantang’s broken sentences fell into her ears, slowly piecing together a blurred meaning. She seemed to understand, yet felt it was too absurd.
She still didn’t seem to quite understand.
Was Lin Wantang worried that she might hinder the smooth progress of the surgery, and was thus bitterly pleading with her?
This was too far-fetched.
How could she possibly do such a thing?
How could she… how could she not want Lin Wantang to live?
Wen Zhiqing wasn’t sure if she had misunderstood. She stood there numbly, not knowing how to react for a moment.
“Today I saw a wrap-up special; that was the role you used five times the investment to replace me from.” Lin Wantang’s voice was very soft: “That role no longer belongs to me; I truly have nothing left anymore.”
“Right now, I just want to live. In the future, I can stop acting; I really won’t get in your way anymore.”
Wen Zhiqing only felt a dull pain coming from the depths of her heart, as if a sharp axe were hitting her heart from the inside bit by bit. She opened her mouth, but could say nothing. She didn’t know how to defend herself.
But the current Lin Wantang was too agitated; she couldn’t just not respond.
“I didn’t.”
Exerting all the strength in her body, she could only squeeze out three words to argue amidst the intense pain.
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