The night was unusually quiet in City A. A thin drizzle coated the streets in a shimmering glow. Mu Yichen clutched her thin jacket around her shoulders as she hurried back from the late-night diner where she worked part-time. Her shoes were worn and her fingers freezing, but she didn't mind.
She had bought dinner for grandma from a roadside shop with the money she earned today. As long as Grandma was okay, everything else could wait.
At just twenty-one, Mu Yichen's life had never been easy. She lost both parents in a car crash when she was only five. Since then, her grandmother, Old Madam Mu, had raised her with trembling hands and endless sacrifices. To Yichen, that frail old woman wasn't just a grandmother. She was mother, father, and family all in one.
She could still recall those early days. Grandma carrying heavy baskets of vegetables to the market, her back bent but her eyes shining with determination. Nights when there wasn't enough rice to eat, yet Grandma would always smile and say she wasn't hungry, just so Yichen could finish her small bowl.
A faint smile tugged at her lips at the memory. She had promised herself: One day, I'll make enough money to give Grandma the life she deserves.
But fate had other plans.
By the time she reached their small apartment complex, the drizzle had turned into steady rain. She shook the droplets from her hair and pushed open the door.
"Grandma, I'm home," she called softly.
Silence.
Normally, Old Madam Mu would be waiting on the couch, knitting or watching old dramas. But tonight, there was no reply. A strange dread pricked at Yichen's chest. She walked further in, setting down her bag.
"Grandma?"
Then she saw it.
On the floor near the kitchen, Old Madam Mu lay collapsed, her gray hair scattered across the tiles, her face deathly pale. A pool of water spread nearby from a broken teacup.
"Grandma!"
Yichen rushed forward, dropping to her knees. She shook the frail body desperately. "Grandma, wake up! Please don't scare me!"
Her grandmother's breaths were shallow, her lips slightly blue.
Hands trembling, Yichen fumbled for her phone and dialed the emergency line. Her voice broke as she screamed, "Help! Please send an ambulance! My grandmother collapsed. She's not breathing properly!"
The next thirty minutes blurred into chaos. Sirens wailed as paramedics burst into the apartment, lifting Old Madam Mu onto a stretcher. Yichen clung to her grandmother's hand, her own tears mixing with the rain as she stumbled after them into the ambulance.
"Hang on, Grandma. Please. You can't leave me. You're all I have."
Inside the ambulance, a medic pressed an oxygen mask to Old Madam Mu's face, his tone urgent. "Blood pressure's dropping. Possible brain hemorrhage. We need the operating room ready now."
Yichen's stomach dropped. Brain hemorrhage. Surgery. Her mind reeled as the medic adjusted tubes and wires, his face grim.
At the hospital, fluorescent lights blinded her as doctors wheeled her grandmother away. Yichen tried to follow, but a nurse blocked her.
"Family, please wait outside. The doctors will assess her condition."
She collapsed into a plastic chair in the corridor, trembling. Every tick of the clock echoed like a hammer against her heart.
Finally, a doctor approached. His expression was heavy, his eyes cold with clinical detachment.
"Are you the patient's family?"
"Yes, I'm her granddaughter. How is she? Please tell me she's okay."
The doctor sighed. "The patient has suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. She needs immediate surgery within hours. Otherwise, the bleeding will worsen, and she won't survive."
Yichen's lips parted, but no words came out. "Surgery? Then do it! Please save her!"
The doctor's gaze hardened. "We require a deposit of two million yuan before we can begin. Please proceed to the cashier immediately."
Her ears rang. Two million. Two million yuan.
Yichen pulled out her bank card. There was barely fifty thousand inside. Even if she sold every item in their apartment, it would never be enough.
Her phone slipped from her hands as despair overwhelmed her. Images of her grandmother raising her flashed before her eyes. The warm meals. The lullabies. The countless nights she stayed awake by her sickbed.
And now, when Grandma needed her the most, she was helpless.
"No… no, I can't lose her. I won't lose her."
She called relatives, but one by one, they gave excuses. Old classmates hung up after awkward silences. Colleagues avoided her calls.
Tears streamed down her face as she slumped against the cold hospital wall. "Why… why is there no one?"
Inside the ICU, machines beeped steadily, keeping her grandmother alive. Yichen pressed her forehead to the glass window, sobbing. "Grandma… just wait a little longer. I'll find the money somehow. I swear."
Her phone buzzed. This time, she didn't call anyone. Her trembling fingers hovered over a single saved contact she hadn't dialed in three years.
Shen Yixuan.
Her chest tightened painfully.
He wasn't just the powerful CEO of the Shen Group. He was the man who had once held her hand under the university stars, whispered dreams of forever, and then shattered her heart without reason.
She hadn't seen him since. She had spent years hating the cold look in his eyes the night he broke her.
But now… her grandmother's life was slipping away. Pride meant nothing in the face of death.
Her fingers trembled as she pulled out her phone. Her thumb hovered over the number she had sworn never to dial again.
If you still have even a trace of humanity left, Shen Yixuan…
"…You're the only one who can save her."