Mister Li, the Heart Bandit

Panda Novel

Inside the ward of the oncology wing at the hospital.

Beep—Beep—Beep

The machines were operating coldly and mechanically.

However, Mo Bin was longer the Mo Bin Ji Weixi remembered.

The man lying on his sickbed was bony, his eyes sunken and was essentially skin over skeleton. He had lost so much weight that his appearance had changed dramatically.

Mo Nanfeng entered, and softly said, “Dad, look who’s here!”

Mo Bin opened his eyes with much difficulty, but his gaze twinkled when he found Ji Weixi, and he quickly struggled to get up.

Ji Weixi promptly stepped up and held him back. “Please, don’t move.”

Even so, Mo Bin was emotional and his tears were flowing freely. “Weixi, it really is you!”

“Yes, it’s me,” Ji Weixi held his skinny hand, swallowing.

“Ah.” Mo Bin sighed as he watched her. “Four years, four years! Why did you go missing, child? Don’t you know that I’m worried?”

Ji Weixi’s tears began to fall like strings of broken pearls too. “I’m sorry,” she apologized, her voice quivering.

She realized then that there was still a person who was worried about her.

When Mo Bin was about to continue, he realized that a child was behind Ji Weixi and brightened. “Is that… your child?”

Ji Weixi nodded and gave the little one a tug.

The little one called out sweetly. “Hello! I’m Ji Jiayu, I’m four years old!”

Moved, Mo Bin responded to the boy but also suddenly remembered the child’s origins and was left troubled.

He hence dulled as soon as he brightened.

He had heard certain rumors when Ji Weixi was disowned by the Ji family, about how she had slept with an old man.

He certainly did not expect her to be pregnant and also give birth.

Noticing something unusual with Mo Bin, Ji Weixi quickly asked, “Are you feeling uncomfortable?”

Mo Bin recovered, but suddenly felt a gush of something in his throat.

Cough—

He coughed violently, his face red and his eyes slightly bulging.

Suddenly, his eyes widened as he vomited a mouthful of blood.

Ji Weixi went pale-white in fright, but quickly yelled at Mo Nanfeng who was still staring blankly, “Get the doctor now!”

As Mo Nanfeng slow-wittedly ran out of the ward, Ji Weixi watched as Mo Bin, barely staying alive and bled through his mouth.

She kept her hand over her mouth, about to cry.

Meanwhile, the little one mustered his courage and gave rub Mo Bin a rub on his back.

“I’ll help you… Pain, pain, go away!”

Mo Bin looked at his small, tender face. His little dark eyes were clear, bright, and unafraid.

Mo Bin understood instantly then that the child did no wrong.

Raising his hand with much difficulty, he touched the little one’s cheeks, and the boy smiled dazzlingly towards him.

The doctor put an oxygen mask on Mo Bin when he arrived, and gestured for Mo Nanfeng to leave the room for a discussion after a series of checks.

Ji Weixi followed, closing the door behind her.

“You should make funeral arrangements these few days,” the doctor said formally.

Ji Weixi felt as if her brain blew up.

She was left petrified where she was, all of her blood going cold.

Beside her, Mo Nanfeng stayed silent for a while and rubbed away his tears.

“Wei Xi… My father…” Mo Nanfeng looked at Ji Weixi with red eyes. “Is there no way to save him?”

JI Weixi turned away and wiped her tears, unwilling to respond to him.

Mo Nanfeng hung his head, smiling bitterly. “I really don’t know what I should do if he dies.”

Then, he held his head, his face tightening in pain as he kept himself from crying. “Weixi, you’re all I have left if Father dies… how am I going to live!”

“Don’t you have a company.” Ji Weixi sneered.

“No!” Mo Nanfeng suddenly looked up and grabbed Ji Weixi by the shoulder, breathing hard as he spouted every kind of nonsense, making himself sound at once rushed and vague.

“It’s not like that, Weixi… actually, Mo Group was bankrupt… yes, it was already bankrupt a long time ago, that’s why Father was admitted to hospital, but I never expect him to have lung cancer too… Weixi, I know I lied, but I didn’t tell you because I’m afraid you can’t accept me… Weixi, my father had been good to you, right? What about me? I was good to you too, it’s just that… I might have been fooled for a moment… which is, which is why I left you. Even so, I still hold you in my heart! I would die for you as long as you would be with me!”

Then, a calculating look appeared beneath his eyes even as he looked at her longingly like a poor puppy. “So… please consider this repaying my father and his goodwill… please get Li Shaoling to restore Mo Group, alright? I promise that I’ll marry you when the company is on the right track, and I’ll raise your son as my own. Okay?!”

His crafty lies left Ji Weixi utterly disgusted.

Her eyes were cold as she stared at his begging face, and she realized then that she finally knew him.

“You’re so selfish, Mo Nanfeng.” Ji Weixi laughed icily. “So your goal wasn’t to let me see your father, but to try to win my pity and revive Mo Group. Would you really marry me even if Mo Group is back on track?”

Mo Nanfeng nodded and solemnly vowed, “Of course I’ll marry you! You’re all I think off.”

JI Weixi snorted. “Stop pretending, Mo Nanfeng. You must have convinced yourself with your acting—would you even spare me a thought when you are chairman again? Don’t make me laugh! You would chase me away because of a few words from Ji Jianing before, and now you are trying to use me for your own gain… eventually, you are going to kill me over your selfish desires.”

After a pause, she pushed him away, took a step back and kept her distance. “A man like you deserves no happiness, Mo Nanfeng! Your father is dying, and yet you use him to satisfy your personal desire. You disgust me.”

With that, she turned to leave, but Mo Nanfeng panickily caught her.

“Weixi, it’s not like that…”

She promptly turned and slapped him viciously on the face.

“Mo Nanfeng, I came to the hospital only to see your father. Would I have come if it was just for you? Who do you think you are?”

Mo Nanfeng’s face went sideways with the loud slap, while his fist was clenched white at his side.

When Ji Weixi returned to the ward, Mo Bin had already passed out after a nurse administered some morphine for the pain.

Ji Weixi closed her eyes, and bowed to Mo Bin before taking the little one out of the ward.

Mo Nanfeng was still standing outside woodenly, and she coldly said, “What are you spacing out for? Fetch me home!”

He quickly took out the car keys and followed her out of the hospital.

His face went red when he saw the Bentley he rented, and was unsettled as if slapped.

It was already dark outside.

In the car, Mo Nanfeng carefully looked at JI Weixi from the side and rubbed his thigh with one hand. It was the most nervous he had ever felt. “Weixi… I…”

Ji Weixi cut him short, frowning. “If it’s about helping you, dream on.”

“It’s not about that!” Mo Nanfeng quickly denied.

Ji Weixi spared him a glance, but continued, “Don’t talk about marrying me either. You’re poor and wretched now, do you even think you deserve me?”

As the car stopped at the gates of a microdistrict, Mo Nanfeng watched as she got off, wanting to say something but eventually only managing awkwardly, “See you…”

“Let’s not!” Ji Weixi slammed the car door.