Chapter 1

“Matthew, by marrying into my family, you’re living a matrilocal life. Not only do you have to abide by the Three Obediences and Four Virtues, you also have to cut connections with your family!”

“That’s your own sister, so why should we spend our money to save her?”

“Hmph, are you saying that it concerns a human life? What is your sister’s life worth? The Larsons are a worthless family. Otherwise, why did you choose to be a live-in son-in-law here?”

While Matthew Larson was rushing to the hospital, the mocking voices from Sasha Cunnigham’s, his wife’s, family kept echoing in his ears as he was recalling them from memory.

Matthew was born into a glorious, big family. But when he was twelve, they encountered an unexpected disaster which wiped them out in one single night. Matthew’s father died while he was trying to protect the family. As for Matthew’s mother, she sustained serious injuries who barely escaped with him and his sister, Natalie. However, after holding on for five years, his mother passed away due to the relapse of her old injuries, leaving behind both siblings to rely on each other.

As to the reason why his family went through such a terrible disaster, Matthew could no longer remember. However, before his mother passed away, she gave him a piece of jade with extreme care.

Although she didn’t make it really clear, Matthew had a feeling that his family’s annihilation all started from this piece of family heirloom.

When he was really young, he heard from his father that this item held the secret to the prosperity of the Larsons. Without his mother, Matthew took on the responsibility of raising his sister at the age of seventeen. Despite all difficulties, he somehow was able to pull through with gritted teeth.

Three years ago, Natalie was diagnosed with leukemia. For the betrothal price of a hundred grand for the treatment of Natalie’s sickness, Matthew married into the Cunningham Family. Within these three years, Matthew became a slave for them and suffered countless humiliation in the Cunningham Family, but he endured all of it.

Now that Natalie had finally found a suitable bone marrow donor after her condition worsened, he needed another three hundred grand for the surgical fees. His wife, Sasha, was away on a business trip, and he couldn’t reach her through her cellphone at all. So, he turned to the Cunninghams for a loan since he was unable to come up with the sum. As a result, they heartlessly threw him out of the house.

After that, Matthew went to the office of the director of the hospital as he tightened his jaw before he pushed the door in. An arrogant-looking man wearing a pair of glasses was seated in the room. Jeffrey Zimmerman, the director of the hospital, was also Sasha’s senior in school, and probably one of her admirers. When she married Matthew, Jeffrey was the one who cursed Matthew the most behind his back.

The Zimmerman Family was involved with business in the medical field, and Sasha arranged a job for Matthew here in the hospital. Initially, he was arranged for consultation work in an office. But, after Jeffrey became the director because of his family’s influence, he had been making things difficult for Matthew, who was then sent to clean the floors instead.

So, Matthew was demoted from being a support crew to a cleaning crew. Despite that, he could only swallow the insult and humiliation silently, because Natalie was receiving treatment from the very same hospital. As long as he could keep his sister alive, he was willing to do anything!

“Director Zimmerman,” Matthew began pleadingly, “Sasha is away on a business trip and she’s probably busy, so I couldn’t get her through her phone. Maybe you… you could arrange for Natalie’s surgery first. I’ll definitely come up with the surgical fees!”

With that, Jeffrey merely snorted. “Matthew, you’ve been working here for a while now, and you should know the hospital’s rules. Three hundred grand is not a small sum. What should I do if you refuse to pay up later?”

Matthew was immediately infuriated, and he spoke in a low voice, “Director Zimmerman, I’ve been working in this hospital for three years. Do you think that I’m the kind of person who wouldn’t pay up?”

“That’s hard to say!” Jeffrey said nonchalantly. “Any regular man wouldn’t offer himself up to be a live-in son-in-law, either. So it wouldn’t be something out of this world if a man, who is used to relying on his wife, to fall back on his bills!”

The expression on Matthew’s face changed drastically as he gritted his teeth. “Director Zimmerman, I haven’t received any salary for the past three years of my working in this hospital. Although it may not sum up to three hundred grand, it’s still not that far off. When Sasha returns later, I’ll borrow some from her—”

“Don’t wait for her return. Borrow some now!” Jeffrey said with a laugh. “Is that right what I heard that Sasha isn’t picking up your calls? How about… I give her a call instead?” he asked as he called her through his cellphone. It only rang for three times before she picked up the phone and answered, “What’s up, Director Zimmerman?”

Matthew’s heart was wrenched. For the past few days, he had called Sasha for more than a hundred times, but she had never once picked it up. Meanwhile, Jeffrey had only called once and she had already answered. So what did this prove? Even though they were married for three years and they only existed on paper as a married couple, Matthew never treated her badly. Despite the fact that Sasha looked down on him, he still thought of her as his wife and genuinely treated her well. He thought to himself, Is this how she is treating me in return?

“It’s nothing. I am just calling to check on you.” Jeffrey shook his cellphone in front of Matthew smugly.

Matthew felt that his chest was about to explode. Just as he was about to say something, Jeffrey got ahead of him by a second. “I’m sorry, but I’m a little busy now, Sasha. Bye!” With that, he hung up the call without giving Matthew a chance to say anything at all.

“Did you see that, Matthew? She wasn’t busy, but she just didn’t want to answer your calls!” Looking at him from the corner of his eyes, he continued, “Are you so used to relying on your wife’s family that you are taking it for granted everything the Cunninghams are doing for you?”

Matthew clenched his hands into tight fists as everything which happened were pushing him to the edge of his sanity—Natalie’s health condition, Sasha’s indifference, and mockery from the Cunninghams.

Suddenly, Jeffrey added on with a laugh, “Why don’t I give you an idea?”

Casting him a glance, Matthew asked through gritted teeth, “What is it?”

“Don’t you have two kidneys? Maybe you can come up with some money if you sell one!” Jeffrey sneered and continued, “It’s not a secret that Sasha doesn’t share the same bedroom with you, so why do you need two of your kidneys for?”

Matthew left the room with a pale face amidst Jeffrey’s laughter, and went to Natalie’s ward with a crestfallen look. When he entered the door, he saw that the patient in the ward was no longer Natalie.

Worried, he hurriedly asked the people in the room, “W-Why are you here? Where’s my sister?”

The family members of the patient rolled their eyes at him. “You mean the little girl from earlier on? It seemed like she was thrown out because she didn’t pay her bills!”

“What?!” he exclaimed and dashed out of the ward.

He had just reached the staircase when he heard a scream from outside the building. “Someone had just jumped off the building!”

Dashing over, he saw a weak figure laying in a pool of blood in the garden outside the hospital building, and it was none other than his sister, Natalie!

“Natalie!” Matthew let out a shrilling howl as he bolted over and picked her up into his arms from the pool of blood.

Natalie was barely breathing, but she forced out a smile on her weak face when she saw him. “Matt, everyone is saying that I’m a burden to you. I… I’m leaving now and won’t be a burden to you from…

from now on. You have to live well…”

“Natalie, who… who told you this?” Turning his head around, Matthew shouted, “Help! Somebody, help!”

A few doctors and nurses ran over but was stopped by Jeffrey with a warning. “They still owe the hospital more than thirty grand. Will you be paying for their bills if you save her now?”

The medical staff were all stunned by this and didn’t dare to lend a helping hand.

“Matt, stop wasting money…” Natalie gripped his arms as blood kept spurting from her mouth, but she was still forcing a smile. “I-I’m happy to be your sister in this lifetime. Unfortunately, this life is too… too short. If there’s a next life in the future, I… I’d want to be your sister again…” After she finished speaking, her grip loosened and her hand gradually fell with a limp.

As though a knife had pierced through his heart, he held her tightly and hollered, “Natalie, don’t leave me! No!”

A crowd had gathered around them and made a ruckus when suddenly one of them exclaimed, “Why are h-his tears red?”

“Tears of blood! He’s crying tears of blood!”

Out of tears, Matthew was now shedding droplets of blood and they flowed down his cheeks, mixing into Natalie’s blood. However, nobody noticed that this mixture was slowly being absorbed into the jade pendant on his chest.

All of a sudden, a loud bang echoed in Matthew’s head, followed by a desolate voice, sounding as if it had traveled through a long passage of history. It spoke into his ears, “I’m the founding clan leader of the Larsons and the Miracle Doctor, Christopher Larson. I’m passing my lifetime’s knowledge onto this jade pendant, and my descendants shall uncover the secrets of this pendant using the blood of the Larsons. Inherit my knowledge, and practice medicine to help and save people!”

Thereafter, a huge amount of information began flooding into Matthew’s head. At this moment, all he could feel was that his head was almost splitting apart. It took a long while before the transferring of the information stopped. When Matthew opened his eyes again, a streak of light was flowing in his vision.

Staring at Natalie in his arms, he could clearly see that her life force had yet to cease completely.

Without hesitation, he applied pressure on a few pressure points on her to keep her alive before carrying her away from the hospital.