A few days later, Su Chengning had just returned to his apartment in the city center when he was confronted by a resentful Jiang Baiyu.
“It was you, wasn’t it?”
Jiang Baiyu’s eyes were bloodshot. His originally pure and lovely appearance now looked somewhat frantic, his pale face devoid of any color. He blocked Su Chengning’s path, cornering him in the hallway. This was a corner of the emergency staircase where almost no one ever entered; it was empty, and their voices kicked up a slight echo.
Su Chengning was somewhat surprised by his appearance, but combining Jiang Baiyu’s haggard expression with his nonsensical question, he quickly understood what was happening. Looking at him with composed leisure, Su Chengning asked back mockingly, “What if I did do it?”
There was no difference between what his mother did and what he did.
“Give me back the house Dad bought for us!” Jiang Baiyu roared in anger. No matter how much he disliked that apartment, it belonged to him. Why should it be taken back? “And my mother’s jewelry.
those were all gifts from Dad to Mom.”
Jiang Baiyu counted them off one by one every precious thing, large or small, that Su Binghai had given the mother and son over the past twenty years. With every item he named, the crimson in his eyes deepened.
“Oh,” Su Chengning responded indifferently. “So what?”
“Those belong to me! What right do you have to take them away!” Jiang Baiyu was filled with indignation, but Su Chengning’s dismissive tone pushed his internal fury to a breaking point. “What kind of thing are you even? You never had Dad’s love to begin with. Do you think doing this will make him treat you like a son and cherish you?”
“Stop dreaming,” he continued. “Dad and Mom are true love. It’s all the fault of you and your mother. Otherwise, I would be the one living in the big villa, and I would be the one enjoying wealth and glory.”
In his mind, they wouldn’t be seen as a mistress and her child; they should have been living like superiors, enjoying a life envied by everyone else.
“Is there something wrong with your head?” Su Chengning looked at him as if he were an idiot, pointing to his own temple and making his mockery explicit. “I don’t know what Su Binghai brainwashed you with, but there is one thing you probably don’t know.”
Su Chengning sneered. He was usually too lazy to explain anything to someone like this, but he really didn’t want to waste any more breath. “Su Binghai married into the Su family as a live-in son-in-law. If my mother hadn’t been afraid of him losing face back then, she wouldn’t have ‘married’ him in the traditional sense.”
“He used everything belonging to the Su family yet betrayed my mother. My mother was already giving him plenty of face by not making him leave with absolutely nothing. Did you really think she would let some random illegitimate child dilute the assets of my Su family?”
“You’re talking nonsense!” Jiang Baiyu refused to listen to his “excuses.” “You’re just jealous. You’re jealous that I have Dad’s affection while you have nothing.”
“The love of a scumbag is something I truly do not crave.” Su Chengning felt that this person was beyond reason. Previously, for the sake of that jerk Tang Chen, Jiang Baiyu had played mind games and used underhanded schemes. Now, for the sake of the equally jerkish Su Binghai, he was being unreasonable and pestering him relentlessly.
“If you don’t crave it, then give Dad back to me!”
Su Chengning looked at Jiang Baiyu with disgust. “I haven’t tied him up. If you want to find him, you are perfectly free to go look for him yourself.”
“Dad… he won’t answer my calls.”
Jiang Baiyu was in a state of total chaos. Two days ago, someone had come to the door and forcibly kicked his mother out. They didn’t just take the house; they took his mother’s jewelry, designer shoes, clothes, and a whole series of luxury items. His mother was now essentially homeless. The bank cards she could use were all provided by his father, and now they were all deactivated. The only thing left was a small amount of cash.
That cash wasn’t even enough to rent a place, let alone cover future living expenses. In this moment, Jiang Baiyu hated Su Chengning intensely. If not for him, how could they have suffered such things?
“I just wanted someone to love me and my mother. Why do you have to steal that from me?”
These words could be described as utterly shameless. Su Chengning could not understand the logic that allowed Jiang Baiyu to shift all the blame onto him.
“I have never stolen anything. I didn’t before, and I won’t in the future.” Su Chengning’s voice grew colder. “Su Binghai was vain and greedy himself; you and your mother are no different. Now you have simply lost things that never belonged to you in the first place, yet you have the nerve to push the blame onto others. Why don’t you think about how the life you enjoyed before was built on wealth stolen from someone else?”
“Don’t tell me you have no money or place to live now.”
“At least Tang Chen hasn’t kicked you out, has he?”
“You can just cling to him and live in his house. Perhaps if you coax him well enough, he’ll give that apartment to you.”
“Don’t worry, Tang Chen didn’t marry into my Su family. His money will always be his.”
Tang Chen wasn’t Su Binghai, but they were birds of a feather two equally selfish people. Su Chengning didn’t want to say more, nor was he interested in seeing whether Jiang Baiyu and his mother ended up on the streets. Pushing aside the Jiang Baiyu who was blocking him, Su Chengning walked straight away.
Jiang Baiyu rushed over to stop him again, tilting his head up with bloodshot eyes and saying, “Tang Chen said that apartment isn’t his. He said he wasn’t the one who let me stay there.”
Su Chengning froze for a moment, then sneered. “Not his? More likely he’s just afraid of people finding out he’s secretly keeping you.”
Who would leave a ten-million-dollar apartment empty for a complete stranger? Su Chengning didn’t believe a word of Jiang Baiyu’s story. He didn’t give him another glance and walked right past him.
When he reached his own apartment door, he happened to see a familiar figure hovering outside.
“Brother, didn’t you say you were already home?” Hearing the movement, Tang Mo turned around and immediately broke into a smile upon seeing him. “I just pressed the doorbell and saw that you didn’t come to open it. I was just about to call you.”
Tang Mo hurried to his side, waving the phone in his hand; the calling interface was already open. If Su Chengning had been a few seconds later, he would have received the call.
“Got delayed by something,” Su Chengning explained casually, opening the door to go inside. Tang Mo followed closely behind to change his shoes.
“Why did you come over?” Su Chengning saw that after Tang Mo changed his shoes, he still crowded toward him, knowing that the kid likely wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon.
“Didn’t you say yesterday that you’re going on a business trip in a couple of days? I thought I’d come over to keep you company. Otherwise, we won’t see each other while you’re away, and I’ll miss you terribly.”
Tang Mo almost affectionately wrapped his arm around Su Chengning’s. Their bodies were very close.
so close their breaths intertwined. Su Chengning patted his hand away, and Tang Mo immediately sensed that his attitude was a bit cold.
“Brother, what’s wrong?” Observing carefully, Tang Mo noticed his expression was somewhat weary. “Brother, you’re not sick, are you?” He reached out to check the temperature of Su Chengning’s forehead. “It’s okay, no fever.” He breathed a sigh of relief but then stared at Su Chengning nervously. “Is there anywhere you feel uncomfortable?”
Su Chengning pulled his hand down and shook his head. “I’m fine.”
He had originally wanted to mention the encounter with Jiang Baiyu, but after thinking it over, he decided not to tell Tang Mo to avoid unnecessary trouble. “I’m probably just a bit tired.” Su Chengning leaned against Tang Mo’s shoulder, his voice soft.
Disordered and unpleasant memories flashed through his mind. He looked up at Tang Mo, who was right in front of him, and noticed the boy’s body was tense, sitting upright and formal. Su Chengning suddenly gave him a light peck on his lower lip and clearly saw the tips of Tang Mo’s ears turn red.
This person was sometimes truly and purely adorable.
He chuckled and buried his face in the crook of Tang Mo’s neck. The thin clothing couldn’t block the hot breath he exhaled, which felt both itchy and warm. Tang Mo was driven a bit restless by these actions; hearing Su Chengning’s laughter, he felt a mix of embarrassment and annoyance. He pinned Su Chengning onto the sofa and blocked the remaining laughter with his own lips.
The irritation in Su Chengning’s heart seemed to be smoothed over during the kiss. He candidly enjoyed Tang Mo’s increasingly proficient kissing skills, even finding the leisure to think that he, as the “master,” had taught well.
It wasn’t until things showed signs of spiraling out of control that Su Chengning ended the heated kiss. He reached out and poked Tang Mo’s rapidly heaving chest, pointing toward the bathroom. “Go clean yourself up.”
Tang Mo pursed his lips and looked at him with a burning gaze, not moving an inch.
Su Chengning placed a hand over his forehead and said in a weak tone, “I’m so tired.”
Tang Mo gritted his teeth and could only suppress the wild desires in his heart as he headed into the bathroom. Su Chengning lay on the sofa laughing loudly; his unrestrained laughter passed through the bathroom door and straight into Tang Mo’s ears. Tang Mo ground his teeth, thinking that “Brother” was truly getting more and more mischievous.
When a familiar ringtone rang out, Tang Mo realized he had left his phone on the coffee table and hadn’t taken it in with him. He opened the bathroom door, intending to ask Su Chengning to hand him the phone, only to see that Su Chengning had already answered it for him.
“Brother, who is it?” Tang Mo asked casually.
However, he saw the smile on Su Chengning’s face gradually freeze. By the time that gaze which should have been full of mirth turned into an expression of utter disbelief, Tang Mo’s heart skipped a beat.
Wang Shu’s slightly anxious voice came through the phone: “…Mo-ge, Jiang Baiyu is getting suspicious. He called to press me on who arranged for him to stay at Sheng’an Dragon Mansion. Be careful, don’t let your big beauty find out you were the one who arranged for him to live there, otherwise, you’ll never be able to clear your name…”
The words that followed were cut off as the call was hung up.
Tang Mo opened his mouth.
This was beyond awkward.
Su Chengning pointed toward the door, his voice cold. “Leave. I don’t want to see you for a while.”