Lin Xun left, leaving the whole family looking at each other in blank dismay.
His temper had always been like this, when he was in a good mood, he might exchange a few words with you, but when he was unhappy, he would turn on his heel and leave without giving anyone a decent expression, treating every single person with equal coldness.
Li You felt a faint sense of unease in his heart. He knew that, for the most part, he was the one who had pissed off that lunatic, so he remotely changed the apartment’s passcode on his phone and deleted Lin Xun’s fingerprint access while he was at it.
Lin Zhaoning demanded that he move back, but Li You refused. Even if he couldn’t get a divorce for the time being, he would not share a roof with that man.
Lin Zhaoning merely smiled, acting as if he hadn’t heard Li You’s refusal, and declared to himself, “Xiao You will come back.”
Li You wandered around outside alone for a long time. He didn’t dare go home, so he found the cheapest express hotel nearby and checked in, staying there for several days straight.
When luck goes bad, even drinking cold water gets stuck in your teeth. Li You made continuous mistakes at work recently, to the point where his performance bonus was almost completely deducted. It pained his heart terribly, yet he was helpless.
What Lin Zhaoning had said that night, “This life of yours was given to you by me”, tormented Li You day and night because that statement was completely airtight. Perhaps Lin Zhaoning really had loved him at certain moments in the past. Humans are creatures that seek benefit and avoid harm by nature; he didn’t believe that Alpha was so noble that he could give up his life without a second thought in a moment of crisis.
Every time he considered that possibility, Li You felt plagued by gains and losses, wavering repeatedly between insisting on divorce and forgiving his husband. This state of mind severely affected his concentration, to the point where he even suspected he had developed some kind of mental illness.
Did Lin Zhaoning love him?
The answer was: no. It was merely a condescending pity, and that Alpha would soon have a child born out of wedlock anyway.
But did Lin Zhaoning truly not love him?
If he didn’t love him, why risk his life to save him? If he didn’t love him, where did that absurd sense of pity come from?
There was no answer; this was an unsolvable proposition.
Li You fell into a mental loop. When it came to the art of language, Lin Zhaoning was still the superior master.
Half a month later, on a bright, sunny day, Li You finally figured it out.
He stopped obsessing over whether Lin Zhaoning loved him or not, because his original intention was simply to break free from this marriage. The fundamental reason Lin Zhaoning refused to compromise was that he owed him a life.
Li You thought he could just return this life to Lin Zhaoning, and then neither of them would owe the other anything anymore.
As for Lin Xun, he heard from his mother that he and that Miss Qin had talked very pleasantly and gotten along quite harmoniously. Their engagement banquet would be held at Yuting three days later.
Lin Xun never visited that tiny apartment again. Everyone’s life was stepping back onto its proper track, and Li You had never felt so relaxed in both body and mind before; his focus was even sharper than before.
That day after work, people started leaving one after another at around six-thirty. By eight o’clock, there were pitifully few people left in the company, and the remaining handful also stood up to pack their things and prepare to clock out.
Li You’s computer screen was still lit. In fact, he had no work left to do, but it was a bad habit he had developed recently, after stopping his work, he habitually spaced out, too lazy to move even when it was time to clock out. Thus, over the past few days, he was always the last person to leave the company.
“Brother Li, you haven’t left yet?”
Zhang Qian walked past Li You’s cubicle holding a thick stack of folders and asked offhandedly. But the person in front of her acted as if he hadn’t heard a thing, maintaining his static pose. Zhang Qian had no choice but to call out to him twice more.
“Ah? Oh…” Li You snapped back to reality and gave a jumbled reply. “Yeah, almost. There’s just too much work.”
Zhang Qian sighed and pointed at the blank document open on Li You’s computer screen. “Brother Li, I passed by an hour ago and saw you staring at a blank document, spacing out. Since you don’t have work, why don’t you go home after off-hours?”
Zhang Qian really couldn’t understand it. Forced to work overtime tonight, she had already accumulated enough resentment to fuel ten evil swordsmen. “Have you not been getting good rest lately? You don’t look like you’ve rested well at all,” the young girl muttered, staring at the huge, dark circles under Li You’s eyes.
Li You asked, “Is it that obvious?”
Zhang Qian set down the things in her hands, pulled out a small mirror, and thrust it right up to Li You’s face. “Here, look for yourself. If you change your outfit, you could sit on the ground and turn into a ghost for Halloween.”
“Of course, compared to me, you’re still slightly inferior,” Zhang Qian shrugged, spreading both hands open. “After all, I don’t even need to cosplay this Halloween. Just standing there, I’m already a broke ghost.”
Li You felt deeply sorry for affecting the appearance of the city.
“…There’s no need for that. No ghost is scarier than us broke ghosts.”
The lights in the small living room at home were off, and the room was pitch black.
Li You put his belongings away and went into the bedroom to get his pajamas to wash up.
The bedroom door was pushed open, and a strong stench of cigarette smoke rushed straight into his nostrils. By the moonlight, he saw an Alpha standing by the window sill, holding the last stub of a cigarette between his fingers. The floor around his feet was covered in cigarette butts, conservatively estimated to be half a pack.
Lin Xun took one last drag, tossed the butt onto the floor, and raised the tip of his shoe to stomp it out.
Li You froze at the doorway, staring at him blankly.
The window behind Lin Xun was missing a pane, and that poor window frame was currently lying on the floor all by itself. Hot summer air gusted inward through the massive opening, making the room stiflingly hot and humid.
Li You clutched the doorknob, gripping it so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
His home was on the third floor. If Lin Xun tried to pick the lock, there would be a notification on his phone, so this Alpha had anticipated Li You’s little tricks and simply removed his window pane directly.
“Take off your clothes.”
Lin Xun was concise, though he himself stood in place without moving. Likely because he had smoked too much, his voice was very deep and raspy, sounding as though he hadn’t slept for several days in a row, faintly conveying an indescribable exhaustion.
Li You lowered his head to close the door, walked up to the Alpha, and took off his clothes piece by piece.
Summer clothing was thin to begin with, consisting of only a few pieces. The shirt and trousers fell to the floor like feathers.
Lin Xun looked at him, pointed toward a direction with his chin, and said calmly, “Go to the side of the bed and kneel down properly.”
The last time.
Li You thought: Lin Xun gets engaged tomorrow. After tomorrow, he won’t act recklessly anymore, so this is the last time.
The Alpha was extremely violent, pressing down on the back of his neck from behind. Li You’s upper body was completely pressed against the mattress while his lower half was forcefully invaded and torn open. He felt as though he were going to die.
“Did you really think that once I got engaged, I would let you off the hook?” Lin Xun’s voice was as cold as ice shards as he tormented Li You ruthlessly. Li You remained silent, letting himself be manipulated at will.
Let it end.
Hurry up and let it end.
Li You pleaded silently in his mind. Infuriated by his silent, unresponsive performance, Lin Xun flipped the person beneath him over. He grabbed the Beta’s knee pits with both hands and folded them forward, this posture reached an unbelievable depth, and the Alpha got his wish, bumping straight against Li You’s reproductive cavity, which had never been opened before.
That place was soft and closed shut. On the Alpha’s first visit, he had merely touched it once, yet Li You broke into a cold sweat from the pain, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.
Lin Xun didn’t stop his movements, exerting force continuously at that single spot. Li You’s lower abdomen throbbed with a dull, severe ache; his entire body felt as though it were being split apart, and the deepest part of his body felt as if it were about to crack open.
“Lin…” Li You cried continuously from the pain, his sweat and tears mixing together on his lips, tasting bitter and salty. He raised his head with all his strength and pleaded, “Lin Xun, don’t… I hurt so badly…”
Lin Xun grabbed the Beta’s skin-and-bones hip bones, issuing instructions expressionlessly: “If it hurts, endure it.”
“Don’t… stop! Stop!” Li You screamed out, instinctively using his legs to kick at the Alpha. Because Lin Xun was ramming open a corner of his reproductive cavity, breaching just a tiny opening, the pain made Li You’s vision go dark and his ears ring loudly, while his lower body felt as though it were being nailed down firmly with a hammer.
It hurt terribly, feeling even worse than dying.
“Lin Xun! I’m begging you, Lin Xun!”
“I was wrong! Don’t touch that place, I know I was wrong!”
“Lin Xun!”
Li You sobbed and screamed recklessly. Plunged into a chaotic state of consciousness from the Alpha’s heavy thrusts, he began to beg for mercy in a delirium, desperately telling Lin Xun that he knew he was wrong, begging to summon back Lin Xun’s sanity.
Perhaps Li You’s cries were too tragic, or perhaps those few pleas for mercy were truly too pitiful, but Lin Xun finally stopped touching the reproductive cavity, temporarily acting like a human being for once.
Feeling as though he had been granted a new life, Li You’s shoulders shook as he propped up his body with his arms. Trembling, he wrapped his arms around the Alpha, stroking his neck upward to proactively kiss Lin Xun.
The moonlight was thin, making Li You’s skin appear even paler. He was drenched in sweat, with water droplets dripping down continuously from his eyelids and temples. Those eyes that were supposed to be round and large were now squeezed into a thin line, completely devoid of light, looking like a stray kitten in the grass by the roadside that had just been drenched by a heavy rain. The Beta stepped forward to gently suck on Lin Xun’s slightly cold lips, carefully licking and soothing them, he was showing weakness, flattering this Alpha.
“I was wrong. I’ll listen to you from now on.”
Li You admitted his fault while sobbing. He didn’t have much strength left in his body, relying entirely on Lin Xun’s arm locking around him to keep from slipping down.
“I really know I was wrong…”
Lin Xun didn’t answer, quietly holding Li You. Li You rested his chin on the man’s broad shoulder, unable to see his expression clearly.
After a long time, so long that Li You was exhausted enough to almost fall asleep, he finally heard Lin Xun say in a slightly softened tone: “There won’t be a next time.”
Li You felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted, falling into a deep sleep in his arms.
He was far too exhausted.
Li You curled up in his embrace; if viewed from behind, one could only see a well-dressed Alpha with a calm, steady demeanor standing by the side of the bed.
Lin Xun looked down and met eyes with his still-erect brother, then neatly tucked it back into his trousers like a gentleman. He dressed Li You in a shirt, wrapped him tightly in a blanket, and carried him away.
Lin Xun brought Li You back to his own home. As soon as they entered the door, the living room was brightly lit, bright enough to blind someone’s eyes. The sleeping Li You frowned from the glare, so Lin Xun tucked the person deeper into his chest, covering his eyes with his coat.
A figure curled up on the sofa in the living room stood up with a “swish,” the blanket draped over their body dropping all over the floor with the movement.
“Why are you still here?” Lin Xun held Li You and questioned the person, his tone extremely hostile.
Qin Yuzheng complained endlessly: “Didn’t you tell me to wait here? Who knew you’d only come back now? Besides, the interior decor of your house is so terrifying, it’s so cold and gloomy that it could scare people to death. It sounds like I actually want to stay here…”
Lin Xun said unceremoniously, “You can leave now.”
Qin Yuzheng, the only daughter of the Qin family, was an heiress held in the palms of all her elders’ hands as she grew up, yet she had suffered setbacks repeatedly at the hands of Lin Xun.
“…Hey, I am your nominal fiancée after all. Can’t you show a little respect?”
“No. Leave immediately.”
Qin Yuzheng said angrily, “Who cares about this lousy place of yours!”
The young miss of the Qin family felt extremely wronged, pulling out her phone on the spot to complain to the person pinned at the top of her contacts under the nickname “Baby,” sending a long string of voice messages all at once.
“Hey, wait a minute, ” After venting, Qin Yuzheng finally noticed the person in her best friend’s arms. She leaned in curiously and asked, “Who is this? Is he that white moonlight you love but can’t have, the one you mentioned?”
Lin Xun carried the person into the bedroom, tucked him back into the duvet, and admitted generously, “Yes. Do you have a problem with that?”
Qin Yuzheng waved her hands repeatedly: “How would I dare… But didn’t you say he was married?” The young girl suddenly remembered that such a thing seemed to be true. Coupled with Lin Xun’s bad complexion upon returning late at night, and the fact that although the person under the duvet was asleep, his eyelids were intensely red and the lingering warmth creeping up his cheek hadn’t completely dissipated yet, it wasn’t hard to tell that he had cried very terribly.
Thinking of a certain possibility, the Omega turned pale with shock: “You didn’t snatch someone else’s husband by force, did you, Lin Xun!”
Once suspicion arose, the crime was instantly established. Qin Yuzheng began to despise this Alpha: “Wow, be a human being! False imprisonment is illegal! You’re going to get arrested!”
Lin Xun lifted his cold, thin eyelids to look at Qin Yuzheng: “His husband is dead. What other questions do you have?”
Huh?
Oh, so he’s a widower. Then it’s fine.
“I’m leaving… Tomorrow at the engagement banquet, you absolutely mustn’t slip up, ” Qin Yuzheng urged while turning back every three steps: “Even though the two of us dislike each other, you’d better act a bit gentler, or at least don’t wipe your hands with alcohol wipes right in front of the guests!”
“…If you dare wake him up, I’ll throw you out.”
Hearing this, Qin Yuzheng covered her mouth and quickly slipped away.
Just as she walked out of the elevator doors, Qin Yuzheng saw a familiar figure. Her eyes lit up, and she ran swiftly toward the person she missed day and night: “Baby, why are you here! I missed you to death!”
The girl had her back turned to her, but the moment Qin Yuzheng jumped onto her back, she caught her steadily. Only then did she carefully lower the girl onto the ground to stand firm. Rubbing the girl’s fluffy head, she smiled and said, “I heard you weren’t in a great mood just now. Perhaps meeting up can dissolve some of that bad mood.”
Qin Yuzheng giggled, holding the girl’s arm and acting spoiled: “Actually, it’s nothing~ You know what Lin Xun’s terrible attitude is like; no ivory comes out of a dog’s mouth…”