“It’s her! Drag her out!”
“You shameless little bitch, I’m going to slash your face to ribbons today!”
Glass shattered, spraying in all directions, and the aluminum door frame was hammered out of shape. Five or six hulking men surrounded a woman in the center who was elegantly dressed and exuded an air of wealth. In the tiny, dim rented apartment, the young Li You shrank into a corner, his eyes filled with sheer terror.
The home was a complete disaster, clutter scattered everywhere. The woman shielded him with her body, using her frail, thin back to prop up a small haven of safety, isolating him from all the turmoil, chaos, and filth of the outside world.
“Mom…”
Little Li You hid behind the woman, timidly clutching the hem of her clothes with his fingers. He did not understand why these people had broken in, trashed his home, and hurled abuse at his mother.
“As expected of a vixen’s son, possessing that exact same lowborn face, keep beating her! Smash everything that can be smashed!”
The wealthy woman spat the words out through clenched teeth. Receiving the command, a few bodyguards rushed forward to grab the mother’s arms, while the others picked up chairs and rampaged through the bedroom and kitchen. Within minutes, they had completely wrecked the apartment.
“Mom! Mom!”
Little Li You stamped his feet in desperation, but he was far too small, possessing no strength to resist these burly men.
Yet Li You knew he had to protect his mother.
The woman was dragged before the wealthy lady like a dead dog, her hair disheveled, her head hanging so low it nearly touched the ground. Seeing this, the wealthy woman slapped her several more times, hurling curses. Li You, drawing on a sudden burst of strength from nowhere, shoved aside a bodyguard and rushed forward to shield his mother, glaring fiercely to intimidate the bad people.
When the third slap was about to fall, Li You seized his moment, lunged forward, and bit down hard on the wealthy woman’s arm. The woman instantly shrieked in pain, seized the child by his hair, slapped him back and forth across the face, and finally kicked him away.
“Little brat, you dare bite me!” The woman stood with her hands on her hips, directing the men around her, and snapped furiously, “Hang this kid up!”
“No!” Kneeling on the ground, the mother’s cheek was swollen high, and the dark bruise at the corner of her mouth had not yet dried. She crawled along the ground, grabbing the wealthy woman’s ankle and begging, “I beg you, spare him! The child is innocent! It’s all my fault, the child is innocent!”
Li You’s forehead slammed against the corner of the wall. He vaguely felt himself being dragged up, blood tinting his vision red. Before him, that wretched woman, his mother, was kneeling on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly until her forehead turned purple and bruised, leaving bloodstains on the floorboards. “I beg you to spare him! I’ll take him away, we’ll move far away from here and never disturb your life again! I beg you to spare him, I beg you to spare him!”
The woman’s agonizing, bitter pleas still echoed in his ears. Li You’re lips trembled as he tried to say something, but in the end, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a completely unfamiliar environment. His mother seemed to have aged twenty years in an instant, her once jet-black hair now streaked with silver.
Mother and son left their hometown, wandering through several places before finally settling down in Yun City to eke out a meager living. As for that chaotic past, it existed only as a blur in Li You’s memory, fading more and more with the passage of time.
“Mom, why don’t I have a dad? Where did dad go?”
“Wang Qi said today that I’m a fatherless wild child, and none of my classmates want to play with me.”
After the first day of school, little Li You held his mother’s hand, his small face scrunched up as he asked the serious question. The woman’s grip tightened around his hand, and she casually spun a lie: “Your dad passed away a long time ago.” Li You didn’t believe it, but seeing the tears glinting in his mother’s eyes, he suddenly felt a wave of self-reproach.
From that day on, he set a rule for himself: never mention his father in front of his mother again, because it would make her sad.
Only bad children made their mothers sad, and he wanted to be a good child.
“Mom, I got a hundred on my math test again!”
“Mom, I scored first in the class for the final exams!”
“Mom, look, I ranked first in the entire school!”
“Mom, look, I won a scholarship today…”
The boy grew day by day, his free and unrestrained frame wrapped in a pure white school uniform, the breeze fluttering the hem of his short sleeves.
Time passed far too quickly. The stunningly beautiful woman in his memories had existed for only a brief moment, falling from the prime of her youth into her twilight years seemingly in the blink of an eye. Her mental state was extremely poor, and years of heavy physical labor had broken her back. The once soft and white palms now bore a thick layer of calluses; those hands were rough and emaciated, looking at a glance like the hands of an elderly person, though she was only thirty-nine years old that year.
Li You grew up, but his mother aged at a terrifying speed, so fast that she did not even have the chance to see her child raised to adulthood.
She had made two fatal mistakes in her life: one was giving birth to Li You, and the other was being on the verge of missing Li You’re upbringing.
“Little You, don’t become a despicable person like your mother. You must walk the right path, distinguish right from wrong, have morals, and never hurt others…”
The woman’s life was slipping away, to the point where even speaking became difficult. Li You gripped his mother’s withered, frail hand in a state of helpless confusion; her hand lifted countless times, only to fall heavily back down each time.
“Mom, I’ll be good,” Li You murmured as he floated before the hospital bed, gazing across seventeen years to look once more upon his sleeping mother, everything wrapped in a surreal, kaleidoscopic haze.
Li You touched his chest, talking to himself: “I’ve tried my best to listen to your words, but I’m not happy. It feels like I’ve done something wrong again…”
“Why? Why is this happening?”
Li You was lost in doubt and confusion.
That familiar voice pierced through the wall into his eardrums. He had never heard his mother scold him so sharply, her voice frantic and erratic as she interrogated him: “Why are you stepping into someone else’s relationship? How did I teach you growing up! Why won’t you listen to me, why must you follow in my footsteps!”
“Li You, I am so disappointed in you! How could you do such a thing!”
Li You stood stock-still, completely stunned.
He wanted to explain: I didn’t destroy anyone’s relationship, I didn’t disobey you, this is all just a misunderstanding…
The scenery outside the window rewound rapidly, making Li You dizzy. He drifted farther and farther away from that wall where plaster was flaking off in flakes.
He found himself standing before Lin Zhaoning once more. His husband was also deeply disappointed in him, asking him with bloodshot eyes why he had cheated.
“Have you no shame, actually hooking up with my own younger brother!”
Li You wanted to say he hadn’t, but with a shift of the scene, he saw Lin Xun holding hands with a girl, slowly walking down the aisle of a wedding hall.
Bai Yu stood beside Lin Zhaoning, smiling gently, holding a cute child in their arms. Beside Lin Xun was his wife, the couple loving and harmonious. When everyone met his gaze, their eyes held unconcealed disgust.
“As expected, like mother, like son. Neither of them is any good.”
Li You rushed forward to block them, desperately trying to explain: “It’s not like that! I didn’t do those things! My mother is a good person, she raised me very well…”
But no one listened to his explanations.
Everyone got their happy ending in the end. He shrank back into the pitch-black gutter, peeking at the corner of happiness that shone through. When he reached out to touch it, the golden light instantly turned into countless plumes of black mist and vanished into thin air.
How could it end up like this?
It seems I really did make a mistake.
Li You slowly opened his eyelids. Cold sweat had soaked the bedding, and his pajamas were equally drenched, sticking to his skin and creating a sticky, uncomfortable sensation.
With a sharp swish, someone pulled the curtains open, and sunlight finally streamed through the window. Outside, the sky was blue with white clouds and the sun was shining bright, it was no longer the suffocating, heavy darkness of his dream.
Lin Xun walked over and reached out the back of his hand to touch Li You’s forehead, but Li You flinched away. The Alpha’s face turned distinctly displeased, and only then did Li You suddenly recall what he had groggily promised him last night.
“It’s all sweat, it’s not clean.”
Li You offered a guilty explanation. Truth be told, he really did not want to see Lin Xun right now.
This Alpha was the root of all the sin brought upon him; his very presence was a constant reminder of what a vile person Li You had become.
Lin Xun pulled back the blanket, resting his palm on Li You’s lower abdomen and gently rubbing upward, finally stopping at his navel. He asked, “Does it hurt?”
Li You’re entire body stiffened.
He was reminding him of how brutally he had been tortured last night.
Disobedience led to punishment; only by being obedient could they coexist peacefully.
Lin Xun’s brow furrowed tightly; it seemed such caring words were ill-suited coming from his mouth.
He withdrew his hand and dropped a cold command: “Change your clothes and eat.” With that, he turned and left.
Li You hastily grabbed his hand, terrified of making the Alpha unhappy. He hurriedly knelt up, wrapped his arms around Lin Xun’s neck, and nervously leaned forward, trying to brush his lips against the tight line of Lin Xun’s mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
He didn’t even know why he was apologizing, but if it could put the Alpha in a better mood, saying sorry was never wrong.
Lin Xun suddenly picked Li You up, carried him into the bathroom, placed him on the vanity counter, and leaned down to kiss him.
Uncharacteristically, Li You didn’t deliberately dodge or bite him. Just like a normal couple kissing, he closed his eyes and responded to the Alpha.
“Why are you so well-behaved today?”
When the kiss ended, Lin Xun wiped away the moisture on Li You’re lips with his fingers. He seemed to be in a good mood, his voice laced with a hint of pleasure.
Li You stammered that he needed to change his clothes.
The moment Lin Xun left and the sound of the bedroom door closing echoed, Li You’re face finally drained of all color. He bent over the toilet and began to retch violently.
This was wrong.
Yet he had no choice.
The person inside was vomiting so hard he felt turned inside out, completely unaware that the firmly shut bedroom door had quietly slipped open a crack.
Lin Xun stood outside the door, listening in silence to Li You dry-heaving, coughing, and finally, the automatic flush of the toilet.
The fingers that had clenched into fists loosened and tightened again, pressing until the knuckles on the back of his hand turned a pale, stark white. Lin Xun’s expression was terrifyingly dark, just like the skin on his hand, perhaps even grimmer.
He had almost thought Li You was finally willing to try accepting him. It turned out it was all an act; Li You disgusted him to the point where just looking at him made him want to vomit.
That damned Beta wasn’t well-behaved at all; he had even learned to be deceptive, attempting to fool him.
Lin Xun’s teeth ached with suppressed rage.
The breakfast table was laden with a lavish spread. Li You took a few casual bites before setting down his chopsticks, indicating he couldn’t eat another bite.
Lin Xun paid no heed to his words, pushing the plate of purple sweet potato buns in front of him and ordering tersely, “Eat.”
Li You glanced at Lin Xun, then quickly lowered his head, eating the bun bite by bite until it was gone.
“Today is your engagement banquet,” Li You gulped down the warm milk Lin Xun handed him before carefully framing his words to test the waters. “Can you let me go home? In a little while, I need to go with Lin…” The Beta paused, subtly omitting Lin Zhaoning’s name. “I need to go over there with him.”
Lin Xun rested his head on his hand and glanced at Li You indifferently. “What does it have to do with him?”
Li You was left speechless. He raised his head blankly, letting out a faint sound of confusion from his nose.
A few stylists entered carrying large bags and small boxes, pressing Li You down in front of the mirror to work on his face and hair.
With his head held in place, Li You couldn’t move freely, leaving him so rigid he didn’t even dare to blink.
“Your skin is truly wonderful.”
One of the makeup artists couldn’t help but whisper a compliment. Li You politely replied, “Thank you.”
“These are the clothes requested by Mr. Lin. You just need to change into them.”
Once the styling was complete, the group stepped out, leaving behind a complete pure-white suit neatly supported on a hanger inside the fitting room.
The inner lining and cuffs of this suit were embroidered with dark bamboo leaf patterns, and the lapel pin complemented the design perfectly, it was also shaped like a bamboo leaf. The sizing of the outfit was flawless, neither too big nor too small, as if tailor-made for Li You.
Li You mechanically put on the clothes, but the mechanism of the lapel pin was different from ordinary ones, and he struggled to pin it on.
The Alpha, who had been nowhere to be seen for half the morning, finally appeared. He had changed into a formal black suit with a prominent cluster of bamboo leaves embroidered on the shirt chest, though he wore no lapel pin. The patterns on their two outfits were placed differently, but anyone paying close attention would notice that whether it was the cufflinks or the stripes on the tie, the styles were identical.
Lin Xun pinned the brooch onto Li You, walked around behind him, and pushed him toward the full-length mirror.
Li You looked at the reflection in the mirror: Lin Xun wrapped an arm around his waist while his other hand turned Li You’re face, tilting his head to kiss him.
“Li You,” Lin Xun released him after kissing him for a moment, playfully scratching his chin like teasing a cat. He spoke coaxingly into his ear, his eyes locking onto Li You’s through the mirror: “Why aren’t you throwing up anymore?”
Li You’re lips turned ghastly pale, leaving him speechless.
The Alpha held Li You’re chin firm, squeezing until the skin quickly turned red. He narrowed his eyes and informed him with chilling softness and amusement, “Since you can’t stand the sight of it, you’d better look a few more times, until you get used to it.”
“You…” Li You had believed his disguise was seamless, and the moment it was shattered, he was thrown into panic and confusion, dominated mostly by sheer terror.
Lin Xun’s state was wrong.
How could he possibly speak to him in such a gentle tone?
“Li You, I don’t like dishonest people. But if that person is you, then it doesn’t matter,” Lin Xun let out a sneer, his fingers lingering and tapping lightly near Li You’s lower abdomen. “Even if you’re acting, you have to make it look convincing. Has no one ever told you that your acting skills are atrocious?”
This time, Lin Xun was truly warning him.
“Sister-in-law,” Lin Xun took his hand and kissed the palm, reminding him, “You must be careful at the engagement banquet. If your husband, and my fiancée, discover that we’re having an affair…”
Li You took a staggering step back, his fingers trembling uncontrollably.
Lin Xun gripped his wrist tightly, letting out a light, measured laugh before finishing his sentence, his tone laced with a hint of mock distress, as if asking him, yet sounding like he was talking to himself: “What will we do then?”