Mr. Lu Was Devastated After I Left - Chapter 16

The boy had gotten into a fight with a classmate who called him a “wild child.” His mother came to school and apologized one by one to the classmates, the teacher, and the parents, only to beat the boy mercilessly in front of them all. Still, the other student’s parents insisted the school expel him. Ultimately, the school did not keep him; he was dismissed that very day. The boy packed his things and left with his mother. By the time Lu Beiye learned what happened, the boy was already gone.

He sat alone on the playground waiting for the boy, hoping he would return to practice riding his bike. He waited until dark, but the boy never appeared. When his grandfather came to pick him up, Lu Beiye knelt and begged him to help find the boy. His grandfather agreed casually and even made a few inquiries, but by then, the boy’s family had already moved to another city to live and study. His grandfather did not pursue it further. No one knew just how important that boy was to him.

From then on, his dreams were filled with moments spent with the boy, and the dream always ended with the boy smiling and saying, “Little Fatty, I miss you.”

He secretly asked his father to have the bully who tormented the boy expelled. His father complied; the bully was a troublemaker, and as soon as the school found a pretext, they dismissed him.

He lost his friend and finished middle school alone. He spent his days in school studying, and after class, he would wander the playground, always hoping to catch a glimpse of that familiar, thin, small figure, but he was disappointed every time.

Middle school lasted only three years. During those three years, his physique gradually changed. He grew taller, became leaner, and eventually transformed into a handsome young man. But the boy he liked was nowhere to be found. In his memory, the boy likely still saw him as a Little Fatty.

When he entered high school, after his father’s relentless persuasion, his grandfather finally abandoned his frugal ways. Lu Beiye’s life in high school was not as miserable as it had been in middle school. He rose from a fatty to a wealthy, handsome idol. The girls pursuing him could circle the playground several times, and his love letters were numerous, but he did not even look at them. He only remembered his first love, the person he thought he would never see again, who suddenly and miraculously appeared before him.

The boy blinked playfully and extended his hand. “Hello, my name is Mu Yi. Can we be friends?”

He wore a slightly wrinkled white shirt and faded blue jeans. He clutched his fingers tightly, appearing a bit reserved as he offered a gentle smile.

That face had not changed much since middle school. The only change was that he had grown much taller.

Lu Beiye held him instinctively, tears streaming down his face. “We were friends a long time ago.”

Mu Yi, seeing how emotional he was despite their first meeting, hugged him back, gently stroking his back with a tender smile.

How nice. My long term meal ticket has arrived.

If Lu Beiye had summoned the courage back then to ask for the boy’s full name, the boy would have surely told him in his cocky way, “Actually, my name is Xu Zhuoyang. But I do not like that name. My father is a bad man; he always hit my mother, so I want to follow my mother’s surname, Mu. You should call me Mu Zhuoyang. No, you have to call me Brother Mu.”

If Lu Beiye had asked just one more question instead of always calling him Little Mu, Ah Mu, or Brother Mu, he might have saved the person who was supposed to be his soulmate from despair and kept himself from becoming a heartless madman.

But that is a story for later.

For now, he was convinced that the person in his arms was the Little Mu he had been searching for. He was the person he vowed to protect for the rest of his life and grow old with.

He held him tighter, whispering, “Little Mu, let me protect you from now on.”

Mu Yuan opened his eyes slightly and whispered a resistance to his sleep talk, “I am not Little Mu. I am Mu Yuan.”

Moonlight spilled through the window and onto the bed. Xu Zhuoyang sat in the corner of the room, watching the cold, bright light, allowing the darkness to wrap around him.

His sister had married far away, his mother had passed away, and Lu Beiye had abandoned him. He was alone again.

His father was right; he would always be trash. Trash that no one wanted and no one loved.

The room was so quiet he could only hear his own breathing and the ticking of the clock. A ding from his phone shattered the silence. He unlocked it to see a message from his father, who had only contacted him once three months ago.

Xu Father: Your dad is working on a project recently, and things are a bit tight. Send me three million immediately to help out.

Xu Zhuoyang silently transferred half that amount: This is all the money I have left. The rest went to your son.

The last time they spoke, he had also asked for money. His family were like leeches clinging to him, desperate to drain him dry. Once he had no value, they would kick him aside.

In this world, his only real family had been his mother and sister. Now that they were gone, his father had remarried and had new children. The only reason they kept him around, a boy they had essentially picked up, was to serve as an ATM.

He could not help but fantasize: when would the day come when he was no longer just a source of income, but someone worthy of being loved? Someone worthy of receiving something other than pain? Like a home?