The Beta Wife Claimed by Competing Alphas - Chapter 10

The phone screen flickered persistently with a somewhat familiar number; it seemed determined not to give up until the call was answered. Lu Chong hesitated for a moment before finally picking up.

“Are you busy?” Lu Zhi’s familiar voice came through.

“I am not busy. Is something the matter?”

After Lu Chong’s father divorced his mother—who was also the mother of his sister, Lu Zhi—he quickly married his current wife and had a younger son. Lu Chong had a strained relationship with his father, making Lu Zhi the person he was closest to in the family.

“Can your sister not call you unless something is wrong? You have been ‘running away’ from home for so long; it is time to come back. Dad misses you.”

Lu Chong remained silent for a long while. Lu Zhi, knowing her brother’s temper, softened her voice with a persuasive tone. “Stop fighting with him, okay? Life is hard out there, and you have no money on you. Are you not just looking for trouble for yourself?”

“Where did you get this number? This number is not under my name.”

Lu Zhi had not expected him to ask that. “A friend of Jia Yan told me. A-City is only so big. Even if he did not come looking for me, did you really think I could not reach you?”

At the mention of Fu Jia Yan, Lu Chong frowned. “Fu Jia Yan’s friend… Shang Qiyue? Or Meng Sixiao? A bunch of profligate sons who loiter around and do nothing productive.”

“Do not say that,” Lu Zhi said, caught between her fiancé and her brother. “Jia Yan is a good person, and his friends are good, too. Do not talk about them like that. He called me because he was concerned about you.”

“Chong Chong, stop being headstrong, okay? Come home. You have been pampered since you were a child. When Auntie Zhang went home for a few days, you threw a fit and refused to eat anything cooked by anyone else. Now Dad is so angry he has frozen your bank cards; how can you possibly get used to living outside?”

“Dad wants to send you abroad to study; there is nothing wrong with that. Jia Yan and the others all went abroad for a few years before coming back to take over their companies.”

Hearing her mention her idle fiancé—who spent every day playing mahjong or drinking—made Lu Chong even angrier. “Am I the same as them? If Fu Jia Yan and the rest did not go abroad to donate buildings and get a gilded degree, they would be functionally illiterate.”

“You should not speak of them that way…” Lu Zhi said softly.

In the circle they grew up in, someone like Lu Chong, who relied on his own efforts to get into a top domestic university, was the exception. Donating a building for a degree was still a degree, resulting in a black-and-white diploma. As for the card games, drinking, and playing with Omegas that Lu Chong despised; compared to gambling, racing, or losing money on stocks and startups, those were actually considered thrifty and modest hobbies.

However, she would not argue with the brother she had finally managed to contact. She continued to coax Lu Chong to come home in a gentle voice.

“If there is nothing else, I am hanging up. I have work to do at the studio.”

“Why bother?” Lu Zhi sighed helplessly. “Even if that small company of yours succeeds, so what? Dad is not actually trying to kick you out…”

Not actually trying to kick him out.

His stepmother had said the same thing during the argument that day.

“Not actually trying to kick me out?” Lu Chong had felt his skin crawl with disgust as he watched his stepmother pretend to be gentle and considerate while clearly loathing him. “You sent my sister abroad the moment you divorced my mother. What, are the two of us just that much of an eyesore in this house?”

“Xiao Chong, do not talk to your father like that. He planned this path for you after much consideration.”

His father glanced at the stepmother and daughter who were trying to mediate, signaling them to leave. In this house, no one defied the head of the family except Lu Chong. The stepmother and sister nodded and closed the door behind them.

“What is your reason for not wanting to go to Country S? Is it the location, or are you just being difficult on purpose?” His father’s tone was cold and absolute. “You are in your twenties; stop being so childish.”

Looking at the documents already signed and stamped in his father’s hand, a surge of anger rose in Lu Chong’s heart. Everything had to follow his father’s arrangements. He had to listen to everything. He could not even decide where to go after graduation.

“The papers are already signed,” he said sarcastically. “If going abroad is so great, why don’t you send Lu Xingquan abroad to be groomed as well?”

His father frowned, his tone as detached as if he were managing an investment, making the hysterical Lu Chong look like a child throwing a tantrum. “Your brother is still young; it is not yet certain what he will differentiate into. You are the eldest son. I place weight on you because I have high expectations for you.”

“High expectations for me?” Lu Chong sneered. “So, you planned to send me far away so the three of you could live as a happy little family?”

“I never meant that. The company holds shares from your maternal grandparents; it is impossible for me to give the entire industry to your brother even if I wanted to. If you have an issue with Auntie Xing or your brother, I cannot help you. I am an adult, and I need to have my own marriage and life. I cannot remain unmarried forever because of you.”

His father’s frown deepened. “Stop acting like a child. You think getting into A-University makes you special, but everything you have was given to you by this family. Away from the Lu family and the path I have planned for you, you are nothing.”

Lu Chong’s chest tightened suddenly, as if something had been gripped hard. He had excelled in his studies since childhood and done his best in everything, thinking he had proven his ability. But under his father’s overwhelming control, no matter how well he did, it was merely viewed as the result of the family’s shade.

“You have come this far by relying on the Lu family,” his father’s tone was cold to the point of indifference. “Without the Lu family, you are nothing.”

That day, Lu Chong slammed the door and left. His sister tried to chase after him, but she was stopped by a single look from their father.

Running away was an impulse, but while buying water at a convenience store, Lu Chong discovered that all his cards had been frozen. He stayed at Yi Zhuo’s house for one night, only to be woken by Yi Zhuo the next morning and urged to go back.

“Did my family look for you?”

Yi Zhuo nodded awkwardly, saying that Lu Chong’s sister was about to arrive. Lu Chong did not want to make it difficult for him, so he packed his things and left immediately.

His phone had over a dozen missed calls, all from Mu Yan. Ignoring the fact that it was only five in the morning, he called back.

“What is wrong? Why is your voice so raspy?” Mu Yan asked with concern. “Did I disturb you? I sent you messages yesterday, but you never replied…”

“Yan Yan…” Hearing his lover’s voice, the tension in Lu Chong’s nerves seemed to release all at once. He felt aggrieved and wanted to tell Mu Yan everything, but he did not know where to start.

“What is it?” Mu Yan was terrified, having never seen him like this. “Did something happen? Should I come find you?”

Mu Yan quickly took a taxi to get him and brought him back to his shabby rental apartment. The rain seemed endless, and the apartment was damp and dark. Mu Yan prepared hot water for him and told him to take a hot shower.

The bathroom filled with steam while the sound of slippers on the floor echoed from outside. Mu Yan knocked on the door, saying he had placed clothes outside. They were the clothes Lu Chong had left at Mu Yan’s place last time; Mu Yan had washed, dried, and stored them in his wardrobe.

By the time he finished his shower, Mu Yan had already finished washing the clothes Lu Chong had just taken off. He was in the kitchen, cooking oatmeal porridge. Seemingly feeling that such food was not good enough, Mu Yan explained quickly, “I know you do not like breakfast, but it is too early to buy anything else. Please, just have a little bit for now.”

Lu Chong’s hair was still dripping. Mu Yan brought a hair-drying cap to rub it for him. After Lu Chong ate a few bites and put it down, indicating he didn’t want more, Mu Yan took him to the bedroom to blow-dry his hair.

Mu Yan’s hairdryer was old and made a loud whirring sound. If pointed at one spot for too long, it would burn. But as Mu Yan dried his hair, he kept it on a gentle, medium setting, holding it far away so it wasn’t hot at all, moving it frequently.

Lu Chong could not help but look up at Mu Yan. The other was focused on the task, his expression serious, as if he did not find it strange at all for a Beta to care for an Alpha this way.

Sensing his gaze, Mu Yan hesitated before speaking tentatively. “What happened?”

“Did… something happen at home?”

Lu Chong’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly. He nodded in silence.

Mu Yan was at a loss, not knowing how to comfort him, so he simply continued drying his hair in silence.

“I… do not understand these things, so I cannot help you. But no matter what happens, I will stay with you.”

The warm wind continued to brush over his scalp, soft and gentle, without a hint of burning heat. Lu Chong’s eyelashes lowered, and a strange emotion rose in his heart. It was like someone discovering their home destroyed after an earthquake, only to see their little dog limping toward them through the ruins.

Aside from the surprise, there was a sense of relief. This gentle, wonderful Mu Yan belonged solely to him; no one could take him away. In the eyes of others, Mu Yan was just an inconspicuous Beta, like a weed found anywhere on the roadside. Only he knew how good Mu Yan truly was.

The whirring of the hairdryer stopped. Mu Yan seemed to have made a decision and reached out to hug him. For two people who had long shared deeper intimacy, a hug was not a rare interaction. But now, with Lu Chong sitting on the edge of the bed and Mu Yan standing to embrace him, his face was buried against Mu Yan’s waist, a posture of being protected.

I will be here. I will stay with you.

“You are so capable; you will definitely be able to make a comeback.”

Lu Chong was momentarily stunned.

It seemed Mu Yan had misunderstood and thought his family had gone bankrupt.

Mu Yan gently stroked his hair. It was dry, soft, and clean. Mu Yan put away the hairdryer.

“No matter what happens,” Mu Yan said, “I will be with you through it all.”

That night, many people had urged him to go back. At Yi Zhuo’s house, his sister had called, sighing and telling him not to be impulsive, saying their father wouldn’t truly ignore him. His friends’ messages came one after another, telling him not to hold out, to just go back and admit his mistake, because family is family.

He did not want to hear those words from Mu Yan’s mouth as well.

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