The Beta Wife Claimed by Competing Alphas - Chapter 22

“You can’t even bear to part with a bracelet, yet you claim.”

Mu Yan hung up the phone before Lu Chong could respond.

He remembered no rule stating that a breakup required the other party’s consent to be valid. He and Lu Chong were finished.

After saying those words, Mu Yan’s legs felt weak. He crouched down by the river railing. The wind wasn’t as strong as before or rather, it had stopped. But perhaps because his eyes were so dry from the wind, his tears continued to flow uncontrollably.

To say he didn’t regret that impulsive phone call at all would be a lie. They had been in a relationship for three years; how could he not feel a shred of nostalgia?

But if time were to rewind back to two minutes ago, he would still choose to say those words.

Mu Yan stayed by the railing alone for a while. He wasn’t the type to wallow in self-pity; he knew he didn’t have much time to spare for grief. His belongings were still in the rental house. Although they weren’t valuable, if he didn’t take them back, he would have to spend extra money to replace them.

Regarding the 150,000 yuan, even though it wasn’t his fault, he had ultimately messed it up, and he had to find another way. Online loans were absolutely not a viable temporary fix.

Mu Yan was still young and healthy. As long as he could borrow money from someone, he could always work multiple jobs to pay it back. He had good professional skills and could take on more freelance work. When freelance work was unavailable, he could even go to a warehouse for parcel sorting. He had heard that aside from being exhausting, it had almost no downsides: daily pay, flexible hours, and high wages.

Selling blood. Mu Yan was startled by the thought that popped into his head. No, selling blood was out of the question. The damage to the body was too great; if he fell ill, it wouldn’t be worth the gain.

As long as he could borrow the money… as long as he could borrow it.

Most of his former classmates were no longer in contact. Even if he swallowed his pride to send a “long time no see,” there was no guarantee he wouldn’t be turned away. He had lost contact with almost all of his mother’s relatives long ago; otherwise, Lin Yi would have already found a way to borrow from them.

He could actually borrow a bit from his colleagues. Mu Yan’s salary wasn’t low, and his colleagues were in a similar position. As long as they had worked for a year or two and didn’t have a special family situation like his, most would have some savings.

But they were just colleagues. Would they really be willing to help?

Mu Yan thought tiredly, only then realizing he had been crouching there for quite a while. He already suffered from low blood sugar, and crouching like this for so long made his legs go numb. He quickly grabbed the railing to stand up.

His vision went dark momentarily, but he remained conscious; it would pass after a moment of rest.

Someone caught him.

At first, Mu Yan thought it was a hallucination because his vision was black and he couldn’t see what was in front of him. It wasn’t until Lu Chong draped a thick overcoat over his shoulders, tilted his chin up, and popped a fruit candy he often bought into his mouth.

It was grape-flavored—a hard shell on the outside with a liquid center.

The moment he realized it was Lu Chong, it would be a lie to say he wasn’t moved. Lu Chong didn’t speak; he just supported him from behind. The scent of vetiver on him had become very faint, perhaps because he had been too busy to apply cologne these past two days.

The hard shell of the candy cracked, and the grape liquid flowed out, slightly more tart than the outer shell.

“Can you stand now?”

Mu Yan nodded. Lu Chong let go, releasing his grip only after confirming he could stand on his own.

“You don’t think I came looking for you because I couldn’t bear to let you go and came to beg you not to break up, do you?” Lu Chong said indifferently.

Even now, hearing such words from Lu Chong, Mu Yan couldn’t help but freeze, only coming to his senses after a long while.

Lu Chong was always like this. For him, taking the initiative to lower his pride and find Mu Yan was already a massive concession. He never knew how to say comforting words; it was nearly impossible for him to initiate an apology.

“Take your things yourself. I don’t have time to pack them up and throw them away.”

“Okay,” Mu Yan agreed softly.

The riverbank wasn’t far from their rental house; they often walked here. Mu Yan turned first and began walking back the way they came.

Lu Chong was dazed for a moment, and by then Mu Yan had already walked quite a distance. Lu Chong quickly lengthened his stride to catch up. When he was just one step away from walking side-by-side with Mu Yan, he stopped, walking a single pace behind him instead.

He didn’t want to seem like he cared too much, as if he were rushing to catch up.

So what if he had said a few harsh words? It wasn’t as if he really wasn’t going to get him the money.

Had Mu Yan reached this point without any fault of his own? During university, even though he knew Lu Chong had money and resources, he hadn’t mentioned a single word about his mother’s illness or Lin Guojun’s mess.

If only Mu Yan had brought it up earlier, his mother’s illness might have been cured long ago. He had waited until they were living in a rental house, saving even on air conditioning costs, huddled together like two puppies in the rain to keep each other warm, before telling Lu Chong about his gambling father and sick mother—and saying he hoped Lu Chong wouldn’t… despise him.

Hoping he wouldn’t despise him. As if Lu Chong hadn’t known he was poor when they met. What use was “not despising” him? Could not despising him help solve his family problems? Truly stupid.

The streetlights by the river stretched Mu Yan’s shadow long behind him as they walked one after the other. Lu Chong stared at Mu Yan’s shadow, suddenly remembering the time when they had first gotten together.

Lu Chong was used to being a loner. Even if he occasionally walked with friends, they were Alphas of similar stature. Mu Yan was shorter than him and his stride wasn’t as large. When they first started dating, Lu Chong would occasionally forget to slow down, and Mu Yan would have to jog a few steps just to catch his hand.

“The little rabbit’s legs are only this short. Are you a transformed rabbit?”

Mu Yan would blush and wouldn’t answer, just lightly scratching Lu Chong’s palm as if acting spoiled.

It took Lu Chong a long time to get used to a normal person’s pace so that even if he didn’t intentionally wait for Mu Yan, he wouldn’t leave him behind.

Lu Chong suddenly wondered: before that, had Mu Yan also watched his own shadow like this?

Actually, there was nothing humiliating about reaching out to hold Mu Yan’s hand. He had already come to find him anyway, and Mu Yan had agreed to go home with him. He should just consider it a mutual compromise.

That was the good thing about Mu Yan: no matter how well you treated him, he never pushed his luck. He wouldn’t demand an apology or force Lu Chong to reflect on his mistakes after Lu Chong had already yielded.

The riverbank was close to their home. By the time Lu Chong finally convinced himself to reach out and take Mu Yan’s hand, they had almost arrived.

Mu Yan didn’t have his keys. As soon as Lu Chong opened the door, Mu Yan turned and headed straight for the bedroom.

Since they were renting and could move at any time, Mu Yan didn’t have many belongings. Not counting the bedding they had bought together which he didn’t plan to take, his possessions were pitifully few.

Lu Chong stood at the bedroom door and watched as Mu Yan packed the last piece of clothing into the suitcase, closed the lid, and pulled the zipper shut.

His expression instantly darkened. “Mu Yan, what are you doing?”

Mu Yan didn’t answer. He just opened the nightstand drawer, searching for something.

Why isn’t it here?

He had clearly taken it off and put it here before his shower.

“Looking for this?”

Mu Yan turned around and saw the bracelet he was looking for lying in Lu Chong’s palm. He reached out to take it, but in that instant, Lu Chong seized his wrist.

Lu Chong’s grip wasn’t heavy; although Mu Yan couldn’t break free, it didn’t hurt. Mu Yan knew that if Lu Chong didn’t restrain his strength, a grip like that would definitely be painful.

“Let go,” Mu Yan said.

Lu Chong didn’t answer. Holding his hand, he slowly slid the jade bracelet back onto Mu Yan’s wrist.

The movement was slow and gentle.

Was it like this the first time he helped me put it on?

Mu Yan couldn’t quite remember.

“Didn’t you want to break up? Why were you looking for this bracelet then?”

“You gave it to me,” Mu Yan said. “It’s mine. Why shouldn’t I take it with me?”

Lu Chong let out a sneer.

“You can’t even bear to part with a bracelet, yet you claim you’re willing to leave me?”

Mu Yan looked at him quietly, then stared at the bracelet in a daze for a moment.

He pulled the bracelet off his wrist and smashed it onto the ground.

The bracelet shattered into pieces.

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