The Beta Wife Claimed by Competing Alphas - Chapter 23

But if he returned to a few minutes ago, he would still…

“Need some help?” The ride-share driver asked habitually upon seeing the passenger carrying a suitcase.

“No, thank you,” Mu Yan replied. “Please just pop the trunk.”

He hadn’t brought much; the suitcase wasn’t heavy.

Mu Yan placed the luggage inside and sat in the car. His wrist felt empty and bare, as if something were missing. In truth, he didn’t wear that bracelet every single moment. Typing with it was inconvenient, so he often took it off for work, as well as for showering and sleeping.

Yet, for some reason, he still felt a lingering sense of unease.

A hotel room for a single night was too expensive, and he had nowhere else to go. So, he took a car to his mother’s hospital ward, where there was a small cot for caregivers.

He would look for a new apartment tomorrow.

Elderly people sleep early. By the time Mu Yan arrived at the hospital, it was already the early hours of the morning. His mother and the auntie in the neighboring bed were both fast asleep.

Mu Yan carefully unfolded the cot, relieved that neither of them woke up.

Both Mu Yan and Lin Yi were meticulous people. The hospital room was well-stocked with extra pillows, thin air-conditioning quilts for summer, and thick blankets for winter. Mu Yan familiarly found a thick blanket and folded it several times to use as a cover. He couldn’t find a pillow, though; his mother had likely fallen asleep propped up against it while scrolling through her phone.

Mu Yan took off his jacket, folded it into a square, and lay down using it as a pillow.

Whether it was borrowing money or looking for a place to live, it could all wait until he woke up tomorrow.

When he was a child, the words his mother said to him most often were, “It’ll be better once you wake up tomorrow.”

When he wanted half a bowl more of rice but the pot was empty, she would say, “Be a good boy, Yan Yan. You can eat more when you wake up tomorrow.”

When the school needed fees for materials but there was no money at home, she would say, “It’s okay. There will be money when you wake up tomorrow.”

Now, of course, he knew that the extra sweet potato the next day didn’t just appear out of thin air. He knew the material fees she handed him were earned by her staying up late to stitch dozens of shoe soles and heading to the market early in the morning to trade them.

His face felt damp. Mu Yan didn’t know when he had started crying.

Even though the person who had to solve the problems was now himself, he still believed, without reason, that things would be better after a night’s sleep.

Mu Yan raised his hand, looking at his bare wrist by the moonlight filtering through the gap in the curtains.

It will be okay. Tomorrow will be better.

Once I wake up, everything will be fine, Mu Yan comforted himself. The money for the treatment would be found, and in the future, there would be someone more suited for him than Lu Chong.

Mu Yan buried his head in the blanket, quietly waiting for exhaustion and sleep to arrive.

Unfortunately, misfortunes never come singly; the auntie in the next bed started snoring right at that moment.

Mu Yan had been attending school in the town since junior high and usually lived in the dorms. He had plenty of experience with communal living and was quite used to snoring. Yet tonight, for some reason, it felt exceptionally difficult to endure.

There was a long pause after each snore before the next one began. Every time Mu Yan thought the noise had finally ceased, the next one would erupt.

His mother had mentioned that the auntie occasionally snored when she was tired.

Mu Yan couldn’t sleep. Even when drowsiness bloomed in the intervals between snores, his heart felt as if it were suspended in mid-air, unable to settle.

So much had happened.

He and Lu Chong had been together for nearly three years. From the moment they started, Mu Yan had imagined many reasons for a breakup: Lu Chong getting bored and liking someone else, a mutual parting after graduation, or Lu Chong’s family disliking his humble background.

Mu Yan was a very self-aware person. If Lu Chong ever showed the slightest sign of wanting to pull away, Mu Yan would have left of his own accord.

But he had never imagined the possibility that the one wanting to leave would be himself.

There was some sadness, and it was hard to say he didn’t regret it at all. Mu Yan was a dull person; he had no hobbies or interests. His free time was spent either working or revolving around Lu Chong.

Realizing that he and Lu Chong were completely over felt like a piece of his body had been emptied out, leaving him light and hollow.

But even if he returned to a few minutes ago, he would still break up with Lu Chong, and he would still smash that bracelet.

That was his… brother. Even Lu Chong didn’t have the right to talk about his brother like that.

The year Mu Juanhua brought Lin Yi into their home, Mu Yan was seven years old.

Seven is an age where one knows a little but cannot yet discern right from wrong. News traveled fast in the small village. The villagers knew Lin Guojun was bringing home an Omega woman even before Mu Yan did.

The men and women in the village were almost all Betas. The men envied the idle Lin Guojun for marrying an Omega, while the women disliked the “outsider” for no particular reason.

Their faint distaste couldn’t even be called malice, as the villagers didn’t actually do anything to the family. In fact, out of curiosity, they were quite welcoming after Mu Juanhua arrived.

“Your dad is marrying a stepmother. Do you know Snow White? Stepmothers are all like that.”

“Your dad won’t love you anymore once he has a stepmother. And it’ll be even more impossible for your real mom to ever come back.”

But, little Mu Yan thought as he looked down at the hole in his clothes, he never… loved me anyway.

His clothes were always old, and nearly every piece had a tear. Mu Yan was naturally clean and had learned to wash his own clothes before he even started school, but he didn’t know how to mend those holes. He could only be more careful when washing them.

Children his age teased him, saying his clothes were ragged because he didn’t have a mother. Mu Yan’s eyes would turn red as he wanted to argue, but he had no way to prove he wasn’t motherless. He had never seen his mother.

He didn’t know anything about Snow White or stepmothers. He only took to heart that one sentence: “It’ll be even more impossible for your real mom to ever come back.”

When Mu Juanhua arrived with Lin Yi, Mu Yan hid in his room. No matter how much she knocked, he wouldn’t open the door.

Lin Guojun cursed and kicked the door once. Mu Yan flinched. In his memory, although Lin Guojun was lazy and loved to gamble, he had never hit him.

“The child is just shy. It’s normal. Let’s not force him out,” Mu Juanhua said.

By dinner time, Mu Yan was so hungry he finally ran out. The food she made was delicious. She didn’t make him call her “Mom,” saying “Auntie” was fine. Mu Yan didn’t call her anything, but smelling the aroma of the food, his hands were very honest as he scooped himself a large bowl of rice.

After dinner, Lin Guojun moved Lin Yi’s things into Mu Yan’s room. Only then did Mu Yan realize he would be sharing a room with this so-called brother.

Lin Yi wasn’t the type to force a connection. He didn’t take over Mu Yan’s wardrobe; he simply placed his bag containing all his belongings in the corner. Then he took out a quilt, sheets, and a mat, spreading them on the floor.

“What are you doing?”

Lin Yi was startled by the sudden voice from the person who hadn’t spoken all night.

“I… my mom told me to sleep on the floor for a few days. She’ll buy me a bed later. Do you hate me that much? I… I can go sleep in the living room instead.”

“No, I don’t.” Mu Yan pursed his lips, feeling a bit in the wrong. “You… you can sleep on the bed.”

Lin Yi was quick to take the hint and immediately put the floor bedding away.

“You use your own quilt. I don’t want to share one with you.”

Lin Yi nodded and said okay; he wouldn’t crowd Mu Yan.

Unlike the village gossip, this auntie and the “cheap brother” weren’t actually that dislikable. The day after Mu Juanhua arrived, she mended every single hole in Mu Yan’s clothes. In the village at that time, no one was wealthy; having patches on clothes was perfectly normal. Before, Mu Yan’s clothes always had holes, which had caused him no shortage of ridicule.

After she came, Mu Yan finally wore patched clothes for the first time, the kind of clothes other children looked down on, but he found them whole.

Mu Yan began calling her Auntie, but he still refused to call Lin Yi “Brother.”

For children at that age, having an older brother or sister was usually something to brag about. But Lin Yi was just a stranger thrust into his life. Before he moved into his house and took up half his room, they had never met.

Lin Yi was in the fifth grade. Having just transferred, he didn’t know the way home, so he would wait at Mu Yan’s classroom door every day after school so they could walk back together. Mu Yan didn’t want to walk with him, but he was also afraid Lin Yi might actually get lost.

Mu Yan wasn’t popular in his class. In contrast, when he occasionally saw Lin Yi in the cafeteria, he noticed that he was quite well-liked by his peers. He didn’t want this “cheap brother” to see his pathetic state.

Children are often the most prone to bullying those they perceive as weak. Mu Yan had no mother, and Lin Guojun didn’t care about him, making him a frequent target. He wasn’t afraid of violence everyone has two arms and two legs, and at worst, he would just fight back. But it was the verbal mockery and the social isolation that were the hardest to bear.

On the duty roster set by the class monitors, he was assigned not only to wipe the blackboard but also to mop the floors, the dirtiest and most exhausting tasks.

On several occasions, Mu Yan was the last one to leave the classroom, which was how Lin Yi eventually discovered that Mu Yan was being bullied behind his back.

Once he found out, he didn’t tell Mu Juanhua. Instead, during a break, he grandly called out Mu Yan’s class monitor under the guise of “a teacher is looking for you,” cornered him at the stairwell, and gave him a thorough scolding.

Children are instinctively afraid of those in higher grades. The class duty roster was changed very quickly. That afternoon when school let out, Lin Yi was waiting at the classroom door early as usual. Seeing that Mu Yan’s duty had been changed to merely wiping the teacher’s podium, he finally smiled with satisfaction.

There were still a few lingering students in the room. Mu Yan saw Lin Yi standing at the back door and, in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, called out:

“Brother.”

Lin Yi was momentarily stunned, but then he responded naturally, “Are you done with your duties? Let’s go home.”

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