The Beta Wife Claimed by Competing Alphas - Chapter 49

Shang Qiyue stared at Mu Yan for a long while, his brows slightly furrowed and his gaze heavy, as if something were brewing beneath the surface.

“If I had known you would be this upset, I shouldn’t have brought you here today.”

Mu Yan froze and looked up at him, his eyes filled with a trace of panic as he hurriedly shook his head. “No, it’s not your fault, Sir.”

It was his own fault for meeting the wrong person and lacking discernment in the past; how could that be Shang Qiyue’s mistake?

If he hadn’t attended today’s engagement banquet, he might have gone his whole life without knowing that Lu Chong had deceived him.

He had no access to the people at the top of the pyramid. Even if he saw a report one day about Lu Chong marrying some socialite, he would likely only scan it briefly without noticing the names involved.

But which was better: being deceived for a lifetime, or knowing the truth and suffering for a while?

Mu Yan didn’t know.

Shang Qiyue said nothing more. He simply reached out, grasped Mu Yan’s wrist, and pulled him up. “Let’s go. We’re going home.”

Hearing Shang Qiyue’s words, Mu Yan stood up with him. For some reason, his nose felt a bit stingy again.

Was the apartment Shang Qiyue bought truly his home?

Since Mu Juanhua was hospitalized, he rarely returned to their house in the countryside.

When “home” was mentioned, Mu Yan still thought of the cramped, cheap one-bedroom rental he had occupied for the longest time after graduation. As long as he paid the rent, no one would kick him out.

As he stood, his body wavered due to low blood sugar and lack of strength, but Shang Qiyue supported him just in time.

“Thank you, Sir,” Mu Yan said, as if suddenly remembering something. “Do you need to say goodbye to your friends?”

“I’ve already sent a text,” Shang Qiyue caught his hand. “Let’s go.”

The banquet hall remained brilliantly lit with guests mingling. Mu Yan allowed Shang Qiyue to lead him through the crowd, feeling many eyes landing on them.

He instinctively wanted to lower his head to avoid those gazes, yet he was afraid that looking timid and shrinking back would embarrass Shang Qiyue.

Mu Yan comforted himself: he was just someone Shang Qiyue brought on a whim. He likely wouldn’t see these people ever again.

The elevator doors closed, and Shang Qiyue pressed the button for the second basement level. The air in the parking garage seemed several degrees colder than indoors. Shang Qiyue held his hand and quickened his pace.

Shang Qiyue had been drinking today, so a driver was already waiting in the car.

Likely not expecting Shang Qiyue to finish so early, the driver was dozing off.

Shang Qiyue woke him without saying much. The driver, however, looked quite embarrassed, hurriedly starting the car and turning on the air conditioning. “Sorry, Sir, I accidentally fell asleep.”

“It’s cold in the basement. Next time you sleep in the car, turn on the AC and open a window slightly. Don’t let yourself catch a cold; I can’t find a replacement on short notice. It’ll also be warmer for us when we get in—he’s sensitive to the cold,” Shang Qiyue said.

Mu Yan wasn’t wearing much, and his nose was red from the cold—or perhaps from the crying.

“I’m not that cold,” Mu Yan whispered.

Shang Qiyue looked at him and smiled, still instructing the driver to turn the heat up before pulling Mu Yan into his embrace.

The body temperature of an S-grade Alpha was slightly higher than Mu Yan’s in winter. As Mu Yan curled up in Shang Qiyue’s arms, he could faintly hear the steady rhythm of the man’s heartbeat. He felt a fleeting, faint illusion of something resembling warmth.

The elevator doors closed with a heavy thud.

The hotel building had six elevators, but it was now after nine—peak time for guests. The nearest elevator was on the 12th floor, and the stairs were far away.

The parking lot was massive, and today’s guests were numerous, all arriving by car. Finding Shang Qiyue’s car on his own was nearly impossible. Lu Chong had lost his last chance to take Mu Yan away before he got into the vehicle.

It felt like he was always one step too late: waiting for the company to profit before telling Mu Yan he was the majority shareholder; trying to rely on himself to let Mu Yan live a good life; trying to apologize.

Even realizing he didn’t want to marry some socially matched Omega had come one step too late.

Lu Chong’s eyes darkened.

He had been “one step late” for years. Mu Yan… had not actually had a good life following him.

He was headstrong, had a bad temper, and was always frustrated by the gap in his lifestyle. It was always Mu Yan who yielded; it was always Mu Yan who coaxed him.

The white strawberries he bought… had gone bad later. Mu Yan hadn’t eaten a single one.

Ding!

The elevator arrived.

Lu Chong lunged into the elevator, frantically pressing the close button and then the second basement level.

Fuck being one step late.

Mu Yan just cried. His eyes were red and swollen, and it was all because of that Shang Qiyue. Shang Qiyue must have forced him.

Mu Yan just cried!

Mu Yan was so timid, his personality so soft, and his family had no background. If Shang Qiyue forced him, what could he do?

When Lu Zhi and Jiang Yizhuo returned from the hospital to tell him that the issue with Mu Yan’s mother’s unpaid bills had been settled, he had been suspicious of who helped.

Uneasy, he had sent Jiang Yizhuo with money to find Mu Yan’s brother, only to be told the money was a loan from Mu Yan’s “kind boss.” He had relaxed then.

Thinking back now, what “kind boss” exists? Shang Qiyue must have taken advantage of his distress. A playboy like him has plenty of ways to seize what he wants.

It was all his fault. His fault for not protecting Mu Yan.

He shouldn’t have argued with Mu Yan; he should have gone back to find Lu Zhi the moment Mu Yan told him about the family emergency.

Fu Jiayan’s friend, he had long felt that man was no good.

Bastard.

“Bastard! What a lunatic!” Shang Qiyue’s driver, usually a quiet and timid man, was forced to curse.

Just as the Cayenne cleared the ramp of the hotel’s underground garage, a black Maybach suddenly swerved in front, forcibly blocking their path.

The driver slammed on the brakes, the car stopping just centimeters from the Maybach.

The driver turned back awkwardly toward Shang Qiyue. “President Shang, I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s fine,” Shang Qiyue calmly reassured his subordinate. “We ran into a lunatic; it’s not your fault.”

“Are you okay, Yanyan?” he asked Mu Yan.

Mu Yan shook his head. When the brakes were slammed, he had been held tightly in Shang Qiyue’s arms, so the jolt hadn’t affected him.

In the glow of the headlights, the Maybach’s license plate was clearly visible.

“C and four eights,” Shang Qiyue narrowed his eyes, his voice steady. He paused and gave a thoughtful smile. “I remember this plate. A friend of mine bid for it before and failed.”

“This should be Lu Chong’s car.”

Hearing that name, Mu Yan’s body still instinctively stiffened for a second.

Shang Qiyue looked down and saw Mu Yan’s fingertips tightly clutching the hem of his own clothes. His knuckles were slightly white, and his eyelashes trembled—he was clearly trying his best to hide his emotions.

“What, such a strong reaction just to Lu Chong’s name?” Shang Qiyue’s tone turned a bit cold.

“No, it’s not like that…”

He didn’t like Lu Chong anymore. He wouldn’t like Lu Chong ever again.

It was just that he had called this name too many times over the last three years. Even with an unfamiliar classmate, after three years of being together day and night, it would be normal to instinctively pay attention when hearing their name elsewhere.

Shang Qiyue’s gaze landed heavily on the Maybach in front of them. He suddenly turned his head to stare at Mu Yan.

“He really is here for you now. If he acts a bit nicer to you, would you want to go back with him?”

Mu Yan snapped his head up, and tears instantly spilled from his eyes.

In Shang Qiyue’s heart, was he really that lowly?

As long as Lu Chong offered a shred of a pleasant expression, like a dog being given leftovers, would he wag his tail and crawl back?

Mu Yan had eyes that seemed to speak. With tears welling in them, Shang Qiyue could almost read all the confusion, grievance, and resentment within them.

He had worried too much. Mu Yan was someone who cared deeply about dignity.

He was obedient to Shang Qiyue because their relationship was clearly priced from the start. No one knew better than Shang Qiyue how much humiliation had been in Mu Yan’s eyes the first time he was asked if he would perform oral sex.

He had been good to Lu Chong because he believed Lu Chong was his partner and his lover.

But now he knew how Lu Chong had been lying from the beginning. He knew that the equality he couldn’t get from Shang Qiyue was actually a joke with Lu Chong as well.

How could he possibly forgive Lu Chong again?

He had misjudged Mu Yan, Shang Qiyue thought. He raised his hand to wipe Mu Yan’s tears with his thumb, then pressed Mu Yan’s neck to bring him back into his chest, wanting to whisper a few comforting words.

Mu Yan was very soft-hearted; a few kind words and he wouldn’t be angry anymore.

“Sir,” the driver whispered a reminder.

The Maybach door opened, and a man in a well-tailored white suit stepped out. The man stood expressionless by the car, his gaze piercing through the night and the one-way glass, landing accurately on the person in the back seat.

Mu Yan had never seen Lu Chong like this.

He had seen a gentle, calm, or irritable Lu Chong, but never one like this. He couldn’t describe the feeling—it wasn’t just anger or sadness. Mu Yan couldn’t name it; he just felt it was very foreign.

“Do you want to see him, Baby?” Shang Qiyue asked.

Mu Yan didn’t answer immediately. He just looked at the Maybach blocking the Cayenne, separated by only a few centimeters.

The road wasn’t narrow, but the Maybach was parked horizontally in the middle, and the distance was extremely tight. Even Mu Yan, who only had a license but rarely drove, could see that if the Maybach didn’t move, their car didn’t even have the possibility of driving onto the green belt to go around.

“Why are you considering that?” Shang Qiyue couldn’t help but chuckle softly, leaning down to kiss Mu Yan’s forehead. “Just say if you want to see him or not.”

“We aren’t at someone else’s engagement banquet anymore,” Shang Qiyue reminded him.

We aren’t at an engagement banquet; we don’t have to consider the bride’s feelings.

“But if you don’t want to see him, we don’t have to.”

Mu Yan froze, looking at the car in front, then at Shang Qiyue.

“There’s no one else in the car,” Shang Qiyue said calmly. “He just got out of the driver’s seat; there’s no one else inside. Old Wu is a professional, and our car is heavy. We can just push that car and ram it out of the way.”

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