PBMM CH53

Zheng Chenke had many things he wanted to ask, but the youth avoided him like a snake or scorpion. If the butler weren’t present, he probably would have hidden in the closet in terror long ago. The man knew this was because, in the youth’s eyes, he was just a “stranger.” Even clearly knowing the reason, the sourness in his heart still overwhelmed him.

A-Qing was so terrified of strangers; how could he possibly sneak onto an unfamiliar car all by himself?

What exactly happened back then…

[Ding! Zheng Chenke favorability: 95]

[Overall progress has reached ninety percent. Please keep up the good work!]

Curled up in the closet, the corners of He Qing’s mouth curled up slightly. He contentedly changed his posture and continued to sleep.

“When the little young master was young, he always took his naps in the closet. Only that way could he feel safe.”

The butler stood at the doorway, looking at the tightly shut closet doors, and sighed. “Abused at four years old, the little young master’s stomach was ruined when he came back. But because he was so starved, he developed the habit of forcing himself to eat whenever he saw food. In less than a year, he gained a lot of weight. Coupled with his autistic personality, he was bullied terribly in kindergarten.”

“The little young master didn’t know how to tattle, and those kids were shrewd, always avoiding the cameras and teachers. Master was also busy with company affairs and rarely came home. It was also my fault; I thought the little young master just hadn’t moved on from Madam’s passing. I never expected his increasing silence was because he was being bullied.”

“The first time we realized the little young master was being bullied was after he attempted suicide and was rescued. Such a small child… being bullied so severely, he learned from TV and cut his wrists. He was small and lacked strength, so the cuts weren’t deep, but they hit the veins.”

As the butler spoke, he couldn’t help but shed old tears again. “There were no surveillance cameras at the time. According to the teachers, the little young master sneaked into the playroom to cut his wrists while everyone was eating lunch. A lot of blood flowed. He must have gotten scared and tried to walk out to call for help, but he couldn’t walk anymore. Actually, adults usually don’t die from slitting their wrists, but the little young master was only five at the time. The blood he lost was enough for him to bleed to death. If another child hadn’t seen him and saved him, he might have truly never woken up again.”

With what kind of feelings did the little He Qing commit suicide?

Just imagining it made the man’s heart ache dully. He clutched his chest, yet his brain was thinking rapidly. His magnetic voice said deeply, “That child who saved him… was Lu Linguan, right?”

——

“I want to eat, I want to eat, I just want to eat!!” The boy, crying with snot and tears, rolled around on the floor throwing a tantrum. The adult above him was both angry and anxious, trying to pull him up. “Be a good boy, we have to board the plane soon. How about we eat after we get off the plane?”

“I won’t!! I just want to eat, I want to eat!”

One look at the boy told you he was spoiled. Hearing an answer that didn’t suit him, he immediately shouted even louder, instantly attracting the attention of many people around. The adult’s expression became even more embarrassed, still trying hard to reason with him. “The plane is about to take off. If we go buy it now, we might miss the flight. Be a good boy, Mom will buy it for you after we get off the plane, okay?”

“I don’t want to!!!”

Lu Linguan, with his suitcase by his hand, watched the child throwing a tantrum from afar, annoyance flashing through his eyes. What he hated the most were these bratty kids who couldn’t understand human speech.

These bratty kids, who made you want to kick them every time you saw them, always reminded him of when he was young, being mocked by those kindergarten kids for not having a mother.

At that time, Lu Ren didn’t value him as much as he did now. He was merely an expendable, wild child who had been brought back, raised like a little pet. Naturally, he wouldn’t care if he was being bullied.

As the only child in the kindergarten who had neither a father nor a mother come to pick him up, Lu Linguan was always ruthlessly mocked every time school ended.

“Lu Linguan, your family sent a driver to pick you up again! Look, this is my mom!” A little girl with pretty braids proudly held her mother’s hand, telling her as if it were something amusing, “Lu Linguan doesn’t have a mom, and his dad never comes either!”

The well-maintained young woman’s eyes held a high-and-mighty pity. She sighed with an amiable expression and a gentle tone, “This child is truly pitiful.”

A light appeared in the young Lu Linguan’s eyes. He felt incredibly grateful to this beautiful, kind-hearted auntie. That is, until he heard that gentle voice at the doorway telling her daughter again:

“You see, he’s always gloomy, and he’s an illegitimate child. Just looking at him, you can tell he has a bad temper. Nannan, don’t play with him, understand?”

The small boy stood at the doorway with his head lowered, the little girl’s crisp, sweet, and smug voice ringing in his ears, “I know, he always has a stinky face. None of us play with him.”

What happened later?

A child much younger than them arrived. He also had no mom or dad to pick him up, and he was timid and cowardly. His chubby, fair cheeks made him look just like a glutinous rice ball.

He was very cute, his large, round eyes always looking around innocently. Even though he also didn’t talk much and was also picked up by a driver, unlike Lu Linguan, he easily gained friendship.

Based on what?

Lu Linguan watched silently all along. Until one day, he took another child’s toy and put it in the boy’s backpack.

“I didn’t take it…” The boy, tears in his large eyes, shrank timidly in the corner, watching his backpack being emptied onto the floor. Lu Linguan still remembered this scene very clearly even now.

From then on, the person being bullied became that chubby boy.

Lu Linguan watched all along. Until that day, he saw He Changying come to pick up that boy. He had seen He Changying before, had seen his own father fawning over him, and knew he was a very powerful person.

Lu Linguan tried hard to recall the young woman’s expression. Finding the boy who had been bullied yet again and didn’t dare cry out loud, he gently comforted him, “Don’t cry, I’ll protect you.”

Of course, he never stood up for him even once, but that was enough.

He watched the boy grow more silent day by day, watched his cute dimples never appear again. Until one day, he saw him holding a knife he got from who knows where, going into the playroom alone.

Lu Linguan waited at the door all along, timing it. When small, despairing sobs came from inside, he rushed in.

“A-Qing? What’s wrong? Why is there so much blood! Teacher! Teacher!”

From then on, the infinitely pampered little young master of the He family, whom they wished they could hold up to the heavens, became his, Lu Linguan’s, lackey. Whatever he said, He Qing would do. Because of this, Lu Ren also treated him slightly better, a rare occurrence, but that was the extent of it.

When Lu Linguan was in middle school, his pathetic and incompetent father unfortunately took too much medication. Although he could still perform in bed, it would be very difficult for him to leave any more heirs. As his only bloodline, Lu Ren’s assets could only be inherited by him.

That gloomy boy, who always kept his head down and didn’t speak, transformed into the refined young man who always smiled gently now. Beside him, there was always a youth with beautiful eyes full of adoration, shyly calling him, “Linguan…”

“A-Qing…” Lu Linguan turned around abruptly, but there was nothing behind him.

Having not slept all night, he rubbed his temples tiredly, yet his mind was filled with the pitiful image of the youth with red eyes, pinned beneath him, crying and begging. His throat tightened, and a certain area below grew slightly hot.

There are some things that, once tasted, you truly never want to let go of again.

Lu Linguan had only just tasted that green, beautiful body. According to his calculations, with A-Qing’s personality, by now, besides that idiot Mo Chuyu, probably no one else would remember him.

He could follow his original plan to marry a wife who could bring him assistance, and simultaneously enjoy this beautiful, pure body. A-Qing would belong to him forever.

If it weren’t for the variable that was Zheng Chenke.

In order to protect his only heir, Lu Ren urgently arranged for him to go abroad. Lu Linguan agreed without hesitation, but just as he was about to board the plane, he hesitated.

By going abroad this time, would he still have a chance to see A-Qing again?

If only… he could take him along.

Boarding time was approaching. Lu Linguan picked up his suitcase. After taking only a few steps forward, he was stopped by two men.

“Young Master Lu, apologies, but CEO Zheng wishes to see you.”

The hand holding the suitcase tightened. The refined young man smiled gently. “Alright.”

——

“CEO Zheng, we have brought the person back.”

Zheng Chenke stood on the balcony with a dark face. Looking into the bedroom at the youth on the bed, who had been crying ever since he woke up, he gritted his teeth and said angrily, “Bring him to A-Qing’s room.”

He hung up the phone, pushed open the glass door, and watched with a headache as the youth continued to cry.

It wasn’t a loud wail, but a small, heartbreaking sobbing. The delicate sniffles, and the youth’s body convulsing with every sob, made Zheng Chenke’s entire heart soften. He wished he could present everything the youth wanted before him for him to choose.

But unfortunately, what he wanted was a beast in human clothing that Zheng Chenke wished he could hack into ten thousand pieces!

“Linguan… Linguan… sob sob sob sob…” The voice was so faint it couldn’t be heard without listening closely, yet it fell crystal clear upon the man’s ears. Feeling extremely stifled, he nevertheless forced a smile and sat on the edge of the bed.

“A-Qing…” He tried to hold the youth’s hand, but the youth dodged in fear. Zheng Chenke’s smile remained unchanged, his voice softening. “Stop crying, okay…”

Faced with a strange man, the youth’s reaction was to sob softly while silently shrinking back, his eyes full of fear.

Zheng Chenke couldn’t describe how he felt in his heart. He wished he could stab Lu Linguan to death with a single knife, but facing He Qing, who only had the memories of a five-year-old, his smile didn’t waver as he gently coaxed him, “A-Qing, Lu Linguan is coming right away. Stop crying, okay?”

The youth’s crying paused. His body was still sobbing uncontrollably as his beautiful eyes, wet with tears, looked at him longingly. “Really… hic… really?”

This crying hiccup reminded the man of the last time they argued. Even though it clearly wasn’t a pleasant memory, his eyes reddened. He gently patted the top of the youth’s head, who didn’t dodge this time, and said hoarsely, “Really. Whatever A-Qing wants, I will give to you.”

Although he didn’t understand, the youth, who had been cooped up in the room for a whole day, still timidly put forth his request. “I want Linguan…”

Zheng Chenke’s heart ached piercingly, but he smiled gently. “Okay.”

— A knock came from the door.

Zheng Chenke lowered his eyes, watching as the visibly exhausted, refined young man was escorted in by the people behind him.

The eyes of the youth, who had just been crying, lit up. He practically rolled off the bed, his bare feet wrapped in gauze stepping onto the cold floor. Like a baby swallow throwing itself into the forest, he rushed into the young man’s embrace.

“Linguan! I missed you so much!”

Zheng Chenke watched with a cold face as Lu Linguan, whose eyes were full of surprise, held the youth in his arms. The hands resting on the edge of the bed clenched fiercely.

You forgot me, but you still remember the twenty-year-old Lu Linguan?

“A-Qing…”

Lu Linguan had made many assumptions, but he never expected to face such a scene after being brought here. A-Qing… didn’t blame him?

Complex emotions churned in his heart. His stone-hard heart felt as if it had been pried open by something, melting completely soft.

[Ding! Lu Linguan favorability: 90. Please keep up the good work, Host.]

He Qing nuzzled forcefully into Lu Linguan’s embrace, wiping all his tears onto his clothes. [Mhm, working hard on it right now~]