Chapter 2: A-Yu, My Mom… She Died
His husband forbade him from having contact with anyone. Even showing a little more care for his family would draw the man’s displeasure.
He didn’t understand why Shen Xingyu had become like this. Even if he had forgotten his love for him, that intense possessiveness deep in his bones still suffocated him.
Looking at the jealousy and sadness in Liang Sheng’s eyes, Shen Xingyu curled the corners of his lips in satisfaction.
He just liked seeing how much Liang Sheng cared about him. This feeling of being valued was very pleasant and enjoyable.
Liang Sheng blinked away the soreness in his eyes. Enduring silently, he quietly picked up the phone from the sofa.
For some reason, starting just moments ago, his heart had been beating very fast, and his sense of unease had grown stronger.
Did something happen to his mother?
Just as this thought emerged, his phone suddenly rang, giving his heart a fierce jolt.
It was a call from his younger brother.
Liang Sheng’s hand trembled uncontrollably.
He didn’t dare to overthink it and hurriedly pressed the answer button:
“Hello… Xiao…”
Before he could call out “Xiao Yin”, Liang Sheng’s face instantly turned deathly pale after hearing his brother’s words. He couldn’t even hold onto his phone, letting it slip and fall to the floor.
“How could this be… how could it…”
He muttered incoherently, tears bursting from his eyes. His entire body seemed to suddenly lose all strength, tottering unsteadily. Fortunately, he leaned against the sofa, preventing himself from falling over.
Seeing his sudden expression of grief, Shen Xingyu’s face grew solemn, but he only thought Liang Sheng was putting on an act to get away from him. He asked impatiently, “What is it now?”
Liang Sheng bent down to pick up the phone, looking at the man with tear-blurred eyes. Even though there was a huge barrier between him and his husband, he still treated him as his last emotional refuge. With a trembling voice, he said:
“A-Yu, my mom… she…”
Shen Xingyu frowned slightly.
It seemed too cruel, Liang Sheng couldn’t say it. He covered his mouth tightly with one hand, desperately squeezing out a few choked syllables through his teeth: “She died…”
Upon hearing this news, Shen Xingyu wasn’t surprised. He continued to maintain his indifferent, desireless demeanor, showing no reaction at all. It was as if he had long anticipated this outcome, feeling neither sorrow nor joy toward his mother-in-law’s death.
Liang Sheng was too overwhelmed with grief. Tears blurred his vision, so much so that he didn’t catch the fleeting chill that swept through the man’s eyes.
On the way to the hospital, every minute and every second felt exceptionally agonizing. Outside the window, the street scenes whizzed by. Liang Sheng was restless, his hands gripping his knees, constantly praying in his heart for even the slightest miracle to occur.
The glass window reflected his little wife’s tear-stained face. Looking at Liang Sheng like this, Shen Xingyu didn’t feel a shred of pity; instead, he felt it was irrelevant to him.
His handsome face rarely showed any expression all year round, and his ink-black eyes revealed hints of cold callousness.
It wasn’t surprising. His parents had divorced when he was young, and his mother had gone mad because of his father’s affairs. He lived with his father and stepmother for a while, then was thrown into an orphanage. He suffered too much torment before his grandfather found him and brought him back. Being emotionally detached, he naturally couldn’t comprehend this so-called bond of flesh and blood, nor the sorrow of parting by life and death.
Hospital.
Liang Sheng’s legs had already gone soft, stumbling as he ran. As he was about to near his mother’s ward, he finally couldn’t take it anymore, his body tilting and crashing onto the floor.
He clutched his chest, feeling as if someone was gouging out his heart with a knife.
Hearing this dull thud, Shen Xingyu’s eyelashes trembled, but his hand resting by his side ultimately didn’t rise to help the person on the floor.
He just stood there coldly, watching Liang Sheng’s wretched state, watching him crawl up and follow him into the ward.
Seeing his mother’s stitched corpse on the hospital bed and the surrounding dirty blood, the sliver of hope hanging in Liang Sheng’s heart finally shattered completely. His sky collapsed, and tears silently fell down his face.
She was perfectly fine before he left. She had even smiled and called him “Sheng-sheng”, telling him to come back early. How did she become a corpse the next time he saw her…
When Liang Yin saw his brother walking over in a daze, his grief instantly turned into anger.
He stepped forward, grabbed Liang Sheng’s collar, shook him violently, and cried out loudly: “Where did you go?! The doctor said Mom’s emotions hadn’t stabilized yet! She couldn’t be left without someone watching her! Why did you leave?! Why did you give Mom a chance to commit suicide? Why!”
Liang Sheng shook his head in agony, his face covered in tears, unable to even speak clearly: “I’m sorry… I, I thought it would be fine. I only left for a little while, I didn’t know…”
Just as he finished speaking, smack! A slap landed viciously on Liang Sheng’s face, instantly swelling half of it.
“I will never forgive you! You killed Mom! Give Mom back to me!”
Liang Yin roared hysterically like a madman, desperately pulling at Liang Sheng’s hair, kicking and punching him.
He originally had no affection for this cowardly brother, and since childhood, their mother had always favored his older brother. At this moment, his resentment reached its peak, projecting their mother’s death and all his pent-up grievances from these years onto Liang Sheng.
Liang Sheng stood blankly in place, allowing his brother to vent his anger, but his eyes were fixed unblinkingly on his mother.
The love his mother had shown him in the past flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern. His mother had already suffered enough, toiling for this family for most of her life. During his university years, his father became addicted to gambling and accrued countless debts, casting a huge shadow and bringing terror upon their entire family.
Eventually, his father was sent to prison. His mother couldn’t accept it and developed a mental illness.
In order to bear the medical expenses and pay off the debts, Liang Sheng took on various part-time jobs everywhere during college.
Perhaps Heaven took pity on him. It just so happened that the Shen family was going through a streak of bad luck where nothing went smoothly. Old Master Shen was extremely superstitious and wanted to find someone with an extremely ‘Yang’ birth chart to marry Shen Xingyu to ward off the bad luck for the Shen family.
Liang Sheng, who was teaching at the Shen residence, was discovered by the Old Master. The Old Master offered to pay off his debts in exchange for the marriage.
Left with no choice, Liang Sheng agreed. He thought he would never be happy in this lifetime, but upon seeing that it was the man he had secretly loved for three years in college, he accepted it gladly and rekindled his hope for life.
Finally, their days had become peaceful, but he never expected that today, years later, his mother would still leave him…
“Why wasn’t it you who died! Why!”
Liang Yin pushed Liang Sheng to the ground and roared as he raised his foot to kick him. Shen Xingyu finally spoke up to stop him:
“Stop.”
He raised his hand and waved at Qin Lou, the bodyguard behind him.
Qin Lou stepped forward and pulled the crazed Liang Yin away.
“Let go of me! I’m going to kill this bitch! I’ve tolerated him for a long time! Even though he was adopted by my mom from an orphanage, he tries to compete for everything with me, her biological son!”
“I said long ago he was a menace! It’s a pity my mom treated him so well! This piece of trash can’t even keep an eye on a single person!”
Even as Liang Yin was being dragged away, he was still hurling curses. His voice grew softer, but it echoed in Liang Sheng’s mind like demonic noise!
Shen Xingyu watched his pained expression without a flicker of emotion. Suddenly, an image of that figure in the orphanage from twenty years ago flashed in his mind.
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