Chapter One Hundred and Two
“Am I the one moving?”
Lu Heng laughed softly: “Then I won’t move either.”
An Le: …
He always felt like Lu Heng was teasing him.
Usually at times like this, he could still splash some water and play with Lu Heng for a while, but now his ears couldn’t get wet, so he could only sit carefully without moving.
But what had just gone down outside was already standing at attention again. He could only go limp against Lu Heng’s shoulder, saying pitifully, “Sir, I’m so tired~”
Lu Heng had no choice but to clean out what was in An Le’s stomach, wash him up, then carry him back to bed to sleep.
——
It was the end of the year.
Snow had started falling.
An Le sat by the office window, watching the heavy snowfall outside, and said helplessly, “Sir, I-I’m about to turn twenty-one.”
Lu Heng: “Mm, I’ll be with you.”
An Le was very beautiful. Although his personality was somewhat timid and fearful, he was very likeable, especially to possessive alphas who particularly liked this type of omega.
When Lu Heng had the scar on his face, he sometimes lacked confidence too. But after the scar was gone, his whole person glowed with vitality, even more charismatic than before.
An Le’s birthday was at the end of the year, December 30th.
He really liked this date—it was festive.
Because his mother never ignored his birthday just because it overlapped with New Year’s.
He remembered when he was little, every New Year’s Eve dinner would have a birthday cake just for him.
And on that day, his New Year’s money was always doubled.
But those were very distant memories now, so distant he couldn’t quite remember the specifics.
His later birthdays were spent all alone and miserable, hiding in the storage room, listening to An Qiang and Luo Ping’s laughter and cheer.
After he had Xiao Xiao, they’d celebrate together, but because they had no money, it was especially frugal, no different from ordinary days.
But this time he was especially excited.
Not expecting gifts, not expecting surprises, just because this time Lu Heng would be with him.
An Le lowered his head, planning with a pen what to do on his birthday, when he heard Lu Heng take a phone call.
After a moment, he heard Lu Heng call out: “Lele.”
After An Le’s ears were healed, he was no different from normal people. There would never again be situations where he couldn’t hear and needed Lu Heng to raise his voice repeatedly.
So he immediately looked up: “Sir, what is it?”
Lu Heng hung up the phone and said quietly, “An Qiang wants to see you.”
“An Qiang… wants to see me?”
An Le was stunned.
Lu Heng nodded: “Mm, will you see him?”
An Le didn’t answer immediately. After thinking, he said, “I’ll… I’ll see him.”
He also wanted to see what kind of life An Qiang was living now.
Originally, Gu Chen should have been left in this world to suffer too. After all, the harm he’d caused those omegas was irreparable—that money meant nothing to them.
Their pain couldn’t disappear from memory just because of money.
An Le had always wanted Gu Chen to experience the same pain as those omegas, but Gu Chen had…
An Le pressed his lips together: “Sir, c-can you come with me?”
He was still a bit afraid to go alone.
But he didn’t want to bring Xiao Xiao either—after all, prisons were rather inauspicious places.
Lu Heng: “Of course.”
——
Three o’clock in the afternoon.
An Le and Lu Heng arrived at the prison where An Qiang was held.
It was clear that An Qiang hadn’t been having a good time. He’d lost a lot of weight, his face was pale, his eyes dull. Only when he saw An Le did some light return to his eyes.
An Qiang picked up the phone with trembling hands: “Lele.”
An Le didn’t speak, just listened to An Qiang.
An Qiang: “Why haven’t you come to see me for so long? Do you know how hard it’s been for me here?”
During labor, all the hardest, dirtiest, most exhausting work was given to him. Back in his cell, the other inmates bullied him, throwing their clothes and shoes at him to wash.
He hadn’t even finished his daytime work, and at night he had to go back and wash clothes for his cellmates. He was so busy every day he didn’t even have time to sleep.
And somehow those people had heard that he used to be a pimp. Every midnight they’d play role-play in the cell.
One cellmate would forcibly drag him, starting from the first bed in the cell, asking each inmate one by one if they needed special services—just one pack of snacks would do.
The prison held all alphas, each with their pheromone use restricted.
Unable to use pheromones, they could only use physical strength and fists to solve problems.
An Qiang was indeed strong, but faced with even stronger people, he still had to bow his head, being humiliated and used by his cellmates daily.
And that pack of snacks earned with his body never ended up in his hands.
Every day he just had endless work to do.
He really couldn’t take it anymore.
He’d always thought An Le would come see him. Of course he knew this visit wouldn’t be out of concern, but for the satisfaction of revenge.
At first he’d thought if An Le came to see how miserable he was and kicked him while he was down, he’d definitely raise his head proudly and tell An Le it was nothing.
But he hadn’t expected that after all this time, An Le had never come.
As if… as if he didn’t exist.
This kind of being ignored hurt more than mockery.
He’d requested to see An Le over and over, but the prison people wouldn’t even pass on the message, telling him only good behavior would earn it.
Only if he finished all his daily work would they help pass his message to An Le.
So he worked desperately during the day just to behave better.
An Le looked at An Qiang’s blackened, cracked hands—nothing like the CEO who used to make millions with just a signature.
He pressed his lips together and looked back at Lu Heng.
Lu Heng patted his head, telling him not to be nervous.
Only then did An Le turn back, his voice neither loud nor soft, imitating Lu Heng’s coldness: “What does your suffering have to do with me?”
An Qiang: “Lele, I’m your father. How can you bear to let me live like this?”
An Le froze, his eyes reddening slightly, holding back the sourness in his nose: “Then… then how could you bear to let me live like that back then?”
An Qiang was stunned.
An Le laughed mockingly: “Coming to say you’re my father now—isn’t it a bit late?”
An Qiang: “Lele, Dad was wrong. Dad shouldn’t have treated you that way. Don’t give up on Dad, okay? Hurry and get Dad out of here. Dad really can’t take it anymore ahhhhh…”
An Qiang grew more agitated as he spoke. To see An Le today, not only had he completed his assigned tasks for several consecutive days, but last night he’d worked hard servicing three troublemakers just to earn today’s peace.
An Le couldn’t not save him.
“C-calm down.”
An Le was startled by An Qiang’s sudden frenzy, instinctively holding the phone away from his ear. Only after An Qiang stopped yelling did he bring it back: “Even if I forgive you now, you still can’t get out. After all, after all, it’s not just me you wronged—there’s also Mom, Grandpa, Grandma, and some weak omegas whose names I don’t remember.”
An Le: “When you did those things, did you think about how others were suffering like you are now?”
An Qiang’s eyes reddened, his voice becoming suppressed and vicious: “What do you mean?”
An Le: “I mean, you—deserve—this!”
An Le finished word by word, then quickly hung up.
After hanging up, he saw An Qiang on the other side of the glass frantically pounding on it. Scared, he quickly got up and threw himself into Lu Heng’s arms.
He secretly glanced back. An Qiang’s eyes were bloodshot, mouth saying something, veins bulging on his face and neck as the guards grabbed him, finally shocking him with electric batons and dragging him away.
An Le didn’t dare watch what happened next, only glancing once before not looking back again.
Lu Heng stroked the hair by his ear and asked quietly, “What did An Qiang say?”
Actually, he’d already guessed from An Le’s words, but still wanted to ask.
An Le lowered his head embarrassedly and said quietly, “He… he asked me to get him out. I… I refused.”
Lu Heng nodded. He knew it must be that.
But An Qiang had thick enough skin. How he’d treated An Le back then—how could he have the nerve to ask An Le to save him now?
Not to mention, he should look at who put him in prison.
An Le called softly: “Sir.”
Lu Heng: “What?”
An Le: “Was I… was I really bad just now?”
Lu Heng was confused: “What?”
An Le pressed his lips together, eyes red: “Aren’t omegas supposed to be… very kind? Was I just now… was I…”
“No.”
Understanding An Le’s meaning, Lu Heng quickly interrupted his train of thought, saying quietly, “Don’t take omega stereotypes so seriously. No one says omegas have to be kind. Besides, An Qiang got what he deserved. His current situation has nothing to do with whether you’re kind or not. Don’t blame yourself.”
An Le nodded: “Mm.”
He wasn’t blaming himself. He was just afraid—afraid Lu Heng would think he wasn’t good, wouldn’t like him anymore.
But thankfully, no matter what he was like, Lu Heng seemed to like him.
An Le hugged Lu Heng and gave him a kiss. Lu Heng was about to give this insecure omega a deep kiss when the room door was suddenly knocked on.
They turned together to see a prison guard standing at the door with arms crossed, lightly knocking and smiling: “Excuse me, President Lu, this is a prison. If you want to kiss, please turn left when you exit—there are hotels, okay?”
Lu Heng didn’t speak.
An Le’s face was already so red he couldn’t lift his head.
Lu Heng ignored the guard and left with An Le.
Actually, he knew exactly what kind of life An Qiang was living in prison, he just never wanted to tell An Le about it.
Now that An Le knew, there was no need to hide it.
Lu Heng asked while driving, “Does Lele want to know what kind of life An Qiang is living in prison?”
Hearing this, An Le hesitated, then shook his head: “No.”
Lu Heng glanced at An Le in surprise and asked quietly, “No?”
Recommended Reads
