Chapter 30: The Only Important One Can Only Be Me
Shen Xingyu let out a cold snort. He took the flip phone and the old pocket watch out of his pocket, playing with them in his palm.
Seeing his mother’s relics, which he had been searching for for days, finally appear before his eyes, Liang Sheng could hardly contain his excitement.
He stepped forward hurriedly, wanting to grab them back, but the man easily dodged him, holding them high above his head.
“G-give them back to me! I’m begging you… those are the only things my mom left me!”
Liang Sheng stood on his tiptoes, trying his best to reach for them while looking up at the man with a piteous face, pleading.
Seeing him on the verge of tears, Shen Xingyu felt even more uncomfortable. With a cold face and a tone tinged with anger, he said:
“What’s there to be attached to in a dead person’s things?”
Hearing this, Liang Sheng froze. His arm, which had been reaching up, went stiff. He knew his husband had always been thin-blooded and cold-hearted, but he hadn’t expected the other would say such cold-blooded words to his face!
His pupils shrank, his gaze shifting from disbelief to disappointment. Looking at the husband he had been married to for seven years, he suddenly felt the man was like a stranger—he didn’t recognize him at all.
Shen Xingyu frowned. The light and warmth that usually filled his little wife’s eyes when looking at him had vanished, replaced by neither blame nor resentment, but a deep, silent disappointment—like the last bit of sunlight fading in winter, leaving only endless cold and emptiness.
His chest tightened, a scratching pain hitting him, yet he couldn’t help but say more cold words:
“The Shen family is your home. Put your heart into your own family and stop obsessing over irrelevant things.”
He was this kind of person—even while wanting Liang Sheng to love him wholeheartedly, he still liked to use words to strike the other down, making him realize that the only person he could rely on in this world was him, Shen Xingyu.
Liang Sheng was completely heart-shattered. He lowered his arm, looking at the cold man before him in a daze. With a sob, he asked softly: “Is the Shen family my home? Are you… still my husband?”
Shen Xingyu didn’t know why he was asking such nonsensical questions. His eyes behind the sunglasses only cast him a cold glance as he turned to look at the distant sea. The sea breeze ruffled his hair, and his reply was equally calm: “If not, then what?”
As expected, it was another cold answer. The last shred of hope in Liang Sheng’s heart broke into pieces.
He had thought Shen Xingyu would answer seriously, that he would see his sadness. But the result was that not even a glance was given. His pain had always been irrelevant in the man’s eyes; he was merely a tool that could be ordered around and provide emotional value at any time.
Liang Sheng let out a self-mocking laugh. Perhaps because he was dying and didn’t want to compromise anymore, he bit his lip hard. For the first time, he gathered the courage to give the man a push, crying and shouting:
“Shen Xingyu, you don’t understand anything. You are just a heartless, cold-blooded monster! I hate you!”
Those words, carried by the howling sea breeze, clearly reached Shen Xingyu’s ears. He froze in shock, his entire heart feeling like it had been stabbed. His face instantly turned pale.
It had been many years since anyone had called him a monster. Back when he wasn’t powerful and was socially withdrawn, those nasty words had followed him like a shadow. Now that he was powerful, he hadn’t expected to hear it again after all these years—and from the mouth of the wife he had been married to for seven years.
“What… did you say?”
Shen Xingyu asked with difficulty, his voice hoarse and deep, as if forced through his teeth.
“I…”
Liang Sheng’s mouth twitched. As soon as he finished speaking, he regretted it. He had no idea where he had gotten the courage to call Shen Xingyu a… monster.
He looked at Shen Xingyu with flickering eyes. He could already imagine how terrifying the man’s eyes must be behind the sunglasses right now. He really was “dead”! He shouldn’t have said that! How could he say such a thing!
Shen Xingyu looked at his piteous, tear-stained face, his frown deepening. He felt it was unbelievable.
This was Liang Sheng?
The person who had never treated him like this, never said a single harsh word, was now… calling him a monster?
The man took off his sunglasses. Only then did Liang Sheng discover that Shen Xingyu’s eyes were already bloodshot. He was staring straight at him like a cornered beast—furious, but also a bit lost.
Liang Sheng panicked. He quickly grabbed Shen Xingyu’s large hand with both of his, crying like a child who had done something wrong:
“A-Yu… I-I didn’t mean it, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean that, I was just too anxious because I couldn’t get my mom’s things back…”
Shen Xingyu looked at his little wife’s tear-streaked face and suddenly laughed. He jerked his hand away, throwing Liang Sheng to the ground.
He looked down at his guilt-ridden wife, frowning with confusion, his voice both calm and mad: “For a dead person, you called me… a monster?”
“No, A-Yu, I don’t know what happened to me just now… I didn’t mean to say that…”
Liang Sheng shook his head while sobbing. He crawled to the man’s side, his fingers—covered in sand—trembling as they gripped the hem of the man’s coat. He wept, “Don’t be angry…”
He could never bear to lose his temper with Shen Xingyu; he was always careful, afraid his husband’s heart condition would flare up, afraid his husband would be sad and leave him. Just now, he had reached his limit and said the wrong thing…
Shen Xingyu leaned down, his slender fingers viciously pinching Liang Sheng’s chin. His eyes were full of violence:
“Liang Sheng, you’ve truly disappointed me.”
Liang Sheng trembled. His jaw felt like it was about to dislocate, and his face turned pale from the pain.
He whimpered, repeating “I’m sorry” over and over through his tears.
“Why? Why did you call me a monster? I hate those two words most of all. Why did you have to be like those people and call me a monster? Sheng-sheng, I thought you were different from the others…”
His voice was very soft and low, but the grip on his little wife’s chin tightened.
Shen Xingyu’s eyes were filled with pain.
He had changed. He had truly changed.
He couldn’t see a single trace of the person from twenty years ago in Liang Sheng. That person wouldn’t hug another man, and certainly wouldn’t heartlessly call him a monster…
“It hurts, it hurts so much… I was wrong…”
Liang Sheng pleaded helplessly. Tears rolled down in huge drops onto the man’s palm, and two deep red marks were pinched into his cheeks, yet he received not a shred of pity.
Shen Xingyu forcefully threw his face aside, then disgustedly wiped the moisture from his palm, the words “you’re a monster” repeating in his mind.
Why… why did it have to come from Liang Sheng’s mouth? If anyone else insulted him, his heart wouldn’t hurt like this—so much that it was unbearable!
How could the person who usually flattered him in every way and was so submissive now dare to trample on his dignity like this! Liang Sheng clearly knew how much he loathed being called a monster!
Liang Sheng sat blankly on the ground. The tears on his cheeks were dried by the sea breeze, leaving only two deep tear stains.
He bit his lip hard until he tasted blood, wanting to use that to punish his own impulsiveness.
It was his fault. No matter what, he shouldn’t have used the word “monster” to humiliate Shen Xingyu…
Shen Xingyu looked down at his guilty appearance. Thinking of the touch of his tears, his palm suddenly felt painful, and the pain followed all the way into his heart.
Shen Xingyu didn’t know what he was hurting for. He only felt Liang Sheng was “dead”—anyone who called him a monster deserved to be dead! He wasn’t a monster! He only wanted to live like a normal person!
The flip phone and the pocket watch in his hand were gripped so tightly they made a harsh grating sound, causing his heart to twist along with them.
He pinched the chain of the pocket watch and dangled it in front of Liang Sheng’s eyes, asking in an extremely slow tone:
“Is this thing… more important than me?”
Liang Sheng looked at him with timid eyes, the tears in them not yet dry. He didn’t dare answer, but his hand instinctively reached for the pocket watch. The man, however, wouldn’t let him have it, and he only grabbed a handful of air.
“I’m begging you… give it back to me, alright?”
Liang Sheng pleaded, his tears falling again. His small face was wrinkled with pain, and his body shivered non-stop, looking as if he would break at the slightest touch. In the cold wind, he appeared even more desolate.
“Alright.”
Shen Xingyu curled his lips into a smile.
Before Liang Sheng could even process the surprise, the man suddenly took the flip phone—wrapped in the watch chain—and hurled it out with all his might.
An arc flashed through the air, followed by a very faint “plop” as it hit the water. The relics had been heartlessly thrown into the ocean!
Liang Sheng’s eyes widened. He watched with his own eyes as his mother’s things plunged into the sea. He couldn’t believe Shen Xingyu would do such a thing!
He slumped where he was. The noise of the surroundings became a chaotic background; he couldn’t hear anything. His heart felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand. His vision blurred, and his lips trembled, but he couldn’t even cry out.
Shen Xingyu put both hands back in his pockets, his eyes full of pleasure. He looked down at the person huddled at his feet—it seemed he had already seen the image of his little wife having nothing but him in his heart in the future—and asked with a smile:
“There. The useless things are gone. Now, am I the only important one?”
Liang Sheng looked up at him—another look of hypocritical gentleness. He had no time to be angry at Shen Xingyu. He crawled up, and in the next second, he stumbled and rushed straight into the ocean!
He had only one thought in his heart: no matter what, he had to get his mother’s relics back!
Shen Xingyu was also startled by his sudden action. He quickly grabbed his shoulder and said sternly, “Are you crazy? Don’t tell me you’re going after those things. Are you joking?”
“L-let go of me!”
Liang Sheng twisted his body, desperately trying to move into the sea. His pant legs were already soaked.
“The tide is coming in. Are you looking for death?”
Shen Xingyu slightly narrowed his eyes, his words heavy. Although he loathed Liang Sheng, he didn’t want him to die.
“The things you throw away as trash are more important to me than my life. Even… even if I die, I have to find them!”
Liang Sheng said while crying. In that moment, he didn’t know where he got the strength to forcefully break free from the man’s large hand, then he stepped into the sea without regard for his life, wading toward where the relics had been thrown.
“Mom… where are you? I’m coming… Sheng-sheng is coming to find you, don’t be afraid…”
He murmured incoherently, his hands laboriously pushing away the waves. His lower body was already submerged, yet he continued to walk deeper. With the movement of the wind, the waves grew larger, each more violent than the last.
But he wasn’t afraid. He was already dying anyway. He only wanted to protect the things that were important to him before he died.
Even if it meant death, it wouldn’t matter.
Recommended Reads
