MWED Ch35: Unexpected

In a hotel in the capital…

Lin Ran had another intense argument with his mother. The entire room was filled with the sharp sound of the woman’s voice.

“This money was supposed to be his responsibility!”

“We’ve raised him for more than ten years! Your father died for him, and now he’s living so well, even marrying into a wealthy family. Naturally, he should take care of his family!”

Mother Lin even believed that the extra two million should also be repaid by Yan Xun.

At this moment, Lin Ran really couldn’t listen to another word.

He grabbed his mother’s hand and, almost trembling, said:

“Do you dare to say openly why our family adopted Yan Xun?”

“Mom, can you say it honestly?”

At that time, Lin Ran was ten years old and already understood things. He had overheard his parents discussing and planning the adoption of Yan Xun.

“Our family’s conditions were originally insufficient, but you frequently visited him, treated him well, and made him refuse many families with better conditions. He repeatedly said he wanted to be taken by you, which is why the exception was made and the adoption was approved, wasn’t it?!”

Lin Ran saw the most disgraceful side of the parents he loved the most, and it was all for his sake. That’s why he could never face Yan Xun all these years.

That child was so small and so cute at the time, but he was destined to bear the future and burden of another person, even another family.

“Because Yan Xun was healthy, smart, kind, and grateful for your kindness, he was the perfect insurance, right?”

“In your mind, he was just my insurance, my blood bank, my security for the rest of my life!”

“Mom, you always thought like this, didn’t you?”

So from the day Yan Xun entered this family, Lin Ran couldn’t accept it and couldn’t face Yan Xun.

Not because of the disability, but because of the debt and guilt.

Mother Lin’s face turned red and white, then white and red again, but she still avoided the topic as she always did when arguing with Lin Ran.

She shouted sharply:

“But your father died for him!!!”

“……”

Here it comes again.

“Mom, do you really believe that?”

Lin Ran looked at her weakly.

“You saw Dad’s body yourself, right? There was a severe head injury. The doctors and police said it was caused by falling from the motorcycle and hitting a rock.”

“They said he might have been beyond saving once he fell into the water. Yan Xun was still alive purely by chance, lucky to encounter kind-hearted people passing by. The motorcycle was controlled by Dad, and Yan Xun was even dragged into it.”

“He was only in middle school that year, and after falling into the water, he fell seriously ill. When he was sick, his face was red with fever, his whole body was shaking, yet he still cried and said sorry, saying he couldn’t hold onto Dad’s hand, saying he made the family spend money again…”

Lin Ran knew everything. He was also clear that his mother knew everything, but her heart was too fragile to accept it. So, she took out her pain on the adopted child, using him as her last lifeline.

With the pillar of the family, Father Lin, gone, and her biological son disabled, she knew clearly that only by holding tightly onto Yan Xun could the family have a future.

“Mom! Stop clinging to him like a water ghost. Do it for Dad, for me, and accumulate some virtue, okay?”

Lin Ran felt anger, sadness, guilt, and shame.

From the day he learned the reason for adopting Yan Xun, such emotions took deep root in Lin Ran’s heart.

The longer time passed, the deeper these feelings became, tormenting him day and night without escape.

Lin Ran and his mother had argued about this many times, but they always deliberately avoided Yan Xun, not letting the child hear these dirty truths.

At least in this fragile, sensitive, and inescapable stage of adolescence, in Yan Xun’s eyes, the mother he was most attached to still loved him.

Otherwise, if he had heard it, what could he do other than feel sad and hurt?

But every time, the arguments ended with Mother Lin just crying, always ending in vain.

Even when Lin Ran laid out all the truths and reasons so clearly, she still acted her own way.

Many years ago, that night, when Yan Xun, who was in his senior year of high school, brought Zhou Ze home to stay, Lin Ran had just argued with his mother.

He heard Yan Xun asking if he wanted a late-night snack. Lin Ran, not wanting to face his mother and feeling very annoyed, refused. But then, the wheelchair suddenly tipped over.

Yan Xun immediately came in to help him and take care of him.

But this made Lin Ran feel both resentful and powerless because everything happening now was unfolding just as his mother hoped.

Even though the argument had no resolution, the moment Yan Xun came in, Lin Ran felt completely defeated, as if he had been slapped hard.

He took out his anger on Yan Xun, wanting him to leave, wanting him to stop doing these caring things, but Yan Xun was already used to it, and didn’t see anything wrong.

Lin Ran couldn’t push him away, nor could he drive him away, because his own mother was holding onto Yan Xun tightly.

That night, the young Yan Xun and Zhou Ze looked at the stars outside the window, chatting and imagining the future with hope.

In another room, Lin Ran also looked at the stars outside but felt despair once again.

He needed to think of another way.

A thorough, definitive method to make sure his mother could no longer hold onto Yan Xun.

For example, completely cutting off contact and relationships.

Both physical and psychological distance.

This thought had been brewing for many years. When Lin Ran heard that Yan Xun got married, he wanted to put it into action…

To say a lot of harsh words to Yan Xun, cut off all relations, and make sure Yan Xun could never find him again, and his mother could never find Yan Xun again.

After all, this younger brother, who longed for family and love, had now gotten what he wanted…

He finally had his own family and someone who truly loved him without any ulterior motives.

But the reality was different from what Lin Ran expected. He thought that Yan Xun, being that kind of child, would marry only for love and establish a family that made him happy.

However, from what he described, it didn’t seem to be as Lin Ran had anticipated.

The man Yan Xun married didn’t seem to love him.

They had no wedding, no ceremony, and no trace of happiness.

It seemed like Yan Xun was one-sidedly infatuated, willing to do anything, desperately crashing into a wall. Although Lin Ran didn’t have high hopes, he didn’t interfere with Yan Xun’s choices.

He didn’t have the right to.

Moreover, Yan Xun’s spouse was financially well-off and very rich, at least not treating him poorly materially like their family did.

But Lin Ran ultimately didn’t say the words to cut off contact. He was afraid that if Yan Xun got divorced in the future, he would have no family.

Additionally, at that time, Lin Ran had specifically taken his mother abroad, so she wouldn’t have the opportunity to contact Yan Xun again.

The matter was delayed like this.

Until today, when they met, Yan Xun seemed to have a very good relationship with that man.

Yan Xun was protective of him, and Chu Tingyun was also willing to help Yan Xun’s family because of him. They seemed to genuinely like each other.

Of course, the key point was that Lin Ran discovered that Yan Xun’s every word and sentence was still asking about Mother Lin. Despite years of separation and no contact, Yan Xun’s attachment to her was undiminished, still the most filial and understanding child from high school.

Lin Ran suddenly realized that he could no longer delay.

He absolutely couldn’t!

He clenched his hands tightly under the table and made up his mind in that instant.

So, the lines prepared seven years ago that night were finally spoken by Lin Ran today.

He was very clear that every word he spoke was the sharpest blade for Yan Xun.

Each word sliced into his younger brother’s soft heart, severing the shackles of the pretense of family affection that had bound them for over a decade.

Everything went smoothly.

Just as Lin Ran had rehearsed in his mind thousands of times.

The only thing he didn’t anticipate was that his mother, whom he had deliberately left in Nan City, would come over, and he didn’t expect Yan Xun to suddenly appear.

For so many years, all the dirty truths Lin Ran had worked hard to hide were now completely laid bare in front of Yan Xun by his mother.

She didn’t love this child; she really didn’t love him at all.

Even resentment, even hatred.

Lin Ran thought that what he had said was already enough to make this younger brother sad, but when his mother slapped him, he couldn’t even bear to think about how much Yan Xun would be hurt.

Over a decade of raising him, bought off with a five million yuan check.

…It ended in such a tragic farce.

Back at the hotel, Lin Ran and his mother had the most intense and frightening argument ever.

Mother Lin completely avoided arguing about who was right or wrong about the past. She just clutched that check tightly, repeatedly crying and saying:

“What will you do without this money? Xiao Ran?”

“If you don’t have these funds, how will you manage for the rest of your life with no legs?”

… She always said this.

It started the day Lin Ran had his legs amputated when he was ten. She always cried and worried about the future, and even once thought of having another child to help support her son.

But her health was poor, and she couldn’t have another child, so she adopted one instead.

Lin Ran always knew that he had almost memorized every line she ever said, and most of what he said to Yan Xun today came from her.

“Xiao Ran, you’re only from a second-tier university, and you don’t have Yan Xun’s good education.”

“Your job only earns a few thousand yuan, but Yan Xun can earn…”

Perhaps only Lin Ran knew that in this family, the most insecure person was not himself with amputated legs, but his mother.

Even the most jealous of Yan Xun’s excellence was his mother.

Even a few biological parents are envious of their children’s excellence and happiness, so it’s not unusual.

It was just a painful fact that Lin Ran took a long time to gradually accept.

Because it was just too painful…

She always compared the two children incessantly and felt resentful and jealous that her biological child was not as good as the adopted one.

“And Xiao Ran, you don’t even have a partner now. Although Yan Xun found a man, the other family…”

“Mom…”

Lin Ran finally couldn’t hold back anymore. His eyes turned red, and he almost shouted,

“The person who has always looked down on me the most, who has always discriminated against me, is it not you?”

“……”

Mother Lin suddenly froze in place.

The impact of those words was so great, it felt like a heavy blow to the head.

Lin Ran breathed heavily, as if he had just been through a painful struggle rather than an argument with his mother.

“Mom, I’ve lost my legs, but I’m not useless. I can support myself and take care of you in your old age. The family debt, the money for your eyes—it’s all been from me these years.”

“Don’t try to contact Yan Xun again…”

Lin Ran took a few steps forward, cornering the woman. He sternly warned his biological mother, word by word,

“No matter what happens, you are never to contact him again, and you can’t ask him for a single cent.”

“Even this check isn’t ours to take.”

With that, Lin Ran forcefully grabbed the check from her hand and tore it into shreds in front of her.

“Ah!”

Mother Lin, who had been stunned earlier, instantly screamed.

She hurried to pick up the pieces scattered on the floor, trying to piece them back together, but no matter how hard she tried, it was impossible to restore it.

Realizing this, Mother Lin immediately went mad, hitting Lin Ran and crying out.

“That’s your father’s money!”

“It’s the Lin family’s money!”

“Why! Why did you do this…”

Lin Ran remained unmoved, only watching her with cold, dead eyes.

After a while, when Mother Lin was exhausted from crying and hitting, she finally stopped.

Her hair was disheveled, her eyes red, and the look she gave Lin Ran was full of resentment.

“Xiao Ran… Are you trying to drive me to death?”

“Are you trying to kill your own mother, huh?!”

“…”

Lin Ran frowned, closing his eyes slowly as if feeling immense pain.

When he opened them again, he went straight to get a fruit knife and a bottle of sleeping pills from the drawer.

Bang!

He placed both items in front of her.

“Mom, if you want to die over that money…”

“Then fine, I’ll go with you!”

Lin Ran smiled bitterly.

“I’ve already written my will before coming to the capital. You choose one, and our family of three can reunite underground tonight.”

He was twenty-eight this year.

He was no longer the ten-year-old, naive, and fragile child, nor the eighteen-year-old who felt powerless. The child who once tormented himself in his room had finally grown up and would no longer be coerced into submission by his mother’s words.

Lin Ran finally had the strength to tear his mother away from Yan Xun, to push his younger brother away from their family, a swamp that devours people, towards a future filled with light that belonged solely to him.

“… But Yan Xun is different.”

“He was never truly our child, and now he has his own family.”

Lin Ran once again solemnly, word by word, informed her,

“If you contact him again or ask him for money, then I can only take you to see Dad.”

“…”

Mother Lin stared at him blankly, her expression shifting from resentment and anger to shock and finally to fear and panic.

Because she realized Lin Ran was serious.

The woman suddenly collapsed onto the floor, unable to say another word, and could only cover her face and cry uncontrollably.

“…”

At this point, Lin Ran finally let out a slow breath.

He had not expected that after so many years of conflict and arguments, he would achieve a Pyrrhic victory in this manner.

Ignoring his sobbing mother, Lin Ran turned around, took out his phone, and immediately booked the next available flight back to Nan City.

Then he opened the chat with Yan Xun, hesitated, typed and deleted, but in the end, he sent nothing.

Perhaps, it was better to part ways this way…

A stepmother who never loved him and only continued to exploit him.

An adoptive brother who had been irritable and envious for years.

Such unsavory people, Yan Xun would probably no longer yearn for.

…This was the best outcome.

Thinking this, Lin Ran even began to smile slowly amidst his mother’s cries.

He laughed for a long time, until his palms were drenched with tears, and then he completely deleted all of Yan Xun’s contact information.

—

It took nearly eighteen years, but on this night, Lin Ran finally completed his spiritual patricide.

And Yan Xun knew nothing of this.

He and Chu Tingyun had dinner together, cleaned up the table and the kitchen. They seemed like one of the countless ordinary couples in the world.

For Yan Xun, simple kisses, hugs, hand-holding, companionship, and the earlier conversation were the best remedies.

He was slowly getting better.

However, Chu Tingyun clearly didn’t think that such a great injury could be healed just with these. The image of Yan Xun crying in his arms had deeply imprinted itself on Chu Tingyun’s mind.

At this moment, he seemed to suddenly remember something and asked,

“Since you were adopted by the Lin family, why don’t you have their surname? Why is it Yan Xun?”

“Oh, that.”

Yan Xun answered,

“When I was little, I vaguely remembered that my name had a ‘Yan’ character. The welfare center teacher gave me the additional character ‘Xun’, hoping that I would soon find my parents. So that’s how I got the name Yan Xun.”

After being taken in by the Lin family, Lin Ran was very resistant to Yan Xun’s presence, causing a big fuss and saying Yan Xun wasn’t their child and asking his parents to send him away.

To accommodate Lin Ran’s feelings, Yan Xun didn’t change his surname.

After hearing the origin of his name, Chu Tingyun furrowed his brow and asked again,

“Really, you’re not going to look again?”

Maybe, because communications, transportation, and monitoring systems in the country were underdeveloped back then, they couldn’t be found.

Now, although so much time has passed, the times have changed, and the power of the internet is so great. Chu Tingyun felt that if they were willing to spend more money and find people with special channels, there was still some hope.

“Well, first of all, it’s too difficult to find, like looking for a needle in a haystack, time-consuming, labor-intensive, and mentally exhausting.”

Yan Xun didn’t avoid the question.

Whatever Chu Tingyun asked, he answered obediently and earnestly, clearly exposing his thoughts.

“Secondly, if they are already dead, or if they are not good people or have new children… I don’t know how to face it.”

“Of course, the most important reason is that I don’t really want to try integrating into a new family right now.”

Yan Xun was indeed skilled at mending and balancing family relationships. But that was largely due to his upbringing, which also made him very tired.

At this moment, the young man turned to Chu Tingyun, smiling as he said,

“Right now, this family of yours is very good. I am very satisfied.”

Yan Xun was someone who could control and digest his emotions well. It might be a natural ability he was born with, or perhaps his childhood experiences had made him accustomed to doing this.

In any case, even after the recent family drama, when facing Chu Tingyun, his eyes remained clean and bright, and his tone of voice was gentle.

It seemed like Chu Tingyun was not comforting him, but rather Yan Xun was comforting Chu Tingyun.

After the emotional outburst quickly passed, he continuously conveyed one message to Chu Tingyun—

“I’m okay. Don’t worry.”

“……”

Chu Tingyun stared at him blankly, and after a long time, he finally said “mm.”

He wanted to change the topic with Yan Xun but didn’t know what to say, so he just followed Yan Xun around, wherever he went.

For a moment, the little cat, which was habitually clinging to Yan Xun, found itself with a new competitor.

This made both Yan Xun and the cat turn to look at the man simultaneously.

“Chu Tingyun, aren’t you working tonight?”

Yan Xun, who was about to take a shower, seemed a bit surprised.

Recently, for some reason, Chu Tingyun had been very busy. Although it looked like he got off work at five, that was just because he had moved his work home, wanting to stay by Yan Xun’s side while working.

“Not working late tonight.”

Chu Tingyun slightly lifted his chin, also closing the bedroom door, which kept the cat outside.

“Really?”

Yan Xun didn’t notice anything unusual,

“Then you should go take a shower first.”

Chu Tingyun stood still for a while, looking at Yan Xun as if deeply contemplating something.

“What…”

Before Yan Xun could finish his sentence, the man suddenly walked over to him in large strides.

Chu Tingyun gently held the young man’s face, leaning in to give a soft kiss on the place where he was injured, mimicking what Yan Xun had once done for him.

Realizing that his previous ways of comforting were problematic, Chu Tingyun was deeply pained and resolved to make a big change. However, this task was too difficult for him, and he felt like a struggling student who, despite trying hard, ended up with a failing grade. So, he decided to directly copy Yan Xun’s methods.

Yan Xun was surprised and asked, “Why did you suddenly come over to kiss me?”

“To comfort you, of course,” Chu Tingyun replied, while carefully observing Yan Xun’s reaction.

Indeed, copying the homework had yielded a high score.

It seemed that Yan Xun was taken aback but did not pull away; instead, he seemed a bit shy and very happy.

“Oh, but it doesn’t hurt anymore; it should be fine by tomorrow.”

Even though he said such simple words, the smile in Yan Xun’s eyes was quite apparent.

Chu Tingyun: “……”

So it actually worked.

So Yan Xun liked being comforted with a kiss on the face rather than the whole routine.

Chu Tingyun suddenly felt like he had been cheated, as if he had studied hard and worked himself to exhaustion, only to end up with a failing result.

Noticing Yan Xun’s odd expression, Chu Tingyun asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Chu Tingyun looked at the ceiling and said, “I’m thinking.”

Yan Xun thought he was talking about work and didn’t pursue it further, just nodding in understanding.

“Then you think about it first; I’ll go take a shower.”

As soon as he heard that Yan Xun was going to take a shower, Chu Tingyun immediately ended his thinking. He grabbed his little husband’s firm waist and said, “Perfect, we can shower together.”

“?”

Yan Xun was taken aback, turning his head to firmly refuse, “No way!”

“Why not? I’ve seen every part of you already,” Chu Tingyun said, reaching out to touch Yan Xun’s body.

His touches were very bold, pinching his chest muscles and feeling his waist.

“……Just no.”

Yan Xun immediately pulled away his hand, sounding somewhat embarrassed and annoyed. He escaped Chu Tingyun’s embrace, grabbed his clothes, and strode toward the bathroom, adding, “I’ll lock the door.”

As he was about to close the door, Chu Tingyun quickly removed his shirt and squeezed in.

He raised his eyebrows at Yan Xun, revealing a fox-like smug smile, “Go ahead and lock it.”

Yan Xun: “……”

“Chu Tingyun! You really are……”

Yan Xun never expected this person to be so shameless. He immediately grabbed the man’s wrist, trying to pull him out.

But Chu Tingyun held onto the door and refused to leave.

“What am I really? I’m your spouse!”

“We’re married; it’s legal for us to be together! So why not shower together?”

Although they had done it before, Yan Xun, who was too shy, found it hard to accept Chu Tingyun speaking so directly about such matters.

Unable to refute the legality argument, he could only stubbornly reject, “No matter what, it’s just not happening.”

The frosted bathroom glass door reflected their entangled shadows inside.

But in a few minutes, the door was suddenly pulled open from the inside.

Yan Xun carried Chu Tingyun like a rogue and threw him onto the bed.

“Hmm……”

The man’s face landed in the soft bedding with a muffled sound.

Since Chu Tingyun particularly liked the soft mattress, he bounced a few times when thrown onto it.

Unyielding, Chu Tingyun didn’t give up; he turned over, extended his long legs, and hooked Yan Xun’s thigh, rubbing lightly on the inner side. This action made Yan Xun’s whole body tingle for a few seconds. Before his mind could process it, he flipped the man on the bed and started to spank Chu Tingyun’s bottom several times.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

After a few crisp spanking sounds, the entire bedroom fell into silence.

“……”

After a long while, Chu Tingyun’s voice came from the pillow, muffled, “Xunxun, although I’ve always suspected it, I didn’t expect you to really have this kind of kink.”

Yan Xun: “……”

If he had just acted casually, would it have been convincing?

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