The Dark Side of the Piano Boy (7)

The boy's back was elongated by the sunset glow, leaving a black shadow on the ground.

Lu Ya stayed by Lu Zhiran's side until he finished writing it a hundred times. Only then did Lu Ya speak, returning to her normal tone.

"If a son is not well educated, it is the fault of his father. You don't have a father, only a mother, so I will be strict with you."

"From now on, don't touch or even read those girls' love letters. A kid your age should study hard and not think about adult stuff."

After Lu Ya said a few words to Lu Zhiran, she left.

Like many days before, Lu Ya also has a dinner party, social events, or overtime work tonight.

After Lu Ya left home, Lu Zhiran looked at the words written on the white paper like a daze.

The boy's eyes were unfocused and empty, like a puppet without a soul.

Ten minutes later, Jiang Ye appeared in Lu Zhiran's room.

At first, Jiang Ye just saw Lu Zhiran's back and didn't think much about it. He greeted Lu Zhiran warmly as usual, "Good evening, classmate Lu."

After waiting for a long time, Jiang Ye still didn't get any reply from the boy.

Jiang Ye then vaguely felt that something was shattered like glass fragments. Although he could not see it, he could sense the sharp and piercing aura.

The expression on his face tensed for a moment, and tension and worry appeared in his eyes.

Jiang Ye walked quickly in front of Lu Zhiran. He lowered his head and looked at the boy. He only saw the boy's pale and bloodless face and his bitten bright red lips.

"Lu Zhiran, what's wrong with you?"

Something in his head broke tightly, Jiang Ye's throat was hoarse, and he asked with great difficulty.

He asked, and like every time he was worried about the boy, he subconsciously reached out and patted Lu Zhiran on the shoulder.

But it was this touch, like a switch, that caused the motionless and silent boy to suddenly stand up from the chair out of control.

Lu Zhiran shook off Jiang Ye's hand on his shoulder, his expression horrified, his eyes bloodshot, "Don't touch me!!"

The hoarse voice sounded like the struggle of a wild beast out of control in a cage.

It can be seen that Lu Zhiran is very resistant to being touched by others.

For a moment, Jiang Ye didn't dare to get close to Lu Zhiran.

Jiang Ye looked at Lu Zhiran cautiously. This was the first time he saw the young man get angry. Before this, he never knew how to calm Lu Zhiran's emotions.

So much so that now he is at a loss and looks a little clumsy.

I want to care for someone, but I feel helpless and don’t know where to start.

But even though Jiang Ye has tried hard to reduce his presence, hoping that Lu Zhiran can calm down...

But at this moment, the boy seemed to hate Jiang Ye as a whole person and didn't even want to accept Jiang Ye's existence.

Lu Zhiran was on the verge of collapse. He looked up at Jiang Ye and screamed at him, "Who asked you to come? Go away! I don't want to see you! Leave now!"

Amid the roar, Jiang Ye heard the young man's trembling and fragile cry.

Jiang Ye's heart seemed to be torn apart. He looked at the boy with heartache and saw Lu Zhiran's scarlet eyes again.

There was a distinct mist in Lu Zhiran's dark pupils. His lips were trembling and even his teeth were trembling when he spoke. His face was ashen and there seemed no hope for him to survive.

A teenage child is actually shrouded in such a lifeless mood.

"Lu Zhiran, tell me what's going on..."

"Go away! Jiang Ye, leave me alone. I don't want to see you. Please leave here... I don't want to face you."

Not only did Lu Zhiran tell Jiang Ye to leave, he couldn't stand Jiang Ye's presence any longer. He didn't want Jiang Ye to stay any longer and even reached out to push Jiang Ye.

The young man was quite strong, and when he tried to push Jiang Ye, even Jiang Ye couldn't hold on very well.

Jiang Ye was unwilling to leave like this.

At this moment, Jiang Ye Yuguang saw a piece of white paper on the table behind Lu Zhiran.

Jiang Ye's pupils shrank instantly. He pushed Lu Zhiran away, walked around Lu Zhiran, walked to the table, and picked up the notebook.

There was a sentence written on the notebook: I am a person who doesn't love myself, I am very dirty.

A word that ruthlessly tramples on a person's self-esteem, a word that destroys a person's self-identity.

What a vicious remark! Jiang Ye immediately knew who the culprit was.

"Lu Zhiran..."

Jiang Ye wanted to say something, but before he could utter a single decent word, the notebook in his hand was snatched away.

Lu Zhiran threw the notebook on the table, and his cold and temperatureless voice once again echoed in Jiang Ye's ears, "You don't have to teach me piano today..."

Jiang Ye, who had vaguely guessed something, finally realized that sometimes, companionship is not a good thing.

He looked up at Lu Zhiran and whispered, "...Okay."

After saying that, Jiang Ye slowly turned around.

Jiang Ye's face was gloomy, and he walked step by step to Lu Zhiran's bedroom door.

Then, Jiang Ye did not turn around, but walked out of Lu Zhiran's bedroom gently and closed the door of Lu Zhiran's bedroom.

After Jiang Ye left, the boy slowly collapsed and sat on the ground.

Lu Zhiran turned his back to the window, his whole body shrouded in shadow. He hugged his legs, buried his head in them, and cried silently.

Why, why is it always like this, in front of Teacher Jiang, he is always so vulnerable...

He has obviously grown up.

But why am I so cowardly and incompetent every time, time and again?

And every time when things are about to collapse, Jiang Ye will appear.

He really, really hated himself like this.

He didn't want Jiang Ye to see him like this...

Every time I feel helpless, every time I cry, every time I endure it all in silence, so cowardly, so timid, so useless.

The boy muttered to himself.

"I won't be so fragile anymore..."

"No more..."

"Never again..."

——

"Mrs. Lu, are you free now? I want to talk to you about something."

In front of the All Beauty building, Jiang Ye was holding up his cell phone and talking to Lu Ya.

He stood at the entrance of the building, but was blocked by security guards and could not go in.

"If you have anything to say, please say it now. I have a meeting later."

Lu Ya's cold voice came from the phone.

Jiang Ye sneered, his voice was cold, different from every time he faced Lu Ya before.

"This matter is very important, I want to talk to you in person."

Such a serious tone still failed to attract Lu Ya's attention. Lu Ya said impatiently, "I hired you just to teach my son to play the piano, not to bother me."

"What I want to tell you is probably really bothering you. You own such a big cosmetics company now. It must have been difficult when you first started your business, right?"

Jiang Ye heard the woman's suddenly tense breathing on the phone, and he said slowly, "Five million startup funds are not easy to come by."

After a moment, Lu Ya said coldly, "Come up directly, I'm in the office on the top floor."

…

After Jiang Ye hung up the phone, he walked into the company gate of All Beauty and took the elevator directly to the top floor.

Along the way, Jiang Ye's expression was as cold as ice, like a general about to go to the battlefield.

A few minutes later, Jiang Ye stepped into Lu Ya's office.

Lu Ya had been getting restless for a long time.

It was not until Jiang Ye walked in that the woman, who had developed strong psychological qualities in the business world, calmed down and stood up from her office chair as if nothing had happened.

Looking at Jiang Ye coldly, "I wonder where you heard this hearsay from?"

Jiang Ye looked directly at Lu Ya, neither servile nor arrogant, "Why don't you wait for me to finish and then ask yourself if what I said is hearsay?"

Lu Ya looked calm, but her palms clenched involuntarily.

She smiled calmly, "Okay."

She wanted to hear what Jiang Ye, an ordinary person with no background, could know.

"When Lu Zhiran's father abandoned you, you were so poor that you could only live in a rented house in the basement. But just half a year later, you were able to come up with hundreds of thousands of start-up funds and founded this Allure Beauty..."

Jiang Ye smiled at Lu Ya, "You are really good at making money."

Lu Ya's mouth tightened, "Is that why you suspect that I did something shameful to make money? Oh, Teacher Jiang, to be honest, I have heard others suspect and speculate about me like you over the years."

"For someone like you who may have been mediocre all your life, you can't stand seeing a woman do something that you can't do, right? Don't think that just because you can't do it, others can't do it either."

Jiang Ye nodded, "Indeed, I can't do what you do."

After a pause, Jiang Ye spoke word by word, "Whether it's being a mistress or killing someone together, I can't do any of them."

Fifteen years ago, when Lu Ya was so poor that he had to live in the basement, he met a wealthy businessman by chance. His name was Lei Hong.

Seeing that Lu Ya was pretty, Lei Hong proposed to support her.

Lu Ya, who had already become disappointed with men and whose life was miserable, threw herself into the man's arms without hesitation.

Not long after, Lei Hong and Lu Ya were discovered having an affair by Lei Hong's ex-wife.

The original wife made a big fuss, and Lei Hong, who was too nervous, accidentally killed her.

Lei Hong was afraid that Lu Ya, who was watching all this, would leak the news, so he proposed a deal. He was willing to give Lu Ya a large sum of money, on the condition that Lu Ya cooperated with him, disposed of the body properly, and promised not to spread the news ever again.

Later, Lu Ya took the money, parted ways with Lei Hong, came to this strange city by herself, and founded All Beauty.

"Speaking of which, you should also thank Lei Hong. You learned all your business acumen from him."

"Otherwise, with your diploma alone, you probably wouldn't be as successful as you are today."

After Jiang Ye finished speaking, Lu Ya's face, which was covered with delicate makeup, became as stiff as a sculpture.

Suddenly, thinking of something, Lu Ya laughed.

"Teacher Jiang, you came to tell me specifically because you want to get the money from me, right?"

Lu Ya looked like she had seen through Jiang Ye. She looked at him arrogantly and said coldly, "Name your price. How much do you want?"

What the woman never expected was that Jiang Ye said,

“I’m not here for the money.”

"It's for Lu Zhiran."