Chapter 24 Wounded
However, his relationship with his brother wasn't always very good either.
Even biological brothers sometimes question whether their parents are biased, let alone families like theirs.
Mu Yan's original clothes had been washed until they were very thin, and even with the holes patched up, they were not warm.
Families like theirs usually only buy new clothes for their children during the Lunar New Year. Mu Juanhua saw that the child was wearing thin clothes and couldn't wait that long, so she took a few of Lin Yi's old clothes, altered them to make them smaller for him to wear.
In the countryside, it's perfectly normal for younger siblings to wear clothes that their older siblings can't fit into. Lin Yi and Mu Juanhua are both meticulous people, and the clothes that Lin Yi can't wear are much more presentable than his old, thin, and even torn clothes.
But in Mu Yan's eyes when he was a child, it was not like that at all.
When Mu Juanhua found him, Mu Yan was sitting at the village entrance, secretly wiping away tears.
Mu Juanhua quickly guessed why he felt wronged. But she also had her difficulties. The family's resources were limited, and even if she wanted to treat both children equally, the older child couldn't fit into the younger one's clothes.
If life weren't so difficult, she would be willing to give each of her two children one of the exact same toy.
Unfortunately, the poor always find it difficult to make any progress, no matter what they do.
Seeing her mother come looking for her, Mu Yan cried even harder.
"Yan Yan, be good, don't cry, okay? Look, your eyes are all swollen from crying."
Mu Juanhua felt terrible for him. She picked him up and coaxed him, saying, "How about I cook you an egg tomorrow? I won't tell your brother."
Mu Yan continued to cry, sobbing so hard she could barely breathe: "Mommy...bad mommy, you're unfair..."
Mu Juanhua was stunned for a moment.
That was the first time Mu Yan called her "Mom".
She suddenly seemed to have a clue what Mu Yan was thinking, although it was probably just her overthinking for a seven-year-old. Because he had never had a mother before, Mu Yan really treated himself as his mother, so he felt particularly wronged because he wasn't treated equally.
"Yan Yan, be good," Mu Juanhua said, feeling a pang of sadness. "Mom will earn more money in the future and won't let you suffer anymore."
"Later" was a difficult word for Mu Yan to understand as a child. It could be interpreted as a promise or as a perfunctory response. Lin Guojun had told him countless times about "later": Mom will come back later, she won't gamble anymore, and we can get a house that doesn't leak.
Mu Yan was still crying pitifully, but he was just a kid, and he forgot about it after crying. He put on his old but warm and clean clothes and went to and from school happily with his brother as usual.
Mu Juanhua, however, always remembered.
That year during the Spring Festival, only Mu Yan had new clothes, but Lin Yi did not. Lin Yi was not the type to cry or make a fuss, and when his mother explained to him, he simply nodded understandingly.
Mu Yan looked at her new clothes and burst into tears again.
"Why do you cry so much?" Lin Yi said with disdain, looking at him crying like a little kitten. "I don't have any new clothes, and I haven't even cried. Why are you crying?"
"Then I don't want it anymore..." Mu Yan cried and tried to take off his new clothes. The weather was so cold in January, how could he make such a fuss? Mu Juanhua stopped him.
"Wear it, wear it, what's all the fuss about?" Mu Juanhua was at her wits' end. She quickly grabbed a tissue and wiped his tear-soaked face. "Your tears are all over your clothes, and they won't let you return them."
"When the village's electronics factory is up and running next year, I'll go work there, and then I can buy you both new clothes for the New Year..." Mu Juanhua didn't know if she was talking to her two children or to herself.
That year, Lin Guojun and Mu Juanhua had just gotten married. Mu Juanhua was gentle and considerate and took good care of the family. Lin Guojun had somewhat emerged from the shadow of his ex-wife running away. Just then, other people in the village said they were going to the city to find work, and he actually worked diligently on construction sites for several years.
He wasn't a big gambler at the time; he just liked to play cards with his coworkers when he had free time.
Those were the most peaceful days in Mu Yan's life. When he came home from school, there was a hot meal waiting for him, and clean clothes were hanging in the yard. Occasionally, if he washed the dishes or clothes like before, Mu Juanhua would praise him for three or four days in a row, praising him so much that he was almost dizzy. She would even fry a fragrant, crispy-on-the-outside and tender-on-the-inside egg for him separately.
The older brother angrily questioned why his mother wouldn't give him an egg. His mother pointed to the bowls in the sink and said, "Wash these, and I'll fry one for you tomorrow."
The older brother said he didn't care at all, but he still obediently washed the dishes after finishing his meal.
His mother, of course, kept her promise to fry him eggs.
Those days were peaceful and warm, like a dream for Mu Yan. Lin Guojun would send money back regularly, Mu Juanhua would do some handicrafts to supplement the family income, and Mu Yan's classmates had become more mature than before. Because of his good grades, no one bullied him anymore.
Several years later, when his mother was diagnosed with kidney failure and the family urgently needed money, Lin Guojun heard from a "trusted friend" about a way to make money that could multiply tenfold or a hundredfold.
The dream ended abruptly.
The sky outside the window should already be just beginning to brighten, but Mu Yan hadn't slept all night.
He picked up his phone and glanced at the time: 5:40.
It's neither too early nor too late; it's no longer appropriate to sleep a little longer, but it's also too early to contact someone.
He stared at his phone screen for a while, then closed his eyes when he felt some discomfort.
His phone wallpaper was still a photo of him and Lu Chong. Realizing this, he quietly changed it to the default wallpaper.
The default water droplet wallpaper looked cold and impersonal. Mu Yan flipped through her album to find a landscape photo she had casually taken, intending to change it to the wallpaper, but then remembered that it seemed to have been taken when she went to the botanical garden with Lu Chong.
Mu Yan deleted the photo and replaced it with a less cold one from her phone's built-in photo library.
"Why did you come so early today, Yan Yan?" Mu Yan sent a message. When Mu Yan looked back, she saw that her mother was already awake and smiling at her from her hospital bed.
The aunt in the next bed was still asleep, and my mother was too embarrassed to speak directly.
His mother had no idea that he had spent the night there, and Mu Yan changed the subject, asking, "Mom, would you like some steamed buns from that restaurant? Soy milk or tofu pudding?"
"I want sweet tofu pudding. But don't buy it yet. Ask Aunt Chen what she wants to eat when she wakes up. She bought some for me last time when her daughter came."
Mu Yan didn't type on his phone, he just nodded. His mother beckoned to him, signaling him to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Why do you look so pale?"
"I'm a bit busy with work," Mu Yan typed.
Then, as if remembering something, he added, "It'll be fine in a while."
"Why aren't you at work today? Did you take the day off? Is it because you took the day off to come see me that you're so busy?"
"It's not a leave request," Mu Yan explained.
"There are many alphas and omegas in the company. They have their fertile periods and estrus cycles, so we give them special menstrual leave. To be fair, betas also get leave."
Mu Yan used to spend her menstrual leave on Lu Chong's vulnerable period.
"Why not take it together with your annual leave so you can travel with your friends?"
The mother's words seemed somewhat resentful.
"I don't like traveling. I prefer staying at home with my mom."
His mother reached out and gently stroked his hair.
After she fell ill, my mother became very thin. When she touched my head like that, it felt like an autumn leaf had fallen on my hair, as if it could be blown away by the wind at any moment.
She used to be a very strong-willed woman. Although she was an omega, she did the same things as everyone else, like fetching water and chopping wood, and was no less capable than anyone else.
Mu Yan felt a lump in her throat, and tears almost welled up in her eyes.
The steamed bun shop that his mother liked was quite far from the hospital and didn't offer delivery service. As soon as the neighbor lady woke up, Mu Yan asked her what she wanted to eat, then got up and went out.
A basket of steamed buns cost eight yuan. Mu Yan bought some buns and soy milk for herself and ate them quickly. Then, she took the steamed buns her mother wanted and the pan-fried buns her neighbor wanted and rented a shared bicycle.
If you walk back, the xiaolongbao will get cold and won't taste as good.
The streets are usually deserted in the early morning, so when the electric scooter appeared at the corner, Mu Yan didn't have time to react.
With a screeching sound of brakes, Mu Yan's bicycle was violently overturned, and he fell to the ground. His knees slammed hard on the rough cement, and a burning pain instantly shot through him.
"Are you alright?" The delivery rider quickly jumped off his bike and tried to help Mu Yan up.
The beta youth lay on the ground, his palms scraped with a thin layer of blood, and blood seeped through his not-so-thin pants from his knees.
They were probably all superficial injuries, but they looked really scary. His clothes didn't suggest he was wealthy, and he was heading in the direction of the hospital, so he was probably short of money. If the other party wanted to extort money from him, he wouldn't be able to escape.
The rider's forehead was covered in a fine layer of cold sweat, and his heart was pounding.
Mu Yan paused for a moment, then looked down at the breakfast that had fallen to the ground.
He tied the bag tightly before riding his bike, so some soy milk spilled, but the pan-fried buns and xiaolongbao didn't.
He slowly got up, supporting himself on his arms. His left knee hurt a lot, but it probably just looked scary; the bone should be fine.
"Sir, would you like to go to the hospital for a check-up? But I really don't have much money. My company hasn't bought me insurance, and I only earn two hundred yuan a day delivering food. I also have elderly people and children at home..."
The rider nervously watched the young man in front of him. He didn't stay on the ground and refused to get up, so he didn't seem like someone who would extort money from him. However, he didn't speak for a long time, and his face was really frightening.
He didn't remember there being any surveillance cameras on this stretch of road, and if he had just run away, the young man probably wouldn't have had time to take out his phone to photograph his license plate.
Should we run away...?
As he hesitated, Mu Yan gently shook his head.
"Could you please help me ride this bike to the return point? It's just up ahead."
The rider was stunned for a moment, but when he realized that the other party had not only stood up on his own, but also did not intend to extort money from him, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief and helped Mu Yan push the bike to the return point.
Mu Yan limped into the hospital.
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