Chapter 25 How could Mu Yan not want him?
The elevator was crowded in the early morning. Mu Yan tried to shrink himself into a corner, not wanting to get the dirt and blood on other people's clean clothes.
He wouldn't have squeezed into the elevator if his leg hadn't been hurting so badly.
“Mr. Mu,” Director Zhang walked in when the elevator reached the third floor. He was clearly surprised to see Mu Yan. “What happened? Are you alright?”
Encountering an acquaintance in this situation made Mu Yan extremely embarrassed. He wanted to lower his head to avoid other people's gazes, but he felt it would be disrespectful to Director Zhang.
"He was hit by an electric scooter, but he's fine. It should just be superficial injuries."
"Where is the person who hit you? Why didn't you have him come with you for the checkup?"
Mu Yan shook his head, and Director Zhang did not ask any further questions.
They arrived at the fifth floor, the elevator doors opened, and Mu Yan and Director Zhang stepped out together.
"Are you going to see your mother?"
Mu Yan nodded.
Director Zhang reached out to help Mu Yan. He was much older than Mu Yan, and Mu Yan had no reason to let an elder help him, so he instinctively wanted to refuse.
Seeing that he could still walk, Director Zhang did not force him.
"How could something like this happen at a time like this?" He sighed.
Mu Yan noticed his hesitation and bit his lip, knowing that Director Zhang wanted to talk to him about the outstanding fees.
Tomorrow is another dialysis day.
"Director Zhang, please rest assured, I will definitely..."
“Actually, I wanted to tell you this last time, but given my position, it wasn’t appropriate for me to say it,” Director Zhang interrupted him.
“Dialysis is not a treatment that everyone can afford. More than 70% of patients your mother’s age choose conservative treatment. I may be saying this in a harsh way, but that’s the truth. Dialysis is a heavy burden for you and your brother, and your mother has asked me many times if we can switch to conservative treatment.”
“I fully understand your and your brother’s filial piety, but I believe the patient’s subjective feelings are also very important. Mr. Mu, do you understand what I mean?”
“I understand, but Director Zhang, this dialysis treatment plan was decided jointly by my brother and me, and we still feel that if dialysis is possible, we want to continue…”
Director Zhang nodded: "Of course, this is your own choice, and I have no right to interfere."
........
In the rented room, Lu Chong also stayed up all night.
Mu Yan wasn't home for dinner, so he ordered takeout. However, the takeout was oily and unpalatable, a world apart from the dishes Mu Yan made. He only ate a few bites before giving up.
He already had a stomach problem, and because he hadn't eaten dinner and was also suffering from insomnia, his stomach was cramping and he was in great pain.
If Mu Yan were here, he would definitely boil water for himself, fill a hot water bottle to keep warm, cook a pot of hot porridge, and then let himself drink the porridge and take some stomach medicine.
His phone kept popping up with messages, all from subordinates and partners. Lu Chong was already annoyed, and now he didn't want to reply to any of them.
It's not time to start work yet, who am I pretending for?
Lying down like this wasn't a solution, so Lu Chong forced himself to make some instant noodles and then started rummaging through drawers and cabinets looking for his stomach medicine.
Where exactly is the stomach medicine? How come Mu Yan can always find it every time he looks for it?
It wasn't on the dining table, it wasn't in the cupboard, and it wasn't in the medicine cabinet under the TV.
He ransacked the house, making a complete mess, and finally found the stomach medicine in the first drawer of the bedside table.
He remembered why the stomach medicine wasn't in the medicine cabinet. Mu Yan had taken it out specifically when he went on a business trip once, afraid that he would have to run to the living room to find the medicine in the middle of the night if he had a stomachache. So the stomach medicine was placed on the bedside table, and there were also small bread rolls and a water dispenser in the room.
On the bedside table, the bracelet Mu Yan broke yesterday was kept in a cookie tin. The broken pieces of the bracelet in the cheap cookie tin looked even more ridiculous.
This bracelet didn't come with a box when I bought it. Where would a box come from for a piece of Xiuyan jade that cost 68 yuan?
Mu Yan seems to be genuinely angry this time.
Why say something so irresponsible? If you don't like his family, so be it. Mu Yan has never forced himself to associate with them.
After Mu Yan left, the cramped and narrow rented room seemed to suddenly become eerily empty.
Even though he usually never gets angry when he throws tantrums at Mu Yan, and even though Mu Yan is usually sad, he will feel better after he hugs and comforts him for a while.
He shouldn't have been angry with Mu Yan. If he had said that one less word, Mu Yan wouldn't have left.
The bracelet he gave Mu Yan when he confessed his feelings was the one he gave her.
At that time, he and Mu Yan were not officially together yet. He originally went to photograph a master's painting to celebrate an elder's birthday, and happened to see a glass-type jade bracelet. For some reason, he could imagine what the bracelet would look like on Mu Yan's hand.
Mu Yan's wrists are fair and slender; this bracelet should suit him very well.
When he first saw Mu Yan, he felt that this person was as beautiful as jade, gentle and reserved. Others could not see his value, but only those who understood him could see how good he was.
Even Lu Chong, who wasn't very knowledgeable about jade, sensed malicious bidding during the auction that day. But he didn't care; he was determined to get what he wanted, and money was the easiest thing to do.
Almost without any suspense, Mu Yan accepted the bracelet and agreed to his confession. He held Mu Yan's hand, kissed it, and slipped the bracelet onto his wrist.
Mu Yan knew even less about jade than he did, and just raised her wrist to look at it blankly: "It's so beautiful, is it very expensive?"
"It's not expensive, as long as you like it." Lu Chong kissed him. "I heard that jade can nourish people and ward off disasters. Yan Yan has suffered so much in the past, he will definitely be free from disasters and illnesses in the future."
Mu Yan really liked that bracelet, so after Lu Chong's "family went bankrupt" and he started his own business, Mu Yan sold all the gifts she had given him to support him, but she still kept the bracelet.
During that period, he was so busy with fundraising that he barely had time to breathe. Those investors and product managers were all snobbish people who fawned over the powerful and looked down on the weak. Sometimes they wouldn't even listen to his presentation before hanging up the phone.
When starting a business, it's hard to separate work and life. Even if someone consciously tries not to bring work home, they can't ignore calls from investors.
Lu Chong had used almost all his good looks on this. Once, he talked to an investor on the phone for more than an hour with a smile, only to be told in the end to wait and see.
Watching means not investing, and thinking about it again means feeling it's not good enough.
Lu Chong used to be the one who looked down on others and gave these evaluations, but now he's the one who receives them and has to smile obsequiously.
"It's alright, it's alright. You should observe for a while longer. You really should observe for a while longer."
Lu Chong hung up the phone with a forced smile. Turning around, he saw the door to the room open, and Mu Yan standing in the doorway, her eyes red, as if she had been listening for a long time.
He cried.
Lu Chong felt a pang of sadness, even more so than when he had just been rejected by investors.
Seeing that he had hung up the phone, Mu Yan hesitated for a moment before walking over and sitting down next to him.
Is it a large money shortage?
"It's not a lot of money, it's okay, I'll handle it. Don't worry."
It really wasn't a lot of money, a few hundred thousand. In the past, he would spend the money on a piece of clothing without batting an eye.
But now, even a hero can be brought down by a mere penny.
Mu Yan hugged him tightly, his shoulders trembling slightly. Lu Chong gently patted his back, telling him not to worry.
"I don't want you to be so tired..." Mu Yan choked up, "I'm so sad."
“It was my decision to start the business, I don’t feel wronged,” Lu Chong pulled out a tissue and gently wiped away his tears, “Don’t cry.”
"If we were to sell this bracelet," Mu Yan asked softly, "how much could it fetch?"
Lu Chong paused for a moment, then shook his head.
"It's not worth much, don't even think about it. Keep it if you like it, this is all the things I gave you that's left."
Unlike gold, jade prices fluctuate over time, with different vendors offering different prices. When someone is in a hurry to sell, something that was originally worth a million can be sold for only ten thousand.
Moreover, Lu Chong bought it at an auction, where it was originally estimated to have a premium of 100,000 to 200,000.
However, Mu Yan still secretly went to the jade shop to ask.
When he returned, he subtly inquired about how much the bracelet originally cost.
Mu Yan's attempts to elicit information were utterly clumsy, and Lu Chong was almost laughing with anger at him: "You went to ask? How much did they offer you?"
Mu Yan seemed shocked that he knew this: "Four, four hundred and twenty thousand..."
"I bought it at the auction house for 120. I got carried away with the bidding; it would probably have cost a million normally. After losing so much, do you still want to sell it?"
Mu Yan seemed to be shocked by the bracelet's original value and remained silent for a long time.
"Sell." After a long pause, he said in a low but firm voice.
“You need money now. You will succeed in your business, and we will have more money. You will buy me a new bracelet.”
Lu Chong was stunned.
At this point, even he himself didn't believe he could succeed. After all, what was he if he left the Lu family? He himself doubted it.
“Okay,” Lu Chong replied gently. “I’ll buy you a new bracelet. You can buy as many as you like.”
“I don’t like the bracelet,” Mu Yan said, hugging him. “I like this bracelet because… it’s the first gift you ever gave me.”
The bracelet eventually sold for 510,000 yuan, a result of Lu Chong's efforts. When the jade dealers removed the bracelet from Mu Yan's hand, it seemed unusually difficult for them.
It's as if the bracelet and Mu Yan had developed feelings for each other.
Mu Yan was in so much pain that tears came to her eyes. Lu Chong frowned and asked the omega, "What are you doing? Do you know how to remove it?"
Omega apologized repeatedly, and then another person tried several times before finally managing to remove the bracelet.
Lu Chong carefully held his other hand and promised to buy him a new one later.
Mu Yan tried to say something, but all that came out was a sob.
"When you make money, you must buy it back for me, or buy an exact copy."
"good."
"You can't leave me after you make money, you can't marry other omegas, and you can't buy them bracelets."
"Won't."
"But if you fall in love with someone else in the future, or even if there's no one else and you no longer like me," Mu Yan seemed to have thought of something, "you must tell me too..."
Lu Chong interrupted him: "No, it won't happen."
"I won't fall in love with anyone else, and I won't dislike you either."
Lu Chong remembered.
When he said those words back then... it seemed like he meant it.
There was a time, or perhaps a fleeting moment, when he truly felt that he would love Mu Yan for the rest of his life, be good to him for the rest of his life, and never fall in love with anyone else but him.
The financing issue was thus resolved.
That day, Lu Chong took Mu Yan to the mall for dinner. He promised Mu Yan that every day from now on would be better than today.
Everything in the mall is expensive; even the cheapest group-buying deal costs 200 yuan, so the plan to have a nice meal is ruined. Even Mu Yan, who is never a spoilsport, said that 200 yuan could buy enough groceries for the two of them to cook a whole table of dishes.
Later they went to McDonald's. Mu Yan smiled and said to himself that the first time he ate a hamburger was in town, the brand that everyone said would give you a fever.
Three hamburgers for ten yuan, one for him, his mother, and his brother, one for each of them, and it was the most delicious thing he had ever eaten.
Mu Yan said that as long as she could be with him, she would be happy no matter what she ate.
They stayed in the mall very late and kissed in the dark fire escape.
Just before closing time, Mu Yan led him to a stationery store and picked up a Xiuyan jade bracelet that cost sixty-eight yuan.
"The bracelet you gave me is also this color, a bit white and a bit green, and it's translucent."
In Lu Chong's view, the two bracelets had absolutely nothing in common. To call it a fake would be an overstatement.
"Buy this for me, Lu Chong. It doesn't matter if you don't make money, it doesn't matter if you don't buy that bracelet back. As long as it's a gift from you, I will like it very much."
How could Mu Yan not want him anymore?
Mu Yan used to like him so much.
[Author's Note]
Another update at midnight on the 13th~
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