Misunderstand
Li Mantao remembers it clearly: it was a rainy day. After entering junior high school, he was ostracized by some classmates because of his poor family situation. After school that day, as usual, he was blocked near the school and humiliated.
Only after the bad boys had enough fun did Li Mantao go to clean up his schoolbag which had been turned into a mess.
The rain started to fall after he packed up his schoolbag. He didn't bring an umbrella, but luckily the rain wasn't heavy, so he walked home in the rain.
Rong Yi appeared on the road he had to take on his way home, covered in dust and looking even more embarrassed than Li Mantao, who had just been bullied.
A tall, thin young man ran as fast as he could through the narrow alley, as if trying to escape from someone. Li Mantao saw him running towards him and, for some unknown reason, grabbed him.
"Follow me." Li Mantao said.
The boy glanced at him and followed him silently through the crisscrossing alleys.
After turning countless corners, Li Mantao and the boy hid in an abandoned slide. The two held their breath and watched several fierce-looking men running past in front of them.
"Are those people here to arrest you?" Li Mantao breathed a sigh of relief when he saw them walking away.
The boy stared at him: "Why are you helping me?"
Li Mantao smiled and said, "Seeing injustice, you should draw your sword to help. I know this place well, but I haven't seen you before. What's your name?"
The young man was silent for a moment before he said, "Rong Yi."
Li Mantao took Rongyi back home.
After lunch, Li Mantao went to the sunrise coffee shop a quarter of an hour early.
There were not many people in the store. The manager and two employees were guarding the store. Li Mantao went to say hello, then took the cappuccino made by the manager and found a quiet empty table to wait for someone.
"Who are you waiting for?" The store manager came over with another small cake. "Try it, it's a new product we've been researching."
"Well, a friend." Li Mantao took a bite of the cake and praised it highly.
"Are you free recently? Why don't you come to the store and continue to help? I'll give you a raise."
"Let's talk later. I'm a bit busy."
Li Mantao recalled the earnings he saw after the live broadcast ended yesterday. In one live broadcast, he received nearly 60,000 yuan in tips, and after splitting the profits 50-50 with the platform, he still had nearly 30,000 yuan.
The bulk of the money came from rewards given by "User 1231".
The store manager was still sighing about how bad the business had been since he left. Li Mantao nodded in agreement, his mind alternately thinking of Rong Yi and then the live broadcast.
Such a huge income was completely beyond Li Mantao's expectations.
Lian Yu paid for his high school and university tuition and living expenses, including the cost of art training, which totaled more than 100,000 yuan. Li Mantao has always kept it in mind. Now he lives frugally and works part-time jobs everywhere, hoping to save money to pay Lian Yu back as soon as possible.
If he wants to continue making money through live streaming, he can no longer just deal with it. Even with such a bad live streaming yesterday, he was still able to receive a large amount of tips, which was entirely due to the users' 1231 spending to attract popularity.
This 1231, wouldn't it be true that he's greedy for his body...
"Am I late?"
A male voice interrupted Li Mantao's wandering thoughts. He looked in the direction of the voice and saw Rong Yi standing behind him. He was wearing a casual shirt and trousers, and his hair seemed to have been combed, as if he was going to shoot some fashion magazine.
"No, I arrived early."
The store manager was amazed when he saw Rong Yi for the first time. He paused for a few seconds before walking away tactfully. "Then you guys chat first. I'll go get some food."
Li Mantao watched Rong Yi sit on the sofa opposite, glanced at him, then fell silent again, and couldn't help but clenched his fists.
If the enemy doesn't move, I will move. Li Mantao said straight to the point: "Do you know I'm Li Man?"
Rong Yi finally moved, and he nodded, "I know."
"Then why do you keep pretending not to know me?"
Rong Yi lowered his eyes: "You haven't contacted me... I thought you didn't want to see me."
"How could I..." Li Mantao paused, thinking about his behavior recently, and was silent for a few seconds with an inexplicable sense of guilt. "That's because... because you left without saying goodbye when you were a child, I wanted you to admit your mistake to me first."
“…Leaving without saying goodbye?”
Li Mantao snorted, "Why are you pretending to be stupid?"
Rong Yi raised his eyes, his complex emotions indistinguishable, "I... left a letter for you."
"Letter?" Several question marks popped up in Li Mantao's mind.
Rong Yi sat up straighter, frowned slightly, and said, "I wrote my contact information in the letter."
"Wait..." Li Mantao pressed his solar plexus and realized that something was wrong.
"I've been waiting for you to contact me... I thought I made you angry at that time and you didn't want to see me again."
"What are you angry about? Why don't I remember it?" Li Mantao became more and more confused the more he listened.
"I don't agree with your premature love, you got angry and ignored me for a few days."
Li Mantao's mind was in a mess, and he finally remembered that he almost accepted the class beauty's invitation to date when he was in the first grade of junior high school.
"No, I'm not angry because you don't let me have a relationship. It's you... Never mind, it's not important. Just tell me why you want to leave."
Rong Yi remained silent for a long time under Li Mantao's gaze, and finally spoke: "They are worried that I am out of their control."
Li Mantao knew very well who these "they" were.
Li Mantao is an orphan and alone. Everyone who hears about his life story sighs, but compared to Rong Yi, Li Mantao is probably still quite happy.
Simply put, Rong Yi is the product of an extramarital affair of a powerful man in a wealthy family, that is, an illegitimate child, although his mother was completely unaware of the identity and marital status of Rong Yi's father when she gave birth to him.
Rong Yi's father deceived his mother and pretended to be dead, leaving Rong Yi's mother to raise Rong Yi alone. It was not until Rong Yi was seven years old that Rong Yi's father's legal wife came to the house and learned the truth. She then fell ill and could not get up.
In order to treat his mother's illness, Rong Yi entered the Rong family and became the second young master of the Rong family who was not allowed to be seen in public.
"If I don't go back, you will be in danger."
“…”
Li Mantao tried hard to clear his mind of all the confusion. All his years of worry and resentment were misunderstandings. Rong Yi had left to protect him and Grandpa. So what about the letter Rong Yi mentioned? Did Grandpa throw it away?
There is no reason for Grandpa to not let him contact Rongyi. It could only be Rongyi's nominal parents who did it.
"I haven't seen the letter you sent me." Li Mantao rubbed his face heavily, thinking about his cold words to Rong Yi these days, and even joining the black fan group to slander and defame him, he felt ashamed.
Rong Yi must have had a hard time these years, and he kept saying that he wanted to be Rong Yi's lifelong good friend and brother, but he didn't help Rong Yi at all when he was in the most difficult time.
He didn't even dare to look up at the person opposite him, and apologized in a low voice: "...I'm sorry."
Hearing the sound of Rong Yi standing up and sitting next to him, Li Mantao thought to himself that he would accept it even if Rong Yi wanted to beat him up.
However, after waiting for a long time, Rong Yi did not move. Just as he was about to look up, a hand gently placed on the back of his head.
The hand trembled a little as it ruffled his hair and then held him in its arms.
"I...missed you so much."
As if finally able to breathe a sigh of relief, Rong Yi repeated in a hoarse voice: "I miss you so much."
Li Mantao raised his head and couldn't help but say with a feeling of grievance: "I thought you were dead."
Rong Yi looked at his red eyes and nose, his Adam's apple moved slightly, he turned away, and in a few words he recounted his experiences over the years.
After being brought back to the Rong family, the Rong couple had different opinions on how to deal with Rong Yi. Finally, at the suggestion of Rong Heng, the eldest son of the Rong family, they threw him abroad to fend for himself.
"Three years ago, they died, and only then was I able to return home."
What Rong Yi didn't say was that after being sent abroad, he found an opportunity to return home once, but at that time, the area around the tube-shaped building had been demolished and no one lived there, so naturally he couldn't find Li Mantao.
"Good thing you died! Bitch will get her due."
Li Mantao cursed through gritted teeth. He nestled in Rong Yi's arms, nuzzled his head against hers, and whispered, "Have you had a hard time these past few years?"
A faint orange scent wafted into his nose. It was the scent of Li Mantao's shampoo. Rong Yi took a deep breath calmly before saying, "No, I..."
"Although I really don't want to interrupt you..."
A voice sounded from behind. Li Mantao turned around in fear. A head peeked out from behind the sofa. It was Li Mi, whose cheeks were strangely flushed. "But it's almost two o'clock. If I remember correctly, Taotao, you should have a full class today, right?"
Li Mantao checked his phone and saw that class was only a few minutes away. Although he wanted to catch up with Rong Yi, he had to attend class. He struggled slightly to free himself from Rong Yi's embrace, said "Let's chat on WeChat," and hurried to the teaching building.
Rong Yi watched his back as he walked away, lowered her eyes to feel the heat gradually dissipating from her body, picked up the unfinished coffee of Li Mantao, took a sip, and after a moment, smiled again.
Driven by curiosity, Li Mi bravely sat down across from Rong Yi. She didn't know Rong Yi well; their only social interaction was a few book signings and photos together. Rong Yi probably didn't remember her.
However, to her surprise, Rong Yi actually spoke first.
"I remember you."
"Hmm?" Li Mi was a little flattered. "Really?"
Rong Yi nodded: "You often stay with Manman."
Manman? Li Mi was slow to react and realized that it was Li Mantao. It turned out that she was not the one he remembered from the book signing. Li Mi was a little disappointed.
"Manman and I have been separated for a long time. There are some things I want to know. Can I ask you?"
Li Mi raised his eyebrows, feeling as if he had guessed what Rong Yi wanted to ask, "Okay."
Rong Yi took another sip of coffee and said in a deep voice, "What is his relationship with that Kong Zhong?"
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