AM Chapter 10

10 Returning Home

After the plane landed, Chen Mo saw a few familiar faces at the arrival gate, one of whom was Liang Jingren.

Ignoring Liang Jingren, he dragged his suitcase past the tall men who were practically shoving white papers in his face.

Liang Jingren led his subordinates, tailing him all the way to the airport lobby.

More and more people passed by, but this place was much more spacious than the crowded arrival area. Flight announcement tones blared from all directions, making it easy to lose sight of the target.

The thinnest of Liang Jingren’s subordinates had somehow been swept away by the crowd, but Liang Jingren relentlessly pursued, staying close behind.

Finally, Liang Jingren couldn’t help but speak.

“Hey, stop.” He called out to Chen Mo.

Chen Mo actually stopped.

He gripped the handle of his suitcase, turned around, and said to the stalker with icy indifference, “What is it?”

Liang Jingren was taken aback, then immediately adjusted his facial muscles, adopting a smiling posture, and opened his arms, displaying complete friendliness to welcome him. “It’s been so long, don’t you want to give me a hug?”

Chen Mo didn’t say a word, only looked at him with cold eyes.

The curve of Liang Jingren’s smile gradually diminished until he finally sighed and chuckled self-deprecatingly, saying in a helpless tone, “Still not willing to admit your mistake? I thought you came back to…”

“Get lost.”

Chen Mo spat out a single word, turned, and dragged his suitcase away.

Liar, liar, liar, big liar!!!

Go to hell, go to hell, go to hell, just die!!!

Why—

Why, why?! Why was Liang Jingren standing in front of him unharmed?!

Why could he shamelessly ask him to admit his mistake at this moment?! In public, after not seeing him for three years, after he… thought he would never see him again…

And Lucas, go to hell too! Actually colluding with Liang Jingren to deceive me!

One after another, they’re all liars! All of you, go to hell!! Even if you don’t die, I hope you get into a car accident and break your arms and legs!!

But…

The rolling of the suitcase wheels slowed. Before exiting the most crowded passage, Chen Mo paused slightly, slowly turning his head. He discovered that Liang Jingren was no longer behind him.

Why didn’t he continue to follow…?

After getting into an expensive airport taxi, Chen Mo leaned his head blankly against the back seat window, his eyes staring vacantly at the scenery flowing backward outside.

After getting in the car, the driver asked him where he was going. He realized he had nowhere to go here. He used to have a place, so he gave the villa address.

There would be a moment when the scenery before his eyes would become familiar, and those would be the last two times he would appreciate them—

Chen Mo decided to buy a plane ticket and go back to study for his postgraduate degree. He planned to go to the villa first to pack up all the things he hadn’tPack the sorted stuff in one go, and then never come back. Although there were basically no important items in his room, the only things with any commemorative significance were probably his graduation albums from junior and senior high school. He had no idea where his elementary school one had gone.

The roads were extremely clear all the way, and in just one hour, Chen Mo returned to the villa full of memories, where he had lived for nine whole years since the fourth grade.

He skillfully entered the gate code, surprised to find that although the combination lock was new, the code hadn’t changed. It was still the same as before.

Clearly, the ownership of this villa now belonged to Liang Jingren. At least, Liang Jingren was the only name on the property deed.

Chen Mo dragged his suitcase into the living room and looked around. A certain indescribable scent wafted over him, like a… the smell of home. Nothing had changed.

He let go of the handle, unable to resist the urge to put on slippers at the entrance, simply because he didn’t want the dusty atmosphere from outside to pollute the air inside.

After wandering around the living room, kitchen, and dining room on the first floor, Chen Mo went to the second floor a short while later.

Chen Daxiang’s master bedroom was on the second floor, as was the guest room where Liang Jingren lived alone after he and Chen Daxiang got their marriage certificate.

Chen Mo’s room was on the third floor. His room was the smallest, but he had the largest exclusive space in the villa—because the entire third floor belonged to him, including the study and the pool table in the study. Chen Daxiang respected his personal space and couldn’t set foot on the third floor without his permission.

Even so, Chen Mo still had a door lock and key specifically for his room.

When he arrived in front of his room door, he wasn’t surprised to see that the lock had been replaced, and it was new and shiny.

Four years ago, he locked himself inside, while Liang Jingren kicked and yelled outside. The lock had been broken at that time.

However, when Chen Mo habitually took out the long-treasured key and inserted it into the keyhole, he was surprised once again—the door lock had been replaced with a new one, but the corresponding cylinder and matching key were still the same as before.

The room wasn’t big, and the cabinets were all placed against the wall. Chen Mo could see everything inside just by standing at the door.

His belongings hadn’t been moved, but the room was very clean and tidy. It was probably because the cleaning lady who cleaned the villa had received special instructions.

“Do you really think I would thank you…” Chen Mo muttered, holding the door handle.

Perhaps on a whim, Chen Mo decided to stay in the country for a few days, so he could catch up with his old classmates and friends and say goodbye. To make it easier to get around, he thought, “Since I’m already here, I might as well stay in the villa for a few days.”

Although the suitcase didn’t contain many clothes, Chen Mo had initially placed it on the first floor for convenience. Now he had to go down again to carry it up.

When Chen Mo dragged the suitcase to the second floor landing, he stopped.

He looked at the rooms other than the master bedroom, then gently pushed the suitcase away and walked towards the unlocked door.

He turned the knob—as expected, it was still unlocked.

Chen Mo walked into the room. As he moved slowly, he extended his arm and gently brushed his fingers across the back of the small double-leather sofa, where clothes used to be piled up messily every day.

He turned his head. Before him was a minimalist European-style double bed, one and a half meters wide, but the bedposts were four prominent Chinese-style redwood pillars.

On one night, the left post at the shorter end of the bed was tied with a leather belt. The other end of the belt was connected to the ankle of a man who was one meter and eighty centimeters tall.

The man’s hands were tied tightly with a white shirt that smelled of perfume. Drunk and fast asleep, three of his four limbs were immobilized without his knowing.

It was because of this that he quit drinking.

“Pfft~”

Chen Mo laughed, unable to stop the giggles that escaped from the corners of his mouth.

His eyes, which were fixed on the bed in front of him, were also smiling.

If Lucas saw his expression at this moment, he would definitely gasp, grin, cover his face, and deliver the harshest criticism in history: “Did you secretly murder and dismember someone, get questioned by the police, and then get acquitted?!”

“It’s clearly your fault,” Chen Mo said, sitting on the edge of the bed and stroking the pillar that had been kicked countless times, “Who told you to not keep your word and not come to my birthday party…”

“I was clearly… looking forward to it so much…”