AM Chapter 62

62 Heartbeat (End of Main Story)

62 Heartbeat (End of Main Story)

In the end, Liang Jingyu let him go.

——Liang Jingyu viciously stubbed the cigarette butt out on the steel frame behind his head, right next to his ear.

Perhaps it was because the phone on the table rang again, urging him to change his mind.

This time, the ringtone was less like a custom ringtone and more like an alarm clock.

Chen Mo watched him turn around. His entire head and upper body slumped forward as if all strength had left him, while his hands were pulled up tightly by the restraints. He gasped for breath in this tense position, trying to relax.

“I’m going back,” Liang Jingyu said to him, turning around after switching off the alarm.

Chen Mo shuddered and stiffened again as soon as he heard Liang Jingyu’s voice.

After understanding what Liang Jingyu said, Chen Mo was stunned, thinking he had misheard.

Then, he watched Liang Jingyu unscrew a bottle of mineral water, walk towards him, and then, with a “whoosh,” pour most of it onto his scalded hand, and then splash the rest on his face.

Watching the water droplets roll down from Chen Mo’s limp bangs, carrying tears, dust, and bloodstains from the broken skin at the corner of his mouth, Liang Jingyu clicked his tongue and said, “How unlucky.”

After speaking, Liang Jingyu picked up the strip of cloth draped over his arm, pressed it against Chen Mo’s damp bangs, and retied it tightly over his eyes.

After a while, in the pitch black, Chen Mo heard Liang Jingyu seemingly tidying things up.

After another while, Liang Jingyu’s voice came from another direction, sounding like it was near the door. He said, “I’m leaving. Wait for someone to pick you up, but I can’t guarantee it will be Liang Jingren. After all, you know how unworthy you are.”

Then, the sound of footsteps on the stairs gradually faded away.

Finally, the surroundings became completely silent, extremely still.

The combined mental and physical exhaustion made him doze off.

When he woke up, Chen Mo’s vision was still dark.

He had lost his sense of time. He didn’t know how long he had been tied up in this basement.

He only knew that he was hungry, he was in pain, and he was cold.

He missed Liang Jingren very much.

But… would Liang Jingren come?

Liang Jingren hadn’t even appeared in time like a prince in a fairy tale when Liang Jingyu was beating him.

Would Liang Jingren really find him? Would he be willing to take him home? Or would he completely understand him, despise him, dislike him, and distance himself from him because of those recordings…

The more Chen Mo thought, the sadder he became, so sad that he began to sob softly.

Tears blurred the cloth strip covering his eyes, completely soaking the half-dry fabric.

After crying himself out, Chen Mo fell asleep again.

This time, what woke him was the echoing sound of hurried footsteps descending the stairs.

If it were the stairs in the Villa, Chen Mo could immediately recognize whether those were Liang Jingren’s footsteps. But not here.

Please don’t let it be someone else, please, don’t let it be anyone else…

The cloth tied in front of his eyes was roughly yanked away, and bright light flooded into his eyes, causing tears to flow like a spring.

“Jingren-ge, waaaah…”

As Liang Jingren untied him, Chen Mo wailed loudly.

Liang Jingren pursed his lips, silently supporting the man who had collapsed into his arms and was about to slide to the ground due to exhaustion, finally half-kneeling to hug him.

Liang Jingren had always believed that Liang Jingyu’s life had undergone irreversible major changes because of him, changes more significant than missing the college entrance exam.

He hadn’t expected that his older brother, who used to tutor him, compensate classmates for stationery he accidentally broke, and help their mother with housework every weekend, his brother who was sharp-tongued but actually very reliable, would actually do something like this. Liang Jingyu had actually retaliated against Chen Mo to this extent.

He himself was partly to blame. Liang Jingren knew this very well.

Although Chen Mo was at fault first, Liang Jingren felt that he was sorry for Chen Mo.

He had almost strangled him to death once already, and this time, he wasn’t planning to call the police to arrest the abuser.

No matter what, Liang Jingyu was his brother, his own brother. And Liang Jingyu had already been in prison once.

“Don’t cry, Chen Mo. We’re going home.”

Liang Jingren said as he wiped away his tears, his tone unusually gentle, and his eyes were the same, gentle to the extreme.

But Chen Mo felt that he was pitying him. Liang Jingren was easily plagued by guilt. As his brother said, he was too kind and too good-hearted, which was why he couldn’t get rid of him.

“Waaaaah…”

Now that he had come, Chen Mo would never let him get rid of him.

He could apologize to Liang Jingren, even to Liang Jingyu, but he would never let go of the forcefully twisted melon that he had finally obtained, of the person who was right in front of him, caring for him.

Yes, he admitted that he was cheap—willing to admit his mistakes, but never repentant.

“I’m sorry, Liang Jingyu really went too far. I’ll teach him a lesson for you later, so don’t cry…”

“Waaaaah waaah waaaah…” Chen Mo grabbed his collar and sleeves, wailing loudly.

“…”

Liang Jingren sighed, accepting his fate. He cupped Chen Mo’s tear-streaked face in his hands, looked into his eyes, and asked, “Baby, don’t cry. What can I do to make you stop?”

Chen Mo sniffled and said, “Say you like me.”

Liang Jingren said, “I like you.”

Chen Mo said again, “Say you love me.”

Liang Jingren said, “I love you.”

Chen Mo said, “That’s not right… You’re lying…”

Liang Jingren: “…”

Chen Mo started to cry again.

“Then what else do you want me to do?” Liang Jingren sighed and asked.

“Kiss me,” Chen Mo said.

Liang Jingren looked at him for a while, his right thumb caressing his dirty, tear-streaked face.

Then, he lowered his head and kissed the spot where his finger had just touched.

Although it was just a kiss on the cheek, Chen Mo’s tears stopped easily, but he was still dazed as if he hadn’t reacted, and asked, “Why did you kiss me there?”

Liang Jingren pursed his lips. “You didn’t say where to kiss.”

Chen Mo blinked and said, “I want to kiss your mouth.”

Liang Jingren clicked his tongue. “Tsk, so many demands.”

——Could there actually be hope?! What a pleasant surprise!

Chen Mo immediately raised his head and closed his eyes.

However, after a long while, he didn’t feel the soft touch of a kiss on his lips.

Chen Mo slowly opened his eyes, and in front of him, Liang Jingren, who was half-squatting, was frowning as he stared at him.

Chen Mo gritted his teeth, reached out, and wrapped his arms around Liang Jingren’s neck, bringing his face close to kiss him no matter what.

Liang Jingren grabbed his hand.

“Ah!!!”

Liang Jingren suddenly released his hand.

“I’m sorry, Chen Mo, are you okay?” Liang Jingren nervously picked up Chen Mo’s left hand, turned it over to check his injured hand, and even blew on it several times.

Liang Jingren was furious with himself. How could he forget? He had clearly seen it when he was untying Chen Mo just now.

The cool air blowing on the back of his hand made Chen Mo pause. Then, he felt aggrieved and looked again with tearful eyes at the person who was blowing on his hand but refused to kiss him. “Why won’t you let me kiss you? Didn’t you say you loved me?”

“Your lips are chapped, covered in blood, so dirty.” Liang Jingren only cared about staring at the burn scar on his hand, and the words coming out of his mouth were cold and heartless.

But Chen Mo seemed to only hear the word “dirty.” The tears that were already brimming in his eyes instantly burst forth, and the dam broke. “You think I’m dirty, waaaaaah waaaah waaaah, you just think I’m dirty, waaaah waaaah waaaah, I knew you thought I was dirty waaaah waaaah waaaah…”

“…”

Liang Jingren: I was wrong.

Seeing that Chen Mo was wailing so much that his voice was about to disappear, Liang Jingren had no choice but to kiss him, kissing his dirty lips.

Then, he touched his swollen eye bags and said in a gentle tone, “Let’s go, let’s go home, young master.”

As Liang Jingren carried Chen Mo out of the basement, the stairwell was pitch black. Chen Mo hugged Liang Jingren tightly.

At night, the cold wind whistled, and although the surroundings of the dilapidated building in the wilderness were full of weeds, there wasn’t a single insect chirping to be heard.

Liang Jingren carried Chen Mo towards the bright headlight of the car.

Chen Mo breathed in the fresh air outside. In the swaying motion that resembled riding a rocking horse as a child, he raised his head. Above him were not rotating fruit toys, but a starry sky untouched by the city’s light pollution.

He knew that he wouldn’t be lucky enough to catch a shooting star, but he still made a wish to the starry sky and asked the person carrying him,

“Jingren-ge, do you love me?”

“Yes. I love you.” Liang Jingren hooked his hands under his legs, lifted him higher, and continued to walk forward.

“Really?” Chen Mo’s voice revealed a crying tone that he was already tired of hearing.

Liang Jingren was a little helpless. He thought of Chen Mo’s wailing face just now and found it a little funny, so he simply smiled and said, “I don’t like lying, and I don’t need to lie.”

“Chen Mo, I really love you, although definitely not as much as you love me, but I definitely love you.”

“Jingren-ge waaaah… Jingren-ge…”

“Why are you crying again?! What else are you not satisfied with, damn it!?”

“I’m sorry, Jingren-ge, waaaah… I’m sorry… I know I was wrong, waaaah… I’m sorry…”

Liang Jingren was silent for a long time before sighing amid the intermittent sobs and saying, “Don’t do it again in the future.”

“Okay… waaaah… I love you, Jingren-ge, waaaah…”

Without lights, even though the surroundings were relatively empty, the rough and stony path with weeds was still difficult to walk on.

Liang Jingren finally carried the man to the side of the road, opened the door of the spacious back seat of the SUV, and was about to put the tortured and exhausted guy into the car, but Chen Mo refused to sit in the back no matter what.

“Lie down and sleep in the back seat, okay? I’ll carry you upstairs when we get back, alright?” Liang Jingren didn’t care what he said or wanted. He directly turned his back to him, put him down, then turned back and pushed his shoulders inward. “Tuck your feet in, hurry up.”

Liang Jingren had at least given some promising promises, and Chen Mo finally lay down in the back seat with a pout.

However, he stubbornly refused to let Liang Jingren close the door—he was stubbornly propping the door open with his shoeless feet.

At the same time, he half-raised his body and reached out both hands towards the door.

“You want another kiss?” Liang Jingren already knew what he wanted without him even saying it.

Liang Jingren sighed, bent down, climbed into the car with one hand, and was kissed by Chen Mo, whose arms were wrapped around his neck, until his mouth was full of a bloody taste.

As a result, the person who had initiated the attack was the first to lose strength. Chen Mo’s neck, which had been stretched upwards, couldn’t hold on, and he fell backwards.

But Chen Mo wasn’t willing to give up and tried to pull Liang Jingren down with him.

Liang Jingren could have obediently fallen down with him, but he was afraid of pressing on Chen Mo’s wounds, so he insisted on kneeling up while holding onto the back of the driver’s seat.

Fortunately, he was driving an SUV, and the roof was high enough, otherwise, he would have hit his head without paying attention.

Liang Jingren took a few breaths, got out of the car, held onto the door, looked at the person in the car who was staring straight at him with hazy eyes, and said, “We’ll kiss again when we get back. I’ll let you kiss me until you get your money’s worth, okay?”

Liang Jingren felt that he was being extremely lenient towards the injured.

But the injured person was taking advantage and being stubborn—

Chen Mo opened his mouth and said, “Jingren-ge, I want to have car sx…”

“…”

“You can do it yourself. I’m taking a taxi home.”

“No, no! I was joking! I was joking!”

Two minutes later, the white SUV sped past the deserted highway that had experienced a grand car sx a few hours earlier.

An hour later, the two arrived home safely.

Chen Mo dragged his tired body to take a shower, while Liang Jingren searched for medicine oil, cotton, gauze, and painkillers in the downstairs medicine cabinet. At the same time, he called Little Zhuang.

He had called Liang Jingyu a dozen times in the past few hours, but none of them had been answered. In the end, Little Zhuang called him and took the initiative to tell him the location where Chen Mo had been “abandoned,” and he hurriedly drove over.

Liang Jingren pressed the phone to his ear while turning and fiddling with the medicine oil that seemed to be about to expire.

The call was connected.

Before he could speak, Little Zhuang’s voice came from the phone, saying, “Jingren-ge, if you’re looking for Liang-ge, he’s not with me right now, and he’s most likely not in this city anymore.”

“…” For some reason, Liang Jingren felt a sense of relief, and also a feeling of “Ah~ I guessed it.”

But he still asked as usual, “Where did he go?”

“The grasslands,” Little Zhuang said. “Liang-ge said he wanted to take a long vacation to see the sight of cows and horses running freely under the blue sky and white clouds on the grasslands.”

“You’ll follow him, right?”

“I’ll leave tomorrow morning after I’ve taken care of the bar’s business.”

“Thank you for taking care of him.”

“No, I’m willing to. And… I’m sorry for causing you and Chen Mo trouble.”

After asking briefly about the recent business situation of the bar, and finding that there was nothing else urgent, Liang Jingren was preparing to say goodnight to the person on the phone and hang up.

But Little Zhuang suddenly said, “Oh, right, Liang-ge also told me to relay a message to you.”

Liang Jingren asked, “What is it?”

Little Zhuang hesitated and stammered, “Um… it’s… cursing words…”

“…Just say it.”

“He said you’re mentally retarded.”

“…”

Liang Jingren had also guessed this.

He accepted it and replied to Little Zhuang, “Okay, just tell him that I received it, and: the mentally retarded person is doing better than you now, so stop meddling in my life and interfering in everything.”

In the deeper night, Liang Jingren fell into a deep sleep, hugging Chen Mo, who was covered in the smell of medicine oil.

In his dream, he found himself in a vast and boundless grassland. Above him was a sky bluer than blue, and beneath his feet was a short lawn like the grass of a soccer field.

Suddenly, a large group of alpacas ran past in front of him, spitting everywhere. He quickly turned around and found that Liang Jingyu and Chen Mo were actually standing harmoniously on the same picnic mat not far away, waving to him and calling out, “It’s dangerous over there! Come over here quickly!”

——It was simply too terrifying!

He chose to follow the alpacas.

After Chen Mo’s body had recovered, one weekend, Liang Jingren took the initiative to ask Chen Mo if he wanted to go out on a date with him.

The “date” above was purely Chen Mo’s imagination. Liang Jingren hadn’t said that. What he had said was “shopping.”

“You didn’t bring any thick clothes back from abroad, did you?” Liang Jingren asked.

“Yeah, it was summer there at the time, and I could always buy more when winter comes,” Chen Mo said.

So, after dinner, they went out shopping for clothes together.

While wandering around the mall, they also went into mobile phone stores, jewelry stores, luxury watch stores, and eyewear stores, but they didn’t buy anything in any of them.

Chen Mo’s eyesight was ridiculously good. He was always crying and crying, and his work always required him to stare at the screen, but it was just ridiculously good. Liang Jingren was envious and jealous.

Liang Jingren felt that his eyes had been a little blurry and he had been seeing double recently. He was afraid that his presbyopia was setting in early—he had only just turned thirty-three!

So when he saw an eyewear store with a poster on the door advertising free vision tests with professional equipment, he dragged Chen Mo straight inside.

Fortunately, the tests showed that he didn’t have farsightedness or presbyopia, but he did have a slight astigmatism.

This wasn’t exactly a good thing, since it meant that his eyes were indeed damaged.

However, his astigmatism wasn’t severe and didn’t require corrective lenses if it didn’t affect his life.

While Liang Jingren was being tested and consulting, Chen Mo was walking around everywhere in the eyewear store, looking at everything and trying on everything.

Later, he even brought a pair of glasses over to him and asked him to try them on.

Liang Jingren had never worn glasses before and was curious about what he would look like with them, so he took the black-rimmed glasses that Chen Mo handed him and put them on.

And then, Chen Mo kissed him—

In front of everyone in the entire eyewear store, he held his face and kissed his lips.

The female optician who was only a table’s distance away was so shocked that her face turned red.

In contrast, the face of the person being kissed turned pale and purple, he was truly shocked.

Before long, Liang Jingren stood up abruptly and dragged Chen Mo out of the eyewear store in quick steps.

“What are you doing acting crazy in public!?” He grabbed Chen Mo’s wrist and scolded him in a low voice, gritting his teeth as he walked.

Chen Mo kept up with his pace as he walked beside him, but his brain seemed to have fallen behind and hadn’t caught up. He actually said, “Jingren-ge, don’t wear glasses, they make you look old.”

“Heh…”

Chen Mo said with a serious face, “I just felt like I suddenly saw you ten years from now and couldn’t help but want to kiss you in advance.”

“…”

Ten years from now…

Although Liang Jingren knew that Chen Mo had never treated his feelings towards him as just a fling, he was a little moved after realizing this so clearly and understanding it so distinctly for the first time, and gradually began to find it impossible to ignore this point.

In the distance, the streetlights, blurred by astigmatism into spots of light, resembled a golden galaxy. The stars in this brilliant galaxy were changing and twinkling with the movements of the two people’s footsteps, as if they were breathing.

Liang Jingren gripped Chen Mo’s wrist tightly, took a breath, and said, “Forget it.”

“Hehe~”

He was smiling like an idiot.

“Next time, just tell me what you want. Don’t do this again.”

“Okay!”

He was actually quite cute.

(End of Main Story)