IMAO Chapter 125

Jiang Yuan wasn’t surprised when Qiu Jingming showed no gratitude. He didn’t expect Qiu Jingming to be deeply grateful just because he pulled him back. He only helped because he happened to be the closest… No matter how much these two disgusted him, the child was innocent.

The man sitting on the ground shifted his gaze from Qiu Jingming’s stomach, only to meet Qiu Jingming’s concerned expression. Feeling guilty, he hastily avoided eye contact.

But as he turned his head, a figure caught his eye.

His pupils dilated!

Why was this guy here?

Fang Shi hurried over when she heard the commotion. Her mood had soured the moment she saw Qiu Jingming, but all her frustration vanished when her adopted son nearly fell. Only worry remained. After all, raising someone for so many years, it would be a lie to say there were no feelings involved.

Just as Fang Shi let out a relieved sigh seeing Qiu Jingming safe, a harsh question cut through the air, startling her.

She watched as the child she had watched grow up scrambled up from the ground, trembling with rage as he pointed at her son’s boyfriend.

“Why are you here?” Song Yirui burst out.

Ji Rong stepped forward, giving him a cold look. “I’m Jiang Yuan’s boyfriend. Isn’t it normal for me to visit his parents?”

Seeing that Jiang Yuan didn’t deny Ji Rong’s words, and watching as this man openly took Jiang Yuan’s hand, interlocking their fingers right in front of him, Song Yirui remembered how this same man had once declared his love for Jiang Yuan to his face!

Jiang Yuan is an Omega… changing from Beta to Omega causes hormone imbalances…

All the information he’d researched lately surfaced in his mind, leading to a theory.

The color drained from his face.

“Xiao Yuan… tell me, you don’t actually like him, right? You’re only with him because of your physical condition, aren’t you?

“I know, I know you suddenly became an Omega, your heat cycles are irregular, so that’s why… I understand everything…

“I know you don’t like him. This guy… he’s just a bastard. If it weren’t for your condition, you’d never be with him!”

Song Yirui’s lips quivered as he rambled.

Yes, it must be like this!

Xiao Yuan would never like this guy. He’d grown up with Xiao Yuan, and Xiao Yuan liked him. Although he’d made an unforgivable mistake, but… but Xiao Yuan must still have feelings for him.

“No, you’re wrong. I like him, I like him very much.”

As Jiang Yuan spoke, he gazed at the man holding his hand with extreme tenderness.

Song Yirui’s heart twisted in agony. He bit his lower lip and looked up at Jiang Yuan, his eyes red. His voice turned choked with emotion as he changed tactics, “My Xiao Yuan… I really did find him during his heat… believe me, please believe me…”

Song Yirui covered his eyes with his hand, not wanting anyone to see his tears.

“I’m not lying to you. That day when I went to your house, I found him, I really did… Please believe me.

“After I went back, I checked the records, he really did use drugs… If it wasn’t for that accident, we would never have…” Song Yirui anxiously reached out to grab Jiang Yuan’s hand but pulled back at the last moment.

Because the disgust in Jiang Yuan’s eyes cut him deeply. So… did Jiang Yuan hate him this much now?

Every word Song Yirui spoke pierced Qiu Jingming’s heart.

Qiu Jingming clenched his jaw tightly, his fingernails digging into his palms as he made fists. The ‘he’ in Song Yirui’s words clearly referred to him.

How laughable.

Did he really think Jiang Yuan would accept him?

Impossible!

Begging like this was truly pathetic.

Seeing Song Yirui insist that he had taken drugs to induce his heat, Qiu Jingming found it both laughable and tragic.

When he first arrived at the Jiang family, he had been diagnosed with severe social withdrawal[mfn]The literal translation is autism, but I don’t think it’s the correct political term as translation so I’m using a different term, which is a more literal translation of the individual characters. 自闭症 (zì bì zhèng) – autism, but individually, 自 zì – self, personal; 闭 bì – shut, close, obstruct; and, 症 zhèng – disease, illness, ailment. My choices are emotional detachment and social withdrawal, but I think social withdrawal is the more appropriate term. Let me know if you have other insight regarding this. I don’t want to think anymore.[/mfn] after learning of his father’s sudden death.

He had shut out the entire world, wrapped it up, and hidden it away.

After accidentally learning the cause of his father’s death, he actually hated being in the Jiang family. He despised everyone there from the bottom of his heart. He’d lost his mother early on, and then his only father too…

He admitted that taking Song Yirui had partly been to show off to Jiang Yuan, but… more importantly, it was because Song Yirui was his Gege, the one who had pulled him from darkness into the light.

When he was young, no one would play with him except Yirui-gege, who made him laugh again and again, introduced him to others, let him join their group, and took him everywhere. He’d become like Yirui-gege’s little shadow.

He truly loved the Yirui-gege from his childhood.

How did his Yirui-gege become like this?

…

Hearing Song Yirui’s words, Jiang Tianze could no longer hold back. He rushed forward and punched Song Yirui in the face!

“You bastard!

“Pushing all the responsibility onto Jingming? You’re washing your hands clean! Yes, Alphas are affected by pheromones, but most Alphas can still resist briefly before the pheromones fully peak. While Jingming’s scheming was part of it, are you really blameless?”

Jiang Tianze grabbed Song Yirui’s collar and dragged him in front of Qiu Jingming. “Look at him properly, look who he is! He’s your legal partner! He’s carrying your child! Is this how you treat him?”

Faced with those tear-filled eyes, Song Yirui couldn’t look straight at him, but still gritted out, “What I said… is the truth!”

Jiang Tianze was furious.

Although Qiu Jingming had disappointed him deeply, their years of emotional connection weren’t fake… He’d brought Qiu Jingming home because he genuinely wanted to be good to this child. How could there be no feelings at all?

Although he had Jingming move out, he still provided what was needed. He wanted this child to have a good life.

But could this be called a good life now?

“You… you’ll divorce this brat tomorrow… no, today!” Jiang Tianze pushed Song Yirui away and grabbed Qiu Jingming.

“No!”

“You… what did you say?!”

Jiang Tianze stared in disbelief at the beautiful boy before him. “Say that again!”

Qiu Jingming gritted his teeth. “I said… I won’t divorce him.”

Jiang Tianze laughed in fury. “Look at him! Does he care about you? Huh? Does he care about you at all? I’m doing this for your own good!

“Whether you want to or not, you’re getting divorced! I’m taking you to the registry office right now to dissolve your partnership. Let that bastard get lost!”

But Qiu Jingming stepped back, tears streaming from his clear eyes. “What right do you have to control me!”

Jiang Tianze pointed at Qiu Jingming, “Because I’m your father!”

Tears rolled down Qiu Jingming’s cheeks as he shook his head. “No, you’re not…

“I only have one father…”

Jiang Tianze pointed at Qiu Jingming’s face, rendered speechless.

Fang Shi hurried over to support her husband who was barely standing, looking at their adopted son with complex emotions.

She felt both her husband and herself had been taken for granted. “Jingming, have you been completely blind to how good our family has been to you all these years?”

“Good to me?” Qiu Jingming smiled bitterly, shaking his head, “I know, I can feel it, but… isn’t that how it should be?

“You’re good to me because my father died protecting him, out of guilt! I know you’re good to me, but so what? I still lost my father…”

Hearing Qiu Jingming’s words, Jiang Tianze’s mouth fell open. His voice trembled, “Did Jiang Yuan tell you this?”

“No,” Qiu Jingming shook his head, choking up. “I overheard it my first day at the Jiang house. If it wasn’t for protecting you, my father wouldn’t have died…”

“Your father didn’t die saving me at all. I made up that excuse to convince Jiang Yuan to accept you into our home. I never thought you… would have heard it.” Jiang Tianze clutched his chest, full of regret.

He truly hadn’t expected that because of this, his son Jiang Yuan would always yield to his adopted son, while the adopted son would take all their kindness for granted.

“I was wrong… I was wrong…” Jiang Tianze was filled with remorse.

Qiu Jingming stared wide-eyed at Jiang Tianze’s graying temples, “Impossible, you must be lying to me!”

Seeing Jiang Tianze’s silence, Qiu Jingming’s eyes reddened…

No, this couldn’t be true. This must be Jiang Tianze lying to him!

If it weren’t for his father, why would Jiang Tianze, Fang Shi, and Jiang Yuan be so kind to him?

He refused to believe it!

Qiu Jingming didn’t want to do anything now. He just wanted to escape this place.

He fled in panic, not knowing how he made it home.

He locked himself in his room until dawn, when Song Yirui finally returned home drunk.

“Yirui-gege, you’re finally back…” Qiu Jingming called softly to the man on the couch.

Song Yirui laughed bitterly, “You know what? After you left, Uncle Jiang scolded me. He called me shameless, cowardly, irresponsible…”

“Tell me… why do you like me so much? Hm?”

Qiu Jingming replied with a slight sob, “Because I had social withdrawal when I was little and wouldn’t talk. You were the only one who kept talking to me. No one wanted to play with me, but you always patiently brought me into groups and got everyone to play with me. You took me everywhere with you, making me feel like I wasn’t alone.”

The drunk Song Yirui burst into shocking laughter upon hearing Qiu Jingming’s words.

“Hahaha! HAHAHA! I’m crying from laughing so hard! HAHAHA! So that’s really why?

“Did you actually think I wanted to talk to you? Wanted to play with you?”

Qiu Jingming froze completely. Half-sitting on the ground, he stammered, “Wasn’t… that the case?”

Song Yirui cried and laughed at the same time, impossible to tell if he was happy or sad. He rambled, “Of… of course not… I did all that because Xiao Yuan asked me to.

“Think about it. Whenever I talked to you, wasn’t Xiao Yuan always there beside us? Whenever I took you to play, wasn’t Xiao Yuan always there? Everywhere I took you… Xiao Yuan was always there…

“Didn’t you see him?”

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