Chapter 58: Kiss
Many people sat in the expansive living room, men and women dressed in bright, glamorous clothes. Their gazes fell upon the mother and son—some curious, others openly disdainful—as if inspecting some filthy, unpresentable stain on the floor.
His mother pushed him hard from behind, then dropped to her knees on the cold, polished marble with a heavy thud, dragging him down with her. She dissolved into hysterical tears, pleading pitifully with the middle-aged man seated at the head of the room—a man with a stern face and cold, unyielding eyes—repeatedly forcing the young boy to call him “Dad.”
That man, his biological father, merely furrowed his brow. He looked down at them with a distant, disgusted glare, as if staring at a glob of dirt stuck to the sole of his shoe that he couldn’t shake off. He averted his gaze almost immediately, as though looking at them for even a second longer would soil him.
Muffled laughter and cruel whispers arose from the surrounding guests, the words piercing his young ears like poisoned needles.
“Bastard.” “Shameless.” “Daydreaming…” “Know your place.” “Still dreaming of clawing her way into the family, how utterly shameless…”
His mother kept weeping and begging, crawling forward a few paces on her knees to grab the hem of the man’s trousers, only to be kicked away without a shred of hesitation or mercy.
Finally, the man spoke. His voice was quiet, yet completely devoid of human warmth, sounding like a judge passing a final sentence: “Throw her out. And take the child with her. From this day forward, neither of them is permitted to appear before anyone in the Jiang family ever again.”
Several tall security guards in black stepped forward at once, pulling at them with stony, expressionless faces.
Driven to madness, his mother struggled violently, and in her frenzy, she whipped around and slapped Jiang Jue across the face! The sharp, stinging crack echoed through the silent hall.
Her long fingernails gouged several bloody scratches across his cheek. She shrieked hysterically: “It’s all your fault! You useless piece of trash! Even your own father refuses to acknowledge you! What was the point of giving birth to you?! What good are you to me?!”
In that moment, young Jiang Jue could neither feel the burning sting on his face nor hear the buzzing mockery of the crowd. It felt as though the entire world had turned into a silent, monochrome film, leaving behind nothing but an endless, suffocating chill.
He wanted to pull his mother away, to escape that humiliating room, but she clung to him as if he were her final lifeline, refusing to let go. For several minutes, the scene descended into chaotic disgrace.
In the end, they were ruthlessly shoved out the front doors and cast into the pouring rain outside the estate.
The heavy iron gates slammed shut behind them, cutting off the dazzling chandeliers and artificial warmth within.
The icy downpour soaked through his thin shirt in seconds, mingling with the fiery pain on his face and the desolate, frozen wasteland in his chest.
Just then, a small side door clicked open.
A little girl wearing a pretty, pristine dress and a neat princess hairstyle poked her head out, holding an umbrella.
She looked at him, drenched and shivering, then glanced at his mother, whose hysteria had devolved into broken whimpers. Breaking free from her nanny’s grip, the little girl trotted under the porch, grabbed an umbrella, and hurried toward him. Standing on her tiptoes, she held it out.
“Here, take this,” the girl said, her voice clear and sweet. “You’ll get sick in the rain.”
He froze, standing rigid beneath the deluge, unable to reach out and take it.
The nanny rushed over in a panic, her face tight with wariness. Pulling the little girl back, she hissed a warning into the child’s ear and practically dragged her inside. The small door slammed shut, leaving no gap behind.
He stood in place, staring at the closed door, then glanced at his mother, who was still wailing in the slush beside him. In the end, he said nothing and took nothing. Turning around, he walked step by step into the depths of the storm.
His mother stumbled after him, her curses gradually swallowed by the roar of the downpour.
Later on, his mother went completely mad, and during one drunken stupor, she stumbled into traffic… After that, the world fell quiet, and completely cold.
He had followed an old scavenger named Zhang, struggling to survive in the slums at the very bottom of the city.
He had collected scrap, endured beatings, had his hard-earned savings stolen, and witnessed the darkest corners of human malice. By falling and getting back up time and time again, he forged an unbreakable will and a frozen heart.
When the apocalypse arrived and civilization collapsed, he had felt that the world was finally showing its true, cruel, yet honest face.
He believed he had long since buried the Jiang family and that humiliating past six feet under.
Yet he never expected to run into Jiang Lin again out here, right by Chu Yang’s side.
Seeing her throw herself at Chu Yang, and catching the calculating glint in her eyes—no matter how well she tried to hide it—those buried memories had resurfaced, carrying the stale stench of decay and a sharp, familiar ache.
Yet now, as Jiang Jue looked down at Chu Yang’s peaceful, sleeping face beside him—feeling the real warmth radiating from the duvet and the quiet comfort of another person’s steady breathing—the bitterness and malice stirred up by the past began to subside, melting away bit by bit.
The shadows of yesterday could never be erased, but at this moment, he had a present he wanted to protect… and perhaps a future to look forward to, with this person in it.
He reached out, his fingertips lightly brushing Chu Yang’s cheek, and slowly, gently swept away the stray strands of hair resting against the boy’s forehead.
It was rare for him to simply gaze at someone like this, without vigilance, without calculation—just watching.
A corner of his heart, frozen over for far too long, seemed to quietly thaw beneath the warmth of the sight.
A sudden, instinctual impulse gripped him without warning.
It came swiftly and softly, yet carried an undeniable pull.
Driven by complex emotions he hadn’t yet fully untangled, Jiang Jue slowly, with immense restraint, leaned down.
His movement was impossibly light, as if terrified of shattering a fragile dream.
As he drew closer, his shadow fell across half of Chu Yang’s face.
Then, a cool, gentle kiss brushed reverently against the center of Chu Yang’s forehead.
It lingered for a fraction of a second before parting, so brief it felt like an illusion.
Almost the instant Jiang Jue’s lips pulled away, Chu Yang stirred faintly in his sleep.
His brows knitted slightly, and a soft, drowsy murmur escaped his throat: “Mm…”
The sound was sweet and gentle, like the sleepy grumble of a small animal. He subconsciously turned his head, nuzzling his cheek deeper into the pillow, as though brushing away the cool disturbance or simply settling into a more comfortable posture.
His long eyelashes fluttered faintly, but his eyes remained closed.
The mumbling soon faded, and his breathing deepened once more into a rhythmic, heavy cadence. He had slipped back into a deep dream, completely unaware of the gentle kiss that had just brushed his brow, or the intense, tender gaze watching over him from inches away.
Jiang Jue didn’t lie down right away. He remained hovering close, watching Chu Yang.
That soft murmur and the way the boy had nuzzled the pillow acted like a gentle hook, tugging at the most vulnerable corner of his heart.
An indescribable warmth, mixed with emotions he couldn’t quite name, welled up from deep within him, sweeping away the last lingering shadows of the past.
Jiang Jue lingered in that leaning posture, as if he could never grow tired of looking. Only when the night deepened did he finally lie back down, his gaze still resting quietly on Chu Yang’s face.
Watching the boy’s features return to tranquil serenity, the ripples in Jiang Jue’s dark eyes settled into stillness. Yet beneath that calm surface, something had changed—growing deeper, heavier, and entirely unshakable.
