Chapter 4

In his dreams, Su Yu seemed to keep hearing rain falling on the windowsill. He wanted to open his eyes, yet he felt as though he was still dreaming.

He remembered getting lost in the garden the first time he came to the Su family home. The rain had grown heavier and heavier that day. He had sheltered beneath the eaves, too afraid to venture out, when footsteps suddenly sounded behind him. Turning around, he saw two people walking toward him. The one in front stood tall and straight, dressed in a shirt and dress pants, with the suit jacket he had just taken off draped over his forearm.

The man had regular features and a calm expression, though his steps had been somewhat hurried. When he saw Su Yu, however, he slowly came to a stop and asked, "Are you Huihui's friend?"

Su Yu did not know who this "Huihui" was. He only felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity toward the tall Alpha before him, and he stood there blankly, forgetting to answer for a moment.

Seeing that he said nothing, the Alpha instructed his assistant to give him an umbrella and told him that his younger brother was in the main hall. Su Yu accepted the umbrella, thanked him, then asked how to get to the main hall.

He did indeed need to go to the main hall, but not to find the "Huihui" the man had mentioned. It was time for afternoon tea.

"Never mind. I'll take you there."

The atmosphere in the main hall was unusually quiet. The Su family members already seated at the dining table were somewhat surprised to see them appear together. The Su family's second brother glanced at him, then gave a disdainful snort, the contempt and disgust in his eyes entirely undisguised.

"You certainly have some nerve, making everyone wait for you before we can eat."

Standing at the doorway, Su Yu's body stiffened slightly. The atmosphere inside felt frightening to him. Beside him, the completely unaware eldest brother of the Su family frowned slightly and rebuked the second brother for being rude.

The Su family's second brother lowered his propped-up leg, his expression darkening. "Big Brother, do you know who he is? You're actually speaking up for him?"

"If he's a guest, you should be more polite." Then he turned to Su Yu. "Go in and sit beside Huihui for dinner. I still have work to do, so I'll be leaving first."

The timid Su Yu reached out and grabbed the hem of the eldest brother's clothes. Stammering, he said, "I-I'm not hungry. I want to go home. I-I... which way should I go to get out?"

Only then did the eldest brother of the Su family realize that he seemed to have misunderstood something. The person before him was not his younger brother's friend. He wanted to ask about his identity, but those clear emerald eyes held a trace of unease, as though he was afraid of something.

Su Yu cautiously asked, "Is that okay? I-I want to leave."

The Alpha responded flatly, "I'll take you home."

What a long dream.

When Su Yu woke up, he looked somewhat dazed. He wiped the tears that had not yet dried from the corners of his eyes, then checked the time. It was three thirty in the morning. He tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep, until after four, when he resigned himself to turning on the lights.

He kept dreaming, over and over, about things the original owner had experienced in the past. That was why he was always suffering from insomnia.

It hurt so much.

The feeling was like reading an incredibly tragic novel—so tragic that it made him cry uncontrollably and kept him awake. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, wanting to transmigrate into the story and beat up everyone who had bullied the protagonist.

Now, he really had transmigrated into it, but he could not lay a hand on anyone.

Su Yu muttered to himself, "So this was why you liked your eldest brother..."

But so what? After learning his true identity, the eldest brother of the Su family had not even looked at him properly again.

"How pathetic. How could you remember such a tiny kindness for so long? It wasn't worth it."

They had better not let him get an opportunity, or he would make them pay.

Su Yu pulled out a math workbook from the shelf and began using it to hypnotize himself. Yet the more problems he solved, the more awake he became. When he looked up at the window, he discovered that dawn had already broken.

Forget it. He would not sleep anymore.

Su Yu started a gaming livestream, then left it running while he went to make breakfast. In the past, livestreaming had been work for him, but now he only streamed whenever he felt like it. As for viewership and earnings, he did not need to care too much, because the original owner was very wealthy.

However, Su Yu had barely spent any of the money given to him by the Su family. Instead, he had given most of it to that bizarre biological mother of his.

In the months since he transmigrated, Su Yu had seen her two or three times. Every time, she asked him for money. He could not be bothered with her at all, but unfortunately, he could not control himself and obediently transferred the money to her every time. After he married Gu Lin, the Su family had probably been afraid of their secret being exposed, so they forbade the two of them from having any contact. That suited him just fine.

Now that he and Gu Lin were divorced, that Alpha, who normally never did anything decent, had handled the division of marital assets very well. He did not need to worry about money at all.

He did not stream for long. A little over two hours later, he ended the broadcast because Gu Lin sent him a voice message.

"Where are you?"

The man's tone was exceptionally cold, as though he were merely handling routine business.

Su Yu replied that he was at the apartment where he had lived before.

"We have guests at noon. Go back first and deal with them. I'll head home as soon as I get off the plane." At the end, he added a warning. "Also, don't go out casually before the agreement expires and make people suspicious."

The guest Gu Lin mentioned was his second aunt. Not long after Su Yu got home, she arrived and pulled him into a conversation. Honestly, he had no impression whatsoever of Gu Lin's relatives, but fortunately, he was mute. He did not need to address anyone, and most of the time, all he had to do was sit there, smile, and nod.

The woman adjusted the shawl around her shoulders and asked, "Why isn't Xiao Lin back yet? Don't tell me this child is still like before, getting so busy that he doesn't come home for an entire week?"

Su Yu felt that she was deliberately or casually probing into the state of things between him and Gu Lin. He did not know whether she had heard something.

Su Yu shook his head.

The woman smiled. "Then have you gone anywhere for fun lately?"

Su Yu shook his head again.

"Then take me for a walk in the garden. It's a little stuffy in here."

Su Yu thought this second aunt probably had something she wanted to say to him alone, so he might as well find out what exactly she wanted. When he took her to the garden, he did not bring anyone else from the house along. What he did not know was that Gu Lin returned just after the two of them left the living room, and the housekeeper told Gu Lin what had happened.

Gu Lin answered blandly. He was wearing Bluetooth earphones and listening to a subordinate's report, clearly busy, but his feet unconsciously carried him toward the garden.

"Auntie knows you stayed outside for a while, so I wanted to ask why. Did our Xiao Lin bully you?"

The second aunt still wore a kind smile, looking exceptionally sincere as she played the part of an elder caring for a junior. Yet Su Yu felt that although she seemed concerned about him in every way, she was actually here to fish for information.

Su Yu said nothing and merely shook his head.

The smile on his second aunt's face faded slightly. "If you've suffered any grievance, you can tell us elders. We're family, after all."

Su Yu still shook his head. Standing in the garden, he seemed like the brightly colored, beautiful flowers beneath the blazing sun—pleasant to look at, but useless. The second aunt's gaze narrowed slightly as she gently snapped off a flower from the rack.

Su Yu silently clenched his fists.

[Why did she have to break it? Why did she have to break it? It was expensive, and there was only one flower!]

It was a potted plant he had spent a great deal of money on to keep in his room. Before leaving, he had moved it onto the flower rack to get some sun, then forgotten to move it back inside. He had not expected it to be snapped off.

Su Yu was already calculating how much compensation he would demand from this second aunt.

"You won't say anything. Is it because you can't speak, or because you know everything?"

Su Yu had no interest in what she was trying to imply. His eyes remained fixed on that innocent flower. Seeing his lowered eyes, the second aunt assumed that he had tacitly accepted her words. She looked around to make sure no one was nearby, then lowered her voice. "I know you're a smart person. You know Xiao Lin doesn't like you, right?"

"In that case, if you ask him for a divorce, not only can I help you, I can also make sure his company ends up in your hands."

Su Yu had nothing to say in response.

[...What would I want a company for? I don't know how to run one. If what you offered were more than Gu Lin's, I'd agree. Besides, it's more reliable in his hands than mine. What if I ran the company into the ground and several thousand employees couldn't afford to eat?]

Not far from the garden, Gu Lin paused slightly when he heard that. There was nothing wrong with what the Omega said, but the first half of it somehow made him uncomfortable.

The Alpha's somewhat cold voice rang out. "What couldn't be said in the living room? Why did you insist on dragging my Omega into the garden?"

The second aunt's heart jolted. She turned around, and only after a moment did she see the man approaching from the shadows inside. He raised his eyes slightly, his black-and-gold gaze locking onto her with overwhelming pressure.

She asked, "When did you get here, Xiao Lin?"

[Is this the legendary protagonist's halo? His aura is off the charts, especially eye-catching, with the filter cranked all the way up.]

[If he got into a car accident, would he definitely lose his memory?]

Gu Lin casually swept his gaze over the quietly standing Omega and answered, "I've been here for a while."

The second aunt's smile nearly slipped. She explained, "I was just concerned about Xiao Hui. I was worried he'd be bored alone, so I came out here to walk around with him."

Gu Lin asked, "Did he need you to come entertain him?"

The way he said it made it sound as though his second aunt was merely a disposable tool brought over to amuse him.

Su Yu shook his head and gloomily thought, I need her to compensate me for my flower.

Gu Lin could somehow picture the Omega's emerald eyes filled with resentment. He even quietly reached out and touched the pitiful little plant on the flower rack.

"In that case, I'll be heading back first. I won't disturb you two lovebirds."

With that, she moved to leave, but Gu Lin stopped her as she passed by him. "You broke this plant. Once you get back, have someone buy an identical one and send it over."

The second aunt said, "It's only a plant. Auntie broke it by accident. There's no need to be so particular, is there?"

Gu Lin lightly said three words. "It's expensive."

The second aunt's expression became somewhat awkward, but in order to leave this place sooner, she agreed.

She had not known that Gu Lin cared so much about money now. How expensive could a plant be? When the old master was alive, even if he smashed multimillion-dollar vases at Gu Lin in anger, Gu Lin would not so much as blink.

[!! Buy another one? Great! Then I won't have to worry about killing this one.]

Gu Lin: "..."

He had thought Su Yu treasured that plant so much.