Chapter 120: Kept Man

Chapter 120: Kept Man

In City A, Duan Jianfeng was a prominent figure whose rags-to-riches story could fill a book. But what people talked about most wasn't his business empire, but rather his romantic escapades.

It was said that when Duan Jianfeng was young, he was just a poor boy who, by a twist of fate, caught the eye of the Wang Group's heiress while attending university in the city. He charmed this wealthy young lady to the point of obsession, resulting in an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. He was a "decisive" man, promptly discarding his original partner for a higher branch, and with his remarkable skills, he fought his way to his current status.

Opinions on Duan Jianfeng were divided, but there was no denying that he had achieved what most people only dreamed of in this world.

Such a powerful man, however, didn't show any anger at Tang Rufeng's icy demeanor; instead, his tone was gentle as he said, "Rufeng, I came to see your mother. I heard she's been hospitalized due to illness. If you need anything..."

"Not needed."

Tang Rufeng coldly interrupted, "She doesn't want to see you, so don't see her."

Tang Rufeng's disgust for Duan Jianfeng had reached astonishing levels; he couldn't even breathe the same air as the other man. After speaking, he turned around and walked away, returning directly to the ward and forcefully closing the door.

"Bang!"

The sound of the door startled Tang's mother. Fortunately, the other two beds were unoccupied, or they would have surely received complaints. She sat up and asked worriedly, "Rufeng, what's wrong?"

Tang Rufeng hadn't realized it himself, but his expression was unusually grim, his eyes like pools of ink that wouldn't dissipate. Hearing his mother's words, he struggled to compose himself before saying, "Nothing, there are just too many people at the sink. I'll wash the dishes later."

He then sat down silently by the bed, taking an orange from the plastic bag on the table. He peeled it slowly and meticulously; the fruit inside was shriveled and lacking in moisture, a discounted item from the fruit shop—tasteless to eat, a pity to throw away, yet a rare luxury for them.

Tang's mother leaned against her pillow, lost in thought as she muttered, "I remember your father loved oranges the most..."

Hearing this, Tang Rufeng's eyelashes fluttered violently. His grip tightened uncontrollably, almost crushing the orange in his hand. He frowned and slowly exhaled, his voice icy and cutting, "You still haven't forgotten him."

Tang's mother closed her eyes. "Rufeng, I haven't had a good night's sleep these past few years, not because I miss him, but because I hate him so much. In my dreams, I want to drink his blood and eat his flesh!"

It wasn't just love that left indelible marks; hatred could do the same.

Tang's mother's face, worn by poverty, seemed to bear the words "weak and vulnerable" etched upon her forehead. Yet when she spoke of Duan Jianfeng, her eyes ignited with a startling hatred, her tears clear evidence of her pain.

Tang Rufeng threw the crushed orange into the trash can and pulled out a tissue to wipe his hands vigorously. His eyes were lowered, his lips pressed into a straight line. "He has nothing to do with us. Don't think about him anymore."

To Tang Rufeng, that person didn't deserve to live in their memories.

A hospital was a place where life and death coexisted. You could hear the loud cries of newborns, as well as the desperate shouts of those on the brink of death. After nightfall, the ward was eerily quiet, the air filled with the faint scent of disinfectant, making even dreams bitter.

Tang Rufeng had cobbled together a makeshift sleeping spot using two chairs. He hadn't slept much in the past few days, and soon after leaning back in the chair, he fell asleep. But in his dreams, the same faces kept appearing over and over again.

"Hey, you two beggars, get out of my house! Don't steal my dad!"

Standing at the entrance of a beautiful European-style garden was a little boy of about five or six years old. He was adorable, dressed in clean, expensive clothes, holding a pebble in his hand. He threw it directly at the woman and boy standing below the steps, hitting the little boy right on the forehead.

"Clatter!"

The stone bounced off, landing heavily, carrying the cruel and malicious intent of a six-year-old child.

"Rufeng! Are you okay?!"

The woman panicked, covering the little boy's forehead. Seeing the blood, she became frantic. She shouted desperately at the closed door, "Doctor!! Call the doctor quickly! Duan Jianfeng! Do you still care about your son's life?!"

Under the blazing sun, through the transparent glass window, one could clearly see the scene inside the villa. A beautiful woman was sobbing softly on the sofa, while a man in a suit was pacing anxiously on the carpet. He bent down several times to comfort her, but she pushed him away fiercely. Amidst their argument, the word "divorce" could be vaguely heard.

Obviously, they paid no attention to the commotion outside.

The woman holding the child outside cried even more desperately, "Duan Jianfeng! Are you even human?! Your parents are dying, lying in bed waiting for you to come back for one last look! Otherwise, I would never have come to find you! Has your conscience been eaten by dogs?!"

"Duan Jianfeng! Come out here now! You beast, I worked myself to the bone farming to support your education, and this is how you treat me!! You've lost all sense of decency chasing after mistresses!"

Upon hearing this, the little boy on the steps ran down, kicking the woman hard. He shouted angrily, "Don't insult my mom! You're the mistress! Your whole family are beggars!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the boy who had been hiding in the woman's arms suddenly rushed out, pushing him to the ground. Despite the fresh blood on his forehead, his handsome face was filled with stubbornness, like a small animal baring its teeth. "Don't you dare bully my mom!!"

The two little boys instantly started fighting on the ground, punching each other until they were bruised and swollen. It was then that the man, who hadn't stepped out of the house for six hours, finally rushed out. He pulled aside the younger boy and picked up his crying son, asking anxiously, "Ah Yang, are you okay?!"

The boy wailed, barely able to catch his breath. "Da...dad...quickly drive away those two beggars...they bullied me...they bullied me..."

The other boy stood in the middle of the yard, thin and upright, his shoulders barely able to support his washed-out clothes. He neither cried nor made a fuss. His dark eyes stared at the well-dressed man not far away. Slowly wiping away the blood trickling down his forehead, he uttered a hoarse sentence:

"You're not my dad anymore—"

This sentence drew a clear line between the two of them.

Later, Tang's mother took Tang Rufeng back to the countryside in despair, borrowing money to arrange the funeral for her in-laws. Her tumultuous life thus began. Throughout this period, Duan Jianfeng never returned once. It wasn't until his second wife passed away that he sporadically sought them out, but each time, Tang Rufeng chased him away with harsh words.

This dream wasn't long or short. Long enough to entangle Tang Rufeng for half his life, yet short enough that when he opened his eyes, dawn had already broken.

When Tang Rufeng woke up from the chair, his thoughts were still muddled. He moved his body, feeling the pain in every bone. Looking at the adjacent bed, he asked, "Mom, it's time to get up. What do you want for breakfast? I'll go downstairs to..."

Before he could finish, he noticed that the bed was empty, the blankets still warm. He was stunned for a moment. "Mom?"

Suddenly, there was a loud noise from the bathroom, as if someone had fallen accidentally. Tang Rufeng's expression changed, and he rushed in immediately. There, he saw his mother lying on the ground, unconscious, her face pale.

"Mom!!!"

This hospital was located in a bustling downtown area, with a steady stream of cars honking loudly below. A black business van was parked quietly by the roadside, neither moving nor leaving, seeming somewhat out of place.

As soon as Tang Rufeng went downstairs, he spotted the business van. By the window sat a middle-aged man, none other than Duan Jianfeng. As if waiting for someone, he frequently looked out the window. Upon seeing Tang Rufeng standing nearby, he revealed a strange smile.

Tang Rufeng approached. Through the partially lowered car window, his sharp, dark eyes were visible. Now that the fog had cleared, a hint of hatred was evident. "What do you want?"

He didn't believe that someone as busy as Duan Jianfeng would come to such a place for no reason.

Duan Jianfeng wasn't angry. "I'm your father. Is this how you treat your elders?"

He claimed to be a father, but for so many years, he had done nothing but beastly deeds. Even when talking to Tang Rufeng, he dared to lower the car window only five centimeters, as if afraid that the other party would pick up a stone from the ground and smash it in—

Tang Rufeng had indeed done such things.

The words "father" infuriated Tang Rufeng, and he suddenly slammed his palm hard on the car window, his eyes dark and dangerous. "I've said it before; you're not my father, and don't come looking for me in the future!"

Duan Jianfeng countered, "What about your mother's surgery fees? Do you want to watch her die with your own eyes?"

Given Duan Jianfeng's wealth, he could have easily arranged everything privately. Even a discreet intervention could have made life much better for this mother-son duo, but he didn't do that.

He was waiting for Tang Rufeng to beg him.

He was waiting for this proud son to personally plead with him.

After a long silence, Tang Rufeng forced out a sentence through clenched teeth: "She would rather die in the hospital than take a single cent from you; she finds it filthy!"

Every penny Duan Jianfeng earned now was stained with the blood of abandoning his wife and child, and the blood of his parents. After saying this, Tang Rufeng slowly straightened up, took a step back, and turned to leave.

The secretary, sitting in the driver's seat, seeing this, whispered, "Chairman, although he is your biological son, his character is too ruthless. If you bring him back recklessly, let alone what the eldest son thinks, you can't even guarantee your personal safety."

It wasn't an exaggeration; Tang Rufeng's gaze was truly terrifying. The secretary didn't doubt that if he had a knife in his hand, he would stab it fiercely into Duan Jianfeng's belly.

However, Duan Jianfeng said meaningfully, "It's good to be ruthless. Only by being ruthless can one achieve great things. This is where he most resembles me. Ji Yang is still too indecisive."

Duan Jianfeng reached his current position by relying on his ruthlessness. Because he was ruthless, he could bear not to see his biological parents when they were dying. Because he was ruthless, he abandoned his original wife who supported his education. Because he was ruthless, he swallowed his second wife's family company after marriage.

Piece by piece, if he had been softer-hearted, he wouldn't have been able to accomplish anything.

Tang Rufeng's peaceful life was thoroughly disrupted by Duan Jianfeng's appearance. Not long after returning to the hospital, before he could sort out his complicated thoughts, he was informed by the doctor that he needed to pay the surgery fees as soon as possible because his mother's condition was worsening.

"Family member of Tang Wanyin, right? Here's the payment slip. Go to the inpatient department as soon as possible to complete the payment procedures. The surgery will start on Tuesday. The patient has awakened from her coma. Family members must take care not to let her go to the bathroom alone."

The light papers, falling into Tang Rufeng's hands, felt as heavy as gold. Those strings of numbers were like a heavy mountain, suffocating him, and his heart was once again close to numbness.

He sat in the hospital corridor, repeatedly flipping through his empty contact list, searching for all the people who could lend him money. However, it was still a drop in the bucket. Finally, he asked a temporary nurse to help look after his mother, left the hospital without a word, and hailed a car on the roadside.

"What? You want to come back to work?"

The bar manager, looking at Tang Rufeng standing in front of him, once doubted his own hearing. "You insisted on quitting before, and now you want to return. Rufeng, you know that the salary here is much higher than outside, and we don't lack people."

Tang Rufeng wore a baseball cap, the brim pressed low, making his face unrecognizable. He wore a black jacket and carried a sports bag diagonally across his body, appearing youthful and tall, unable to hide his student-like aura, which was out of place in the decadent environment around him.

He was introverted and silent, never able to say soft words of pleading. But this time, he lowered his head unusually. "Sorry, Manager. My mom is hospitalized. She's having surgery next Tuesday, and I urgently need the surgery fees..."

The manager shook his head slightly, seemingly sneering. "Next Tuesday, four days left. Even if I let you come back to work, you have to work for a full month to get paid. It's far water that won't quench your thirst. Rufeng, I really can't help you this time. Unless you learn from those young masters and sell smiles or yourself to customers, maybe you can make some money."

Under the illumination of the overhead lights, he clearly saw Tang Rufeng's pale complexion. The other party's lips were tightly pursed into a straight line, and a sense of powerlessness and humiliation almost overflowed from him.

"Click."

The door opened and closed. Tang Rufeng left the manager's office in a daze. When he walked out of that door, it seemed like he stepped into another world of drunken revelry. The dazzling lights filled his vision, and the pulsing music flooded his hearing from all directions, disorienting him. His temples throbbed painfully.

In a trance, Tang Rufeng accidentally bumped into someone. Stumbling, just as he was about to fall, his arm was suddenly caught. A familiar voice sounded beside his ear. "Are you okay?"

Tang Rufeng subconsciously looked up, and a familiar face instantly came into view. It was Lu Yan. Behind him were several young gentlemen, their mocking gazes flickering between them, somewhat meaningful.

Tang Rufeng straightened his posture and shook his head.

Lu Yan's collar was tinged with a faint scent of alcohol. It was clear he hadn't spared himself today; two buttons on his shirt were undone, revealing a glimpse of his sexy clavicle. His gaze fell on Tang Rufeng, and his smile was inexplicable. "Didn't you quit? Why are you here again?"

Before Tang Rufeng could speak, a man behind him with silver-to-white gradient hair laughed. "Young Master Lu, aren't you asking knowingly? How could he meet you if he doesn't work here? Besides, if he quits, will you support him?"

The scandal of Lu Yan's "affair" had caused a stir throughout the city. These people drinking together knew that the little waiter was Tang Rufeng, and they teased him without restraint, extremely ambiguous.

Lu Yan slightly raised his hand, signaling them not to make such jokes. His eyes were half-closed due to drunkenness, but his voice was low and clear. "Where are you going? I'll send you."

Tang Rufeng reminded him, "You've been drinking."

Lu Yan laughed, looking like a mischievous child in that moment. "I have a driver."

Lu Yan asked casually, not thinking Tang Rufeng would agree. But unexpectedly, the latter paused for a moment and softly asked, "Can you send me home?"

His mother's surgery was imminent, and he needed to prepare some clothes for her.

Upon hearing this, Lu Yan was taken aback. Realizing the situation, he nodded, agreeing readily. "Sure."

He ignored the meaningful gazes of his friends and directly took Tang Rufeng to leave the bar by car. Unlike the previous few times, this time they both sat in the back seat.

After reporting the address, the driver headed towards the destination.

Lu Yan leaned against the car window to rest, the outside light passing over his face, making him appear even more handsome and profound. In a daze, he only heard Tang Rufeng suddenly call out his name, "Lu Yan."

Lu Yan lazily hummed in response. "What's up?"

Tang Rufeng was silent for a moment, then blurted out, "Keep me as your kept man."

"Screech—!"

It was the sound of the driver slamming on the brakes. Everyone in the car was thrown forward for a moment due to inertia, nearly flung out.