Chapter 387: Love That Can’t See the Light

Chapter 387: A Love That Must Stay Hidden

"What's wrong with you? Why are you suddenly asking about Liu Yi? Listen here, no man, no matter how good, can compare to a woman. Don't you think?" Granny Huang began to ramble again.

Meanwhile, Wu Yanhua was so stunned by this news that she couldn’t utter a single word.

How could such people exist in the world? If he doesn't like women, why's he trying to marry our Yan Ju? The Lius have some nerve!

"How do you know about Liu Yi, Liu Yi..." Wu Yanhua floundered, too embarrassed to say it outright.

"How wouldn’t I know? He went to the city for a while, didn’t he?" Granny Huang asked.

Wu Yanhua felt awkward. She hadn’t paid much attention to other people’s affairs, so naturally, she didn’t know when Liu Yi had gone to the city.

"Ah, it’s normal you wouldn’t know. Your Fu family and the Liu family aren’t that close anyway. But let me tell you, it seems like it was during that trip to the city that he got led astray. He was with a man, playing the woman's role with him," Granny Huang leaned in with gossip to Wu Yanhua.

"This..." The news was too shocking. Wu Yanhua didn’t even know how to react.

By the time she left the Huang household, she was still reeling.

But whether by coincidence or not, she happened to run into Liu Yi, who was returning from the fields.

Seeing Wu Yanhua, he smiled and greeted her.

"Auntie Fu."

Liu Yi had soft, womanly features. Before, Wu Yanhua had only thought he was handsome, but now, looking at him, she realized he wasn’t just handsome—he was prettier than most women.

Honestly, if her daughter Yan Ju stood next to him, judging by looks alone, Liu Yi would appear more feminine than Yan Ju.

Remembering what Granny Huang had just said, Wu Yanhua managed a stiff smile at Liu Yi before quickly hurrying away.

It wasn’t that she discriminated against him—it just felt strange, though she couldn’t quite explain why.

Watching Wu Yanhua’s retreating figure, a shadow of hurt passed through Liu Yi’s eyes.

When he returned home, Liu Yi had barely stepped inside before Granny Liu snapped at him.

"Stop right there!" she shouted.

Liu Yi looked at his mother wearily and said, "Mom, I’m tired."

Granny Liu was furious. "You’re tired? Do you think I’m not tired? Since you were little, you’ve been more promising than your brothers, and you were good-looking too, so I’ve always favored you. But look at what you’ve done!" she spat. "A grown man, actually liking other men, and even..."

She couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence.

"You’re hopeless! Even a divorced woman won’t have you. I’ve gone to the Fu family so many times, and we still couldn’t arrange a marriage between you and Fu Yanju, a divorced woman! What a disgrace!"

Granny Liu felt utterly humiliated. Fu Yanju—a woman constantly bullied by her in-laws, divorced with a child, with nothing to her name—had the nerve to turn up her nose at her son!

Granny Liu believed that even if her son had been with a man before, it wasn’t Fu Yanju’s place to reject him.

Hearing his mother’s words, Liu Yi’s face fell.

"Mom! You promised me you wouldn’t bring this up with the Fu family again!" Liu Yi was deeply disappointed in his mother.

Why did she keep pushing him? He had simply fallen in love with a man—it wasn’t some terrible crime. Why was everyone around him punishing him for it?

"Other than Fu Yanju, what decent girl can you even hope to marry?" Granny Liu continued. "Even though no one in the village has openly mentioned your... business, everyone has guessed there’s something wrong with you. No one wants to marry their daughter to you. Look at you—people used to compare you to the Fu boy all the time. Now look at you!"

Each of Old Lady Liu’s accusations against Liu Yi left an indelible scar on his psyche, each one like another straw threatening to break the camel's back.

He knew he’d failed his family, but—

But he just wasn’t into women. What could he do?

Remembering how Wu Yanhua had looked at him earlier, Liu Yi’s heart sank further.

"Mom, I know what to do," Liu Yi said tonelessly.

Seeing her son’s ashen face and how much weight he’d lost, Old Lady Liu suddenly found herself at a loss for words.

A dread crept over her—if she kept this up, she might lose her son forever.

So she let out a hollow laugh and said, "Good, good that you know. We... we can still turn this around, okay?"

Liu Yi had lost count of how many times he’d heard this. His mother wanted him to change, but he truly didn’t know how.

He’d never had the same crushes as other boys his age.

While his buddies debated which girls were the prettiest and who they wanted to marry, it left him cold.

He figured he just hadn’t found the right girl yet—until he went to the city for work and met a man.

They had been together, stealing moments of secret joy.

Though they had to hide, though it was forbidden, he had never felt such happiness before.

He was lost in feelings he’d never imagined—until the man’s wife and family came knocking, shattering the illusion.

Turned out the guy had a wife.

Caving to family pressure, he had married the woman they chose long before meeting Liu Yi, even fathering a child.

To him, it had just been a fling. The moment his wife appeared, Liu Yi was cut loose without a backward glance.

His mother screamed, hit him, cursed him—he took it all without a word.

His family demanded he return to the village, forbidding him from ever going back to the city, and he agreed.

What difference did it make? He was already hollow inside.

Right—what difference did it make? Why was he living like this, dragging his family down and drowning in his own misery?

Liu Yi looked at his mother one last time, gifting her a radiant smile. "Mom, I’ll change, don’t worry. It’s getting dark early now—I’ll go find Xiao Bei and the others. They’ve run off to play again."

The way his face lit up—the smile replacing his pallor—made Old Lady Liu feel as if her bright, cheerful, handsome son had returned.

"Good, good. As long as you change, everything will be fine. We won’t look for anyone in the village anymore—I’ll find you a girl from outside, alright?" she said, relieved.

"Mm. Whatever you say." With that, Liu Yi turned and left.

His retreating figure carried an unspoken resolve.

Old Lady Liu, so heartened by his compliance, failed to notice anything amiss.

Had she known this would be the last time she saw him, perhaps she wouldn’t have said the things he never wanted to hear.