Chapter 31 - Murong Yu (7)

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Back to the present...

Xiao Lei sighed loudly when she saw the sign saying "Imperial City". Intending to ditch anyone that might be following her, she decided to drive herself to a bus station for long-distance buses and leave the Lexus there.

While she was driving, she could not stop scolding herself, blaming herself for being careless. The demons of the past were often the hardest to deal with, and Xiao Lei had always been avoiding them, but if one of them came back to haunt her, then she had no choice but to... keep running!

"F*ck!"

She slammed her hands against the driving wheel as she cursed loudly out of frustration.

Once she had abandoned the car, she slipped in among the hundreds of people waiting for their buses and stayed low while she made her way to the cab station. Whenever she saw someone suspicious, she would duck and hide until she was sure that those people were not here for her.

Xiao Lei then slowly made her way to the cab waiting area. From the door, she dashed toward the cab. While crying inwardly over the cab fare, she directed the driver to the west of Imperial City before changing to a bus headed toward the northeast part of Imperial City.

Basically, to avoid being followed, she spent the next few hours, taking buses from one end of the city to the other end.

At around 7 p.m., she found herself sitting inside a McDonald, hungry. When she looked at the stash of food she took from the hotel earlier, she felt a slight pain in her heart.

"They are spoiled…" murmured Xiao Lei as she picked up the pack which was to be fresh meat but was now smelling somewhat funky. Just by looking at it made her sad to the point that a drop of tear formed at the corner of her eyes. "There goes my braised minced pork and steak..."

Thank God that she had wrapped the fresh meat with layers upon layers of newspapers. Otherwise, her bag would have smelled a lot worse than what it did now.

She nearly cried when she threw out the fresh meat.

"Stupid Murong Yu!"

When she continued looking through the bag with her food stash, she sighed even more. "Even some of the vegetables and fruits now look like my kind of food."

By that statement, she meant that the vegetables and fruits looked like what she would get from the discounted store - bruised and yellowing. Still edible, but less pretty.

Xiao Lei then took out the slices of bread that she took from the hotel as well. She had placed them in a takeaway bag before she placed them into her bag. They were a little mushed together, but they were still good. Also, she was hungry.

Putting a few slices of ham on a slice of bread, she took out one of her penknives and cut some tomatoes into slices. Actually, it was more than a few slices of ham. Afraid that the cold cuts might turn bad, she decided to eat everything tonight.

In the end, she made two sandwiches which were as thick as her fist!

And while she ate, she could not help but glance at the remaining vegetables in her overnight bag and thought wistfully, "Hopefully, I don't have to waste you guys too…"

DING!

Suddenly, the sound of a notification alert caught her attention. When she pulled out her phone and took a look at it, she saw that her son had sent her a message.

Little Handsome Hao: [ So, did you sign anything with them? Did you? Did you? DID YOUUUU? (⊃‿⊂) " ]

Xiao Lei sighed and after a moment of hesitation, she typed back a reply.

Cool Mum Lei : [ No. Have you eaten?]

Little Handsome Hao: [ Yeah, I had fried rice earlier and I'm heading toward the library now. Remember the upcoming test I told you about before? I have to study for it (T＿T). Don't change the topic. Why haven't you sign anything with them? I thought you've already decided? ]

Xiao Lei placed her head on the table before she typed lifelessly.

Cool Mum Lei: [ Idk. I can't think now. Stay at school alright? Don't leave your school compound no matter what.]

Little Handsome Hao: [ I don't really have a reason to leave, but why are you suddenly telling me this? ]

Cool Mum Lei: [ Nothing. Just be good and study well. Listen to your teachers. (~￣³￣)~ ]

Little Handsome Hao: [ Yes, boss. (~￣³￣)~ Ps: Don't forget to eat! Don't eat expired food. Get something good. You keep losing weight like that, you're gonna be thinner than me! Bye~ Don't bother reply, I'm turning off my phone~]

Xiao Lei smiled as she read the message. She then she put it back into her pocket.

With her chin rested on the palm of her hands and her elbows propped on the table, she was thinking hard about what to do next. Now that Murong Yu knew who she was, there was no doubt he would be able to know that she had a son. He might have even known about Xiao ZhiHao but was waiting for an opportunity to act.

She was worried that to get to her, he might target her son. If he was that angry with her, it was not impossible for him to do something stupid.

It had been almost 15 years since she last saw Murong Yu, and she could not believe that the guy was still looking for her.

"It's only a necklace worth $3 million. He probably bought it with the money he stolen. Murong Yu is not that cheap, is he?" Xiao Lei thought as she continued chewing on her sandwich.

She wondered who she could call for help. She did not have that many friends, to begin with.

Before they left, they had said their final goodbye to all their friends. Everyone except a few knew that they would not be seeing each other after they left. Xiao Lei and Xiao Yunjie only kept in touch with a few of their old friends, but even that, they did it sparingly.

When they moved, Xiao Yunjie had then taken on his real name. Whatever jobs he could find, he would take it. No matter what, he had never complained about it. However, the pay was often at the minimum wage and there was no job security.

Even if there were jobs with good pay, there were just some jobs that Xiao Lei did not want him to take. Once, he had a stint at a strip club as one of the strippers. The money was good and Xiao Lei definitely had a good time when he let her in for free and gave her a free tease during his break. However, she did not like how the other women were looking at him - like a bunch of hungry wolves ready to devour the defenseless lamb!

Even after he changed his job from stripper to bouncer, Xiao Lei still felt uncomfortable with it. Especially when even men were looking at him like a bunch of thirsty dogs when he was in his work attire!

She told him that she was unaffected, but that was obviously a lie and he could smell it from miles away. Xiao Lei knew that in order not to make her feel bad, Xiao Yunjie lied when he said that he was bored with the job.

How could he be bored? He earned more in an hour as a stripper than what he earned in a day working as a cleaner. Even his job as a bouncer paid more than what he could earn elsewhere!

After he quit his job at the strip club, for some time, he even worked as a construction worker. The pay was better but it was too risky. He would return home and find Xiao Lei waiting for him with a worried expression on her face. Every day that he worked as a construction worker, Xiao Lei would give him the same expression - as if she was not sure whether the one who came home was him or a ghost.

Xiao Lei knew that she was overthinking it, but she could not help but be worried over him. She was worried that he might be injured at work, which was funny, considering that he used to be in a gang, but still, Xiao Lei did not want him to do such a risky job. It took her a lot of effort to get him out of a risky profession, and she did not want him to put his life in another one.

She knew that she was selfish, but she really did not want to lose another important person in her life.

After Xiao Lei got pregnant, Xiao Yunjie did not want to make her worry about him constantly and so, he quit his job at the construction site. At around the same time, Xiao Yunjie found out that Xiao Lei had been going to the mall not to window shop but to steal.

He had scolded her severely for it. "If you get caught then everything would be in vain!"

"I won't get caught! I'm good at it!"

Xiao Yunjie refused to cut her any slack and he warned her sternly, "Listen to me, Xiao Xiao Lei! If you want to be with me, you have to stop stealing! I don't want our son to be visiting his mother in jail!"

It was rare for Xiao Yunjie to scold her, so Xiao Lei definitely felt guilty over it and did not argue anymore. She did not feel guilty for stealing, but for causing someone she loved to worry over her.

In order to reduce his burden, she then looked for work everywhere she could. Waitressing at a restaurant, cleaning houses, mowing lawns... However, there was only so much she could do.

Without a formal identification, she was cheated out of her fare wages because they claimed that they could not support an alien like her. She also had to accept a job while getting half the pay of what others were getting and was s.e.x.u.a.lly harassed constantly without being able to voice it out to the legal authoritative.

Of course, she was not a wallflower as well. Those who cheated her money would later have their houses burgled and picked clean, while those who harassed her would either have their wallets stolen or their cars scratched.

After that, Xiao Lei would tell Xiao Yunjie that she either found the money somewhere or she received a good tip from the clients.

When their money finally ran out and Xiao Lei was in the third term of her pregnancy, out of desperation, Xiao Yunjie went back to one of his old bosses and asked for an ad hoc assignment.

Xiao Lei and Xiao Yunjie fought over this, but in the end, he won. He was right. They needed the money. Without a formal identification doc.u.ment, Xiao Lei's choice of hospital was limited. She could not go for any of the free clinics because even then, they would ask for some kind of identification papers which she did not have. Thus, they had no choice but to go to some less scrupulous private clinics.

Even though she hated herself for it, as well as those who caused her to be in this state, she agreed for Xiao Yunjie to go for it. The leftover money he got from the assignment was then used to buy a house and to tide them over for a period of time.

Xiao Lei sighed as she looked at the last bite of her sandwich. With a reluctant face, she stuffed it into her mouth and chewed quietly as she tried to think of anyone from their new life that might be able to help her.

However, since they spent most of their time working, they did not really have time to go out and make new friends. Xiao Yunjie had some friends, but they were not really that trustworthy. Well, Xiao Lei was acquainted with some of the housewives at her old neighborhood but since the place was compromised now, she could not ask for their help.

She also could not go back to Xiao Yunjie's old bosses as well as nothing good would come from asking their help.

BANG!

Xiao Lei banged her head loudly on the table, causing the people around her to look over worriedly as they wondered whether to help.

However, she did not notice their odd glances and kept muttering, "Agree? Disagree?"

In the end, she sighed loudly. "F*ck! Fine! I agree!"

Pulling out her phone, she gave Han Ye a call.

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