Chapter 73: The Boy Who Yearns for Home

Liang Chao believes that he has grasped the sunshine of the whole world.

The next day, in the prearranged restaurant, he met his biological parents with the help of a local reporter.

The middle‑aged man named Wei Yong, on camera, seized him in a hug, his shoulders shaking violently, his voice choked.

"Son... Dad is sorry to you..."

Liang Chao's nose went sour.

He clumsily patted the man's back, repeatedly saying, "Dad, I'm home."

The woman named Li Lixiu, his biological mother, also took his hand, tears streaming down, muttering how painful it had been to lose him, how hard the family was, that they had been forced to send him away, hoping he would have a better future.

That meal was the warmest he had ever eaten in his life.

That night, he was taken by his mother Li Lixiu back to the family she had now formed, to attend his half‑brother's birthday party.

When introduced to all the relatives, Li Lixiu's smile was immensely proud.

The lights glittered, laughter and chatter filled the air.

Liang Chao sat amid the lively crowd, watching the birthday star basked in adulation, watching the relatives' friendly smiles, feeling as if he had fallen into a honey pot.

So this is what the feeling of home is.

So he is not a wild child unwanted by anyone.

He is also a child loved by his parents.

The brief surge of happiness clouded his mind; during a break in the gathering, Liang Chao found a distant uncle who looked familiar and cautiously inquired about the past.

He only wanted to know what great difficulty his parents had faced back then that forced them to give him away.

The uncle had a drink, and the conversation box opened at once.

"Ah, you kid, your fate is also bitter."

The uncle lowered his voice and said mysteriously.

"Back then your mother was pregnant with you and hadn't married your father yet; your maternal grandmother's family demanded a 5,000 bride price, and your father's family had nothing to give at that time."

"Later... shortly after you were born, your mother..."

The uncle gestured a 'sell' motion with his hand.

"One thousand five, not a cent more or less; together with what had been saved before, it exactly covered the bride price, allowing her to marry your father."

"But she and your father didn't last long; two years and it was over, oh..."

Buzz.

Something exploded in Liang Chao's mind.

It wasn't about giving him away.

It wasn't helplessness.

It was a sale.

He, Liang Chao, a living person, was worth one thousand five hundred yuan.

It happened to be part of the bride price money.

The room that had just been warm as spring instantly turned colder than an ice cellar.

All the surrounding smiles became twisted and Weird.

Those caring words sounded full of harsh mockery.

But he still wouldn't give up.

He believed that hope exists.

After the gathering ended, the reporter obtained enough material and left satisfied.

Later, Liang Chao found Wei Yong and Li Lixiu; the three sat in a hotel room.

Because there were no cameras, the atmosphere was inexplicably awkward.

Liang Chao mustered all his courage, his voice trembling.

"Dad, Mom... I... I don't want to go back."

"Can I... live with you? I can do anything, I don't want money, I just want... a home."

Wei Yong furrowed his brows, smoked, and stayed silent for a long while.

Finally, he pressed the cigarette butt out in the ashtray.

"Your family back there, didn't your grandmother leave you something? Go back, over here... it's not convenient."

Not convenient.

Those three words, like three dull knives, slowly cut Liang Chao's heart.

He turned his head toward Li Lixiu, his mother.

Li Lixiu's face had long lost the enthusiasm of the gathering, leaving only impatience and coldness.

"What do you mean? Are you trying to leech onto us? I'm telling you, I have my own family now, my son is about to go to university, you suddenly show up, are you trying to suck our blood?"

"I didn't!" Liang Chao, frantic almost to tears, said, "I just want to be with you..."

"You are just an unnecessary burden!"

Li Lixiu sprang up sharply, her voice so sharp it nearly pierced Liang Chao's eardrums.

"We shouldn't have given birth to you in the first place! You running back now, trying to ruin my life? I tell you, impossible!"

After speaking, she picked up her phone, and in front of Liang Chao, cleanly blocked his contact.

The red exclamation mark was so glaring.

Liang Chao's world turned completely black and white.

He didn't know how he left that hotel and returned to his rented room.

The phone's notification sound pulled his mind back to reality.

It is his short video account.

Countless private messages and comments were all asking about the follow-up after he recognized his relatives.

They were all waiting for his good news.

Liang Chao looked at those kind comments, and the kindness in his heart made him make a decision.

He could not ruin his parents' current life.

He decided to record a video, telling everyone that he had already met his parents, but in order not to cause them trouble, he decided to still live alone.

He wanted to swallow all his grievances himself.

Just as he was preparing to record the video, a news pop-up jumped out.

【Teen seeking relatives exposed for demanding property from birth parents! Is recognizing kin for seizing inheritance?】

Liang Chao clicked open the video.

In the video, his birth parents, Wei Yong and Li Lixiu, faced the camera, crying with tears and voice.

"We don't not want to recognize him; it's him... he forced us to buy him a house, saying if we don't buy a house we won't recognize us..."

"We are just ordinary salaried workers, where would we get that much money... We also feel chilled, this child, how can he be so greedy..."

They were crying.

Liang Chao, however, laughed.

Laughing and laughing, tears just flowed down.

"Home"...... became "house".

He just wanted a roof to shelter from wind and rain, but in their mouths it became insatiable extortion.

Online, there is always a group of sharp‑sensed "vultures".

A million‑follower big V called "Sharp‑tongued Brother Social Commentary" immediately reposted the news, accompanied by extremely provocative text.

【Modern version of Farmer and Snake! The sold‑away teenager succeeded in finding relatives, then turned around demanding a house! Birth parents weeping, is it a distortion of humanity or a collapse of morality? Folks, post 'ungrateful' on the public screen!】

This blog post was like a bomb thrown into a cesspool.

Public opinion instantly exploded.

The netizens who had been moved to tears for Liang Chao the day before instantly transformed into the most righteous judges and the sharpest executioners.

The comment section of Liang Chao's video titled "The Happiest Child in the World" completely collapsed.

"Holy shit, a turnaround? Yesterday I thought you were pitiful, today I see you're just a white‑eyed wolf!"

"I'm disgusted, drama queen, still acting like your mom? Just want money? Internet beggar!"

"Scheming guy, using netizens' kindness to hype you, now that you've found your parents you start sucking blood, right?"

"Go die quickly, people like you living in this world are just wasting air!"

Blessings turned into curses.

Kindness turned into malice.

Liang Chao frantically posted updates, over and over explaining.

"I didn't ask for a house! I just want a home! A place to live, together with them! Please believe me!"

He even posted the chat logs between himself and his parents.

But it was useless.

His voice was too feeble.

So feeble that it was instantly swallowed by the tide of cyberbullying, not even raising a ripple.

"Photoshopped? Who knows if it's fake?"

"Still washing, thick‑skinned."

"Home? Do you deserve to have a home?"

In the private messages, even more thousands upon thousands of messages poured in.

That was no longer just insults.

It was pure, unadulterated malice hoping he would disappear from this world.

Liang Chao's fingers trembled violently from fear and anger.

His spirit teetered on the brink of collapse.

Just then, he opened a new private message.

The sender's ID was "Justice Enforcer".

The private message's content was not text.

It was a picture.

On the picture was Liang Chao's own face.

A face maliciously distorted and enlarged by Photoshop software.

The features were squashed together, ugly and pitiful.

And on that distorted face, written in blood‑red, bold font, were two enormous characters.

【Redundant】

Those two characters were like two red‑hot branding irons, fiercely searing his eyeballs.

Redundant......

His mother's icy, disgusted face and her sharp, piercing voice once again surfaced in his mind.

"You are nothing but a redundant burden!"

Liang Chao's breathing halted.

He threw away his phone and staggered to the cracked mirror of his rented room.

In the mirror, a pale, gaunt, bloodless face was reflected.

In those eyes, fear, despair, and endless bewilderment filled them.

Am I... redundant?

This question circled in his mind again and again.

Did I, from the very beginning, not deserve to be in this world?

If I had never been born.

Would there then be no such pain?

The person in the mirror, together with him, silently shed tears.

The whole world was left with only his own hollow echo.

Redundant......

Redundant......

Redundant......