The Poor Little One Who's Always Bullied

A timid, resilient, obedient bottom × a devoted young master who realizes his feelings too late

The kindest person Chen Mo ever knew was Zhang Shuning. The year he and his mother left their home behind, this kindhearted wealthy woman took them in.

Only later did he learn that he had never deserved a life like that.

His mother, Chen Xiufang, was a housekeeper for the Lin family, always intent on climbing the social ladder.

Chen Mo was a son she had with some man whose identity she didn’t know. He had been a burden from the day he was born, an illegitimate child people called a little fox cub. He grew up huddled in a corner, as thin as a bean sprout, too afraid to speak up even when he was bullied.

At least Zhang Shuning raised him like half a son. At least the boy named Lin Ye, though he complained about him, would drape his coat over Chen Mo’s head when he was shivering with cold.

Chen Mo thought he had finally found a place where he could feel safe.

Until his mother seduced Lin Ye’s father, and Zhang Shuning fell down the stairs and slipped into a coma.

From that day on, Lin Ye looked at him differently.

With hatred.

Chen Mo was thrown out, and returned to hell with his alcoholic mother.

After graduating from high school, Chen Mo vanished completely from Lin Ye’s world.

It wasn’t until much later, when Zhang Shuning woke up, that Lin Ye learned what Chen Mo’s life had been like. He was consumed with regret.

Four years later, Chen Mo is pushing his mother, paralyzed after a stroke, to a medical appointment when he bumps into a man.

He apologizes over and over, then takes half a step back. The moment he looks up, he meets a familiar pair of eyes.

With red-rimmed eyes, Lin Ye looks at Chen Mo, worn down and in ruins, and asks in a choked voice, “Where have you been all these years?”

Early: mutual redemption (sort of) / middle: intense angst / later: chasing his wife to the crematorium