Gold Cage - Chapter 46

The shift between dawn and dusk felt like an illusion beyond the glass. Mu Yu lost track of time. Mu Hanxiao was like a beast in heat, taking him whenever and wherever he pleased, fucking him to the bone. His hole was swollen and gaping, unable to close, thick cum dripping out in streams. He couldn't even leave the bed, carried to the bathroom by Mu Hanxiao to be cleaned—only to be pinned down again moments later, forced to suck him off until he came in his mouth.

He couldn't even muster anger, being manipulated like a puppet until he fell apart. Mu Hanxiao's focus reached terrifying intensity—his eyes saw only Mu Yu. Whenever Mu Yu showed any intention to escape or resist, his possessiveness and destructive urges would flare up repeatedly, driving him to pin Mu Yu beneath him, fucking him into oblivion until certain he could never leave his sight again.

On some indiscernible morning, Mu Yu woke with a low fever. Mu Hanxiao had changed him into clean clothes and cleaned him thoroughly. The bed was remade with fresh linens, the previously wrecked room now immaculate.

Breakfast was congee and warm juice. Mu Yu, dazed and sluggish, curled in Mu Hanxiao's arms, too exhausted to wonder when or how the staff had cleaned up. If anyone had to be embarrassed, it was Mu Hanxiao—he was the one who'd been awake.

Besides, his brain could barely function.

Mu Hanxiao lifted him to eat. Mu Yu let himself be fed spoonfuls of congee, his throat sore and raw from the fever. He glared at Mu Hanxiao with resentment before eventually lowering his gaze, swallowing each mouthful obediently.

The warm, sweet juice soothed his stomach, and once full, Mu Yu felt marginally better. On unsteady legs, he retrieved his phone from the crevice of the bed, turned it on, and with the last sliver of battery, messaged Fan En: I'll be back to the company in a few days.

Fan En replied: Got it. Your brother already told me. He's coming with you.

Mu Yu hurled the phone across the room. It hit the wall, nearly shattering. Mu Hanxiao returned after wheeling out the breakfast cart—shirtless, his bare torso flexed as he stood by the table, sorting pills and pouring water. The deep groove of his back, the hard muscles of his waist—like stone, the same force that had slammed into Mu Yu with enough intensity to fracture his spine.

Mu Hanxiao turned, pills and water in hand, setting the glass on the nightstand. Mu Yu watched him, then suddenly leaned forward weakly. "Brother, answer me something."

"Back then, when your wife wanted a child so badly... did you ever sleep with her?"

Mu Hanxiao sat beside him, pinching a pill between his fingers and placing it in Mu Yu's mouth. Mu Yu held it disdainfully until Mu Hanxiao brought the water to his lips, helping him swallow.

"No," he answered.

Mu Yu smiled. He'd asked, gotten his answer, yet didn't believe it. But Mu Hanxiao bent down, chasing his fever-warmed lips in a kiss.

Then he heard Mu Hanxiao murmur, "When you're in front of me, you're all I see."

Mu Yu pushed against his chest, eyes sharp and clear. "And when I'm not, you forget me."

Mu Hanxiao kept his arms around him, his expression stiff and cold. "You're the one who left."

"Let me say it again, Mu Hanxiao—you were the one who didn't want me." Mu Yu shook off his hold irritably. "I won't forget that you tried to abandon me. Even if just once, you'd do it again, and again—"

"Never." Mu Hanxiao frowned. "Never again."

For a moment, Mu Yu burned with anger. How dare you promise forever? Not that he cared.

But as he met Mu Hanxiao's gaze, his thoughts veered down an odd tangent: Has Mu Hanxiao ever looked at anyone else like this?

He didn't understand the taste of love or cherishing—he knew they existed but couldn't grasp their meaning. He thought he had nothing, yet the man who believed himself empty was nearly everything Mu Yu had ever wanted.

The medicine made Mu Yu break into a light sweat. Feeling drowsy, he lazily curled up under the blankets. Mu Hanxiao checked his forehead temperature before embracing him from behind. The man's arms held a comforting warmth and strength that, for Mu Yu, felt like a deeply ingrained childhood memory—whenever Mu Hanxiao held him, it meant safety and freedom from worry.

Mu Yu murmured softly, "Mu Hanxiao, you never cared about me. I was gone for six years, and you never once tried to bring me back."

Mu Hanxiao replied, "You seemed freer without me."

"If I was so free, why did I come back to you? Never mind... I've said it so many times, but you still don't understand."

Mu Yu buried his face in the pillow, unwilling to speak another word. After a long silence, the man behind him leaned down to kiss his ear. Mu Yu turned away reluctantly, but Mu Hanxiao pulled him closer, turning him around to face him before kissing him deeply, whispering his name—Mu Yu.

Mu Yu's mouth was warm, his breath ragged from the kiss, their breaths mingling with wet, sticky sounds. Mu Hanxiao's kisses were heavy, overwhelming, making resistance impossible.

It felt like his answer—obscure and cryptic, just like the man himself.

Despite Mu Yu's firm protests, Mu Hanxiao eventually let him leave the hotel. That day, they went to the company together, where Fan En welcomed them enthusiastically, overjoyed that Mu Yu had finally returned to the headquarters. Mu Hanxiao had planned to wait for Mu Yu after work, but news of his arrival in the U.S. spread quickly. Soon, Fan En's uncle reached out, inviting Mu Hanxiao for a game. Unable to refuse the hospitality, Mu Hanxiao went.

"Your brother resigned as chairman of Mu Corporation and handed it over to professional managers. Old Mu's assets were all seized, and the company shrank so much—many thought your family was done for," Fan En gossiped with Mu Yu. "Who knew he still had an independent company thriving in Europe and Africa? Even my uncle wants to get involved. Hey, you're a major shareholder in your brother's company now—how about hooking your good buddy up with a small stake?"

Mu Yu laughed. "Young Master Fan En, with all your family's wealth, you're still eyeing these shares? Just focus on working at Qingfei—your monthly salary won't disappoint. Be good."

Fan En flipped him off. After a moment, he asked curiously, "So it's just you three brothers left now?"

"Bibotang's been demolished—what do you think?"

Bibotang had been a symbol of the Mu family's old authority. The destruction of that white palace marked the end of the power it once represented. Fan En couldn't help but sigh. "Your eldest brother is ruthless. At least he spared you and your second brother."

None of them could understand how Mu Hanxiao's empathy was distributed. His thoughts were too deeply hidden, unpredictable—like a solitary snake lurking at the edge of their circle, silently calculating his own stakes and gains. If he could abandon his parents and brothers, leaving behind their throne, what wouldn't he dare to do?

Mu Yu spoke lazily, "Good and evil always meet their due retribution. If they had raised Mu Hanxiao as a human from the start, things wouldn't have turned out like this. You can't expect someone to stand above the rest yet still wallow in the mud—the world doesn't work that way."

The phrasing was convoluted, and Fan En didn't quite grasp it. Mu Yu was too preoccupied with his work to entertain him further. Having returned to headquarters, his workload had multiplied, leaving no immediate plans to go back to the mainland.

He moved back into his house on Congress Street, which remained unchanged from before. After a thorough cleaning, Mu Yu settled back into his second-floor bedroom, where overlapping tree shadows danced outside the window, and the white spire of the Capitol building loomed in the distance.

Mu Hanxiao moved in as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He was intimately familiar with the layout of Mu Yu's home—knowing that the small whiteboard in the living room was for work, that the innermost room on the second floor was Mu Yu's bedroom, followed by the guest room, and then the study that doubled as storage. This made Mu Yu highly suspicious that Mu Hanxiao had once entered his home while he was away. Thankfully, he never found any hidden cameras.

Mu Hanxiao's current focus was Qingfei's domestic operations. Without even an office, he worked remotely from home using Mu Yu's laptop. Qingfei's scale was comparable to just one subsidiary brand under the former Mu Corporation—to him, it felt like playing a brand-new role-playing game. Yet Mu Hanxiao approached his work with such methodical seriousness that Mu Yu couldn't even find it awkward.

Mu Yu wanted to replant the flowers in the yard. He bought seeds, and Mu Hanxiao rolled up his sleeves to plant them, tidying up the lawn while he was at it.

Mu Hanxiao received countless invitations. After news of his resignation from Mu Corporation spread, many sought to recruit him. He turned most of them down, burying himself in gardening instead.

Mu Yu was far busier. He buried himself in work during the day, often continuing late into the night at home. Phil and Li Bing still accompanied him—Phil as his personal chef, and Li Bing frequently shuttling between the U.S. and Bujashik, not only tending to Mu Yu's health but also regularly visiting his mother, Yu Jing.

When early spring arrived, Congress Street was awash in fresh greenery. Mu Yu still wore the creamy green sweater his mother had knitted for him as he worked at the long table on the first floor. A half-drunk cup of coffee sat beside him. After a busy morning, Phil brought over some pastries, placing them quietly by his hand.

Mu Yu's focus wavered for a moment when he noticed something new in his periphery. He looked up to find a glass cup on the table, holding a single white lisianthus.

He stared at it blankly for a while before shifting his gaze outside. From the first-floor window, most of the yard was visible—Mu Hanxiao stood among the flower beds, pruning branches. Unbeknownst to Mu Yu, the seeds they had planted before the new year had gradually bloomed. He had bought many varieties—lisianthus, hydrangeas, roses—now bursting in clusters along the wooden fence, filling the yard with color.

Mu Hanxiao wore a casual shirt and trousers, his broad back straight and steady. Nearing forty, his shoulders and back were solid enough to stretch the fabric taut, his rolled-up sleeves revealing thick, powerful forearms.

Last night, those very arms had held Mu Yu trembling through relentless climaxes. His old bed couldn't withstand the endless rocking, so Mu Hanxiao had bought a larger one that now dominated most of his bedroom. Mu Hanxiao had too many ways to toy with him in bed, leaving his body increasingly pliant, his innate sensuality teased out bit by bit—lingering in the curve of his brows, the tilt of his eyes, even his hair exuding a languid allure.

Mu Yu watched Mu Hanxiao's retreating figure, gradually stopping his work and staring motionless for a long time. A hydrangea petal fell on the back of his hand, yet he didn't notice.

This winter, Mu Yu returned to Bugashk and spent a considerable amount of time with his mother. He visited Lake Baihar, where behind the church cemetery, he found Lan Mo's gravestone.

He and his mother went to see Lan Mo together. Yu Jing's legs had gradually improved, allowing her to walk slowly on her own. A half-fresh bouquet lay before Lan Mo's tombstone—someone had already visited. As for who it was, Mu Yu had little interest in knowing.

As for the letter from Lan Mo that Liu Shuyan had always wanted, it contained only a brief passage:

[Brother Mu Yu, I've already decided how to live the rest of my life. I want to live for myself this time—please don't come looking for me. Love, Momo.]

But life is unpredictable, and fate is fickle. Back then, both he and Lan Mo had truly believed she could start anew, whether in joy or sorrow—it would have been her own choice.

Until she had no choices left, until despair consumed her, and she had no choice but to end a life that no longer had any room left.

Mu Yu and Yu Jing left the cemetery together. Yu Jing wore a thick woolen coat, a diamond necklace around her neck—the very one she had left for Mu Yu when he was ten. Shortly after their reunion, Mu Yu had placed it back around her neck.

"It looks best on you, Mom," Mu Yu said.

Yu Jing touched the necklace. "Back then, I thought I'd never see you again. I turned the whole house upside down just to find something valuable enough for you to keep."

"Why did it have to be something valuable? Even a photo of us together would have been enough."

Yu Jing smiled sheepishly. "I was foolish back then. I thought if I did that, the Mu family would assume we still had money and wouldn't look down on you."

Mu Yu had no response. Well, his mother always had these whimsical ideas—he was used to it.

The two walked slowly along the lakeside path. Yu Jing cautiously asked, "Helkin, after all these years of not visiting you... do you hold it against me? Do you hate me for it?"

"How could I hate you?" Mu Yu admitted honestly. "But I did wonder many times why you never came to see me... because I missed you so much. I even wondered if maybe you didn't love me anymore."

"Helkin, not loving you was absolutely impossible..." Yu Jing sighed. "All those years, I missed you so much it drove me mad. I lost count of how many times I wanted to go to you. But when I saw the photos Li brought me, I thought you were doing so well—maybe you didn't really need me. You were so free, with such a bright future ahead, while I was just a useless, aging woman... Every night, I thought of you, and when morning came, I still had to live through another day. Before you came back to me, I thought my whole life would just keep repeating like that."

Mu Yu listened in silence. Yu Jing had spoken at length, only belatedly realizing how heavy her words were. Hurriedly, she added, "But it's all in the past now. We're both doing well, and I'm happy every day."

Mu Yu took Yu Jing's hand, interlacing their fingers as they walked across the frost-covered grass by the lake.

In the desolate wind over the frozen lake, his voice was barely audible: "If you had just asked me once, I would have told you—I need you all, desperately so."

Yu Jing looked bewildered. "You all...?"

Mu Yu shook his head and fell silent. He needed to find peace within himself before facing the immense regrets that could never be mended. The lost time, the companionship that slipped through his fingers—all had been mercilessly crushed beneath the gears of time, becoming his past.

Had that person finally realized? What he wanted was simple, pure.

As long as Mu Hanxiao kept watching over him, holding him close, he could roam freely within the world Mu Hanxiao created for him.

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