Artistic Life (10).

Su Mo laid in the hospital for a dozen or so days, unable to even attend his grandmother’s funeral. Apart from his mom, who found time to visit him twice, nobody else came to visit him.

Once he was finally discharged from the hospital, his dad told him to come back. Although Su Mo knew there was no way his dad could cool down his temper so quickly and knew that he would definitely be beaten again if he returned home, he couldn’t not go. Otherwise, his dad would be even more furious and might really disown him as his son.

“Dad.” Su Mo stood at the door to his study, timidly looking at his dad’s face.

“Enter.” Father Su’s face was unreadable as he called Su Mo in expressionlessly.

Su Mo saw how his own blood-related father didn’t seem angry and walked in with his hand over his heart. He wasn’t purposely trying to act pitiful, it just actually really hurt. Although he could already leave the hospital, his wounds weren’t completely healed. It was just enough to recuperate at home. If his dad wasn’t that angry, he wanted to stay at home to recuperate. After all, there was no way he could see anyone now. Staying at home would be much more convenient than staying at his rented apartment.

“Sigh this.” Father Su threw a document in front of Su Mo with a pen, telling him to sign.

Su Mo was a bit lost, not knowing what his father wanted him to sign. When he looked at the document and saw the first word, he froze in shock. This was a contract to renounce the shares of the company he would inherit.  

“Dad…” Su Mo looked at his father, not knowing what to do. “Are you really going to disown me?”

“That’s right.” Father Su said solemnly, “After you sign this contract, I’m going to take justice and sever our parent child relationship.”

“No! Dad!” Su Mo immediately kneeled down, frantically saying, “Please don’t disown me! I’m begging you!”

Su Mo pushed away the document. He couldn’t sign it. If he signed it, he would truly have nothing. He would rather have his father beat him up again and again until he cooled down his temper. He truly didn’t want their family relations to be severed.

Father Su’s face was ashen as he pointed at Su Mo, “You brought this upon yourself. Right now, our family can’t even do business anymore. If we don’t sever relations, our whole family would starve to death! If you still have the least bit of conscience, hurry up and sign it and apologize to the public, saying you already have no ties to this family!”

“Dad, you can’t do that! I’m also your son. Are you really that ruthless as to give up on me?” Su Mo sobbed as he begged, “Please don’t sever our relationship! I’m begging you, please!”

“You even killed your grandmother and you still have the shame to beg me? Just that makes me unable to forgive you for a lifetime!” Just thinking of how his own son infuriated his mother to death made Father Su want to beat him dead. He never wanted to see this bastard who had killed his own grandmother ever again.

Su Mo laid on the ground, crying bitterly. At this moment, he was truly afraid. He knew that his father wasn’t trying to scare him or just punish him, but that he truly didn’t want to acknowledge him as his son. With their relationship cut, Su Mo didn’t have the hope to ever recover.

“You’re still not signing?” Father Su said, “If you aren’t signing it, fine. I’ll put all of our family assets under your older brother’s name, then personally declare to the public that you have no relations to our family! Don’t think you’ll ever get another cent from this family. Even if you starve to death, I won’t help you.”

“Dad, I know I’m wrong. Please just forgive me this once. You can punish me any way you want, just please don’t sever our relationships and drive me away.” Su Mo was almost about to faint from crying but his father’s heart didn’t soften a bit.

Father Su waited a while but when he saw Su Mo wouldn’t sign, he picked him up and hauled him outside.

Su Mo staggered as his father dragged him to the door. Father Su opened the door and threw him out, “Scram! Don’t ever show up in front of me again!”

“Dad! Dad! Please don’t kick me out! Dad!” Su Mo cried as he knocked on the door.

Father Su pointed at the silently crying Mother Su on the side, “If you dare to help him, you leave too and never come back!”

Mother Su’s eyes were already swollen from crying. Hearing her son’s throat-splitting cries, her heart hurt so much but she still didn’t dare to plead in her son’s place. When she saw her husband go upstairs, Mother Su carefully opened the door and slipped out.

“Mom! Mom!” Seeing his mom come out, Su Mo hugged her in tears.

“Hush!” Mother Su gestured at her son to be quiet and whispered, “Go back to your apartment. After a while, when your father’s no longer so mad, I’ll secretly slip out to see you. Don’t worry, mother won’t forget about you. But right now, the anger’s got into your father’s head. You’ll just have to put up with it for now.”

Su Mo knew his father was determined to sever their relationship, but with his mother’s promise, he was no longer in complete despair and left in a daze.

Su Mo had just arrived outside his neighborhood when he got a call from the school dean, telling him to come to school. Su Mo gave himself a mocking smile. It seemed the whole world knew that he was discharged from the hospital today. The call for him to go to school definitely wasn’t going to be a good thing, but he still had to go to settle it.

Su Mo walked along the school’s familiar roads. He walked on these roads many times. Not long ago, when he walked along these roads, he would enjoy his classmates’ envious and admiring gazes. But now, whether it was admiration or envy, they were all gone, leaving only disdainful and despising gazes. However, after experiencing attacks one after another, he had grown indifferent towards such mocking gazes.

Su Mo hadn’t dared to look at the comments about him on the internet, but even if he didn’t see them, he could guess them well enough. The internet was even harsher than when they cursed out Mu Jin. His life and future was all dark.

“Your plagiarization incident puts our school’s reputation in a very bad light and is causing extreme dissatisfaction to the on-campus students and graduates of our school. The school’s higher-ups have decided to expel you from the school.” The dean directly gave the school’s verdict to Su Mo.

Although his heart had long been prepared, Su Mo still received a serious blow. Now, he didn’t even have the energy to keep a bitter smile and could only use all his strength to remain standing.

“Am I really going to be expelled? Is there no other way I can remain a student here?” Su Mo carried one last trace of hope, “I’ll accept any punishment, as long as I’m not expelled. Dean, could you please plead for me with the school’s board?”

“I’m afraid there’s no way we can allow you to remain a student.” The dean released a long sigh, “Even if I plead for you, it’s useless. The school’s leaders and board of directors made a unanimous decision. I don’t have that much power to make them all agree to my plea.”

The dean had a very good relationship with Su Mo’s father, so he normally paid him a lot of attention at school. But this time, even if he was his own, blood-related son, the dean still wouldn’t be able to help him. Furthermore, Su Mo’s father had already contacted the dean, saying he already cut ties with Su Mo and that he needn’t care about him, just expelling him was fine.

Su Mo’s body was on the verge of collapse. He supported himself on the table, about to fall at any time.

The dean saw how pitiful he looked and hesitated for a moment before giving him advice, “If you really want to remain a student, I suggest you find somebody who can talk to the higher-ups, particularly somebody who can talk to the board of directors.”

“How can I find somebody who can talk to the higher-ups?” Su Mo said bitterly.

“You could find Mu Shi. Your relationship with him wasn’t bad before, so if you can get his forgiveness, it wouldn’t be too hard to remain in the school.” The dean hinted.

“Mu Jin?” The attack Su Mo received was too big. His mind couldn’t react. He didn’t know why he had to find Mu Jin and beg for forgiveness to remain a student at the school. Since when did Mu Jin get such power?

The dean saw how he didn’t seem to understand and just said it straight out, “Mu Jin knows a very important person on the board. If he speaks up to you, you’ll be able to continue staying at the school.”

The dean only got this info with much difficulty and telling it to him was already extremely benevolent on his part. Now, Su Mo could only rely on himself for the rest.

I have to beg Mu Jin? I actually have to beg Mu Jin?! Su Mo thought hatefully. It was all because of Mu Jin that he’s in the circumstances he’s in now! Besides, even if he begged Mu Jin, there was no way Mu Jin would help him. He would just get humiliated for no reason.

The more Su Mo thought, the more angry he felt. When he walked out of the study, he was so mad that he even forgot about his surroundings and just moved forward according to instinct. As he walked, he thought, if you want me to beg Mu Jin, it’s impossible! He would rather die than beg him!

When Su Mo walked out the school gates, he was suddenly greeted with a bucket of blood-red paint poured over his head.

Su Mo froze there, not knowing how to react. Another bucket of blue paint poured over his head.

Everybody gathered around to take photos of him as they pointed and cursed at him.

“Plagiarizing shameless dog!”

“Shameless! And you even accused the other person of copying your work! Disgusting!”

“You actually have the shame to still come to school? You’re an insult to our art academy’s name and dignity!”

“You did such shameless things, and you’re still not apologizing? Just how shameless are you?!”

“You don’t belong in the arts. With how filthy your heart is, I feel bad for the paint that’s being used to splash you with!”

“Hurry up and apologize to the person you plagiarized! You copied their work and even accused them of plagiarizing you! How could somebody be that shameless?”

Of the people scolding Su Mo, most of them were people on-campus or graduates of Minshan Arts Academy. When they heard Su Mo returned to school, they immediately rushed over. There were still a bunch of people who lived further away and were still rushing over.

Before, when Su Mo slandered Mu Jin about copying his work, a lot of them helped him scold Mu Jin. However, after the truth was revealed, it was precisely the people who helped him that were the angriest. Not only did they feel betrayed, they also felt used.

Many of them felt just cursing at Su Mo wasn’t enough to vent. Slowly, people started to use their fists. With people leading the way, more and more people started to get violent.

The wounds on Su Mo’s body still weren’t healed, and now under everyone’s hits and kicks, they started to hurt again. However, the paint had seeped into his eyes so he couldn’t open them, and he had no way to avoid the blows.

Su Mo desperately tried to get the paint out of his eyes as he charged out of that group of people. Fortunately, he ran fast. Otherwise, more and more people would come so he wouldn’t be able to escape and could only wait for the police to restore order. However, that way, he would have to enter the hospital again.

After Su Mo escaped, he closed the door to his apartment and fell to the floor. What happened just now was too terrible. He thought they were going to kill him. Don’t they know they were breaking the law?

He laid on the ground, paralyzed a long time before finally regaining a little strength. The paint on his body really wasn’t comfortable, so he crawled to the bathroom to wash himself.

He sat on the bathroom floor, holding the showerhead as he rinsed himself. He looked at the wall dispiritedly, thinking, how did I turn out like this? Why did all of this happen?

Suddenly, he thought of the words the dean told him, how he should beg Mu Jin because he knew somebody important on the board of directors. The person Mu Jin knew had to be the person that’s keeping him right now. The reason why he ended up like this was all because of Mu Jin. Mu Jin killed his grandma, how could he beg forgiveness from Mu Jin?! There was no way! He had to have revenge!

Su Mo threw the showerhead to the floor and stood up, walking out to find his phone to call Wu Xiuyuan.