Bone-Attached Disaster - Chapter 22:

Chapter 22: Shattered

Every Friday, the company atmosphere was noticeably more relaxed than usual. You could often tell that people had made more effort with their appearance. By 5 PM, once the goggles were off and the lab coats were shed, everyone happily clocked out.

Jiang Yan chatted with the employees in the elevator, asking them where they planned to go for fun or if they had any restaurant recommendations. Lu Jie, as usual, stood silently in a corner with a cold expression, absorbed in his phone, and the employees around him tacitly maintained a small distance.

“Lu Jie, what kind of magnetic field do you have?” After parting ways with the employees, Jiang Yan put his arm around Lu Jie’s shoulder as they walked to the parking lot, laughing uncontrollably. “Everyone automatically clears a space for you the moment you stand there.”

Lu Jie glanced sideways at Jiang Yan and swatted his hand away. “Why do you talk so much nonsense? I haven’t even asked you yet, all dressed up today, which nightclub are you off to?”

“Don’t make me sound so casual,” Jiang Yan seriously straightened his expensive diamond-patterned tie, his smile full of flirtation. “I’m going on a date.”

“Alright. Happy weekend.”

Jiang Yan frequently changed girlfriends since high school. His relationships were too frequent, and each one was quite dramatic. Later, Jiang Yan probably found it too troublesome to talk about, so he stopped mentioning his romantic life after college.

Lu Jie enjoyed the peace and never asked actively. However, if Jiang Yan dragged him out for drinks, it meant he had broken up with someone.

“What are your plans for tonight?” Jiang Yan asked casually before closing the car door. Then he suddenly remembered, “Oh… Black Friday, is it? Haha, my apologies.”

“Get lost, get lost.”

Then, with a whoosh, the loud sports car engine roared to life and quickly disappeared.

Yes, today was the Friday Lu Jie was supposed to have dinner with Dai Mengshu.

However, the pressure wasn’t too immense for him; he could generally manage an evening, no matter what Dai Mengshu nagged about.

Of course, this Friday was slightly different. It wasn’t just Dai Mengshu; there were also his aunts, uncles, many relatives, and cousins. The dinner table would inevitably involve the elders’ comparisons and the peers’ subtle competition.

The private dining room was booked by Lu Jie’s oldest cousin. This cousin had made a fortune a few years ago by riding the business wave, which brought status to his uncle’s family. Lu Jie always yielded the spotlight in such settings and even chose a relatively ordinary car to drive.

Lu Jie detested these occasions where everyone wore a mask and secretly competed, yet as a child, Lu Jie was always the center of attention. Among his peers, Lu Jie was consistently the most outstanding—his grades were almost always the best, he was handsome and distinguished, and even his height was the fastest to shoot up.

Being praised and sought after felt good, sometimes even leading to self-absorption.

When did he start resisting these vain moments of glory?

It was probably the year Fu Jia’an appeared.

Later, Lu Jie went to Q University and co-founded a company with Jiang Yan. His bank savings doubled every year, and he had more and more achievements to boast about, yet he became increasingly reserved, content to be a backdrop. He would eat and drink amidst others’ smugness, his heart completely unmoved.

Especially in recent years, two new protagonists emerged at the family dinner table, and Lu Jie was even happier to watch the show. One was the cousin who struck it rich, and the other was the youngest, Dai Yaoxi, the son of his uncle Dai Xin, who was currently a sophomore in college.

As Lu Jie expected, the classic old scene was performed again amidst the toasts and small talk.

The uncle first subtly listed all the things his cousin had bought for the family, then mentioned that his cousin’s wife was expecting their second child. The cousin pretended to deflect for a few sentences, then threw the topic to Lu Jie: “I heard Xiao Jie is very accomplished too. Is your company considering an IPO recently?”

Lu Jie quickly debunked the rumor: “Huh? No, we’re not planning an IPO.”

He heard? From whom? It could only be Dai Mengshu.

Dai Mengshu looked slightly embarrassed: “…It might be a while until the IPO, as the company is still new. But Xiao Jie’s lab has already secured many patents, and many new drugs have entered clinical testing in public hospitals. Alas, I don’t understand these young people’s things much. I just know he’s extremely busy, constantly tied up in the lab. I always tell him to take care of his health. There’s no end to making money, is there?”

“That’s impressive,” the cousin said. “Then Lu Jie must be earning tens of millions annually, right?”

These people’s intentions were clearly written on their faces. They pretended to be envious and admiring, boosting you up, but in reality, they just wanted to hear a reassuring “I’m not that great.” On the surface, they asked if you earned tens of millions a year, but deep down, they were afraid that you actually did.

Lu Jie smiled and shook his head. “Not at all. That’s an exaggeration.”

The cousin probed further, “Then millions at least?”

Lu Jie waved his hand. “No.”

“Then…”

The cousin wanted to continue asking, but Dai Mengshu’s face was getting worse. She interrupted the conversation and quickly steered the topic elsewhere, while subtly grabbing Lu Jie’s knee under the table, even as she laughed and talked.

She seemed to be saying, Please save me some face.

Lu Jie was impervious to this. He never played along with Dai Mengshu’s wishes. Did he need to tell them whether his annual salary was truly in the millions? As long as he could send his relatives home satisfied, it was fine. He didn’t care about these things.

Moreover, managing to provoke Dai Mengshu and make her feel utterly humiliated somehow gave Lu Jie a strange sense of satisfaction.

While he was zoning out, the elders started chatting about health again, mentioning their recent discomforts. The uncle suddenly slapped his head, remembering something: “Ah, do you guys still remember Fu… Fu, what was his name again? That genius who graduated from Yaochen High School?”

“Fu Jia’an.”

Lu Jie, who had been focused on eating, chimed in. After he spoke, he noticed that Dai Yaoxi, who was sitting next to him, had said the name at the exact same time.

It wasn’t surprising. All the cousins present had attended the same high school, and Fu Jia’an was the most famous legend on Yaochen High School’s honor roll.

“Oh right, Fu Jia’an,” the uncle continued. “I had a headache a while ago and went to Municipal Second Hospital to see a doctor. I saw a young man who looked very familiar. Upon closer look, wasn’t that the ‘genius’ always featured on Yaochen High School’s honor roll? Guess what? He’s just a resident physician now. After all that fuss about him being admitted through the guaranteed admission program, I thought he’d achieve something much greater.”

Speaking of an outsider not at the table, the cousin was even less reserved. He burst into laughter. “What’s the use of a high IQ? I don’t see him becoming a high-ranking official at the UN. How much money can he possibly be making now?”

He then looked at Dai Xin. “Uncle, don’t you think this is a case of ‘Shi Kuang’s Lament’?”

Dai Xin certainly didn’t think the phrase “Shi Kuang’s Lament” was used correctly in this context, but since family harmony was important, he didn’t bother correcting him. He gave a forced laugh and didn’t comment further.

“Cousin certainly hasn’t wasted his own talents,” Lu Jie suddenly said.

The cousin: “Me?”

Lu Jie was always very amicable with his relatives, somewhat like the good-natured person who would lend money to anyone who asked. But at this moment, he was like a beast whose sharpness had been awakened from slumber. Even without moving, just by opening his eyes and showing his claws, he was chillingly intimidating.

His tone was steady, like a meticulous recounting of facts. “He had an eventful dating history in high school, a notorious cheater. Taking different girlfriends for abortions probably made him a regular at the OB-GYN department? He didn’t stop after getting married. He cheated in various ways during my sister-in-law’s pregnancy, with mistresses three and four showing up at the door. But Cousin can surely handle it, after all, he earns a lot.”

“Lu Jie, are you f***ing crazy!”

“I’m just speaking the truth.”

…

The family dinner ended abruptly. Dai Mengshu chased after the furious uncle to apologize, then turned back to the private room to lecture Lu Jie: “What is wrong with you today? Why are you so insensible!”

Thirty-year-old Lu Jie was still being judged by the words “sensible” and “insensible” to determine if he was a good son. He found it quite ridiculous. “What’s wrong? Just because I spoke a well-known truth?”

“How old are you to still be so tactless? Are those things you say in front of so many people?”

“I was being considerate. Otherwise, I would have continued: I wonder if Cousin’s habitual cheating and frequent visits to clubs are self-taught or learned from his own father, by example.”

“Lu Jie!” Dai Mengshu’s eyes widened with fury. She quickly checked if there were any relatives still lingering by the door. “Are you trying to completely ruin my reputation? Why aren’t you apologizing to your cousin?”

“Apologize for what?”

“For your lack of tact, your rudeness…”

Lu Jie continued to be deliberately difficult, without caring if it killed her with anger: “But I just can’t stand him.” In that moment, he felt like he had reverted to the Lu Jie who stood up against Dai Mengshu in the hallway when he was eighteen, only then he had a companion by his side, and this time, he was alone.

Dai Mengshu stood before him, seemingly utterly disappointed. “Do you understand? You’re only an adult when you can smile at people you dislike. Lu Jie, you’re so inflexible because you spent so many years studying in school, then started a company with Jiang Yan right after graduation, constantly buried in experiments. You’ve never truly entered society, so you’ve remained unformed in a greenhouse… and today you made such a fool of the family! You need to seriously reflect on yourself.”

This was why Lu Jie avoided conflict with Dai Mengshu.

Every time he broke through the surface calm, every time Lu Jie stopped being the peacemaker, every time he tried to communicate their true thoughts, he would clearly realize again that the person he was tied to by an umbilical cord, his own kin, was the person who understood him the least in the world.

This was the moment his heart was truly torn apart. His mother would never believe that he was truly capable of taking responsibility for his own life. This authoritarian, condescending scrutiny had accompanied him his entire life.

Receiving a love letter meant he would neglect his studies. Liking a dog meant he would become aimless and unfocused. Opening a credit card meant he was overspending without restraint. Not getting married at thirty meant he was “blindly following trends” and “would definitely regret it later.”

No matter how many years passed, no matter how far he went. It seemed that the moment he returned to Dai Mengshu’s presence, Lu Jie would be instantly transported back to that moment when he tearfully sent Tang Su Yu away, overwhelmed by a sense of powerlessness.