CFRFGC Chapter 97

⌈”Boss, were you jealous just now?”⌋

The child in the photo looked about three or four years old, wearing a soft yellow knitted sweater on the upper body.

The lower body was clad in blue denim overalls.

The straps of the overalls were a bit loose, one slipping down from the child’s shoulder, hanging lazily at the elbow.

What stood out most were the child’s eyes.

Bright, jet-black pupils looked up at the camera with an innocence resembling a well-behaved puppy.

It was the kind of gaze that made one’s heart melt with affection.

If… one could ignore the two wriggling earthworms held tightly in the child’s small, dirt-streaked hands.

Ji Min stared at the photo in his hand for a long moment, surprised.

Then, he looked up at the teenager sitting on the bed.

At this moment, Lu Ran had already jumped barefoot off the bed, bending down to pick up the scattered photos on the floor.

Seeing Ji Min holding one, he no longer rushed but scratched his cheek awkwardly and grumbled, “Why’d you come in all of a sudden?”

“Who told you to leave the door open?”

Ji Min responded casually, his eyes still fixed on the photo in his hand, showing a clear reluctance to let it go.

Lu Ran waited a moment, then reached out, urging, “Haven’t you finished looking at it yet?”

Ji Min’s gaze moved between the photo and the teenager’s face, lingering especially long on those eyes.

“This is a photo of you as a kid. How did you find it?” he asked.

Lu Ran snatched the photo from his hand, turned around, and jumped back onto the bed.

His face held the unique discomfort teenagers often showed when confronted with childhood photos.

But there was also some confusion and doubt.

He rummaged through the pile of photos on the bed, picking out another one.

Looking at the soft, chubby little child in the picture, he brought the photo up next to his face and asked Ji Min incredulously: “Boss, was this really me when I was little?”

Ji Min couldn’t help but laugh.

He controlled his wheelchair to move closer to the bed and countered, “If not you, then who else?”

Lu Ran withdrew the photo, glanced down at it again, and mumbled, “I thought it was Shen Xingran.”

Lu Ran had seen photos of himself as a child after growing up in the orphanage.

When he was a child, Lu Ran’s health wasn’t good. Every photo from that time showed a pale, emaciated figure.

No matter how attentive the teachers at the orphanage were, giving equal care to so many children was impossible.

So, Lu Ran never imagined he could have looked like the child in these photos.

Ji Min raised an eyebrow.

Like Shen Xingran? This kid must be face-blind.

Lu Ran carefully went through all the photos in the box again.

Then, feigning indifference, he shoved the pile onto the bed.

Holding the now-empty box, he grumbled, “Shen Hongyuan hid this so securely. I thought it would be something valuable. Turns out it’s just photos?”

“What did you think it would be?” Ji Min asked.

Lu Ran hugged the box, thought for a moment, and admitted honestly, “A large check.”

Ji Min: “…”

He covered his forehead and laughed for a long while before reaching out to grab the photos scattered on the bed.

There weren’t many—just a dozen or so—but Ji Min found them more precious than any large check.

Sitting in his wheelchair, he flipped through the photos one by one.

Despite his earlier complaints, Lu Ran leaned over curiously.

The teenager sprawled across the bed, stretching his head toward Ji Min’s hand.

Even Da Huang, seemingly curious about what they were looking at, joined in, poking its nose toward the photos.

The two of them and the dog all studied the pictures of the little boy seriously.

As Ji Min flipped through the stack, he noticed that most were candid shots of the child alone.

However, at the edges of some photos, an old hand or a cane occasionally appeared.

Toward the end of the stack, Ji Min came across a couple of group photos.

In them was an elderly man, likely in his sixties or seventies, with a stern face—so severe it bordered on harsh.

There were only two group photos.

In one, the old man and the child stood on opposite sides, both looking grimly at the camera.

The child stood beside the old man as obediently as if he were standing at attention.

In the other photo, the elderly man sat grandly in a zitan wood armchair.

The child sat on his right knee but didn’t lean into his embrace. Instead, he sat up straight, making an effort to face the camera.

These two photos didn’t convey much warmth or closeness.

The child also appeared far less lively than in the other pictures.

Lu Ran leaned in to look at the photo and couldn’t help pointing to the elderly man.

“Who’s this? Gu Ningqi’s grandfather?” he asked.

Ji Min glanced at him in surprise, then lowered his head to carefully study the old man’s features in the photo.

After a moment of contemplation, he replied, “This should be Old Master Shen.”

When Old Master Shen passed away, Ji Min had only been around fourteen or fifteen years old.

The Ji and Shen families weren’t closely connected, so Ji Min didn’t have much of an impression of him.

Lu Ran scrutinized the photo for a while longer, then nodded. “It must be. Shen Xingyu will probably look like this when he’s old.”

Ji Min raised an eyebrow. “All these photos, and you don’t remember anything?”

Lu Ran shook his head. “Not a thing!”

“You and your memory…” Ji Min sighed and shook his head.

But on second thought, perhaps it was better for Lu Ran not to remember.

Ji Min pointed to some of the backgrounds in the photos, trying to dredge up his own memories from over a decade ago.

“Were these photos sent by the Gu family? They all seem to have been taken in the Gu family’s garden.”

Hearing this, Lu Ran stared at Ji Min for a moment, then suddenly said, “Boss, can you send me Uncle Gu’s WeChat contact?”

Ji Min froze.

He glanced at the photos in his hand again and suddenly felt something was off.

These didn’t seem like professionally taken candid shots—they looked more like casual photos snapped by friends or family.

And in the Gu family… wasn’t Gu Zhi the only one with an interest in photography?

So…

Not only had Gu Zhi seen this child over ten years ago, but he’d also played with him and even taken these photos?

Ji Min slowly stroked the child’s cheek in the photo.

Feigning nonchalance, he asked, “Which Uncle Gu? Old Master Gu has three sons, you know.”

“The one who came on your birthday!” Lu Ran said.

Ji Min leisurely put the photo down.

“Gu family members were here that day? I don’t remember,” he said.

Lu Ran gave him a strange look: What kind of goldfish memory is this?

“That’s the one…”

Lu Ran racked his brain for a while before reluctantly recalling the name. “Gu Zhi? Or was it Gu something else?”

Seeing that he couldn’t even remember the name clearly, Ji Min finally felt vindicated and said, “Gu Zhi is Gu Zhi. Why are you calling him Uncle Gu?”

“Yes, yes, that’s him!”

Lu Ran urged him again.

Seeing Lu Ran so eager, Ji Min suddenly felt reluctant.

“It’s too late today. Besides, I think I forgot to bring my phone,” he said.

As soon as he finished speaking, the teenager sprawled on the bed crawled two steps closer and slapped his hand against Ji Min’s pocket.

“You brought it!”

“…” Ji Min shuddered at the slap.

Silently, he took out his phone, thinking to himself that certain kids didn’t keep their word—after all, hadn’t Lu Ran said he wouldn’t casually add people on WeChat that day?

Ji Min unlocked his phone and opened the contacts list, scrolling down one by one.

This was his work phone and there were a lot of contacts.

After scrolling for ages, there was still no sign of Gu Zhi’s name.

The more Ji Min dawdled, the more anxious Lu Ran became.

He waved his hands around and directed, “Use the search bar! Tap on search!”

After much delay, they finally found Gu Zhi’s contact information.

Lu Ran continued to direct, “Send me his contact card.”

Half of Lu Ran’s body was practically leaning over Ji Min’s wheelchair, his urgency written all over his face.

Ji Min raised an eyebrow high, then decided to feign ignorance. “What contact card? I don’t know how to send one.”

Lu Ran: “???”

He froze. “You don’t know how?”

“Nope,” Ji Min replied leisurely. “I’m old. Can’t keep up with this stuff.”

“But…”

Lu Ran blinked a couple of times, sensing that something was off.

Frowning, he thought for a moment. “That’s not right. You clearly said you’d send it to me that day and I was the one who refused.”

“…You must have misheard,” Ji Min replied.

Lu Ran slowly sat back down on the bed.

Lu Ran silently stared at Ji Min.

After being stared at for a while, Ji Min finally sighed.

With an air of justification, he said, “This is Gu Zhi’s work WeChat. I’m not sure if he’d want me to share it with you. If you want to ask him something, you can chat through my phone.”

He didn’t forget to quietly sully Gu Zhi’s name in the process, adding, “His personal life is pretty messy. I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting you add him on WeChat.”

“But what does his messy personal life have to do with me?” Lu Ran asked in confusion.

Ji Min didn’t reply and simply handed over the phone.

In his mind, though, he was thinking: How could it not be related?

Lu Ran calling Gu Zhi “Uncle Gu” wasn’t wrong at all.

Unlike Ji Min, who had forcefully assumed the role of a “senior”, the Shen and Gu families were genuinely family friends.

In terms of seniority, Gu Zhi was indeed entitled to call himself Lu Ran’s elder.

And if seniority weren’t considered…

Given Gu Zhi’s age, it wouldn’t be out of the question for him to fulfill the Gu-Shen marriage agreement intended for Gu Ningqi.

Lu Ran took the phone and lay on his pillow, sending messages to Gu Zhi. His legs swung back and forth as he typed.

Ji Min’s peripheral vision caught the boy’s movements, though his fingers absentmindedly rubbed the small metal dog on his wheelchair’s remote.

After watching for a while, Ji Min couldn’t resist and reached out to grab Lu Ran’s ankle, which was swinging aimlessly.

He restrained himself, keeping his thumb from stroking the skin.

Instead, he held the ankle firmly and tucked it under the thin blanket covering Lu Ran.

Startled by the gesture, Lu Ran turned his head to look at Ji Min and instinctively kicked the blanket. “I’m not cold.”

“Even so, stop flailing around,” Ji Min said softly.

Lu Ran glanced at him again before suddenly putting his phone down and sitting up.

“What are you looking at? Aren’t you going to continue chatting?” Ji Min asked.

Lu Ran gave a noncommittal “oh” and slowly lay back down.

Ji Min stayed quietly by the boy’s window, straining his ears to catch any notification sounds but heard nothing.

Then he remembered that he had set his phone to silent after work.

He had no idea what the two were discussing.

Glancing at Da Huang, who was lying obediently on the carpet, Ji Min suddenly raised his finger and gave a “bark” command.

Da Huang perked up immediately, sitting up and letting out a loud “woof”.

Hearing the bark, Lu Ran immediately put down his phone and turned to look at Da Huang.

“What’s wrong, Da Huang?” Lu Ran asked the dog.

The dog couldn’t answer.

Ji Min took the liberty of replying.

“No idea why he barked. Maybe he wants to go for a walk?”

“That’s unlikely.”

Lu Ran sat up, picked up Da Huang, and checked him over. “At this hour, Da Huang should usually be asleep.”

“Maybe he needs to go to the bathroom,” Ji Min suggested.

“But he just went not too long ago,” Lu Ran replied, perplexed, as he ruffled Da Huang’s head.

Da Huang didn’t bark again, only stared silently at Ji Min.

Ji Min cleared his throat softly and finally asked, “What do you need to ask Gu Zhi about?”

“Oh, I gave him my WeChat and told him to add me,” Lu Ran said.

Ji Min, who had been guarding against this exact scenario: “…”

“Well, then, you two can chat on your own,” Ji Min forced out through clenched teeth, grabbing his phone as if to leave.

But when he looked down, he saw that Gu Zhi’s chat window was completely empty—there was nothing there.

Ji Min paused and turned back to look at Lu Ran.

The teenager was holding the dog and grinning mischievously.

He asked, “Boss, were you jealous just now?”

Ji Min hadn’t expected to be caught in such a trap.

He stayed silent for a long time before suddenly turning his gaze back to the boy and saying, “What if I said I was?”

Lu Ran froze. “…Huh?”

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