CFRFGC Chapter 102

⌈As softly as petals blown off by the wind.⌋

Old Master Gu spoke about the child’s situation.

But Lu Ran thought it over carefully and just said, “I don’t remember clearly.”

At that moment, Shen Xingyu and several other young people walked in.

Old Master Gu glanced at Shen Xingyu and said, “Xingyu has arrived as well.”

Then, he looked at the others behind Shen Xingyu and called out, “There are so many of you. Come on, eat something.”

Old Master Gu invited them, and none of the young people present dared to decline.

Whether they wanted to eat or not, they all sat down at the table and picked some desserts.

The only person who didn’t start eating was Ji Min.

Even Shen Xingyu picked up a small dessert.

Ji Min had only glanced casually at the dessert, but when he saw the one in Shen Xingyu’s hand, his gaze paused for a moment.

Shen Xingyu was holding a piece of lemon mousse.

“Didn’t expect you to like this kind of flavor,” Ji Min said.

Shen Xingyu didn’t answer, focusing solely on Old Master Gu.

Old Master Gu sighed.

He looked at Lu Ran and said softly, “I do feel sorry for you, child, but the Shen family’s situation is too complicated. This time, the Gu family won’t be able to help much.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Ran raised an eyebrow slightly.

He looked at Shen Xingyu and then thought of how Shen Xingran had pleaded with Gu Ningqi earlier today. He understood that Old Master Gu had misunderstood.

“Grandpa Gu, I didn’t come to you today for the Shen family,” Lu Ran said.

“Hmm?” Old Master Gu blinked in surprise.

On the side, Shen Xingyu wasn’t particularly surprised.

“There’s more,” Lu Ran didn’t hide anything in front of the others and directly corrected him, “My name is Lu Ran now.”

Old Master Gu was truly shocked this time.

“You haven’t even changed your surname yet? If your grandfather knew, he’d probably be so angry he’d overturn his coffin lid.”

The others were all younger people and only Old Master Gu dared to joke like that about Old Master Shen.

The rest of the people lowered their heads and said nothing, even holding back their laughter.

Old Master Gu casually ate a little something.

He turned back to continue talking to Lu Ran.

But after glancing at the others in the room, he muttered, “Had I known you didn’t come for the Shen family’s business, I wouldn’t have let these kids come.”

Lu Ran: “…”

He had thought that it was Gu Ningqi causing trouble, but it turned out that Old Master Gu didn’t want to discuss the Shen family’s matters, so he deliberately made the scene more lively to prevent the Shen family members from finding an opportunity to speak.

“Well, eat your food. Xiao Ran, come over here and chat with this old man.”

Old Master Gu leaned on his cane and got up, leading Lu Ran back to the main hall.

As Lu Ran walked, he instinctively glanced at Ji Min.

Ji Min followed as well.

Old Master Gu looked at the two of them and didn’t say anything.

Once they left the dining room, Old Master Gu spoke: “Well, if you really wanted to cover for the Shen family’s losses, you could just go to Ji Min. No need to come to old me.”

Once they reached the main hall, the only person there besides Gu Qing was Old Master Gu.

He then asked: “So, what did you come to find me for?”

Lu Ran thought for a moment.

Ever since he had returned to the Shen family, the Shen family had always avoided talking about his past.

As someone who had gotten lost as a child, Lu Ran couldn’t help but want to ask many things.

For instance, why had he gotten lost?

What was he like when he was a child?

But upon further thought, he felt it wasn’t very meaningful.

Moreover, although Old Master Gu treated him kindly, he wasn’t his real grandfather.

After a moment of contemplation, Lu Ran said, “I heard that my grandfather used to bring me here when I was little.”

“I also received the photos you sent me, so I wanted to ask…”

“You want to ask what kind of person your grandfather was, right?” Old Master Gu interjected.

Lu Ran paused for a moment and nodded.

Old Master Gu sighed.

He looked at the boy who had grown into a young man in front of him, feeling a bit heartbroken.

A child who was lost to the world had always been disconnected from family ties by nature.

It was hard enough to return home, only to find that the parents and siblings with the same blood were even more distant than strangers.

It was disappointing, yet his surname hadn’t even changed.

But upon seeing photos of his past with his elders, he couldn’t help but come and inquire.

Yet the people in the photos had long since passed.

The child wanted to know about the past, but in the end, the only one he could turn to for answers was this elder from another family.

“I started my business with your grandfather when we were young. He was my senior and also a very good friend,” Old Master Gu paused, then added, “But your grandfather, well, he certainly wasn’t a good man.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Ran didn’t react much.

On the side, Gu Qing, who was standing, awkwardly cleared his throat, feeling that his father had hurt the boy’s feelings.

One shouldn’t speak of elders in such a way in front of the younger generation.

If you’re going to say something, at least pick out the good parts to mention!

As he cleared his throat, Old Master Gu glared at him and said, “What I’m like is obvious—you can tell by how my son turned out.”

“Look at your son and you’ll know that the father isn’t much either.”

Old Master Gu then pointed at Gu Qing and scolded him some more.

Gu Qing grew even more embarrassed.

With that remark, Old Master Gu not only scolded him but clearly also included scolding Shen Hongyuan as well.

Lu Ran listened with curiosity.

He found it quite amusing and couldn’t resist whispering to Ji Min, “Grandfather Gu is really something. When he gets mad, he even scolds himself.”

According to Old Master Gu’s logic, if Gu Ningqi was no good, it meant Gu Qing wasn’t great either. If Gu Qing wasn’t good, then it meant Old Master Gu as a father wasn’t so great either.

Old Master Gu: “…”

“You act like nothing’s wrong, and you’re still so happy.”

Old Master Gu took a sip of tea, then said, “Your father might not do things in the right way, but it’s hard to avoid with a father like that.”

“Your grandfather was alright when he was younger. He was very dedicated to business, busy as a bee, and built the Shen family’s foundation all by himself.”

Old Master Gu then glanced at Ji Min, “Your Ji family even wanted to poach Old Shen back then, but Old Shen was stubborn and refused.”

He then looked between Ji Min and Lu Ran and smiled.

“So… Xiao Ran, you didn’t get to visit your Ji family when you were younger, did you?”

Ji Min: “…”

There was no need to point that out.

After teasing for a while, Old Master Gu returned to the main topic: “When he was young, things were fine. But as people get older, they inevitably become muddled.”

“At that time, the Shen family was on the rise, but your grandfather was already getting old and had diabetes.”

“The Shen family was built by him from the ground up. But when it came time to find a successor, he was deeply dissatisfied with your father.”

“Your father had ambition and drive when he was young, but your grandfather couldn’t tolerate that. He forced your father to follow his own planned path, training him to be obedient.”

“But when your father was ready to take over the family, your grandfather felt that your father was too obedient, too incapable.”

“I don’t know if your father was pretending to be obedient or if he really was, but he followed your grandfather’s every wish, and everyone praised him for being filial.”

But Old Master Shen had always kept control of the company, never handing over power, even when he was seventy years old.

Shen Hongyuan had to wait until his eldest son was already in elementary school. But still, Old Master Shen threw him into the lower level.

Old Master Shen had delayed for so long that some tabloids had already started reporting on the Shen family’s succession.

The more rumors there were outside, the more Shen Hongyuan wanted to please his father.

He was just waiting for Old Master Shen to make the final decision and step down.

But the more he tried, the less Old Master Shen liked him.

Until one time, Old Master Shen, while on a business trip, experienced a major blood sugar fluctuation and collapsed, ending up in the hospital.

Due to complications from his diabetes, his eyesight was almost completely lost.

When Old Master Shen was hospitalized, the people within the Shen family were filled with anxiety.

But Shen Hongyuan finally saw his chance.

He might have been waiting for too long, so his actions were rather crude.

Not only did he quickly call a board meeting, but before Old Master Shen had even passed away, he moved straight into the chairman’s office.

Everything seemed to be falling into place.

However, just as Shen Hongyuan had gotten comfortable in the chairman’s chair, Old Master Shen was discharged from the hospital.

The old man, close to seventy, took a huge risk and had eye surgery.

Even before the bandages were removed, he went straight into the chairman’s office with his assistant and ordered for Shen Hongyuan’s things to be thrown out.

The father-son conflict became a huge spectacle.

In an instant, Shen Hongyuan became the laughingstock of the entire Shen family.

During that time, several of Shen Hongyuan’s younger cousins came forward, eager to flatter Old Master Shen.

They were all just waiting for the chance to be noticed, hoping to rise to the top in one swift move.

But Old Master Shen didn’t choose any of them.

It seemed like he suddenly understood the importance of practicing the trumpet and directly took his grandson in to raise.

This, in an invisible way, was another slap to Shen Hongyuan’s face.

“Fathers get older and they tend to see their sons in a bad light,” Old Master Gu said, casting a sideways glance at Gu Qing.

He continued, “But your grandfather really had his issues. Your older brother, Xingyu, seemed to me like a pretty good candidate. He was responsible, capable, and quick to learn, and his age was right. If he had been trained for another ten years, he could have taken over.”

“But your grandfather still wasn’t satisfied. He said the boy was getting too old and had picked up your father’s bad habits.”

“He then turned to your second brother, but he thought your second brother was too noisy, too rebellious.”

Old Master Gu clicked his tongue twice as if almost saying out loud how troublesome Old Master Shen was to deal with.

But after a brief silence, he sighed again.

“As you get older, it’s hard to watch yourself go from being capable of handling everything to being powerless, needing to rely on others just to get by. Naturally, it’s hard to accept in the heart.”

“Your grandfather was picky, but it was really because he couldn’t accept the fact that he was aging.”

“Then…”

Old Master Gu looked up at Lu Ran, “Your grandfather finally set his sights on you. Because you were the youngest, your personality hadn’t formed yet.”

“This old man, he wasn’t looking for a successor. He was just trying to mold someone into his image.”

“You were only two years old when your grandfather took you in. At that time, your mother seemed to have caused a scene, but she couldn’t win against your grandfather.”

Hearing this, Lu Ran was a bit surprised.

Old Master Gu seemed tired of talking, and with Gu Qing’s support, he stood up and walked around for a bit before looking at Lu Ran and smiling.

“Later on, it was probably because you were so clingy as a child. Having a little one around his side, your grandfather was a lot quieter.”

When people grow old, they tend to dwell on the past.

Old Master Gu, having gotten into the habit of reminiscing, continued telling Lu Ran more amusing stories from his childhood.

Until it was lunchtime when Gu Zhi came rushing in.

“Dad, still talking? It’s already this late, aren’t you hungry?”

“Who’s like you, always thinking about eating!” Old Master Gu chided.

Saying this, he glanced at Gu Zhi, then looked over at the quiet figure of Ji Min sitting beside them.

Suddenly, Old Master Gu leaned closer to Lu Ran and whispered, “Back then, your grandfather and I arranged a marriage between our families.”

“But then you got lost, and Ningqi, that fool, is brainless. I thought it would be good to find someone with a bit more sense to balance things out, so I agreed to him getting close to that Ranran.”

“Now…” Old Master Gu lowered his voice even more, “I see Ningqi doesn’t interest you, but Gu Zhi is a good age. When you were younger, you liked playing around him. You could consider him.”

Old Master Gu was enthusiastically playing matchmaker.

Ji Min, who had been sitting quietly beside them, suddenly spoke up, “Old Master, it’s already noon. We shouldn’t bother you any longer.”

“What’s your rush?” Old Master Gu chuckled, casting a glance at Ji Min.

“Grandfather, but I don’t like Uncle Gu,” Lu Ran suddenly said.

Old Master Gu was taken aback for a moment before he laughed, “You young people are really something these days.”

After that, Old Master Gu kept them for lunch.

It wasn’t until they were struggling with sleepiness in the afternoon that he finally let Lu Ran and Ji Min leave.

It had rained lightly a couple of days ago, and today the weather was still gloomy.

Lu Ran and Ji Min walked out of the Gu residence together.

Other guests who had been invited earlier were gradually heading home.

The surroundings were bustling with activity.

But Lu Ran and Ji Min didn’t speak.

Lu Ran was still processing everything Old Master Gu had just said.

Before coming here, when he saw those photos, he had wondered whether his grandfather would care deeply for him.

Now, after hearing Old Master Gu’s description of Old Master Shen, Lu Ran wasn’t sure what his feelings were.

Old Master Shen, such a control freak, a “tyrant” who couldn’t even trust his own son, clearly had ulterior motives when he took Lu Ran in as a child.

If it was disappointment, he couldn’t really say that either.

In fact, Lu Ran felt that this was probably more normal.

In a family like the Shen family, it didn’t seem likely there could be a grandfather who would dote on him and spoil him.

Lu Ran was lost in thought.

But Ji Min suddenly spoke up: “What Old Master Gu said was just his judgment. As you get older, it’s possible he’s misremembered some things.”

Lu Ran was stunned for a moment.

He leaned on the back of his wheelchair, bending forward to look into Ji Min’s eyes, and smiled, asking, “Boss, are you trying to comfort me?”

Ji Min was momentarily caught off guard.

“Just walk your own path,” Ji Min said.

Lu Ran remained still, leaning on the back of Ji Min’s chair.

Suddenly, he reached out as if to touch Ji Min’s hair.

Ji Min grabbed his hand and sighed. “Tell me, what’s wrong with my head? Why do you always want to pat it?”

The young man didn’t struggle to break free when Ji Min held his wrist.

He simply said, with no context, “Boss, you seem like a little bear.”

“…” Ji Min was silent for a moment before replying, “Is that some new way of insulting people?”

Lu Ran: “…”

“It’s the kind of little bear that’s nice to touch,” he explained.

Ji Min: “…”

He couldn’t really associate that description with himself.

Once they left the Gu family’s garden, the outside was quite lively.

A group of middle school students was on a spring outing, crowded in front of a small gift shop, picking out souvenirs.

Shen Xingyu and the others had also come out.

From a distance, Shen Xingyu glanced at Lu Ran, then walked over and asked, “Aren’t you coming back with us?”

Lu Ran was about to open the car door to get into Ji Min’s car when he heard the question and raised an eyebrow.

Shen Xingyu spoke calmly, “I thought, after hearing what Old Master Gu said, you’d want to go home and take a look.”

“No need,” Lu Ran replied.

Suddenly, he seemed to notice something out of the corner of his eye. He withdrew the foot he had already placed inside the car.

Excited, he said, “Boss, wait for me for a moment.”

He then crossed the street and headed towards the bustling gift shop on the opposite side.

Shen Xingyu didn’t have anything else to say to Ji Min and walked back to his own car.

Ji Min didn’t get into the car either.

His wheelchair stopped by the roadside as he watched the young man push his way into the gift shop.

After a moment, Ji Min spoke to the driver, “Why hasn’t he asked recently?”

“Huh?” The driver didn’t understand.

Not having the same mind-reading ability as Butler Chen, he could only express a puzzled sound.

Why hasn’t he asked… if I like him?

But Ji Min didn’t voice that thought.

Actually, when Ji Min listened to the conversation between Old Master Gu and Lu Ran today, he wasn’t as calm on the inside as he appeared on the outside.

The Gu family was clearly very close to Lu Ran and they were very friendly toward him.

Old Master Gu even doted on Lu Ran to some extent, knowing about those precious moments from the boy’s childhood.

Although Lu Ran didn’t say much, it was obvious that he was enjoying himself.

At that moment, Ji Min couldn’t help but think… Lu Ran and Gu Zhi really seemed like a perfect match.

The child could live in the familiar Gu family household, spending every day chatting with Old Master Gu.

People from Gu Qing’s generation were also very fond of children, and if Gu Zhi could settle down, he wasn’t a bad person.

Gu Zhi had a higher status. Gu Ningqi couldn’t make things difficult for Lu Ran.

As Ji Min assessed the situation seriously, his heart felt like it was being torn apart.

He even wondered…

Was he too selfish for wanting to take Lu Ran away?

On the opposite side of the street, Lu Ran emerged from the crowded gift shop again.

He was holding a fluffy little bear in his arms.

The bear had soft black fur, and around its neck was a blue bow tie.

It looked very much like Ji Min’s tie.

The young man waited for the green light, panting as he ran across the street, holding the bear.

Once he crossed the center line, he waved the bear at Ji Min. “Boss, look!”

Suddenly, the sharp sound of an engine roared to life.

A car waiting at the red light suddenly revved up, speeding straight toward Lu Ran, who was still in the middle of the road.

Ji Min’s pupils contracted sharply.

Shen Xingyu and Shen Xingzhuo turned their heads in unison.

In that instant, the air seemed to be sucked dry.

All the noise around them became distant and muffled, leaving only the slow and distorted rumble of the car and the screams of pedestrians.

Then came the muffled, heavy thud of someone falling.

And the vibrations of the car’s impact.

It wasn’t until the nearby red light turned green that…

A shadow flew to Ji Min’s feet.

It was the little black bear that had been waving in Lu Ran’s hands just moments ago.

“Ah!”

It was the scream of the students from across the street.

Ji Min snapped back to his senses.

The man futilely held out his hand, his body leaning forward as if trying to pull the boy from a few meters away.

But the wheelchair firmly restrained his legs, preventing him from getting any closer.

The speeding car broke through the guardrail and crashed into the greenbelt, flipping over.

Ji Min’s assistant and driver hurried over, their faces full of concern.

“President, are you alright?”

It felt as if Ji Min’s throat had been clenched in a vise.

He waved away the hands of his assistant and driver in a daze. After a while, he remembered to control the wheelchair.

He began moving toward the street.

Suddenly, a voice from a pedestrian rang out in relief: “It’s fine! The person’s fine! They dodged it!”

Ji Min’s heart, which had been tightly squeezed, trembled.

He frantically scanned the area and finally saw that on the side of the street, Shen Xingyu was propping himself up and climbing to his feet.

He then bent down to lift the boy who had fallen on the ground.

Ji Min’s fingers hit the empty air twice before he successfully maneuvered the wheelchair over.

His hoarse voice finally managed to say, “Call an ambulance.”

Shen Xingyu frowned as he looked down at the trembling boy in his arms.

When the car had rushed toward them earlier, Lu Ran had instinctively dodged.

That’s why he had been able to pull him out of the way in time.

Fortunately, it was just a fall.

But it seemed that the shock had shaken the boy so much that he continued to tremble uncontrollably in Shen Xingyu’s arms.

Shen Xingyu was about to put the boy into his own car when he was stopped by the person in the wheelchair.

Looking down, Shen Xingyu froze for a moment when he saw Ji Min’s appearance.

The man’s eyes were red-rimmed.

He looked disheveled and distressed.

Ji Min, who had always been calm and composed, was in this state for the first time in Shen Xingyu’s presence.

“Give him back to me,” Ji Min said.

His voice was rough like sandpaper rubbing against skin. It was hoarse beyond measure.

Before Shen Xingyu could respond, the man repeated, each word emphasized: “Give him back to me!”

As he spoke, Shen Xingyu even saw the man brace his arms against the wheelchair, almost as if he was trying to stand up.

“Boss…”

It seemed like Ji Min’s voice had reached Lu Ran. The boy let out a muffled sound, “I’m fine…”

Shen Xingyu pressed his lips together and said, “He’s still trembling.”

As he spoke, he turned and moved around Ji Min, avoiding him.

“He’s trembling because he’s scared of you!”

Ji Min shouted in a hoarse voice.

Shen Xingyu froze in place, and the image of the child’s startled expression when he had scolded him flashed through his mind.

After a long silence, he bent down and gently placed the boy in his arms onto Ji Min’s lap.

It wasn’t until he felt the warmth belonging to Lu Ran that Ji Min started to regain a bit of rationality.

He didn’t try to restrain the boy’s body but instead gently checked him over.

His voice trembled as he asked, “Is anything uncomfortable? Does anything hurt?”

“No…”

Sensing Ji Min’s familiar and reassuring presence, Lu Ran slowly began to recover.

He moved his hands and feet to show Ji Min. “I’m fine. I wasn’t hit. Boss, you don’t need to…”

Before he could finish, the man’s sudden embrace interrupted him.

Lu Ran felt the weight of the hug, which was heavy with lingering fear but also careful not to hurt him.

Lu Ran even noticed that the man’s hair was trembling.

He wasn’t sure whether it was his own trembling that had transferred to Ji Min or if Ji Min was trembling himself.

Lu Ran couldn’t help but think…

Even someone like Ji Min would be afraid?

“Boss… don’t be scared. I’m fine…”

Before he could finish, he felt soft warmth gently land on his eyelids, forehead, cheek…

And the corner of his lips.

It was as if the man was confirming his existence, kissing him one by one.

Gentle, like petals falling from a flower in the wind.

But it carried with it a heavy, warm breath.

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