CFRFGC Chapter 140

⌈”Ranran will accompany brother, then brother won’t be afraid anymore.”⌋

“…I-I wasn’t crying,” Ji Min muttered.

Ranran blinked and thought to himself, Big Brother was clearly crying.

Ji Min sat on the carpet, holding the little child in his arms.

The vulnerability he showed lasted only a fleeting moment before he quickly suppressed it.

But even such a brief lapse felt like a rare comfort and release for him.

Ji Min loosened his embrace slightly.

The child in his arms was still in pajamas. His slippers have fallen to the ground, leaving his small feet bare.

Ji Min reached out to help him put on his slippers, gently squeezed his little hand, and asked, “Are you cold?”

The child shook his head.

Noticing that Ji Min’s mood had improved, a faint smile finally appeared on the child’s face.

Ji Min let out a soft chuckle and nuzzled his cheek.

On a rainy summer night, the air still held a chill.

The child had been standing near the door for a long time, his cheeks cool to the touch.

After a moment of silence, Ji Min asked, “Were you upset because Big Brother ignored you?”

The child shook his head and looked up at him with obedient eyes. “Ranran would never be upset with Big Brother.”

Ji Min lived in the Ji family. He was frighteningly intelligent, capable of seeing through things far beyond his age.

If Ranran were two years older, Ji Min might have suspected the child of deliberately trying to please him.

But the child was only four years old, looking up at him with a pair of pure, innocent eyes.

The child didn’t understand much—he simply cared whether Ji Min was happy or sad.

This pure, unadulterated concern softened Ji Min’s heart.

Ji Min asked again,

“Everyone else avoids me, afraid I’ll lose my temper. But you came so close. Aren’t you afraid I’ll get angry and scold you?”

This time, the child stared at him for a moment, then stood on his tiptoes to pat Ji Min’s forehead and said, “Ranran knows Big Brother is just in a bad mood.”

The child added, “It’s okay if Big Brother scolds Ranran.”

Ji Min froze.

When his gaze met the child’s eyes, he was surprised to find that Ranran was completely sincere.

It was as if, to the child, being reprimanded or yelled at didn’t matter as long as it came from someone he liked, someone he was close to.

“Who taught you to say something like that?”

Ji Min reached out and tapped the child’s forehead. He found it absurd but couldn’t suppress the ache in his heart.

He gave a serious reminder: “Ranran, you must never wrong yourself for someone else in the future.”

“But Big Brother isn’t ‘someone else.’ Ranran doesn’t feel wronged,” the child replied.

“That’s still not okay!”

Ji Min pulled the child into his arms again.

Thinking back to how he had just ignored the child and left him aside, Ji Min felt an overwhelming urge to slap himself a few times.

He pressed his lips together and said, “No one can treat you like that—not even me.”

The child’s eyes were filled with confusion, clearly not understanding what Ji Min meant.

It was already late at night. Instead of replying, the child let out a yawn.

Seeing this, Ji Min didn’t say anything more.

He picked up the child and headed toward the children’s room.

But halfway there, he abruptly changed direction and walked toward his own bedroom instead.

The child, groggy with sleep, rested on Ji Min’s shoulder, rubbing his eyes. He looked back at the children’s room, which was getting farther and farther away.

Patting Ji Min with his small hand, he said, “Big Brother, you’re lost! My room is over there!”

Ji Min paused for a moment but continued walking to his own room, offering a self-assured reply, “Kids don’t need their own rooms. They should sleep with the adults.”

After he said that, Ji Min noticed the child looking at him, letting out a deep sigh as if he were utterly disappointed.

Ji Min: “…?”

Ranran looked up at him, shook his head, and said earnestly, “Big Brother, you’re already so grown up. You should learn to sleep by yourself.”

Ji Min: “…”

Adopting the tone of someone with experience, the child continued to advise him, “A real man isn’t afraid of the dark. If you’re scared, hide under the blanket.”

Ji Min was stunned for a couple of seconds.

A wave of amused exasperation surged within him, instantly washing away the sadness left by Old Master Ji.

He placed the child on the edge of the bed, crouched down, and looked him in the eye. “Hmm? What did Ranran just say?”

Ranran, thinking Ji Min didn’t believe him, tried hard to explain: “It’s true!”

As he spoke, he pulled back Ji Min’s blanket and demonstrated.

The child grabbed the thin blanket and covered himself completely, head and all, curling up into a tiny ball underneath.

His muffled voice came through the blanket: “See? Like this, you won’t be scared anymore.”

Ji Min stared at the small figure outlined beneath the blanket.

The smile on his face softened.

Reaching out, he lightly patted the blanket, as if comforting a little snail retreating into its shell.

Slowly, the child wriggled out from under the blanket.

The weather was still a bit stuffy. After being under the blanket for just a while, the child’s cheeks were flushed red.

Ji Min finally realized that every time he went to check on Ranran while he was sleeping, his face was always red.

He had always thought that all kids slept like that.

He hadn’t expected it to be because of the blanket smothering him.

“Ranran, have you always been scared?” Ji Min asked.

The child, who had been so enthusiastic just moments ago, suddenly fell silent.

He knelt on the bed, lowered his head, and fiddled with his fingers.

After a long pause, he whispered, “Just a little scared.”

“But Big Brother is very scared,” Ji Min said.

The moment he said that, the child’s eyes lit up instantly, revealing a trace of delight at finding someone like him, mixed with a bit of worry.

He reached out his small hand and patted Ji Min, saying, “Then Ranran will stay with Big Brother, so Big Brother won’t be scared anymore.”

Perhaps because he was too tired, the child quickly fell asleep.

The little one in Ji Min’s arms was warm, a warmth unlike anything Ji Min had ever experienced.

It was the warmest feeling he had ever held.

Exhausted as well, the teenager slowly closed his eyes.

Later that night, when Butler Chen got up, he noticed that the living room light hadn’t been turned off and that the door to Ji Min’s bedroom was open.

When he went to check, he found a big kid and a little kid, their heads pressed together, fast asleep.

The next day, Ji Min instructed the staff to clean the room next to the children’s room and move in himself.

He also asked them to find a few fairy tale books suitable for children.

Ranran always went to bed early.

Though he was a little afraid, he had developed the good habit of sleeping on his own at a young age.

On the other hand, Ji Min had evening lessons, so staying with Ranran all night wasn’t realistic.

But he could read him bedtime stories.

With their rooms close by, Ranran could come to him directly if he got scared.

Once everything was set up, Ji Min went to the study for his lessons.

Inside the study, the tutor had been waiting for a while.

When the teenager entered, the tutor was just about to start the lesson.

But Ji Min turned to the child trailing behind him like a little tail and said, “Ranran, Big Brother can’t find his pencil case. Can you go ask Uncle where it is?”

The child nodded and pattered off.

Watching the little figure disappear down the hallway, Ji Min’s expression remained calm as he walked into the study.

He skipped over the tutor’s prepared PowerPoint slides and sat in the chair.

His posture was far from proper.

“Young Master, today’s lesson is on the group’s industrial structure…”

The tutor’s voice trailed off under Ji Min’s quiet but imposing gaze.

Ji Min said nothing.

Though only fourteen, he already exuded the budding pressure of an authority figure.

Unable to help himself, the tutor put down the teaching materials in his hands and said nervously, “…Young Master?”

The tutor could more or less guess why Ji Min was acting this way.

It was most likely because he had taken it upon himself to inform Old Master Ji about Ranran’s performance in class.

Ji Min spoke in a calm tone: “Teacher, the salary my grandfather gives you must be quite high, right?”

The tutor let out an awkward laugh.

Ji Min didn’t bring up the issue about Ranran directly; instead, he talked about unrelated matters.

He asked, “Teacher, you probably know that before you, my grandfather hired many finance tutors.”

“Yes, yes,” the tutor replied quickly. “I heard they were all dismissed because they weren’t skilled enough.”

Ji Min gave him a faint smile. “Teacher, who do you think determines the skill level of a private tutor?”

The teenager’s lips curved slightly, but his smile was indifferent.

Though Ji Min didn’t explicitly say it, the tutor immediately understood his implication.

Just then, the sound of light, hurried footsteps came from outside the study.

Ranran came running in, holding a pencil case.

The sharp, imposing aura around Ji Min instantly vanished without a trace.

—

Over time, Ranran had been staying at the Ji residence for more than a month.

Worried that the child might feel stifled, Ji Min often took him out for walks.

Ranran was no longer as reserved as when he first arrived and his playful side gradually began to show.

Sometimes, he would sneak the vegetables he didn’t like into Ji Min’s bowl.

Other times, he would dig up worms just to scare him.

Ji Min didn’t like eating vegetables either.

But seeing Ranran like this gave him a strange sense of satisfaction.

—

On a sunny day, Ranran was busy with a small shovel, digging around in the flowerbed.

The expensive flowers originally planted in the flowerbed had all been uprooted.

The entire flowerbed looked like it had been plowed over.

Suddenly, Ranran seemed to discover something exciting.

He ran over to Ji Min, beaming. He held out his dirty little hands to show him a wriggling creature.

“Big Brother! It’s a bug!”

Ji Min felt goosebumps rise all over his body.

He sighed and corrected, “It’s an earthworm.”

“We can use it to feed the birds!” Ranran said cheerfully, carefully placing the squirming earthworm into his pocket as if it were a treasure.

Ji Min’s eyelid twitched uncontrollably for a moment.

In the end, Ji Min couldn’t bring himself to scold Ranran harshly, but he also couldn’t stand the thought of the child putting that filthy thing in his pocket.

So, suppressing his discomfort, he stretched out his hand and said, “Come, let big brother hold it for you.”

Ranran carefully placed the earthworm in Ji Min’s palm and even reminded him, “Big brother, hold it tight. Don’t let the worm run away.”

Ji Min: “…”

With a resigned expression, Ji Min took Ranran’s hand and led him to feed the earthworm to the two chickens raised by Uncle Chen.

Just as they finished, someone arrived at the front yard.

It was two police officers—coincidentally the same officers Ranran had seen back at the hospital.

Over a month had passed since then. Seeing the familiar policewoman and policeman again, Ranran waved at them with a cheerful smile.

However, Ji Min’s heart tensed. He couldn’t quite explain the emotions churning within him.

He called out, “Ranran.”

The child ran back to him, grabbing his shirt and looking up with a curious face. “Big brother, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Ji Min forced a faint smile and said, “Why don’t you help Uncle Chen serve tea to everyone?”

Ranran, who loved trailing after Uncle Chen to help out, nodded enthusiastically and followed him off.

Ji Min watched Ranran’s little figure for a while before turning back to the police officers.

He asked, “What brings you here this time? Have you…”

The boy hesitated, his voice dry as he continued, “Have you found Ranran’s family?”

The police didn’t seem to notice the complexity in his tone.

With a sigh, one of them replied, “No progress yet. Four years ago, newborn DNA collection wasn’t as widespread. None of the recent missing child reports match either.”

The policewoman thought for a moment and added, “We did get a report from an elderly man saying his grandson was missing. But when the child’s father came to provide details, the location where the child went missing was quite far from where Ranran was found.”

Hearing this, Ji Min couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

But almost immediately, he felt a sense of shame for feeling relieved.

The police continued, “This visit is to remind you that Ranran’s missing person status will soon reach the 60-day mark. His identity information will need to be filed with the welfare institution.”

Ji Min snapped out of his thoughts and frowned. “Ranran can’t stay here with me?”

“Well…”

The officers exchanged glances before answering, “You’ll need to coordinate with the welfare institution staff. Director Lu should visit in a while to discuss this.”

After the police left, Ji Min felt both relieved and troubled.

Ranran, oblivious to what had happened, remained in the study, happily drawing insect illustrations with his colored pencils.

Sitting anxiously on the sofa for a while, Ji Min suddenly straightened up, lowered his voice, and said solemnly, “Ranran should take my surname in the future. I’ll adopt him.”

Uncle Chen: “…”

With a hint of amusement, Uncle Chen gently reminded him, “Pardon me for being blunt, young master, but you don’t meet the requirements to adopt a child.”

Ji Min’s enthusiasm faltered as he realized the truth in Uncle Chen’s words. Frustrated, he plopped back onto the sofa.

After brooding for a moment, he turned to Uncle Chen again. “Then you adopt Ranran.”

Uncle Chen, half-laughing, half-exasperated, replied, “I don’t meet the requirements either.”

Ji Min fell silent, his frustration evident.

Seeing the young boy truly distressed, Uncle Chen fell silent for a moment before suggesting,

“If you’re determined to keep Ranran, perhaps a qualified member of the Ji family could adopt him.”

Ji Min remained silent for a long time after hearing this.

Finally, he glanced at the child in the study, happily swinging his little legs, and said softly, “Let me think of a way.”

A few days later, Director Lu from the welfare institution came for a visit.

Director Lu was a kind and gentle elderly man.

After arriving at the Ji household, he played with Ranran for a while before discussing the child’s situation with Ji Min.

After leaving Ji Min’s courtyard, Director Lu also met with Ji Min’s grandfather.

Ji Min had already informed his grandfather in advance.

When Director Lu left this time, he didn’t take Ranran with him.

Ranran remained at the Ji household under the guise of being a sponsored orphan.

A few days later, Director Lu sent over a registration document and an identity card.

In the name section of the registration document, the characters “Lu Ran” were written.

Ji Min showed the document to Ranran.

The child was excited. “Wow! Ranran finally has a full name!”

Ji Min asked, “Do you like this name?”

The child nodded. “Yes!”

The teenager couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous. He said, “That Director Lu only came a few times and you already like him so much?”

The child, however, hugged Ji Min’s leg and said, “But this name was given to Ranran by big brother!”

Ji Min couldn’t help but chuckle.

He lowered his head, gazing at the child in front of him.

The child had been missing for nearly two months, yet no family members had come looking for him.

Ji Min didn’t know what Ranran’s previous name was.

Nor did he know whether the child had lived a happy life before.

But Ji Min hoped that this new name could bring the child a new future.

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