CFRFGC Chapter 111

⌈I miss you.⌋

Fang Chen froze awkwardly.

“Ahahaha… why would you think that?” he chuckled dryly.

Lu Ran said nothing, just silently stared at him.

After a moment, Fang Chen couldn’t hold out any longer.

He was already somewhat afraid of Lu Ran, so he could only confess honestly, “Alright, fine, it’s true.”

Lu Ran quietly folded his lab coat.

Carrying his backpack, he walked out of the laboratory.

As he passed Fang Chen, he turned his head and glanced at him, his voice low and sullen, saying, “I don’t need anyone to keep me company.”

Fang Chen was a little surprised.

Not at the content of Lu Ran’s words, but at the expression and attitude with which he said them.

Previously, in Fang Chen’s eyes, Lu Ran was either a warrior or a demon.

This man was different from normal people. Everything he said or did carried an unpredictable edge.

Not the kind of unpredictability that hinted at unfathomable depths.

But the kind where you couldn’t tell when he might suddenly do something absurd.

Especially those eyes of his—dark and heavy—just looking into them sent chills down one’s spine for no apparent reason.

That’s why Fang Chen had always been a little afraid of Lu Ran, thinking he was an oddball.

But now, after Lu Ran brought up Ji Min and said, “I don’t need anyone to keep me company”, it was the same cold indifference as always.

Yet Fang Chen saw in Lu Ran a rare and extreme stubbornness.

Of course, that stubbornness wasn’t directed at him.

“Hey, you’re actually kind of interesting,” Fang Chen said.

Lu Ran had no intention of engaging with anyone at the moment.

He simply slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed to his part-time job at a fast-food restaurant.

As he mechanically entered orders, his mind wandered off elsewhere.

The two bodyguards stationed in the store today were new faces. At a glance, they looked no different from regular customers.

While he was working, Lu Ran’s phone chimed.

It was a message from the class group chat.

The counselor tagged all members in the group chat, reminding day students to submit the monthly parental agreement form.

The agreement form was simple—just a template requiring a parent’s signature, a date, and contact information.

A trivial thing, yet it had once been troublesome for Lu Ran.

After moving into Ji Min’s home, he relied on Ji Min to fill it out for him.

But now…

Lu Ran hadn’t even begun to think about how he’d deal with it this month.

Then the new butler at his home sent him a message.

It was a photo of the completed form.

For a moment, Lu Ran felt disoriented.

Holding his phone, he stood dazed behind the counter.

It wasn’t until a new customer entered the store that he snapped out of it.

As he busied himself with work, his mind wandered back to the day Ji Min went to the hospital.

In the car, Ji Min had asked if Lu Ran had anything he wanted to tell him.

The man, usually so long-winded like an elder, had only said, “In such a short time, what’s there to explain?”

Such a short time…

On the weekend, Fang Chen came to the fast-food restaurant where Lu Ran worked again.

The moment he walked in, he raised his hand and declared, “Just to be clear, I came here on my own this time. I think you’re a pretty interesting person!”

Lu Ran didn’t pay him much attention and went about his work as usual.

However, at the end of his shift, he glanced at Fang Chen for a moment.

Lu Ran didn’t have many friends. He’d had no family since he was young.

So he didn’t really know how normal people spent time with friends.

After a moment of silence, he slowly asked, “Do you want to come to my place?”

Fang Chen’s eyes lit up, and he eagerly followed along.

On the way, Lu Ran sent a message to the butler, asking for dinner to be prepared for two.

Fang Chen had assumed Lu Ran would take him to the Shen family estate, but when they arrived, he realized it was Ji Min’s house.

Surprised, he teased, “So you’ve moved into Ji Min’s place, huh!”

Lu Ran didn’t respond.

When the butler saw Fang Chen, he showed no sign of surprise.

After dinner, the two of them lounged on the living room sofa, playing games against each other while cuddling the dog.

Fang Chen yelled as he played: “Brutal! Damn, you’re brutal! That damage output—your fingers are about to poke through the screen!”

This was Lu Ran’s first time staying up late gaming with a friend.

This sort of experience, so common among people their age, was entirely new to him.

After a few rounds of dueling, the two teamed up and wreaked havoc together.

When they got bored, Fang Chen put down his phone and started petting Da Huang while glancing around at the Ji family’s living room decor.

Shaking his head, he sighed, “Ji Min’s house is even duller than my grandpa’s place. Don’t you find it boring? Next week, I’ll take you to my house instead…”

Lu Ran stared at the character on his phone screen but found himself wondering how Ji Min’s surgery would go next week.

Leaning over the back of the sofa, Fang Chen observed Lu Ran’s expression and suddenly said: “Do you know how Ji Min got me to come over?”

Lu Ran lifted his head to look at him. “What did he say to you?”

“Say to me? Nah!”

Fang Chen waved his hand before continuing, “He went straight to my dad. Told him he had to go on a long trip and was worried about some kid at home, so he wanted someone his age to keep you company.”

Lu Ran blinked twice.

“Has Ji Min ever begged anyone for anything? When my dad saw him personally make a request, he felt like a big shot. No way he’d refuse, so he ordered me to take good care of you.”

Fang Chen pursed his lips and shook his head.

After chatting a bit more, Fang Chen reluctantly let go of Da Huang and headed to the guest room to sleep.

Lu Ran stayed in the living room for a while longer.

He eventually went upstairs, took Da Huang back to its spot, then walked to Ji Min’s bedroom door and pushed it open.

He climbed onto the bed, lying down slowly.

Lu Ran thought to himself, Ji Min really did go the extra mile picking a playmate for him.

With Ji Min’s status, he could have picked any young master with a snap of his fingers.

But he chose Fang Chen.

Fang Chen was a good person, no doubt.

But more importantly, because of Lu Ran’s history with the Shen family, Fang Chen was deeply afraid of him.

And in their social circle, plenty of people feared Fang Chen.

So, with Fang Chen being afraid of him, Lu Ran found himself in a position where no one else dared to provoke him.

What’s more…

Lu Ran turned over and hugged his pillow.

What’s more, Fang Chen’s spoiled young master temper was absolutely not the kind of personality Lu Ran liked.

So… this playmate was still very safe.

Lu Ran felt like laughing.

But after laughing, he suddenly felt a twinge of sadness.

He opened Ji Min’s WeChat and typed a line into the chat box: “I miss you.”

But there was no reply from the other side.

Lu Ran knew Ji Min was already undergoing pre-surgery preparations.

On the day Ji Min entered the operating room, Lu Ran was still holed up in the lab.

In fact, he didn’t need to be at the lab today—he should have been at work.

But at the fast-food restaurant earlier, his condition was clearly off.

Not only did he mess up customers’ orders, but he also squeezed chili sauce onto a plate instead of ketchup.

In the end, the boss couldn’t stand it anymore and asked if something was wrong at home, giving him the day off.

Now, Lu Ran stood at the lab bench, holding a pipette and mechanically injecting samples into centrifuge tubes one by one.

He almost robotically drew up the samples.

The senior lab sister standing across from him watched for a while before she couldn’t take it anymore.

She finally whispered a reminder, “Um… that tube has been filled over ten times already—it’s overflowing.”

Lu Ran froze, looked down at the equipment in front of him, and only then uttered an “Oh.”

Fearing that his recent experiments might end up ruined, Lu Ran left the lab and wandered around the teaching building.

Fang Chen came looking for him again.

Seeing his expression, Fang Chen was visibly surprised.

“What’s up with you?” Fang Chen asked. “Jeez! Ji Min’s just on a business trip—he’ll be back in a while. Do you really have to be this out of sorts, lovesick and all?”

Lu Ran didn’t respond.

After a moment of silence, he suddenly asked, “Do you have anyone you need to deal with today?”

“Huh?” Fang Chen was caught off guard. He took a step back, eyes wary. “What do you want to do?”

Lu Ran stretched his wrist and said, “Just want to loosen up a bit.”

Fang Chen frantically shook his head. “No, no, no! There’s currently no one in need of brutal punishment!”

Lu Ran sighed in disappointment.

“How about we go play real-life CS? That’s good for stretching out too,” Fang Chen suggested.

“Not exciting enough,” Lu Ran replied, shaking his head.

Then he patted Fang Chen on the shoulder and said, “I know what I want to do now.”

Lu Ran made a trip back to the Shen family home.

Just as he was about to step through the front gates, the bodyguard following behind him stopped him.

The bodyguard lowered his head, typing something on his phone.

Not long after, two more people arrived. Only then did the bodyguard say, “You can go in now.”

Lu Ran: “…”

He glanced at the Shen family gates and suddenly lost all interest in entering.

Right now, he was indeed itching for an excuse to lose his temper.

But considering that someone had arranged so many people around him for his safety, he couldn’t just recklessly act out without any thought.

Lu Ran turned back to the Ji family home.

He wandered the yard with Da Huang for a long time, lingering until nightfall before reluctantly heading back to his room.

At some point, Fang Chen called to ask if he wanted to go out, but Lu Ran refused.

He didn’t want to go anywhere now.

Clearly, he wasn’t the one in the hospital.

Only Ji Min was there. And yet, even though Lu Ran still had his studies, his work, and the freedom to entertain himself like always, it felt as though he were trapped in front of an invisible operating room door.

After dinner, lying in bed, Lu Ran couldn’t resist glancing at the time.

He counted the hours. From the moment Ji Min had actually entered the operating room, it had already been over ten hours.

With that thought, an inexplicable restlessness began to creep in.

Lu Ran couldn’t help but try to comfort himself.

Major surgeries often took this long. Especially something involving the nervous system—it was incredibly complex.

Nothing would go wrong.

Lying in bed, Lu Ran drifted into a half-dreaming, half-awake state.

A string in his mind remained taut, refusing to let him fully fall asleep.

However, the excessive tension made him fall into a state of drowsiness as a form of self-protection.

Lu Ran could only doze off for a moment before forcing his eyes open again to check his phone.

He glanced at the empty message list, stared at the screen, and then couldn’t help but close his eyes once more.

Back and forth, the cycle continued.

As this tense state dragged on, Lu Ran couldn’t help but sit up in frustration.

He began to regret not causing a scene when he passed by the Shen family earlier.

At the very least, he should have poured all the water beads he’d bought down their drains, just to let the Shen family experience what it felt like when a toilet couldn’t flush properly.

Lu Ran brooded for a long while, pounding his chest in regret.

Just as he couldn’t resist the urge to crawl out of bed in the middle of the night and rush to the Shen family to wreak havoc—

Ding.

His phone buzzed with a notification.

All thoughts of water beads vanished.

He quickly turned around, fumbling to grab his phone. His hands were clumsy as he unlocked it and opened the message list.

It was a voice message from Butler Chen.

Lu Ran stared at the unusually long audio clip, hesitating for a good while before finally biting the bullet and tapping play.

In an instant, Butler Chen’s delighted and relieved tone rang out: “The surgery is over. The doctor said it was a great success. However, sir is still under anesthesia and will need a day or two to fully recover before he can contact you.”

At this point, Butler Chen chuckled lightly and added: “He specifically instructed me that as soon as he came out of the operating room, I was to inform you of the outcome.”

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