CFRFGC Chapter 124

⌈The little man in the painting was trapped in a hospital bed.⌋

Madam Shen was frozen in place by Shen Xingran’s words.

Shen Xingran didn’t linger any longer. He grabbed his suitcase and swaggered out of the Shen family’s villa.

He got into Jin Lino’s car.

After Shen Xingran’s outburst, the already suffocating Shen family became even more desolate.

Madam Shen, as if her soul had been taken, locked herself in her bedroom that day and didn’t even eat.

Shen Xingzhuo stood in the middle of the spacious living room for a long time.

Finally, he snapped out of it. Not daring to look at anyone and ignoring the reporters outside blocking the way, he left the Shen family’s villa directly.

Shen Xingyu sat quietly on the sofa for a while, stood up, and continued to head to the study to call his contacts for help.

The most energetic among them was probably Shen Hongyuan, lying in his hospital bed.

Since learning that the leak to the media came from Shen Xingran, Shen Hongyuan had fallen into an extreme state of anger.

He couldn’t understand why Shen Xingran would betray the Shen family.

Shen Hongyuan had considered the possibility that it was Lu Ran seeking revenge.

He had also suspected that it might be Shen Xingzhuo, who harbored resentment from his previous reprimands and was deliberately causing trouble.

He even considered the possibility of Shen Xingyu.

As children grow up, dangerous thoughts increase.

Shen Hongyuan had gone through his three biological sons in his mind, but the one he never suspected was Shen Xingran.

Because in his eyes, blood relations were the greatest guarantee.

Shen Xingyu and Shen Xingzhuo, who shared an unbreakable blood bond with him, were fearless and had the audacity to act.

But Shen Xingran?

He was just a helpless orphan, completely dependent on the love Shen Hongyuan had given him.

Shen Hongyuan had personally pushed Shen Xingran to the position he held now. In his eyes, without him, Shen Xingran was nothing.

So, Shen Xingran would always cling tightly to the Shen family. How could he possibly betray them?

Because he trusted Shen Xingran the most, Shen Hongyuan had placed him in an important position by his side.

But Shen Hongyuan never expected that, in the end, the one to betray him would be this orphan with no roots.

At noon, Shen Xingyu arrived at the hospital with the investigation team.

Shen Hongyuan, furious, had his blood pressure soar. The machines by his bed beeped loudly.

The investigators asked several questions, but Shen Hongyuan completely refused to cooperate, remaining silent.

But the evidence had already been gathered, so Shen Hongyuan’s testimony didn’t matter.

After taking the statement, the investigators stood up and said: “Mr. Shen Hongyuan, after investigation, you are suspected of illegally appropriating personal property, in amounts exceeding one hundred million…”

At this point, Shen Hongyuan, who had shown no reaction up until now, suddenly trembled, his pupils shaking as he looked up at the investigators.

Shen Xingyu’s expression darkened.

Shen Hongyuan began to speak in a confused and unclear manner: “Illegally appropriating personal property? That’s my company!”

The investigators glanced at him and explained in a professional tone: “Someone reported that fourteen years ago, you illegally altered your father’s will. The situation has now been largely verified and the lawyer involved has already confessed.”

“The ownership of Shen Corporation is still under further liquidation.”

“All assets under your name will now be frozen, awaiting a court decision.”

Shen Hongyuan lay in his hospital bed, his face ashen.

The investigators left soon after.

Shen Xingyu wasn’t surprised to hear about Shen Hongyuan’s illegal alteration of the will, nor did he press further.

Because, when he served as CEO of Shen Corporation, he already knew that the late Mr. Shen had left nearly all of his assets to his youngest grandson, Shen Xingran.

The truth always comes out eventually.

The chairman of Shen Corporation, after illegally appropriating company assets, was now exposed to the scandal of altering his father’s will.

Will alterations were the media’s favorite scandal.

At the height of Shen Corporation’s news coverage, this story quickly became the headline, fully satisfying the public’s appetite for gossip about so-called high society.

Ji Min had learned about it even earlier.

Before the media broke the news, while he was on the way to pick up Lu Ran, he dropped this bombshell: “Old Mr. Shen left all his inheritance to Shen Xingran.”

Lu Ran was facing some issues with his experiment.

While struggling to compile statistical data, he rolled his eyes upon hearing Ji Min’s words.

Rather annoyed, he muttered, “Can you stop telling me bad news like this?”

His parents and older brother were already revolving around Shen Xingran. And now even that stern old man, in a rare moment, left all his inheritance to Shen Xingran.

It was truly speechless.

But before Lu Ran could finish, Ji Min raised his hand and slapped him on the head.

“Ouch,” Lu Ran raised his hand to protect his head.

Ji Min took the experiment notebook from his hands and placed it aside.

With a tone of frustration, he said, “Don’t you have any ambition? When Old Mr. Shen passed away, it was still unclear whether Shen Xingran would even be adopted.”

“Your grandfather left all his inheritance to you.”

Lu Ran froze in surprise.

He had always kept a clear distinction between himself and the name “Shen Xingran”, so when he heard these words, there was no real sense of connection.

Lu Ran wasn’t shocked when he heard about the failed contract with Shen Corporation.

He didn’t react much when he found out that Shen Xingran had betrayed them.

But at this moment, he was genuinely surprised.

After the news about Shen Hongyuan altering the will broke, Shen Corporation fell into chaos.

What had originally been a financial mess now caused instability within the entire board of directors.

Within the board of directors, there were many veterans who had worked with Old Mr. Shen.

There were also people from the Gu family.

Upon hearing the news, they were all equally incredulous.

No one knew better than them what kind of person Old Mr. Shen was.

Old Mr. Shen single-handedly built Shen Corporation.

In his later years, nearly blind, he still busied himself with work.

He was a tyrant with a strong desire for control over power.

But at the same time, everyone knew that compared to his biological sons, Old Mr. Shen valued Shen Corporation itself more.

No one could have imagined that Old Mr. Shen would leave all his inheritance to a four- or five-year-old child.

The change in the ownership of shares was bound to cause great turmoil within the company.

If the real will had been made public back then, everyone would have believed it had been tampered with.

Soon, the mastermind behind this news was revealed.

After all, the person now holding the identity of “Shen Xingran” was not Lu Ran.

The Lino family and the Shen family truly were old enemies.

Old Lino somehow found the lawyer who had helped Shen Hongyuan alter the will and learned about Old Mr. Shen’s true will.

Old Lino had known about it for a long time, but he had kept quiet.

Now that he saw the Shen family in decline, he made his move.

After hearing the news, Lu Ran reflected on Old Lino’s previous attitude toward him and understood things more clearly.

It was likely that Old Lino knew full well that, even if Old Mr. Shen had been confused, he would never have left the entire Shen family to a newly adopted grandson.

So, at the beginning, he had extended an olive branch to Lu Ran.

But Lu Ran had kicked it aside.

Perhaps realizing that Lu Ran was difficult to control, he had opted for Shen Xingran.

The timing of the “real will” provided by the lawyer was very clever.

It came right after Shen Hongyuan had officially adopted Shen Xingran and registered him.

Moreover, the will specifically used the words “youngest grandson”.

And Shen Xingran was, by a few months, younger than Lu Ran.

Over the past decade or so, Old Mr. Shen had passed away.

Determining who exactly “Shen Xingran” referred to in the will, no matter which department looked into it, was a difficult task.

Soon, Ji Min’s assistant brought in Shen Xingyu’s call, telling Ji Min: “Mr. Shen requests to see Young Master Lu Ran.”

Ji Min didn’t immediately refuse, nor did he answer the phone.

That evening, after learning about the inheritance of Old Mr. Shen, Lu Ran stood by the window and stared into space for the entire night.

But the next day, he continued to go through his experimental data.

It seemed that the matter of the inheritance didn’t change his determination on certain things.

However, he also didn’t intend to just hand everything over to Shen Xingran.

He took the time to return to the orphanage, printed out some documents, and handed them over to his lawyer.

Ji Min didn’t interfere with Lu Ran’s decision.

He simply took the time to meet with Lu Ran’s therapist to inquire about his treatment progress.

After some time of psychological therapy, Lu Ran’s phantom pain hadn’t disappeared.

The therapist was also troubled.

She said, “The patient has a very high psychological defense. For the most part, he only complies with the treatment behaviorally, but he hasn’t fully engaged in the therapeutic process mentally.”

However, considering Lu Ran’s persistent phantom pain, the doctor thought for a moment and proposed an idea: “He once mentioned that he was pushed into a winter pool. This could possibly be the lingering effect of that trauma.”

“What?”

Upon hearing this, Ji Min furrowed his brows and asked, “What did he say? When was he pushed and by whom?”

Normally, therapists should keep patient information confidential.

But when signing the agreement, Lu Ran had no objection to Ji Min’s right to know.

Therefore, the doctor didn’t hide anything.

Lu Ran wouldn’t bring this up on his own.

The doctor asked only because she remembered a story Lu Ran had once told her.

A lost child, upon finding their family, discovered that the family only favored the adopted child who had taken their name and identity.

The lost child was bullied by the adopted child and was once pushed into a winter pool.

The relatives who witnessed it still sided with the adopted child.

The first time he told this story, Lu Ran didn’t say it was his own story.

But now his background was no longer a secret and it was easy to guess.

So the doctor asked the young man about the incident when he was pushed into the pool.

When answering this question, Lu Ran was sitting in the warm sunlight.

The young man turned his head to look at the street view outside the window, fell silent for a long time, and then only said two words: “It hurt.”

The pool water was ice-cold and piercing.

Each time he tried to climb out, he was pushed back down again.

A person would slowly lose strength in the water, feeling despair as if they could never get back up.

In the end, they would forget even how to struggle.

Ji Min lowered his gaze at the medical records in his hands.

But his mind was focused on the time when this event had occurred.

Lu Ran had only been recognized by the Shen family after entering college.

However, after the winter break, he had already known Ji Min.

It seemed… there wasn’t much time for this to have happened.

Being submerged in cold water in the middle of winter was no small matter.

At that time, Da Huang had already been fostered at Ji Min’s place. If there was anything unusual, Lu Ran would definitely notice it since he came over every day.

But Ji Min then recalled that Lu Ran often stared at the swimming pool in a daze.

There was a pool in the backyard of the Ji family.

But Lu Ran never got close to it.

Before Ji Min could piece things together, a new sheet of paper was pulled out from the medical records in his hand.

On the paper was a messy sketch.

Ji Min looked at the doctor, who explained: “This is the patient’s psychological self-portrait.”

Ji Min lowered his gaze to look at the sketch.

The drawing depicted a small figure trapped inside a rectangular frame.

It took Ji Min a moment to realize that the rectangle was supposed to represent a bed.

What was suffocating, however, was that the figure on the bed wasn’t lying down in a resting position.

Below the figure’s neck, there were many densely drawn black horizontal lines.

These lines resembled cuts from a knife or invisible bindings.

Leaving the psychological therapy room, perhaps because of the self-portrait, Ji Min’s mood was heavy.

This drawing might be difficult for an ordinary person to understand.

But Ji Min had once been in a wheelchair.

The moment he saw the drawing, he understood what Lu Ran meant.

The figure in the drawing was trapped in a hospital bed.

Perhaps because of illness, or perhaps… disability.

The car was on its way. The driver asked Ji Min about his next stop.

Ji Min told his assistant and instructed the driver to go to the location that Shen Xingyu had set.

On the road, Ji Min couldn’t help but think about his interactions with Lu Ran before his surgery.

At that time, Ji Min’s temperament had indeed been strange.

Especially when it came to how others treated his injured leg.

But only Lu Ran was an exception.

Whether it was the time the kid pushed him around the parking lot at breakneck speed, or when he occasionally poked his leg to see his reaction.

Or when they first met, Lu Ran had bluntly said: “If you really became paralyzed and couldn’t move, it would be better to die.”

Ji Min was surprisingly not repulsed by these things.

One can never fully empathize with something they haven’t experienced themselves.

A healthy, active young man would never truly understand the pain of someone trapped in a wheelchair.

Even if they felt sympathy, it would mostly be based on imagination.

But what Lu Ran gave Ji Min was different.

Ji Min still remembered what he felt before his surgery.

The young man cheerfully comforted him: “I can take care of someone who’s completely paralyzed…”

The car stopped in front of a hidden restaurant.

Ji Min’s thoughts paused for a moment.

He got out of the car and the waiter waiting outside immediately came over to greet him.

He was led to the private room where Shen Xingyu was.

The moment the door to the private room opened, Shen Xingyu immediately lifted his head to look.

Upon seeing Ji Min, his gaze didn’t linger. He turned back to look outside the room.

But once Ji Min entered, he closed the door behind him and said, “It’s just me.”

Shen Xingyu withdrew his gaze, his face not showing any signs of disappointment.

He had been hoping for Lu Ran to come, but he knew very well that Lu Ran wouldn’t show up.

“Senior, long time no see,” Shen Xingyu said.

If you counted it carefully, since Ji Min’s leg injury had healed, this was their first official meeting.

Ji Min nodded and picked up the menu from the side.

“How is he?” Shen Xingyu asked.

“Not too well,” Ji Min replied.

Shen Xingyu paused, ultimately stopping himself from asking further.

Because he knew, there was no point in asking.

After hearing that sentence from Shen Xingran, Shen Xingzhuo was greatly impacted and didn’t return to the Shen family for several days.

Madam Shen, on the other hand, locked herself in her room all day.

Only Shen Xingyu seemed unaffected.

Because he had self-awareness, he didn’t need to be scolded by Shen Xingran before he started facing himself.

But Shen Xingyu knew that he was beyond saving.

Figures like Shen Hongyuan, Madam Shen, and Shen Xingzhuo, were mostly driven by instinct and emotion.

They didn’t have an accurate understanding of their actions.

So after being ruthlessly exposed by Shen Xingran, they were deeply affected and couldn’t accept it.

Or they tried to argue, shifting the blame onto others.

But Shen Xingyu was different.

He had always clearly known what he was doing.

He had chosen the family over himself.

And between the family and the child who would secretly peek at him in the study, he still chose the family.

So, on the day Shen Hongyuan hosted Fang Chen, although he knew that it wasn’t Lu Ran who pushed him, in order to quickly settle the situation, he still slapped Lu Ran.

Shen Xingyu clearly understood what he had chosen.

And what he needed to pay for it.

He was not surprised by Lu Ran’s estrangement from him.

Lu Ran had smashed cake in his face and made him eat all those messy things, yet Shen Xingyu wasn’t angry.

This was the price he had to pay for the choice he made.

He was fully aware of this.

So, for Shen Xingyu, there was no option for regret.

Just like now, even though he knew Lu Ran wouldn’t come, Shen Xingyu still kept trying.

Yet, occasionally, the emotions suppressed by reason would still surface.

He would ask meaningless questions.

When Shen Xingran scolded him, accusing him of being both a father and a son, he wasn’t wrong.

Shen Xingyu sighed imperceptibly, suppressed his emotions, and rationally analyzed the pros and cons: “The Shen family is a legacy built over decades. Although there have been recent problems, it doesn’t mean it has no value.”

“Lu Ran taking over the Shen family is the best option. However, if he were to take over rashly, it wouldn’t be good for either the Shen family or Lu Ran himself. If Lu Ran chooses to cooperate with the family and sign a letter of understanding…”

Ji Min didn’t respond to him.

The man seriously looked at the electronic menu in his hand, casually raising his head to look at Shen Xingyu, and said: “I’m surprised. Up until now, you’re still trying.”

Shen Xingyu paused for a moment.

He replied, “Someone has to do what needs to be done.”

He was about to continue talking about the pros and cons, laying out conditions.

Ji Min confirmed his order, then looked up, stating with certainty, “You’ve known about the inheritance issue for a long time, haven’t you?”

“Yes,” Shen Xingyu said.

There was no need to hide it.

At that moment, there was a knock on the private room door.

The waiter walked in and brought the items Ji Min had ordered.

The first item to be served was a glass of lemon sundae.

The waiter held the cup, about to place it in front of Ji Min.

But Ji Min lifted his chin toward the opposite side and said, “Give him the one he ordered.”

Shen Xingyu was slightly surprised.

But that wasn’t the focus of his attention.

He was just thinking about how to efficiently persuade Ji Min.

After the waiter left, the room fell silent again.

“Do you agree with your father’s act of altering the will?” Ji Min continued to ask.

Shen Xingyu paused for a moment.

He didn’t express his personal views but instead said, “Given the circumstances at the time, this was the best choice for the company and the family.”

Ji Min smiled slightly. “But your brother is gone.”

These words felt like an invisible sword piercing through the air.

Shen Xingyu froze for a moment, quickly regaining his composure, and continued: “Leaving all the shares to a missing child would have caused tremendous turmoil for the company. You understand that.”

Ji Min said, “He really likes you.”

Shen Xingyu’s lips trembled faintly and his mouth tightened.

“I can feel that he’s different with you than with everyone in the Shen family,” Ji Min said.

Shen Xingyu lowered his gaze to look at the dishes on the table.

But he didn’t order anything else.

On the table, aside from drinks, there was only the lemon sundae Ji Min had ordered.

“He remembers you like rabbits,” Ji Min said.

Shen Xingyu maintained his calm. “That was a long time ago.”

He lowered his head and took a bite of the dessert in front of him.

The refreshing lemon scent spread— it was the only flavor of dessert he could accept.

At that moment, Ji Min spoke again, “He also remembers you like lemon-flavored ice cream.”

Shen Xingyu’s movements froze.

His brows furrowed deeply.

On the usually calm and rational face, a faint, deeply suppressed pain surfaced.

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