CFRFGC Chapter 126

Shen Xingyu and Madam Shen arrived at the hospital and saw Shen Xingzhuo lying on the emergency room bed.

One of his legs was in a cast.

The driver who had brought him there looked as though he had just experienced a calamity and was on the verge of tears.

Seeing Shen Xingyu and Madam Shen, he quickly began explaining, “The light was green. I didn’t expect him to suddenly rush out like that. I wasn’t speeding…”

Shen Xingyu’s face didn’t look good.

There had been so many things happening at home recently. Shen Xingzhuo’s car accident was undoubtedly adding fuel to the fire.

But when he saw the driver, he sighed and said, “Let’s just communicate with the insurance company directly.”

Unexpectedly, at that moment, Shen Xingzhuo spoke up.

“It’s fine, you can leave. I’ll cover the medical bills myself.”

The driver was even more confused upon hearing this. “What…?”

“I crashed the car myself. What does it have to do with you? You can go now,” Shen Xingzhuo said.

When he said this, Shen Xingzhuo seemed unusually spirited.

The car accident had somehow made him feel like he had suddenly broken free from his previous troubled state.

Madam Shen was somewhat absent-minded, just standing by the bedside.

She didn’t look at Shen Xingzhuo, nor did she speak to the driver.

Shen Xingyu glanced at the driver but said nothing.

The driver hesitated for a long time, unable to understand the situation, but still left his phone number. “If you need anything, just give me a call.”

After the driver left the room, Shen Xingzhuo didn’t even glance at the phone number. He simply crumpled it up and tossed it in the trash.

Once the hospital door was closed, Shen Xingyu looked at Shen Xingzhuo with a stern face and asked, “Did you deliberately crash the car? What’s going on with you?”

“It’s nothing,” Shen Xingzhuo said, lying on the bed playing on his phone, not even looking at them. “Alright, you can go now. If I need someone to take care of me, I’ll call for a nurse.”

Seeing Shen Xingzhuo’s attitude, Shen Xingyu closed his eyes for a moment.

“Shen Xingzhuo, can’t you act a little more mature? Do you still think you’re the same second young master of the Shen family from before?”

“I’m mature now. Don’t try to manipulate me with your tricks,” Shen Xingzhuo replied.

Shen Xingyu’s gaze shifted to Shen Xingzhuo’s leg in the cast.

“What’s this supposed to be?” he sneered. “Atonement?”

Neither of the brothers directly said anything.

But they both understood what that “atonement” meant.

Shen Xingzhuo’s expression instantly darkened.

The lightness from earlier vanished quickly, like a popped balloon.

Shen Xingyu spoke in a low voice, “This is you still being alive. If you had died, would the driver you just mentioned have been dragged down with you?”

“Don’t say another word!” Shen Xingzhuo suddenly waved his hand, interrupting him.

The IV needle on the back of his hand was thrown off and the transparent medication mixed with deep red blood splattered everywhere.

Shen Xingyu immediately felt a headache coming on.

He sighed but didn’t say anything further.

Shen Xingzhuo, however, pointed at him and Madam Shen, saying, “At least it’s better than what you two did!”

“I never hit him! I didn’t know about his inheritance either, nor did I help the old man deceive him or keep him away from it!”

Shen Xingyu lowered his gaze, his fingers tightening around the bed rail, gripping it until his knuckles turned white, then gently letting go.

He didn’t offer any rebuttals.

“And you!” Shen Xingzhuo continued. “I didn’t lose him either!”

Madam Shen, who had been dazed, suddenly snapped out of her reverie.

Hearing the familiar words from her memory, she quickly raised her head and looked at Shen Xingzhuo.

And in her son’s face, she saw the same familiar accusation.

“Is it all my fault?!”

Madam Shen trembled and took two steps back, saying, “How is it just me? Who hasn’t made mistakes here?”

She pointed at Shen Xingyu, then at Shen Xingzhuo, breathing heavily as she said, “If it weren’t for you, how could your brother have gotten lost?”

“Mom, that’s enough.” Shen Xingyu reached out to pull her back.

But Madam Shen swatted his hand away.

On the way to the mountains, she and Shen Hongyuan fought because of Shen Xingzhuo.

The last piece of cake in the car fridge had been eaten by the younger brother.

Shen Xingzhuo was upset because his younger brother had gotten one more piece than he did.

He kept pestering Madam Shen, demanding to go buy more.

While Madam Shen was distracted, scrolling through her phone, she casually tried to appease him. “You’re the older brother. What’s the big deal with letting your younger brother have a bit more?”

The four-year-old boy standing next to them had chocolate crumbs on his lips, nervously twisting his fingers.

He tugged at Shen Xingzhuo’s shirt and said, “The cake was so good, I couldn’t resist. I’m sorry, big brother.”

Six-year-old Shen Xingzhuo glanced at him but didn’t say anything, only saying, “I’m going back to buy more.”

“Enough! Your younger brother already apologized to you. Look how well-behaved he is! Now look at you!” Madam Shen was getting annoyed by the commotion.

But Shen Xingzhuo cried out because of her one sentence: “Why does my older brother have things I don’t, and my younger brother have things I don’t? Why do I have nothing?!”

Just then, Shen Hongyuan happened to get out of the car and, hearing the commotion, walked over.

His face looked bad as if he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a long time.

Seeing Shen Xingzhuo crying, he immediately scolded, “What are you crying for?!”

Madam Shen also felt a headache. To her, the issue with the little cake was nothing serious.

With their family, could they really be missing a piece of cake?

She turned to Shen Hongyuan and said, “He wanted the cake from that dessert shop we passed by earlier, dear. If you don’t want to go, have the driver go back and buy some. It was quite good.”

To her surprise, as soon as she finished speaking, Shen Hongyuan grabbed Shen Xingzhuo by the neck and tossed him back into the RV. “All you do is eat, eat, eat!”

Madam Shen was startled and quickly stood up. “Hey, what are you doing? It’s only a few minutes back to buy it. If you don’t want to go, let the driver go. Why are you getting so angry for no reason?”

“Isn’t this how you’ve spoiled him? Look at Ranran, he wouldn’t act like this!” Shen Hongyuan scolded.

But when he lowered his gaze and saw their youngest child standing nearby, he paused for a moment and nonchalantly turned his eyes away.

Madam Shen was also provoked, “What do you mean by that? Shen Hongyuan, are you crazy? You were the one who insisted on coming on this vacation and now you’re acting like this?”

“Can you just spare me? I’ve already brought you on vacation, what else do you want?”

The couple began arguing again.

On the other side, Shen Xingyu reached over to draw the curtains in the RV.

Inside, Shen Xingzhuo was being comforted by the nanny. But hearing the argument from his parents, he cried even louder.

The youngest child stood there, looking from Madam Shen to Shen Hongyuan, unsure of what to do.

After the argument, Madam Shen, in a fit of frustration, went back to the RV to cry.

Shen Hongyuan got into his SUV.

Only the children were left standing there. The youngest hesitated for a moment, then slowly went back to the RV he shared with his older brother.

Inside, Shen Xingzhuo was still crying.

The nanny tried to give him some other snacks, but Shen Xingzhuo grabbed them and threw them far away.

When he saw his younger brother come back, he pointed at the child and loudly said, “It’s all your fault! Dad yelled at me because of you!”

“Don’t cry, big brother,” the younger child sniffled, trying to suppress his sobs. “Next time, I’ll let you have the little cake, okay?”

Shen Xingzhuo held back for a moment but couldn’t help it. Rubbing his eyes, he started crying again.

“I don’t want to eat cake! I… I want to go to the amusement park! I want… ice cream!”

When the word “ice cream” was mentioned, the youngest child’s eyes immediately lit up, his red eyes brightening.

Because he remembered that just a few days ago, they had been to the amusement park, each holding their own ice cream.

There were no arguments, no anger.

Mom and Dad weren’t arguing and no one was yelling at anyone.

Everyone was very happy.

That was the happiest time for them.

The little child didn’t understand anything else. He just thought that if they recreated the scene from before, the happiness of that day would return.

No amusement park? Ice cream would do!

And he remembered that there was an ice cream shop just where they had passed earlier.

“Big brother, I’ll go find Mom and ask her to buy ice cream.”

The little child excitedly got out of the car.

He ran toward the RV where Madam Shen was.

The nanny peeked her head out, saw him go inside, and then focused again on comforting the child inside the car.

“Mom, mom!”

The little one stood in front of the RV, knocking on the door.

But no one answered inside.

Only the sound of muffled sobs could be heard.

He knocked again.

Seeing that the door wasn’t closed properly, he raised his foot to pull the door handle.

But he was too short to reach it, so he tried to use his fingers to pry open the small gap in the door, slowly squeezing his way inside.

Inside the RV, the woman was crying.

The little one went over, hugged the woman’s legs, and comforted her, “Mom, don’t cry. We’ll go eat ice cream. Once we have ice cream, we’ll be happy!”

He even understood the distance to the shop and explained carefully: “The ice cream shop is really close!”

The little one counted on his fingers, “It’ll only take one, two, three… five minutes! Let’s go buy it…”

But his words angered Madam Shen: “Go back and buy it! You want to go back again?! Can’t you be a little more sensible?”

The little child was stunned for a moment, looking at the woman who had suddenly lost her temper.

He called out in confusion, “Mom?”

Madam Shen broke down, “Can you just leave me alone for a while? If you want to buy it, go find your dad!”

With a loud “bang”, the RV door slammed shut.

The sky was heavily overcast, the clouds thick and dark.

Shen Xingyu was inside the RV, with the lights on, still stressed over a financial case on his computer.

After a while, someone knocked on the door of his RV.

The weather was stifling and the door wasn’t fully closed.

Shen Xingyu thought it was the driver coming back to remind them to leave.

But when he looked up, he saw just the head of a small child peeking inside.

Though the car door wasn’t fully closed, the child didn’t immediately climb in.

It seemed the child still remembered the “order” not to step into his study.

He only called softly from outside, “Big Brother.”

Seeing that Shen Xingyu didn’t respond, the child slowly began to step up the high stairs.

The stairs were quite high. With his short legs, the child had to grip the car door to slowly climb up.

Once on the steps, he only stood by the door, looking at the teenager sitting at the computer, and softly said: “Big Brother, can you take me to buy ice cream?”

Shen Xingyu instinctively frowned.

It seemed frustration was contagious—he had just heard Shen Hongyuan and Madam Shen arguing.

And now, Shen Xingzhuo was still crying.

Shen Xingyu was in a bad mood too.

He couldn’t help but say, “Can you stop bothering me?”

The child immediately stepped back a little.

Shen Xingyu pressed his lips together and added, “Go find Mom first. I’ll take you when I’m done.”

“But…”

The child didn’t say anything more, obediently climbing down the stairs and going out.

He wandered around for a while.

He then trotted to the last SUV in the line.

The way Dad had been yelling was terrifying, even scarier than Big Brother.

The child hesitated for a moment before stretching out his hand and gently tapping on the car door.

He knocked very softly, as if afraid to wake the monster inside.

He called out quietly, “Dad? Dad?”

But the dark SUV remained silent, parked in place.

The tinted windows reflected dark light, making it impossible to see inside.

The child looked up for a while, then pulled his hand back.

He stood there for some time, then walked toward the RV where he and his brother were staying.

Shen Xingzhuo was still crying inside the car.

The cold, irritated atmosphere spread through the convoy.

After walking a short distance, the child stopped again.

He bent down and rummaged through his little yellow duck shoulder bag, looking at the pocket money inside.

He clenched his fist to cheer himself up: “I can buy it myself!”

He raised his foot and headed toward the direction of the ice cream shop he remembered.

But in the end, he was still a little scared, so he stopped again.

“If we eat ice cream, Dad, Mom, and Big Brother won’t be angry anymore,” he murmured to himself.

These words seemed to give him courage.

He silently counted again, saying, “Only five minutes, that’s all!”

The child finally took a step, his little short legs moving as he ran in the opposite direction of the convoy.

He held his little yellow duck bag in front of him and ran for a long time on the road.

It was a short distance, but because he was walking slowly, it felt unusually long.

It was about to rain and there weren’t many people on the road.

Every stranger he passed seemed unusually dangerous.

The child was a little scared, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

It wasn’t until he saw the colorful sign of the ice cream shop and the giant cone models on either side of the shop that his eyes lit up.

“It’s ice cream!”

The child’s eyes brightened as if he were sharing this moment with an imaginary companion on the short and dangerous road.

He began running again, rushing into the store and placing his little hands on the counter.

“I want ice cream,” he told the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper, surprised to see such a small child, leaned over and asked, “Are you alone, little one? Where are your parents?”

“My parents are right over there,” the child pointed in a direction, then nodded and added, “Very close!”

The shopkeeper thought he was referring to the tourists outside the shop and asked, “How many ice creams do you want and what flavors?”

The child silently counted: “Mom wants one, Dad wants one, Big Brother wants one, and Second Brother wants one.”

“Mom and Dad want vanilla, Big Brother wants lemon, Second Brother likes strawberry.”

Finally, he finished counting.

He didn’t even realize he had left himself out. But with a sense of accomplishment, he held up four fingers to the shopkeeper: “Four!”

“Four, huh… I’ll pack them up carefully…”

Not long after, the child walked out of the shop holding four ice creams.

The journey back felt joyful and full of anticipation.

The child jogged all the way, but his movements holding the takeout box were cautious.

It was as if he was carrying a family full of happiness.

The road he had already walked no longer frightened him.

The child was still looking forward to the happy expressions of Dad and Mom when they got the ice cream.

He even felt a sense of pride.

He secretly praised himself in his heart: “I’m really amazing!”

It wasn’t until he returned to where the convoy had parked that he froze, staring ahead.

The sky had darkened.

Not a single car was left, just an empty, unfamiliar stretch of land.

He had summoned the courage to cross the unfamiliar, dangerous path, carefully and laboriously carrying back the happiest memory he had in his mind.

But there was no one waiting for him.

In the end, Madam Shen had still said it: “If it weren’t for you crying about wanting to eat, your little brother wouldn’t have gotten lost!”

“Mom! Stop saying that!”

The one who spoke was Shen Xingyu.

His voice was deep, urgent, and laced with a low, hoarse quality.

His face was unnaturally pale.

But Shen Xingzhuo had already heard it.

That night, before Shen Xingzhuo’s plaster cast was removed, he left the hospital.

At the airport.

Shen Xingran, wearing a hat and mask, looked at the international flight ticket on his phone.

He was handsome, exuding the kind of elegance that comes from being raised in wealth and comfort.

Some people at the airport thought he was a celebrity and took out their phones to snap pictures of him secretly.

Shen Xingran used to enjoy this kind of attention.

But now, he quietly avoided it.

He sat in a corner of the waiting area, dazed for a while.

So much had happened recently, so suddenly.

The Shen family, which had been on the rise, suddenly stumbled, facing bankruptcy.

And they had gotten tangled in a lawsuit.

What was once a harmonious family was now falling apart.

The scandal over Shen Hongyuan’s forged inheritance continued to stir up the media.

Even now, Shen Xingran still found it hard to process.

Even though it was a mess he had helped create.

Shen Xingran sat in the chair, staring at the planes on the tarmac.

What kept playing in his mind were the scenes of him scolding Madam Shen, Shen Xingyu, and Shen Xingzhuo when he returned to the Shen household.

The truth was, when he went back to the Shen family, Shen Xingran had been a bit afraid.

He was only nineteen years old. Although he had seen a lot and was quite knowledgeable, it was the first time he had done something like this.

The incredulous expressions of Madam Shen and Shen Xingzhuo were still fresh in Shen Xingran’s mind.

It left him feeling somewhat confused.

How did things end up like this?

A year ago, he was still the most pampered young master of the Shen family.

Shen Hongyuan doted on him and protected him.

Madam Shen unconditionally spoiled him, and so did Shen Xingzhuo.

He had always been attached to Madam Shen.

He had genuinely considered Shen Xingzhuo as an older brother.

But now, everything had become absurd.

Shen Xingran thought carefully about it.

It probably all started when Madam Shen found out about the rumors of an “illegitimate son” outside.

At that moment, Shen Xingran realized for the first time that Madam Shen did not unconditionally spoil him.

Shen Xingzhuo also inexplicably started seeing Lu Ran as a younger brother.

A crack had suddenly formed, and it spread.

Until that day when he overheard Shen Xingyu saying he wanted to bring Lu Ran into the Shen family.

And at Shen Xingyu’s birthday party, he saw the conversation between Lu Ran and Shen Xingyu and heard Shen Xingyu’s promise to Lu Ran.

Suddenly, Shen Xingran panicked.

He always remembered that he was just an orphan with nothing.

Even in the Shen family, there was no one he could truly rely on.

So he had to do something himself.

Shen Xingran took advantage of Shen Hongyuan’s trust and, during the summer break, entered the company as Shen Hongyuan’s assistant.

He used Shen Hongyuan’s name to access and copy Shen Corporation’s technical materials.

At first, Shen Xingran had no plans for the materials.

Until he came into contact with Jin Lino and heard the conditions offered, Shen Xingran gradually began to waver.

Initially, Shen Xingran was just cautiously negotiating, trying to gain some benefits from the situation.

Until Jin revealed to him the matter of Shen Hongyuan forging a will.

Fifty percent of the shares and most of the wealth under Old Master Shen’s name were to belong to Shen Xingran.

When he heard this, Shen Xingran wasn’t overjoyed.

Instead, he felt like he had been struck by a hammer.

He suddenly understood that perhaps his adoption and the name Shen Xingran were a lie from the very beginning.

Perhaps…

In the beginning, Shen Hongyuan needed a “Shen Xingran” to inherit Shen Old Master’s estate, which was why he had adopted him.

Later, Shen Hongyuan, not trusting this adopted orphan without any blood relation, simply went ahead and altered the will.

As for this “Shen Xingran”, he was Shen Hongyuan’s last-ditch choice.

He kept him close, just in case the forgery of the will was exposed so that his “Shen Xingran” could still be the backup plan.

It turned out that from the very beginning, he had been nothing but a complete joke.

Shen Xingran had initially felt some guilt over his plan to betray the Shen family.

But after hearing this news, the guilt vanished instantly and he agreed to Jin’s terms without hesitation.

He had thought things through very clearly regarding this “inheritance”.

If luck was on his side and Lu Ran couldn’t prove that he was the “Shen Xingran” mentioned in the will, then of course he would fight for it.

In that case, the entire Shen Corporation would belong to him. With the cooperation of the Lino family, he could easily establish himself in the industry.

If it didn’t work out and Lu Ran ended up claiming the inheritance, he wouldn’t suffer any losses. With the money and shares provided by the Lino family, he could simply escape abroad.

The Shen family, tangled up in the inheritance scandal, wouldn’t have the time or energy to come after him.

By the time the Shen family realized what had happened, he’d already be long gone.

Shen Xingran had already planned this out.

But now, standing in the airport, he suddenly felt surprisingly down.

However, it wasn’t long before Shen Xingran pulled himself together again.

He thought to himself, he and Lu Ran were different.

Lu Ran had unbreakable blood ties to the Shen family, but he didn’t.

They weren’t even his real family. Why should he be upset?

Shen Xingran even began to feel a flicker of hope.

He now had a lot of money. Unlike when he was with the Shen family, this money was completely under his own control.

With this money, he would live a good life.

Once the storm blew over, maybe he could even return to the country to find his real biological parents and enjoy the true family connection that belonged to him.

Thinking this way, Shen Xingran felt strangely lighthearted.

He grabbed his suitcase and was about to board his flight.

But just then, a shadow fell before him.

Two public officials stood in front of him, showing him their credentials.

One of them spoke: “Hello, you’ve been charged with the crime of commercial espionage. Due to the severity of the situation, the case has been transferred to public prosecution. You are now restricted from leaving the country…”

In the end, Shen Xingran had underestimated Shen Xingyu.

In such a chaotic moment, he still calmly searched for the necessary information and took both himself and the Lino family to court.

Throughout the entire summer, the Shen family’s troubles continued to pile up one after another.

As for Lu Ran, aside from some complications with the identity verification process, his life remained relatively calm.

His experiment had reached a conclusion. Finally, he could relax at home for a while.

One evening, when he came back from walking the dog, Lu Ran crouched down to organize the several leashes and harnesses for Da Huang.

Da Huang sat quietly to the side, watching him.

While sorting through them, Lu Ran picked out a beige leash with a rabbit toy attached. After looking at it for a moment, he tossed it into the nearby trash bin.

He then said to Da Huang, “This one’s dirty, so we don’t need it. Daddy will buy you a new one.”

Da Huang didn’t object. He sat quietly, his little round eyes gazing at Lu Ran.

He just couldn’t understand why, even though the leash seemed perfectly clean, Lu Ran said it was dirty.

Lu Ran neatly packed away the remaining leashes.

When he stood up, he stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

As soon as Ji Min stepped into the room, he saw this and quickly reached out, pulling Lu Ran into his arms.

“What’s wrong? Is your knee hurting? Or is it something else?”

Ji Min looked a little worried, his brows tightly furrowed.

Recently, although Lu Ran hadn’t said anything, Ji Min could feel the tension in his body—sometimes subtle, sometimes intense.

Lu Ran, helpless, was pulled into Ji Min’s embrace, where he was patted for quite a while.

Eventually, unable to tolerate it anymore, he explained, “Thank you. I just crouched for too long and my legs went numb.”

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