CFRFGC Chapter 98

⌈”But I want to.”⌋

Lu Ran didn’t expect such an answer.

When he looked up, he was met with Ji Min’s dark eyes, which seemed especially deep under the warm yellow light.

There was none of the awkwardness or speechlessness Ji Min usually showed when similar topics came up.

Instead, his gaze carried a strength that perfectly aligned with his usual demeanor.

Lu Ran quickly lowered his eyes and began tugging at stray fur on Da Huang.

“Oh, I… uh…”

The boy struggled to find the right words, cycling through several attempts before finally landing on something coherent.

He raised his voice, “Don’t worry, I’m very professional!”

But facing the man’s focused gaze, his voice softened a bit, and he added, “So, boss, you really don’t need to be jealous.”

“I’ll…”

Lu Ran didn’t quite know what he would do.

This seemed to step beyond his usual understanding, leaving him unsure and a bit flustered. “I’ll…”

“Hmm,” Ji Min responded softly.

The cool tone of his voice was unexpectedly gentle.

The commanding presence he had shown earlier slowly melted away. He looked at the boy on the bed, his gaze imbued with his usual elder-like tolerance.

“All right, then, my highly professional ‘ex-boyfriend’, what’s your plan for asking Gu Zhi your question?”

With one sentence, Ji Min brought the situation back into a more familiar realm for Lu Ran.

“Well… why don’t you ask for me?” Lu Ran suggested.

Ji Min, holding his phone, returned to the bedside.

Lu Ran’s eyes darted toward him, only to shift away the moment their gazes met, like a cautious animal carefully evaluating whether the human before it posed any threat.

Ji Min pretended not to notice the boy’s subtle movements and sighed. “If you don’t ask tonight, I bet you won’t be able to sleep.”

“That’s not true! Nothing can disrupt my eating or sleeping!” Lu Ran protested.

“Oh? Then why didn’t you eat dinner?” Ji Min countered.

Lu Ran: “…”

Ji Min sent a message to Butler Chen, instructing him to bring some late-night snacks.

Then, he leaned against the boy’s bed, positioning himself so Lu Ran could see the phone screen with just a tilt of his head.

“Go ahead, what do you want to ask?”

Lu Ran scooted closer bit by bit.

In truth, when he first saw his childhood photos, his heart was far from calm.

But when it came to what exactly he wanted to ask, he hesitated.

After thinking for a while, Lu Ran finally said, “Ask him if I can visit the Gu family next week. I want to meet Old Master Gu.”

Ji Min nodded.

He lowered his eyes and started typing on the phone.

Lu Ran, however, sneaked another glance at him.

After watching for a while, the man suddenly stopped typing and turned to look at him.

Lu Ran hurriedly averted his gaze, pretending to be busy by reaching out to tug at Da Huang’s fur.

But Da Huang, already fed up with being pulled, had long since jumped off the bed and run away.

With nothing else to do, Lu Ran pretended to look through the box of photos again.

After flipping through them for a while and noticing the silence beside him, he glanced back.

He happened to meet Ji Min’s gaze.

“…Why haven’t you asked yet?” Lu Ran quickly said.

“How should I ask?” Ji Min didn’t move, staring at him. “In your tone or mine?”

“It doesn’t matter, either is fine,” Lu Ran replied.

“Then I’ll use yours.”

Ji Min handed the phone to him.

Lu Ran took the somewhat hefty business phone again.

Lowering his head, he prepared to type in the input box.

But as soon as he started, he realized something was off.

He was using Ji Min’s phone and Ji Min’s WeChat account.

Looking at Ji Min’s profile picture and recalling his usual tone, Lu Ran couldn’t shake the feeling that something felt… strange.

“Uh, why do I have to ask in my tone?” Lu Ran asked.

“No reason,” Ji Min replied.

The truth was, it would come across as more intimate, and it might help clear Gu Zhi’s head a bit.

But Ji Min wouldn’t admit that.

Lu Ran pursed his lips, feeling uncharacteristically uneasy.

When he snapped out of it and looked at the phone, he said, “Oh no…”

“Hmm?” Ji Min raised an eyebrow.

Lu Ran showed him the chat screen.

He had accidentally pressed the emoji button earlier, and in one go, sent over a dozen.

“Does this count as my tone?”

As he spoke, he looked down and froze.

Gu Zhi had directly called him with a video call.

Lu Ran was about to hang up.

But he heard Ji Min’s voice beside him: “Pick up.”

The man seemed to lean in a little closer to look at the phone screen.

His voice and breath were so close to Lu Ran’s ear.

Lu Ran subconsciously shrank his head back.

But Ji Min softly urged, “Come closer, I can’t see.”

“Oh, right.” Lu Ran quickly adjusted the phone.

On the other end, as soon as Lu Ran picked up the video call, Gu Zhi saw the two of them “snugly” huddled together.

Late at night, what a blow.

As a single man, Gu Zhi instinctively thought about hanging up.

But he still said, “You sent so many emojis all at once, I thought it was some sort of distress signal.”

Ji Min scoffed coldly: “Even a distress signal wouldn’t be sent to you.”

Gu Zhi: “…”

Honestly, when he saw Ji Min had sent him emojis, Gu Zhi almost had a heart attack.

But as soon as he saw Lu Ran on the video,

Gu Zhi felt like he had asked a foolish question.

Sure enough, Ji Min pointed his chin at Lu Ran and said, “He sent them.”

When Lu Ran saw Gu Zhi, the discomfort from earlier completely disappeared.

He remembered the important matter and held up the photo, asking Gu Zhi, “Uncle Gu…”

As soon as the “Uncle” left Lu Ran’s mouth, Ji Min silently clicked his tongue.

Lu Ran didn’t notice and continued asking, “Is the person in the photo my grandfather?”

As soon as Gu Zhi saw the photo in Lu Ran’s hand, he became more lively: “Oh, you got it! This is your grandfather, and the person next to him is you!”

“This photo was actually taken by me. I asked you to smile and you instinctively wanted to, but you secretly glanced at your grandfather and then straightened your face.”

As if recalling the funny actions of the child, Gu Zhi spoke on and on.

Until Ji Min, with a stiff face, cut in: “Your voice is too loud, you’re disturbing me.”

Gu Zhi: “…”

Lu Ran: “…”

Lu Ran seized the opportunity to suggest: “How about, Boss, you move a little farther away?”

Ji Min: “…”

He didn’t say anything more, just leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to rest.

Lu Ran suddenly felt like laughing.

He had no memory of the details Gu Zhi was mentioning, nor did he have much interest in them.

After thinking for a moment, he asked again, “What was my relationship with my grandfather?”

When he asked, it was as though he were a stranger, indifferent to the matter.

Gu Zhi paused for a moment before answering, “You really don’t remember?”

He continued, “Well, you were only four at the time, so if you did remember, it wouldn’t have taken so many years.”

“Your grandfather… he was quite fond of you… I think?”

Gu Zhi’s tone suddenly became uncertain.

He scratched his head and said, “Old Master Shen… uh, he wasn’t very close to anyone.”

“But you should have been by his side when you were little?” Gu Zhi waved his hand, “After so many years, I can’t really remember.”

He thought that the child might be more interested in his elders and family, so he suggested: “How about you ask my dad? He’s getting old, always talking about the past, and he’s quite familiar with Old Master Shen.”

Lu Ran didn’t refuse.

It seemed that Shen Hongyuan had hidden the gift the Gu family gave him and even called Gu Ningqi over to cause some trouble.

It looked like he didn’t want him to have any contact with the Gu family.

Lu Ran was also a bit curious about Old Master Shen.

He agreed and asked Gu Zhi about the time.

Gu Zhi became awkward again: “My dad, he’s old, and his temper can be a bit unpredictable. You’ll have to wait for me to ask him.”

After hanging up the video call with Gu Zhi, Lu Ran instinctively reached to throw the phone onto the bedside table. His hand was halfway up when he remembered that this was Ji Min’s phone.

He hurriedly handed it back to Ji Min.

The man took it slowly, then looked up at the boy and said, “If you want to see Old Master Shen, Gu Zhi can’t help, but I can.”

“Huh? What’s the way?” Lu Ran asked.

Ji Min didn’t answer directly. He just said, “But I need some compensation.”

“…What kind of compensation?” Lu Ran asked.

Ji Min glanced at him.

The boy still looked a bit clueless, defenseless.

Ji Min’s fingers moved, and then he reached into the box and picked up a photo, saying, “Give me one of these photos.”

“Ah?”

Lu Ran’s gaze shifted to the box.

“B-but these are just photos of little kids, what’s so special about them?” Lu Ran stumbled over his words.

“But I want one,” Ji Min said.

“Oh.”

Lu Ran lowered his head and fiddled with his fingers for a moment before reluctantly pushing the box over, pretending to be generous: “Then you pick one!”

Ji Min’s lips curled into a small smile.

He picked up the stack of photos and began carefully selecting one.

Lu Ran pretended not to care, but couldn’t help but sneak peeks at which one Ji Min was choosing.

At first, when he wasn’t sure if the child in the photo was him, it didn’t matter much.

But now that he knew, seeing Ji Min’s fingers tracing the child’s face in the photos made Lu Ran feel uncomfortable all over.

He switched positions eight times in one minute.

Finally, unable to hold back, he urged, “Boss, why are you taking so long!”

“Well, it’s a hard-earned reward, of course I have to pick carefully,” Ji Min replied confidently.

Lu Ran was speechless again, only watching Ji Min’s fingers as they flicked through the photos.

There were a few pictures where he was sitting obediently on a stool, looking clean and cute.

Lu Ran had originally thought Ji Min would choose one of those.

To Lu Ran’s surprise, the man went through the photos and ended up picking the one where he was covered in dirt, holding a worm in his hand.

Ji Min stared at the photo of the child he was about to hold for a while, then smirked, “This one’s fine.”

Lu Ran felt a bit awkward.

He didn’t say anything and silently put the other photos away.

Ji Min glanced at the photos left in his hands.

Then he suddenly said, “I feel like I’m at a disadvantage here.”

“Huh?” Lu Ran looked up at him.

The man started to bargain, “Old Master Gu is hard to meet. I should get two photos.”

Lu Ran: “…Don’t push your luck!”

He quickly tucked the remaining photos away.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one photo, and his movements paused slightly.

“What’s wrong?” Ji Min asked.

“It’s nothing. I’m just tired. Boss, why aren’t you leaving yet?” Lu Ran said.

Ji Min: “…”

He really didn’t hold back.

But as he looked at the photo in his hand, he felt it wasn’t such a bad deal after all.

“Remember to eat your late-night snack, or you’ll be hungry in the middle of the night.”

He gave that instruction and then left Lu Ran’s room.

Lu Ran peeked out for a moment.

Once the man’s figure was completely gone, he let out a sigh of relief, somewhat unexpectedly.

He took a few steps, closed the door, and returned to his bed.

There, he pulled out the photo he had just glimpsed and looked at it again.

At first glance, the photo seemed quite ordinary.

But after staring at it for a while, he noticed something—the bib the child was wearing had the words “Happy Birthday” printed on it.

At the bottom of the photo, the date it was taken was printed.

Lu Ran stared at the photo for a while.

He suddenly sat up, opened his phone’s calendar app, and checked the date printed on the photo.

It wasn’t too early or too late, it was exactly the day he was officially recognized by the Shen family.

It was also the night when Ji Min took him out.

They had a grand birthday celebration for “Da Huang” in advance.

There were beautiful lights, candies, and colorful balloons scattered all over the place, and a three-tiered cake.

And many people sing the birthday song.

Lu Ran sat quietly on the bed for a long time.

By the time the late-night snack next to him had almost gone cold, Lu Ran finally bent down, picked up the dog on the floor, and said: “Bad Da Huang, you were tricked.”

That night, Lu Ran had a dream.

Even though he saw many photos from his childhood, the dream wasn’t about the memories before he got lost.

It was about the orphanage.

At that time, someone donated a batch of plush toys to the orphanage.

When they were distributed to Lu Ran’s class, there was a cute little bear among them.

The bear was black, with very soft fur and eyes like sapphires.

Lu Ran really liked that little bear.

But everything in the class was for everyone.

They could only play with the toys during certain times and each student had to take turns.

Lu Ran could only properly hold and cuddle the little bear when it was his turn.

But soon, when the time was up, he had to willingly pass the bear to the next student.

Lu Ran didn’t want to give the little bear to anyone else.

He went to the teacher and said that he could do all the classroom chores.

He could do them for a month, a year, or even longer.

He asked the teacher if it would be okay for him to have the bear all to himself.

But the teacher smiled and refused, telling him that doing the chores alone was too tiring, and he couldn’t handle it by himself.

That night, Lu Ran did all the chores in the class alone.

He mopped the floor and, while the teacher was still there, he ran over.

With his face dirty, he showed the teacher and said, “I can do it all by myself. Can you give me the little bear?”

But the teacher still refused awkwardly.

Because the little bear was for everyone.

Lu Ran didn’t know what else to do.

But he still really liked it.

No matter how much he liked it, it didn’t matter.

He could only gently hold the little bear during the designated time, softly rubbing his cheek against its soft fur.

When the time was up…

He had to personally hand the little bear to another student.

Watching someone else hold the little bear he loved so much.

As time passed, even that brief and precious time to play with the bear became difficult to endure.

Lu Ran held the bear, but his heart anxiously counted the seconds.

Until the very last moment, he personally sent the bear away.

Liking seemed to turn into something painful.

Gradually, one similar event after another piled up.

Lu Ran forgot what it felt like to truly like something.

Whenever he thought about it, what filled his mind was the sadness of giving away the thing he loved the most.

And that feeling of helplessness… the kind that came with never being able to truly have it.

But in this dream, the little bear seemed to run toward him on its own.

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