A noisy sound came from outside.
“Don’t be afraid, Ranran, Mom will take you to the hospital right away!”
“No need, Mom. Even though my brother’s dog is fierce and my wound hurts, I know my brother didn’t bring the dog back on purpose.”
Lu Ran had been feeling drowsy, but upon hearing this distinctly tea-scented voice, he suddenly perked up.
However, his mind felt clouded, making it hard to fully wake up.
At that moment, the woman’s voice that had spoken first spoke again, sounding heavy.
“Why do you bring everything home? That kind of stray dog should have been thrown out long ago.”
This was clearly directed at Lu Ran.
In a lowered tone, filled with disdain, she added, “Don’t bring your old habits back in.”
Lu Ran heard his own voice explaining, “Da Huang isn’t a stray dog. You agreed for me to bring him back. He’s very old and has no teeth, so he doesn’t bite…”
Before he could finish, the woman’s voice rose sharply: “You dare to talk back? Is your brother’s injury fake?”
Lu Ran continued to explain, “Da Huang has no canines; he couldn’t inflict such a wound.”
“What do you mean? Are you saying your brother is pretending?”
“Lu Ran, I’ve told you many times, don’t think about getting rid of your brother, okay?”
As soon as the woman finished speaking, the person called “Ranran” let out a noticeable sob.
It’s this dream again!
Lu Ran was so angry he nearly spat out blood.
With his anger flaring, his consciousness seemed to break through something, gradually becoming a bit clearer.
Before him was a blinding light—not natural sunlight, but the opulent glow of extravagant lighting.
The crystal chandelier refracted sparkling rays, reflecting off the milky-white matte tiles.
It was clearly night, yet it shone as brightly as if it were day.
The entire villa’s hall was filled with the scent of money, exuding a dreamlike radiance.
Lu Ran took a deep breath.
It had been a long time since he had dreamt of the Shen family’s decor so vividly.
His body still felt somewhat uncooperative.
Lu Ran raised his eyes to look at the two people sitting on the sofa.
First was the woman with the sharp tone.
She was young and seemed to possess a certain grace. Although of menopausal age, she appeared well-maintained, unlike ordinary women worn down by life and hormonal turmoil.
There was a fleeting illusion that she was easy to communicate with.
The woman was carefully holding the wrist of the person beside her.
Next to her sat a young man who looked like he had just entered college.
He had smooth black hair and fair skin, wearing a plain light-colored checkered shirt. At first glance, it seemed unremarkable in brand and material, but the stitching of the cuffs and the details of the embellishments exuded nothing but delicacy and sophistication.
Lu Ran’s chest heaved again.
These two people.
One was Lu Ran’s biological mother.
The other was the adopted son who had taken over Lu Ran’s identity.
When he was four years old, Lu Ran got lost during a minor flash flood.
When he was rescued, he developed a fever and completely forgot his family’s information, ending up in an orphanage.
Although he didn’t remember his family, Lu Ran had always believed deeply that they loved him and would surely find him.
Finally, after much effort, he got into college and reunited with his family.
It was then that he discovered that in the first year he went missing, his family had adopted a son.
This adopted son was of similar age, cheerful and innocent.
No one wanted to dwell on the pain of losing a child. No one wanted to spend time and effort searching for an orphan, like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Since someone had filled his place at home, the Shen family quickly forgot about their lost little son.
They even gave his name—“Shen Xingran”—to this adopted son.
The adopted son not only took his place but also claimed the name that rightfully belonged to him.
Thus, the closest people in Lu Ran’s world easily abandoned him.
Only Lu Ran stubbornly held onto that name.
When he initially got lost, he couldn’t write.
He vaguely remembered being called “Ranran”, which was recorded as “Ran”.
It was only when he was found that Lu Ran realized he had suddenly become the imposter Shen Xingran.
At first, Lu Ran was happy and willing to accept this identity.
Having grown up without relatives, he would have welcomed any family he could have, and he never rejected the adopted son of the Shen family.
However, the differential treatment from the Shens left Lu Ran confused.
Because they thought he had grown up in poverty and feared he might cause trouble if given money, the Shens not only refused to give him pocket money but also made him use student loans for his college tuition.
In contrast, Shen Xingran received tens of thousands in monthly allowances.
To avoid making Shen Xingran feel excluded and hurt, they never transferred his household registration back to the Shen family or publicly acknowledged his identity.
Shen Xingran remained the beloved young master of the Shen family, while Lu Ran was nothing.
After fifteen years of being lost, Lu Ran returned to what should have been his home.
Yet, everyone in the family—father, mother, elder brother, second elder brother—was more concerned about whether Shen Xingran would be sad due to his return.
Lu Ran even felt that as long as Shen Xingran frowned, he would become the sinner.
Since returning to the Shen family, Shen Xingran had inexplicably encountered numerous mishaps.
Whether it was tripping or getting scalded by hot water, it was clearly unrelated to Lu Ran.
But whenever the family rushed to comfort him, all Shen Xingran had to do was glance at Lu Ran with a cautious expression and Lu Ran would be subjected to various accusations.
Lu Ran went from confusion at first to growing anger and obsession.
He tried to explain to his family again and again only to be ignored.
But because he sensed how much his family valued Shen Xingran, Lu Ran never targeted him.
After witnessing his family’s unreasonable favoritism, he subconsciously began to imitate Shen Xingran.
He tried to adopt Shen Xingran’s clothing style.
However, while Shen Xingran wore soft golden llama wool, Lu Ran couldn’t even afford ordinary cashmere.
He attempted to mimic Shen Xingran’s gentle nature and demeanor.
But Shen Xingran’s personality had been cultivated over many years through wealth, while Lu Ran was just an orphan who had grown up in an orphanage.
The end result was that Lu Ran only resembled a poor imitation.
Finally, during a conflict, Lu Ran was pushed into the swimming pool by Shen Xingran in the middle of winter.
Everyone witnessed the scene.
But in the end, his closest family members merely tossed him a dismissive remark: “Why weren’t you more careful? At least it didn’t affect Xingran.”
Desperately vying for his family’s affection, Lu Ran suddenly came to a realization.
He understood that all his efforts were in vain.
He would never surpass Shen Xingran.
Lu Ran completely gave up and left the Shen family to live on his own.
He returned to his previously quiet and solitary life.
But good times lasted only six months.
Before Lu Ran could graduate from school, the Shen family suddenly showed up, using the harshest methods to coerce and entice him back.
Determined to maintain his pride, Lu Ran stubbornly refused.
It was during this struggle that Lu Ran first realized the extent of the Shen family’s power.
As graduation approached, Lu Ran was inexplicably expelled from school.
He moved to several cities and took multiple jobs, all of which were sabotaged by the Shen family.
In the last incident, the eldest young master of the Shen family, Lu Ran’s elder brother, personally brought people to confront him.
While trying to escape in a panic, Lu Ran was struck by a car that ran a red light.
The accident was severe; Lu Ran was paralyzed from the neck down and his vocal cords were damaged.
The moment of true suffering had arrived.
At just over twenty, Lu Ran lay in a hospital bed fully aware, watching as tubes filled his body.
Perhaps it was Shen Xingran’s “kindness” that led the Shen family to support him, a disabled person.
Lu Ran remained in that hospital bed for a full ten years.
The room was closed off with no windows, no birds, and no people.
He lay there all alone, accompanied only by the buzzing of machines.
Even the nurses would only come in after he fell asleep.
Occasionally, Shen Xingran would come to visit him with his family.
He would watch his family living happily with the person who had taken over his identity, enjoying a harmonious life.
Yet Lu Ran didn’t even have the ability to curse at them.
In that absolute solitude of ten years, Lu Ran first broke down.
He felt that his experience was absurdly tragic and completely unacceptable.
Then, all he could do was ruminate endlessly on the bits and pieces of his past.
He recalled the moment of pain from the accident.
He remembered the bone-chilling cold of falling into the pool in winter.
He remembered every futile explanation from the past, each collapse from being mistrusted.
Lu Ran kept asking himself why.
Why did he have to go through all this?
Why had he fallen to such a low point?
Clearly, he had given up. He wasn’t competing with Shen Xingran anymore; he was trying to avoid conflict.
But heaven seemed to tell him, no, that wouldn’t do.
Just now, something suddenly clicked in Lu Ran’s mind.
It turned out that all these absurd experiences were merely a story.
Shen Xingran is the protagonist of this wealthy family’s pampering novel, while Lu Ran is just a cheap imitation, a supporting character fabricated by the author to highlight the main character.
The author even solemnly explained that creating his character was meant to show everyone that blood relations didn’t matter!
Lu Ran: …
After processing this information, Lu Ran had only one thought.
Let them all die!
He looked again at the two people before him.
With a clear memory of his past before the paralysis, Lu Ran quickly assessed the current situation.
This was shortly after he had returned to the Shen family.
Yearning for family, he had secretly raised a little dog in the orphanage, named Da Huang.
After returning to the Shen family, he sought his mother’s permission and brought Da Huang back with him.
But upon returning from school this time, he found this scene.
Shen Xingran sat on the sofa with two faint red marks on his hand.
Mother Shen accused him, saying Da Huang had bitten Shen Xingran and she threw Da Huang out.
How ridiculous.
Let’s not mention that Da Huang was a nine-year-old dog with no teeth left; he couldn’t possibly inflict such a wound.
Lu Ran knew very well that Da Huang wasn’t some adorable breed and feared causing trouble for the family he had finally obtained, so he either took Da Huang out or kept him locked in his room.
What could Da Huang possibly do? Break through a locked security door and bite Shen Xingran?
In his previous life, Lu Ran had no way to defend himself.
No matter how he explained, Mother Shen wouldn’t listen.
In the end, for the sake of his family, he gave up the dog that had accompanied him for nine years.
Watching the Shen family throw Da Huang out, the original Lu Ran would have chosen to swallow his anger.
Later, having recognized the reality, he would quietly escape.
But now, in this body, Lu Ran was the one who had been confined in a small dark room, full of tubes, for ten years.
He was on the brink of madness.
“Mom, please forgive my brother; the wound is just a little painful,” Shen Xingran said, lowering his head to hide the smile at the corner of his mouth.
Of course, the injury hadn’t been caused by that dog.
He had opened Lu Ran’s door and that useless dog could only hide in the corner, showing no signs of aggression at all.
He even had to create some wounds himself.
But it was sufficient for his needs.
Saying this, Shen Xingran thought Lu Ran would strongly protest or even curse him.
That would worsen Lu Ran’s impression in the Shen family’s eyes.
But unexpectedly, Lu Ran didn’t explain at all.
Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed Shen Xingran’s hair.
Without saying a word, he slapped him twice.
“Pa!”
“Pa!”
The two crisp sounds echoed through the spacious living room, each louder than the last.
Moonlit: Those slaps are so satisfying~
