⌈Can’t even kill a dog?⌋
After the loud sound, a dead silence spread.
Mother Shen leaned back, staring at Lu Ran in shock. Her lips, carefully coated with lipstick, parted wide in an ungraceful manner, though the scream caught in her throat.
Shen Xingran’s hair was still being yanked tightly.
He was still a bit dazed, the gentle expression he had faked frozen on his face. His whole body was in a state of stupor and both of his cheeks swelled rapidly with red marks scratched by fingernails.
Far more real than what he could scratch himself.
“You idiot, who’s your brother? Stop trying to force a relationship.”
Lu Ran hadn’t let go.
Grabbing Shen Xingran’s hair, he sneered, “My dog doesn’t bite, but I do! You tried to throw dirt on me and you think slapping you twice is enough?”
“Ah!” Mother Shen finally screamed, “You, you, you!”
“What do you mean ‘you’? If your eyes aren’t working, go see an eye doctor!”
Lu Ran spat, leaving the mother and son in shock. He quickly ran out of the Shen family house.
Once outside the villa, Lu Ran didn’t stop.
He looked at the street signs around him, quickly recalling his memory, and headed toward a certain place.
Da Huang had been with him for nine years.
When he was ten, he was small for his age and was often bullied at the orphanage.
His homework had been torn by a dormmate. He didn’t dare tell the teacher, fearing the teacher would punish the on-duty caregiver.
Stuck in a dilemma, he had no choice but to, after lights out, grab a flashlight, crouch in the corner of the orphanage, and cry while piecing together the torn pages.
That night was very cold, with a northern wind blowing.
The scraps of paper in his hands kept getting blown away. Little Lu Ran could only lie on the ground, searching bit by bit.
It was that same night that Lu Ran met Da Huang, who was then just a little puppy.
The puppy stuck out its tongue and licked his cheek.
In an instant, the warm touch healed all of his loneliness and grievances.
Since then, Lu Ran often secretly saved some of his food.
Da Huang managed to survive that cold winter.
Little Lu Ran secretly gained his first, and only, taste of familial affection.
In his past life, just like in this one.
When Lu Ran returned home, Da Huang had already been thrown out.
At first, Lu Ran thought that the Shen family had merely driven Da Huang away.
He planned to sneak out at night to look for Da Huang and then settle him somewhere else.
But after enduring Mother Shen’s scolding, Lu Ran only found Da Huang’s lifeless body on the road.
A car accident had crushed him.
The incident happened on a remote road with limited surveillance.
A kind passerby, noticing Lu Ran’s anxious state, provided a video they had recorded.
In the video, an expensive red sports car first sped up and hit Da Huang, who had been hiding by the roadside.
It didn’t leave afterward but repeatedly ran over the struggling, fleeing dog three times.
Seeing the logo on the sports car, Lu Ran knew he had no means to seek justice for Da Huang.
Maybe the Shen family could, but Lu Ran didn’t dare mention it.
From that moment, the last trace of warmth in Lu Ran’s life disappeared.
He had buried this matter deep within his heart.
Until one day, at a party hosted by his second brother, Shen Xingzhuo, Lu Ran saw that red sports car.
The car’s owner was chatting happily with Shen Xingzhuo.
Lu Ran thought their acquaintance was just a coincidence, as both came from wealthy families.
But as the car owner passed by him, they paused.
With a sideways smile, they asked, “How’s your dog doing?”
In that instant, Lu Ran felt like he had fallen into an icy pit.
He stiffly turned to look at Shen Xingzhuo and then at all the members of the Shen family.
It was only at that moment that Lu Ran realized—
The accident that killed Da Huang had been orchestrated by the Shen family.
Their purpose was just to give him a warning.
How ridiculous. He had foolishly trusted this so-called family without a second thought.
On the road.
“Yelp!”
A small yellow dog let out a pitiful cry.
It swiftly dodged to the side, but its hind leg still got grazed by the tire. Limping, it fled.
Inside the red sports car, which had come to an abrupt halt, the driver laughed while talking on the phone:
“Yo, Brother Zhuo, this dog’s pretty sharp, it actually dodged.”
From the speaker came Shen Xingzhuo’s lazy and careless voice: “Huang Mao, can’t you even handle a dog? You couldn’t kill it?”
“I can definitely do it!” Huang Mao patted his chest in response. “I heard this dog bit Ranran. Is Ranran okay?”
“No big deal,” Shen Xingzhuo chuckled. “He doesn’t like dogs. Just chase it away. But now it’s turned into this mess, what a hassle.”
At the end, he added, “Anyway, make sure you take care of that dog.”
“Got it!” Huang Mao answered with a grin, eyeing the limping dog on the road.
The dog had been hiding by the roadside when he hit it, forcing it into the middle of the street.
It’s just a mutt—if it dies, so be it.
Blame the owner for not being likable.
Huang Mao cheerfully lit a cigarette and slammed his foot on the gas pedal.
The engine roared with a muffled growl.
The sports car sped toward the whimpering dog on the road.
The car went faster and faster.
As he imagined what was about to happen, a smile of twisted enjoyment appeared at the corner of Huang Mao’s mouth.
Just as the wheels were about to crush the dog, a figure flashed in front of the windshield.
Huang Mao jolted, the cigarette in his mouth trembling in fear.
The burning ash dropped onto his leg, causing a sharp sting, but Huang Mao couldn’t care less. He hurriedly slammed on the brakes.
The screech of the brakes pierced through the air.
Long skid marks were left on the road.
Just before the impact, the wheels screeched to a halt.
Huang Mao was nearly choked by the seatbelt, every hair on the back of his neck standing on end.
He vaguely remembered someone had rushed in front of the car and quickly looked up.
Through the windshield, Huang Mao saw a young man standing firmly in front of the car, barely past adulthood.
The boy was dressed in a cheap white shirt.
From head to toe, his entire outfit probably didn’t cost more than a hundred yuan.
It was the kind of poor appearance that Huang Mao had always looked down on.
But when his eyes met the young man’s, Huang Mao instinctively shivered.
The boy’s bangs were slightly long, soaked by the fine rain falling from the sky, clinging to his eyelids.
Beneath the black hair were eyes… eyes that were indescribable.
They were pitch black, filled with a kind of reckless madness.
Huang Mao froze for a moment before shaking off the strange feeling.
He angrily got out of the car and cursed, “Are you looking to die? Can’t you see the car on the road? Do you have a death wish?”
When he walked to the front of the car, his anger faltered again.
He looked down at the boy in front of him, whose knees were almost pressed against the sports car’s headlights.
At such a close distance, when the car came speeding toward him, this person hadn’t taken a single step back.
The boy stood there with his arms outstretched, protecting the yellow dog lying on the ground behind him.
That same eerie feeling crept up Huang Mao’s spine once more.
Before he could continue, Lu Ran slowly turned his head to look at him, his voice cold and menacing: “You’re the one who hit my dog?”
Huang Mao instinctively took a step back.
But then he quickly pieced together the boy’s identity—just the rumored illegitimate child of the Shen family.
Regaining his earlier arrogance, he smiled slyly and said, “How can you prove it was me who hit your dog? For all I know, your dog ran into my car.”
Shen Xingzhuo had deliberately dumped the dog on a road with no cameras and few people around.
Who could prove anything?
At this moment, Lu Ran had already crouched down, checking on Da Huang’s condition.
Seeing that Da Huang only had a limp leg and hadn’t been run over, he breathed a small sigh of relief.
Maintaining his crouched position, Lu Ran looked up at Huang Mao and said, “You’re right.”
Huang Mao felt uneasy at his calm demeanor.
He lowered his head to look at the boy in front of him, realizing that this illegitimate child of the Shen family was unexpectedly quite good-looking.
Lu Ran’s features were delicate and serene.
His eyes were round, with the outer corners slightly drooping, and when he looked up, there was a hint of cautious obedience.
Huang Mao’s thoughts stirred and he wanted to tease this illegitimate child.
Just as he reached out his hand, the “obedient” boy in front of him suddenly hugged his legs and lay down on the ground.
“What are you doing?” Huang Mao was bewildered.
It didn’t take long for him to understand.
Lu Ran directly hugged his legs and started wailing, “You hit me! You hit me! The rich second generation ran me over!”
“Hey! What nonsense are you talking about? Who hit you?” Huang Mao panicked.
Hitting a person is completely different from hitting a dog.
No matter how quiet the road was, there would still be pedestrians.
If people saw the dog get hit, they might just express some regret.
But if they saw someone get into a car accident, most would gather around.
Now that Lu Ran was directly screaming, more and more pedestrians had stopped by the roadside to look over.
Huang Mao was genuinely a bit frantic.
Although his family had a little money, he couldn’t afford the scandal of running someone over.
Moreover, his father was currently vying for a big project and most of the family’s liquid funds were invested in it.
If a little scandal from him caused the project to fall through…
His father would kill him.
In his panic, Huang Mao focused on clearing his name: “You—you’re just staging an accident! How can you prove I hit you?”
“How can you prove you didn’t hit me?” Lu Ran shot back.
“I’ve got a dashcam…” Halfway through his sentence, Huang Mao suddenly fell silent.
If the dashcam footage came out, it would prove that he hit the dog. Besides, it was indeed him who had slammed on the gas pedal, and Lu Ran was so close to the car that he couldn’t clearly say whether he hit him or not.
More and more people gathered by the roadside.
Lu Ran hugged his legs and lay directly on the ground.
He had truly experienced pain and car accidents, pretending to be gravely injured with his face pale is not hard.
Huang Mao was sweating profusely, fearing that the situation would escalate.
He leaned closer and lowered his voice, trying to pacify him: “Dude, let’s talk this over. You get in the car first…”
“What? You want me to be sensible, get in the car, and then deal with me?” Lu Ran raised his voice, his face full of fear.
Huang Mao was taken aback: “No… I didn’t say that…”
“You’re surnamed Huang, and your father is Huang Yaozu. You threatened me not to provoke your Huang family, or I wouldn’t know how I’d die?”
Lu Ran gasped in shock, covering his mouth in surprise, completely exposing Huang Mao’s background.
He looked like a student. His face was pale, eyes wide with fear.
In comparison, Huang Mao seemed utterly detestable.
Huang Mao stammered, “You… how do you know…”
The bystanders were filled with righteous indignation: “I’ve heard of the Huang family. You’re the ones who owe us payment for the construction materials, right?”
“How can a rich kid bully honest people like this? Don’t be afraid, young man, we’ll call the police!”
“Try calling the police!” Huang Mao, in a panic, raised his voice immediately.
The surrounding area fell silent for a moment, and the voices of condemnation grew louder.
A little girl added, “I saw it! This blond guy in the sports car ran over the brother on the ground. He even crazily ran over that little dog behind!”
Huang Mao’s heart sank deeper into guilt.
This car… couldn’t withstand any scrutiny at all.
Although Lu Ran was setting Huang Mao up, he kept a close eye on Da Huang’s condition.
Seeing that the situation was almost at a boiling point, he quickly said, “Is there a kind person who can take me to the hospital? I’m afraid to get in this person’s car.”
The road was narrow and there weren’t many cars.
However, because of the conflict between the two, a black business car quietly stopped at the side of the road.
Lu Ran glanced at it and immediately waved his hand, calling out, “Driver over there, can you give me a ride?”
Huang Mao instinctively turned to look.
The moment he saw the six-door extended business car, he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.
W-What is he doing here?
But he quickly reassured himself.
It’s fine, it’s fine…
That person isn’t someone who meddles in others’ affairs.
The black business car quietly remained parked.
Just as Huang Mao’s heart started to settle back down into his stomach, he saw the business car, which had been stationary, slowly start to move, making its way toward Lu Ran.
Finally, the side door of the car opened slowly, revealing a pitch-black interior devoid of any light.
