⌈”I feel good lying here. The air is fresher and there are people to talk to.”⌋
The two people squatting down immediately started a game of rock-paper-scissors.
Of course, not all second-generation rich kids are foolish.
The one standing on the outermost edge remained calm.
Instead of buying the steamed buns for two hundred each from Lu Ran’s hand, he went to a nearby supermarket, spent two yuan, and bought two steamed buns along with a pack of pickled vegetables.
But after he stuffed the pickled vegetables into the steamed bun and took a bite, he paused for two seconds.
This person looked at the steamed bun in his hand, then at Lu Ran, who was still gnawing on his steamed bun, and turned to ask Chen Sheng, who was standing beside him.
“Why… does it feel like mine doesn’t taste as good as his?”
Chen Sheng glanced at him and said, “You know nothing. That steamed bun in his hand costs a hundred each.”
Madam Shen watched this scene, dumbfounded.
On one hand, she found it unbelievable—since when did Lu Ran get so familiar with these rich young masters?
He even had them completely wrapped around his finger.
On the other hand, she found it utterly embarrassing.
Selling stuff right in front of the Shen family’s gate? And selling something as plain as white steamed buns?
But Madam Shen still remembered they were in front of others, so she immediately plastered on a gentle smile.
She stepped forward and feigned enthusiasm, saying, “Why is everyone just standing here?”
As she spoke, she pretended to have just noticed Lu Ran lying on the ground and exclaimed in surprise, “Oh, how did you fall asleep here? Come inside quickly, it’s so cold out here.”
Without waiting for Lu Ran to respond, Madam Shen gave an apologetic smile to the others and said, “I don’t know what’s gotten into him. Please forgive him.”
No matter how well she acted, the person lying on the ground didn’t care at all.
Lu Ran carefully packed up his plastic bag and glanced up at her, saying, “Throwing a tantrum? Didn’t you kick me out?”
Madam Shen: “…”
Her face flushed red.
“What nonsense are you talking about, child? Hurry up and pack your things and come inside,” Madam Shen urged.
“No thanks,” Lu Ran said as he remained sprawled on the ground. “I’m fine lying here. The air is fresher and there are people to talk to.”
Plus, I’m making money.
“If I move in, who knows, I might wake up to find both me and my luggage tossed out. Skipping that step, isn’t that better?”
The people standing around were all stunned by what they were hearing.
They hadn’t expected the Shen family to throw away their pride like this during an argument.
No matter how well-mannered Madam Shen was, she was on the verge of losing it from Lu Ran’s words.
“You!” She could no longer maintain her smile and, pointing at Lu Ran, said, “Fine! Then stay out here forever!”
With that, she stormed back into the villa, furious.
After going back, she calmed down with a glass of water.
Madam Shen started to feel regret.
She shouldn’t have lost her temper like that in front of others. If word got out, she would become the topic of gossip at the next gathering with the rich wives.
Madam Shen began to feel uneasy again.
Before long, there was some noise coming from the stairs.
She looked up and saw Shen Xingran coming down from upstairs, looking like he had just woken up.
It was already quite late.
Lu Ran outside had already finished breakfast.
Normally, seeing Shen Xingran wake up at this time, Madam Shen would have teased him with a few words, calling him a “little lazy pig”.
But right now, Madam Shen’s mood was strangely complicated.
She had been on edge all night because of Lu Ran and hadn’t slept well.
She had just skipped breakfast to rush out and “fight a lone battle” with Lu Ran.
Meanwhile, Shen Xingran seemed to have slept soundly.
Shen Xingran, indeed, was in a good mood.
He had finally managed to drive Lu Ran out and he didn’t care whether Lu Ran was lying outside the gate or not.
If Lu Ran stayed outside and couldn’t enter the Shen household, even better.
As usual, he sat down at the dining table.
After a few bites, he noticed the unused set of chopsticks across from him and sensed something was off.
“Mom… why aren’t you eating breakfast?” Shen Xingran asked cautiously.
“Eat? How could I have the appetite to eat?” Madam Shen said irritably, pointing outside. “Look, he’s quite enjoying himself out there!”
Shen Xingran looked up and saw Chen Sheng and a few others chatting happily with Lu Ran.
He froze for a moment, feeling a bit wary.
Since when did Lu Ran get so chummy with these people?
But then he reassured himself.
They were just some lackeys who followed Shen Xingzhuo around, not people from any influential families—nothing to be concerned about.
But Madam Shen’s next words still made him unhappy.
“He’s perfectly comfortable out there! I even asked him to come in, but he refused.”
Shen Xingran paused his eating for a moment.
He then comforted her, “Mom, don’t let this upset you and harm your health.”
For the entire morning, Lu Ran stayed right at the gate of the Shen family and didn’t move.
When Chen Sheng and the others invited him to go out, Lu Ran declined.
It just so happened that today was the weekend and Lu Ran had no classes tomorrow.
The work he had taken on could be completed on his phone.
He had all the time in the world to play the waiting game with the Shen family.
Madam Shen was nearly at her wit’s end.
She had originally scheduled an outing with some people in the afternoon, but with Lu Ran parked right at the gate, even the car couldn’t leave.
Madam Shen had no choice but to stay cooped up inside the house.
Shen Xingran, on the other hand, was eager to go out.
He really wanted to step over Lu Ran directly.
He also wanted to mock him, to say that Lu Ran was like a stray dog, lying at the doorstep, unable to enter the house.
But Shen Xingran knew he couldn’t do that.
Lu Ran was not someone who would tolerate verbal insults.
If he dared to say it, Lu Ran would have no qualms about pressing his head against the ground right at the Shen family’s gate and rubbing it into the pavement.
In the late afternoon, Shen Xingzhuo came home.
He originally planned to drive straight into the yard, but from a distance, he saw someone lying at the gate and nearly had a heart attack.
When he got out of the car and took a closer look, he realized it was Lu Ran.
“What are you doing lying here?” Shen Xingzhuo was completely confused.
“I got kicked out of the house, didn’t you notice?” Lu Ran glanced at him and continued busying himself on his phone.
Shen Xingzhuo was taken aback.
He hadn’t been home for a few days, not because he didn’t have time, but because it was complicated to face both Shen Xingran and Lu Ran at the same time.
Shen Xingzhuo wasn’t ready to deal with that yet.
But he didn’t expect that in just a few days, Lu Ran had been kicked out.
“So you’re just lying here?”
Shen Xingzhuo couldn’t help but chuckle.
He knew Madam Shen’s personality well and was sure that by now she was furious with Lu Ran but had no way to handle him.
Lu Ran, still focused on his phone, ignored him.
Da Huang curled up quietly in the corner of the sleeping bag.
Shen Xingzhuo reached out to pet the dog.
Lu Ran shot him a sharp look.
He didn’t say anything, but the warning and refusal in his eyes were unmistakable.
Shen Xingzhuo paused, then withdrew his hand.
“Are you just going to stay here? What if it rains?” Shen Xingzhuo asked.
“I’ve got a tent.” Lu Ran patted his suitcase.
Shen Xingzhuo fell silent.
Did Madam Shen know that Lu Ran was so well-prepared?
He glanced toward the villa.
He couldn’t see much.
After hesitating for a couple of seconds, Shen Xingzhuo asked, “Do you want to stay at my place?”
Lu Ran lifted his head from his phone, giving Shen Xingzhuo a half-smile as he asked, “Does Shen Xingran know his brother is so kind as to invite me?”
At that moment, Shen Xingzhuo felt a burning sensation on his face.
It was as if that question had slapped him hard.
He wanted to say, “I’m your brother too.”
But for some reason, the words wouldn’t come out. Even if they did, they seemed too weak to carry any conviction.
Moreover, somewhere deep inside… he couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt, as if he was betraying Shen Xingran.
In the end, Shen Xingzhuo just threw out a sentence, “Fine, don’t come then.”
He got into his car, rolled down the window, and said to Lu Ran, “Stop blocking the way, I need to drive in.”
Staring at the wheels that were right in front of him, Lu Ran’s eyes darkened, but he didn’t move an inch.
He lay flat on the ground.
Crossing his hands over his abdomen, he calmly said, “It’s fine, you can just drive over me. I don’t mind.”
Shen Xingzhuo: “…”
In the end, he briefly returned home but didn’t even dare enter the gate before cursing and backing the car out.
Shen Xingran and Madam Shen both noticed that Shen Xingzhuo had been there.
Shen Xingran stood by the living room window, watching as Shen Xingzhuo arrived, squatted down, exchanged a few words with Lu Ran, and then left.
Madam Shen came over to watch.
Shen Xingran patted his chest in relief and said, “That scared me! Thankfully, my brother noticed someone was there. If he had just driven in…”
“Let’s hope not!” Madam Shen, imagining the scene, also patted her chest in fear.
Shen Xingran looked at his mother, thinking she was worried about Lu Ran.
But then he heard Madam Shen mutter under her breath, “If something happened right in front of our house, how embarrassing would that be?”
For a moment, Shen Xingran felt a little uncomfortable.
He should have felt pleased, but for some reason, he couldn’t find it in himself to be happy.
By mid-afternoon, the sunlight had become a bit less intense.
The rich wives from nearby homes gradually began to venture outside.
Some gathered in twos or threes, some were heading out with their bags, and others were walking their children around.
Although the villas in the area were quite far apart, there were still some shared roads.
Before long, someone passed by the Shen family’s gate.
They spotted Lu Ran lying on a sleeping bag and paused, surprised.
One kind-hearted woman, seeing that he was young and had a school bag beside him, along with several homework sheets spread out on the sleeping bag, couldn’t resist coming over to ask a few questions.
“Excuse me, are you a student from Y University nearby?”
Lu Ran was always polite to people with good intentions.
He looked up from his pile of homework and nodded obediently.
The woman in front of him smiled warmly, “I was a student at Y University too. Why are you staying out here and not going home?”
“Hello, senior,” Lu Ran sat up from the sleeping bag, pointing at the Shen family’s gate behind him. “This is my home.”
The word “senior” made the woman’s smile soften even more.
“Then why aren’t you going inside?”
Lu Ran thought for a moment and replied, “I like to spend my weekends outside, being a wandering street artist.”
The woman laughed and asked, “What kind of performance are you planning?”
“Haven’t decided yet. How about I tell a story?” Lu Ran grinned.
Madam Shen didn’t have a good lunch and her afternoon nap didn’t go well either.
Every time she closed her eyes, her mind would conjure up images of a servant coming to report that Lu Ran had caused another incident.
After tossing and turning for a long time, she finally came downstairs, utterly exhausted.
As soon as her foot touched the floor, she heard a servant’s voice.
“M-Madam! Lu Ran is outside chatting with people again.”
“Oh.”
Madam Shen remained remarkably calm.
The expected scenario had unfolded as she had anticipated, and it didn’t faze her at all.
She asked flatly, “Who is he talking to now?”
The servant tried her best to explain, “He’s talking to the wives from around the neighborhood. For some reason, they’ve all gathered at our front gate!”
“Oh, what are they talking about?” Madam Shen, expressionless, took the freshly brewed tea handed to her.
“He’s telling a story… it’s about… a lost boy who was finally brought back home, only to have his name and identity taken.”
“Oh.”
Madam Shen took a sip of tea.
The moment the tea went down her throat, she suddenly realized what had just been said, and she choked violently.
Madam Shen grabbed the servant’s arm, her eyes wide with shock. “What did you say?”
On the stairs, Shen Xingran stood frozen, as if plunged into an ice cellar.
Madam Shen reached out and knocked over her tea in her panic.
“No, we can’t let this continue! Quickly! Call the property management!”
