CFRFGC Chapter 24

⌈Zhang Lin looked at his dejected little brother and burst into tears.⌋

The underling certainly didn’t dare send the video to Shen Xingran.

What had he recorded? Was he out of his mind? If that video leaked, Zhang Lin would probably kill him.

No one knew exactly how Zhang Lin left the restroom or how he made his way out of the club in the end.

The only rumor circulating was that, by the end of that night…

He changed into a new set of clothes before leaving.

Everyone who had been present remained tight-lipped about what had happened that night.

The secrecy around the incident was even higher than when Lin Yi got into trouble.

As for Zhang Lin, he behaved completely differently from his usual self—staying at home for several days without stepping foot outside.

Shen Xingran, who had orchestrated “all” of this, didn’t intervene, as he wanted to protect the reputation of his campus “white moonlight”.

A few days later, Shen Xingran heard that Lu Ran’s experiment had been delayed and that he had lost many of his materials.

During the group meeting, his professor had even reprimanded him a few times.

Upon hearing this, Shen Xingran was quite pleased with Zhang Lin.

He thought Zhang Lin was far more efficient than Shen Xingzhuo.

As a seasoned player who knew how to manage his “fish pond”, Shen Xingran certainly couldn’t ignore the contributions of every “fish” in the pond.

So, he immediately opened WeChat and sent a message to Zhang Lin.

“Brother Lin, Lin Yi heard that you stood up for him. He’s very happy.”

Shen Xingran waited a long while, but there was no reply.

He stared at the empty chat window, feeling a bit puzzled.

He thought to himself, ‘This time, Zhang Lin’s really keeping it cool.’

After a while, he cleared his throat and, with a faint smile, sent a voice message: “I’m so envious of Lin Yi for having an amazing fiancé like you, Brother Lin.”

Surely, this would get a response, right?

Shen Xingran felt confident.

He switched away from the chat screen and started talking with someone else.

But still, he didn’t hear any notification of a message from Zhang Lin.

Shen Xingran began wondering if WeChat was somehow swallowing his messages.

Since Zhang Lin was useful at the moment, Shen Xingran didn’t want to leave him hanging, so he switched back to Zhang Lin’s chat window.

But when he looked closely, Shen Xingran was dumbfounded.

The only messages floating on the screen were still the two he had sent.

Zhang Lin hadn’t replied?

No reply at all?

Shen Xingran couldn’t believe it.

It must be bad internet, messing up the messages.

He refreshed the chat window several times, but no new messages appeared.

Shen Xingran suddenly felt a bit panicked.

He carefully reviewed his entire chat history with Zhang Lin and subtly inquired with others who were close to Zhang Lin.

He wanted to figure out what he might have missed.

But after asking around for a while, he got no useful information.

Shen Xingran couldn’t shake the feeling that the situation seemed familiar, though he couldn’t quite place why.

After some thought, he reasoned that Zhang Lin was no ordinary person. The Zhang family wasn’t like some small, insignificant family, so it was normal for the heir to be a little aloof.

Looking at his chat history again, Shen Xingran reflected and decided it was probably his own fault for coming off too distant, too cold.

He needed a new approach.

After considering his options, Shen Xingran decided to lower his stance and find some common ground to joke about.

And who would be the common topic?

Of course, it had to be Lu Ran!

So Shen Xingran jokingly wrote: “My brother actually chose a veterinary major and now he deals with cow dung every day. I just don’t get it…”

After sending the message, Shen Xingran thought, ‘This should do the trick, right?’

He felt he had sufficiently lowered himself.

Sure enough, it was as if he had triggered a keyword—Zhang Lin replied almost immediately.

Finally, Shen Xingran felt at ease.

He took a sip of his coffee and chatted casually with a classmate nearby, then confidently opened Zhang Lin’s chat window.

But what he saw was a line of furious, angry words: “Don’t! Talk! To! Me! About! Cow! Dung!”

Shen Xingran was stunned.

Zhang Lin had absolutely no desire to revisit what he had been through.

For the next entire month, Zhang Lin didn’t step outside his home, barely even leaving his room.

Even the meals brought to his room were mostly untouched.

Not only that—word spread that Zhang Lin had even drastically reduced his visits to the restroom, holding it in whenever he could.

Zhang Lin’s parents, busy with business deals, began to notice their son’s strange behavior and grew increasingly concerned.

They specifically asked a few juniors from familiar families to invite Zhang Lin out for fun, hoping it would lift his spirits.

But for some unknown reason, as soon as Zhang Lin heard that those acquaintances were coming over, he would curse them out and send them away.

The juniors weren’t particularly enthusiastic either.

Every time they visited the Zhang family, they would wear awkward, puzzled smiles.

In any case, the older generation had no idea what had happened.

However, the circle of second-generation heirs in Beijing had become noticeably quieter.

For quite some time, there hadn’t been any disturbances, which provided a welcome break for the hard-working people in various industries.

Still, staying holed up at home forever was not a viable solution.

A month later, a few newcomers who usually didn’t have much contact with Zhang Lin finally managed to invite him out.

These individuals didn’t expect to succeed and were quite excited, though also a bit nervous. After all, the Zhang family held a prominent position in Beijing.

Not being very familiar with Zhang Lin’s preferences, they did some research beforehand. Upon learning that Zhang Lin enjoyed visiting the racetrack, they decided to take him there.

The sky was clear and bright. The wide expanse of the racetrack, bathed in golden sunlight, created a soothing and pleasant atmosphere.

Zhang Lin walked along the grass with the others, momentarily forgetting everything that had happened a month ago. He chatted and laughed, seeming like his old, confident self again.

The racetrack owner brought out a sleek, shiny racehorse.

“Young Master Zhang, this horse’s mother was an award-winning racehorse, personally honored by the Queen. Its father is a champion at the Irish international racecourses. It has just reached adulthood and already won two regional titles,” the owner enthusiastically introduced.

Someone chimed in, flattering, “Only such a fine horse is worthy of Young Master Zhang…”

Zhang Lin smiled silently, circling the horse once. He reached out, about to stroke its back.

Just then, the horse’s waist sank slightly, and with a “plop”, a steaming pile of dung fell to the ground.

The horse enthusiasts around were unfazed, accustomed to such sights. They even smiled and analyzed, “You can tell this horse has a good diet—its manure is healthy.”

After a while, realizing there was no response, someone looked up and saw that the once proud and composed Zhang Lin was now staring blankly at the pile of horse dung, his face pale as ash.

“Ah!” Zhang Lin suddenly screamed, almost breaking down as he bolted back to his car.

“Young Master Zhang!” The people behind, confused and clueless about what had triggered him, hurriedly chased after him.

The memories he had been trying so hard to forget came flooding back.

As the only son and heir of the Zhang family, Zhang Lin had grown up with a silver spoon in his mouth. Everything within his reach was associated with luxury, cleanliness, and high class.

But that night…

That night introduced him to an entirely different, horrifying experience.

Even now, whenever he closed his eyes, he felt as if his face was still smeared with that foul-smelling substance.

For the first time in his life, Zhang Lin realized that even going to the bathroom could be a terrifying ordeal.

But that wasn’t the worst part.

The more unsettling reaction was something else entirely.

In fact, Zhang Lin had actually found Lu Ran quite attractive that night.

He had even felt a bit of interest toward him…

But!!!

Now, whenever he thought of Lu Ran, all he could picture were those seemingly innocent yet devilish dark eyes.

He thought of Lu Ran’s gentle whispers, recalling “What did the hamster do wrong?” and the bloody hamster corpse.

When he thought of Lu Ran shouting, all that came to mind was the image of manure smeared across his face and Lu Ran gripping his throat, yelling.

Even the phantom pain of his stomach twisting and turning lingered.

But the worst part was—

Every time Zhang Lin had even a hint of desire, he couldn’t help but think of Lu Ran. And once he thought of Lu Ran, those terrifying experiences came flooding back.

And so…

Zhang Lin stared at his dejected little brother and broke down into tears.

He couldn’t go on like this!

Lu Ran, completely unaware of the psychological trauma poor Zhang Lin had suffered, would probably just chuckle and curse him for deserving it if he ever found out.

When no one was bothering him, Lu Ran was still that miserable university student, bouncing between homework, exams, the lab, and his part-time jobs.

The winter break was approaching fast.

If Lu Ran wanted to have a proper break, he needed to finish a phase of his experiment before vacation started. Otherwise, even on New Year’s Eve, his advisor would be calling him nonstop, demanding that he come to the lab to organize his data.

Not that he had any grand plans for New Year’s anyway, but at least he could treat Da Huang to a few beef dumplings.

Lu Ran had already turned down several part-time gigs and was practically living in the lab.

Even though he had humiliated Zhang Lin, Zhang Lin’s underhanded tactics still caused some trouble, delaying his experiment by at least a week.

That evening, Ding Wei also showed up at the lab.

He wasn’t even wearing a lab coat and only came in after confirming that the advisor wasn’t around.

Grabbing his own equipment, instead of sitting down to work, he dumped it in front of Lu Ran and said, “Hey Lu Ran, you live nearby, right? I’ve got something going on, so help me finish this experiment. Just give me the data afterward.”

Before waiting for a reply, Ding Wei turned to leave.

Lu Ran hooked a foot around a stool, blocking his path.

“What’s keeping you so busy? Isn’t this experiment yours to do?”

Ding Wei, completely unbothered, laughed, “It’s the holidays! Don’t I need to go home?”

“And I don’t need to celebrate?” Lu Ran retorted.

Ding Wei chuckled reflexively and casually said, “You’re an orphan…”

The moment the words left his mouth, he realized he’d voiced what was in his head. Embarrassed, he scratched his face awkwardly.

Just then, the advisor walked in for an inspection.

Worried Lu Ran might say something in anger, Ding Wei quickly raised his voice, “I was just saying your experiment’s been dragging on! You’ve thrown away so many of those Petri dishes already; you’re not going to have to start from scratch, are you?”

This immediately diverted the advisor’s attention to Lu Ran.

As the advisor approached with a stern expression to question him—completely missing the part about Ding Wei pawning off his experiment—Ding Wei finally exhaled in relief.

“How much longer will these results take? You still haven’t successfully isolated the strain?” the advisor asked.

Hearing the serious tone of the advisor, Ding Wei felt a faint twinge of guilt.

But then he reconsidered—he hadn’t said anything wrong. Lu Ran had slowed down the experiment, after all. Serves him right for offending people so casually.

Lu Ran glanced at Ding Wei, then pulled out the Petri dishes he had just stored away. Inside, the isolated colonies of bacteria were neatly arranged.

Handing the organized data to the advisor, Lu Ran explained, “The expected strains have all been isolated. However, during the process, I came across a few additional strains. I’d like to analyze them in more detail.”

“I’ve compared this data with the previous interrupted results and they all match up.”

The advisor’s expression softened as soon as he looked at the data.

Ding Wei was startled—he hadn’t expected Lu Ran to be this efficient.

The advisor asked a few more questions, which Lu Ran answered fluently and with confidence.

Ding Wei started feeling uneasy. He couldn’t follow most of the conversation, but seeing Lu Ran engaging so easily with the advisor made him reluctant to leave without making an impression.

Once the advisor finished questioning Lu Ran, he turned to Ding Wei. “You must be Xiao Ding? You don’t seem to come to the lab often?”

Ding Wei, feeling awkward, quickly forced a smile and was about to say something, but then he noticed Lu Ran, who was already tidying up his things, look up at him and calmly remind, “Ding Wei, why aren’t you wearing your lab coat?”

Ding Wei froze.

The advisor’s face instantly turned severe.

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