CFRFGC Chapter 29

⌈”So what did you do to him after I left?”⌋

“Mmph mmph!”

Lu Ran instinctively struggled, his vision plunged into darkness.

As the car door closed, everything—moonlight, starlight, even the dim glow from the streetlights—was shut out, leaving them in pitch-black isolation.

A hand clamped firmly over his mouth, while the other gripped his waist like an iron vice, with a strength that felt unbreakable. Lu Ran wriggled for a while, but the person behind him didn’t budge an inch.

A sudden wave of panic surged through him, but he forced it down, pausing to assess the situation.

Only then did he hear a familiar voice from behind. “Finally scared now?”

The cool, low voice was right next to his ear, close enough that he could feel the warmth of each breath—a contrast to the frigid tone.

The instant Ji Min spoke, Lu Ran’s pounding heart started to settle. He pried the man’s hand from his mouth and couldn’t hold back a muttered curse. “Sh*t.”

“You’re insane!” Lu Ran spat, furious.

“Right back at you,” Ji Min replied smoothly.

Lu Ran twisted around to double-check. Ji Min leaned against the seat, his gaze calm and detached. Despite all Lu Ran’s earlier struggles in his arms, not a single strand of Ji Min’s hair was out of place. Clearly, all his flailing had been a laughable effort against this man, who—even with a disability—seemed unfazed.

A flash of frustration surged through Lu Ran. He huffed, hugging his dog as he wriggled out of Ji Min’s lap, shifting to squat beside him.

Once he settled down, Lu Ran noticed that the car’s middle seats had been entirely removed. Although Ji Min was inside the vehicle, he was still seated in his wheelchair.

Which meant…

This man had just lifted him clean off the ground, right over the wheelchair’s armrest, and onto his lap.

Feeling even more unsettled, Lu Ran grumbled, “I didn’t expect you to have a knack for playing kidnapper, Mr. Ji.”

Ji Min seemed amused. He shot back, “Same could be said about you,” and, recalling an “incident” from before, added, “At least I didn’t use a hand that just touched the trash can.”

Lu Ran: “…”

As they bantered back and forth—

A voice suddenly sounded from Lu Ran’s pocket. “Hello, this is the 110 emergency services hotline…”

Ji Min: “…”

Lu Ran: “…”

The two locked eyes, staring each other down for a long, silent moment.

Only then did Lu Ran hurriedly set Da Huang down and pull out his phone. He spoke into the receiver, “Sorry, that was just a misunderstanding. Everything’s fine now…”

On the other end, the operator carefully confirmed Lu Ran’s safety and took down his personal information before finally ending the call.

Lu Ran and Ji Min resumed their silent staring contest.

Mr. Ji, who had nearly ended up in the police station over his little prank, rubbed his forehead in exasperation, looking at Lu Ran with a complex expression. “I honestly can’t tell if you’re brave or reckless.”

“Ever heard of an emergency call shortcut?” Lu Ran stuffed his phone back into his pocket, grumbling, “Besides, you’re the one who startled me—I thought…”

“Thought what?” Ji Min raised an eyebrow.

Thought maybe Shen Hongyuan had finally gotten fed up and hired someone to throw him in the river with a sack over his head. But Lu Ran didn’t say that aloud.

Instead, he sat down on the floor, looked up at Ji Min, and asked, “Why’d you drag me in here? Here to offer me a job?”

Ji Min glanced down at him, momentarily meeting his puppy-like eyes before averting his gaze indifferently to the window. “Nothing much,” he replied. “Just couldn’t stand seeing you laughing on the road like that.”

Lu Ran: “…For someone so rich, you’re surprisingly petty.”

“Maybe being petty is why I’m rich,” Ji Min responded.

“Bull.” Lu Ran couldn’t hold back a curse. “If that’s the case, how come I’m not?”

Ji Min paused, visibly thrown off by the boy’s candid retort. A faint smile threatened to escape before he quickly suppressed it, clearing his throat to regain his stern demeanor.

“So, are you here for revenge?” Lu Ran asked as he stroked Da Huang in his arms, sounding genuinely curious. “Shouldn’t you be taking it out on Zhang Lin instead?”

After all, Zhang Lin was the one who had “flipped him the bird”.

At the mention of this, Ji Min’s expression soured. He lowered his gaze to meet Lu Ran’s eyes and asked coolly, “And you’re saying you had nothing to do with it?”

“Nope,” Lu Ran replied, feigning innocence.

Ji Min’s tone turned icy. “Then tell me—what exactly is everyone out there saying now?”

Lu Ran faltered for a second, glancing away. But he quickly composed himself, looking Ji Min in the eye with a straight face as he explained, “Zhang Lin ended up naked and alone with you in a room. There are three ways that could’ve gone.”

Ji Min raised an eyebrow, inviting him to continue this line of nonsense.

Lu Ran spoke with genuine seriousness. “Option one: You two just happened to meet by accident; option two: You had malicious intentions and forced yourself on Zhang Lin.”

Ji Min’s eyebrow rose even higher.

Lu Ran avoided his gaze. “The third option is what we have now: Zhang Lin seduced you.”

The boy’s voice was muffled.

“There were clearly three possibilities, but since it was you who got caught, only the third story is spreading.”

He lifted his head to meet Ji Min’s eyes.

“If it were me, it’d also be the third option,” he said. “Only our places would be swapped, but… why? Zhang Lin’s the one who did wrong.”

There was an indignation in his tone—a defiance typical of youth, yet also beyond it.

“So, am I the one who should take the fall?” Ji Min asked, but his tone had softened.

“No.” Lu Ran’s voice grew quieter. “I didn’t think it’d end up like this.”

He lifted his face, looking up at Ji Min with an expression as irresistibly innocent as a small, wounded dog. “Then can’t we say you just accidentally did a good deed this time?”

Ji Min averted his gaze toward the window, muttering under his breath, “Idiot.”

If he hadn’t impulsively decided to do something decent, he wouldn’t have interrupted Zhang Lin’s words before he left.

“But…” Lu Ran’s voice took on a puzzled note.

Ji Min turned to look at him.

Lu Ran appeared completely baffled. “I only took off his clothes and he was fine when I left. How did he…”

Under Ji Min’s intense stare, Lu Ran made a small salute-like gesture.

He leaned in closer to Ji Min, eyes full of pure curiosity. “So, after I left, what did you do to him?”

Ji Min: “…”

“I. Did. Nothing.” Ji Min gritted his teeth.

“No way.” Lu Ran didn’t believe him.

He even thought back carefully to his own experience from his last life. He’d had the same drink and he hadn’t reacted the way Zhang Lin had.

Lu Ran looked at Ji Min, firm in his stance. “You must have done something.”

He looked at Ji Min with a complicated expression. “At that point, Zhang Lin was barely more than a breathing corpse. You…”

“I said I did nothing!” Ji Min stressed.

Lu Ran gave him an understanding look. “It’s fine, I get it. You helped me out, so I won’t go around telling people about your… special interests.”

Ji Min: “…”

He felt a surge of frustration welling up, nearly suffocating him. He couldn’t help but wonder, Why did I even let this kid in the car? Was I out of my mind?

Seeing Lu Ran’s sympathetic yet inquisitive expression, Ji Min nearly threw him out.

But Lu Ran’s curiosity was impossible to resist.

He was young, with no real experience in these matters, and because of being forced by Zhang Lin in his previous life, he had a bit of a psychological shadow about it.

Now that he and Ji Min had “teamed up” to mess with Zhang Lin, he couldn’t help but want to dig for information.

After holding back for a while, he finally gave in and asked, probing cautiously, “So… even if someone’s asleep, would they still react to this kind of thing?”

Ji Min emphasized, “I didn’t do anything!”

But as soon as he said it, Ji Min felt something was off.

He looked down at Lu Ran.

Sure enough, the kid was staring at the level of his wheelchair, visibly startled. Then he looked up, his face full of sincere apology, “Sorry about that—I didn’t mean to bring it up.”

Ji Min: “…”

What had he misunderstood?

And why did he feel vaguely annoyed?

Ji Min rarely got irritated. The people who managed to get under his skin usually didn’t fare well.

He instinctively wanted to retort, but just as he opened his mouth, he thought he must be out of his mind. Why was he discussing personal matters with a nineteen-year-old kid who didn’t even recognize a condom?

Ji Min took a deep breath. “You—”

At that moment, there was a soft cough from the front passenger seat, breaking the silence.

Lu Ran looked up and realized for the first time that Butler Chen had been sitting there the whole time.

“Uncle Butler! Long time no see!” Lu Ran leaned over to greet him, looking uncharacteristically embarrassed as he remembered the questions he’d just asked Ji Min.

Ji Min: “…”

It was the first time he’d seen someone treat his butler with more respect than him.

“Long time no see.” Butler Chen nodded to him and pointed to a button in the back. “There’s a folding seat there.”

“Let him stay on the floor,” Ji Min said coldly.

Lu Ran glanced at Ji Min, then at Butler Chen, who gave him a kind smile.

Ignoring Ji Min, he bravely pulled out the folding seat.

In his arms, Da Huang, who seemed to remember the butler from the accident day, wagged his tail in recognition.

“How’s the little one’s injury?” asked Butler Chen.

“His name’s Da Huang. He’s healed, but his back left leg is still a bit lame. Surgery could fix it, but he’s too old, and I don’t want to risk putting him under anesthesia.”

Butler Chen listened patiently.

Lu Ran sat there, speaking earnestly, his tone taking on a sort of polite eagerness one would use with an elder.

Ji Min found himself glancing at him several times.

After a moment, Butler Chen looked at Ji Min, then spoke to Lu Ran in a gentle tone, “Sorry for bringing you along, young man. Where would you like to get off, or should we take you back to the Shen family home?”

Lu Ran already had a strong liking for Butler Chen.

Hearing this, Lu Ran paused and responded, “No need to apologize to me. Today’s events were partly my fault. I’m the one who dragged Mr. Ji into this.”

Ji Min clicked his tongue.

Without looking at Lu Ran, who was meekly accepting responsibility, he closed his tired eyes and said, “Driver, pull over.”

Lu Ran turned to stare at him.

“Are you getting out on your own or should I throw you out?” Ji Min asked.

“Sir!” Butler Chen cautioned.

Lu Ran opened the car door and got out with the dog in his arms.

He made sure to wave at Butler Chen. “Goodbye, Uncle!”

Butler Chen offered him an apologetic smile.

Lu Ran waved back, then closed the car door, muttering in his mind that Ji Min was completely out of his mind.

How could someone that crazy have such a great butler?

As he walked along the road for a while, he realized that Ji Min wasn’t entirely a jerk. He’d dropped him off close to the Shen family’s villa area.

Otherwise, at this hour, he wouldn’t have been able to get a cab.

Lu Ran slowly made his way toward the Shen family villa.

After idling for a moment, the business car started back up.

With Lu Ran gone, silence returned inside the vehicle.

The stirred-up darkness settled down once again, slowly solidifying into a stagnant pool of quiet.

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