⌈It’s just about 1 billion. Remember to transfer it to my account.⌋
Madam Shen quickly realized she had said something wrong.
No matter what she thought in her heart, saying such things out loud never looked good.
After a moment of thought, she reached out and grabbed Lu Ran’s wrist, softening her tone. “Xiao Ran, don’t be angry. Mom knows you’ve suffered all these years outside. Throwing your dog out last night must have hurt you as well.”
Lu Ran looked up at Madam Shen.
In the past, he had been deceived countless times by this tone of hers.
The reason he was so tolerant was because Madam Shen often made him mistakenly believe that she loved him.
Every time, Madam Shen would say, “All these years, you’ve suffered outside.”
She would also say, “Mom knows you’ve been wronged.”
And, time and again, she would promise him, “Don’t worry, Mom will make it up to you.”
Once she had soothed his emotions, turning him into a puppy willing to endure everything in hopes of maternal love, Madam Shen would suddenly shift her tone.
“Because of your presence, Ranran is anxious. We need to calm him down. Otherwise, every time I see Ranran upset, it tugs at my heart.”
Madam Shen continued to hold Lu Ran’s hand, using the tone he was most familiar with. “Xiao Ran, you understand Mom, right? Don’t make things difficult for me. Your brother was wronged because of you yesterday. Let’s pick out a gift to properly compensate him.”
Each sentence began with “because of you”.
It always made Lu Ran feel like he was truly some sinner disrupting others’ lives.
In his past life, whenever Madam Shen spoke like this, Lu Ran’s anger would instantly vanish.
If he ever showed any dissatisfaction, Madam Shen would look at him with eyes that said, “How can you be so disobedient and not considerate of your mother?”
The moment he saw that look, Lu Ran would instinctively panic.
But despite all her promises to make it up to him, Madam Shen had never followed through.
She had called herself “Mom” in front of him countless times but never allowed him to call her “mother” in front of others or Shen Xingran.
Every time there was a conflict between him and Shen Xingran, she would always stand firmly on Shen Xingran’s side.
This time, Lu Ran glanced at the hand Madam Shen was holding.
He coldly said, “Madam, you’re interrupting my meal.”
Madam Shen froze, awkwardly withdrawing her hand.
Calmly, Lu Ran stuffed the last crab roe bun into his mouth.
After finishing, he glanced at Madam Shen’s phone.
She had just ordered a watch, clearly as compensation for Shen Xingran, priced at over two hundred thousand yuan.
“It should be compensated,” Lu Ran said.
Madam Shen finally showed a relieved expression.
Lu Ran took out his phone and opened the calculator.
He muttered to himself, “Shen Xingran was wronged for one day and gets compensated with two hundred thousand. I’ve been wronged since I was four, all the way until I’m now nineteen. That’s a total of fifteen years or 5,475 days of being wronged.”
“At two hundred thousand per day, that comes to…”
After a while, Lu Ran pushed the phone in front of Madam Shen. “The total comes to one billion and ninety-five million. I’ll round it down for you—let’s call it an even billion. Remember to transfer it to my account.”
In the past, Lu Ran never dared to mention money in front of the Shen family.
It felt like if he ever brought it up, all the financial struggles he had endured over the years would no longer be hidden, making him seem even more out of place in this wealthy family.
He also feared that if he talked about money, it would make his return to this family seem impure as if he were scheming for the Shen family’s fortune.
Later, after lying on a hospital bed for a long time, Lu Ran finally realized why he thought that way.
It was because that’s exactly how the Shen family saw him!
The way each of them looked at him always conveyed that they thought he was someone restless, with ulterior motives.
Once he figured that out, Lu Ran simply gave up pretending.
Why bother with family love? Money was much better.
If there was no affection, so be it, but you could always squeeze out some money.
He glanced at Madam Shen, whose face had turned pale green, and cheerfully stood up, waving his hand. “Don’t forget to transfer it to me, okay? Alipay or WeChat is fine.”
With that, he slung his backpack over his shoulder, humming a tune as he left.
There were a lot of classes that morning. After leaving the lab, Lu Ran headed to the school’s computer lab.
It was already the second semester of his university studies, but he still didn’t have his own computer, so for more complicated assignments, he had to use the school’s resources.
He checked the status of his tuition.
The student loan had been credited and this year’s tuition was finally paid off.
In his first year, he had to go through the special “green channel” for students with financial difficulties, so the tuition payment always came through much later than for regular students.
After reviewing that, Lu Ran searched online for any updates about Da Huang.
He had assumed that with several powerful families involved, the videos would be quickly suppressed, buried beneath the flood of information.
But to his surprise, the topic of “Rich Second Generation Hits a Person and a Dog” hadn’t faded at all. In fact, it had risen to the number one spot and stayed there, showing no signs of being silenced.
There were some entertainment news stories mixed in below the trending topic.
It seemed like someone was trying to leak celebrity gossip to divert the public’s attention, but it wasn’t working.
Lu Ran stared at the top trending position for a moment, sensing the unmistakable scent of money behind it.
He had no idea who was pulling the strings to help.
The image of that sleek, extended black luxury car flashed through his mind.
But soon, he dismissed the thought.
Gods may fight among themselves, but it had nothing to do with him.
After leaving the computer lab, the class monitor sent Lu Ran a message, saying there was a document waiting for him.
When Lu Ran went over, he discovered it was the university financial aid application form, issued by the counselor.
It was a joint program between a local business and the school. After passing an interview and receiving the aid, post-graduation job placement would depend on the sponsoring company’s preferences.
In his past life, Lu Ran had received this same form.
But he thought he no longer needed it, so he declined.
As a result, under pressure from the Shen family, he hadn’t even finished university.
This time, without hesitation, Lu Ran filled out the form and submitted it to the counselor’s office.
At noon, he went to the pet hospital to check on Da Huang, then quickly went off to his part-time job.
Upon arriving at work, Lu Ran suddenly remembered that he had “obediently” resigned from this job earlier.
Luckily, the boss was understanding. Lu Ran managed to get the part-time position back.
In the past, when he was working odd jobs every day, Lu Ran used to dream about when he wouldn’t have to struggle so much.
But after spending ten years bedridden, even running errands now felt like a blessing.
However, money was a bit tight recently, as Da Huang’s medical expenses were no small burden.
Thinking of this, Lu Ran took a moment to send Madam Shen another message: “Don’t forget to send me the billion~”
Madam Shen pretended to play dead on the other end.
Or maybe she was so furious she fainted.
The next day, Lu Ran finally brought Da Huang home from the pet hospital.
He discussed with the pet store where he worked part-time, arranging to leave Da Huang there during the day while he attended classes and bringing him back home at night.
Lu Ran had no intention of renting a place elsewhere.
His experiences in his past life had taught him that even if he rented a house, the Shen family could easily find him if they wanted to.
After a long day, as Lu Ran entered the Shen family villa with Da Huang, he paused.
Two cars were parked in the yard.
One was a business car and the other a sports car.
Due to lingering trauma from the accident, Da Huang was scared of sports cars and whimpered as he backed away.
Lu Ran squatted down and patted Da Huang’s head. “Silly dog, you survived a car accident. What’s there to be afraid of now?”
He led Da Huang into the living room.
Dinner was already prepared in the dining room.
The housekeeper glanced at Lu Ran, then instinctively looked upstairs.
There were footsteps coming from the stairs on the third floor, but Lu Ran ignored them and took Da Huang into the bathroom. After washing up himself, he wiped Da Huang’s paws.
Normally, Da Huang was obedient when getting his paws wiped, but this time he nervously paced in circles. “Awoo~”
“Don’t rush, just hang in there a little longer.” Lu Ran hung the towel on the rack, squatting down to gently rub Da Huang’s belly.
Da Huang whimpered again, looking up at Lu Ran with his big, shiny black eyes.
By the time Lu Ran brought Da Huang out, the Shen family had already gathered in the dining room.
This time, the whole family was present.
Shen Hongyuan, who had been away on a business trip, had returned. As the current head of the Shen family, though he looked somewhat tired, he still carried the commanding presence of someone in a position of power.
Seated next to him was Madam Shen. Beside her was Shen Xingran, whose lowered head made it impossible to discern his expression.
Finally, there was Shen Xingzhuo, who was lounging in his chair with his legs crossed.
Hearing a sound, Shen Xingzhuo glanced over.
When he saw Da Huang following behind Lu Ran, he raised an eyebrow and flashed a grin.
Shen Hongyuan was in the middle of reprimanding Shen Xingzhuo. “Is that how you sit? Can’t you behave properly?”
Shen Xingzhuo looked annoyed but obediently uncrossed his legs.
“I’m here to check on Xingran today, not to listen to your lectures,” he muttered.
Shen Hongyuan’s face darkened. “And you have the nerve to come back! That studio of yours—what kind of people are you hiring? Three of the five people caught in this latest incident were from your company.”
At this, Shen Xingzhuo’s expression also turned a bit sour.
“I don’t care how you spend your money outside, but control your people. Don’t ruin the Shen family’s reputation,” Shen Hongyuan scolded.
“Reputation, reputation—can you eat reputation?” Shen Xingzhuo retorted.
“You—!” Shen Hongyuan slammed his hand on the table in fury.
At that moment, Shen Xingran, who had been quietly looking down, slowly lifted his head, revealing his face, now fully recovered to its former pale smoothness.
He picked up a bowl and served some soup to Shen Hongyuan. “Dad, don’t be angry. It’s rare for the family to sit down and have a meal together.”
Shen Hongyuan gave him a smile, his anger easing somewhat.
As for Shen Xingzhuo, who had been back-talking, the solution was much simpler.
Shen Xingran merely turned his head and called out, “Brother!”
Shen Xingzhuo immediately fell silent, his defiance gone.
Just like that, a potential storm was easily smoothed over by a few simple words from Shen Xingran.
Madam Shen also smiled, pleased with how things had turned out.
The family now seemed harmonious and united.
But they all tacitly treated Lu Ran as if he were invisible.
Whether it was the scolding or the heartwarming moment, none of it had anything to do with him.
Lu Ran had long grown used to this kind of indifference.
In this story, Shen Hongyuan’s defining trait was his favoritism toward his sons and Shen Xingzhuo was an outright doting brother.
But all their affection was directed at Shen Xingran, having nothing to do with Lu Ran, their biological son and sibling.
Lu Ran, with Da Huang by his side, walked over to an empty seat at the dining table and sat down, minding his own business.
As soon as he touched the chair, Shen Hongyuan immediately reprimanded, “Stop right there.”
Shen Xingzhuo chimed in, redirecting the criticism, “Yeah, scold whoever needs scolding. Someone here not only hit your son but also demanded a billion while they were at it.”
The entire table turned their attention to Lu Ran.
Lu Ran glanced at Shen Xingzhuo and shamelessly replied, “If you’d like to chip in, I wouldn’t mind.”
Shen Xingzhuo was momentarily at a loss for words.
He raised his eyes and scrutinized Lu Ran for a moment.
Shen Hongyuan, however, didn’t delve into the matter of the so-called one billion. He glanced at Shen Xingran sitting beside him, then lifted his eyelids to look at Lu Ran, his tone meaningful. “Your brother is sitting right here and you plan to sit down like that?”
“Oh, right,” Lu Ran responded, as if suddenly remembering something.
He bent down, picked up Da Huang, and placed him in the empty seat beside him—the seat belonging to the Shen family heir, Shen Xingyu.
He even grabbed a plate, served a boiled chicken drumstick, and placed it in front of Da Huang.
With a righteous air, he said, “The poor victim deserves some proper consolation.”
