⌈That’s Shen Xingyu!⌋
The scene fell into a sudden silence.
Only the crisp echo of the slap lingered in the air.
Shen Xingyu’s slap had been so swift and resolute that even the hysterical Young Master Fang was momentarily stunned.
Thus, everyone present heard Shen Xingyu’s cold, composed voice clearly: “I deeply apologize. I will provide you with a suitable explanation.”
He followed these words with a slight bow toward Young Master Fang.
Straightening up, he turned to look at Lu Ran, who was still frozen in place.
“This is not a place for you to cause trouble,” he said. “Go back.”
Lu Ran’s mind was reeling.
The stinging pain on his cheek gradually brought back his sense of physical awareness.
At that moment, another voice, thick with restrained fury, pierced through his haze.
“Shen Xingyu, what do you think you’re doing?!”
Lu Ran’s body jolted. He instinctively reached out toward the source of the voice.
He didn’t have to wait long.
The outstretched hand was grasped by a familiar touch.
The owner of this hand didn’t flinch at the cold sweat on his palm, nor did they seem to care about the sticky cream on his fingers.
Instead, the hand enveloped his completely, offering solid, unwavering support.
“Boss, why are you here?” Lu Ran’s voice was rough and strained.
The moment Ji Min tightened his grip on Lu Ran’s hand, he understood what had happened.
Regret, sharp and indescribable, surged through him.
Why hadn’t he taken him to the hospital last time?
Why had he left him alone in the Shen household?
When Young Master Fang fell into the water, Shen Hongyuan was still been overseeing the display of underwater fireworks.
Upon hearing the news, he nearly jumped in shock.
“What happened?” he demanded.
A servant relayed, “Apparently, it was Young Master Lu Ran who pushed him in.”
Shen Hongyuan immediately flew into a rage. “That brat! Always ruining my plans!”
With that, he stormed off furiously.
After taking a few steps, Shen Hongyuan stopped.
Wait a minute.
Shen Hongyuan, having witnessed Lu Ran act a few times, quickly realized something was off.
“No, no, it wasn’t him,” Shen Hongyuan told the servant.
His face was a mix of exasperation and confusion.
If it had been Lu Ran, he wouldn’t have pushed anyone into the pool.
He would have pushed them into a dung pit instead.
Though Shen Hongyuan was often a bit out of touch, he was still the head of the family.
Now that Young Master Fang had fallen into the water, the Shen family’s project was at risk of failing.
Though Shen Hongyuan was furious, his mind raced with a different concern.
He had to make sure Lu Ran didn’t lose control.
If it was just an accidental fall into the pool, it could be dealt with, but if Lu Ran truly lost it…
Shen Hongyuan felt a sudden darkness cloud his vision.
At that moment, he heard the servant again: “Also, the eldest young master just came back and is handling the situation.”
“Hmph, he actually remembers the family,” Shen Hongyuan’s expression darkened for a second before he suddenly slapped his thigh and jumped up, “It’s over! Hurry, hurry, go!”
He hurriedly sprinted to the poolside.
Just in time to see Shen Xingyu slap Lu Ran.
At that moment, Shen Hongyuan nearly dropped to his knees in front of Shen Xingyu. “You—what are you doing, hitting him?!”
At that moment, Shen Xingyu was surprisingly looking at Ji Min and Lu Ran.
Shen Xingzhuo had also come over and was grabbing his collar. “Shen Xingyu, what do you think you’re doing?!”
Seeing Shen Xingzhuo causing a scene, on the other side, Young Master Fang was screaming in a fit of rage. “I don’t care about the mess in the Shen family! Whoever pushed me should be thrown into the water too!”
The scene was already chaotic.
Hearing Shen Hongyuan’s voice, Shen Xingyu felt a headache coming on.
He turned around, suppressing the emotions threatening to boil over in his chest, and lowered his voice as he spoke to Shen Hongyuan.
“At this point, investigating the truth is pointless. The priority is to calm the Fang family’s anger.”
Shen Hongyuan’s face twisted with frustration. “I know that, but you…”
You’ve picked the wrong person!
Shen Xingyu furrowed his brows, not quite understanding Shen Hongyuan’s intentions.
“Quick, go see how Young Master Fang is doing!” Shen Hongyuan said, looking toward Lu Ran.
As soon as he raised his eyes, he met Ji Min’s dark, almost murderous gaze.
But he quickly suppressed all his emotions, lowering his voice as he spoke to Lu Ran beside him. “Go to the hospital.”
At this moment, Lu Ran still looked dazed, as if he could only helplessly rely on the man in the wheelchair.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Lu Ran suddenly spoke.
The hand Ji Min was holding still trembled.
His other hand stretched out, pointing directly at Shen Xingyu, who was heading toward Young Master Fang.
“Stop right there.”
Shen Xingyu froze and looked at him.
Shen Hongyuan was startled: This is bad.
He opened his mouth, wanting to make another attempt to fix things, but then he saw Lu Ran’s finger point at him. “Shut your mouth.”
The crowd around them fell silent for a moment.
Lu Ran, who had been nearly exhausted just moments ago, seemed to have regained some strength after speaking those two sentences.
He turned and pointed at Young Master Fang, who was still shouting and cursing. “Shut up too. Your whining is driving me crazy!”
Young Master Fang had never been scolded like this before. He froze in shock.
Suddenly, the entire scene fell silent.
Everyone looked at the young man, who was half-bent over, holding onto the armrest of the wheelchair.
He slowly straightened up, his face still showing the clear imprint of the slap from earlier.
The marks left by Shen Xingyu were now red and swollen.
Seeing him like this, Ji Min’s gaze darkened even further.
“Let’s go to the hospital,” he said.
But Lu Ran shook his head at him.
It seemed like the boy had just come to his senses. He slowly looked at his right hand, still being held by Ji Min, and then glanced at his empty left hand.
Suddenly, he cursed. “Damn! Where’s my big piece of cake?!”
The outburst, seemingly out of nowhere, left everyone in stunned silence.
But not far off, Chen Sheng and the others, who had been worriedly watching Lu Ran, seemed to have thought of something.
Quietly, they took a few steps back.
At that moment, Da Huang barked.
Everyone turned to see the little dog circling around a crushed cherry cake that had been stomped on beyond recognition.
“So this is where it was,” Lu Ran said.
He let go of Ji Min’s hand and slowly walked over to the mess of cake.
He squatted down, bent over, and picked up the flattened tray.
Then, holding the unrecognizable clump of cake, he slowly yet resolutely walked in front of Shen Xingyu.
He tilted his head back and asked, “Did you slap me just now?”
Shen Xingyu’s gaze fell on the red marks on the side of his face before quickly moving away.
He furrowed his brows, opening his mouth as though he wanted to say something.
The next second, the clump of cherry cake, mixed with dirt and bits of grass and trampled into a mess, suddenly splattered across his face.
Even though Shen Xingyu was young and had seen a lot in his life, he never imagined something like this would happen.
So, caught completely off guard, he didn’t dodge in time and ended up getting hit directly.
He froze in place.
Lu Ran had really put some strength into it.
The cake, along with the tray, stuck right onto Shen Xingyu’s handsome face.
The entire place went silent.
Everyone stared wide-eyed at the tall, outstanding Shen Xingyu.
The very Shen Xingyu who had always been compared to other people’s children since childhood.
Now they saw him covered in cake that had been stepped on who knows how many times.
They watched as the dirt and grass slid down his sharp jawline.
It continued to flow into the collar of his neat white shirt.
A rotten cherry even splattered on his forehead.
It stuck awkwardly on top of his head.
Oh my God!
That was Shen Xingyu!
Standing next to Shen Xingyu, Shen Xingzhuo was also stunned.
Even though he knew all about Lu Ran’s tricks, even though he had been pranked by Lu Ran himself, seeing this scene still left him momentarily speechless.
In that instant, he even felt like the distance between him and his unapproachable older brother had somehow shortened.
But Lu Ran didn’t feel like he’d done anything extraordinary.
He clapped his hands and felt completely refreshed.
Suddenly, something occurred to him. He turned to look in a certain direction, staring at someone by the pool, and asked.
“Who said I pushed him? Was it you?”
The person he was staring at hurriedly waved his hands.
But with everyone around them watching, the man could only grit his teeth and nod. “Yes, it was me! I saw it! You were the one who pushed him!”
Lu Ran nodded at him. “Right, you’re right.”
The man’s face lit up. “I knew it…”
Before he could finish, Lu Ran raised his foot and kicked him into the pool.
“Ah!” The man fell into the water with a splash.
Lu Ran then turned to someone else nearby. “Anyone else? Didn’t you just say something, too?”
“I… no, I just—”
The person tried to explain.
“Get in,” Lu Ran said as he kicked him too, sending him into the pool with precision.
He walked on, kicking anyone who had tried to pin the blame on him into the water.
Finally, he reached Shen Xingran.
Shen Xingran was momentarily stunned.
He instinctively started to explain. “I didn’t say it was you!”
After all, he had only whispered to himself after Young Master Fang fell into the water, “Young Master Fang just hates your dog. How could you do that, brother?”
Lu Ran smiled at him. “I know you didn’t say it.”
Shen Xingran thought he had dodged a bullet.
The next second, he heard Lu Ran casually say, “But I don’t like you, so you go in too.”
With a splash, Shen Xingran was thrown into the pool as well.
By the time Shen Xingyu reacted and took off his coat to wipe the dirt off his face, he raised his head and found that the circle of people by the lake had disappeared as if they had dropped dumplings into the water.
In the pool, the water fireworks that Shen Hongyuan had carefully prepared had turned into a chaotic mess, like a pot of multicolored porridge.
Shen Xingran and his friends were struggling in the pool, trying to scramble their way back to the edge.
At that moment, Shen Xingyu suddenly understood why Shen Hongyuan had reacted so strongly earlier.
Even he couldn’t help but take a sharp breath at the sight.
After the moment of shock, he remembered his duties and immediately moved forward to restore order.
But Lu Ran wasn’t done yet.
He called over Da Huang and pointed at the pool, saying, “Da Huang, pee.”
Although Da Huang had been neutered, he was still a male dog, so he would lift his leg to pee.
Just as Shen Xingran and his friends were struggling to surface from the water, trying to climb onto the shore, a warm stream of yellow liquid suddenly fell from the sky.
They were immediately showered with it.
As soon as Shen Xingran realized what was happening, he let out a scream and frantically dove back into the water.
The pool turned chaotic in an instant.
The other people who had been kicked in were stunned, quickly pointing at Shen Xingran and shouting, “You, you, you can’t move! If you move, it’ll spread!”
Before he could finish speaking, he was kicked by one of his flailing companions.
He choked on water and his face immediately turned green.
It was unclear whether he was choking or simply disgusted.
The spectators by the pool, who had been watching the whole scene, stared with their mouths agape.
No one was sure who started it, but everyone took an orderly step back, afraid they might fall into the smelly pool.
Shen Xingyu watched the scene, his cold, handsome face completely breaking into a grimace.
Without thinking, he subconsciously held his breath and took a few steps back.
Jin Min, in his wheelchair, raised a hand to rub his forehead.
He looked at Lu Ran, wanting to say something, but ultimately kept silent. He silently picked up Da Huang and cradled him in his arms.
It was better to treat the utility dog well.
Lu Ran turned his head, watching the chaos in the pool with a serious expression.
Suddenly, he extended his finger and started counting, “One, two, three…”
Then, he turned his head and precisely looked toward Young Master Fang, who was lying on a recliner nearby, still wrapped in a blanket and drenched.
Young Master Fang was staring at the pool, completely forgetting to even shiver.
When had he ever witnessed such a scene in his life?
It was… mind-blowing.
That was real dog pee!
His eyes were still glued to the pool when a voice rang in his ear.
The voice asked, “So, who pushed you?”
Young Master Fang jumped at the sound, nearly falling off the recliner.
He looked at the boy in front of him who was about to stretch out his “demon hand” toward him and quickly shouted in the loudest, most sincere voice.
“It wasn’t you! I swear, anyone else could have done it, but absolutely not you!”
