Little Fatty and Brother Shu had gone out for a bit, and when they returned, they heard that Shen Shi and Ye Ran were moving out. The two panicked instantly. That night, they squeezed into the space in front of Ye Ran’s desk, playing cards while worrying endlessly.
“Three sixes with a four,” Little Fatty sighed. “Ye Ran, be honest with your bro, are you moving out because Brother Shu and I go out every day and don’t take you along, and you feel lonely?”
Ye Ran laughed helplessly. “Of course not… three sevens with a five.”
Brother Shu adjusted his glasses. “No, Lin Feipeng, don’t talk nonsense. Ye Ran, I seriously suspect you’re being tricked by Shen Shi.”
“Not that either. Little Fatty, your turn.” Ye Ran held four cards: one pair, and a pair of jokers. Little Fatty only had two single cards left. After agonizing for a while, he tossed out an Ace. “Old A, take it or not? Brother Shu, don’t pressure me… Ye Ran, if you two really move out, will we still see each other once a week?”
They weren’t in the same department. Usually, they only hung out on weeknights or weekends.
If Ye Ran and Shen Shi moved out, the two dorm beds would be empty. Next year when they became sophomores, those spots might get reassigned.
Just thinking about it had already made Little Fatty lose his appetite these days.
Ye Ran immediately played a 2. “I talked it over with Shen Shi. We’ll only stay out on Friday and Saturday. The rest of the week we’ll still live in the dorm.”
Lots of students left campus every Friday and stayed out for three or four days, so it wasn’t much different from their plan.
Hearing this, Little Fatty’s eyes lit up. “What?! For real?!”
Brother Shu also pushed up his glasses in excitement. “Approved, approved, pass… don’t want it.”
Ye Ran’s smile deepened. “Once the place is ready, I’ll take you both to see it.”
Just as he said that, the door opened. Shen Shi walked in expressionlessly.
He wore a simple fitted black jacket, tall and handsome, carrying four cups of lemon tea in one hand and a big bag of braised snacks in the other. Who knew how much he’d heard outside the door? He swept a cold glance at Brother Shu and Little Fatty.
The two clearly hadn’t said anything outrageous earlier, yet now, seeing the snacks in his hands, they suddenly felt guilty. “Hehe… bro, you’re back?”
Ye Ran didn’t turn around, but he heard footsteps approaching.
Warm breath brushed his neck as Shen Shi rested his chin lightly on his shoulder. Eyes lowered, he glanced at Ye Ran’s cards and casually helped him play a 2.
“Take it or not?”
Little Fatty sucked in a breath. He stared at Ye Ran’s remaining three cards, mentally calculating nonstop then froze, using an “about to die” expression to ask Brother Shu with his eyes whether he still had the jokers.
Brother Shu didn’t understand, frowning in confusion.
Little Fatty: “…”
With skills like yours, you don’t even deserve a seat at the New Year card table.
Shen Shi let out a cold snort. The side of his face carried a chill from the evening breeze; beneath his high, sharp brow arches, his black eyes were long and deep. When he noticed Ye Ran looking over, he lifted his eyelids and met Ye Ran’s gaze. His tightly pressed thin lips gradually curved with a faint, almost imperceptible smile, and his expression softened.
Spring was truly about to arrive. During the day, the heat made students want to wear short sleeves, but at night it was cold enough to need a light fleece jacket. Little Fatty spent every single day cursing global warming in the dorm, and mourning his wardrobe for having switched seasons too early.
Brother Shu was still in an internal struggle. His intuition told him Ye Ran’s hand was unbelievably good this round. He hardened his heart and played four sixes: “I’ll blow you all up!”
“…” Little Fatty stared, dumbfounded. “Holy sh*t, Cheng Shu, how the h*ll did you hide four sixes until now?”
“No choice, I was afraid Ye Ran had the jokers.”
“Wait…” Little Fatty suddenly reacted, his blank stare dropping to the messy handful of seven or eight cards left in Brother Shu’s hand. “You f*cking don’t—” have the jokers???
Before he could finish, Shen Shi suddenly chuckled. He had already tossed his things onto Ye Ran’s desk. One hand rested lightly on Ye Ran’s shoulder, the other picking through the cards. Under Little Fatty and Brother Shu’s breath-held anticipation, he threw down the joker bomb.
“Pay up.”
Ye Ran finally burst out laughing. He raised his hand to clasp Shen Shi’s fingertips reassuringly. “We’re not playing for money.”
“Hm?” Shen Shi arched a brow. “They can’t afford it?”
Little Fatty had already lost several rounds and now was being mocked for not being able to pay; he was indignantly offended. “Come on, this is the fifth straight round! Why the h*ll are your cards always so good?”
If he hadn’t been the one dealing each time, he would’ve suspected he was subconsciously favoring Ye Ran.
“True,” Ye Ran nodded, smiling as he told Shen Shi, “I’ve already gotten three joker bombs.”
Shen Shi rubbed his head. “Did you win?”
“All of them.”
Shen Shi gave a soft laugh, grabbed a lemon drink, inserted the straw, and held it to Ye Ran’s lips. “Good.”
“Ugh, pity me, I haven’t won a single round in five games,” Brother Shu muttered sarcastically. He grabbed one of the lemon drinks for himself, took a sip, and immediately felt his scalp prickle from the sourness. “Holy— what kind of cursed flavor is this?”
Shen Shi glanced over. “That one is mine. No sugar.”
“You drink lemon water with no sugar?” Little Fatty was shocked.
Ye Ran pressed his lips together, moistening them, and answered for him: “Mm, he doesn’t like anything sweet.”
Brother Shu looked at Ye Ran, then at Shen Shi, clicking his tongue. “No wonder you two can live together, your habits match.”
And for the few things that aren’t alike, both were willing to accommodate for each other.
Ye Ran felt oddly embarrassed under his look. Shen Shi noticed, lifted his chin slightly, and said, “I bought Zhou Hei Ya. Go pick what you want.”
“You two aren’t eating?”
“No.”
Ye Ran had recently gotten a canker sore, just a tiny bump on the inside of his lower lip. It hurt so much the past two days that he teared up and couldn’t eat properly, looking listless and droopy like a little cat with its ears down.
Today the canker sore finally healed, so he’d been craving lemon water.
To cheer him up, Shen Shi took him to the furniture store to buy new furniture.
The apartment at Lakeside had three bedrooms and one living room, faced the sun, and its floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the lake. In misty, rainy weather, the outside world turned into drifting fog and pale clouds, like being inside a fairyland.
Ye Ran had loved it after barely a single look.
In the past two days, Shen Shi hired a new designer to change the house layout. Of the two extra rooms, one would become a study, and the other a studio.
And besides, he didn’t want to push Ye Ran too hard. Keeping things relaxed, he had initiated the idea that they would only leave on Fridays and Saturdays.
As expected, Ye Ran was delighted. He loved sticking to Shen Shi, but he also loved chatting the night away with Little Fatty and Brother Shu.
At night, the two of them huddled together, seriously discussing what to add to the new home and what to discard.
The tablet gave off a soft glow. Ye Ran leaned in Shen Shi’s arms, their two rolling chairs squeezed together in front of the desk. Ye Ran lifted the lemon drink, took a sip, then tilted it to feed Shen Shi.
Shen Shi held the straw between his lips, his lowered eyelashes hiding the smile in his eyes. That seven-percent-sugared lemon drink had been given to Brother Shu. Shen Shi never drank anything someone else left behind except Ye Ran.
Ye Ran slid through the floor plan on the tablet, frowning a little. “Do we really need to knock down this wall?”
“Mm,” Shen Shi said. “The property management checked. It’s not load-bearing.”
Ye Ran nodded. “Then the space will open up. We could grow some plants here. And the space by the floor-to-ceiling window could have a little tatami mat and a small tea table. You like drinking tea, right? You can brew tea while enjoying the view. How does that sound?”
“Whatever you say.” Shen Shi wrapped one arm around his waist. Seeing Ye Ran’s eyes sparkle, the smile in his own darkened. “We’ll add an easel, and that chessboard you liked at the furniture store. I’ll have someone custom-make a soft cushion. When you paint, mind your posture, don’t hurt your waist.”
Ye Ran: “…”
He stared at him silently, speechless. “Painting doesn’t strain my waist.”
Shen Shi drawled lazily, “Then blame me.”
Ye Ran blinked. Seeing Little Fatty lying on his bed watching dramas and Brother Shu washing clothes on the balcony, a mischievous idea suddenly popped up. He secretly lifted his head and kissed Shen Shi’s jaw.
Shen Shi froze for a moment. After a while, he lowered his head to look at him, a smile tugging at his lips.
“Just one kiss?”
That one kiss was already Ye Ran’s absolute limit.
After being gradually spoiled by Shen Shi, he had become much livelier than before. He used to be so gentle he never showed any temper; now he dared to test the waters, stretching out soft little claws to lightly scratch the man who “bullied” him every day.
Being stared at by Shen Shi like that, Ye Ran pressed his lips together and smiled, dodging the cheek that Shen Shi was leaning down to brush against.
“No kisses.”
“Not even a little nuzzle?”
“No nuzzling, dame!”
Shen Shi paused again, his movement freezing. His eyes held genuine puzzlement. “I’ve been meaning to ask, what does dame mean?”
Ye Ran blinked. “Hm? You don’t know?”
Shen Shi gave a hum of acknowledgment and carefully pronounced it, each syllable crisp and proper: “Da–me. It doesn’t sound like any language I’ve learned.”
“You’ve learned a lot of languages?” Ye Ran grew interested.
Shen Shi wasn’t inclined to talk much about himself, but seeing Ye Ran so curious, he thought for a moment. “My dad signed me up for all sorts of extracurriculars when I was a kid. Over the years I’ve studied Spanish, Arabic, French, and a bit of Japanese.”
He couldn’t claim to be fluent in any, but the Shen Corporation was a true giant, with overseas branches spread across all those regions. Shen Shi had been groomed as heir since childhood learning abacus and English from age three. In a fit of rebellion, little Shen Shi once packed his suitcase in the middle of the night and ran away from home.
When they found him, Mother Shen cried as she looked at his dirty little face, while he, with all the seriousness of a small child, protested in his piping voice.
Ye Ran burst out laughing, burying his face in Shen Shi’s neck; his soft, warm cheek dimpled as he smiled. “You really can’t tell? ‘Dame’… try saying it with a Japanese accent.”
“Da—” Shen Shi froze. A few seconds later, a low laugh rumbled out of him. His straight nose brushed lightly against Ye Ran’s cheek, and he kissed him. “Ah, I see.”
Ye Ran tilted his head, cautiously glancing at Little Fatty and Brother Shu nearby; when he saw they weren’t looking, he relaxed and asked curiously, “You really ran away from home?”
“I was young then, and my dad was… authoritarian,” Shen Shi said casually. “Every night, his bedtime stories were all success-manual sermons.”
Ye Ran couldn’t help laughing. Just imagining little three-year-old Shen Shi, probably not even speaking clearly yet, being patted on the back by his loving father while being told to make the family business bigger and stronger—or he’d be letting down his ancestors—was too much.
Shen Shi seemed to know what he was thinking. Seeing Ye Ran so absorbed, he simply went on and told him bits and pieces of his life.
“After I ran away, my dad got scared. He stopped talking about me inheriting the company. My mom also had a talk with him. I thought it was over but then, in my second year of high school, he suddenly decided to send me abroad.”
Ye Ran’s smile faded; his brows furrowed. “Why send you abroad out of nowhere?”
“Who knows what goes on in his head?” Shen Shi said coolly, not bothering to hide his resentment. “I told him he should just have another kid. He almost smashed a vase.”
Ye Ran could practically imagine the scene. Shen Shi pampered, proud, the golden child among peers was surrounded by other young elites and rarely made mistakes. Teachers adored him, his parents boasted about him. A little arrogance and rebellion were only natural.
For a father to suddenly announce he’d be shipped overseas, it was nothing short of picking a fight.
No matter what a father-son relationship was like, one shouldn’t act so high and mighty, as if being “the father” gave one the right to pull the strings of a living person like a puppet.
Thinking that, Ye Ran’s scalp tingled. “You argued with your dad?”
“Yeah. I stayed in a hotel for a year. Didn’t go home.”
Ye Ran gasped. “Your… your dad didn’t come looking for you?”
“The hotel belonged to my maternal family,” Shen Shi said, patting Ye Ran’s back in reassurance. “My grandma wasn’t happy with my dad either, so she quietly let me stay.”
A year later, Mother Shen, missing her son desperately, came to see him twice in tears. Shen Shi’s biggest soft spot had always been his mother. She’d nearly died giving birth to him, both lives hanging by a thread. Because of that, he was always gentle and obedient toward her.
Ye Ran understood at once. “Don’t make your mom sad.”
If his own mother were still alive, he’d want to be obedient too, so obedient that she’d never have to feel hurt.
Shen Shi gently kissed his brow. “And you? Did anyone ever bully you at school?”
Children’s malice was always the most direct and the most painful.
Ye Ran had lost his mother early, and his father was often away. A temperament this soft and mild didn’t come overnight.
“I didn’t really suffer,” Ye Ran said with a smile. “My dad might not be home much, but he has good connections among teachers. From grade school to high school, every school I went to had teachers who were somehow his acquaintances. Once classmates knew that, no one dared bully me.”
Of course, that also meant no one dared befriend him either.
On the surface, no one picked on him. But behind his back, there were always whispers.
Luckily, he had An Yu, “arrogant and overbearing” An Yu, who played the roles of older brother, playmate, and fake boyfriend all at once.
Shen Shi seemed to recall that name; the warmth and fondness in his eyes slowly faded, replaced by a casual tone as he asked, “So what was that about An Yu pretending to be your boyfriend in high school?”
Ye Ran: “…”
Ye Ran: “…………”
Ye Ran silently climbed out of his arms. “I’m going to wash up.”
Without moving at all, Shen Shi caught him back and said with a gentle smile, “Baby, should I ask An Yu instead?”
With how An Yu loved to brag about Ye Ran’s good points, if he exaggerated five times over, it’d still be underselling it.
Ye Ran immediately sat up straight and confessed honestly, “Actually, I don’t really get it myself.”
He sighed, frowning in distress. “There were twenty people in our art class: half boys, half girls. I didn’t really know the boys. The most interaction I had with them was collecting their homework.”
But who could have known that collecting homework could lead to “collecting feelings” too?
The first time Ye Ran was confessed to by a boy, he was so flustered that his cheeks turned red. By the nth time he was stopped in the hallway to be confessed to, he could already hand out a “you’re a good person” rejection card with practiced ease.
An Yu, with his flirtatious nature, was forced into a “fake relationship” with Ye Ran and in the process, thoroughly reformed himself. Otherwise, with his grades, he probably wouldn’t have gotten into that decent university in the U.K. at all.
Shen Shi seemed to believe his explanation. His embrace was gentle as water, his hand lightly patting Ye Ran’s back in comfort.
The next day, when the two of them went to check on the decorations in their new home, Ye Ran was pressed down onto the sofa, his back against cushions so soft they felt like clouds, his whole body damp and trembling, bullied to the point of nearly losing his voice.
Because of his mouth ulcer the past few days, they hadn’t kissed deeply in a while.
On the sofa, Ye Ran knelt in Shen Shi’s lap, shivering all over. His pupils were unfocused, fingers gripping the man’s collar. He parted his lips, sticking out his moist, crimson tongue, and fed it to him.
Shen Shi bent his head low and sucked deeply; his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed the saliva Ye Ran offered, the overflow trailing down Ye Ran’s chin in a glistening sheen.
Ye Ran melted like water, his sweat-slicked skin hot and slippery to the touch. His brows and lashes looked darker, his lips redder, his teeth white against them. Shen Shi’s clothes, however, remained immaculate, aside from the slight bulge beneath his gray sweatpants, not a single thing seemed out of place.
…
Two hours later, Shen Shi picked up a relatively clean jacket from the carpet, wrapped it around Ye Ran, and carried him into the bedroom.
The large bed was spotless, there was a cleaner who came every week.
Ye Ran, exhausted, buried himself under the covers and quickly drifted off. Shen Shi, bare-chested, revealed a lean, powerful waist with taut lines of muscle. As he bent and straightened, his body moved with the languid grace of a well-fed predator dangerous, yet relaxed.
A phone lay on the carpet.
Shen Shi glanced over and saw several missed calls.
Raising a brow, he tucked Ye Ran in, then went to the fridge, grabbed a bottle of cold water, twisted it open, and took a sip. Standing on the balcony in the cool night breeze, he called back on video.
The screen flickered, and soon his father’s stern yet handsome face appeared.
“What is it?” Shen Shi asked evenly, sipping from the bottle. The night wind ruffled his hair into disarray.
The background behind Father Shen was the family study.
Behind him hung a calligraphy piece “Rectify the Heart, Cultivate Virtue” which he’d spent two million at auction to retrieve.
Father Shen frowned. “Why did you take so long to answer?”
Shen Shi couldn’t be bothered. “I was busy. Where’s Mom?”
“She’s packing.”
“Packing?”
“Mhm,” Father Shen said tersely. “Your mother and I are going to Beijing for a few days and we’ll be taking you to meet a friend.”
Catching the note of caution in his father’s tone, Shen Shi lowered his water bottle. “What friend? Have I met him before?”
“You met him when you were very young. It’s your Uncle Ye, his son also studies at Beijing University. I thought I’d introduce you two.”
Shen Shi froze. His heart gave a sudden, heavy thump. Ever since meeting Ye Ran, a rare softness had crept into his once-cold, analytical thoughts. His fingers tapped lightly on the balcony railing, his voice unreadable. “What’s his name?”
Father Shen recalled how teachers used to praise Shen Shi’s photographic memory. He sounded uncertain, almost suspicious, could Shen Shi really still remember Ye Huaishan?
“Ye Huaishan.”
“Oh.” Shen Shi’s racing pulse gradually calmed. His face remained neutral as he took another sip of water. “Got it.”
Such an old-fashioned name for someone so young.
Father Shen couldn’t figure him out, curious one moment, indifferent the next. Swallowing his irritation, he ordered, “Make sure you show up. Your Uncle Ye was a college friend of your mother’s and mine. It wasn’t easy to reconnect after all these years. We’ll be seeing each other often now. Don’t give me that cold face, smile when you should, greet people properly. If you mess it up, I won’t let you off.”
Shen Shi snorted. “You should stop giving people that cold face yourself.”
Father Shen’s brows shot up in anger, and he was about to hang up when—
Behind him, Mother Shen entered the study, her gentle voice hurrying forward: “Is that Shishi’s call? Shishi?”
At once, Shen Shi straightened up and composed himself. “Mom.”
Father Shen, fuming, shoved the phone into her hands.
Mother Shen wore simple, elegant clothes, her hair tied back with only a single pearl hairpin. “Shishi, why did you take so long to answer… Are you not at school?”
She was observant. With just one glance, she noticed the unfamiliar background behind him.
After a pause, realization dawned. “You’ve already moved into the Lakeside Mansion?”
At the mention of that apartment, Father Shen felt another wave of frustration.
Not because of the apartment itself but because after just three days of 200,000-yuan transfers from Shen Shi, Mother Shen had found out. Suspicious, she somehow learned that Shen Shi had bought a place through his father, furious and heartbroken, she’d scolded him for a long time.
As she’d put it: the entire Shen family estate would one day be his. Buying a place wasn’t asking for the whole company so why did he need to pay? Was it because his father’s constant coldness had driven a wedge between them?
Father Shen: “…”
He could argue with his son, but he would never dare anger his wife.
It had taken several days of coaxing before she’d calmed down. To prove his “fatherly concern,” he’d personally called to tell Shen Shi about the Beijing trip only for Shen Shi to ignore four consecutive calls.
That son was truly heaven-sent to test his patience.
Mother Shen, unaware of his thoughts, continued chatting with her son, reminding him to dress warmly now that the season was changing. Finally, she gently brought up the trip to Beijing.
“I know,” Shen Shi said, his gaze flicking toward the quiet bedroom, his tone mild. “Just call me when it’s time, I’ll go.”
Mother Shen was filled with comfort and pride, her son never disappointed them when it came to serious matters. “Good, I’ll send someone to pick you up when the time comes.”
“No need. Just tell me the place; I’ll take a cab myself.”
Mother Shen hesitated, worried that he might attract attention. “Alright then.”
After chatting for a bit longer, the mother and son hung up. The gentle smile on her face hadn’t yet faded, but as she thought of her late friend buried in the capital, her eyes began to redden again.
Father Shen silently wrapped his arm around her. “When we go to the capital and meet the Ye family’s child, if you like him, just take him as your godson. Shen Shi won’t mind, he may look rough around the edges, but he knows what’s proper.”
“I know my own child,” said Mother Shen. “Wanwan’s child must be a good one too. I’m just afraid the two boys won’t get along. Taking someone as a godson isn’t as simple as you make it sound. It’d be awful if they ended up enemies instead of family.”
“What’s so difficult about it? They’re both boys. After spending a few days together, they’ll naturally get along. And what do you mean ‘family’? It’s about brotherhood.”
Mother Shen was left speechless by his remark. After a few seconds, she glared at him. “Anyway, once we’re in the capital, everything regarding the two children will be up to me. You’re not allowed to act on your own.”
Father Shen responded with a noncommittal hum. But thinking of Shen Shi’s temperament, he wasn’t as optimistic as his wife. Their only son had been treated as heaven’s favored child for too long, expecting him to accommodate others and make friends easily was unrealistic.
Mother Shen, for now, was simply moved and curious about the Ye family’s boy. Once she calmed down, she would likely realize how difficult this idea truly was to carry out.
In any case… the real key lay with Shen Shi and that Ye family boy.
Judging from Shen Shi’s tone on the phone just now, there would be some friction ahead.
Father Shen sighed quietly and patted his wife’s back. “Let’s get some sleep.”
***
The next day.
Ye Ran received a call from his father just after class. Following the crowd downstairs through the noisy corridor, his father’s voice sounded faint over the phone.
“Huh? Meet a friend?” Ye Ran was momentarily stunned. “I don’t have class on Friday, I can come find you.”
On the other end, Father Ye said, “Not that. We’ll be going back to Beijing together then. I’ll introduce you to a friend’s son, he’s also studying at Beijing University. Afterwards, we’ll visit your mother’s grave together.”
Ye Ran was about to ask for the boy’s name when that last sentence registered. “To visit Mom?”
“Mm. They were very good friends of ours. We lost contact for a few years, but just recently reconnected. Your mother’s best friend was her.”
Hearing that, Ye Ran felt a touch of warmth. His mother, Chen Wan, had been gentle and elegant. Even while managing a business, she often shared stories of her past with him, especially her college days.
Since this was his mother’s closest friend, he naturally wanted to make a good impression.
“I understand. I’ll be there on time.”
“Good,” said Father Ye, satisfied. “Go have lunch; I’ll contact you when it’s closer.”
True to his decisive nature, Father Ye sent the meeting time and place only two days later.
The venue wasn’t far from Beijing University, likely chosen because both boys studied there.
Saturday, 6:30 p.m.
Ye Ran changed his clothes. In the dorm, Little Fatty and Brother Shu teased him, asking if he was going on a date with Shen Shi.
They hadn’t yet moved into the Lakeside Mansion; the apartment was currently being renovated and wouldn’t be ready until the end of the semester once the smell dissipated.
Ye Ran shook his head. “Just something to take care of. I might be back late tonight.”
“How late?” Brother Shu asked warily. “Does Shen Shi know?”
Ye Ran chuckled. “My dad’s taking me out for dinner. Shen Shi’s busy at the lab; I’ll call him later.”
The finance department’s project had reached its midpoint, and the old professor was practically using each student as two. Shen Shi was swamped, leaving at dawn, returning late at night.
Ye Ran didn’t want to distract him and hadn’t found a good moment to mention his plans. After all, this was just a casual meeting through his parent, probably nothing more than a formality.
Father Ye had vaguely hinted that the other boy’s temper wasn’t particularly good. That only made Ye Ran think the whole thing would be brief and ordinary. After some thought, he decided to text Shen Shi anyway.
At the school gate, he hailed a taxi, gave the address, and typed carefully:
– Something came up tonight, I might be back to the dorm late.
There was no reply for a long while.
Ye Ran didn’t mind. About ten minutes later, he arrived at the restaurant, Huating Hotel.
Night had fallen.
The hotel gleamed with light and grandeur.
Guests in suits and elegant dresses filled the tables, their gestures graceful, their demeanor refined.
Huating clearly catered to the elite, even the layout was meticulously designed, with plants and screens separating tables so that one’s first glance took in scenery, not people.
Ye Ran pushed open the door. His phone buzzed just then. Looking down, he saw Shen Shi’s reply:
[Shen Shi]: Me too. Out with my parents for dinner. I’ll be back late.
Just a few words, yet Ye Ran could somehow sense the irritation behind them.
He smiled faintly, about to respond, when a strange thought struck him. What a coincidence… Shen Shi’s parents had also taken him out for dinner tonight?
He hesitated mid-step, phone in hand, thumb poised over the screen. Before he could type, he heard a voice call softly—
“Ranran, over here.”
Ye Ran lifted his head and saw, behind the decorative screen, a six-person table.
Father Ye sat alone in the seat facing the entrance, dressed in a comfortable, well-fitted casual outfit, his face relaxed with an easy smile, he looked ten years younger.
Across from him sat three people: a well-dressed, elegant couple, and a black-haired young man sitting straight-backed, whose aloofness was evident even from behind.
As Father Ye finished speaking, the young man who had been looking down and idly fiddling with his phone suddenly paused. Under Ye Ran’s dazed gaze, he turned sharply around, his long, narrow phoenix eyes locked onto Ye Ran like a hawk spotting its prey.
Ye Ran: “…”
Shen Shi: “…”
?
