“Is anything I said wrong?” Lu Ran asked cautiously.
The identical, strangely unsettling expressions on Lu Luoluo’s and Lu Mingzhu’s faces made Lu Ran unable to stop doubting himself.
“No! Everything is correct!”
Lu Luoluo forced an inexplicably awkward smile. “I just didn’t expect that the topics of conversation between a mother and her son would be these things. E-sports games and academic performance? Oh, and you even went digging boxes in the garden? That really is unexpected.”
Lu Ran smiled. “There was a period when I was also obsessed with games and didn’t even bother to do my homework. It was Mom who used her own experience to persuade me, and after that my interest faded. As for digging the box, it was because our school’s science experiment class required us to observe plant growth. I wanted to dig out a small patch of ground to plant peas.” He looked at Lu Luoluo and Lu Mingzhu. “Do you want me to talk about anything else?”
He had clearly seen Lu Luoluo’s expression, but thought she was simply embarrassed.
“No need!” Lu Luoluo and Lu Mingzhu said loudly in unison.
A gentle smile appeared on Lu Mingzhu’s face. “I believe you. These things really are not something outsiders would know.”
What a joke. Lu Mingzhu still wanted to maintain the good image of herself, her husband, and her father in front of Lu Luoluo. How could she possibly let Lu Ran continue talking?
She could not help but wonder whether what people said about grandchildren being especially close to their grandparents was actually true.
Why was she telling her grandson absolutely everything?
Still, no matter how bad it was, Lu Luoluo had it worse. Lu Mingzhu felt ten thousand times more sympathy for her daughter.
Bragging and talking big was not a problem. As long as you were not exposed, everything would be fine. Who could have imagined that someone from the future would return to the present?
Madam Lu Mingzhu patted her daughter on the back to comfort her.
Then she turned to her grandson and asked a string of questions that even caught Lu Ran completely off guard. “Then my son-in-law, that is, your dad. Who is he? What does he do? How many people are in his family? Since you’ve come back, should you also notify him?”
Lu Ran’s eyes widened. He opened his mouth, but could not make a sound.
What was he supposed to say? Say that he did not even know who the man was?
Say that he had actually come back to stop his mom from being with him, but would still have to investigate first?
Seeing this, Lu Mingzhu misunderstood. “You can’t say it either?”
Right. Saying it might affect Lu Ran’s birth, perhaps. That was how all those science fiction novels were written, wasn’t it?
Lu Ran hurriedly nodded and let out a breath of relief.
Lu Luoluo also let out a breath of relief.
At the moment Madam Lu Mingzhu fired off that string of questions, Lu Luoluo’s mental state shifted from “I have an eighteen-year-old son at sixteen” to “Right, a child can’t be born by just one person, there has to be a father too. I’m only sixteen. The psychological pressure is huge.”
Sixteen-year-old Lu Luoluo had absolutely no interest in the identity of the child’s father. With Lu Ran not saying anything, she felt relieved instead.
Lu Luoluo rapidly did the math in her head. Lu Ran had come from the year 2045 and was eighteen this year. That meant he should have been born in 2027.
This year was 2023. Which meant that in four years, she would give birth to a child at just twenty.
Lu Luoluo’s expression cracked.
Am I really that incredible?
Lu Mingzhu still did not know the specific year Lu Ran had come back from, so she had no basis to show a ferocious reaction to her daughter giving birth early.
She glanced at her daughter, whose expression kept changing, and sighed inwardly, thinking that she would have to temporarily shoulder the responsibility of a parent. After all, the child’s mother was only sixteen.
Most parents were concerned with only one question. Madam Lu Mingzhu felt that she had plenty of experience as a parent, so she started from that issue to express her concern for Lu Ran.
“Xiao Ran is eighteen this year, so you should be in your final year of high school, right? Have you taken the college entrance exam? Or are you planning to continue studying? Should you be in high school or university?”
So what if he came back from the future? So what if there was time travel? He still had to go to school.
Lu Ran’s eyes lit up and he agreed wholeheartedly. “I do need to go to school.” He paused, an embarrassed expression appearing on his face. “Actually, I already finished the college entrance exam and I’m in my first year of university. But knowledge from more than twenty years in the future is very different from what it is now, so I’m afraid I’ll have to relearn everything. After all, to go to university, you still need to take the college entrance exam first.”
In an instant, the fine hairs on the back of Lu Luoluo’s neck stood on end. Guided by an unnamed sixth sense warning her, she asked nervously, “Then would it work to start reviewing from the final year of high school?”
“I’m afraid not,” Lu Ran said with difficulty. “The differences really are huge. I’m not a particularly smart person to begin with. I rely entirely on hard work when it comes to studying. I want to start from the first year of high school. It would be best if I could be in the same class as Mom, so Mom can lead me forward, help me improve, and let me reach Mom’s level as soon as possible. Is that okay?”
Lu Ran, who was supposedly not very smart yet had ranked first in his grades for years and was said to rely entirely on hard work, felt a bit nervous and a bit guilty inside.
The lies he had told today already exceeded the total number of lies he had told in the first eighteen years of his life.
Lu Ran did not know how good his acting skills were. Would he be seen through?
Fortunately, Lu Luoluo was even more nervous and more guilty than he was, and had no way of seeing through Lu Ran’s lies. Lead him forward? Reach her level? Since when did she have that kind of ability?
For a moment, Lu Luoluo found it difficult to come up with any words to respond.
What should she do if her son had come back from the future and wanted to go to school with her?
What should she do if her son thought she had amazing grades and was great at gaming, when in fact she was terrible at both?
Was it still possible to reincarnate right now?
Lu Mingzhu took over the conversation with sympathy. “Starting from the first year of high school isn’t a bad idea. I think Xiao Ran also needs time to adapt to this era. But there’s no need for him to be in the same class as your mom.”
Lu Luoluo nodded vigorously.
Lu Ran felt a little disappointed, but also thought that being in the same grade would be good enough.
Madam Lu Mingzhu said, “As for which class he’ll be in, we’ll just go with fate and see how the school arranges it.”
Go with fate? School arrangement? The fate being followed was Madam Lu Mingzhu’s fate, and the school’s arrangement meant arranging it however Madam Lu Mingzhu wanted.
Lu Luoluo cast a suspicious look at Madam Lu Mingzhu, deeply suspecting that Madam Lu Mingzhu simply wanted to watch her make a fool of herself.
She really wanted to protest loudly, but then thought again. Would that make it seem like she had a guilty conscience and speed up the exposure of the fact that she was actually a complete mess?
Having hesitated over saving face to a certain extreme, Lu Luoluo instead did not dare act rashly.
Lu Ran, on the other hand, rarely harbored feelings of suspicion toward his family. He obediently nodded. “Then we’ll go with the school’s arrangement.”
Madam Lu Mingzhu gave a light cough. “Before enrolling in school, we need to register his household…” Household registration was not a problem for their family, but how was the kinship supposed to be recorded?
She thought for a moment. “How about registering him as Luoluo’s maternal grandfather’s great-grandson? That way, the generational hierarchy is still correct.”
In theory, he could also establish a household of his own, but the Lu family already only had two or three people left. If they split again, it would truly fall apart. Lu Mingzhu was also afraid that Lu Ran might feel hurt over it.
In Madam Lu Mingzhu’s view, a family should stay together.
Registering him according to the facts was obviously impossible. Putting him under Lu Mingzhu’s name… well, despite not having much contact and her husband already having passed away, Madam Lu still cared quite a bit about how she was viewed by her parents-in-law. She absolutely could not have an adopted son who looked so much like herself appear out of nowhere.
After weighing everything, the only option was to let Luoluo’s already deceased maternal grandfather take the blame. As for the great-grandson’s father and mother, paternal grandparents, and maternal grandparents?
If asked, the answer would be “a secret of a wealthy family.” Silence would be kept, and nothing could be said to outsiders.
Lu Ran had no objections. After all, the Lu family did not have many collateral relatives, and with a face like his, it was very hard to come up with a reasonable explanation.
“It could work, but…” Lu Luoluo quickly dropped the issue of class placement and said strangely, “If Grandpa were still alive, he would only be sixty-three this year. Lu Ran is eighteen now… Eighteen years ago, Grandpa would have been only forty-five. Without even considering individual differences across generations, that would mean Grandpa became a father at fifteen, his son had a son at fifteen, and that grandson then had a great-grandson at fifteen.”
What a wildly unrestrained and exceptionally gifted family.
Madam Lu Mingzhu said shamelessly, “I’ll have to wait until after I pass away to apologize to your grandpa in person. I think he should be able to understand our difficulties.”
At that moment, the thoughts of Lu Luoluo and Lu Ran, mother and son, mysteriously synced up. They both thought at the same time: probably not.
Someone as upright and dignified as Grandpa Lu, if he learned in the afterlife that Madam Lu had assigned him a whole pile of illegitimate children and grandchildren, would he burst out of his grave and scold everyone?
“Then it’s settled. I’ll arrange for someone to handle the paperwork,” Madam Lu Mingzhu concluded decisively. “Lu Ran doesn’t need to start school right away. He can delay it by a week, stay at home first, go online, and familiarize himself with basic knowledge of this era. In a few days, it’ll be Luoluo’s grandfather’s birthday banquet. I’ll inform them in advance and take Xiao Ran along too, so he can meet everyone.”
Lu Ran nodded, feeling a little happy.
Since he had come back, he definitely needed to see the two elders. They had always doted on him.
The doorbell rang, and lunch arrived right on time.
Sunday lunches were always punctual, because from Monday to Saturday Lu Luoluo had classes, and even evening self-study sessions. Only on Sundays would she sit down with Lu Mingzhu to eat lunch and dinner together. By habit, lunch was handled at the Lu residence, while dinner was usually arranged at a restaurant outside.
As for breakfast, ever since Grandpa Lu passed away, the mother and daughter of the Lu family spent Sunday mornings asleep. Today was an exception.
Today, the Lu residence had the unusual addition of Lu Ran. Everyone was also unusually hungry because they had gotten up early and missed breakfast. Madam Lu Mingzhu was grateful that she had notified the hotel the night before to send a larger variety of dishes.
Madam Lu Mingzhu noticed that Lu Ran was not picky. He ate a bit of everything, though he favored seafood and fish. Neither she nor Lu Luoluo liked fish. Judging by this, perhaps it was inherited from the unknown son-in-law?
Madam Lu Mingzhu picked up a spotless white napkin and elegantly dabbed the corner of her mouth. She glanced at her daughter Lu Luoluo and saw her picking up a slice of rolled beef with her chopsticks and stuffing it into her mouth. Lu Luoluo was busy filling her stomach and had not yet developed the self-awareness of a mother observing her son’s eating habits.
Having an extra family member appear out of nowhere required more than just resolving household registration issues. After lunch, Madam Lu Mingzhu dragged Lu Luoluo and Lu Ran out to buy clothes.
Going out in pajamas was obviously not an option. Madam Lu Mingzhu rummaged through the wardrobe and found a set of clothes from when Father Lu, Shen Jia, was young. Surprisingly, they fit Lu Ran quite well.
Lu Luoluo thought to herself that they really did need to buy clothes as soon as possible. Otherwise, her son. Although she was not used to it, Lu Ran really was her son, with a parentage test as proof. Seeing her son wearing her father’s clothes just felt somewhat strange.
The family shopped all the way until nightfall.
In this regard, Lu Mingzhu and Lu Luoluo shared the same level of enthusiasm. Lu Ran only had the option of being arranged.
“Isn’t this a bit too flashy? It doesn’t really suit me.”
Noticing that Lu Luoluo’s gaze lingered on a pink suit for more than ten seconds, warning sirens went off in Lu Ran’s mind. He tactfully expressed his preference. “If it’s formal wear, I’m probably more suited to darker colors.”
Is that so? Lu Luoluo regretfully withdrew her gaze, thinking to herself that if she ever had a child. No, wait, this was clearly her own child, wasn’t it?
Lu Luoluo’s eyes suddenly lit up.
“Why not try it on? We don’t necessarily have to buy it. If you like darker colors better, that’s fine too.”
Lu Mingzhu also leaned in to express her approval of her daughter’s taste.
In the end, the pink suit was still packed up and sent to the Lu residence.
Lu Luoluo finally understood why Madam Lu Mingzhu always liked dressing herself up.
Shopping was one of the best ways to strengthen relationships. So said a certain Madam Lu, who did not wish to be named.
According to her account, in just a single afternoon, under the magical effects of shopping, her daughter and grandson had already started to grow familiar with each other, and by the end, they were even able to joke around.
You ask why the daughter and grandson still needed time to get familiar with each other? That is a long story.
Amid Madam Lu Mingzhu’s sense of relief and satisfaction, the family finished dinner at a restaurant they had booked in advance and returned to the Lu residence.
What pleasantly surprised Lu Ran was that the pink wallpaper, pink desk, pink curtains, pink wooden bed, and pink bedding in his room were all gone without a trace. In their place was an elegant blue-and-white soft furnishing style. Madam Lu Mingzhu said that if he did not like it, they could change it again, and if he preferred pink, they could switch it back.
Lu Ran said that he liked the current style more.
Lu Luoluo, standing off to the side, looked a little listless.
After all, the pink room had been personally arranged and decorated by her. She had originally intended it to be a guest room for entertaining close friends, and every single Peppa Pig item embodied her care. Who would have thought that her good friends had never stayed there, and her son would arrive first? Well, according to Lu Ran, that was the room he had lived in for more than ten years.
Lu Luoluo had no objections to giving the room to Lu Ran, but as for the care she had put into decorating it. Well, it seemed that Lu Ran did not really like that thoughtfulness. Besides, that thoughtfulness had not originally been meant for him anyway, so this kind of reaction was normal.
That night, Lu Ran lay in bed, pulled up the blanket, and reviewed the day’s experiences, silently giving himself a perfect score.
The process had been full of twists and turns, but the future was bright.
On the second day after returning to the past, he had already resolved both his identity issues and his family’s trust issues. Even protagonists in web novels would find that hard to achieve, right? He could not help but be grateful for his open-minded, tolerant, and family-oriented relatives.
Grandma was still as caring toward him as ever.
His relationship with his mom was a bit distant, but Lu Ran could tell that his mother was already trying very hard to accept him.
That very mother, whom he judged to be “trying very hard,” quietly slipped into her own mother Madam Lu Mingzhu’s room late at night.
Lu Luoluo decided to engage her mother in a head-on negotiation over Lu Ran’s school enrollment.
In Lu Luoluo’s imagination, this would be a silent battle without gunpowder smoke, a short-term tug-of-war lasting several hours. As long as she held out until midnight and used her ultimate move of “if you don’t agree, I won’t go to sleep and I still have class tomorrow, Monday,” her mother would unconditionally raise the white flag and give in.
“Lu Ran is in the same grade as you, and the two of you look alike. Don’t you think people will constantly mention you in front of him? In that situation, the truth would be exposed in just a few days, wouldn’t it? But it’s different if you’re in the same class. Who would dare say to your face that your grades are bad? That you’re terrible at games? I’ll talk to your teacher and have you two seated closer together. That way, even if there are any gaps, you can patch them up in time, right?”
“Lu Ran won’t be enrolling until a week later. Instead of grinding away at me here, wouldn’t it be better to think about how to improve your academic performance?”
Lu Luoluo was completely knocked out by just a few sentences from Madam Lu Mingzhu and was left speechless.
The key point was that she had to admit that Madam Lu Mingzhu actually made a lot of sense.
“By the way, whose game ID is ‘Qingshui Riverside’?” Madam Lu Mingzhu narrowed her eyes. “I remember your account being called something like ‘Just Say I’m in Luoyang City,’ wasn’t it?”
“It’s my top-student desk mate’s account.” Lu Luoluo’s eyebrows drooped. “I’ll check later and see if I can talk to the genius and figure out a way to muddle through it.”
As for being honest with Lu Ran? Absolutely impossible!
Lu Luoluo arrived full of swagger and left with her head hanging low, taking a stomach full of worries with her.
Behind her, Madam Lu Mingzhu let out a long breath and murmured, “If you ask me, not being discovered is impossible. But letting Xiao Ran discover it on his own, little by little, is still better than having him witness his mother’s image collapse through someone else’s mouth… Xiao Ran is a considerate child. He’ll take the initiative to find excuses for Luoluo. He might not even expose her.”
Alright, Madam Lu Mingzhu admitted it. There was a bit of a retaliatory mindset mixed in. After all, who was it that said last night that she was not sincere? So who, exactly, was the one being insincere?