This time, Mu Ran couldn’t even be bothered to refuse. He wrapped himself tightly in the quilt and wriggled sideways until Lu Chengfeng blocked him with one arm and brought him to a halt.
“You’re going to fall off.” Supporting Mu Ran with one hand, Lu Chengfeng pulled a laptop out of his briefcase with the other and placed it on his lap, intending to handle some work.
“Are you staying here tonight too?” Mu Ran asked in a muffled voice.
With his legs crossed and taking up half the bed in an unconstrained posture, Lu Chengfeng said nonchalantly, “What else?”
“I don’t need…” The word “need” hadn’t even slipped past his lips before it was cut short by Lu Chengfeng: “Did you look over President Lin’s proposal from last time? I saw that you still hadn’t given a reply last night.”
The moment those words were uttered, Mu Ran suddenly recalled the news article he had seen this morning.
An indescribable feeling welled up in his heart part grievance, part helplessness.
This person was always like this; he seemed completely composed in the face of anything, with nothing ever able to stir up even a shred of emotion in him, and he even managed his time so perfectly.
While taking care of the person he had feelings for, he was actually still able to carve out time to check on the progress of his work.
Mu Ran finally understood the saying, “When a person is speechless to a certain degree, they will actually start laughing out loud.”
Mu Ran wanted to say something, but the words died on his tongue.
What right did he have to pry into Lu Chengfeng’s affairs?
Under what identity was he supposed to ask?
They were nothing more than ordinary friends.
After pondering for a moment, just as he was about to suffocate, Mu Ran poked out half his face and whispered, “I’ll find time to reply.”
Taking the opportunity, Lu Chengfeng brushed away the wisps of hair plastered across Mu Ran’s eyes, revealing that pair of amber-colored eyes he knew far too well. “Come out. That proposal of yours is poorly done; let me walk you through it.”
Mu Ran shot him a questioning look and then said, “Bro, I got into a car accident just yesterday, and now you want to lecture me? Make me work? Why didn’t yesterday’s car accident just kill me?”
“Is that so?” A trace of an emotion that Mu Ran couldn’t quite fathom flickered in Lu Chengfeng’s tone. “When I saw you laughing and chatting with He Jing’an, you looked quite happy and completely fine. Didn’t you want to be discharged today, too?”
“Can those two things possibly be the same?” Mu Ran ground his teeth. “You know it whenever I deal with serious matters, my head starts hurting.”
Only then did Lu Chengfeng move his laptop away, a smile tinged with a hint of danger hiding on his lips: “Then tell me, what were you two talking about just now?”
Mu Ran sat straight up, crossed his arms, and forced out a smile. “I do think there are some issues with this proposal. Come and tell me about it.”
He refused to believe he couldn’t get past this conversational hurdle today.
He was planting this flag right here: starting today, he was going to draw a line in the sand between himself and Lu Chengfeng, and step one was that both sides had to keep secrets from each other!
Besides, didn’t Lu Chengfeng have things he hadn’t told him either?
“Alright, then I’ll walk you through it. First of all, you marked this spot here…” Seeing that Mu Ran didn’t want to talk about it either, Lu Chengfeng simply stopped asking. Anyway, asking He Jing’an tomorrow would yield the same result.
Five minutes later.
Lu Chengfeng massaged the hair of the person in his arms and gently tucked the blanket around him.
He had known that Mu Ran’s attention span could never last more than five minutes. Clearly, he picked up on everything quickly, yet he simply refused to apply himself to proper endeavors.
He had long since grown accustomed to looking after both of their companies.
“Knock, knock,” a soft rapping sound echoed.
Slowing his movements, Lu Chengfeng went to open the door. The assistant standing outside caught sight of Mu Ran sleeping and immediately quieted down. It wasn’t until Lu Chengfeng had stepped out of the hospital room that the assistant lowered his voice and said, “President Lu, the news article from last night has already been taken down. President Mu shouldn’t have seen it.”
“Mhm. Look into who leaked the story first, and forward it directly to my inbox,” Lu Chengfeng rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I don’t want anyone gossiping about my romantic life, understood?”
The assistant nodded like a pecking chick, though deep down he was filled with profound puzzlement.
His boss was truly bizarre.
It wasn’t that he disliked gossip per se; he was simply afraid that the person inside would find out. Yet his feelings toward President Mu somehow seemed entirely different.
Gossip was a psychological trait shared by most people, especially when the CEOs of two prominent families were this close, inevitably giving rise to all sorts of wild rumors. Even though his boss was exceptionally tolerant toward President Mu, on the one occasion when an unknown party started spreading rumors that President Lu and President Mu were a couple, President Lu had unexpectedly flown into a rare rage.
He had even fired a few employees caught gossiping about them.
Not a single soul could figure out why this was the case.
Mu Ran still had to stay in the hospital for another week, so Lu Chengfeng simply relocated his workspace to the hospital room, keeping a stringent eye on Mu Ran’s daily diet and routine.
To this, Mu Ran felt it was utterly agonizing.
Finally, upon choking down his fifth consecutive day of congee, he couldn’t help but erupt:
“I want to eat something good!”
“Half a year ago, when your throat was inflamed, you sneaked out to eat hot pot, and I accompanied you for three days of IV drips. Two months ago, when the doctor said seasonal transitions easily trigger colds, you slipped out wearing a thin suit jacket to drink alcohol, and started running a fever the moment you got home. And last month…” Lu Chengfeng began meticulously listing Mu Ran’s “battle records.”
“Aiya.” Mu Ran wished he could just roll his eyes back and pass out on the spot. “Can you stop making me sound completely useless? The Zhang Corporation’s account last time was negotiated by me you can’t just pretend you don’t see my shining points.”
Lu Chengfeng frowned, seemingly contemplating Mu Ran’s words in earnest before stating firmly: “But you don’t know how to take care of yourself.”
There it was everything he had just said went completely in one ear and out the other.
Mu Ran smoothed down his breath, his act of rebellion declared a failure once more.
“Big brother.” A child of about ten years old stood at the doorway, glancing timidly at the stern-faced Lu Chengfeng. Wanting to enter yet not daring to, he could only look toward Mu Ran with eager eyes: “Can I come in and play with you?”
“Of course you can.” Mu Ran beckoned to him. “Brother has some fresh strawberries here, do you want to eat some?”
The little boy took small, scampering steps around Lu Chengfeng, dashed inside, and sat by Mu Ran’s bedside acting coquettishly.
He had gotten to know this child while strolling in the courtyard during his hospitalization. The boy’s mother was also hospitalized here, and upon meeting Mu Ran, the little boy had latched onto him and refused to let go, calling him “pretty big brother.” Mu Ran was particularly fond of this kind of flattery, and the little boy had grown thick-skinned enough to frequently run over to his room.
It was fortunate that someone was around to chat with him a couple of words; otherwise, the awkward atmosphere of lingering around Lu Chengfeng would have suffocated him.
“Big brother, is that tall big brother your boyfriend?” The boy asked while chewing on a strawberry.
Mu Ran glanced sideways out of the corner of his eye at Lu Chengfeng, making sure he was earnestly handling work and hadn’t heard them talking before feeling relieved. “Why do you ask that?”
Leaning close to Mu Ran, the little boy said with a deadpan earnest expression: “Mom says only family members take care of each other like that, just like Dad takes care of Mom.”
Family?
Could he and Lu Chengfeng be considered family, too?
Did brotherly affection count?
“But, we’re both boys, you see,” Mu Ran answered patiently. “Forming a family requires a boy and a girl together.”
“Yet I feel like you like that big brother. The way you look at him is exactly the same as the way Dad looks at Mom.”
A child’s words were innocent yet dead-on accurate.
If even a child could perceive these feelings, could Lu Chengfeng really have been oblivious to them?
Mu Ran couldn’t help feeling a pang of fear.
If Lu Chengfeng had figured it out long ago, then what were all these actions right now if not a silent rejection? Every single instance of “taking care of him” was actually a silent reminder that they were merely friends and that nothing could ever happen between them.
“You mustn’t talk nonsense about things like this, understand? Big Brother Lu and I both have people we like, so you mustn’t let Big Brother Lu hear this kind of talk, okay?” Mu Ran was terrified of having that layer of window paper poked open right in front of a child if that happened, they really wouldn’t even be able to remain friends.
“Understood.” The boy’s smiling face scrunched up as he nodded firmly, then as if recalling something, he added, “Then does big brother want to consider my older sister instead? She’s very pretty, and I like big brother, so I want big brother to become family with me.”
Huh?
Mu Ran hadn’t expected this kid to blurt out such a remark. Agreeing was out of the question, but refusing made him worry about hurting the child’s feelings.
“It’s time for you to rest.” Lu Chengfeng closed his laptop, stood up from the single sofa, and walked toward the two of them.
He had only just finished wading through those headache-inducing documents when he heard this kid trying to pitch his older sister to Mu Ran.
“T-Then I’ll be leaving first, big brother.” Terrified of Lu Chengfeng, the boy bolted the second a single glance swept over him.
Mu Ran couldn’t help bursting into laughter.
“Why did you rush to reject him just now?” Mu Ran tilted his head.
“Otherwise, were you planning to accept?” Massaging the bridge of his nose, Lu Chengfeng half-leaned against the edge of the opposite bed.
Mu Ran shook his head: “No, but what if…”
“There are no ‘whats ifs.'” Lu Chengfeng’s tone raised by a notch a display of anger Mu Ran had never witnessed before. Realizing his own lapse in composure, Lu Chengfeng dialed his tone back to a calm level. “I have a responsibility to select the most outstanding strategic marriage partner for you.”
The answer was self-evident.
From beginning to end, all Lu Chengfeng had ever thought about was planning everything out for her—perhaps he hadn’t noticed his affections, or perhaps he was doing all this precisely to toss him out of his hair.
Therefore, until he found a flawless strategic marriage candidate whom Mu Ran couldn’t refuse, Lu Chengfeng would remain faithfully by his side just as he always had.
“And then?” Mu Ran asked again.
Lu Chengfeng closed his eyes: “I hope you can buckle down and focus on proper work.”
A biting thread of cold wind slipped through the improperly shut window freezing to the bone.
Cold enough to make Mu Ran’s mind grow a few fractions clearer.
“Cold? I’ll go shut the window.” Opening his eyes, Lu Chengfeng stood up to close it.
The curtains were drawn tight, instantly blocking out a vast amount of sunlight and plunging the entire room into dimness.
When Lu Chengfeng turned back around, Mu Ran was sitting there obediently. Viewed from this angle, his grown-out hair mingling with his eyelashes shadowed his gaze, leaving only the high bridge of his nose and pink lips exposed, resembling the most vividly blooming dew-kissed rose in a spring morning.
He didn’t know when it had started, but Mu Ran had grown increasingly striking, drifting further and further away from the devil-may-care persona of his memories.
Moreover, the people surrounding Mu Ran were multiplying day by day much like a dust-covered pearl that, once gently brushed by the wind, radiated a dazzling brilliance.
The thin lips of the person on the bed parted slightly, and upon close listening, his voice seemed to carry a trace of a tremble:
“What if I said… I already have someone I like?”