By early evening, after finishing the spay surgery he had been assisting with, Ran Fan clocked out ahead of schedule.
While changing clothes, he ran into a colleague. The other man nodded at him with a smile. “Heading out so early?”
“Yeah. Got something to take care of.”
“Boyfriend’s back from his business trip today?”
“So sweet, as always. Really makes people jealous.”
Before Ran Fan could answer, the colleague had already come to a conclusion. “I knew it. One look at your face and I could tell.” He grinned. “When are you going to bring your boyfriend around the clinic for everyone to see? We’re all curious what he looks like, handsome or not?”
Ran Fan slung his backpack over his shoulder, disinfected his hands, made sure everything was in order and replied softly, “He’s handsome.”
After a brief pause, he added shyly, “At least… I think he is.”
Seeing his embarrassment, the colleague grew more interested and pressed on. “How handsome are we talking? As handsome as that billboard guy at the night market next door?”
Ran Fan answered without hesitation. “As handsome as Jiang Minyu.”
Jiang Minyu was a member of a newly debuted, extremely popular male idol group. Because of his almost unreal looks, he had broken out of his niche almost overnight after debut. Even people like them, who spent their days dealing with animals and rarely paid attention to the entertainment industry, had heard of him.
It was said that not long ago, he had attended an overseas red carpet event. Despite lacking seniority and fame at the time, he had relied purely on his face to make headlines across numerous international entertainment outlets.
In wave after wave of coverage, Jiang Minyu stood among layers of beautiful men and women yet he was like a dot of vermilion against snow, so striking it was almost unreasonable, carrying an overbearing brilliance that defied logic.
The colleague burst into laughter, clearly amused.
Twenty six year old Ran Fan lived up to his name: ordinary in every sense, someone who did not stand out.
He wasn’t ugly. Looked at individually, his features all leaned toward being handsome yet when put together, they somehow became strangely unremarkable. There was an indescribable air of gentleness and honesty about him, a kind of mildness that made him easy to overlook.
His background, education and job were just as ordinary.
A salaried family. An average undergraduate degree, five years studying veterinary medicine. Now he worked as a veterinary assistant at a mid sized pet hospital in the city.
With this combination, placed in a bustling metropolis like S City, he was like a grain of sand in the desert, a single drop in the ocean.
No wonder his colleague hadn’t taken his words seriously, assuming he was joking.
After getting off the subway, Ran Fan walked the rest of the way home.
His apartment was located near the Third Ring Road, in an upgraded residential complex. Over 150 square meters, four bedrooms, one living room and two bathrooms. He had taken out a loan to buy it several years ago.
The price, naturally, had been steep. Even with a side income, Ran Fan sometimes felt the financial pressure.
But his boyfriend had truly grown tired of the cramped, crowded living conditions of their earlier years. Ran Fan only wanted to make him happy and after gritting his teeth, he had gone through with the purchase.
Now that housing prices had fallen, they were down tens of thousands, no, hundreds of thousands.
But since they had never planned to sell and intended to treat it as their shared love nest, a loss was still a loss but one he could accept.
The entryway was bright and spotless, exactly the same as when Ran Fan had left that morning.
He took off his backpack, changed his shoes and hurried through the living room without pausing, heading straight for the kitchen to open the refrigerator.
There was a trace of impatience in his mood.
The refrigerator door was covered with printed photos of the two of them together.
From when one of them wore an elementary school uniform and the other a middle school uniform, to the day they both stepped into society, hand in hand, photo after photo, spanning more than a decade of time.
Ran Fan didn’t have the leisure to look at them. He took out the prepped ingredients and immediately started cooking.
Today’s menu consisted of four dishes and one soup.
According to his boyfriend’s preferences, it was stir fried yellow beef, braised hairtail fish, sautéed seasonal vegetables, dry pot shrimp and a Chinese yam and pork rib soup.
As he cooked, he recorded videos for content.
At the beginning, he had cooked only to fill his stomach, without much thought, as long as there was something to eat, it was enough. Because his boyfriend was picky, he started paying attention to color, aroma and taste, learning knife skills, seasoning and heat control. Gradually, he honed a genuinely impressive level of skill.
Because the dishes he made were both visually pleasing and delicious, his boyfriend suggested he record them and build an account around that content. He followed the advice and it was unexpectedly well received by viewers, gradually developing into a side business. It was precisely this income that had provided the bulk of the funds for buying the apartment.
After a flurry of activity, everything was finally done just before he expected the other man to return.
Yet the dishes sat there for a long time after coming out of the pan and his boyfriend still hadn’t appeared.
Ran Fan carefully covered the food with glass lids, sweat soaking his clothes. While waiting, he edited the video footage.
He waited until the sky darkened completely and the food had gone cold before the doorbell finally rang.
Ran Fan opened the door, unable to hide his worry. “Why are you home so late? Are you okay? I messaged you and you didn’t reply.”
Ran Fan was fairly tall but the man entering was even taller. He wore a hat and a mask. His frame looked lean yet his shoulders were strikingly broad.
Without saying a word, the man slammed the door shut with a bang and walked straight past Ran Fan toward the master bedroom.
Ran Fan followed behind him, asking, “What happened? Are you feeling unwell? Aren’t you going to eat?”
The boyfriend’s breathing was wrapped in restless irritation. Along the way, he tossed off his coat, backpack, hat and mask. Then, using the door panel that rushed toward him, he blocked Ran Fan from coming any closer.
In the narrow gap as the door closed, the boyfriend’s face flashed into view. In that instant, within the dim, unlit bedroom, light seemed to bloom from nowhere, ignited by the man’s scorching, flame like presence.
Ran Fan: “Minyu?”
A wave of unease surged through his chest. Jiang Minyu was his boyfriend.
The bedroom door was shut tight, cutting off the inside from the outside, clearly signaling an unwillingness to speak to anyone.
Jiang Minyu had a bad temper. For him to choose brooding alone instead of erupting outright was, in itself, rare.
A vague premonition rose in Ran Fan’s heart. He bent down and gathered the scattered clothes along the way, put them away neatly, then reached for the backpack. From it, he took out a stack of documents bound together with care.
He opened the folder. On the cover page were the words DNA Paternity Test Report. Flipping to the crucial page, the conclusion was displayed starkly before his eyes,
【The biological father–son relationship between Sample A and Sample B is established and confirmed as a direct biological relationship.】
A few days earlier, a middle aged man with the air of an elite had come to their door, bringing news that overturned everything: Jiang Minyu had not, in fact, lost his father in his early years. His biological father was actually the head of a powerful, wealthy family and now wished to reclaim him.
The middle aged man claimed to be acting on commission. At the time, he had carried the DNA test results with him, along with a thick stack of detailed background materials from the other side. The conclusion in front of Ran Fan’s eyes was precisely that report.
How could Jiang Minyu possibly believe it so easily? The two sides had verified and cross checked the information several times. In the end, it was decided that Jiang Minyu himself would take the relevant information from both parties and personally confirm the truth through testing.
The blood relationship was real.
But if the other party truly possessed such immense power and wealth, then why had they allowed Jiang Minyu to grow up following such an absurd, irresponsible mother, struggling through poverty and hardship?
Ran Fan stared at the closed bedroom door. Thinking of how difficult Jiang Minyu’s life had been, step by step, his worry deepened further. After hesitating for several breaths, he ultimately did not disturb him. He tidied up the dishes on the dining table, placed them into the refrigerator and went to lie down in the guest bedroom.
He barely slept at all that night.
Just as dawn began to pale the sky, Ran Fan got up and cooked Jiang Minyu’s favorite fish slice congee.
His cooking skills were excellent. The fragrance spread throughout the apartment, a light mist of steam floating gently in the air. As it was about to be finished, Jiang Minyu came out of the bedroom. He was still wearing yesterday’s clothes, silently taking a seat in the chair opposite.
“Aren’t you going to wash your face?” Ran Fan smiled at him. “It’ll take me a little while longer here. If you go now and come back, it’ll be just right.”
Jiang Minyu didn’t move. Sunlight fell on him, his cheeks and neck almost translucent, jade white under the light. Suddenly, he spoke.
“There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
Ran Fan answered patiently, “What is it?”
“Let’s break up.”
Ran Fan was ladling the congee, still smiling. “Break up? Why? That’s so sudden. Is there a reason?”
Jiang Minyu said, “I just want to break up. I don’t want to be with you anymore.”
Ran Fan replied, “But we promised we’d be together for a lifetime. We hooked fingers and swore we’d never separate.”
Jiang Minyu’s brow twitched slightly. A trace of guilt, like a stone dropped into water, sent ripples spreading outward before fading away.
“I know. I’m the one who broke the promise first. You can hit me, curse me, even tear this place apart. It doesn’t matter. I just want to end this relationship.”
The seriousness in his tone made it impossible to dismiss as a joke. Ran Fan’s smile faded and no new expression replaced it. For a moment, he looked both lost and stunned, as if caught between the two.
Suddenly, a ringtone shattered the heavy silence.
Ran Fan instinctively reached for his phone.
But the incoming call wasn’t on his side, it was Jiang Minyu’s.
On the screen was a string of English letters starting with a “K.” Jiang Minyu glanced at it, silenced the call and placed the phone face down on the table.
During that brief moment, Ran Fan turned off the stove, stood up and carried the things he usually took when heading out to the door.
Jiang Minyu called after him, “Ran Fan.”
Ran Fan answered, “Mm. It’s time for me to go to work. If there’s anything, we can talk about it tonight when I’m back.”
Jiang Minyu glanced at the time. It was still far from the hour when Ran Fan usually left to catch the subway. Irritation climbed onto his sharply angled brows and his voice rose. “I’ve already made my decision.”
Ran Fan said, “Mm. I heard you. There’s stuff going on at the hospital. We’ll talk when I get back.”
He fled out the door as if escaping.
In the stairwell, the elevator was in operation but he couldn’t even wait for that much time. Ran Fan turned toward the stairs instead, as though something were chasing him.
He ran down several floors in one breath, his legs giving out until he stumbled and nearly collapsed.
At that moment, Ran Fan became acutely aware of his own heartbeat, pounding wildly, far too fast.
As if being pursued, he continued rushing downward.
His ears rang continuously.
✦ ✧ ✦
Fleurveil
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
The translator has entered their coffee-deprived final form. (╥﹏╥)
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
Next →
ChaptersChapter 1 · Let’s break upChapter 2 · A hand landed on Ran Fan’s backChapter 3 · Jiang Wenyu’s biological fatherChapter 4 · Li Yang kissed him againChapter 5 · Could you come to the hospital?Chapter 6 · I hope you can give birthChapter 7 · Are you bothered by the fact that I am Jiang Wenyu’s biological father?Chapter 8 · Don’t you think I’m ordinary?Chapter 9 · Don’t consider it me going back on my wordChapter 10 · You are a truly remarkable personChapter 11 · Would you say you’re cold-hearted towards Ran Fan?Chapter 12 · Dr. Ran resigned several months ago.Chapter 13 · Can we meet up?Chapter 14 · You also know the child’s fatherChapter 15 · You are the most important to meChapter 16 · Extra 1Chapter 17 · Extra 2Chapter 18 · Extra 3