Chapter 7: That Felt Good
That one sentence made alarm bells go off in Ye Ran’s mind.
He really didn’t want to understand the meaning behind Chi Yuheng’s words, but his damn brain understood instantly.
Ye Ran took a deep breath. The air in the room seemed to become thick and sticky.
In the end, he obediently opened his mouth and accepted Chi Yuheng’s feeding.
“The last one was too sour. This one is better; the sweetness is just right.”
…
Ye Ran stayed in bed for three consecutive days. Chi Yuheng didn’t lock him up again, but he could never leave that bed.
On the first day, he threw all kinds of tantrums. There had to be a limit to confining him, right? What kind of thing was not being allowed out of bed?!
By the second day, having been served hand and foot by Chi Yuheng with food and clothing, Ye Ran thought: Actually, this is okay too.
By the third day, Young Master Ye was already giving orders from the bed. “Chi Yuheng, I want a banana.”
“Chi Yuheng, bring me the game console to play.”
“Chi Yuheng, I want to eat a small cake, strawberry flavored.”
“Chi Yuheng…”
Thus, the heir to the Chi family and CEO of the Chengyi Group, Chi Yuheng, happily acquired a new job title: Ye Ran’s nanny.
But he enjoyed it.
As long as Ye Ran stayed by his side, it was fine.
And Chi Yuheng was also using practical actions to tell Ye Ran: running away from home was his minefield, and one shouldn’t repeatedly dance on a minefield.
On the fourth day, Chi Yuheng went to the company. Ye Ran thought he had gained his freedom.
He walked out of the room with his head held high; no one stopped him.
Ye Ran opened the door and reached the garden; no one blocked him.
He continued forward. The villa’s main gate was right ahead. He was overjoyed; victory was finally within reach, with hope less than ten meters away.
Xin Yu, who was guarding outside the gate, stepped in front of him. “Young Master Ye, you can only move around inside the house. You cannot go out.”
Ye Ran was about to explode. “Wait, on what grounds?”
Xin Yu spoke in an official tone. “This is the Eldest Young Master’s meaning, for fear you will run away from home again.”
What was the point of locking him up? Was he just not going to run?
“Chi Yuheng’s words are useless to me.”
Xin Yu gave a professional smile. “But they work for me.”
Ye Ran: “…”
He might as well have said nothing.
Ye Ran returned in a foul mood. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to leave, but with Chi Yuheng’s people guarding outside the villa, he couldn’t even force his way out.
When a person is angry, they want to hit everything they see. Upon returning to the living room, Ye Ran naturally locked his target on the throw pillow on the sofa.
The throw pillow printed with Chi Yuheng’s face.
This pillow was a gift from that childish brat, Chi Youchu. Originally, he had given two: one with Chi Yuheng and one with Chi Youchu.
Chi Youchu had intentionally not made a pillow with Ye Ran’s face just to spite him.
His Big Brother was so good to him, then suddenly Ye Ran was dropped into the house. Chi Yuheng’s concern for him was halved, so Chi Youchu disliked him no matter how he looked at him.
Who would have thought that when Ye Ran saw those two pillows, he just clicked his tongue and laughed at him. “Are you childish, making this kind of stuff?”
This made Chi Youchu incredibly angry.
To be called childish—he refused to take them away.
As a result, the next day, Ye Ran took a pillow printed with his own face and placed it between the two, easily separating them. Chi Youchu’s pillow was even pushed to the corner of the sofa.
If you didn’t look closely, you wouldn’t even know a pillow existed there.
This made Chi Youchu even angrier. “Didn’t you say doing this was childish?!”
Ye Ran raised an eyebrow. “Men are boys until they die. I’m maintaining a child’s heart, not being childish.”
Chi Youchu was fuming. “It’s clearly a double standard.”
Since then, Ye Ran and Chi Yuheng’s pillows had been placed side-by-side on the sofa. Now, it had just become Ye Ran’s target for venting.
He launched a heavy-fisted attack against Chi Yuheng’s pillow.
Punch after punch, the pillow with Chi Yuheng’s face was beaten into a distorted shape, looking as if Chi Yuheng’s face had been deformed.
Ye Ran felt great.
Xin Yu, standing beside him, watched this scene with a look of “cannot bear to watch,” sighing deeply. In the end, the pillow bore everything.
The servants weren’t idle either, constantly bringing up delicious food, all of which were Ye Ran’s usual favorites.
Since he couldn’t go out anyway, Ye Ran simply ate strawberry cake while pulling Xin Yu to play games with him.
Chi Yuheng told Xin Yu to watch him, but he didn’t say he couldn’t play with him.
Everyone had a friendship built on eating together; playing games together also had a good rapport. They cooperated well, and the other teammates were also very helpful. Ye Ran was able to get five kills in several consecutive rounds, and after a few rounds, his mindset improved greatly.
“Come, come, hurry and start.”
The game started, and the broadcast sounded:
[The enemy will reach the battlefield in five seconds…]
Ye Ran focused on the game. Just then, the phone vibrated, and an international call appeared at the top of the game interface:
[Ms. Ming]
Ye Ran glanced at it. It was his biased mother.
In fact, if he thought about it, his parents’—or more accurately, his foster parents’—bias could be seen in many places.
Starting with names. There were three children in the Ye family. The eldest son was called Ye Tingyun; at a glance, he was the first child who carried their hopes, and the name was thought out seriously.
The second son was called Ye Muqing because the mother was named Ming Qingyan. His name was taken by combining the father’s surname and the mother’s name, serving as a witness to the two’s love.
When it came to the youngest son, Ye Ran, because he was another boy, the Ye family was greatly disappointed and just found a random character for a name.
Ye Ran had complained more than once that this was too damn casual.
Other people’s names sounded nice, but when it came to him, it was Ye Ran. Once the leaves (Ye) were burned (Ran) out, wouldn’t only ash be left? If the wind blew, not even a crumb would remain.
Once, Ye Ran’s unlucky second brother heard his complaint and thought about it seriously. “Actually, calling you ‘Ye Hui’ (Ye Ash) wouldn’t be bad either; it has a lot of personality.”
Ye Ran: “…”
Listen to that, is that human speech?
Ye Hualin and Ming Qingyan went abroad to expand the Ye Group’s overseas market. When they left, they took their eldest son, Ye Tingyun, leaving Ye Muqing in the country to manage the domestic company.
It wasn’t until they learned they had switched children at birth and that Qiao Yousheng was their biological daughter that they returned from abroad and held a grand recognition ceremony.
Ye Ran, who was already a nobody in the Ye family, became even more transparent.
In the original plot, Ye Ran was indignant. He hadn’t done anything wrong, so why did his parents and brothers all become someone else’s, leaving him without even that little bit of love?
After that, he constantly caused trouble, opposing Qiao Yubai while Qiao Yousheng was out of the country.
Now Ye Ran had figured it out. What isn’t yours shouldn’t be forced. Real, fake, biological, not biological…
None of it was his business!
His Mother, Ming Qingyan, hadn’t called him once after the recognition ceremony. Now that a call suddenly came, he was quite surprised.
While playing the game, Ye Ran conveniently answered. Ming Qingyan’s laughter came through the receiver.
“Xiao Ran, what are you doing?”
Ye Ran’s tone was flat. “Playing games.”
Question and answer—it sounded like there was no problem. He didn’t know if he heard it wrong, but Ming Qingyan felt that Ye Ran wasn’t as enthusiastic as he used to be when talking to her.
However, she didn’t want to nitpick too much and went straight to the point. “Dad, Mom, and your Big Brother are returning to the country tomorrow. You don’t need to come to the airport; your Second Brother will pick us up then.”
Ye Ran gave an “Oh.” It was just a notification, and since he didn’t need to go to the airport, there was nothing for him to do.
His fingers slid quickly across the screen, successfully taking down the opponent’s marksman and support.
Ming Qingyan was left hanging there like that, her expression not looking very good. Since Ye Ran couldn’t see it anyway, he said to Xin Yu, “Hurry, let’s go ambush them.”
Ming Qingyan endured it and still said in a good-tempered way, “Xiao Ran, it’s your birthday the day after tomorrow. Come home for dinner; Mom will cook personally.”
Ye Ran’s fingertips paused. Ms. Ming actually remembered his birthday.
Ming Qingyan continued, “Yousheng’s studies abroad can’t be neglected, so she can’t come back. You guys can meet during the New Year.”
True, Ye Ran had almost forgotten; he and Qiao Yousheng shared the same birthday.
He was just a green leaf under the flowers, a mere foil.
Ye Ran wanted to say “No need, I’ll spend my birthday at the Chi family.” Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly remembered that in the original plot, there seemed to be a segment about his birthday banquet.
He had constantly tried to gain a sense of presence at the dinner party, but in the end, he was like a clown who couldn’t overshadow the light of the protagonist shou, Qiao Yubai.
And it was also at this time that Qiao Yubai met the other protagonist gong, the returning Ye Tingyun, for the first time. Ye Tingyun fell in love with him at first sight, which was also the beginning of the two Ye brothers fighting over one man.
Ye Ran wasn’t sure if the subsequent plot would change after he altered the earlier segment. He felt it was necessary to go and verify it in practice.
Thus, he changed his words. “I’ll go back the day after tomorrow.”
Hearing Ye Ran agree to come back, Ming Qingyan gave a motherly smile. “Good, Dad and Mom will be waiting for you at home.”
“By the way, Xiao Ran, can you ask Yuheng to come back with you?”
Translator’s Note: Poor pillow… it really did bear everything! And can we talk about Ye Ran’s name? Imagine being named “Leaf Burned.” No wonder he feels like he’s just destined to be ashes. Also, watch out for “Ms. Ming”—she sounds a bit too nice all of a sudden.
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