Chapter 36: Sleep Here One More Time
Thump, thump, thump… Ye Ran walked upstairs exceptionally loudly, as if he were afraid others wouldn’t know he was returning to his own room.
Once the door opened, Ye Ran buried himself in his bed and took out his phone to play games.
When he got tired of playing, he rolled over. In short, he could roll around however he liked.
Ye Ran squinted his eyes comfortably. His own bed was still the best. If it weren’t for being previously controlled by the plot, why would he have gone to Chi Yuheng’s place to squeeze into one bed with him?
He wouldn’t go there ever again. He was going to weld himself to his own bed.
His “feel” for the game was exceptionally good today, and he won several rounds in a row. Based on Ye Ran’s intuition, if this continued, he would definitely lose in a few more rounds.
To attract players to keep playing, a win streak is often followed by a losing streak, utilizing that psychology of being unwilling to lose to increase the time players stay on the game.
Ye Ran wasn’t going to give himself the chance to lose; he would quit while he was ahead. Right now, his winning mindset was superb.
He turned off his phone screen, switched off the lights, and closed his eyes to sleep.
The wind was strong at night, making the leaves rustle. The soundproofing of the windows was good, so Ye Ran couldn’t hear the noise, but the flickering shadows outside swayed in, moving up and down.
Ye Ran snapped his eyes open and looked out the window. Seeing that they were just the shadows of branches and leaves, he felt slightly relieved.
Ye Ran exhaled, his mind relaxing.
There are no ghosts in this world; it was purely him scaring himself. He closed his eyes to go back to sleep.
The ghost boy he saw in the horror movie came out again to cause trouble, frantically playing a slideshow in his brain.
Ye Ran opened his eyes again. “…”
He crawled out of bed, looking like a deflated ball as he opened the door and walked out.
Forget it. He took back what he said before. He would just find Chi Yuheng to sleep with him one more time.
…
The next day, Ye Muqing came to the Chi residence to pick up Qiao Yubai.
Qiao Yubai had also been scared by the horror movie yesterday. He had been scrolling through short videos until the latter half of the night, so he naturally slept in today.
Only Ye Ran had a psychological anchor last night and slept very soundly, waking up early.
By the time he went downstairs, Xin Yu had already brought Ye Muqing in and led him to the living room to wait.
Simultaneously, seeing Ye Ran coming down from upstairs, Xin Yu wore his official smile again. “You aren’t allowed to skip breakfast. Be good at home and don’t cause trouble. I’ll bring you a small strawberry cake when I get back, and also…”
Before he could finish, Ye Ran manually silenced him with a raised hand, shutting down the human recording machine that was Xin Yu. “Every day it’s the same words, no creativity at all. Tell him back for me—say ‘This Emperor acknowledges it.'”
Xin Yu smiled and declined. “I don’t dare say that. You should reply to him yourself.”
Ye Ran took out his phone and muttered, “If he has time to have someone pass a message, why can’t he just say it in person or send a text? President Chi is truly busy everywhere except for his mouth.”
Ye Muqing watched this scene in silence. It was exceptionally natural and harmonious. Chi Yuheng would give Ye Ran instructions when leaving, and Ye Ran also had his own little temper toward Chi Yuheng; they were a very harmonious family.
On the contrary, he, the brother, felt more like the outsider.
He hadn’t had much feeling for Ye Ran since he was young. When he was very small, his Eldest Brother already had a steadiness beyond his years, and he had thought that it would be great if he had a younger brother to play with.
Later, he got Ye Ran, but Ming Qingyan didn’t seem to like this youngest son much, preferring him to be a girl. Actually, he quite liked Ye Ran and always wanted to hold him at home.
It was just that his mother always put Ye Ran in dresses. Over time, Ye Muqing couldn’t understand it; this toddler was his brother, so why did she always have to put him in little dresses?
Later, Ye Ran was fostered in the Chi family, and they met even less. The few times they met were always on some day during a vacation.
The total time he had seen Ye Ran wasn’t even as long as the few months Qiao Yubai had lived in the Ye residence.
Previously, Ye Ran would always put on a facade but do some annoying things behind people’s backs. Ye Muqing had seen both times he bullied Qiao Yubai with his own eyes.
Ye Muqing didn’t exactly feel hatred in his heart, only anger. Why did Ye Ran become like that? Even if he wanted to attract attention, he shouldn’t have done that.
It wasn’t until later, on Ye Ran’s birthday, when he heard his words to Chi Yuheng, that Ye Muqing realized he had truly ignored this brother for too long—so long that Ye Ran had nearly become a stranger to them.
The only thing that seemed to maintain their relationship was the bit of affection between Ye Ran and Chi Yuheng from growing up together. In the Ye family’s eyes, this had become the only value that could be squeezed out of Ye Ran.
This was unfair to Ye Ran. If it were him, he would also feel suffocated in such a family.
While Ye Muqing was still thinking, Ye Ran had already sat on the sofa beside him. “Qiao Yubai will be down in a moment. You can take him away once he’s down.”
Ye Ran’s tone was flat, as if he were conducting official business.
Ye Muqing’s mouth moved, and he finally spoke, “I see they’ve already prepared breakfast. Go eat first.”
A few seconds after the words fell, Ye Ran abruptly looked up at him, his eyes full of confusion.
What was with this sudden word of concern?
Or had he misunderstood?
Ye Muqing looked at Ye Ran’s puzzled gaze. “You weren’t planning on skipping breakfast, were you?”
It wasn’t that he was planning to skip it, but he hadn’t expected to hear “eat breakfast” from your mouth.
Ye Ran shifted his gaze back to his phone. “I’m just not used to eating this early.”
“Oh.” Ye Muqing silently noted it down.
The two were silent for a moment, each busy with their own things.
Ye Ran was sending a message to Chi Yuheng.
[It’s Ye Ran not Ye Ash]: I woke up early today, but I don’t want to eat breakfast.
A minute later, a reply came from the other side.
C: You don’t want to eat breakfast—do you want to get a beating?
[It’s Ye Ran not Ye Ash]: You’re so violent, I’m going to consider running away from home. (Middle finger emoji.jpg)
C: Was the lesson from the last time you ran away not enough?
Ye Ran: “…”
How could he possibly forget being confined to the bed for three days? The day he was let down, he nearly beat the pillow with Chi Yuheng’s head on it into pieces.
[It’s Ye Ran not Ye Ash]: I’ve stayed home for the whole vacation. I’m going out to play with Xu Huiyang for a few days.
He was making it clear—this wasn’t running away, but an advance report.
Ye Ran stared at that single word Chi Yuheng sent. He brushed him off with just one word?
It was clear that President Chi was indeed busy.
Sitting on the other side of the sofa, Ye Muqing received a call from the publisher. “Young Master Ye, have you finished revising your book? If it’s done, you can send it to us again for review. If there are no issues, we’ll arrange the publication plan for you.”
Speaking of revising the book, Ye Muqing pinched the bridge of his nose. “There’s still a bit left. I’ll send it to you after I finish.”
Hearing the conversation, Ye Ran’s brow twitched. If his guess was correct, they should be talking about the book Ye Muqing gave him on his birthday.
So, that book that was too painful to look at—Ye Muqing actually wanted to publish it?!
To confirm his suspicion, he asked tentatively, “Second Brother, you’re planning to publish the book you gave me last time?”
Ye Muqing’s “Mn” confirmed Ye Ran’s suspicion.
But Ye Muqing’s brow didn’t relax. “But I don’t really want to revise it anymore. I feel what I wrote before was quite good.”
Ye Ran spoke the truth, “There might be a kind of ‘good’ called ‘you think it’s good.'”
Ye Muqing didn’t focus on what Ye Ran just said, instead falling into deep self-doubt.
“Is my writing really that bad? Why do I have to revise so much?”
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