Chapter 88: Youâve Reached Red Temperature
A message came in; he assumed it was his second brother praising him to the skies, and perhaps wanting to discuss the upcoming plot.
Ye Ran cast a casual glance at his phone, but that one glance nearly made him stop breathing.
He hadn’t sent it to Ye Muqing; he had sent it to Chi Yuheng.
Seeing the question Chi Yuheng asked, Ye Ran felt like dying.
Those weren’t the words he wanted to say to Chi Yuheng!
But since it was already sent, he couldn’t retract it. Any excuses at this point felt exceptionally weak, so Ye Ran simply braced himself and took the blame.
[Itâs Ye Ran Not Ye Ash]: My reading reflections arenât bad, huh? This text is funny, but it still has too many flaws. It needs correcting. Yes, it needs correcting.
As Ye Ran sent the message, he felt guilty.
His pursuit of Chi Yuheng was pure; he really didn’t intend to start with something so scandalous.
Soon, that capitalized “C” replied to him.
[C]: Your reading reflections are good. Keep up the effort.
Ye Ranâs fingertips paused. Did he just manage to muddle through?
For some reason, looking at Chi Yuhengâs nickname, that capitalized “C” felt particularly glaring.
Chi Yuheng wasn’t a casual person, but he was very indifferent toward these online nicknames, much like how he didn’t care for the Moments feed.
WeChat was just a communication tool; there was no need for anything fancy. The simpler, the better.
So, Chi Yuheng simply used the first letter of his surname as his nickname.
In the past, Ye Ran didn’t think much of it, but after sending those messages today, looking at that “C” again, he felt as if it was implying something.
[Itâs Ye Ran Not Ye Ash]: Chi Yuheng, can you change your nickname?
He didn’t know if Chi Yuheng would bother with something as boring as changing a nickname.
After a few seconds, a message came back from the other side.
[CY]: Is this okay?
Ye Ran stared at those two letters, studying them intensely.
What was the meaning of this “Y”?
Was it the first letter of “Yu,” or the first letter of “Ye”?
If it was “Yu,” why didn’t he add an “H”?
But if it was “Ye”…
CY…
In Pinyin slang, what was the difference between that and “CĂ o” (Fuck) him?
Ye Ran: “…”
Looking at it this way made it even more awkward, but he was afraid that if he mentioned it to Chi Yuheng, the man might change it to something even more exaggerated.
[Itâs Ye Ran Not Ye Ash]: Letâs leave it like that for now. I have to go to class.
[CY]: Okay. Iâll pick you up after school.
By September, the weather was still somewhat humid and hot.
Ye Ran sat by the window, his head tilted. He looked at his phone for a bit, then seemed to be lost in thought, his eyes unconsciously drifting toward the window.
For the remainder of the class, Ye Ranâs eyes switched back and forth between his phone and the view outside.
Xu Huiyang had slept through most of the period, finally catching up on some rest. When he groggily opened his eyes and looked at Ye Ran, he almost thought he was still dreaming.
He nudged Ye Ran. “Bro, what are you thinking about? Youâve reached ‘red temperature.'”
Ye Ran reached out and touched his face; it indeed felt a bit hot.
He made up a random excuse. “The sun was beating on me.”
Xu Huiyang glanced out the window. “The sun is that strong? I thought you were mentally playing some R-rated movie.”
Ye Ran: “…”
Ye Ran pulled Xu Huiyang over and showed him Chi Yuhengâs newly changed nickname.
“Look.”
Xu Huiyang squinted at it and asked, puzzled, “What am I looking at?”
Ye Ran tapped the nickname. Xu Huiyang suddenly realized, “Oh~”
“Isn’t this just your brotherâs WeChat?”
After saying that, he paused. “Whatâs wrong with his WeChat?”
Ye Ran: “…He changed his name.”
Ye Ran knew that if he didn’t explain clearly, Xu Huiyang still wouldn’t see it, so he simply spelled it out. “I wanted him to change his name, so he changed ‘C’ to ‘CY.’ What do you think ‘CY’ means?”
Just a moment ago, Ye Ran had convinced himself that “CY” could also be the abbreviation of Chi Yuheng and his own name. Chi Yuheng changing his name meant his progress in the pursuit had moved forward another step.
However, Xu Huiyang pondered those two letters for a few seconds. His just-booted brain thought and thought. “Isn’t that just the abbreviation for Chengyi Group?”
Ye Ran: “…”
That seems plausible too.
Once that possibility arose, the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.
His own romantic theory felt like it had been doused by a bucket of cold waterâchilled to the bone.
Xu Huiyang still hadn’t figured out why Ye Ran was asking this, and was already thinking about what to eat for lunch.
“Are we eating at the cafeteria today?”
Ye Ran gave a muffled “Mm.”
“Then what are we eating?”
The variety of food in the Peking University cafeteria was too rich. If they didn’t decide beforehand, they would suffer from choice paralysis once they arrived.
Ye Ran said without any emotion, “Braised Xu Huiyang.”
Xu Huiyang: “!!!”
He spoke up weakly, “That… might not be very good.”
Ye Ran: “Steamed Xu Huiyang.”
Xu Huiyang: “…”
How did I offend Ye Ran?
Just as class ended, Ye Ranâs phone rang. He looked at the caller ID: [Madam Ming].
He didn’t know what Ming Qingyan wanted with him. After his awakening, Ye Ran no longer clung to those illusory family ties; he didn’t want any further entanglement with the Ye family.
He still remembered what Ming Qingyan had said at the Ye family home during the last birthday banquet. He understood clearly that his only value to the Ye family was that he was still in the Chi family and that Chi Yuheng was good to him.
He didn’t know where Ming Qingyan got the confidence to think that the current him could be brainlessly used by them.
Ye Ran directly hung up the phone. Along the way, he blacklisted Ming Qingyanâs number along with Ye Hualinâs.
Perhaps after spending so much time with Chi Yuheng, Ye Ran had learned not to like dragging things out.
During the second class, Xu Huiyang continued sleeping. By the time he woke up after class, it was basically noon.
The newly awakened Xu Huiyang stretched in the emptied classroom. “Eating my fill at home in the morning so I can sleep at school, and then sleeping my fill in the classroom so I can eat at the cafeteria… I’m simply too happy…”
Ye Ran gave his “good friend” a look of disgust. “Pigs think the same thing.”
Xu Huiyang: “…”
The two left the teaching building to head toward the cafeteria.
Ye Ran suddenly remembered someone else. “What about Second Chi?”
Xu Huiyang waved his hand. “He sent a message saying he ran into Pei Si at the home furnishing center. Someone is treating him to lunch.”
Ye Ran clicked his tongue twice upon hearing that. “The person you want to avoid most is the one you can’t escape.”
Just as he finished speaking, the sight in front of the teaching building made him narrow his eyes.
Ming Qingyan was standing in front of the building wearing a black silk dress. A diamond brooch was pinned to her collar, dazzling under the sun.
Behind her, two bodyguards in black held a massive black umbrella, one on each side, protecting her so thoroughly that not a single ray of sunlight could penetrate. It was the quintessential look of a matriarch of a wealthy family.
Seeing Ye Ran, she immediately suppressed the sharpness in her eyes and replaced it with an extremely gentle smile, waving to him from a distance. “Xiao Ran, come over to Mother. The sun is strong; don’t get burned.”
That posture, that toneâanyone who didn’t know the truth would think this was a picture of mother-son devotion.
Ye Ran didn’t even pause his steps. His gaze was as cold as ice as he walked straight past her, not even giving her a sideways glance.
What kind of mother-son devotion act is this? Madam Ming hasn’t had enough of this routine yet?
Xu Huiyang nudged Ye Ran with his elbow. “Isn’t that your adoptive mother?”
“Adoptive mother?” Ye Ran scoffed. His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried bone-chilling mockery. “Is she worthy?”
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