After the Young Master’s Death, He was Kissed by His Mortal Enemy! (BL) - Chapter 31

The more touched Shen Ran felt, the more guilty he became. So, without thinking, he suddenly blurted out:

“Cheng Yi.”

“Mm?”

“Why are you so good to me?”

The moment the question left his lips, Shen Ran immediately regretted it.

He was a little afraid that Cheng Yi might say, “Because I like you.”

He already understood Cheng Yi’s feelings, and he was pretty sure his own feelings were starting to mirror them.

But now just wasn’t the right time to talk about that.

He was no longer the young master of the Shen family—he had nothing. His future was uncertain, and he himself was still in a daze.

And Cheng Yi… his situation probably wasn’t much better.

As long as Cheng Yi remained the so-called “illegitimate son of the Cheng family,” he likely wouldn’t be able to truly feel at peace either.

Cheng Yi seemed to fall silent. His Adam’s apple bobbed slightly as he swallowed. His expression was unusually serious, without his usual teasing tone.

Shen Ran started to feel nervous.

No way… he’s not actually going to say it, right…?

“Shen Ran, there’s a reason for everything… I have feelings for you.”

Shen Ran was so nervous he couldn’t even form a full sentence. His face grew hotter and hotter.

“Y-you… I-I… this-this-this…”

Cheng Yi looked at him, a strange emotion stirring in his eyes. His voice was low and resonant, striking straight into Shen Ran’s heart.

“—Since you called me ‘Dad,’ I’ll love you like my own son.”

“……”

Shen Ran desperately wanted to pull out a meme image: Yiyang Qianxi closing his eyes and firing a cannon.jpg.

Seeing the speechless expression on Shen Ran’s face, Cheng Yi finally couldn’t hold back his laughter. He covered the corners of his mouth with a hand, trying to hide his grin.

“Pfft… You really believed that? Boss Shen, you’ve got to learn to be more skeptical of the world. But seriously, I will love you—no need to worry about that.”

Shen Ran huffed and replied with exaggerated emphasis, “And I’ll love you too—Dad. Dad!”

For some reason, Shen Ran felt that Cheng Yi hadn’t originally intended to make a joke out of it.

The seriousness in his tone, the sincerity in his expression—it hadn’t seemed fake.

But in the end, Cheng Yi didn’t pierce the veil between them. Maybe he changed his mind at the last minute, or maybe he simply felt the timing wasn’t right.

So he cloaked his truth in a joke, using the lightest, most casual tone to say, “I love you.”

Shen Ran turned to stare out the window, saying nothing more.

Was Cheng Yi trying to express his true feelings through a joke?

If that was the case… then surely he would also understand the meaning behind Shen Ran’s sarcastic, teeth-gritted “Dad,” wouldn’t he?

Playing guessing games and wordplay with a clever person… it was more exhausting than he’d ever imagined.

Shen Ran thought he and Cheng Yi still had a long, back-and-forth journey ahead of them.

Little did he know, their true “cohabitation” would begin that very night.

Their brief exchange and banter had only been a short interlude.

What gave Shen Ran a bit of relief was that, all the way home, he didn’t see that big-eyed little boy again.

But once the car grew quiet, Shen Ran couldn’t help but start thinking about his past—about the abuse he had suffered, about Ai Ziqing.

And then, his mood would plummet. He couldn’t summon up any energy.

Before leaving, he had added Ai Ziqing’s contact.

He scrolled through Ai Ziqing’s Moments feed. Ai Ziqing often posted photos of the children at the orphanage, always looking like the gentle, dependable head caretaker. Rarely did he post anything about personal leisure.

Thinking about how Ai Ziqing had been Director Ai for so many years, staying behind in F City for the children’s sake, barely leaving at all—Shen Ran felt a heavy ache in his heart.

And remembering the way Ai Ziqing had suddenly gone cold and ignored Luo Mu when they met… Shen Ran felt even worse.

Through the rearview mirror, he saw that Luo Mu’s black Maybach was still trailing them. It hadn’t stopped at Qingshan Orphanage—it was following them all the way back to K City.

Shen Ran had left too early. In his childhood memories, he, Ai Ziqing, and Luo Mu were practically inseparable—as close as family could be.

He hadn’t interacted much with Luo Mu back then, mostly because Luo Mu wasn’t the talkative type to begin with.

Shen Ran had no idea what had happened later… that caused Ai Ziqing to treat Luo Mu with such coldness now.

Shen Ran could clearly sense that something wasn’t right between the two—there was definitely tension.

“Cheng Yi, do you think Luo… um, President Luo, had a fight with Brother Xiao Ai?”

Shen Ran genuinely didn’t know what to call Luo Mu.

As a child, he’d constantly called Ai Ziqing “Brother Xiao Ai,” but with Luo Mu… he’d never really had a specific name for him.

Maybe he had called him “Brother Luo Mu” a few times, but now, looking at that cold-as-ice face of Luo Mu’s, there was no way he could bring himself to say “brother” out loud…

“I was only a business partner with Luo Mu,” Cheng Yi replied while keeping his eyes on the road. “I don’t know much about him—probably less than you do.”

“Besides, before today, I didn’t even know he had any connection to you or Ai Ziqing.”

Shen Ran nodded, falling silent. He kept scrolling through Ai Ziqing’s social media feed.

There wasn’t a single post mentioning Luo Mu in all of Ai Ziqing’s recent updates.

Shen Ran made a silent promise to himself: the next time he saw either Ai Ziqing or Luo Mu, he’d ask them what really happened between them.

If possible—and that was a big if—he still wanted everyone to be together, like a family.

To him, Ai Ziqing was family, and of course, Luo Mu was too.

“We’re here. Time to get out.”

If Cheng Yi hadn’t said something, Shen Ran wouldn’t even have noticed that they’d arrived home.

They had left in the morning, and now it was already past 1 a.m.

After getting out of the car, Shen Ran walked around to Cheng Yi’s side and opened the car door for him.

“…Aren’t you tired?” Shen Ran asked. “Hungry? Want something to eat? I can go buy you a late-night snack.”

There was clear fatigue on Cheng Yi’s face, but hearing Shen Ran’s concern, he couldn’t help but smile.

Cheng Yi stepped out of the car and reached over to ruffle Shen Ran’s hair into a complete mess. “I’m fine. I ate plenty at the orphanage. Let’s get some rest. It’s a workday today—we’ll both be busy when we wake up.”

That’s right. Neither of them were kids anymore. When the sun rose, they each had their own responsibilities to face.

When the mood hit him, Shen Ran became especially quiet if there wasn’t anything to say.

He walked behind Cheng Yi with his head lowered, followed him into the elevator, through the door, and around the corner.

Until—Cheng Yi suddenly stopped.

Shen Ran, caught off guard, walked straight into Cheng Yi’s back with a bump.

He rubbed his forehead and blinked. “…Huh?”

“Shen Ran, you’ve followed me all the way to my bedroom door.”

Cheng Yi’s tone was laced with amusement and a trace of mischief.

“Should I take this to mean… you want to sleep with me?”

Shen Ran snapped out of it and realized they were, indeed, standing right outside Cheng Yi’s bedroom.

And Cheng Yi—this completely unreadable guy—was already undoing the buttons of his shirt!

One, two, three buttons undone. A smile with hidden meaning played on his lips. And that effortless one-handed unbuttoning… Shen Ran couldn’t tear his eyes away.

He admitted he had been deep in thought just now, his heart heavy.

He also had to admit—watching this unfold in front of him had temporarily pushed all those thoughts straight out of his mind.

In the middle of the night… what even was this situation?!