Chapter 11 Part 1

Huo Boyan put down his phone and walked away. Zhu Ran grabbed his suitcase and chased after him, but in his haste, he dropped the phone on top of it. By the time he picked it up again, Huo Boyan had already vanished into the crowd.

To think that on the plane, Zhu Ran had believed they’d opened up to each other a bit, forming something like a friendship.

But now, Zhu Ran felt it was all for nothing. He really didn’t like people like Huo Boyan after all!

Huo Boyan must have pegged him as a gold digger, which was why his attitude was so casual.

Casually spouting all sorts of nonsense, touching him out of nowhere, and now trying to brush him off with a phone!

And what if he thought Zhu Ran had dropped the phone on purpose at the airport?

The more Zhu Ran thought about it, the more likely it seemed. After all, Huo Boyan’s goal from the start had been to keep him away from Huo Junlin. He’d never claimed they were friends. It was just that Huo Boyan was so well-mannered, treating him with the care one might show a younger sibling these past few days, which had led Zhu Ran to misunderstand their relationship.

Realizing this, Zhu Ran suddenly felt angry and inwardly cursed Huo Boyan out thoroughly.

After tearing him down like that, though, he felt he’d gone a bit overboard. There was no need to get so worked up over a stranger. He could just chalk it up to Huo Boyan doing a random act of kindness.

In the past, when Zhu Ran received inexplicable gifts like this, he’d proudly return them to prove he wasn’t after money.

But now that he had some savings of his own, he didn’t sweat it anymore. He knew what he was about. It was just a phone worth over ten thousand yuan—he could accept the gift. If worst came to worst, he’d return the favor some other time.

With that sorted, Zhu Ran stopped dwelling on it. He pulled out his SIM card, inserted it into the new phone, and called his aunt.

Wang Zhuoying listened, then said disapprovingly, “If it’s your friend, just stay at the house together. Why book a hotel outside? It’s so formal.”

Zhu Ran replied, “Thanks, Aunt, but my friend is shy. He really doesn’t dare meet strangers.”

“Oh, I see. I was going to invite you both for dinner, but forget it then. I’ll book some restaurants for you.” Wang Zhuoying added, “How do you plan to have fun? Want me to arrange a driver?”

It was Zhu Ran’s own friend, so he felt bad imposing on his elder. He turned down the restaurants and car, saying they’d manage on their own.

Wang Zhuoying didn’t push, just reminded him to call if anything came up, or reach out to his older cousins.

Zhu Ran hadn’t felt such warm concern in a long time. His heart warmed, and he nodded. “I will. Thanks, Aunt.”

Wang Zhuoying added, “I’ll tell your mom the same.”

The word “mom” caught him off guard, and Zhu Ran fell silent for several seconds before murmuring, “Okay… thanks for the trouble, Aunt.”

After hanging up, Zhu Ran powered off his old SIM, bought a local one nearby, and slotted it in. Then he boarded the last MTR train and messaged Song Xingchen on QQ.

[Zhu Ran]: When are you coming to Hong Kong Island?

[Song Xingchen]: Haven’t decided. What’s up, you finally done messing around and coming back?

[Zhu Ran]: Heading out now. I’ll buy you a ticket.

[Song Xingchen]: Tempting, but I’ll pass. You know how expensive it is to cab to Daxing in the middle of the night?

[Zhu Ran]: I’ll cover the cab fare and book you hotels the whole trip.

[Song Xingchen]: ???

Song Xingchen did a carp flip out of bed and started packing. Zhu Ran opened a booking app, browsed for a while, and ended up buying a noon flight the next day—claiming it was to prevent Song Xingchen from keeling over.

Zhu Ran checked into a hotel alone for the night. In the middle of the night, he dreamed of his mom standing at his bedside, jolting awake. After that, he couldn’t fall back asleep.

Exhausted from two straight days of poor rest, Zhu Ran arrived at the airport that afternoon in a daze. Song Xingchen barreled over, hugged him, and shoved a box into his hands before he snapped out of it.

“What’s this?” Zhu Ran stared at the stainless steel lunchbox in his palm, slow on the uptake.

“Sauce beef made by my mom!” Song Xingchen popped the lid, revealing neatly stacked slices of beef. “She heard I was coming to hang out with you and got up early to make it. It hasn’t marinated overnight, so it might be a bit light on flavor. Give it a try.”

Before Zhu Ran could move, Song Xingchen stuffed a big piece into his mouth and ate one himself. “Yeah, a little bland.”

Zhu Ran said, “It’s delicious.”

“Then eat more and get some protein.” Song Xingchen dumped the whole container into Zhu Ran’s arms.

Zhu Ran clutched the lunchbox all the way back to the hotel. Song Xingchen had only a backpack—no luggage to unpack. He flopped straight onto the bed, played on his phone, and asked, “What’s good to eat around here?”

Zhu Ran paused for a moment before saying he didn’t know.

Song Xingchen scoured the internet, fired off a bunch of links, and asked, “These all have high ratings. Anything catch your eye?”

Zhu Ran was fine with anything, so Song Xingchen decided on a fancy restaurant nearby with a Victoria Harbour night view.

Eyeing the per-person prices, Zhu Ran looked up in surprise. “This pricey? You hit the jackpot?”

“Modest family wealth,” Song Xingchen waggled his phone with a smug grin. “When they heard I was heading out, my mom and dad, paternal grandparents, and maternal grandparents all sent red envelopes. I’m a little rich kid now—dinner’s on me.”