He had been looking forward to telling Huo Boyan, but once the call connected, he wasn’t sure what to say.
After a long silence, Zhu Ran heard Huo Boyan chuckle lightly. “All done?”
“Yeah.” Zhu Ran nodded and recounted the results, summarizing, “Anyway, that’s the situation for now. Not fully as expected, but better than I thought.”
“Congratulations,” Huo Boyan said. “See? It wasn’t that bad, right?”
Zhu Ran nodded, though not entirely happy. He knew he was being greedy—expecting his mother to immediately accept his sexuality was nearly impossible. But since she stood by him and broke with Zhu Yanqing to protect him, it meant she still loved him, right?
Zhu Ran decided not to think too far ahead. Wanting to cheer himself up, he said to Huo Boyan, “It was good having you. If it were just me, I might not have handled it so cleanly.”
Huo Boyan didn’t take credit. “I just gave advice. You were the one who made the decisive moves.”
Zhu Ran shook his head. “One thing at a time—thanks anyway. If you’re free later, I’ll formally express my gratitude.”
“No need to be polite with me,” Huo Boyan’s gentle voice came through. “But I would like to see you.”
Zhu Ran paused, his face heating up as he inwardly cursed Huo Boyan for not playing fair.
Truth be told, he kind of wanted to see Huo Boyan too.
They had hashed out this plan word by word together, but Huo Boyan hadn’t been part of the execution, and now even the results were shared over the phone. Zhu Ran felt something was missing. This was something they’d accomplished together—he wanted to tell Huo Boyan face-to-face.
But he couldn’t leave now, nor could he ask Huo Boyan to come over; it would be rude to expect that without even thanking him properly.
For a moment, neither spoke. Silence filled the line, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.
After a while, Zhu Ran said, “Then I’ll message you later to set a time. Won’t disturb you anymore. Bye.”
“Not a disturbance,” Huo Boyan laughed. “Zhu Ran, have you forgotten? I’m pursuing you.”
Zhu Ran’s face burned at those words. He was speechless for a long time, stammering complaints at Huo Boyan.
“Alright, I’ll hang up first,” Huo Boyan said mercifully after teasing him. “Get some rest.”
Zhu Ran finally managed an “Mm,” his cheeks still hot. Luckily, it was over the phone—Huo Boyan wouldn’t see him blushing.
After hanging up, Zhu Ran flopped onto the bed and pulled a pillow over his face.
Aaaah! Huo Boyan was such a jerk!
Zhu Ran lay there a while to calm down before getting up to work on his resume.
Breaking with Zhu Yanqing was just the first step. He’d won his mother’s understanding and now needed to take responsibility.
His family wasn’t poor. Classmates from similar backgrounds usually had funds set up by their parents for education and growth. Zhu Ran had no such money; his savings came from photography gigs.
It was enough for his own spending, but adding his heart-diseased mother’s expenses stretched it thin. He hadn’t checked her savings, but her painting and teaching brought little income over the years—not much saved. He didn’t plan to touch it anyway.
He needed to earn money.
Zhu Ran planned to take more photography jobs, but his rates were high, style niche—good reputation, but not broad clientele. With the economy down, people were cautious about shoots.
His photography was self-taught; it had a personal style but limited his vision. He wanted professional training. Grad school was too long and expensive, so he aimed for an internship. After filtering options, he targeted a fashion photography magazine.
Zhu Ran opened his computer and began organizing his portfolio.
Time flew; an hour later, he snapped out of it. There was a message from Huo Boyan, forty minutes old.
[Huo Boyan]: Are you home?
[Zhu Ran]: Just saw it. Yes, what’s up?
A car horn blared outside. Zhu Ran sensed something, rushed to the window, and peeked out. A black sedan was parked under the phoenix tree—identical to the one from three hours ago at the restaurant.
His heart pounded. Not wanting to disturb his resting mother, he tiptoed through the living room. At the door, he ran into the housekeeper returning from grocery shopping and quickly gestured for her to keep quiet.
Wang Ruyun’s guest room was on the third floor, facing the entrance. Not risking it, Zhu Ran circled to the other side of the wall and climbed over.
He hugged the wall to the black sedan, squatted by the passenger side, and tapped the window. Seeing the driver, he grinned widely but whispered, “Huo Boyan, why are you here?”
Huo Boyan held a huge bouquet of fresh-cut roses and turned to him. “I thought about it and decided I should congratulate you in person.”
Zhu Ran was dumbfounded, barely reacting. It wasn’t his first time receiving flowers, but never had they felt so perfect, impossible to refuse.
Huo Boyan opened the passenger door for him. Zhu Ran slid in and took the roses, burying his face in the petals. The rich rose scent filled his nose, evoking the feeling of being in love.
But soon the smile stiffened on his face. Zhu Ran looked up and said somewhat troubled, “But Huo Boyan, I can’t take it back.”
Huo Boyan was stunned for a moment. Realizing he hadn’t handled this well, he bowed slightly and said, “Sorry, I didn’t think of that.”
Zhu Ran shook his head. He returned the flowers to Huo Boyan and added, “But I really like them. Thank you anyway.”
Huo Boyan held the flowers as he sat in the car. Zhu Ran wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but Huo Boyan’s expression seemed a bit lonely and aggrieved.
After hesitating for a while, Zhu Ran plucked a single flower from the large bouquet and secretly tucked it into his pocket.
Huo Boyan found his sneaky manner adorable and said, “Next time I’ll be more low-key when I give you flowers.”
Zhu Ran shook his head, opened the car door, and quickly said, “Huo Boyan, wait for me a second.”
Two minutes later, Zhu Ran came running out, panting for breath, and stuffed a fluffy object into Huo Boyan’s palm.
“I don’t have anything else on me, so take this for now—but it’s not a formal thank-you gift. I’ll properly thank you next time.” Zhu Ran glanced back and said rapidly, “Mom’s coming downstairs. I can’t stay any longer. Huo Boyan, I really like the roses you gave me. Goodbye!”
With that, Zhu Ran tiptoed back and flipped over the wall. What should have been a perfectly normal meeting turned into something like a secret affair.
Only after Zhu Ran’s figure completely vanished from sight did Huo Boyan lower his head to look at his palm. Zhu Ran had given him the Pink Little Pig Keychain.
Huo Boyan poked the little pig’s face, making it wobble back and forth. He seemed to find it amusing and played with it for a while longer before tucking the plush toy into the pocket of his suit jacket and driving away.
Author’s Note: I’ve revised some of the mom’s overly harsh behavior from earlier to leave room for her future changes. Her character was a bit vague before, but it became clear during this choice—she has a strong controlling nature but isn’t so bad that her morals are completely corrupted. She’ll gradually change with her circumstances.
