Chapter 33: The Lesson Part 3

A single sofa, ergonomic chair, desk, teacup, potted plants… A few months ago, Hua Xue Fan had been tasked with ordering a dozen plants at once.

She’d personally scouted spots for them. When she came upstairs and pushed open the door, she was still hit in the face by lush greens and vibrant blooms.

Now, two double sofas were merged, backs folded down to form a makeshift soft bed that looked quite comfortable. In front was a coffee table almost as large, with pen caps and a few uncapped oil pens at the corner.

Li Ran’s lower half sprawled on the soft bed, upper half on the coffee table—this was the most comfortable homework position he’d found so far.

“…Such a unique pose?” Hua Xue Fan couldn’t help asking.

Li Ran felt too embarrassed to explain why his pose was unique and just smiled at her.

Hua Xue Fan clutched her chest at his smile.

How was there such an obedient kid?

“Out if nothing.” Chi Mo said.

“There is, boss.” Hua Xue Fan strode in seriously on her stilettos, clicking away, and professionally said, “You mentioned issues at dinner with the partners yesterday—they’ve all been addressed. Here’s the revised contract.”

“Put it here for now.”

“Got it.” Hua Xue Fan left without lingering.

Two seconds later, Li Ran’s phone vibrated.

Li Ran guessed it was Hua Xue Fan. Sis was super gossipy.

His body was angled toward Chi Mo, so everything was obvious.

He sneaked a peek at Chi Mo—his brother wasn’t looking this way. Li Ran pretended nothing was happening as he reached for the phone at the table corner, turning slightly to check the message.

Acting sneaky.

Anything to avoid homework was pleasurable.

Hua Xue Fan: [Little brother]

Hua Xue Fan: [You feeling unwell?]

Li Ran, tight-lipped: [Nope.]

Li Ran, stubborn: [Just testing if this pose lets me write faster.]

Hua Xue Fan: [Why not do homework at home? Come to the company to suffer?]

Li Ran sighed: [Bro won’t let me.]

Li Ran: [He says he only feels at ease with me under his nose.]

The rumor that Chi Mo had a blood brother had long been corrected at the company—Li Ran and Chi Mo weren’t blood related.

But no one knew why Chi Mo was so meticulously caring toward Li Ran.

Hua Xue Fan felt even more free to ship them.

“Li Ran.” Chi Mo tapped the desk lightly with a knuckle, head still down.

Li Ran’s typing hand jerked guiltily as he turned off the phone: “Yeah?”

“Bring it here.” Chi Mo said.

“…”

After the phone was confiscated, Li Ran wrote furiously, finishing all the mock exams the teachers assigned, plus two more sets that Chi Mo had personally compiled based on their textbooks.

Very targeted.

As he did them, Li Ran marveled at how amazing his brother was.

When the subject teachers reviewed the papers, they were no longer surprised that Li Ran always completed his homework perfectly and asked who his tutor was.

Li Ran replied: “My guardian.”

“Nicely done. My heart is greatly comforted.” Class wasn’t in session, but Ban Wei patrolled regardless of the students’ plights. He snatched Li Ran’s papers, flipped through them, and quoted a line from their Chinese teacher.

Back then, one perfect summer homework set had made Li Ran the class “traitor enemy.” After the uproar, everyone cooled off as usual—bear kids couldn’t be taught, rotten mud couldn’t stick to walls. Even Ban Wei, the bear of a teacher, smugly thought Li Ran wouldn’t last long, his enthusiasm fading quickly as he clocked in for the daily wage.

Teachers only buckled down when they saw hope. High School Class 3-10’s bunch… they’d infuriate teachers to their graves, and they probably didn’t even know why teachers got mad.

No one took studying seriously, no one took college seriously.

With the internet so advanced and influencers popping up everywhere, “I don’t need school—I can be an influencer and make money” had become a viral saying. Immature kids were influenced directly or indirectly. When Ban Wei overheard them, he felt no emotional fluctuation, only more resolved to slack off.

Qi Zhi was a genius, a child prodigy. He hadn’t chosen to take the college exam early with the seniors in his first two high school years just because he wanted more time in school.

He hadn’t had enough fun yet.

Ask him what he wanted to do later, and he was a clueless hothead with no goals.

Unexpectedly, in senior year, out popped Li Ran. The idiot Li Ran, who slacked harder than Ban Wei, stepped onto the path of learning—more heart-stirring than Qi Zhi, the perennial top scorer genius.

After the first monthly exam, the entire High School Class 3-10’s teachers and students realized Li Ran’s rise, their hearts surging. He ignited Ban Wei’s sense of responsibility, the students’ drive to learn. Over two months, Class 3-10 became the most studious in the whole high school.

It was like seeing a ghost.

In the midterms, Li Ran scored an intriguing total.

520.

“Holy shit! A’Dai’s badass! Little Prince is badass!” Once deemed the “traitor,” Li Ran was now the class’s study role model. Cheers layered and rose higher and higher.

Zhang Si shouted the loudest: “Damn it, I’m going to study hard! No one can stop my passion for learning! Zhang Youde, from now on, we have to supervise each other!!”

Although their class ranked at the bottom academically, everyone had a good heart. Before high school, Li Ran had heard that bullying was most common in high school, especially for honest people like him, who were the easiest targets.

Li Ran had never imagined how he would fight back if bullied—it wasn’t in his nature. All he could do was endure it silently; he didn’t even dare to think about retaliating.

When classmates first saw Li Ran, they were fooled by his face and thought he must be very shrewd and not easy to mess with. But after spending time together, they realized Li Ran was a fool who wouldn’t talk back when cursed at or fight back when hit.

If students from other classes came to tease Li Ran, his classmates would all chime in and say they weren’t allowed to bully High School Class 3-10’s mascot.

Li Ran let his voice rise above the cheers and boldly declared, “Those who don’t get it, come ask me!”

The former idiot—possibly still an idiot— was now much smarter than the other 58 idiots in the class besides Qi Zhi, and he even dared to tutor everyone.

Only one person didn’t join the celebration.

Qi Zhi stared at the total score on Li Ran’s report card, feeling a bit dazed. It had been many days since he last took Li Ran to the Qing Bar. After a weekend apart, Li Ran had been disciplined by an enraged Chi Mo, but when he returned to class and saw Qi Zhi, he wasn’t angry with him.

He just wasn’t as close to Qi Zhi anymore.

He wouldn’t let Qi Zhi hug him, hold him, or even touch his hair.

Li Ran cut off all physical contact—no exceptions, not even for jokes. It wasn’t discrimination against bisexuals or gays—if it were, he would have done it earlier. He simply didn’t want to.

Qi Zhi might not have had bad intentions, but Li Ran felt uncomfortable.

Chi Mo had told him to speak up if he felt uncomfortable or unhappy, and even if he didn’t say it outright, he had to express it.

In the past, when Li Ran needed to go to the bathroom, he would poke Qi Zhi’s shoulder and ask him to move the bench forward a bit. Qi Zhi never moved on his own, even if he noticed—he always waited for the poke.

Now, Li Ran didn’t poke him. He pursed his lips and stared Qi Zhi down. If Qi Zhi still didn’t move, Li Ran would say slowly, “I think I have better eyesight than you. How about I sit on the outside? That way, when you need to go to the bathroom, you won’t even have to say anything—I’ll move right away.”

After that, Qi Zhi never blocked him on purpose again.

Qi Zhi had never thought of actively teaching Li Ran to study well because he felt it was fine for Li Ran to stay dumb like that.

So cute.

On the surface, Qi Zhi respected Li Ran—if he didn’t want to learn, then he wouldn’t. In reality, he just didn’t want to teach him.

This kind of “respect” could last at most three years, but in exchange, Li Ran might end up living humbly for the rest of his life. Academic qualifications and culture weren’t everything—many company bosses only had junior high diplomas but became billionaires through brains and opportunities. Such inspirational stories happened every year.

But that person would never be Li Ran.

He lived in his own humble “ivory tower” world and didn’t dare to step out. Once he left the shelter of school as a minor, the adult Li Ran would be even softer, letting others manipulate him at will.

Now, Li Ran had stepped out.

He didn’t just walk—he ran.

Li Ran dashed downstairs, leaving the nine o’clock night behind him as he raced to the school gate. The black car waiting for him flashed its lights, the high beams piercing forward like a straight path to Rome.

“Bro! 520, 520—I got 520 this time!” Li Ran jumped into the passenger seat and held the report card up for Chi Mo to see, his expression and tone like he was presenting a treasure.

He leaned over the center console, his eyes sparkling as if they had gathered all the streetlights they had passed, shining brightly. He looked at Chi Mo expectantly, seeking praise.

Chi Mo said, “Ranran is awesome.”

Li Ran smiled shyly.

“I’ll tell you something.” Chi Mo looked at the report card. The number 520 was somehow enticing.

It made him inexplicably want his heart to race and his mouth to move quickly.

Li Ran asked, “What?”

“My little uncle came over today. He and his partner are probably at home now.” Chi Mo flipped the report card over and over in his mind’s eye and said, “My little uncle is a decent guy. You don’t need to feel nervous.”

He often heard Cheng Ai Mei curse “old pervert” about him, which didn’t sound decent at all—his little uncle must be pretty fierce.

Li Ran gripped the seatbelt, already nervous. “Oh, okay.”

He stared straight ahead, hypnotizing himself: “I’m not nervous, I’m not nervous…”

Chi Mo smiled and said, “I’ll tell you three secrets.”

Li Ran was hooked. “What?”

“My little uncle is gay.” Chi Mo said amid Li Ran’s suddenly widened eyes of surprise, “My ‘little aunt’ is a man. They’ve been together for almost 20 years.”

“…!”

Other people’s family matters… Being gay wasn’t rare, but Li Ran’s eyes widened before he quickly narrowed them again, not wanting to seem too weird.

He responded a beat late: “…Oh.”

Chi Mo said, “I’m gay.”

Li Ran shouted a beat early: “Ah?!”

Chi Mo: “I love you.”

Tonight’s three secrets were all laid bare to Li Ran by Chi Mo, without holding back.