The Little Sweet Cutie always think that he is a stand-in

“I don’t.” Song Zhi Xu slightly shook his head. 

He knew that Mu Qingting would definitely ask this, but he also knew it very well that Lin Ran and Lin Mu were two completely different people. He would never think of Lin Ran as anyone else.

“Is that really the case?” Mu Qingting narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at Song Zhi Xu. He paused for a moment before he continued, “Zhi Xu, I know you too well. You are too cold as a person. If it wasn’t for the fact that he looks like Lin Mu, how could it be possible that you keep Lin Ran by your side and take care of him personally?” 

Even though he had promised to take care of Lin Ran on behalf of Lin Mu, Song Zhi Xu had a lot of houses in his hands, so he could have just dropped Lin Ran off at one place and found someone to take care of him.

Lin Ran had only been with Song Zhi Xu for two days, but after seeing the interaction between them, Mu Qingting was stunned.

Song Zhi Xu unexpectedly had taken initiative to reach out to touch someone else, moreover it was still someone he had only known for two days.

This was something that definitely could not happen to anybody else. 

Song Zhi Xu lowered his eyes and didn’t answer. He walked to the window and looked down at the courtyard covered by the evening sun, lighting a cigarette and smoking quietly.

He didn’t know how to answer. 

Mu Qingting was right, so he also didn’t know why he had brought Lin Ran straight back home, perhaps because the appearance of Lin Ran who had very cautiously snuggled up to him throughout the journey had softened his heart a little.

Lin Ran would probably be frightened to death if he just left him in the hands of a stranger like this, but he himself was also a stranger to Lin Ran. 

Besides, when has he, Song Zhi Xu, ever been soft-hearted?

Hevhimself felt a little funny when this word was applied to him. 

Mu Qingting waited for a while to see that Song Zhi Xu did not have the slightest intention to speak, so he sighed and muttered in a small voice.

“Still don’t admit it? Others don’t know, but I know, you even secretly went back to school to see Lin Mu after you have graduated. You still want to hide it from me.” 

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Song Zhi Xu was now standing aloft, he could see the parked car in front of the courtyard gate but he just casually found the door card from his desk drawer and threw it to Mu Qingting.

“Open the small door and bring the meal in yourself, so outsiders don’t have to enter.” 

“Huh? There’s a lot of stuff, how am I going to take it myself?” Mu Qingting frowned.

“There’s a meal cart in the kitchen.” Song Zhi Xu ignored him, put out the cigarette in his hand and walked out of the study room first. 

Mu Qingting pouted his mouth and secretly cursed in his heart, “Stingy (mean) man!”, but he could only follow him.

The dusk was gradually getting dark so it was already a little dark in the villa. Lin Ran did not turn on the lights and curled up alone on the sofa, glancing upstairs every now and then. 

Once he saw Song Zhi Xu coming downstairs, his eyes lit up and he immediately trotted to his side and said in a low voice, “Song Zhi Xu has been gone for a long time… Ran Ran didn’t eat chocolate secretly.”

Song Zhi Xu glanced at him, gave a faint “Hn” and asked, “Why didn’t you turn on the light?” 

“I couldn’t find it.” Lin Ran habitually took the corner of the lower hem of Song Zhi Xu’s coat by the hand and blindly followed him to turn on the light, then went into the kitchen again.

Lin Ran knew that just now the two people had just gone upstairs to talk about something, so he couldn’t interrupt, but it was a bit dark downstairs so he was still a bit scared. 

Mu Qingting looked at the two people stuck together again and made a small “Tsk!” sound, resigned himself to his fate and pushed the trolley out of the kitchen and then went to the courtyard gate to get the food.

Song Zhi Xu took out the bowls and chopsticks before he took Lin Ran to wash his hands and waited a while for Mu Qingting to return. 

During the meal, Mu Qingting was shocked to the point that he couldn’t say any words when he saw Lin Ran stuffing his mouth crazily. He swallowed his saliva and looked at Song Zhi Xu, but Song Zhi Xu looked as if he was used to it, and only calmly told Lin Ran.

“There are many dishes today, just eat to your fill so you don’t need to finish it all.” 

Lin Ran nodded obediently, smiled at Song Zhi Xu, then took a piece of pork ribs, picked out the bones and put it into Song Zhi Xu’s bowl.

Song Zhi Xu ate it without refusing. 

Mu Qingting felt as if he had been fed with a meal of dog food, he also picked up his chopsticks and ate quickly in the same way as Lin Ran.

Obviously, he was the one who paid for the food, but he ended up eating as if he was an extra which made him very angry. 

In the end, at the table, there wasn’t much food left, so Lin Ran carefully put the leftovers in the fridge and went to wash the dishes, while Mu Qingting rubbed his stomach, burped, and kicked Song Zhi Xu under the table.

“What’s going on? Why does this Lin Ran look so out of place?” 

He was obviously the little young master, the way he ate and the speed when he cleared the table, completely did not look like a pampered young master.

“Fool, he’s been thrown out by the Lin family since he was a child. He probably had a bad time before.” Song Zhi Xu simply said it. 

However after Mu Qingting heard it, he understood it immediately, plus with what he saw today he probably figured it out as well.

He sighed, “No wonder I didn’t hear that Lin Mu had a younger brother…The little fool is quite miserable.” He looked sideways at Song Zhi Xu, “Even meet you.” 

Song Zhi Xu did not bother to explain to him, stood up and left. The chairs were immediately arranged back by Lin Ran seriously, he just came out of the kitchen after washing the dishes.

“The arrangement is quite good.” Mu Qingting muttered, standing up himself and putting his own chair back to its original position. 

Mu Qingting was also very tired from the flight, so he went back to his bedroom without staying too long downstairs.

Song Zhi Xu still had work to do so he went to his study room. Lin Ran followed him upstairs and was stopped by Song Zhi Xu at the door of his study room. 

“I have work to do, so go back to your room, take a shower and go to sleep!” Song Zhi Xu had just seen Lin Ran yawning, so he had no intention of letting him into the study.

Children still had to go to bed early, not to mention that Lin Ran was already up so early in the morning. 

Lin Ran looked at Song Zhi Xu helplessly for a moment, then nodded lightly and took a step back.

“Okay, good night Song Zhi Xu, Ran Ran leave first.” 

Song Zhi Xu stood at the door of his study room, watching Lin Ran turn his head toward him everytime he took a step and only entered the study after Lin Ran had returned to his room and closed the door.

The way the little fool didn’t want to leave just now was indeed quite pitiful. 

However, Song Zhi Xu still felt that he should keep his distance from Lin Ran, who had only been placed at his place temporarily and would probably be picked up in no time.

There was no need for the two of them to get involved with each other too much. 

On the other hand, Lin Ran went back to his room, listened to Song Zhi Xu’s words, took a shower, changed into comfortable pajamas, and lay down on his bed with his head full of dripping wet hair.

He took out the photo from his backpack bag and whispered to the “person” in the photo for a while, before putting the photos away and falling asleep. 

He woke up in the middle of the night with a pain in his stomach and after rubbing himself on the bed for a while, he still felt very uncomfortable.

He threw up in the toilet for a long time, threw up again and again until he had little energy left, before crawling back into his bed and falling asleep again. 

Translator’s Note:

Dog food is internet slang for public display of affection, if you don’t know or new readers of Danmei.