Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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After Luo Zhan came out of the trunk, he seemed to be holding something in very hard. He half-leaned on the rear cover of the car, his slender, cold white knuckles clasped tightly.
“Luo Luo?” Tang Ran, who didn’t hear much noise, asked worriedly, “Are you okay?”
“…It’s okay.” Luo Zhan responded hoarsely, then laughed casually, “I feel a little exhausted after staying in there for too long. It’s cold outside. You guys go in first.”
“Really, everything is fine?”
“Um.”
Tang Ran nodded hesitantly: “Then you should come in soon too.”
“Good.”
Duan Qingyan accompanied Tang Ran into the side house, leaving the door open a crack.
Turning away from Tang Ran, the smile on Luo Zhan’s face faded. When the figure in his eyes disappeared in the entrance, he frowned slightly and lowered his head.
The suppressed breathing rhythm was released, and the young man’s chest, wrapped in a white shirt under his open coat, rose and fell slightly. Luo Zhan closed his eyes, and the fragmented images in his memory collided in his mind.
When Luo Zhan slowly calmed his breathing and opened his eyes again, he saw the tips of a pair of leather shoes stop in his field of vision before he stood up.
“What’s wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell?” Lan Jingqian’s voice came from above his head.
“…” Luo Zhan took a deep breath and slowly straightened up. Before their gazes even met, he already had a lazy smile on his face, “I’m just not used to it, it’s okay. The first time is new, the second time is familiar, I should be used to it next time.”
Lan Jingqian didn’t say anything and stared at him for two seconds: “Your expression doesn’t look as simple as discomfort.”
Luo Zhan’s smile faded.
After a moment, he sighed and lowered his eyes listlessly: “Boss Lan, in the adult world, shouldn’t we have the principle of not exposing others’ secrets?”
“Really? I haven’t heard of it.”
Luo Zhan sighed again: “Thank you, Mr. Lan, for your concern.”
“Don’t avoid the topic. What happened?” Lan Jingqian paused. “I don’t want you to get into trouble because you got into my trunk once. Not to mention whether your old man will let me go, I won’t be able to get past Xiao Ran either.”
Luo Zhan raised his eyes.
The air was silent for a few seconds.
Luo Zhan could tell from Lan Jingqian’s expression that he was determined to get to the bottom of the matter. He felt helpless. He raised his hand and rubbed his neck. Then Luo Zhan said casually, “I’ve lost my memory before.”
“……?” The sudden answer made Lan Jingqian lose his mind, “Amnesia?”
“Well, self-protective amnesia.”
“When did it happen?”
“It was many years ago, ” Luo Zhan said vaguely, “I just remembered some of it this year. I think I was kidnapped. I don’t remember most of the process, but I am able to remember bits and pieces recently.”
Lan Jingqian didn’t forget where their conversation started, and he subconsciously looked towards the trunk. After his eyes rested on the cold metal lid for a few seconds, Lan Jingqian seemed to understand something.
He frowned. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know that happened to you.”
Luo Zhan had completely returned to his normal state at this time, with his hands in his coat pockets. Hearing Lan Jingqian’s words, he curled the corners of his mouth and smiled lazily: “What’s there to be sorry about.”
Luo Zhan took long steps and walked towards the side house: “Don’t mention you. Before I went in, I didn’t know I had this kind of shadow – and thanks to it, I might be able to remember everything about that incident.”
Lan Jingqian turned around and walked beside Luo Zhan: “Since it is a self-protective amnesia, then don’t force yourself to recall it. Some things are better forgotten than remembered.”
“No.” Luo Zhan didn’t even think about it, “I must remember it.”
Lan Jingqian frowned and looked at him in confusion: “Even if the process is painful?”
Luo Zhan recalled the feeling just now, lowered his eyes and smiled faintly: “It is indeed a bit painful.”
“…”
“But no matter how painful it is, I will definitely remember everything.” Luo Zhan raised his eyes, and the casualness in his eyes concealed an extremely serious emotion.
Lan Jingqian frowned: “Why do you have to remember it?”
Luo Zhan stopped.
After a moment, he lowered his eyes and laughed in a low voice: “People who are guilty can’t forget how they are guilty.”
“?”
Lan Jingqian turned his head unexpectedly.
However, Luo Zhan had already started walking again and walked past him.
Lan Jingqian had obviously made plans for New Year’s Eve.
The home theater that had been placed in the living room was turned on, the volume was turned up high, and every program of the Spring Festival Gala was played to the ears.
Although Tang Ran couldn’t see the screen, some of the skits and conversations still made Tang Ran and Duan Qingyan, who were sitting together on the sofa, laugh.
At first, Duan Qingyan looked at Luo Zhan from time to time, then at Lan Jingqian. When she thought of the background and identities of these two big men who were spending the New Year’s Eve with her, she couldn’t help but shiver a little.
But as time went by, Duan Qingyan gradually relaxed. Before long, she had completely gotten used to the atmosphere in the side house, and she was absorbed in talking about the show and joking with Tang Ran.
On the other side of the room.
Luo Zhan and Lan Jingqian sat at the square table in the corner of the living room.
Luo Zhan was the first to break the silence between the two: “It’s rare, why isn’t Mr. Lan guarding against me like a thief tonight?”
Lan Jingqian glanced at him and said, “Do you also know that you are a thief?”
Luo Zhan lazily supported his cheekbones, his eyes fixed in the direction of the sofa. Hearing this, he just smiled silently: “I never admitted it. What did I steal from Mr. Lan?”
Lan Jingqian ignored this trap: “Today is a special day, I won’t bother with you.”
“…How generous.” Luo Zhan turned back and sighed softly, “If I had known that stories like childhood kidnapping would be so effective, should I have told you, my uncle, earlier?”
“.”
Lan Jingqian’s hand holding the teacup stopped in mid-air.
After writing the word “忍[1]” stroke by stroke in his heart, Lan Jingqian changed the subject: “Did you talk to the old man in your family tonight?”
“Um.”
“Does he agree with your approach?”
“Um.”
Lan Jingqian was a little surprised: “So easy? That would be a choice that would cause great damage to the Luo family’s reputation and his personal reputation.”
“I said I would give a reasonable explanation.”
Lan Jingqian frowned: “But you didn’t say what the explanation was.”
“…” Luo Zhan raised his eyelids, his dark pupils fixed for two seconds, and then drooped again. He leaned back in his chair and yawned lazily, “This level is considered a secret of the Luo family and cannot be told.”
Lan Jingqian looked at him expressionlessly.
Luo Zhan pretended not to see it.
Just when the atmosphere between the two of them was about to return to normal, Tang Ran’s voice came from the direction of the sofa in the living room: “Uncle, aren’t you coming to watch the show?”
“Coming.” Lan Jingqian’s eyes softened immediately when he heard Tang Ran’s voice.
He didn’t even bother to look at Luo Zhan again, he just stood up and walked over.
The two had known each other for two or three years, and Luo Zhan had long been accustomed to joking with him. The subtle changes in their relationship had not been able to completely change him.
So when he saw Lan Jingqian walk out in response, Luo Zhan lazily propped up his cheekbones and sneered in a voice that only the two of them could hear: “Daughter slave.”
Lan Jingqian: “…”
Before Lan Jingqian could “retaliate”, the little girl next to the sofa spoke again: “Luo Luo, what are you doing? Come and see together, okay?”
“….”
Luo Zhan then met Lan Jingqian’s gaze.
Silence.
After Tang Ran called “Luo Luo” again, Young Master Luo threw away his face without much thought and arrived next to the girl at a speed several steps faster than Lan Jingqian.
The temperature of Lan Jingqian’s eyes when he sat down was just enough to freeze a hole in someone’s body.
As soon as Lan Jingqian and Luo Zhan came over, Duan Qingyan immediately closed her mouth nervously.
The TV was broadcasting a segment. Apart from the host’s voice, there was an awkward silence for a few seconds. Tang Ran turned towards the direction where the two people were sitting down and took the initiative to speak: “Uncle, what were you talking about just now?”
Lan Jingqian paused: “Nothing, just chatting.”
Tang Ran hesitated and remained silent.
Luo Zhan leaned back on the sofa and joked in a lazy voice: “Some people are born not to lie.”
Lan Jingqian looked over.
Tang Ran hesitated for a moment, blushing as she tried to make excuses for Lan Jingqian: “I’m like that too…”
“Well, you two are very similar in this respect,” Luo Zhan said.
“…”
As soon as these words were spoken, the old father, whose eyes had been icy a second ago, suddenly became warm and cheerful.
Tang Ran naturally couldn’t see Lan Jingqian’s mood changes. So, she asked curiously, “So what were you talking about just now?”
“We were talking about your eye surgery.” Luo Zhan’s smile faded and his shoulders and back tensed slightly.
Tang Ran was stunned for a moment, then lowered her eyes and smiled: “Have we not waited for the cornea donation yet?”
“Be prepared in advance, be prepared.”
“But even if I wait for that.” Tang Ran lowered her voice, “My father… Tang Shixin might not sign.”
Luo Zhan was silent.
He glanced sideways to his side, and sure enough, he saw that Lan Jingqian, who was sitting next to him, had a rare gloomy expression on his face, and his hands hanging by his sides were clenched.
Luo Zhan withdrew his gaze.
After thinking for a few seconds, he stood up and walked to Tang Ran before sitting down.
Facing the death gaze from Lan Jingqian who had just come back to his senses, Luo Zhan raised his hand without blushing or beating his heart, half-hugged the little girl’s shoulders, and gently touched her head.
“Don’t be depressed.”
“…” Tang Ran raised her face which had unconsciously drooped, and forced a smile, “I didn’t, it’s just…”
“I’ll solve it for you.” Luo Zhan said in a low voice.
Duan Qingyan on the other side looked over in surprise.
And just like the gentleness that sounded like an auditory hallucination appeared in the voice she heard, the handsome and elegant young man sat next to Tang Ran, looking at the blind girl, comforted and repeated his words over and over again without getting tired of it.
“Everything our Ran Ran wants will come true. The wishing well can do anything for you.”
Tang Ran hesitated: “Is this also okay?”
“Yes.”
“…”
Seeing that the “thief” had “stolen” his daughter from right under his nose, Lan Jingqian, who had come to his senses, could no longer tolerate it.
He stood up, his eyes stern.
Just a second before Lan Jingqian opened his mouth, his cell phone suddenly rang.
Lan Jingqian seemed stunned.
Luo Zhan looked over and smiled faintly: “It will be annoying if you don’t mute the ringtone during the New Year.”
“…This is a special reminder.” Lan Jingqian’s expression became complicated, and his voice even became a little hoarse.
“What special reminder?”
“…”
Lan Jingqian didn’t seem to want to bother to explain any more. He quickly took out his phone and looked down to check. After confirming the message three times, Lan Jingqian slowly clenched his fist.
Seeing through Lan Jingqian’s emotional ups and downs, Luo Zhan’s smile faded, and his eyes became more serious: “What happened?”
Tang Ran turned around nervously: “Uncle?”
“Nothing happened. It’s good news.”
Lan Jingqian’s last tone trembled slightly and he looked up.
“The cornea donation Xiao Ran has been waiting for…is here.”
“——!”
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[1] Lit. means tolerate.