Chapter 97 – Tight Defense

Chapter 97 - Tight Defense

The child in the photograph was approximately three or four years old, wearing a creamy-yellow knitted sweater on top.

Below, they had on a blue denim overalls with straps.

The straps were a bit loose and had slipped off the child's shoulders, hanging loosely around their elbows.

What caught the most attention were the child's eyes.

With shiny black irises, when looking up at the camera, they resembled a well-behaved little puppy.

It tugged at one's heartstrings with affection.

If... one could overlook the wriggling earthworms clutched in the child's dark, sooty hands.

Ji Min was somewhat surprised, staring at the photo in his hand for quite some time.

He then looked up at the teenager sitting on the bed.

By now, Lu Ran had already leaped off the bed barefoot and was bending down to pick up the photographs from the floor.

Seeing that Ji Min had them, he wasn't in a hurry anymore.

He just scratched his cheek uneasily and grumbled, "Why did you suddenly come in?"

"Who asked you not to close the door?"

Ji Min casually replied, still engrossed in the photos he held, seemingly quite fond of them.

Lu Ran waited for a moment before extending his hand to prompt him again. "Why haven't you finished looking?"

Ji Min's gaze wandered between the photograph and the young man's face.

He lingered particularly long on those pair of eyes.

"How did you find this picture of me when I was little?" he asked.

Lu Ran reached out to retrieve the photo from his hand, then turned around and jumped back onto the bed.

There was a touch of unease on his face, a characteristic sentiment one might exhibit when encountering childhood photos as a young adult.

Yet, it was intertwined with a hint of confusion and bewilderment.

He rummaged through the stack of photographs on the bed and selected another one.

Gazing at the image of the soft, fair child, he then held the photo beside his face, looking somewhat incredulous as he asked Ji Min,

"Boss, is this really me when I was young?"

Ji Min couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

He maneuvered his wheelchair to the bedside of the young man, countering with the question, "Who else could it be but you?"

Lu Ran retracted the photo and glanced down at it again, muttering, "I thought it was Shen Xingran."

As an adult, Lu Ran had seen photographs of himself from his childhood days in the orphanage.

As a child, he had been in poor health, and every surviving photograph showed him pale and thin.

Despite the orphanage teachers' dedication, it was impossible for them to attend to so many children with equal care.

Therefore, Lu Ran never imagined that he had once looked like this.

Ji Min raised an eyebrow.

Similar to Shen Xingran? This guy must be blind to faces.

Lu Ran meticulously flipped through the photos in the box once more.

Then, he nonchalantly pushed the box onto the bed.

Holding the empty container, he grumbled, "Shen Hongyuan kept it so securely, I thought it would be something valuable. Why are there just photographs?"

"What did you expect?" Ji Min asked.

Lu Ran held the box thoughtfully for a moment before admitting, "A large check."

Ji Min: "..."

He covered his forehead and chuckled for a while before reaching out to grab the photos on the bed.

There weren't many pictures—just a dozen or so.

Yet, Ji Min found these more precious than any large sum of money.

Seated in his wheelchair, Ji Min flipped through the photographs one by one.

Lu Ran, who had complained earlier, also came over to take a look.

The teenager sprawled across the bed, leaning his head close to the man's side.

Big Yellow, seemingly curious about what they were looking at, joined them as well.

All three—two humans and a dog—focused intently on the child in the pictures.

After flipping through for a while, Ji Min noticed that most of the shots were candid portraits of the child alone.

Yet at the edges of some frames, an aged hand or a cane would inadvertently appear.

Flipping through, Ji Min came across pictures of the child with others.

In the photographs was a man in his sixties or seventies, with an exceedingly solemn expression, bordering on severity.

There were only two group photos.

In one, the elder and the child stood on either side, both sternly facing the camera.

The child stood next to the elder as if at attention during military drill.

In the other, the elder sat majestically in a purple sandalwood armchair.

The child sat on the elder's right knee but did not lean into his embrace. Instead, he tried his best to sit straight and look into the camera.

Neither of these photographs conveyed a particularly intimate relationship.

The child in the picture didn't seem as lively as in other photographs.

Lu Ran peered at it and couldn't resist pointing at the elderly man inside, asking,

"Who's this? Is he Gu Ningqi's grandfather?"

Ji Min gave him an unexpected glance before bending down to study the elder's face in the photograph carefully.

After a moment of contemplation, he said, "This should be Elder Shen."

Elder Shen had passed away when Ji Min was only around fourteen or fifteen.

The Ji family and the Shen family weren't closely related, so Ji Min didn't have a strong impression of Elder Shen.

Lu Ran, on the other hand, studied the picture intently before nodding. "I think so. Shen Xingyu would probably look like this when he's old."

"So many photos, and you don't remember any of them?" Ji Min asked.

Lu Ran shook his head. "Not at all!"

"Sigh, your mind…" Ji Min shook his head in exasperation.

But upon further reflection, perhaps it was for the best that Lu Ran didn't remember.

Ji Min pointed at some of the backgrounds in the photos, straining to recall his memories from over a decade ago:

"Are these from the Gu family? They seem to have been taken in the Gu family's garden."

Upon hearing this, Lu Ran gazed at Ji Min for a moment.

Suddenly, he said, "Boss, could you give me Uncle Gu's WeChat ID?"

Ji Min was taken aback.

Looking at the photos again, he suddenly felt that something wasn't quite right.

These pictures didn't appear to be professionally shot; they seemed more like casual snapshots taken by family or friends.

And within the Gu family... it seemed that only Gu Zhi had a passion for photography.

So...

He could only glimpse the adorable appearance of the child through the photograph.

But Gu Zhi had seen him more than ten years ago.

Not only had he seen him, but he had also played with him and even taken pictures?

Ji Min slowly caressed the child's cheek in the photo.

He said nonchalantly, "Which Uncle Gu? Old Master Gu has three sons."

"The one who came on your birthday!" Lu Ran said.

Ji Min put down the photo leisurely.

"Was someone from the Gu family there that day? I don't remember," he said.

Lu Ran gave him a strange look, wondering what kind of goldfish memory he had.

"It's that one..."

Struggling to recall, Lu Ran finally managed to remember the name, "Was it Gu Zhi or someone who cared?"

Seeing that the person couldn't even remember the name correctly, Ji Min felt somewhat appeased and said, "Just call him Gu Zhi. Why bother with 'Uncle Gu'?"

"That's right, that's the one!"

Lu Ran urged him.

Seeing his eagerness, Ji Min suddenly became reluctant once more.

"It's too late today, and I seem to have forgotten my phone when I came."

No sooner had he finished speaking.

The youth lying prostrate on the bed before him crawled forward another two steps, his hand reaching out to pat at his trouser pocket.

"You brought it!"

"..." Ji Min shuddered at the tap.

Silently, he took out his phone.

He thought to himself that some children didn't keep their promises; they clearly said they wouldn't add anyone's WeChat randomly that same day.

Ji Min unlocked his phone and accessed the contacts page, scrolling down through the list.

This was his work phone, so it had many contacts.

After swiping for a while, he couldn't find Gu Zhi anywhere.

The longer he hesitated, the more anxious Lu Ran became.

He gestured wildly from the side, urging, "Search! Tap on that search bar!"

After much dilly-dallying, Ji Min finally found Gu Zhi's contact information.

Lu Ran continued to guide him, "Send me his contact card."

The youth had half of his body leaning over the wheelchair.

The urgency was palpable.

Ji Min's eyebrows rose high, and he decided to be straightforward, saying, "What business card? I don't know how to reject it."

Lu Ran: "???"

He froze. "You don't?"

"Yes," Ji Min replied leisurely. "I'm older now. I don't engage in such games."

"So..."

Lu Ran blinked twice, sensing something amiss.

He furrowed his brows and pondered. "That's not right. You clearly said you wanted to recommend it to me the other day. It was me who turned it down."

"...You must have misheard," Ji Min said.

Lu Ran slowly returned to his bed and sat down.

He silently stared at Ji Min.

After being watched for a while, Ji Min finally sighed.

He spoke with a dignified tone, "It's just Gu Zhi's work WeChat. I'm not sure if he'd be willing to give it to you. If you have any questions, we can chat using my phone."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but secretly malign Gu Zhi, "He has a rather complicated personal life, so I'm not comfortable with you adding him on WeChat."

"But why does his complicated personal life concern me?" Lu Ran asked, confused.

Ji Min didn't respond; he simply handed over his phone.

Yet in his mind, he thought, How is it unrelated?

Lu Ran addressing Gu Zhi as 'Uncle Gu' was not an error.

Unlike him, who had forcefully inserted himself as an "elder," the Shen and Gu families were genuine, long-time friends.

In terms of seniority, Gu Zhi could indeed claim with justification to be Lu Ran's elder.

If we set aside seniority...

Given Gu Zhi's age, fulfilling the arranged marriage between the Gu and Shen families on behalf of Gu Ningqi would pose no issue.

Taking the phone, Lu Ran leaned on the pillow and began sending messages to Gu Zhi.

The calf rested leisurely, swaying gently back and forth.

With the corner of his eye, Ji Min caught sight of the young man's actions, yet his fingers gently rubbed against the metal puppy on the remote control.

After glancing for a moment, the man couldn't resist and reached out to grab the teenager's erratically swaying ankle.

With restraint, his fingertip did not glide.

He simply held it firmly, tucking it securely within the thin quilt beneath the youth's body.

Startled, Lu Ran turned to look at him, instinctively kicking the covers again. "I'm not cold."

"Well, don't sway around then," Ji Min whispered softly.

Lu Ran turned his head to gaze at him for a moment longer.

Suddenly, he put down his phone and sat up.

"What are you looking at? Aren't you going to continue your conversation?" Ji Min asked.

Lu Ran let out an "oh" and slowly leaned back down.

Ji Min stood quietly by the window of the young man's room, his ears pricked attentively for a while, yet no sound of any message notifications reached them.

Realizing my oversight, I remembered that I had silenced my phone after finishing work.

It was unclear what the two were discussing.

Glancing down at Big Yellow, who was obediently lying on the carpet, Ji Min suddenly lifted his finger and gave the command to "speak."

Big Yellow perked up instantly, sitting up and giving a lively "Woof."

Hearing the barking, Lu Ran immediately put down his phone and turned to look at Big Yellow.

"What's wrong, Big Yellow?" he asked the puppy.

The puppy couldn't speak.

President Ji took the initiative to convey its message.

He said, "I'm not sure why it's barking. Does it want to go for a walk?"

"That shouldn't be the case."

Lu Ran got up and picked up Big Yellow for a closer inspection. "At this time, Big Yellow is usually asleep."

"Maybe it needs to use the bathroom," suggested Ji Min.

"But it just went not too long ago." Lu Ran rubbed Big Yellow's head in confusion.

Big Yellow didn't bark again, only gazing silently at Ji Min.

Ji Min cleared his throat softly, eventually asking, "What did you want to ask Gu Zhi?"

"Oh, I gave him my WeChat ID and asked him to add me," Lu Ran shared.

The vigilant Ji Min: "..."

"Then you two add each other and chat."

With a strained expression, Ji Min forced out a few words and grabbed his phone, preparing to leave.

Yet, upon glancing down, he found Gu Zhi's chat window on his phone empty and devoid of any messages.

Ji Min paused, turning to look at Lu Ran.

The youth cradled the little dog in his arms, his smile cunningly playful.

Ask him, "Boss, were you just feeling jealous?"

Ji Min never expected to be outmaneuvered in such a way.

He fell silent for a long while before suddenly turning to look at the young man, fixing him with his gaze and saying, "What if I were to say yes?"

Lu Ran: "Hm?"