Chapter 138

Xu Ran had a big smile on his face as he left the Qin Family. It was obvious that he was in a good mood.

However, his good mood didn’t last long. Soon after Xu Ran left the Qin Family, he felt that someone was stalking him. He turned back, but he found nothing abnormal when he turned his head. He was now on the street, where there were crowds of people, and no one looked weird.

As Xu Ran walked on, however, this weird feeling got stronger and stronger. He decided that it was necessary to find this stalker out, or he would not be able to sleep well at night.

So he changed the way he walked and suddenly sped up his pace as if he was running for his life.

At the beginning, that man couldn’t catch up with Xu Ran. But later when Xu Ran noticed that he was coming near, he suddenly slowed his pace. The man who began to rush behind did a double-take, but the distance between them two was much closer now.

Xu Ran turned around and saw him there clearly. He never expected that the stalker was an acquaintance of his.

It was Du Xin!

Actually, Xu Ran had seen him last time, but he supposed that he made a mistake.

Du Xin found that Xu Ran had seen him, so he did not hide anymore. He went up to Xu Ran and greeted, “Hey, Xu Ran, I didn’t expect to see you on the street here.”

Xu Ran smiled, “What a coincidence! You’ve been following me all the way here. Can it be a coincidence?”

Seeing that Xu Ran had seen him through, Du Xin felt a little embarrassed, “I just want to see where you’re going!”

“Didn’t you recognize me? You could have come to me openly and asked me the question directly. Tell me, why did you have to follow me?” asked Xu Ran while hugging himself and waiting for Du Xin’s answer.

Seeing that Xu Ran was demanding his frank answer, Du Xin scratched his head and said in a sorry tone, “Xu Ran, I’m here to seek refuge with my relatives, but my relatives received my dad’s letter yesterday, indicating them not to take me in. Thus, now I have nowhere to go…” With that, he lowered his head, appearing very pitiful.

Xu Ran stared at him in wordless surprise. Then he snarled, “Is my place your refuge? Why do you look so pitiful every time you come to me? Why did you come here to seek refuge with your relatives? Have you been driven out by your Dad?”

Du Xin pouted, “It’s because I got a bad result in the test before, and also because I had the unmentionable illness. After I got home, I went on taking the medicine for a long time. At last,  the doctor said that I almost recovered. My dad then immediately forced me take a concubine so that I could have my own children. I refused and so I was chased out by my dad…”

Xu Ran, “…”

He still vaguely remembered at that time Du Xin exuded an air of having a card up his sleeve. After he left the examination hall, he was still worried that he would be beheaded because of his answers in the test. The unexpected result was actually that he did badly in the test…

Xu Ran really wanted to know how bad his test result was that his dad would be so angry.

“What’s your ranking in the test? Why was your dad so angry? “Xu Ran asked.

Du Xin stretched out a few fingers and shook them in front of Xu Ran. Xu Ran felt that if he had a brick in his hand, he would definitely knock him down with it.

What Du Xin held up before him was five fingers, not fifteen, not twenty-five, and not fifty. It was definitely five!

Xu Ran took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, “Isn’t the fifth place already very good? Why did your dad insist that your result was too bad?”

Du Xin replied, “Because in my dad’s eyes, as long as I didn’t get the first place, it was a bad result.The worst score I ever got in the past was the third place. This time, however, I was in the fifth place. My dad was so angry that he stopped me from going on studying. He forced me to go back home to take over his business and to have a bunch of children with my concubine. I certainly don’t like it. ”

“Are you not willing to go back to do business or to take a concubine? Why do I feel that your favorite thing is running outside?”

“The person who knows me well is you, Xu Ran. I indeed like to stay outside, but my dad rejects it. I can only fight against him and do the opposite. Don’t you think I’m very smart?” Du Xin said with a proud expression.

According to the view of modern times, Xu Ran thought that Du Xin must be going soft in the head!

It was fine for him to leave his home. However, he was so stupid that he didn’t get some money with him. What if he met some evil people and what if he starved to death? He was really such a perfect fool.

Thinking of this, Xu Ran started to educate Du Xin with a stern face, “You must prepare enough money with you in the future when you come out, otherwise no one will care about you if you’re hungry. Also, you’re so stupid that you’d better not come out alone. Your dad is doing good for you. How I wish I had such a dad…”

Xu Ran chattered. Du Xin obviously didn’t listen to him at all. When Xu Ran was tired and stopped at last, Du Xin asked, “Xu Ran, I’m cold and tired now. Can you take me to your home?”

Du Xin looked a little pale and he didn’t wear much. His condition was really not good.

“No,” Xu Ran rejected very straightforwardly. Liu Tong had just given birth, so he didn’t have any energy to take care of an outsider.

“If you just want to find a place to stay, I can help you find an inn. My house is inconvenient for you at the moment. I won’t take you to my house for the time being,” Xu Ran said with certainty.

“Has your spouse given birth? That’s the reason you’re not letting me go? Don’t worry, I don’t need anyone to take care of me. I just need a mouthful of food to eat and a place to live. I can also help your with any work needed. And I won’t ask any payment from you. Take me to your home, please! ” Du Xin pleaded with a coquettish manner.

“No. If you agree to stay in the inn, follow me. If you don’t, I’ll leave. Anyway, you can’t stay in my house,” Without knowing why, Xu Ran insisted not to take Du Xin to his house. He couldn’t even explain the reason. This was actually an unconscious defense.

Du Xin pouted, looking very reluctant, and he mumbled, “How can the inn be compared with your house? I can’t even have a hot meal there.”

Xu Ran ignored him and walked straight forward. Seeing he was about out of sight, Du Xin quickly went up and followed. According to the impression Xu Ran gave him before, Xu Ran had always been an easy-going person. He didn’t expect that this time Xu Ran would refuse so definitely.

Du Xin sighed. It seemed that he had to think of another way. The most important thing now was to find out where Xu Ran lived first.

As Xu Ran saw Du Xin follow him up, he went to find an inn for him. At last, he got a middle-sized room and paid for a month’s stay and food. All these cost one-third of what he had earned today, so Xu Ran felt really annoyed about it.

He said to Du Xin, “This month, I’ll pay for your room and meals. If you want to go home, you can get the money back from the inn as travelling expenses home. However, you must return the money to me after you get back. Otherwise, if I see you next time, I will pay no attention to you. You can go and rest in the room now. I’ll buy you a thick set of clothes. It’s getting cold now. You have to wear more.”

Xu Ran was just like a worried daddy, humming about. Du Xin, however, enjoyed it. Of course, he thought if Xu Ran were a Ge’er, it would be much better. In that case, he would really be free of worry in the future if he married such a Ge’er!

Du Xin shook his head and murmured to himself, ‘It’s a pity, a pity…’

“What is a pity?  Could it be that you still have other ideas? After I find Second Young Master, I will go back and persuade the prince to reward you with Xu Ran?”

“Wow! How can you eavesdrop on others’ talking? You suddenly appeared from nowhere. Do you want to scare me to death?”

That man chuckled, “Haha, of course, I just want to scare you to death!”

“You, you, you are so vicious! How can you have such an idea?”

“I don’t just have this idea. I even want to do so,” he said as he moved up to seize Du Xin by the neck.

Du Xin was startled and immediately took a step back, “Lu Qi, what’s wrong with you? Is it fun to tease me like this? If you have the ability, you think of a way to get to Xu Ran’s house yourself!”

“Haha, didn’t you say that you knew him well and volunteered to go yourself? Why? It is just such a short time that you want to change your mind? That’s not good. You’d better figure out a way to solve the problem. Also, forget all the thoughts that you shouldn’t have. If the prince knows about it, you’ll get no good result in the end. I’ll leave first now. Quickly settle the problem with him.” With that, Lu Qi disappeared soon.

Du Xin looked at his back while muttering to himself. Then went back to the room that Xu Ran had booked for him. He indeed wore very little, which was a misery for himself. He would never do such a stupid thing again!

But why didn’t Lu Qi allow him to care about Xu Ran? Did he fancy Xu Ran too?

Du Xin couldn’t help but be frightened by his own speculation. He found he had an extra love rival before his love started. He felt very unsettled.

And he couldn’t sleep no matter how much he wanted to. He tossed and turned restlessly, thinking about Xu Ran. He wondered why Xu Ran was worthy of Lu Qi’s attention? Actually, apart from cooking skills, Du Xin didn’t find any other strong suits on Xu Ran. He knew Lu Qi didn’t like to eat, so he didn’t seem to be worried too much.

Du Xin spread out his hands. He then tossed and turned again. Finally, he fell asleep…