CH 41

On the way back, inside the car, Lin Ran carried the small fish bowl in his arms and reached in to poke at the little turtle inside. 

The turtle didn’t even move yet floated. At first, Lin Ran was still a little scared, but it didn’t take long before he dared to hold it in his hand.

He held the fish bowl with one hand, grabbed the turtle with the other hand and looked at it, then asked Song Zhi Xu in a low voice. 

“Song Zhi Xu, why isn’t the little turtle moving?”

Song Zhi Xu didn’t even look at it and said casually, “It’s sleeping.”

“Oh is that so.” Lin Ran nodded and hurriedly put it back into the fish bowl and held it carefully.

The little turtle was sleeping and could not be disturbed. 

Back at the villa, Lin Ran held the fish bowl and searched the room several times before finally finding a spot by the floor-to-ceiling window where the sunlight was just right, putting the fish tank down and lying on the floor next to it, looking at it seriously.

It didn’t take long for the turtle in the tank to show its tiny head and look around. Lin Ran happily reached out to touch it, but it immediately retracted again. 

Song Zhi Xu went upstairs to change his clothes and opened the computer again to search for things to keep in mind when raising a turtle.

Although he had bought a pet for Lin Ran, he himself had never kept a pet before, so he searched on the internet how to raise it. 

Otherwise, if Lin Ran asked, he wouldn’t know anything and wouldn’t know how to answer him.

Almost an hour passed before Song Zhi Xu came down from upstairs. 

The TV downstairs was not on and he did not see Lin Ran’s figure. Song Zhi Xu searched for a while while going downstairs before he saw Lin Ran lying on the floor near the floor-to-ceiling window.

Lin Ran had come home but he didn’t change his clothes yet. He was still lying on the floor looking at the turtles in the fish bowl. 

Song Zhi Xu looked at the warm sun shining in from outside, frowned slightly and called out, “Ran Ran?”

Lin Ran turned his head and saw Song Zhi Xu. He subconsciously got up from the floor but before he could walk towards Song Zhi Xu, he felt his eyes go black and his body swayed as he fell backwards. 

Song Zhi Xu took a few quick steps, pulled him into his embrace before putting him on the sofa, touching his red cheeks caused by being exposed to the sun. His face was full of dissatisfaction.

“Don’t you mind the heat, being bask in the sun shine for so long?” 

It took a while for Lin Ran before he could look clearly at Song Zhi Xu’s face, shaking his arm to curry a favor with him and called out in a small voice, “Song Zhi Xu” Seeing that Song Zhi Xu was ignoring him, he explained in a small voice again, “Ran Ran look at the little turtle.”

When he moved, the little turtle’s head retracted back into its shell, so Lin Ran did not dare to move. He could only lie on the floor and look at it, since it wasn’t easy for him to be able to look at the little turtle sticking out its head, its four claws and paws. 

Song Zhi Xu had long been aware of Lin Ran’s persistence but he didn’t expect Lin Ran to be able to stay in the sun for an hour and didn’t move.

Song Zhi Xu suddenly felt that it was quite dangerous to get a turtle back, if he was not at home then he would not know how long Lin Ran would stay sunbathing. 

“Song Zhi Xu?” Lin Ran saw that Song Zhi Xu didn’t say anything and thought he was angry, so he whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Song Zhi Xu took a tissue from the table and wiped the beads of sweat that had seeped out of his forehead from being in the sun for so long, stood up and went to the kitchen to make lunch. 

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When lunch was ready, Lin Ran took his chopsticks and poked at the rice in his bowl, putting it in his mouth once in a while. 

As soon as Song Zhi Xu finished eating, he immediately got up and prepared to tidy up the table.

Across the table, Song Zhi Xu glanced at the rice in his bowl and asked indifferently. 

“Already full?”

Lin Ran nodded vigorously, “Ran Ran is full.” 

Lin Ran took the bowl and chopsticks as he walked into the kitchen, Song Zhi Xu sat at the table for a long time without moving.

Lin Ran hadn’t eaten much in the past few days. He had previously thought that it was because Lin Ran’s body had almost recovered its normal indicators recently, so naturally he didn’t eat as much as before. 

But it was not until today, when he saw Lin Ran collapse that he felt something was wrong.

After lunch, Lin Ran went to take a nap while Song Zhi Xu stood in his study room thinking about it and still decided to call Mu Qingting. 

The phone call connected, Song Zhi Xu spoke straight away, “Are you working today?”

The person on the other side yawned and answered lazily, “The hospital doesn’t have weekends off, of course I’m working. Is there something wrong with you?” 

“It’s not me, it’s Lin Ran, he hasn’t been eating much lately and today he almost fell backward.” Song Zhi Xu thought for a moment, still a little not at ease.

Lin Ran’s body, the slightest thing wrong with it made him nervous. 

Mu Qingting was silent for a while and sighed, “Aren’t you off today? Bring him to the hospital, the facilities here are fully equipped.”

“Okay, I’ll take him there when he wakes up from his nap.” Song Zhi Xu also had this intention. 

They hung up the phone. Song Zhi Xu stood at the window for a little longer, looking at the lush green grass in the courtyard below.

He had never cared about all of those, but it had been a bit yellow previously because of the heat. Lin Ran had taken the hose and watered it twice since he came here, so it was much more vibrant and full of life. 

Both the villa and he, after Lin Ran’s arrival, were gradually getting better.

Song Zhi Xu lowered his head and the corners of his lips unconsciously curled up into a smile. 

After standing for a little longer, Song Zhi Xu returned to his desk and opened his computer, looking at the company’s documents.

Lin Ran hadn’t slept long before he woke up, pushing open the door to his study room in his yellow Sponge Bob Square Pants nightgown. 

After seeing Song Zhi Xu, he walked over to him again, opened up his arm away and sat on his lap, yawning.

“Woke up? You only slept for just a little while?” Song Zhi Xu glanced at the time, Lin Ran had only slept for an hour. 

Lin Ran licked his lips, ignoring his empty stomach. He did not tell Song Zhi Xu the fact that he had been woken up by hunger.

After he had pressed and made Song Zhi Xu’s arm ache last time, he ate less, secretly went on diet and because he was eating less he would wake up from sleep because of hunger. 

“Ran Ran not sleeping anymore.” Lin Ran said in a small voice.

Song Zhi Xu’s attention was on the computer, not noticing Lin Ran and only after a while did he gently pat Lin Ran’s back. 

“Go and change your clothes! We’ll go to the hospital again later.” Song Zhi Xu said.

Lin Ran’s eyes lit up and subconsciously asked, “Going to see the cats again?” 

“This time not going there, going for a check-up.” Song Zhi Xu turned off his computer and pushed him out.

The two of them each went back to their own room to change. 

In one day, Song Zhi Xu took Lin Ran on two trips to the hospital, only the purpose was not quite the same.

When they arrived, Mu Qingting still had another operation and was in the operating room, so they waited in his office for a while until Mu Qingting came out, before taking Lin Ran for a check-up. 

After checking everything, Mu Qingting took the medical examination form and looked at it carefully, then looked at Song Zhi Xu.

“It’s quite good, ah! All the indicators are much better than before, you have been nourishing him quite well recently.” Mu Qingting asked again after some time, “What do you think is abnormal about little Ran Ran?” 

Song Zhi Xu was silent before he could answer, he heard a “gurgling” sound coming from Lin Ran’s stomach who was standing next to him.

There were only three people in the office, and they hadn’t spoken just now, so the sound was very obvious. 

Lin Ran immediately covered his stomach, a little embarrassed and took a step back, biting his lips as he kept quiet.

“He eats less.” Song Zhi Xu finally said. 

Mu Qingting looked at Lin Ran and asked him, “Is Ran Ran already full or doesn’t want to eat?”

It was only around four o’clock in the afternoon, so if he had eaten enough at noon, he wouldn’t be hungry now. 

Lin Ran looked at Song Zhi Xu and lowered his head, not saying anything.

Song Zhi Xu also understood and stood up to hold his hand. 

“Ran Ran is hungry, I’ll take him to eat.”

“Wait for me for a while, let’s go eat together.” Mu Qingting stopped them as he stood up to get his things ready. 

Finally, he called the director to ask for leave to leave early and the three of them left together.

They just went downstairs and immediately saw Xiao Nanyu who had already taken off his white coat, waving his hand and running over to him quickly. 

“Doctor Mu, what a coincidence. I was just about to come and look for you, who knew that I would bump into you at the entrance. See, isn’t this fate?” Xiao Nanyu automatically ignored the other two people and went to Mu Qingting’s side, “Where are you going? Let’s go together.”

Song Zhi Xu raised his eyebrows slightly, this Xiao Nanyu usually looked quite normal, but once he saw Mu Qingting, he showed ‘go beyond what is proper or be out of place’ appearance. Could it be that this person, since he learned psychology, more or less had some problems too? 

Mu Qingting originally wanted to refuse but Song Zhi Xu didn’t give him a chance. He agreed to take Xiao Nanyu with them.

Now that Xiao Nanyu was treating Lin Ran, it was necessary for the two to have more contact. 

Song Zhi Xu took Lin Ran to the car while Xiao Nanyu shamelessly went to Mu Qingting’s car, who pushed him with some disgust.

“Don’t you have to go to work, running around outside at this hour?” 

“No need, there’s no one in our department today. I’m leaving work early.” Xiao Nanyu went to the passenger side and hurriedly closed the door for fear of being kicked down.

When they arrived at the Royal Garden, it was the same private room as before. 

Song Zhi Xu and Mu Qingting often came here to eat and if the Royal Garden wasn’t full, they would usually leave this private room for the two. This time, they went there early, so they went straight in.

Knowing that Lin Ran was hungry, Song Zhi Xu directly ordered the food after they entered the private room. Until the meals were served, he took one and gave it to Lin Ran’s bowl and watched him eat it. 

Across the table, Mu Qingting had been watching the interaction between them. Suddenly, a peeled prawn was placed in his bowl and then his shoulder was lightly bumped by the person next to him.

“Dr Mu, you don’t need to be envious. I’ll peel it for you and even feed it to you too.” 

“Who needs you to feed me? Scram!” Mu Qingting ducked to the other side in disgust.

This person was just like a medicinal plaster. There was no end to it. 

Song Zhi Xu happened to look over, Mu Qingting raised his chin at him, signalling for him to go out, before taking the lead and getting up to leave.

Song Zhi Xu said something to Lin Ran first before following him out. 

The two of them walked to the window at the end of the corridor before stopping. Mu Qingting took out a cigarette, gave one to Song Zhi Xu and lit it for himself and took two puffs before saying.

“Old Song, admit it, your heart has been moved by Lin Ran. In all the years I’ve known you, even to Lin Mu, you’ve never taken such good care of someone.” 

Song Zhi Xu was silent for a while before he gave an indifferent, “Hn”.

Although he did not want to have someone who could affect his emotions, he had no choice but to admit that he treated Lin Ran differently. 

“It’s rare, ah, the old tree has blossomed.” Mu Qingting exhaled a beautiful smoke and looked sideways at Song Zhi Xu’s face whose expression had become serious, “Old Song, I am also friends with Lin Mu, and I treat Lin Ran as my younger brother, so this time I must ask in behalf of Lin Ran, how much of your feeling for Lin Ran is because of Lin Mu?”

Mu Qingting was probably the only person besides Song Zhi Xu who knew about Song Zhi Xu’s feelings for Lin Mu. 

He had previously thought that Song Zhi Xu was just using Lin Ran as a stand-in for Lin Mu, but then Song Zhi Xu seemed to care more about Lin Ran than he did about Lin Mu.

That was why he was asking. 

Besides that, this question was something that if he didn’t ask, no one else could ask about it.