Ch. 56
Chapter 56 - I Didn't, Don't Talk Nonsense
Thinking of this, Chen Ran couldn't help but smile to himself; he was only twenty-three, and wouldn't turn twenty-four until next summer.
It was too early to worry.
Leaving everything else aside, just looking at his image, he shouldn't end up like Director Zhang in middle age.
This wasn't Chen Ran speaking ill of Director Zhang; he just firmly believed his hair volume wouldn't be so sparse.
After finishing dinner, Chen Ran originally intended to go home, but was held back by Director Zhang and his wife.
"It's so late. I heard from Zhizhi that you drank some alcohol just now. If you go out and the wind blows on you, you might catch a cold tomorrow. Just stay here and rest today; anyway, you don't have to go to the station tomorrow," Director Zhang advised.
With the two elders being so hospitable, Chen Ran felt embarrassed to refuse.
Actually, it wasn't that he hadn't slept at the Zhangs' before, but that was always when Zhang Fanzhi wasn't around.
In the eyes of Director Zhang and Auntie Yun, he and Zhang Fanzhi were still a couple; staying over felt a bit awkward.
He glanced at Zhang Fanzhi and found she had no expression, seeming quite indifferent.
The Zhangs' house was a four-bedroom apartment, but it didn't come with a study when they bought it, so they converted one bedroom into a study.
At that time, the Zhangs' two daughters squeezed into one room, leaving one as a guest room.
Later, after the daughters grew up and wanted separate rooms, the Zhang household no longer had a guest room; the two daughters each had their own.
The last time Chen Ran stayed here, he slept in Zhang Fanzhi's room; this time, he was staying in her younger sister's.
Although he had known Director Zhang for a long time and had visited the Zhang house many times, he truly hadn't seen Zhang Fanzhi's younger sister; as for photos, he had only seen the childhood group photo in the living room.
He only knew that she seemed to be named Ruyi, and was three years younger than Zhang Fanzhi.
Chen Ran lying in bed, felt very clear-headed. For a while, he thought about Zhang Fanzhi, wondering when she would return from the company this time.
Then he thought about home; the salary and bonuses this time would certainly not be small, so he would give a portion to his family, as well as to his younger sister.
He remembered that Chen Yao used to be quite fond of singing. When Chen Ran was learning to play the guitar for fun, she played along with him; he wondered how she was doing now.
Chen Ran thought it would be difficult to fall asleep with his mind racing like this, but at some unknown point, he dizzily drifted off to sleep.
In the next room, Zhang Fanzhi was tossing and turning, her bright eyes staring out the window, unable to sleep.
Turning on a nightlight, she took out the lyrics Chen Ran had written and looked at them for a while, humming a few lines along with them.
After pausing, she hesitated slightly and took out her phone to send a message to Chen Ran:
"Are you asleep?"
At this moment, Chen Ran was sound asleep; how could he possibly notice a WeChat message?
Zhang Fanzhi waited for a long time with no response. Her face instantly dropped, and she tossed her phone onto the table, turned off the light, and went to sleep.
When Chen Ran woke up the next day, Zhang Fanzhi was already sitting on the sofa.
Chen Ran had always assumed Zhang Fanzhi had such good skin because of makeup.
Looking at her now without makeup, there wasn't much difference from when she was wearing it; her skin was still very fair, and her features were extremely exquisite.
However, there was a tiny tear mole below the corner of her eye that was very conspicuous on her fair face; it seemed she deliberately covered it with makeup normally.
"Looking at you, it seems you didn't sleep well?" Chen Ran asked casually upon seeing her stiff face.
Zhang Fanzhi shot him a glance and said nothing.
She had already fallen asleep quite late last night, and today she was woken up early by her mother; she felt like she could have slept for several more hours.
According to the old mother's words, since Chen Ran was here, she had to leave a good impression and couldn't let Chen Ran think she was gluttonous and lazy.
No matter how unwilling Zhang Fanzhi was in her heart, she could only get out of bed in a listless manner.
Seeing Chen Ran turn to go wash up, Zhang Fanzhi finally couldn't help but ask, "Did you not check WeChat?"
"WeChat?" Chen Ran was dazed.
He scratched his head and took out his phone to take a look. When he went to sleep at night, he would always close WeChat into the background.
There were quite a few work groups, and most of his colleagues were married. Sometimes children would play with their phones and send mini-programs, which really affected his sleep quality.
By the time Chen Ran opened WeChat, he finally saw the message sent by Zhang Fanzhi.
He glanced at the time; it was past ten o'clock at night.
Chen Ran thought about it; he remembered being clear-headed for half the night before falling asleep, and he had even played on his phone for a while in between—did he fall asleep that early?
Only then did Chen Ran understand why Zhang Fanzhi had that expression, and he said:
"Sorry, I went to sleep early last night and didn't see it."
Zhang Fanzhi ignored him and continued to keep a stiff face.
Chen Ran was scratching his head; not seeing a message was a perfectly normal occurrence, so what was there to be angry about?
The two hardly spoke to each other right up until breakfast.
Before long, Zhang Fanzhi's phone rang; Tao Lin had arrived.
"Come directly to my house," Zhang Fanzhi said. She added, "Chen Ran is here too."
Tao Lin asked, puzzled, "Wait, what time is it? Why is he at your house?"
"He slept here last night!"
Zhang Fanzhi spoke very calmly, but to Tao Lin's ears, it was like a bolt from the blue. It stunned her for a good while before she could react, and she exclaimed in shock:
"Zhang Xiyun, you're not serious, right? Didn't we agree you wouldn't date or marry until thirty, and only focus on your career? Now you're suddenly telling me you're living with someone—are you trying to kill me with anger?!"
"I am not; don't talk nonsense!" Zhang Fanzhi frowned at the words—what on earth was she talking about?
"Chen Ran has a very good relationship with my parents. He drank a little alcohol last night, so he stayed over at my house."
"Just staying over?" Tao Lin was somewhat skeptical.
This was moving too fast. She had heard from Xiao Qin that it was just a blind date and a fake relationship, which she already thought was unreliable at the time.
Now Chen Ran was even staying at her house; wouldn't there really be trouble if this continued for a while longer?
"Enough, just get over here first." Zhang Fanzhi knew Tao Lin well; things couldn't be explained clearly over the phone.
Tao Lin didn't dare to dawdle and quickly took a car to the Zhang residence.
Director Zhang and his wife were quite familiar with Tao Lin and greeted each other.
Chen Ran had seen Tao Lin once before in a video—a woman who appeared very shrewd and capable.
But when Tao Lin saw Chen Ran, her internal thought was: ‘Oh no, I feel like I can't keep this thief out!’
The first thing one notices is looks, and Chen Ran’s appearance was exceptional—completely flawless. For Zhang Fanzhi, in her twenties, spending a long time with someone like this would definitely lead to problems.
Most importantly, Zhang Fanzhi's parents approved and were intentionally playing matchmaker—this was the most difficult knot to untie.
"Hello, I am Xiyun's manager, Tao Lin." Tao Lin extended her hand with a slight smile.
Chen Ran shook her hand and smiled, "Hello, Sister Lin."
Tao Lin rolled her eyes internally. Usually, she didn't care when people called her "Sister Lin," but she really didn't want to hear those words from Chen Ran's mouth.
It meant Chen Ran and Zhang Fanzhi were on good enough terms for him to follow suit, and Zhang Fanzhi obviously hadn't objected.
A couple of days ago, she was thinking about letting Zhang Fanzhi stay here to relax until they figured out how to handle the relationship with the company. But now that there was a wolf waiting here, Zhang Fanzhi certainly couldn't stay.
She resolved to cut the Gordian knot, settle matters quickly, and take Zhang Fanzhi back first. Being far apart was always safer.
Zhang Fanzhi’s future was bright; such a person should be shining in the music world and couldn't be held back by this wolf.