[Second installment arrived! Please favorite, tip, and recommend!]
Today was a special day for Zhou Ruoran. It was the day of the postgraduate interview at the Central Institute of Politics and Law. She had been exceptionally well-prepared during this time and was confident that she could pass the interview and enter the university of her dreams.
After getting out of bed, Zhou Ruoran quickly got ready and stepped out of her room. However, as she exited her room, she saw a thermos and a cardboard box on the living room table.
Zhou Ruoran walked over and glanced at the cardboard box. There was a note on it with three words: "I've left."
Zhou Ruoran looked up at Ding Fan's room. It seemed that Ding Fan had left while she had still been asleep.
Zhou Ruoran didn't pay much attention to it. Ding Fan must be in a hurry to have a good life with that actress. She casually opened the cardboard box, curious to see what was inside.
Inside was a smaller cardboard box and a bracelet.
When she opened the smaller box, there were three pills inside, and next to them, there was a line of small print, instructing the times and taboos of taking the medication.
Zhou Ruoran didn't take it seriously; she didn't think the pill Ding Fan had left for her would be of any use. She picked up the bracelet. It was quite crudely made, and next to it was a bank card, clearly the same one with twenty thousand yuan she had returned to Ding Fan before.
After briefly looking at the bank card, Zhou Ruoran placed it along with the rest of the box's contents in the corner of the living room. After today, she would have no more ties with the Ding family, so she did not plan on taking anything from Ding Fan.
At that moment, the sound of the doorbell rang from outside.
Zhou Ruoran was surprised. It was so early, and she had no idea who it could be. She walked over to the door and opened it.
Zhou Ruoran had assumed that the person knocking would be someone delivering the newspaper or a salesperson, especially since the Ding family had fallen from grace and their home had become quite deserted.
But when Zhou Ruoran opened the door, she found herself face to face with an incredibly beautiful woman standing outside.
Dressed in a pure white dress, she was graceful and ethereal, like a fairy descended from heaven.
The visitor was someone Zhou Ruoran recognized: it was Lin Qingqing.
"Hello, is Ding Fan home?" Lin Qingqing had met Zhou Ruoran at Phoenix Building, so she began inquiring about Ding Fan right away.
"Ding Fan?! Didn't he leave with you?" Zhou Ruoran was utterly puzzled.
Wasn't Ding Fan Lin Qingqing's trophy boy? If he was leaving, shouldn't he be leaving with Lin Qingqing? Could they have gotten separated along the way?
"With me?!" Lin Qingqing too was taken aback. "How could he possibly be with me?"
Zhou Ruoran was momentarily stunned; Lin Qingqing didn't seem to be lying.
"May I come in and talk?" Lin Qingqing saw the look of realization on Zhou Ruoran's face and asked with a faint smile.
Lin Qingqing, after all, was a famous actress. It would be troublesome if paparazzi caught her here unexpectedly.
Zhou Ruoran nodded. "Please come in."
After inviting Lin Qingqing into the living room, Zhou Ruoran went ahead and made her a cup of tea.
"I haven't asked yet, but what is your relation to Ding Fan?" Lin Qingqing said, waiting for Zhou Ruoran to sit down.
"I am a friend of Ding Fan's…" Zhou Ruoran replied.
"I have an important matter to discuss with Ding Fan right now. Can you contact him?" Lin Qingqing continued.
Zhou Ruoran thought for a moment and then shook her head; Ding Fan said he was leaving and hadn't left any contact information behind.
Seeing Zhou Ruoran's response, Lin Qingqing's expression grew anxious.
Zhou Ruoran looked on curiously. "You're Ding Fan's girlfriend; how can you not have his contact information?"
Lin Qingqing was stunned. "Girlfriend? There might be a misunderstanding. Ding Fan and I are just close friends, but it has nothing to do with being boyfriend and girlfriend."
"Ah?!" Zhou Ruoran was taken aback. "But last time at Phoenix Building, you helped Ding Fan... Why would a big star like you help an ordinary person..."
Zhou Ruoran wanted to say that if Ding Fan wasn't her gigolo, why would a big star like Lin Qingqing bother helping Ding Fan, a prodigal son, stand up for himself?
Lin Qingqing just smiled softly. "It seems you really misunderstood. Ding Fan is the man who saved my brother's life. If not for Ding Fan, my brother wouldn't be alive today. So, if Ding Fan is in trouble, how could I not help him?"
Lin Qingqing's brother's lifesaver?!
Lin Qingqing didn't appear to be lying, and at this, Zhou Ruoran's brow furrowed slightly. If Ding Fan wasn't her gigolo, then things were different from what she had thought...
"Have you given Ding Fan money?" Zhou Ruoran suddenly asked as if remembering something.
Lin Qingqing shook her head. "Ding Fan is a man who doesn't covet wealth and is a true gentleman. My brother and I wanted to give him some money to repay him, but he refused to take a single dime."
A gentleman who neither covets wealth nor acts pretentiously!
This was the first time Zhou Ruoran had heard someone describe Ding Fan in such a way. For a moment, Zhou Ruoran was stunned into a daze. If the money wasn't from Lin Qingqing and the others, then where could it have come from?
"Now is not the time to talk about these things; we need to hurry and find Ding Fan," Lin Qingqing said from the side.
"What happened?" Zhou Ruoran asked, puzzled.
"I received reliable information that the Yanjing Royal Family intends to harm Ding Fan. I'm worried that something will happen to him, so I came over to tell him to go into hiding."
"He's already left," Zhou Ruoran said, relaying what Ding Fan had told her about his plans to leave.
Lin Qingqing nodded. "Ding Fan is very meticulous in his actions. Since he has decided to leave, I think he must have received information about the Wang Family's intent to harm him."
Since Ding Fan had already left, Lin Qingqing did not stay any longer and left her phone number with Zhou Ruoran, asking her to call if she got any news of Ding Fan before leaving.
After sending off Lin Qingqing, Zhou Ruoran sat on the living room sofa in a daze, her eyes staring into the distance. She felt that the recent turn of events might not be as straightforward as she had thought.
Thinking back to when Ding Fan rescued her at Phoenix Building, if Ding Fan wasn't Lin Qingqing's toy boy, and if his actions weren't a show for Lin Qingqing's benefit, then why did he look at her with such eyes?
With pity, with anger...
With that thought, Zhou Ruoran's delicate frame shivered slightly. At this moment she remembered something Wu Min had told her.
'The person who hurts more than you when you're injured, that's affection.'...
Zhou Ruoran was still not sure whether Ding Fan liked her, but one thing was certain, Ding Fan truly cared about her. That look of pity and anger was an unmistakable expression of his concern for her!
For the past week, Ding Fan had cooked for her and, to let her have a warm breakfast, he even got a thermal container from somewhere...
Zhou Ruoran clasped her hands together tightly.
Not only had she failed to see it, but she had also looked down on him, even acting cold towards Ding Fan all the time...
Remembering the farewell dinner, Zhou Ruoran's heart unexpectedly started to feel a little ached.
At this point, Zhou Ruoran was certain that Ding Fan must have known that the Wang Family was going to harm her, and that was why he wanted to leave and sever ties with her...
And at that time, Zhou Ruoran was still under the impression that Ding Fan had left to live the good life with a big star, to the extent that she hadn't even accompanied him for that last farewell dinner...
Suddenly, as if remembering something, Zhou Ruoran ran to the corner and took out the passbook with twenty thousand yuan from the cardboard box.
Lin Qingqing had just said that she hadn't given any money to Ding Fan, so the money he had must have come from elsewhere. Now that he wasn't out living the good life but was instead fleeing for safety, did he even have any money with him?
At this moment, Zhou Ruoran's feelings were incredibly complex. She had been misunderstanding Ding Fan all along, and yet he had always been so tolerant of her. Why hadn't he explained himself to her? Could it be that Ding Fan hadn't realized she was misunderstanding him?
Zhou Ruoran shook her head, believing firmly that Ding Fan must have understood, but he chose to silently endure. Suddenly, the words noble and magnanimous came to her mind. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭·𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦·𝘯𝘦𝘵
Ding Fan was indeed embracing all of her with a noble and magnanimous heart...
Zhou Ruoran slowly picked up the seemingly crude bracelet and put it on her wrist, and she carefully pocketed the three pills.
Zhou Ruoran, feeling an inexplicable urge, decided to check out Ding Fan's room. Ever since Ding Fan was discharged from the hospital, she had never entered his room.
Zhou Ruoran walked upstairs and slowly pushed open the door to Ding Fan's room.
Ding Fan's room wasn't messy; on the contrary, it was neat and clean. There was a medicinal scent in the room, as well as a faint aroma that came from Ding Fan himself.
Zhou Ruoran slowly sat on Ding Fan's bed. She had never truly paid attention to Ding Fan. Sitting where he had once sat, she tried to imagine what he might have been thinking...
As she sat down, she felt something beneath the bedding. She reached in and pulled out a stack of papers.
Zhou Ruoran slowly unfolded the papers, and as she recognized what was written on them, she could no longer hold back her emotions, and tears uncontrollably streamed down her face.
These papers were work dockets from the docks where manual laborers carried loads, showing dates and the number of heavy loads Ding Fan had carried that day.
So it turns out... it turns out the money was earned by Ding Fan working at the docks...
Thinking that the food she had enjoyed so much every day might have been paid for with the money Ding Fan earned carrying heavy loads, her heart ached. Her breakfasts might have been funded by Ding Fan's sweat and toil...
Ding Fan, an Eldest Young Master who had never done hard labor before, how could he have managed such grueling work...
Zhou Ruoran's phone rang at that moment.
She glanced at the number and immediately hung up. It was a call urging her to attend the postgraduate entrance interview.
Right now, Zhou Ruoran had no desire to go to the interview. She felt as though she had lost something incredibly important, and her heart felt hollow...