Chapter 9: Eating noodles

Even though Su Ran thought her instant son's attitude of "It's no big deal for me to treat you. You can order whatever you want" was cool, they still had a unilateral discussion before ordering delivery.

When the delivery guy came, Su Ran was rummaging through Su Han's stuff.

She had already thrown away all of the original owner's belongings. As for Su Han's possessions, there wasn't much. She had stuffed it all in a wardrobe.

When Su Han was accepting the takeout, he noticed how heavy the bag was. His brow furrowed as the aroma of food wafted out of the food containers.

"More and more wasteful," Su Han muttered.

"What did you say?" Su Ran was still going through the clothing when she heard Su Han's voice from the outside.

"Nothing," Su Han quickly replied. "The food is here."

After saying this, Su Han's expression returned to an impassive one. Carrying the takeout, he placed it on the only table in the apartment, then he turned around and walked to the couch on the side.

When Su Ran came out of the bedroom, this is what she saw: the takeout was left completely untouched on the table, Su Han's head was hanging down, and he was silently sitting on the couch. It was if there was an invisible wall separating him from the food.

Was the food not tempting enough, or was the teenager not hungry enough? Why was he so indifferent when the food was right in front of him?

Finding his behavior strange, Su Ran asked, "The food is here. Why aren't you eating?"

This plastic mother and child had remained strangers for over a decade. It wasn't possible to immediately change the status quo with only a few awkward conversations. And so, Su Ran didn't think Su Han would wait for her to eat together.

Su Ran had only casually asked this question. She was surprised when Su Han suddenly stiffened as if someone had tapped his pressure points. Soon after, a sneer flashed through his stubborn face.

It was such a minor fluctuation, but Su Ran with her nearly perfect vision saw it.

Little villain ah, cuter children are more likeable. That way, your death won't be so wretched when the time comes.

Where had he learned to make these unlikeable expressions? From the original owner?

Thinking of the original owner, Su Ran abruptly forze in stunned realization!

Why had she forgotten about this?

In the past, the original owner only ordered what she liked to eat. She never bothered ordering a share of food for Su Han.

Every time, after the original owner had eaten and drank her full, she picked up her purse and seductively strolled out. It was only after the original owner had left and the sound of her high heels had faded into the distance, that a small figure would come out of the corner of the room to consume the leftovers on the table.

Picturing that image, Su Ran felt her chest tightening and her blood pressure rising.

In addition, since she had the original owner's memories, she also knew that those leftovers weren't intentionally left for Su Han. It was only because the original owner was in a hurry to go out and had been too lazy to throw out her trash.

Even as a bystander, she couldn't stand the way the original owner had treated her son. If she wasn't currently occupying this body right now, Su Ran would have the impulse to smack the original owner's corpse.

"Why are you just sitting there? I ordered food for both of us. Come over and eat. This restaurant's wide rice noodles are really good. Hurry up. It won't taste good once it gets cold." Su Ran tried to use her most normal tone of voice to say this. When Su Han looked over in her direction, she had already hidden away the sympathy and pain she felt for him.

Seeing that Su Han was blankly frozen in place, Su Ran could only say in a half-jokingly and half-threateningly tone, "Do I need to take the noodles over to you?"

This sentence was effective. Su Han abruptly stood up and walked over.

Seeing the two takeout containers in the bag, Su Han slightly paused before picking up the smaller container without hesitation.

Seeing Su Han turning around and about to go back to the couch, Su Ran called out, "Hey, wait, that one is mine. The larger one is for you."

Seeing that Su Han wasn't moving, Su Ran said, "Take that one."

After a few seconds, Su Han stiffly said, "No need."

"What do you mean no need? I ordered based on how much we could each eat." The original owner's brain didn't have many memories of Su Han, but Su Ran had gone to some high-level schools for music exchanges. Some of those schools had been middle schools, so Su Ran knew that boys of Su Han's approximate size would have large appetites.

Seeing that Su Han still didn't make a move, Su Ran took the takeout container from his hand and replaced it with the larger takeout container.

"Eat up." Su Ran didn't have experience with talking or coaxing children, so she could only speak to him in the simple and straightforward way that she and her little assistants would converse.

Soon after, she thought of something and added, "You'll digest food better sitting at the table than on the couch. Come over here and eat at the table."

Su Han finally reacted a little bit.

Holding the takeout container, Su Han walked to the other side of the table and sat down across from Su Ran. With his head lowered, he opened the lid and started to quietly eat.

Even as Su Han was chewing and swallowing, the muscles on his face remained tense. If the other party wasn't eating so quickly, Su Ran would have questioned if the noodles tasted bad.

Glancing at Su Han, she saw that his head was almost buried in the takeout container. Initially, Su Ran wanted to remind him if you kept your head so low, dandruff might fall into the food. But when she saw redness in Su Han's eyes, Su Ran stopped.

My god, how badly had the original owner starved her son? He was supposed to become a big villain in the future, but right now, he would tear up just from a bowl of noodles.

Although, this restaurant did have really good noodles.

At first, Su Han was eating very quickly, but he eventually slowed down. In the end, Su Han and Su Ran finished eating and put down their chopsticks at the same time.

Not waiting for Su Ran to clean up, Su Han quickly stood up, deftly stacked the takeout containers, and placed them inside the bag. Then, he turned around and tossed the bag into the garbage can by the door.

He had done this in one go. There wasn't a gap in his movements that would allow Su Ran to offer to help.

Su Ran: Uh...

"I'll go look for your stuff."

Su Ran couldn't put herself into the role of a substitute mother. She had brought Su Han back, but it felt more like she had gained a roommate.

Anyways, it was only right to show a little concern and care to a new roommate.

Before Su Han could say no, Su Ran had already gone back to the bedroom.

Su Han followed after her. When he reached the doorway, he pursed his lips and hesitated with going further into the room.

In the past, his mother hadn't allowed him to enter her room because she was worried he might break her slightly valuable things or something would go missing.

A little while later, Su Ran came out of the bedroom.

"Umm, so I found all of your stuff. Go look and see what's still usable. If you're missing anything, let's go buy it tomorrow."

After saying, she suddenly thought of something and embarrassment appeared on her face.

"Actually, let's go now."

According to the original owner's memories, she had used Su Han's toothbrush to clean her shoes.

"I can buy what I need myself," Su Han stiffly said as he turned his head to the side.

Hearing his response, Su Ran looked at Su Han.

Opps, she had forgotten this son had "a large amount of money." He could even afford to treat someone to takeout.

"Okay, then after you clean up, you can go to sleep by yourself." Su Ran pointed at the bedroom.

Hearing Su Ran's words, Su Han felt a bit incredulous.

This woman was saying he could sleep in the bedroom?

Even though he instinctively felt it was more likely he was hallucinating than for her to really those words, Su Han still answered dryly, "No need..."

"Go on." Borrowing her little assistants' words to interact with Su Han, she felt a bit on the edge herself. Actually, Su Ran was worried she would do something that would scare Su Han in her sleep.

Su Ran suddenly had a moment of inspiration. It was normal for someone to soak in the bathtub for a few hours at a time. Or, she could pretend to have night terrors?

In the end, she went with a more low-key option by saying, "It'll be more convenient for me to sleep in the living room."

Su Han had originally stood in place without moving. Hearing Su Ran's words, he seemed to have suddenly thought of something. A cold and mocking look suddenly appeared on his teenage face. It wasn't a look that should belong to a minor. There was also a faint trace of disappointment.

How could he have forgotten about this woman's "job"?

Ignoring that uncomfortable disappointment, Su Han turned around and silently entered the room.

He saw that his things had been neatly put on the bed. Although it wasn't much and he clearly felt angry, Su Han inexplicably felt a bit happy.

He had thought that woman would have already thrown out his belongings. After all, this home had been almost emptied out. He hadn't expected that things would still be here.

Other than... his toothbrush?

"Humph! Whatever, it's that woman's business, not mine," Su Han grumbled. He took out an English workbook from the pile of stuff and started to memorize vocabulary.

However, Su Han couldn't resist paying attention and listening for sounds coming from the living room while he studied.

Su Han found it odd that it was unusually quiet outside. He waited for the sound of the door opening and closing, but he didn't hear anything.

In the end, Su Han couldn't hold back the impulse to check.

What he saw was Su Ran wearing casual clothing, sitting cross-legged on the couch, holding a pen, and writing something.

Su Ran had just finished jotting down the last music note when she looked up and saw Su Han blankly standing in the bedroom doorway. He hadn't been able to hide away the peculiar look on his face when she had suddenly looked up.

"Do you need something?"

"No." Su Han turned around and took a few steps into the bedroom before turning back again.

"You... you're not going out?" Su Han couldn't resist asking.

"Huh? Nope, not going out."

"What about tomorrow?" Su Han asked. There was a hopeful look in his eyes that he wasn't aware of.

"Tomorrow? I won't be going out tomorrow either." As Su Ran was saying this, she went back to composing music. Occasionally, she would use her free hand to play out a few notes on her phone's piano app.

A little while later, Su Ran added, "I probably won't be going out in the next few days."

She didn't expect to get a reply back from Shengding Entertainment anytime soon. And, other than the part-time private piano lessons at Dongshan Court that she didn't really want to go to, Su Ran was currently unemployed.

The best way to save money was to stay at home.

After hearing Su Ran's answer, there was a spark of happiness in Su Han's heart, but it was quickly smothered at the thought of something else.

"Was it because of what happened yesterday?"

"Huh? What happened yesterday?"

"The thing that happened in that rich guy's villa yesterday."

Su Han had a front row seat to Su Ran and Gu Jiahao's confrontation yesterday.

Based on that guy's clothing and speech, Su Han was certain that his identity wasn't simple. Although Su Han couldn't completely understand the two adults' conversation yesterday, it was obvious that guy had been infuriated by Su Ran's words.

And so, Su Han guessed that she wanted to stay at home to lie low for a few days because she had offended that guy.