chapter 23

When they came out of the police station, Su Ran was holding Su Han’s hand. Once again, Su Han flung her hand off.

“I didn’t need you to come here,” Su Han said coldly. He twisted his face away to hide his awkwardness.

No matter how mature Su Han was, he was just a preteen. He didn’t know what to do right now. He hadn’t expected that Su Ran would come to help him and protect him.

Today’s Su Ran truly surprised him.

Su Han had never seen Su Ran like this before. Wait no, that’s wrong. At that rich person’s party at Dongshan Court, Su Ran had been like this too. She had been even stronger on that day too.

Su Han suddenly thought of something else, and his expression became bad again.

“Hey, I’m leaving.”

“Wait a minute, where are you going to go?”

“Or, better question, where are you planning to live?” Su Ran stared at Su Han as she asked that question.

“None of your business.” After a pause, Su Han added, “I’ll figure it out myself.”

“Is your plan to go to the grilled skewer shop on the right of the hot post restaurant? Or the stationshery shop to the left of the restaurant?”

“…”

“Come on, come home with me. No matter how bad it is, it’ll still be better than sleeping on the streets,” Su Ran said.

On the way out of the police station, the police officer had given her a lecture on how parents should have a sense of responsibility, rebellious children needed love and care, and other related topics. Su Ran agreed with his sentiments. She felt obligated to fulfill her role as an instant mom.

Perhaps, her actions now would help the villain blacken less in the future. Every little bit helped.

After hesitating, Su Han said, “I won’t use your money or touch your stuff.”

“En, okay, let’s go.”

As this plastic mother and son pair, who didn’t have any familial affection or fond memories of each other, walked together, an awkward silence grew.

Just when Su Ran thought they were going to walk back in awkward silence the entire way, she heard Su Han somewhat stiffly say,”I didn’t steal his money.

“En.” Su Ran confidently nodded.

“I’m telling the truth!”

“I know. You wouldn’t do that.” Su Ran’s tone was very certain.

At the very least, in another decade, he would become a big villain that could even cause trouble for the Song’s. Even if he was only a kid right now, he wouldn’t sink so low as to steal this little bit of money.

Although he didn’t know about Su Ran’s unspoken thoughts and thought it was beneath his dignity to care about this woman’s confidence in him, he couldn’t help the brightening in his eyes when he heard her words.

“So you believe me?”

“You wouldn’t steal that $500.” Su Ran nodded. Yeah, he wouldn’t. Even if he was going to steal something, it would be a big heist.

…

“Also…”

“Hmm?”

“There isn’t a stationery shop to the left of the restaurant or a grilled skewer shop on the right.”

“Ah? Then what’s there?”

“Looks like a ramen restaurant.”

“Is the food good there?”

“Don’t know.” He added, “I haven’t eaten there.”

“Let’s go there sometime then.” In her original world, her little assistants like to drag her outside and visit various shops. They were probably worried she would get sick from her staying at home all the time.

“En.” It was a quiet, short sound that seemed as if it had come from his throat.

If she wasn’t more sensitive to sounds than the average person and hadn’t gotten used to Su Han’s pronunciation, Su Ran might have thought he was ignoring her.

They lapsed back into an awkward silence until they arrived at their rented home.

Su Han deeply furrowed his brow when he saw the large words written in red paint on the door.

“You borrowed money again?

Ah haha.

Should she say no one knew their mother better than their own children, or was it simply because the original owner had done this so many times that Su Han was already used to it?

Faced with Su Han’s rhetorical question that he had said with such conviction, Su Ran suddenly felt a bit flustered.

“It’s an old debt,” Su Ran said.