After I Died, My Childhood Friend Became Daddy - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Surveillance and a “Strict Husband”

After Fang Ran returned, he buzzed around Huo Yan like a little honeybee, muttering about how much coffee he had sold today and how much money he had earned.

Hearing this, Huo Yan only felt heartache.

“Are you tired? I’ll give you a foot massage again tonight.”

Fang Ran refused immediately, looking at Huo Yan warily. “No! I reasonably suspect you drugged yesterday’s foot-soaking water. My feet are still blowing cold wind this morning.”

Huo Yan: “…”

He was both annoyed and amused. “You little brat.”

“You old brat!”

Age was indeed Huo Yan’s weakness; he fell silent instantly. After a pause, he said, “Take two days off next week.”

Fang Ran was stunned. “For what?”

“I need to go to a neighboring city on a business trip, about two or three days. You’re coming with me.”

Huo Yan’s separation anxiety made him utterly loath to leave Fang Ran for that long. He truly wished Fang Ran were a doll in his hands that he could tuck into his pocket and carry everywhere.

Fang Ran, however, frowned with a bitter face. “I don’t want to go. The first mock exam is coming up soon. Missing that many days will make me fall behind. Besides, you’re going for work; what am I supposed to do? I’ll just be waiting for you in the hotel.”

“It’s fine, you can follow me around.”

Then he definitely didn’t want to go.

A high school student following along beside him, not understanding a word it would be deathly awkward.

Fang Ran shook his head. “I don’t want to go.”

Huo Yan’s tone grew heavy. “No, you must come with me. I’m not worried about leaving you home alone.”

“What’s there to worry about? I’m not a child anymore.”

Fang Ran counted on his fingers. “I go to school and back every day with a driver to pick me up and drop me off, and Auntie Liu makes the meals at home. What is there to be worried about?”

Huo Yan frowned, his tone brooks no argument. “Ask for leave and go on the trip with me. If you’re worried about schoolwork, bring your books. I can tutor you in the evenings.”

The man was used to giving orders, and his tone inevitably carried a bit of force.

Fang Ran put his hands on his hips, starting to get angry. “I’m not your employee! Don’t order me around! I’m just not going! Unless you tie me up and take me there!”

Huo Yan stared at him with dark eyes.

Did he think he didn’t want to?

He really should use gold chains to tie him up.

The first cold war between the two began.

Actually, it was just Fang Ran throwing a tantrum and refusing to speak to Huo Yan.

He didn’t know what had gotten into Huo Yan lately.

He was becoming more and more overbearing.

Although he had been strict in the past, it hadn’t reached this level.

Fang Ran counted in his heart: his backpack had to be checked every day, the menu of what he ate daily had to be reviewed, the clothes he wore out had to be inspected, and even what time he went to bed every night was under Huo Yan’s control!

This was too much!

And now, he couldn’t even decide whether he could attend class!

…

The first to notice the conflict was inevitably Auntie Liu. In the past, the two always came downstairs together for meals. Sometimes the Little Mister would hang off Mr. Huo, or come running down bouncing and jumping, prompting Mr. Huo to constantly tell him to slow down.

But today, the Little Mister came down first, sitting at the dining table without a word. Not long after, the Mister came down as well, his face cold as ice. His expression softened slightly when he saw the Little Mister, but he also didn’t speak.

This was the first time since the Little Mister’s return that the villa was this chilly.

During the meal, Huo Yan habitually served Fang Ran food and peeled shrimp.

These were things he was used to doing.

Anger was anger.

But it didn’t mean the love was gone.

Seeing the man’s actions, Fang Ran paused for a moment, then huffily continued eating.

I’m only eating the food you served!

It doesn’t mean I forgive you!

…

Two days later, Huo Yan went to a psychological counseling room.

This was a clinic he frequented; he had essentially bought out this counselor to serve only him.

Having already received a call from President Huo, Dr. He was waiting in the studio with a standard smile on his face.

“President Huo, good afternoon.”

Huo Yan sat casually in the chair, his posture languid. He pressed his knuckles against his temple, looking somewhat weary.

Dr. He began to inquire, “How has your sleep been lately?”

“Not bad.”

With the clothes stolen from his “baby,” he could at least fall asleep smelling that scent. Although he still occasionally woke up from dreams, Fang Ran’s room was right next to his; he could go there at any time.

Pushing open the door, he could see his baby’s sleeping face.

“Do you still experience neurological headaches?”

“Sometimes.”

When he saw Ranran being close to others.

Dr. He nodded. “President Huo, it seems your condition is improving.”

Huo Yan raised his eyes slightly and spoke plainly.

“He is back.”

Dr. His heart skipped a beat.

He naturally knew who this “he” was.

Back?

How was he back?

How could someone missing for ten years just return out of the blue?

Could it be that President Huo’s illness had worsened again?

He asked cautiously, “Have you been taking your medication lately?”

“I have, but the dosage is decreasing.”

Dr. He paused and asked, “Then, what is your current distress?”

Huo Yan exhaled.

“When I see him, I want to rape him.”

Dr. He: “???”

“I want to lock him up, right in the villa. I can’t stand him smiling at others or talking to others.”

Dr. He was so scared he looked left and right, truly fearing a policeman might suddenly rush in and arrest them both.

“President Huo…” He spoke with forced composure. “You must try to think of something positive and uplifting.”

Suddenly, an abrupt ringtone sounded.

This was the first time President Huo’s phone had rung during a psychological session.

Dr. He watched as President Huo’s face transformed. One moment he looked gloomy and perverse, and the next, his expression softened like a spring breeze.

“Ranran?”

The man’s voice was gentle.

Dr. He swallowed.

He had never heard President Huo speak in such a tone.

It was truly…

Quite a “clipping” (sweet/affected) voice.

“Okay.” The man’s voice carried a smile. “I’ve got it. Egg tarts from South Street Mall, milk tea from BABD, and crispy cakes from the Old Alley Shop…”

Dr. He listened in amazement.

These were several famous snacks in S City, and because they were so popular, there was no delivery; one had to wait in line.

Huo Yan coaxed him, “I won’t have someone else buy them; I’ll go buy them for you.”

Just how spoiled is this person…

Hanging up the phone, Huo Yan stood and straightened his clothes, his tone returning to cold indifference. “Let’s schedule for next time, Dr. He. I have some urgent business to attend to.”

Dr. He: “…”

I heard you. You’re going to buy snacks for your little ancestor.

In all likelihood, the person on the phone was the “he” Huo Yan had mentioned.

Thinking of the large consulting fees President Huo paid him every year, Dr. He couldn’t help but advise, “President Huo, just maintain this state of mind. Whatever you do, don’t be impulsive and do anything bad.”

He thought President Huo looked quite normal while communicating with the person on the phone just now.

Huo Yan twitched the corner of his mouth, his tone very flat.

“I’m trying very hard to pretend. I just don’t know how long I can keep pretending.”

Dr. He: “…”

…

After a two-day cold war, Fang Ran finally couldn’t resist calling Huo Yan, begrudgingly giving him a way out.

Today was the weekend. He was having problems at home. He didn’t go to the study or return to the bedroom; instead, he did his problems in the living room. The implication was clear.

A moment later, the door sounded.

Fang Ran raised his head. The moment he saw the man’s figure, he quickly lowered his head again, though his ears were perked up.

Hearing footsteps approaching, Fang Ran gripped the pen in his hand. After half a minute, several packaging bags were placed in front of him.

Huo Yan’s gentle voice sounded from above.

“See if these are the ones you like to eat.”

Only then did Fang Ran raise his eyes slightly, letting out a soft “humph.”

Huo Yan took the opportunity to sit beside him, lowering his voice. “Still angry with me?”

“My attitude was bad. I apologize to you.”

Fang Ran still pursed his lips and didn’t speak.

Huo Yan thought for a moment and leaned closer. “Doing math problems? Is there anything you don’t know how to do? I’ll explain it to you.”

Fang Ran hesitated for a moment, the tip of his pen pointing. “This one.”

Huo Yan breathed a sigh of relief and quickly took it. “Let me see.”

Fang Ran rested his chin on the table, blinking his eyes at Huo Yan, whispering a whine, “You were so mean that day.”

What did that mean?

Huo Yan thought expressionlessly in his heart that he could be much meaner and much worse.

But on the surface, he gave a gentle smile. “My fault. I didn’t control my tone well.”

Fang Ran paused. “Then, your business trip…”

“If you don’t want to go, you don’t go.” Huo Yan took over the sentence, his eyes darkening slightly. “But there are conditions. You must send me no fewer than twenty messages a day, you must answer the video calls I give you, you must report to me at least one hour in advance when you go out to play, and you must take photos of your breakfast, lunch, and dinner for me…”

Huo Yan paused. “That’s all for now. I’ll add more as I think of them.”

Fang Ran’s eyes went round. “That’s too exaggerated! Huo Yan! Do you really think I’m your son!”

The man’s lips curled slightly, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Do you agree or not? If you don’t agree, come on the business trip with me.”

Fang Ran pouted. “Like this again! Ordering me around again!”

He huffed, “Fine, fine, I agree! I’ll even take photos for you when I shower, are you satisfied!”

Oh, there are additional benefits.

Huo Yan nodded. “That’s fine.”

“Ahhh! You’re too much!” Angry, Fang Ran lunged at Huo Yan, sitting directly on the man’s lap, acting as if he had pinned Huo Yan down. He tilted his chin up. “Do you yield?”

Perhaps Fang Ran himself didn’t realize how suitable his posture was for… “stirring the pot.” He was still there showing off his power.

Huo Yan’s eyes darkened, and a light laugh escaped his throat. He then nodded sincerely. “I yield, I yield.”

The two had reached a begrudging reconciliation agreement.

Fang Ran didn’t sit on the sofa; instead, he leaned against Huo Yan, treating him like a giant body pillow. Huo Yan let him be, one arm around Fang Ran, the other holding the problem sheet to explain it to him.

In the afternoon, light spilled in from outside like dappled broken gold, falling upon the two of them.

A rare moment of quiet and beautiful time.

…

…

Huo Yan went on his business trip.

The flight was quite early. Fang Ran was snoring away in his room when he was forcibly dug out and picked up.

Half-awake, Fang Ran instinctively reached out to thump Huo Yan. “So annoying, I’m sleepy. What are you doing?”

“Ranran, I’m leaving. Say goodbye to me.”

Are you okay?

Waking someone up in the morning just to have them say goodbye?

Fang Ran was almost woken up by anger. He stiffly dropped two words: “Goodbye!”

Huo Yan, however, acted as if he didn’t hear Fang Ran’s bad mood. He smiled gently, looking at Fang Ran’s face, which was still a bit flushed from sleep. Resisting the urge to kiss him, he whispered, “Be good at home. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

Tucking him back into the covers, Fang Ran was like a wound-up sleeping doll; he turned over and immediately went back to snoring.

The man leaned over slightly and lowered his head.

his nose was almost touching Fang Ran’s cheek.

Any closer and they would have kissed.

But Huo Yan ultimately straightened up, turned, and left.

……

Fang Ran, who thought he would be a bit more free with Huo Yan gone on a business trip, found out he was utterly mistaken.

In fact, the control was even stricter.

By the time he woke up for breakfast, Huo Yan had just gotten off the plane.

The phone was propped up on one side for a video call.

While Fang Ran ate at the dining table, he could still hear the voice of Huo Yan talking to his secretary on the other end.

“Have the planning department submit another one… Fang Ran! No picking your food.”

Fang Ran, who had just silently poked a piece of broccoli away, quickly retracted his hand.

Seriously… his eyes are strangely sharp.

Actually, Fang Ran didn’t have the habit of being a picky eater when he was in the orphanage; it was just a habit he’d developed lately from being spoiled, and Huo Yan was always monitoring him.

After finishing breakfast, Fang Ran showed his plate and bowl to the camera. “President Huo, please inspect.”

Huo Yan gave a light laugh. “Alright. Go to school. Remember to reply to the messages I send you.”

Fang Ran breathed a sigh of relief and quickly ran off with his schoolbag.

Recently, the first mock exams were approaching, and a rare sense of tension filled the school.

Just as he sat down, he heard several people in front and behind him chatting, saying they were going to a bar to relax after school.

Zhao Yan asked casually, “Fang Ran, do you want to go?”

After asking, he felt a bit of regret. Because of the last time Fang Ran drank, he had been scolded mercilessly by his father when he got home.

Fang Ran, however, shook his head. “I’m not going. I’m going home to do problems.”

Zhao Yan felt a slight relief in his heart.

But then he heard them say there was a band performing at the bar tonight. Fang Ran’s eyes lit up. “A performance? Then I want to go watch for a bit.”

Zhao Yan thought that just watching a performance without drinking should be fine. He nodded. “Okay, let’s go early.”

He hesitated over whether to report to Huo Yan, but thinking that if the driver couldn’t pick him up, he would still tell him to Huo Yan anyway.

Fang Ran eventually sent a message to Huo Yan.

Unexpectedly, Huo Yan was surprisingly easy to talk to. He agreed, only requiring him to be home by ten o’clock.

Fang Ran happily sent several [Puppy wagging its tail] emojis over.

On the other end of the phone, Huo Yan who had just used a gentle tone on WeChat and even told Fang Ran to have fun was currently taking a handful of medicine.

He swallowed it with water, his expression terrifyingly gloomy.

He had only been away for one day, and Fang Ran was already like a little bird with growing wings wanting to fly. How could this be allowed?

Closing his eyes, Huo Yan dialed an internal line. “Hold an emergency video meeting and adjust the schedule. I’m returning to S City a day early.”

…

After school, Fang Ran told the driver and left directly with Zhao Yan.

This bar was under Zhao Yan’s cousin’s name; they had specifically reserved a booth with a good view, very close to the stage.

As soon as Fang Ran sat down, he immediately said, “I’m not drinking. I’ll have fruit juice.”

No one there dared to pressure him.

They even hurried to pour him a glass of orange juice.

Fang Ran had never seen a band perform. Having traveled ten years into the future, he excitedly wanted to try all the new things he hadn’t experienced.

However, the phone on the table kept vibrating.

Huo Yan’s messages popped out one by one.

[Ranran, are you having fun?]

[Be good, don’t drink alcohol.]

[Can you take a photo for me to see?]

…

Fang Ran held up his orange juice and recorded a short video of the stage to send to Huo Yan.

“Look! No alcohol.”

Zhao Yan silently downed a drink next to him.

Ha.

A real “strict husband” (fu guan yan).

Still has to report in.

Huo Yan’s message came back quickly.

[What are the people on stage wearing? So little it’s indecent.]

Fang Ran looked up. They were a band; it was normal to wear fashionable clothes, right? A mesh tank top wasn’t really anything special.

He typed back to Huo Yan:

[Didn’t you say that now, ten years later, things have become open and good brothers can even kiss? This clothing is nothing.]

Snap!

President Huo was hit by his own boomerang.

He didn’t send any more messages for a long while.

Fang Ran put down his phone and began to focus on the performance.

To be honest, the performance was just so-so it was too noisy. Fang Ran was still thinking about the two math papers he hadn’t finished at school.

After sitting for a bit and finishing his orange juice, Fang Ran stood up to head home.

Zhao Yan also stood up. “I’ll have the driver take you.”

“No need, you stay and play.” Fang Ran took out his phone. “I’ll just send a message to the driver.”

Who knew that within two minutes of sending the message, the driver replied that he had already arrived.

Fang Ran quickly left with his schoolbag.

He sent a message to Huo Yan on his way out.

[I’m going home, A-Yan!]

[Good baby.]

Staring at those two words, Fang Ran’s face flushed. He looked left and right like he was guilty of a crime.

Really.

Why did Huo Yan call him that?

Those words were so eye-catching on the chat page. Finally, Fang Ran simply long-pressed and deleted!

Whew!

Much better!

…

Huo Yan wasn’t home. The only benefit was that Fang Ran could finally stay up late to study.

Otherwise, Huo Yan would come to catch him and take him to sleep on the dot every day.

Fang Ran guessed it might be the light leaking from under the door that Huo Yan saw from outside.

He didn’t know how it could be such a coincidence, but just as Fang Ran returned to his room, Huo Yan’s video call came through.

Fang Ran propped the phone on one side and changed his clothes without reservation. “The bar wasn’t fun at all. My ears are still ringing.”

In the camera, the youth’s body was slender; just looking at his back, it was a patch of jade-white. Huo Yan tugged his tie and exhaled, his voice slightly raspy. “If you don’t like it, don’t go next time.”

Pulling on his pajamas, Fang Ran’s hair was a bit frizzy from static electricity, looking like an alien.

He leaned in, staring at the screen. “Do you still have work?”

Huo Yan stared at the youth’s face pushed close to the camera without missing an inch, letting out a slight “mm.”

“Okay then, get some rest early.” Fang Ran waved at the camera. “I’m going to have problems.”

The screen went dark. Huo Yan gripped his phone slightly, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

A few minutes later, he went to the bathroom.

Before the business trip, while packing his suitcase, Huo Yan had taken a pair of Fang Ran’s personal pajamas.

So far, it hasn’t been discovered.

He buried his whole face in the clothes and took a deep breath; it was a scent that belonged uniquely to Fang Ran.

The man closed his eyes slightly. Relying on this small trace of scent, his hand reached down.

…

…

The second day Huo Yan was away, Fang Ran arrived late to school, looking fresh.

The alarm rang, but he still overslept. Fang Ran came running down from upstairs, quickly took a photo of the dining table, drank a bowl of porridge, and took another photo.

That should be enough to fool Huo Yan.

“Oh, Little Mister, the snacks.”

Auntie Liu chased him out and handed him a bag. “Fruit and baked cookies.”

Fang Ran caught it quickly. “Thanks, Auntie Liu. I’m off!”

It was a chaotic morning.

Usually, when Huo Yan was there, if Fang Ran hadn’t come out by the designated time, Huo Yan would go in and carry him out.

Although being carried to wash up by his childhood friend was a bit like being a child and quite embarrassing, it was better than being late.

Fang Ran started to miss Huo Yan a little.

It was even worse in the evening. At the huge dining table, he was the only one. Huo Yan was in a meeting and couldn’t video call him either.

Fang Ran took a dry bite of food, feeling it was somewhat tasteless.

When Huo Yan was there, he was always chirping away, talking about all the things that happened at school. Huo Yan mostly listened, but he would respond to every one of Fang Ran’s sentences.

“Sigh”

Fang Ran let out another heavy sigh.

Auntie Liu walked over from the side, carrying a clay pot. “Little Mister, drink more of this. Carp and soybean soup is best for the eyes. Mr. Huo specifically instructed it, saying you stay up late to study and told me to make soup for you today.”

Fang Ran responded listlessly.

Suddenly, he sat up a bit straighter.

Wait, that’s not right.

Huo Yan isn’t even home; how does he know about staying up late to study?

Abruptly, he remembered the driver from yesterday.

It had been less than two minutes after he sent his location when the driver arrived, as if… he had been waiting at the door all along.