Chapter 8 Hair Tie

Forget it, why think so much, just eat the roast chicken first.

Moreover, before this, he had promised Li Fu that if there was anything delicious, he would share half with him, and Chu Ran didn't want to go back on his word.

So Chu Ran hid the roast chicken carefully, tried to avoid people as carefully as possible along the way, and arrived at the remote and desolate palace.

Perhaps hearing footsteps, Li Fu walked out of the house, one hand resting on the red door frame with mottled vermilion paint. He was already thin and malnourished, and after a bout of illness, his body became even thinner and frailer. Standing there, he looked like a weak piece of bamboo buried in the ground.

"I came out just in time. Look what I brought with me."

Chu Ran held up the roast chicken in his hand, his dark eyes full of pride. A breeze blew by, brushing a strand of hair that had hung down from under his hat at some point, making it seem a little playful.

"Come and eat." Chu Ran stretched out his hand to call Li Fu.

Li Fu pursed his thin lips, hesitated for a moment, and walked towards Chu Ran.

The yard was very deserted. Apart from the well next to it, there was not even a decent place to sit in such a large yard.

Chu Ran thought for a moment and asked Li Fu, "Do you have a large piece of cloth in your room? Yes, this big."

Chu Ran stretched out his hand and gestured a few times.

Li Fu nodded.

Chu Ran said happily: "Well, go and get it out."

The two of them spread the cloth on the ground together. Chu Ran knelt down on the "tablecloth" and peeled off the roast chicken that was tightly wrapped in several layers of oil paper. The roast chicken inside was still steaming.

Everything was ready. Chu Ran sat down cross-legged first. He rubbed his palms and couldn't help swallowing his saliva. He reached out and grabbed a big chicken leg for himself. He took a bite, and his mouth, which had been bland for several days, immediately burst into a mouthful of fresh juice.

It smells so good.

He looked up while eating and found Li Fu still standing opposite him, so he gestured to Li Fu incoherently while chewing something, "What are you standing there for? Eat quickly, if you don't, I'll finish it!"

Li Fu then sat down and, imitating Chu Ran's example, reached out to pick up a chicken leg for himself to eat.

After eating the chicken leg, Chu Ran picked up a chicken wing. Li Fu also followed Chu Ran's example and picked up the other side of the chicken wing. The two of them took a piece each and quickly finished the whole chicken.

After finishing the meal, Chu Ran sat on the ground with his hands behind his back, throwing the clean bones into a pile, his face full of satisfaction and a feeling of unfulfilled desire.

It has been a long time since I have eaten meat so well. Occasionally, I have a treat, and it feels like when Chu Ran went back to the countryside to celebrate the New Year when he was a child. At that time, Chu Ran's family conditions were not very good, and he could only eat good food during the New Year.

Inadvertently, his eyes swept over Li Fu who was sitting opposite him. Li Fu was also very satisfied with his meal. He stuck out his tongue and licked his shiny lips carefully.

Because all the plots Chu Ran knew were heard from his female deskmate, but the story told by someone is definitely different from watching it in person, and most of the plots that seem unimportant will be simply skipped by the person telling the story, just like the female deskmate likes to ship CPs, so she focuses on the two male protagonists in the story, and only mentions the other supporting characters in the story. Chu Ran only knows that Li Fu is the fourth among the princes, has lived in the palace since childhood, and is not favored. Apart from this, Chu Ran does not know much about Li Fu, and he does not even know the real reason why Li Fu turned evil.

Is it because his face was burned later that he turned evil?

Maybe.

But the teenage Li Fu only looked cold on the outside, but in fact, he didn't seem to be as indifferent as he looked.

In fact, Li Fu's face is quite good-looking, especially his facial features. It is conceivable that if he continues to grow up like this, he will definitely be a handsome man. If he is really ruined in the end, it will be a pity.

Chu Ran was thinking in a daze, but his eyes were fixed on Li Fu in confusion.

"What are you looking at?"

Chu Ran came back to his senses and stared at Li Fu with a slightly narrowed gaze, "Why don't you tie your hair up?"

From the first time Chu Ran met Li Fu until today, every time Chu Ran saw him, he had his hair loose.

Li Fu said: "No."

After a pause, Li Fu added: "No one helps me tie my hair, and I don't know how to do it."

"No one cares about you?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Chu Ran realized what a stupid question he had asked. In all the times he had met Li Fu, he had never seen anyone other than Li Fu. Even when Li Fu was sick with a fever, it was he who took care of him by his bedside. If it weren't for him, he even suspected that even if Li Fu was burned to death in bed, no one would care.

"So...how did you live as a child?"

Li Fu said calmly: "Just live like that."

"Where's your mother?"

Chu Ran didn't ask his father, because his father was the emperor. It was said that Li Fu was no longer favored, which was enough to show that Li Fu's father, the emperor, did not like him.

But what about mom? Even if dad doesn’t care, mom has to take care of her.

"My mother died a long time ago," Li Fu said. "She died when I was very young. I lived with her at first, and then I moved here."

"oh……"

Chu Ran suddenly didn't know what to say.

His mother died, and his father didn't love him, leaving him to fend for himself. Isn't that the same as having neither a father nor a mother?

Even though my father is the emperor, it seems to be of no use.

It's quite pitiful...

"What are you thinking about?"

Chu Ran lowered his eyes and saw Li Fu lying towards him, with his head tilted back and his eyes staring up at him.

Chu Ran's eyes flashed, he lowered his head, and with a "swish" sound, Chu Ran pulled down a corner of his shirt.

"Come here and sit in front of me."

Chu Ran's slender fingers were holding a strip of light grey cloth in her hand. The cloth was resting between her fingers, swaying leisurely from side to side in the wind.

"Would you like to tie my hair?"

Chu Ran said, "Your hair is too long. It's not convenient to keep it like this. Although I'm not very experienced in tying hair, it's better than you keeping it loose like this. Come here quickly."

Li Fu crawled over slowly, crossed his legs, and sat in front of Chu Ran. He raised his shoulders silently, and his thin back suddenly became exceptionally straight.

Li Fu's hair looked thick and long, but in fact, it was not of good quality. It was dry, frizzy and yellow. Chu Ran's right hand held his hair with his fingers like a handful of dry straw. It might be that the food he ate on weekdays was too bad, and he couldn't even fill his stomach, so how could he have enough nutrition to nourish his hair.

Chu Ran patiently gathered all of Li Fu's hair with one hand, tied it up high, and finally used the strip of cloth in his hand to simply wrap it around the roots of the hair a few times before tying it into a knot.

It seems a little crooked.

So Chu Ran untied the hairband again and tied it around her neck several times before she managed to tie it right.

"Okay." Chu Ran said.

Li Fu reached his hand behind his head and touched the hair that was tied up by Chu Ran. The corners of his straightened lips curled upwards modestly, as if he was smiling.