You were supposed to have a fake marriage with the diva, so how did you become her father?

Chapter 405 "The Song of the Palace"

The next morning, the two set off from the service area and continued driving east.

From Henan Province to Shanghai, it's a little over 600 kilometers by expressway, and it takes about a day to drive there.

Lu Ran wasn't in a hurry, driving at a moderate speed, maintaining a speed of around 100 km/h.

He calculated the time and realized he would arrive home just before dark.

Shen Yuege was eating breakfast in the passenger seat. Her breakfast was steamed buns bought at the service area, filled with pork and scallions. They were already cold, but she didn't care and ate them with relish.

"When you bought steamed buns at the service area, did you feel the pinch again?" she asked.

No. Really, not this time.

"I glanced at it when you scanned the code; six steamed buns cost thirty-two yuan. Normally in Shanghai, six steamed buns would cost at most ten-odd yuan."

"Things at service areas are expensive to begin with. You know that."

"I know. But you still feel sorry for me every time."

Lu Ran chuckled.

Actually, he wasn't feeling sorry for her; he just liked to tease Shen Yuege every time.

The car crossed the border between Henan and Anhui provinces and entered Anhui province.

The scenery in Anhui Province is similar to that in Henan Province: plains, farmland, villages—nothing particularly special.

[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: 20 ...

After finishing her steamed bun, Shen Yuege stuffed the packaging into a trash bag, wiped her hands, and picked up her phone to browse through it.

After flipping through the pages for a while, he suddenly exclaimed, "Huh?"

"What's wrong?"

"Look at this." She handed over her phone, which displayed a screenshot of a Weibo trending topic. The top trending topic was "Mysterious Singer at Wansui Mountain."

The second trending topic was "worship".

The third trending topic was: "Has Lu Ran released a new song again?"

Lu Ran glanced at the phone and handed it back to her: "They're still guessing it's me?"

"Some people in the comments section have already recognized you by your hat. They said you wore that hat in a previous live stream. Others said your posture and the way you hold the microphone are exactly the same as Lu Ran's."

"These people have incredibly sharp eyes."

"Fans have sharp eyes. They remember where the mole on your face is."

Lu Ran sighed. He knew he would be recognized sooner or later, but he didn't expect it to happen so quickly.

He thought he could hold out for at least two or three days, but he didn't even make it through a single day.

"So what are you going to do now?" Shen Yuege asked.

"What? What should we do?"

"To admit it or not?"

Lu Ran thought for a moment: "I won't admit it. I'll deny it to the death. If you ask, I'll just say we look alike, it's a coincidence, or that the fans are overthinking it."

Do you think your fans will believe that?

"Whether they believe it or not is not important. What's important is that I haven't officially confirmed it. As long as I don't say anything, they can only guess. And the hype will die down eventually."

Shen Yuege looked at him, a smile playing on her lips: "You're quite fast, aren't you?"

"I'm not fast, I think far ahead."

The two drove for another hour or so until they reached a service area, where Lu Ran stopped to refuel.

Shen Yuege went to the restroom and came back with a bag of snacks in her hand, including potato chips, cookies, and chocolate.

"You bought something again?"

"The supermarket at the service area is having a sale. Get 20 off for every 100 yuan spent."

"You'll buy things just because they're on sale? You shouldn't buy things you don't need even if they're on sale."

"Who says you don't need it? Eat it on the way."

"You just ate steamed buns. Are you eating again?"

"Steamed buns are for breakfast, this is a snack. They're different."

Lu Ran was speechless for a moment, then got back in the car and continued driving.

After passing through Anhui Province, we entered Jiangsu Province.

Jiangsu Province is very close to Shanghai. There are more cars on the highway, most of them with Shanghai license plates. People who have been out for fun are probably starting to head back.

As they approached Shanghai, Shen Yuege suddenly said, "Lu Ran."

"Um?"

"Will you be busy again after you go back?"

"Yeah. Infinite Firepower is out, I need to keep an eye on it. And I also need to keep up with the progress of Minecraft, it'll be in open beta after the New Year."

"Then you go ahead with your work. I have my own things to do too. The Super Boy finals are coming up soon, and there's a lot to do afterward."

"Isn't that perfect? ​​You do your thing, I'll do mine, and we won't bother each other."

Shen Yuege glanced at him but didn't say anything more.

The RV exited the highway and entered the urban area of ​​Shanghai.

The streets of Shanghai are still the same as always: lots of cars, lots of people, and lots of traffic lights.

As Lu Ran drove slowly through the traffic, he suddenly felt as if he were in another world.

I've been traveling for a month, seeing so many mountains and rivers, eating so many strange things, and taking so many photos. Now I'm back.

He glanced at Shen Yuege in the passenger seat. Shen Yuege was looking at her phone with a faint smile on her lips.

Lu Ran didn't know what she was laughing at, but she felt that she was laughing more than before.

Perhaps it's because I've seen so much beautiful scenery that my mood has improved.

Perhaps it's because I haven't worked much this past month, and I've relaxed a bit.

Perhaps it's for some other reason.

Lu Ran didn't know, and didn't want to know.

As long as she smiles, the reason doesn't matter.

...

It was already past four o'clock in the afternoon when the RV drove into the residential area where Shen Yuege's parents lived.

Lu Ran parked the car downstairs, turned off the engine, and stretched while leaning back in his seat.

After driving all day, my back aches, and my bones cracked a few times.

Shen Yuege unbuckled her seatbelt and peered out the window at the building.

"My mom is by the window," she said.

Lu Ran followed her gaze and saw that a window on the third floor was open. Chen Huixian was leaning on the windowsill looking down, holding a rag in her hand. It seemed that she had stopped when she saw their car while wiping the window.

"Was your mom waiting by the window the whole time?"

"Definitely. I told her I'd arrive in the afternoon, but she's probably been waiting since noon."

The two people got out of the car, opened the storage compartment of the RV, and began to move things out.

I bought so much stuff this month; the trunk is completely full of woven bags, cardboard boxes, and plastic bags, piled up like a small hill.

Lu Ran had just taken the two bags out when he heard Chen Huixian's voice coming from upstairs.

"Tsukika! You're back?"

Shen Yuege looked up and called out to the upstairs, "Mom! You're back!"

Priscilla Chan's voice grew louder: "Wait a minute, I'll come down and help you with your things!"

"No need, no need! It's not much!" Shen Yuege shouted, then turned and glared at Lu Ran. "It's all those souvenirs you bought. You bought them but didn't take them. It's all my fault for piling them up in the car."

"You bought them. You bought most of them. The fish balls from Fujian, the sweet soup from Guangdong, the rice noodles from Guangxi, the cured meat from Guizhou, the hot pot base from Sichuan, the roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) from Shaanxi, the aged vinegar from Shanxi. Which one wasn't bought by you?"

Feeling a little guilty after being scolded, Shen Yuege muttered, "But you didn't stop me, did you?"

"Can I stop you?"

The two were arguing when hurried footsteps came from the stairwell.

Priscilla Chan rushed out wearing cotton slippers, followed by Shen Zhiwei, who was holding a coat and chasing after her, shouting, "Put on some clothes before you go out, it's cold outside."

Priscilla Chan ignored her completely, rushed to Shen Yuege, and hugged her tightly.

"You've lost weight. You've gotten darker. You haven't been eating or sleeping well while you've been out. Look at your face, it's all so thin."

Shen Yuege was so tightly hugged by her mother that she could hardly breathe. She buried her face in Chen Huixian's shoulder and said in a muffled voice, "Mom, I haven't lost weight. I've actually gained two pounds."

"Fat? Who are you kidding? I look at your photos every day at home. I can feel the shape of your face with my eyes closed. Now your face is obviously smaller."

Shen Yuege struggled to peek out from Chen Huixian's arms and gave Lu Ran a wink, meaning "Save me".

Lu Ran pretended not to see it and continued to move things out of the car.

Shen Zhiwei walked over at this moment and handed Chen Huixian his coat: "Put this on. Don't catch a cold."

Priscilla Chan took the coat, but didn't wear it. She draped it over her arm and turned to look at Lu Ran.

"Xiao Lu, is your leg better? You've been running around outside for so long, don't tire your leg out again."

"Mom, I'm all better now. It doesn't hurt when I walk anymore, and I can run without any problems."

"Don't rush into running, take it slow. It takes a hundred days to recover from a broken bone, this hasn't been that long."

Lu Ran smiled and responded, then took a bag from the trunk and handed it to Shen Zhiwei.

"This is for you, Dad."

Shen Zhiwei took the bag, opened it, and his eyes lit up.

The bag contained two bottles of Moutai, well-packaged with shiny labels, clearly genuine.

"Flying?" Shen Zhiwei's voice changed.

"Flying Apsara. 53 degrees Celsius. Bought from a specialty store in Guizhou Province, guaranteed authentic."

Shen Zhiwei took the wine out of the bag, held it up to his eyes and looked at it again and again, unable to suppress the smile on his face.

Priscilla Chan snorted from the side, "Buying alcohol again. You drank too much last time and slept on the sofa all night, caught a cold for three days, have you forgotten?"

"That time I wasn't drunk, I caught a cold. Catching a cold and being drunk are two different things."

"You caught a cold because you drank too much. When you're sober, you know when you're cold and you'll cover yourself with a blanket, but when you're drunk, you don't know anything."

Shen Zhiwei was a little embarrassed by what he was said, and walked into the stairwell with the wine in his arms, saying, "I'll put the wine upstairs first."

Priscilla Chan called out from behind him, "Put it in the closet and lock it! Don't let him open it before the New Year's Eve dinner!"

Shen Zhiwei responded without turning his head, his steps light and quick, unlike someone in his fifties.

Chen Huixian shook her head, turned to look at Lu Ran and Shen Yuege, and sighed: "You two, you went out to play for a month and didn't even call back. Yuege, you did call a few times, but Lu Ran, you didn't call me once."

Lu Ran felt a little embarrassed by what she was told: "Mom, I was wrong. I'll definitely call you next time I go out."

"Next time? This isn't even over yet and you're already thinking about next time?"

Lu Ran smiled but didn't dare to reply.

Shen Yuege stepped in to smooth things over: "Mom, don't say that. It's my fault for not calling. I asked him to call, but he said he was afraid of disturbing your rest. I said my mom goes to bed late, but he said that wouldn't work either."

Chen Huixian glanced at Lu Ran, her reproach turning into heartache: "You child, you're overthinking it. I sleep late, you can call me whenever you want. Don't worry about this in the future, just call me whenever you want."

"Okay, Mom."

Priscilla Chan glanced at Shen Yuege again and noticed that she was wearing a thin jacket. She frowned and said, "Aren't you cold wearing so little? Come inside, it's warm inside."

Shen Yuege was pulled into the building by Chen Huixian, with Lu Ran following behind, carrying bags full of bags.

Shen Zhiwei came down again at this time and helped Lu Ran with a few things. The two of them went upstairs one after the other.

Shen Yuege's room is on the third floor, facing south, and gets plenty of sunlight.

Priscilla Chan had already tidied the room, changed all the sheets and duvet covers, and placed a small bunch of dried flowers on the pillow, which smelled faintly of lavender.

There was a vase on the desk, with a few sprigs of wintersweet in it. The yellow flowers were small and had a very faint fragrance.

Shen Yuege was stunned for a moment when she pushed open the door.

"Mom, why are you making such a big fuss?"

"What's so special about it? We just changed the sheets and put in a bouquet of flowers. As a girl, your room shouldn't be too plain."

Shen Yuege walked into the room, sat down on the edge of the bed, and reached out to touch the sheets.

The sheets were light pink, very clean, and smelled of laundry detergent.

The quilt was folded neatly, with the corners tucked in tightly; it was clearly made by Priscilla Chan.

"You and Xiao Lu will sleep here tonight," Chen Huixian said, standing in the doorway. "The blankets are big enough for two people to share. If you feel cold, there's another blanket in the closet; just take it out and use it."

Shen Yuege hummed in response, without looking up.

Priscilla Chan glanced around the room again to make sure nothing was missing before turning and leaving.

Lu Ran followed, carrying the bag. He put the things in the corner of the room and looked inside from the doorway.

"Mom has tidied up the room nicely."

"She's always like this. She has to tidy up the room before I come back, and then she has to tidy it up again after I leave. And she's still not satisfied after that, so she has to tidy it up again a couple of days later."

"Isn't that great? When you're not home, she can clean the room as if you were home."

Shen Yuege glanced at him but didn't reply.

It was past five o'clock when the two of them finished unloading the things from the car.

Priscilla Chan was busy in the kitchen, her spatula flying, the range hood whirring, and the aroma wafting from the kitchen, filling the whole house.

Seeing his mother-in-law's thoughtfulness, Lu Ran suddenly seemed to have thought of something.

"Hey, Yuege, I suddenly thought of a song. I wrote it a long time ago, and I think you'd be perfect to sing it," Lu Ran said to Shen Yuege.

"Hmm? What song?"

"A Thousand Songs"

...