Damn it, I'm surrounded by insane Alphas!

For the next week, Gu Chen went to the hospital every afternoon without fail.

I occasionally joined in the fun a few times, mainly out of curiosity about how Gu Chen bribed my mother.

It turns out that the books Gu Chen gave her were all carefully selected by him after reading them. So after reading them the night before, his mother would carefully underline and take notes, and then share her thoughts with him the next day.

Gu Chen would also prepare his reading notes just like an elementary school student and exchange them with his mother.

It's rare to see him like this. In the game, Gu Chen's relationship with his family is terrible, and he rarely has any elders in real life. Only then did I realize that he is actually quite... well-behaved and cute in front of adults.

Shi Ran stared at Gu Chen in a daze and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

The two people opposite each other, who had been engrossed in their conversation, turned their heads at the same time.

His mother pretended to scold him with a stern face, "You're the only bad student who doesn't study well and disrupts other students' classes."

Shi Ran immediately raised her hands in surrender, snuggled up to the bedside, and said in a coquettish tone, "I'm sorry, class monitor, class is over now, can I ask Teacher Gu a few questions?"

Mom reluctantly took off her glasses, laughed, and said, "Go on, go on."

Shi Ran reached out and grabbed Gu Chen's wrist, but Gu Chen just let him hold it, a helpless smile on his lips.

Only when they reached the quiet corridor did Shi Ran finally let go of her hand.

Gu Chen stopped, straightened his slightly wrinkled cuffs, and looked up at him. "So, what's the problem, Shi?"

Shi Ran hesitated for a moment, then said softly, "I'm going back to China tomorrow... I want to bring Tangyuan back from your place after I get back."

Gu Chen understood that Shi Ran wasn't just talking about tangyuan; she was also informing him that I would be moving out.

In the past, he would probably have flatly rejected the person in front of him; it was impossible.

But now, he only remained silent for a few seconds before asking Shi Ran, "Where are we taking her?"

I plan to live alone.

Shi Ran seemed to be emphasizing something, which was utterly obvious and made it sound like she was protesting too much: "We're moving back to our old rented apartment, just me and Tangyuan!"

Gu Chen raised an eyebrow slightly: "What are you feeling guilty about?"

"What's wrong with me?" Shi Ran asked, her eyes fixed on the ground.

Seeing his expression, Gu Chen chuckled softly, "Alright, I'll send it to you then."

Shi Ran looked up at him in surprise, and heard Gu Chen continue, "Don't worry, she's being well taken care of. She's been switched to the best imported canned food, and even her cat litter is top-grade. To prevent her spending from dropping back when we get back... I'll reluctantly become her long-term supplier."

Shi Ran looked at the person in front of her with suspicion: "You... you're just letting me go so easily?"

"Otherwise what?"

Gu Chen looked at him, leaned forward slightly, and said with some displeasure, "Do you expect me to let you stay at my place and listen to them taking turns knocking on the door every night in the middle of the night?"

Shi Ran immediately fell silent.

These past few days, no matter who he was with in the hotel room, someone would knock on the door within ten minutes.

They were all just trivial matters, just trying to find out what they were doing inside the house.

Finally, annoyed, Shi Ran kicked them all out.

As a result, Wen Yiheng stepped forward to "take charge of the overall situation" and said that there were still four days before returning to the country, which would be one day for each person.

Shi Ran: ?

He was completely bewildered as he watched the group chat silently relay messages, assigning dates for his bedchamber visits.

My harem is so well-organized, Empress Wen, bestow a reward—

Wait a minute, why is my lower back starting to ache?

cough cough.

Fu Yanshen booked all the tickets back to China, but when Shi Ran checked in, she found that her seats had already been selected: Wen Yiheng next to her, Gu Chen in front of her, Fu Yanshen behind her, and Cheng Ye...

He volunteered to fly back with his mother tomorrow.

Sometimes, she would helplessly put on a blindfold.

These guys are now using all sorts of tricks, openly and secretly vying for his attention, which has only strengthened his resolve to go back and live there by himself.

After a long flight, the plane finally landed, and the familiar atmosphere of the city rushed towards us.

Shi Ran remembered that the leaves in Y City were still yellow before she left, but now most of them have fallen.

They collected their luggage and had just reached the arrival hall when they suddenly stopped.

He turned around, looked at the three men behind him who had also stopped, and took a deep breath.

"Thank you all for your concern and help during this time."

He smiled politely first, then got to the point, "The apartment I rented before is still empty, so I contacted the agent to move back. That's all for now."

Wen Yiheng frowned slightly. "That set is too small. Why don't you consider getting a bigger one?"

Gu Chen noticed the key point: "When did you go to his place?"

Fu Yanshen, who was standing to the side, clenched his fists silently in his pockets. So both of them had been there.

"It's okay!" Shi Ran's tone was calm but firm. "It's enough for me to live in. Also, I'm leaving Huanyu."

The other two immediately looked at Gu Chen, but to their surprise, Gu Chen remained quite calm.

He had seen Shi Ran and Wang Cheng's chat history that morning and knew that Shi Ran was preparing to start her own studio after returning to China.

So he simply nodded and said, "Okay, the company will compensate you with the maximum amount of 2N+1. Remember to call me when the studio opens."

Wen Yiheng frowned and asked, "A studio? What studio?"

How come he didn't know about this?!

Gu Chen explained to him with a kind expression, "Shi Ran is planning to open her own design studio. What? Didn't she mention it to you?"

Wen Yiheng rolled her eyes at him. "You think you know so much? Alright?"

Shi Ran cleared her throat and solemnly announced before the three could start arguing, "That's right! I do want to open a design studio. It's still in the preparation stage, and interested shareholders are welcome to invest."

As soon as the words were spoken, three voices rang out almost simultaneously:

"I'll invest."

"How much money do you need?"

"Is 20 million enough?"

Shi Ran was taken aback for a moment, then immediately raised his hand to signal them to be quiet: "Gentlemen, this is just a small workshop, not a company going public, so I don't need that much! Here's the deal: each of you... no more than... 400,000!"

Four hundred thousand?

Gu Chen and Fu Yanshen had never fought such a difficult battle.

Shi Ran, seeing that the three people in front of her had been calmed down, took out her phone with satisfaction, "My taxi has arrived, I'm leaving now."

But how could the three of them let him go so easily? Fu Yanshen subtly stopped him, "My car is here, let me take you home."

Just as Shi Ran was about to refuse, she said, "No need..."

"Are you sure the taxi you called can fit all of us?"

"Who said I was going to bring you along..."

Shi Ran was only halfway through his sentence when the temperature of the three gazes simultaneously dropped several degrees. He was quite perceptive and immediately stopped his car.

He was thus forced into the car and surrounded.

To ease the awkwardness, he took out his phone and started scrolling through Douyin (TikTok), but accidentally played it aloud.

Which stockings feel the best to the touch? Today, our expert will review them...

Shi Ran turned pale with fright and quickly swiped away:

[Magic Mike's Male Show is coming to Y City! Quickly call your besties and come along...]

Shi Ran abruptly turned off her phone, and when she looked up, she met the probing gazes of three people.

Sometimes she would just fall asleep immediately.

After some moving around, he finally arrived at his new home. The house wasn't big, but it was clean and bright, and most importantly, it belonged entirely to him.

Gu Chen had already sent people to move the things over in advance. As soon as he entered the door, Tangyuan was sitting at the door like a triangular rice bun.

Shi Ran couldn't help but squat down and touch the soft flesh on her stomach, sighing, "My dear mother, Gu Chen has fattened you up so much."

After settling everything in, he could finally relax on the sofa with Tangyuan curled up on his lap. Without the ubiquitous Alpha pheromones, he didn't have to be careful. Ah, so refreshing!

But just then, the doorbell rang.

Shi Ran frowned. He had specifically told everyone in the four-person group chat not to bother him.

He got up and looked through the peephole. The man standing outside the door made him freeze in shock.

It's Lu Lin.

(The puppy is back, and the others discover they're not taking customers tonight but the puppy is home. Will they all explode?)