The Lord’s companion

"Ye Ran, lets start!" 

Ruo Chen said excitedly as he ran over to Ye Ran.

It only now occurred to Ruo Chen that he had never really gotten a good look at what Ye Ran looked like. From the first meeting, he was drawn to Ye Ran's eyes and then he was bandaging him up. All the subsequent meetings had him being focused on the fact that Ye Ran was wounded and he had always averted his gaze due to guilt. 

But now, as he ran over the the youth waiting on the field, could Ruo Chen finally have a peaceful moment to admire his creation.

Soft jet black hair tied into a neat ponytail, and messy bangs. Straight brows with fox eyes that held those twin clear pools. The red like like a drop of blood in those clear blue ponds, making the eyes have a light purple hue to it. The nose was slim and sharp, lips were full and red and the cheeks were still chubby. This gave Ye Ran quite a cute look, and Ruo Chen had to resist the urge to pinch those cheeks. Contrary to his innocent look, the air around him was basically radiating, "Get away from me."

Ruo Chen felt the coldness from Ye Ran and stopped in his steps in a start as he stood a few meters away from him. 

What's going on? If I remember correctly, he wasn't this standoffish and oppressive, but more shy and meek. So what was this cool and indifferent look?

Ruo Chen felt a bit threatened, he felt like a prey before a predator. This only lasted for a few seconds before Ye Ran's composure changed immediately. His cold look was now replaced with a childish smile, his eyes closed into a line with his lips gently curved up. Ruo Chen felt his heart calm down a bit as he reminded himself.

That's right, I was probably just mistaken. At this age, he hasn't lost all his hope in this world yet, he was probably just lost in his thoughts.

"Mn, let's start." Ye Ran said calmly while going through with Ruo Chen what they would be doing for the day.

Firstly, they started with running laps around the field which totalled up to 5km. At the end of it, Ruo Chen collapsed to the ground looking absolutely destroyed while Ye Ran looked like he'd only went for walk. Ruo Chen mentally cursed this body before they moved on to the next activity.

Secondly, both of them started blasting out energy from their palms, clearing the surrounding grass into shreds. Of course the blast from Ye Ran was more impressive and Ruo Chen stared with his mouth agape. Seeing this in real life vs writing it was way different from what he'd expected. 

Was it really okay for a 12 year old to possess the power to clear out huge areas of land?!

Ruo Chen didn't do too badly himself as he cleared around half of that of Ye Ran's.

But that was all there was to their fun little use of energy. Since Ye Ran didn't have excess to books on how to improve once abilities relating to the cores, he'd really only know how to do physical training. He had learnt it from Ye Hui when he running in the fields and doing push ups and what not.

So they ended the day with more running and exercises revolving around the use of one's own bodyweight.

Ruo Chen was absolutely drained by the end of it while Ye Ran was only breathing more heavily. Ruo Chen made a mental note in his mind to check the books in his house or to ask his parents when they were back from their trips on how to train one's core. No more of this gruelling hard work.

Alas, this was they way in this world. If you were weak, you would be left behind. So, many started training since 7.

By it was afternoon and the sun was shining was too bright for comfort, the two were also hungry and Ruo Chen just didn't care about hiding Ye Ran anymore. The parents were away and it wasn't as if Ye Ran was going to destroy the whole place.

Ruo Chen was actually questioning himself as to why he was hesitant to bring Ye Ran into the house in the first place. He realised it just wasn't a big deal and felt that his parents wouldn't mind as to how easy it was to do whatever he wanted. 

The parents didn't even scold him for building a shed, they even supported him and helped him make it better when he was asleep. 

So no need to worry.

They walked to the dining room, which was by no means luxurious, but it was kept neat and tidy. The house maids came over to ask what they wanted and both of them responded at the same time.

"Anything that can come quick."

Ruo Chen stared at Ye Ran and Ye Ran stared back at Ruo Chen.

What a coincidence.

The house maids paid no mind to this and quickly hurried back to the kitchen to prepare the food.

"Great minds think alike, eh?" Ruo Chen joked as he gestured to both himself and Ye Ran who sat opposite him.

Ye Ran only nodded in response and curved his eyes a little.

Ruo Chen couldn't help but feel that something was missing. Oh right, Xiao Pang.

But Xiao Pang had been on the chair next to him all along, it was just that Ruo Chen wasn't aware of his surroundings. Xiao Pang had a scowl on his face as he glared at Ruo Chen who had an apologetic look. He then promised Xiao Pang that he would share his food with it.

***

Soon the aroma of the food came and Ruo Chen felt his mouth watering. Xiao Pang's ears also perked up as the trio watched the maids bring in the food and set it down before them. 

Before them laid the tomato penne pasta. The colour was a rich red that promised them that the best tomatoes were used. There was also cheese sprinkled on top which made it all the more appetizing.

"Are you sure dogs can eat this?" Ruo Chen whispered as softly as he could as he asked Xiao Pang.

Xiao Pang let out an impatient bark in response which translated to, "This is just one of the forms I take as a guide, just give me the food already!"

Ruo Chen's mouth formed an 'O' before grabbing a smaller plate and put some of the pasta on top.

Xiao Pang greedily munched it down in a few seconds before licking his mouth clean.

"Are you sure Xiao Pang can eat that?" Ye Ran asked with a concerned look.

"Yea, this dog is a bit special." 

Ruo Chen hurriedly replied before digging into his meal and it immediately had him wanting more.

Ye Ran also finally started eating but he ate it slowly and watched Ruo Chen shove everything down his throat.

"Want some of mine?"

***

After finishing their meals, Ye Ran got up to leave but was stopped by Ruo Chen.

"Are you sure you want to go back, you know how they treat you. Besides, my parents aren't home so you can at least stay till then." Ruo Chen blurted out as he held onto Ye Ran's wrist.

Ye Ran smiled at the offer but he found himself unable to respond. It looked as if he was weighing the consequences of the decision he was about to make. If he were to accept and stay with Ruo Chen, he would live a better life but his parents would come looking for him for explanations.

Then, it was as if something clicked in his mind. 

"Let me discuss with my family first." Ye Ran said plainly before turning to leave.

Ruo Chen couldn't help but shiver at that reply. He sensed something was wrong and that things definitely won't end well. He had already felt something was off about Ye Ran ever since they'd met. Ye Ran was supposed to be shy and a weak boy but to Ruo Chen, Ye Ran's every action seemed to hold confidence and arrogance. 

Especially during the blasting the energy during the training. The blast was way stronger than in the novel as Ye Ran's blast shredded a bigger area than what it was written in the book at his age. Ye Ran also did not shy away from Ruo Chen's gaze and would return it back instead of averting it like in the novel. 

Ruo Chen froze as he formed a terrible thought.

What if Ye Ran's soul had went back in time?

He had written in the novel that there was an ancient artefact that could allow one's soul to return to the past and restart life all over again, but it was just briefly mentioned and he had never thought that this world would actually have it. Then why did Ye Ran do mostly physical training instead of training his core? If he was from the future, shouldn't he be training his core like crazy to get stronger faster? Was he trying to hide it from everyone? But why?

No, it was just a theory.

"Xiao Pang, go and tail him." Ruo Chen ordered and he felt his whole body start to shake. 

If the theory was correct, then wasn't he basically as good as dead? 

He would be burned to dust!

That means that Ye Ran already knew that Ruo Chen is a rotten bastard even if they have not met in this life time. The Ruo Chen who was a bully in the previous lifetime, his crimes would be passed onto Ming Ze who would suffer the most gruesome death ever!