After hearing his father's question, the first thing Shen Rulin thought of was that Lin Ran's analysis along the way was always wrong. Almost every time he finished speaking, he would be slapped in the face by what unfolded.
However, Lin Ran's analysis made sense. Otherwise, Shen Rulin wouldn't have been fooled by him.
At first, Shen Rulin felt that Lin Ran was just unlucky. It was not until his father asked him that he thought of another possibility—Lin Ran did it on purpose. The analysis was made up by Lin Ran to fool him.
Lin Ran wasted so much time walking around the mountain not because he couldn't find the way, but because he wanted to stall for time so that Shen Qingquan would be worried and go into the mountain to look for his son.