This chapter is brought to you by Mickey, thanks for the ko-fi! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°
[MOMO: Why are you suddenly asking me this question?]
[CY: Just finished work and suddenly craving cake, but I don’t know which flavor tastes better.]
[MOMO: What flavors of cake do they have in their shop?]
Chi Yu took photos of the cakes placed in the cupboard and sent them to Jiang Mo.
[MOMO: The chocolate and strawberry ones both look delicious!]
Before getting off the car, Chi Yu took Da Zhuang’s phone and looked at the screen, where Jiang Mo’s sparkling eyes and the corner of his lips under the mask couldn’t help but curl up.
He guessed right. Jiang Mo indeed likes cake. When Jiang Mo received the cake sent by Lu Xuan, his expression successfully made him laugh.
[MOMO: Which shop is this? Their cakes look too good!]
Chi Yu told Jiang Mo the name of the shop, and Jiang Mo looked it up online, his small face wrinkling.
This shop only has chain stores in City B; there are none in other cities. If he wants to eat it, he can only go to City B himself.
[MOMO: I’m out of luck T-T]
[CY: Between chocolate and strawberry, which one do you prefer?]
[MOMO: If I really have to choose, then strawberry. I want a big strawberry. I’m tired of cream, but eating strawberries can help with that.]
[CY: Alright.]
[MOMO: Brother, haven’t you had dinner?]
[CY: Hmm, I have a lot of work.]
[MOMO: Don’t just eat cake. You still need to have a proper meal.]
[CY: What did you have for dinner?]
[MOMO: Instant noodles.]
[CY: Instant noodles aren’t healthy.]
[MOMO: There’s no one at home, and the only thing I can cook is instant noodles. Besides, instant noodles are delicious, and the preparation is simple.]
[CY: Are they that good?]
[MOMO: Of course, after getting tired of them, you’ll still crave them after a while. That’s the charm of instant noodles.]
Chi Yu chuckled.
[CY: Now I want to eat them too.]
[MOMO: You can eat them now.]
[CY: I can’t have them today, let’s talk about it later.]
[MOMO: Why can’t you have them? No supermarket would be out of instant noodles.]
[CY: The ones I want, no supermarket sells them.]
Is there really such magical instant noodles?
Jiang Mo felt that this older brother always spoke in a mysterious manner.
After chatting with CY for a while, Jiang Mo felt much warmer. He rubbed his face and realized that the corners of his mouth had stiffened from smiling.
The cup was empty, and Jiang Mo forgot to fetch the kettle for boiling water. He prepared to go downstairs to the kitchen to get it. As he approached the stairs, the door near the staircase suddenly opened from the inside, startling Jiang Mo with the sudden movement. A dark figure rushed out and leaped towards him, pressing him against the wall.
The person was slender, even thinner than Jiang Mo. Almost in an instant, Jiang Mo lost his balance and collided with the wall behind him.
“Hiss—” Jiang Mo let out a soft gasp as his shoulder blade was hit and hurt.
“It’s… it’s a cockroach,” Ye Lin’s face was full of terror as he grabbed onto the only lifebuoy, Jiang Mo.
“What cockroach?”
“A cockroach. I’ve never seen such a big cockroach before. It’s winter, why are there cockroaches here? It’s the first time I’ve seen one so big and long. Ugh, this place is so scary. I don’t want to stay here.” While Ye Lin spoke, he gestured with his thumb and index finger, indicating his genuine fear.
“Damn, I flung my phone away in front of the screen. Damn, that sudden appearance of such a big one, it’s so terrifying!”
“Is this for real?”
“Are all the people in the livestream from the north? I, who was in the South during my college days, am used to it. I’ve seen groups of cockroaches of all sizes and colors. Bitter laughter!”
Jiang Mo rubbed his sore shoulder. He wanted to pull his arm out of Ye Lin’s grasp, but he didn’t move. Ye Lin was treating him as a lifeline.
“I… I’ll go and take a look for you,” Jiang Mo said.
Ye Lin wasn’t sure, “Aren’t you afraid?”
If he let go, would Jiang Mo just ignore him and run away? Jiang Mo definitely seemed more scared than him!
Jiang Mo’s tone was slow, “Where did it crawl to just now? Did you see?”
“In the bathroom,” Ye Lin replied.
“I’ll go and have a look.”
As they locked eyes, Ye Lin felt that Jiang Mo wouldn’t deceive him and slowly released his hand.
Jiang Mo used to be afraid of cockroaches too. He often saw groups of them in his rented house, but over time, he became numb to them.
He walked into the bathroom and saw a cockroach resting on the faucet of the washbasin. He grabbed a few pieces of tissue paper, approached slowly, and as the cockroach seemed to sense his presence, it quickly flew out of the bathroom in a flash as he reached out his hand.
“Ah—” Out of curiosity, Ye Lin followed and stood at the doorway, watching a dark shadow fly past him. He was so frightened that he ran out of the room again, making a loud noise that attracted several people nearby.
“What’s wrong?” Shen An asked, speaking up, while Lu Xuan and Li Heng also looked at him with confusion.
Ye Lin was so scared that his eyes turned red as he pointed to the room, saying, “The cockroach can fly! It actually can fly!”
After hearing this, Shen An directly entered Ye Lin’s room. As soon as he entered, he saw Jiang Mo standing on a chair, his arm raised high, skillfully using tissue paper to catch the antennae of the cockroach on top of the cabinet.
Jiang Mo jumped off the chair, and due to his movements, the cockroach in his hand spun several times, its body still fluttering.
Shen An was taken aback. This person wasn’t afraid at all, and he even dared to play with a cockroach!?
Jiang Mo threw the stunned cockroach into the toilet and flushed it down, receiving Ye Lin’s roar, “You… You actually flushed it down?”
Jiang Mo was startled by Ye Lin’s voice. “I… I’ve always done it this way. If you… release it, there’s a good chance it will come back.”
Ye Lin’s expression was unpleasant, feeling that Jiang Mo was mocking him and making him embarrassed. “How am I supposed to use the bathroom like this?”
Jiang Mo was puzzled. “You can… sit or stand, right?”
Everyone: “…”
Ye Lin’s face turned pale. “I’m not joking with you!”
Jiang Mo pursed his lips, realizing that he had misunderstood Ye Lin’s meaning. He whispered, “I’m sorry. How about… I switch rooms with you?”
“Who wants to stay in your room!” Ye Lin couldn’t hold back his emotions, his disgust clearly written on his face.
Jiang Mo said, “But if there’s one in the room, it means there’s a group of them in the room.”
Ye Lin: “…”
“If you don’t want to switch, then… I won’t insist.” Jiang Mo clenched his hand tightly behind his back, and everyone’s gaze fell on him.
Feeling a tightness in his chest, Jiang Mo avoided everyone’s gaze and fell silent, walking downstairs.
In the kitchen, Jiang Mo found his own hot water kettle in the cabinet. He held the kettle, staring at the cartoon cat on its surface, lost in thought. Intense sourness pricked his eyes, and tears welled up, but he sniffed and swallowed the bitterness back down.
They were targeting not him, but the original Jiang Mo. But seeing Ye Lin’s obvious disgust and the curious looks from everyone, he still felt uncomfortable. It reminded him of the days when he was forced to retire, the same kind of disgust.
No matter how many times he started over, he remained so useless.
[“Isn’t Ye Lin going a bit too far? Jiang Mo was clearly helping him, so why is he speaking like that?”]
[“That’s just Ye Lin’s temper. Let’s try to understand him. He’s acting this way because he’s too scared.”]
[“If it were someone else, I might defend him, but since it’s Jiang Mo, let’s just forget it.”]
[“To be fair, Jiang Mo has done a lot of annoying things, but he didn’t misbehave during the show. This time, it’s clearly Ye Lin’s fault, right?”]
[“Is Jiang Mo trying to gain sympathy? Shedding tears after a couple of harsh words. Is he even a man?”]
[“Ye Lin’s fans are so extreme. I mean, Jiang Mo didn’t even shed tears. Why are we suddenly talking about whether he’s a man or not? What about your idol who was scared and crying just now?”]
In the car on the way back to the hotel, Chi Yu’s forehead was deeply furrowed.
“What’s wrong?” Da Zhuang asked cautiously. He glanced a few times, wanting to see what Chi Yu had seen that made him so angry, but after receiving Chi Yu’s gaze, he didn’t dare to be curious anymore.
“Cancel tomorrow’s schedule and let’s go directly to City Z,” Chi Yu said.
“Ah?” Da Zhuang was puzzled. “But we’ve already told the program team over there.”
“I’ll apologize to the director. We’ll make up for it later. I have something more important.”
“What is it?” In his impression, even if Chi Yu was sick, he would still fulfill his work on time and never let others down. Was this matter really that important?
Chi Yu wasn’t a kind-hearted person, and he had devoted what little compassion he had to small animals. These past few days, he had been contemplating a question: why was he so concerned about Jiang Mo? In the end, he came to an answer.
Trembling under the streetlight, with red eyes, Jiang Mo reminded him of the little kitten he had brought home. He didn’t dislike this unusual concern, and he allowed this feeling to continue to develop.
Touching the ribbon on the cake box, Chi Yu whispered, “I’m afraid the cake will spoil. I need to deliver it quickly.”
Poor JM, he’s just trying to relax and they are all being so mean to him. I can’t wait for CY to arrive. Thank you for the chapters!!