Chapter 13: The Rival Always Wants to Taste Him Again [13]

Chapter 13: The Rival Keeps Wanting Another Taste of Him "13"

Shi Mo: "(●—●)"

Don't think that just because she unsent the message quickly, he didn't see clearly what she had just sent!

Yun Mujin: "Haha, it's getting late, Brother Shi Mo, you should rest early. I'm sleepy too, good night!"

After sending that last message, Yun Mujin logged off right away.

Meanwhile, Shi Mo opened Lin Ran's chat window.

Lin Ran had sent him a message half an hour ago. He saw it but didn't reply, instead going to play a game.

Shi Mo raised an eyebrow as he looked at the time and address Lin Ran had sent.

"He really knows how to pick a spot."

447 also leaned in to look: [This restaurant is owned by the Lin family. It's normal for Lin Ran to choose to meet you here, but why did he also buy movie tickets?]

[I just checked, and it's even a romance film. He wouldn't be planning to watch a movie with you to get closer, would he?]

447 said, his tone full of disgust and contempt.

Shi Mo replied with a single "okay" to Lin Ran, then picked up the puffed-up little guy and placed it beside the pillow.

"Alright, time to sleep."

"That guy even knows about my meeting with a possible marriage candidate today. Whether Lin Ran can even make it to the movie with me tomorrow is still uncertain."

447 knew who he was talking about, but nodded in agreement and dropped the subject.

The next morning, Shi Mo and Yun Mujin headed out together.

Yun Mujin glanced at Shi Mo a few times with a slightly guilty expression.

But seeing that Shi Mo didn't react much, she assumed he hadn't seen the message she sent last night, or simply didn't understand what it meant. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Then they parted ways.

Shi Mo headed to the meeting spot according to the address Lin Ran had given him.

But Ye Qi was quicker than he expected. He had just arrived when he received a message from Lin Ran.

Lin Ran was hospitalized.

Shi Mo: "..."

He read through the previous messages and found out why Lin Ran was hospitalized.

On his way to the appointment, Lin Ran saw some couples buying flowers on the street and remembered that Shi Mo really liked roses, so he thought he'd buy him a bouquet too.

But the moment he got out of the car, someone threw a sack over his head, dragged him into an alley, and jumped him.

By the time he came to, both the flower seller and the buyers had disappeared without a trace, and he had no idea who had attacked him.

When he had people check the surveillance cameras in the area, they either didn't exist or were broken.

Lin Ran was now lying in his hospital bed, furious, but when messaging Shi Mo, he still found time to act all cute and play the victim.

Shi Mo looked up, his tone extremely certain: "If I'm not mistaken, this was Ye Qi's doing, right?"

447: [Yes, Little Momo, you guessed right. Especially the hand he used to touch you a couple of days ago—it got stomped on several times.]

447 thought for a moment and added: [Ye Qi stomped on it himself, since some of his luck had started coming back.]

"Pfft..."

Hearing this, Shi Mo couldn't help but snicker.

"Well, he really is... pretty helpful."

A protagonist who knows to take back his own luck without Shi Mo having to lift a finger—that's indeed pretty helpful.

Shi Mo was extremely satisfied with Ye Qi's sneaky move of bagging the guy and beating him up.

If it weren't for maintaining his persona, and the current situation not being appropriate,

he would have sent Ye Qi a small red envelope as a reward and told him to keep up the good work.

"Let's go. Since he's already in the hospital, we'll go see him."

With a faint smile on his lips, Shi Mo headed straight to Lin Ran's hospital.

But before he could even see Lin Ran, he "coincidentally" ran into Ye Qi, who was there to pick up medicine because he wasn't feeling well.

Ye Qi looked at Shi Mo and asked with concern: "What a coincidence! You're here too—are you sick?"

"Lin Ran got beaten up. I came to see how he's doing."

Shi Mo said a casual "oh" and turned to leave.

But Ye Qi, upon hearing his words, immediately followed him: "That's rough. Then I'll go with you to take a look."

Shi Mo shot a quick glance at Ye Qi: [Xiao Qi, did you see that?]

447: [Huh? See what?]

Shi Mo: [A man who's very good at acting, a culprit who plays the innocent bystander to watch his victim.]

447: [...If you put it that way, yeah, I see it clearly now.]

Shi Mo kept chatting away with 447, completely ignoring Ye Qi the whole time.

They quickly found Lin Ran's room.

Lin Ran was lying in bed eating fruit, with his parents standing at his bedside.

Lin's mother, her eyes red, glared angrily and said:

"Xiao Ran, don't worry. Mom will definitely catch those people who beat you, and I'll break their arms and legs to get revenge for you!"

"Boo-hoo... my poor Xiao Ran, suffering such a misfortune for no reason. Those damned bastards!"

Lin's father noticed someone had entered, his face darkening as he growled in a low voice:

"Enough! Carrying on like this—what does it look like?"

Lin's mother shot him a fierce glare and was about to say something more. But out of the corner of her eye she noticed Ye Qi and Shi Mo entering, and held back what she was about to say.

She looked at them and managed a strained smile:

"You've come to see Xiao Ran."

Old Mr. Lin glanced up at them too.

His gaze swept over Ye Qi with a hint of scrutiny and a flicker of scheming, quickly hidden again.

He looked away and spoke slowly, "Xiao Ran, rest well. I've got things to deal with at the office... About what you said, I'll think it over."

Lin Ran's eyes had been glued to Shi Mo since the two of them walked in, lit up with excitement and joy.

That joy vanished the instant his eyes met Ye Qi.

In response to his father's words, he just muttered, "I know, Dad."

Lin's mom sighed again, only reminding him to rest well, pulling the blanket up around him before following Old Mr. Lin out.

And just like that, the big hospital room was down to the three of them.

Lin Ran directly ignored Ye Qi and shot a smile at Shi Mo:

"A Mo, I knew you had a soft spot for me and would come."

Ye Qi let out a cold snort from the side, his eyes sweeping over Lin Ran's hands.

Lin Ran kept going, "A Mo, I've prepared everything, but I can only show it to you."

"As for some people, they should get out now."

He paused, and seeing no sign of Ye Qi leaving, frowned with impatience creeping into his tone:

"Ye Qi, why are you so shameless? I told you to leave—can't you understand plain English?"

Shi Mo, who'd been watching the show, went cold-eyed.

[Little Seven, go jab his legs a few times.]

[On it!]

447 had long been annoyed with Lin Ran, and with Shi Mo's command, he didn't hesitate.

He pulled out a few needles from his little pouch, flew to Lin Ran's leg, and jabbed him sharply!

"Ah! Aaah—!!!"