Chapter 15: The Rival Always Wants to Taste Him Again [15]

Chapter 15: The Rival Can't Stop Wanting Another Taste of Him "15"

447 looked at Shi Mo's couldn't-care-less expression and figured he probably hadn't taken a single word to heart. Sitting on his shoulder, 447 let out a long, lazy sigh:

[Xiao Momo, if you don't take the fact that Ye Qi's gone dark seriously, you're definitely going to get burned by him down the road.]

Shi Mo just kept smiling, not bothering to answer. Instead, he tilted his head a little to look at Ye Qi:

"What, you're still here?"

Ye Qi's hand, hanging at his side, unclenched and clenched again, but in the end, he turned around and left.

Lin Ran frowned hard. The vibe between those two just now had been seriously off, and now, seeing how Ye Qi reacted, it felt even weirder. But looking at Shi Mo in front of him, he still shoved that weird feeling down and gave him a smile that reached his eyes.

"A Mo, thanks for being willing to stay and keep me company."

Lin Ran said, reaching out to grab the pear Shi Mo had just peeled, but before his fingers could even graze it, he could only watch, helpless, as Shi Mo took a bite.

Lin Ran: "..."

Lin Ran's smile stiffened a little, and his hand just hung there in mid-air, looking super awkward.

He pretended to pull his hand back calmly, even tugging at the blanket to cover it up.

"I'm only interested in what you said you had. Now that it's just us, tell me—what exactly did you want to show me?"

Shi Mo said, taking another bite of the pear. Mm, not bad.

Lin Ran looked at him with a smile, a flicker of determination flashing in his eyes, then raised a hand to point at the cabinet next to them.

"It's in the file folder on the third shelf. A Mo, go grab it and take a look."

"I know you want that S City project too, but trust me, I've got something better in hand that'll bring you way more profit."

"Ye Qi would only let you get a slice of that one project, but with me, you can take the biggest cut of these projects."

Lin Ran leaned back as he spoke, letting Shi Mo flip through the papers.

He'd put all of this together right after he came back to life.

But the really important stuff wasn't in there, and even what was inside had been doctored, so he wasn't worried about anything else.

On top of that, there were also forged documents he'd made up, showing the Ye family planned to swallow up both the Shi and Lin families.

Shi Mo, of course, saw right through Lin Ran's tricks. After quickly skimming through the documents, he turned to Lin Ran and couldn't help but laugh.

"Lin Ran, are you really planning to go head-to-head with the Ye family like this? You want to hog everything for yourself—have you thought about what that'll cost?"

"Keeping things the way they are right now isn't easy. One wrong move and both the Ye and Lin families end up with nothing, and someone else walks away with everything."

"You used to be so into Ye Qi, but now you say you want to work with me, say you like me, and say you want to hand all this over to me."

"Lin Ran... do you really think I'm that easy to fool?"

Shi Mo's words made Lin Ran, who had just settled back down, panic instantly.

"No! A Mo, I'm not lying to you! I really do want to work with you, and I really do like you!"

Lin Ran sat up in a hurry, and the sudden movement pulled at his wounds, making him hiss in a sharp breath from the pain.

But he couldn't worry about that right now—he was too afraid Shi Mo would misunderstand, so he quickly explained:

"A Mo, listen to me. Back then, I was blind to have fallen for that bastard Ye Qi!"

"Only now do I realize how wrong I was—and that the person I've always truly liked is you!"

"A Mo, give me a chance."

"You chose me just now—doesn't that mean I matter more to you than he does? That I have a place in your heart too?"

Lin Ran gave Shi Mo a bitter smile. "A Mo, I know I messed up in the past, and that's why you won't accept me now."

"But who hasn't made mistakes? You can't sentence me to death over what I did before. You can't just throw me away because I used to like Ye Qi..."

Shi Mo quietly watched Lin Ran put on his one-man show, even shedding a tear or two when he got into it.

Meanwhile, he just stood there chatting with 447: [Xiao Qi, did Lin Ran read a ton of cheesy romance novels in his past life?]

447 nodded in agreement: [Yeah, if it weren't for the original owner's wish staring us in the face, I'd really think the original owner had some deep romance with him.]

Shi Mo: [His acting's pretty solid. He should go into the entertainment industry.]

447: [Speaking of showbiz... he's already written out that script that blew up in his last life over the past couple of days, and he's arranged for people to start filming it.]

[But he's probably feeling a little guilty about stealing someone else's work, so to rush things, he didn't bother looking for the same cast as last time.]

[Instead, he just had Lin Corp's entertainment company assign whoever was free to shoot it. The quality's probably going to be a train wreck.]

Shi Mo let out a soft "tsk" and walked straight up to Lin Ran, cutting him off.

"Alright, I don't care what your real intentions are. But since you can bring me bigger profits, then of course I'll choose to work with you."

Shi Mo's eyes curved a little as he held out his hand to Lin Ran.

"Besides, I don't like Ye Qi either. Since he's playing dirty, we can't be blamed for doing the same."

"So, happy working together, Lin Ran. Don't let me down."

A faint blush spread across Lin Ran's face as he gripped Shi Mo's hand and said, his eyes firm:

"A Mo, I'll never let you down!"

Shi Mo smiled and waved the papers in his hand.

"I'm taking these with me. As partners, we should at least have that much trust, right?"

Lin Ran didn't care: "Of course."

"Then get some rest. I'll come see you again when I have time."

Having gotten what he wanted, Shi Mo didn't plan to stick around with Lin Ran any longer, so he turned to leave.

Lin Ran kept his eyes on him until he casually closed the door behind him, before reluctantly looking away.

After leaving the hospital, Shi Mo handed those items straight to 447.

"Xiao Qi, find a way to send these to Ye Qi."

447: [No problem, but Xiao Momo, these are mostly pretty useless. Even if Ye Qi gets them, they won't do much to Lin Ran.]

Shi Mo blinked. "He's the male lead; these should be enough for him."

447: [Wow! Xiao Momo, I didn't know you trusted him that much.]

Shi Mo: "Ah... not really, mostly I just want to keep him busy."

"If he can handle it on his own, doesn't that save us a ton of trouble?"

As he spoke, Shi Mo paused mid-step, his gaze landing on a bubble tea shop nearby, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"And if he can't even handle something this simple, then I'll take care of him myself."

447 gave a silent shudder and kept his mouth shut.

When Shi Mo came out of the bubble tea shop, he held a cup in one hand, sipping through a straw, with another cup in his other hand.

He spotted a little girl selling flowers nearby—and Ye Qi, who should've been home by now, but just happened to "coincidentally" show up buying flowers.

His eyebrow twitched slightly, and he walked over. As he approached, he heard the little girl say to Ye Qi, all grateful:

"Thank you, big brother, you're such a good person~"

The little girl then skipped off cheerfully, leaving Ye Qi standing there by himself, clutching a big bunch of roses.

Ye Qi's gaze fell on Shi Mo, and he cleared his throat, trying to play it cool. "What a coincidence."

Shi Mo looked at the roses in his hand. "Yeah, what a coincidence. Didn't think I'd run into Young Master Ye buying flowers here while grabbing a cup of bubble tea."

Ye Qi said with a straight face, "I just felt bad for the little girl, so I bought all her flowers so she could head home early."

"But I don't really like these flowers. Since I remember you're into them, they're yours."

Shi Mo glanced at the roses—each one clearly handpicked—but didn't bother calling out Ye Qi's little scheme.

He held up the milk tea in his hand and said with a grin, "What a coincidence. I was gonna take this home, but since I've got my hands full with the flowers, it's yours."

Swapping a cup of bubble tea for a bouquet of roses—both sides walked away pretty happy.

Shi Mo went back to his apartment, found a vase, stuck a few roses in it, and even put it in his bedroom.

He then stripped the rest of the petals off, getting ready for a rose bath.

Watching this whole scene through the surveillance camera, Ye Qi was both anxious and annoyed.

Why did he only put a camera in the bedroom back then? Why didn't he put one in the bathroom too?

That way, he could've watched Shi Mo bathe with his flowers right now!

Just the thought of that scene...