Edit: I didn’t realize it’s only a few more days until Christmas! Merry Christmas to all the blog readers! Wishing you and your loved ones all the best for this holiday season!
The stairwell!! ❤
Chapter 39 – Salt and Pepper Mushrooms (2)
“F***! F*** you…” After two seconds, the man finally recovered and scrambled back to his feet like a madman. Retreating back four or five steps, he finally took a good look at the people before him.
G.o.d Mu? How did he manage to incur the attention of this G.o.d? …
He spat. Tasting blood in his mouth, he immediately became scared.
That man that he did not even know had been so fierce when he struck…
Mo Qingcheng straightened up, not intending to fight anymore.
He had just finished up a seminar today and had come right over specifically to have lunch with Sheng Sheng. As a result, his attire, of course, was much more gentlemanly and dignified. When he threw the punch, he had actually been hampered by his dress shirt and dress pants. Very awkward.
He opened and closed his fingers lightly and straightened his tie. The sc.u.mbag was so frightened by this he backed up another two steps.
Seeing the terrified look on the sc.u.mbag’s face, Mo Qingcheng’s brows furrowed slightly, and the outer corners of his eyes seemed to curve upward a touch.
The man did not dare get anywhere close to Mo Qingcheng, so he turned his attention to Mu Mu and started yelling, “G.o.d Mu, oh you’re just so d*mn good! Don’t think that just because you started in the entertainment circle early, you’re some great G.o.d and can beat people up whenever you feel like it…”
Mu Mu’s large blue eyes took a glance at Mo Qingcheng, then flicked over to look wordlessly at the sc.u.mbag. His face clearly read, “Are you blind? I’m not the one who punched you… If you’re so good, go curse Toupai, eh …”
Of course, he did not dare say that this person was Qiang Qing Ci.
More than half of the cosplayers behind them were fans of Toupai… He did not want the situation to get too chaotic and to have all of the work from today be wasted…
The sc.u.mbag’s loud yelling had drawn the attention of the people who had been on the top floor terrace.
Mo Bai had always been someone who would defend his own people first before even figuring out who was at fault, and when he heard someone shouting G.o.d Mu, he had immediately pulled up the hem of his clothes and rushed over. After seeing that the one who had gotten beat up was this sc.u.mbag, he delightedly moved in closer to them and draped an arm on Mu Mu’s shoulder. “What’s up? Got in a fight? You actually dared to do it and weren’t worried that your ability — you know, the one where you can chop a brick with your hand — would beat him so bad he’d become crippled? Leave this type of sc.u.m to me. I’m more than adequate enough to deal with it…”
Mu Mu looked at Mo Bai in silence and was very truthful as he pointed at Mo Qingcheng.
He had only been keeping Toupai company and had strolled over here with him to see if Gu Sheng was ready when they happened upon the girl getting hit by this sc.u.mbag … The kind person standing up for righteousness was Toupai Daren. He was just a backdrop. A backdrop!
When this sc.u.mbag comrade saw that there were so many people watching, he was emboldened. After all, Mo Bai and Mu Mu were well-known personages, and they could not really do anything to him out in public. “Don’t think that just because you guys are part of a big a.s.sociation you can bully other people. Let me tell you…”
Mo Bai’s response, however, was not what was expected. With an “oh,” he stated, “We are bullying you. So what?”
The rest of the man’s words ended up being caught in his throat.
Mo Bai rolled up his sleeves and walked toward him.
The man put on a bold front and forced himself to hold his ground. “What? … You want to fight three against one? Let me tell you, Mo Bai, a.s.saulting someone is… is against the law…”
With so many people watching, he did not believe these two would really dare raise a hand against him. And if worse came to worse, he would call the police…
Mo Bai smirked. Moving in closer to him, he reached out and casually patted the man’s chest, saying in a low tone, “Against the law? What we’re doing is called ‘bravely standing up for righteousness’, you get it? I’m really not trying to scare you. My G.o.d Mu is a cop himself. When he has nothing to do and is bored, he beats up someone; so what? Check out the sky. Not a cloud in sight. It’d be a waste of such great weather if we didn’t give a sc.u.m a thrashing–– ”
Mo Bai was still grinning at him. On his left, standing not far behind him, was Mu Mu; on his right was Mo Qingcheng.
All the cosplayers were shocked by Mo Bai’s words, not willing to believe that the normally deadpan face Mu Mu — usually three beats behind in everything and, right at this moment, was like a G.o.ddess standing there, waist so small and legs so long he evoked jealousy, envy, and hate — was actually a police officer.
A handsome, just, and righteous big brother police officer!
That so made people want to squeal!
And then there was Mo Bai and the other guy… Wonder who the other guy was… Such eye candy. That so made people’s blood boil with exhilaration!
Mu Mu did not utter a word, and his silence could be taken as unspoken admission to what Mo Bai had said, even though… he still had not graduated yet …
The sc.u.mbag had a feeling that if he fought them one against three, he would definitely end up crippled. With one hand covering his cheek, he spat, “Mo Bai, there are so many people watching. If you have the gall to hit me, then I’m not scared to expose to everyone the fact that you beat up a person today…” He did not believe that these people, who had long since been raised onto the G.o.d pedestal, did not care about their own reputations …
“We like taking advantage of our numbers to bully people.” Mo Bai grinned.
“If worse comes to worse, I’ll throw in everything I have, and if I have to leave the entertainment circle, I’ll still go smear all your names…”
The latter half of his sentence obviously lacked conviction, and his voice was noticeably weaker when he said it.
Mo Bai let out a “pfft” as he snickered and took another two steps forward.
He lowered his voice, and using a volume that only someone who was right by them could hear, he said, “Let me tell you. You know that guy who just smacked you? If you dare try to smear his name, even if his fans are each only allowed to spit once on you, you’d still drown to death. If you don’t believe me…. you can give it a try. See if you can still carry on in the entertainment circle.”
His voice was very quiet. Those girls standing and watching from far away on the stairs could not hear at all what was being said. Seeing only the side profile of Mo Bai’s beaming face, they could not guess what he had suddenly said.
The man, his hand still covering one side of his face, stared blankly at him for a few seconds.
“Alright. Hurry up and get lost now.” Mo Bai patted him on the shoulder.
Useless to call the cops. Useless to escalate this into a big ordeal. Just as Mo Bai had said: When someone like him, who did not have any sort of real job and had a bad reputation, offended the “G.o.ds” of various places, he really had no hope of surviving…
Very quickly, he spat on the ground and then, with tail between his legs, he left.
The girl that had been shielded was silent for quite some time. Afraid to approach Mo Qingcheng and Mu Mu, who were emitting an aura that said, “Strangers, keep away from me”, she instead very quietly said thank you to Mo Bai.
“No problem, no problem.” Mo Bai did not really take the situation to heart and, clapping his hands, he called to everyone, “Break it up, all of you, break it up now. My fourteen beautiful Miku-s, let’s hurry up and finish the shoot, and then I’ll treat you all to coffee at McDonald’s… I’m freezing to death here. Who chose to do the shoot on the terrace, huh? Seriously…”
“I’m wearing an outfit that shows my navel and I haven’t complained that it’s cold yet…” Mu Mu stated the facts, then smugly strolled away.
Afterwards, the entire photo shoot took two and a half hours until finally, when Mo Qingcheng was nearly at a point where his entire face was scowling, they wrapped up. Even Gu Sheng, the only one wearing full length pants, was feeling a little cold. After all, besides having a pair of gloves, the top half of her arms were completely exposed. All the cosplayers had squeezed themselves into the ladies’ restroom that was one floor down from the top level to remove their make-up.
Gu Sheng was very familiar with this teaching building, and seeing that everyone was already crammed inside, she pulled Mo Qingcheng away with her to use the restroom on the teacher’s floor.
She had done some labour work for the teachers here, so she was especially familiar with this section. However, she did not expect that, when she stood at the stairs and looked around, she would actually see some teachers walking by… She absolutely could not let any teachers see her like this, a face covered in heavy make-up, a wig of blue, waist-length hair still on her head.
If she went to any other floors, she would definitely be stared at like she was some weird sight…
Forget it. Better to just go back to the top floor.
She turned around and whispered a “shh” to Mo Qingcheng before explaining, “Oh no, my teachers are here. Let’s go back up to the top floor.”
After saying this, she darted up more than a dozen steps to the corner of a landing between two floors.
“The other floors don’t have a women’s restroom where you can change and remove your make-up?” He followed behind her. Since his legs were long, he very naturally climbed two stairs at a time and after three to five strides, had caught up to her.
“They do,” she answered him honestly, “but I feel uncomfortable going to other floors dressed… like this. The top floor has a whole bunch of people who are just like me so I won’t stand out.”
She was not, after all, a professional cosplayer and could not make herself feel at ease doing this sort of work.
Mo Qingcheng chuckled, “It actually looks quite nice.”
“Huh?”
“I meant, your Miku look actually is really nice.”
He’s doing it again…
He’s doing it again…
The more she was unable to resist the lure of his voice, the more he liked to use her favourite voice style to talk softly to her.
This particularly staircase was not frequently used. It was off to the side rather than in the middle of the building where it would be cut off from the outside. Here, the light was very natural, and there was even a light draft that gently blew by her cheek, stirring up feelings inside of her.
She gazed at his face and eyes, bathed in the light of the sun, and suddenly said softly, “You were especially handsome just a moment ago… My heart nearly leapt out of my chest…”
“Really?”
“That type of person deserves to get a beating. You know, he didn’t do anything illegal, but it’s something that everyone, G.o.ds and people, despise with a pa.s.sion.” Gu Sheng admitted, “I thought you would be really… you know, that type of person. I never would have thought you would hit anyone.”
She recalled the time, outside the hospital, he had also shielded a girl behind himself, but that time, he had not hit anyone and rather, had taken the hit for someone else …
Mo Qingcheng looked at the expression of righteous indignation on her face and could not help laughing out loud. In a joking tone, he told her, “The doctor-patient relationship is so strained nowadays that I have to have some self-defense skills before I’d dare pick up a surgical knife to save people.”
When he said this, it reminded her of all sorts of news stories she had heard. “…… I saw you take a punch for someone.”
“In front of the main hospital entrance?” he recalled.
“Mm-hmm. Does that happen a lot?”
“Very rare. That time was just a coincidence.”
She leaned against the wall and blew out a breath in relief. “That’s good.”
“Are you worried about me?” His voice had lowered again.
So devious. He was doing it again…
She finally could not help complaining, “You know I’m a voice lover… and you’re still speaking like that on purpose.”
“Am I?” His voice grew even softer, slower, and gentler, speaking straight into the depths of her heart.
She exhaled lightly. “Aren’t you worried that… I like your voice more than I like you as a person?”
“Whichever part of me you choose to like is still liking me, isn’t it?” he smiled as he quietly pointed out the logic of the situation. “There is nothing wrong with liking my voice. It’s better than having nothing that attracts you.”
She could not tell whether she was being bewitched by his words or enticed by the sound of his voice.
But… she was starting again to lose her ability to think.
A breeze lifted up the stray blue hairs that were beside her cheek and blew them up in front of her eyes. In her vision, he distinctly seemed to be leaning closer. Closer and closer. He did not say anything, only smiled.
Now…
He really wanted to…
Each second was stretched out by an infinite amount. She did not dare move. Just before he made contact, she completely closed her eyes.
A warm, soft kiss.
Their lips only touched for a few, brief seconds, though, and then he moved away.
That… was it?
She was so nervous her heart was about to leap out, and her eyes immediately flew open and looked up at him.
Mo Qingcheng wiped the corner of his lip with his thumb. Sure enough, he saw a streak of bright red on its tip. “Too much lipstick. If you were to swallow it, it would not be good for your body. I, on the other hand, don’t really mind for myself…”
Swallow it…
Not good for the body…
T.T……
Could you get any more specific… and any more serious?……