Chapter 37

The next day, Yao Yingmo was halfway through his lunch when Li Yicheng called.

Yao Yingmo answered the call and turned on the speaker.

"He He, do you know that Uncle Mu is critically ill and is in the hospital?" Li Yicheng asked.

Yao Yingmo: "I know."

"You haven't even opened a Weibo account yet, and it's trending on the search list..." Li Yicheng said the lines she had planned in her mind, only to realize later that the answer she heard was different from the script she had prepared. She was shocked. "Wait, you said you knew? According to your sleep schedule, you should have just woken up not long ago."

It was true that she had just woken up, but she was involved in this matter, so she knew.

Yao Yingmo said succinctly, "I also went to the hospital yesterday to accompany Hu Guang."

"Is that so? Is that okay? No, why did you go with him?" Li Yicheng once again heard news that surprised her.

Yao Yingmo didn't find it surprising. "I just happened to hear it nearby. Seeing that they needed help, I followed them."

Li Yicheng was quiet for a few seconds, "Don't you say that helping others can easily cause trouble, so you don't want to be an enthusiastic person? You have helped Teacher Hu Guang several times."

When Shi Xuze's repeated exceptions were exposed, Yao Yingmo rubbed his nose and said stubbornly, "He's the trouble I caused. I have no choice but to be a good person."

Li Yicheng: "Admit it, you are just soft-hearted."

Yao Yingmo remained silent.

Li Yicheng asked again: "What's the situation?"

Yao Yingmo: "He has been rescued, but he still needs to rest."

"How's my idol Hu Guang? He and Uncle Mu have such a good relationship, he must be very sad. He He, you must take good care of him."

Yao Yingmo: “?”

Li Yicheng: "You are partners and neighbors, so it's not too much to show some concern."

"I know."

Yao Yingmo temporarily put down the spatula, picked up the soup spoon in the pot next to him and stirred it twice. Some golden particles were brought up to the surface of the milky white and thick liquid by the stirring action.

This is corn soup specially made for Shi Xuze, maybe it can make him feel better.

"The lunch I'm making right now includes his portion, so I won't let him get into trouble."

Li Yicheng paused, "That's not the kind of care I'm talking about, but it's okay."

Yao Yingmo: "I'm still cooking. I'm hanging up now."

Yao Yingmo didn't care how much Li Yicheng had left to say on the other end of the phone. If she didn't say anything she wanted to say, she would send another message. The more important thing now was not to burn the food.

She calculated the cooking progress in her mind and thought that everything would be finished in about fifteen minutes. She had to allow time for Shi Xuze to wake up. If she called him after the meal was ready, the food would get cold.

After thinking for a while, she poked her head out of the kitchen and called out, "Xiao Yu, please help me ring the doorbell next door and ask Shi Xuze to come over for lunch."

Zhou Yu was silent for a moment, "Okay."

Not long after, Shi Xuze appeared at Yao Yingmo's house. His hair was a little messy, and his clothes were not his signature hoodie, but a white short-sleeved top made of soft material.

Yao Yingmo walked out of the kitchen and looked Shi Xuze from head to toe. The density of his dark circles was about the same as usual, his face was normal in color, and there was some swelling around his eyes and nose, but his overall spirit was still good.

Shi Xuze had been jolted out of bed by Zhou Yu's doorbell. He wasn't quite conscious yet, and Yao Yingmo stared at him like that, leaving him feeling a bit bewildered. He glanced down at his clothes. While they were different from usual, they were still neat, and he hadn't accidentally left the house in his pajamas. Everything was in order, so what was Yao Yingmo looking at?

Yao Yingmo saw his confusion but didn't answer it for him. He just smiled and said, "Lunch is almost ready. Please sit down."

After having supper last night, she repeatedly told Shi Xuze to get some sleep. Now that she saw that he had recovered a lot yesterday, she felt a little relieved.

Shi Xuze was very conscious of eating for free, so he didn't actually sit down in the living room. Instead, he followed Yao Yingmo into the kitchen to help serve dishes and add rice.

Yao Yingmo rarely chased him out of the kitchen and pretended to chat with him casually, "Are you going to the studio today?"

Shi Xuze stood in front of the sink and smeared the pot that Yao Yingmo used to store raw ingredients with dishwashing liquid foam.

Hearing her question, he didn't doubt it and told her the truth, "Yes, I have been recording "Starry Sky" recently. Today I plan to record the episodes that happened when Liang Yue was living alone."

Yao Yingmo: "Don't you need to slow down?"

Even though she was diligent in updating her novels, she stopped updating for two or three weeks when her parents passed away unexpectedly. It was not until she was able to properly separate her sadness from the words she was writing that she dared to continue serializing the Happy Little Sweet Cookies she was writing at the time.

After that, she almost never wrote pure sweet articles again.

Birth, aging, sickness and death are all difficult hurdles to overcome in life.

Only one night and half a day had passed since Uncle Mu fell ill, and Shi Xuze was planning to return to normal work. No matter how you look at it, he was just being brave.

Everyone should be allowed to be sad, and no one should be asked to cheer up quickly, even if the person making the request is yourself.

"I believe everyone can understand," she said.

Shi Xuze shook his head, and there was more ambition in his eyes than Yao Yingmo had ever seen before.

"I want to produce results while the teacher is still here, proving that I am capable of taking on the new blade, so that the teacher can rest assured. Don't worry, I will never destroy your work."

Yao Yingmo is not worried that "Starry Sky" will be ruined by Shi Xuze. "I know you will treat my work well, but I also hope you will treat yourself well and don't be stubborn."

Shi Xuze: "I know."

I hope he really knows...

Shi Xuze was too determined, so Yao Yingmo couldn't persuade him anymore. He lowered his head and poured the last dish from the pot into the plate. "Okay, take it out and let's eat."

Zhou Yu had already set the dining table. The tableware was neatly arranged in front of the seats. The corn soup with a milky aroma was placed in the middle, and the other two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes were displayed at the opposite corners. Even with a protractor, it was impossible to measure an irregular angle on this dining table.

Shi Xuze ignored the white rice he had served himself. The first thing he did after sitting down was to scoop up a bowl of corn soup, holding it in front of him and blowing on it to cool it down. His mouth puffed up and down, wrinkling the thin layer of milk on the surface and creating circles of milky white ripples.

"Eat the vegetables first. The soup is freshly cooked and won't get cold that easily."

Yao Yingmo picked up a piece of chicken and put it in Shi Xuze's bowl, then turned around and picked up another piece and put it in Zhou Yu's bowl.

The chicken is stir-fried with sugar and soy sauce. The sweet sauce coats the meat evenly, dyeing the surface of the meat an appetizing brown color. Some white sesame seeds are sprinkled on it to add aroma and color.

Shi Xuze looked at the chicken, then at the corn soup in his hand, and finally, driven by the hot feeling in his palm, he chose to put down the soup bowl and taste the chicken first.

Zhou Yu stared at him, and the chopsticks in his hand hit the edge of the ceramic bowl with a crisp sound. The word "trouble" was on the tip of his tongue, but he took it back.

Shi Xuze was completely unaware. He ate the meal seriously until his belly was round and his face was rosy. After being checked over and over by Yao Yingmo, he was allowed to go out to work.

Not long after he left, Zhou Yu also prepared to leave, backpack on his back. While the school wasn't as far from Yao Yingmo's home as the publishing house, it still required a considerable commute by public transportation. Therefore, Zhou Yu couldn't stay until after dinner and had to leave early.

Before leaving, Yao Yingmo stuffed some snacks and sauces into his pocket as usual. Considering his three roommates who were kept secret from them, she also pickled some fruits. All in all, she filled up an entire shopping bag and asked Zhou Yu to take it back as an apology.

The dining table, which was bustling with people just now, has now returned to its usual quietness, and is deserted, revealing a sense of melancholy.

I'm eating alone again tonight.

Yao Yingmo suddenly had the urge to write something, so she grabbed the inspiration notebook beside her and quickly wrote down the fragmented words and sentences in her mind.

After stopping to write and reading again, the words seemed to point to the same person. Yao Yingmo immediately decided that he had found the prototype of the male protagonist of the new article.

While the inspiration was still fresh, she hurriedly sat down in front of the computer, opened a new document, and typed furiously on the keyboard, not even noticing her cell phone ringing, completely immersed in the joy of storytelling.

When she stopped, she had already written a new outline, which was enough for her to start a new work seamlessly after finishing the current one.

Her fans will definitely go crazy and party online.

Maybe Shi Xuze will too.

Yao Yingmo planned to report this good news to Li Yicheng, and at the same time let her and the publishing house be mentally prepared.

Unexpectedly, when I turned on my phone, I found several missed calls from Li Yicheng.

The excitement of finishing the outline of the new article was immediately replaced by an ominous premonition.

Yao Yingmo took a deep breath and stretched out his slender fingers to the redial button.

Before I could press it, there was another ring and vibration.

Yao Yingmo tilted his fingertips and answered the call, "Orange, what's wrong?"

"He He, have you seen the trending searches?"

Li Yicheng's tone didn't sound like he was going to chat about gossip.

Yao Yingmo paused and asked tentatively, "Didn't you ask the same question this morning?"

"It's not that. Go open Weibo. Teacher Huguang has been hacked."

Yao Yingmo's face darkened instantly.

She opened Weibo on her computer webpage. It froze for a moment when it opened, and then the hot search terms with familiar names came into her sight.

She clicked on it.

The first Weibo post was a few screenshots of WeChat chats and a photo. The photo showed a side silhouette of a man with a figure extremely similar to Shi Xuze, walking out of an ordinary residential building.

His hair looked like it was covered with several layers of hairspray, and his clothes were very fancy, with the same aesthetic as Shi Xuze on the stage.

The chat screenshots are from the girl's perspective. It starts with her, as a fan, obtaining the WeChat account of "Hu Guang", then "Hu Guang"'s kindness makes her fall in love, and finally "Hu Guang" visits her home, leaves after enjoying himself, and has lost contact since then.

In this Weibo post, "Hu Guang" committed a big taboo of getting close to fans and solidified his image as a scumbag.

The discussion below was filled with curses, and every word and sentence was disgusting.

Yao Yingmo's eyebrows were tightly furrowed, and her lips were pressed into a straight line.

If she didn't know him personally, she might have been deceived.

but……

Yao Yingmo said decisively: "The person in the photo is not Hu Guang."