episode 60
What are you doing here?
Mo Shilin sat back on the sofa and politely opened a drink for the young man opposite him. "Sit down and let's talk."
Li Yili's slender fingers gripped the brightly colored beverage bottle tightly. Her eyes widened as she waved the flyer in her other hand, her voice excited: "I'm doing a part-time job, Brother Shilin! What are you doing here?"
Li Ren watched for a while, then put his arm around the waiter and grinned maliciously: "And this is?"
Mo Shilin fiddled with his phone in his right hand, glanced at him expressionlessly, and said truthfully, "My childhood neighbor."
Clearly, they didn't want to discuss it further.
“Neighbor.” Li Ren subconsciously looked at his old classmate’s neighbor.
The young man wore a white shirt, had long legs, and his skin was almost transparently white under the incandescent light. His cheeks were rosy, and his face was as red as the apple Snow White ate.
She has a pretty face, but her tone of voice reveals a hint of coquettishness.
He claimed to be doing part-time work, but it seemed he hadn't handed out a single flyer; he was still clutching that thick stack in his hand. He just sat down without a care when he saw someone he knew—he was clearly a pampered young master from a wealthy family, completely incapable of doing this kind of part-time job.
However, her voice was exceptionally pleasant to hear.
"Hey! You're still my childhood friend. Well then, it's getting late, so I won't bother you any longer. You two have a good chat."
Li Ren deliberately dragged out his words, winked at Mo Shilin twice, and pulled a room key out of his pocket, tossing it to him: "There are vacant rooms upstairs."
Then, thinking herself wise, she put her arm around the boy and left first.
“…Tsk.” Mo Shilin stared at the idiot’s back and calmly and objectively gave his assessment, “Crazy.”
Li Yili glanced at the room key, his cheeks flushed even more, and he lowered his voice, as if he were pleading: "Brother Shilin... I haven't seen you in so long. How have you been all these years? Why don't you ever call me? Did you save the number I left you back then? I was afraid you wouldn't be able to find me, so I never changed my number."
Mo Shilin's mind automatically filtered out his intimate words, his palm pressed against the hard room key, and he cunningly changed the subject: "I remember you went abroad to study? It's only been a few years, why are you back?"
He and Li Yili had indeed been neighbors before, but Li Yili moved to his neighborhood when he was already in middle school.
During his teenage years, he was oblivious to everything else and focused solely on studying computers. His relationship with his parents was strained and tense, and he naturally paid even less attention to neighborhood matters. On the other hand, Li Yili, who was a few years younger than him, would always greet him warmly as "brother" whenever they met at school or outside, and would pester him to do homework and eat together.
But even then, he was already very perceptive and realized that he and Li Yili were not on the same path and their personalities were completely different, so he always maintained a polite but distant relationship.
Later, he went abroad to study, and after returning to China, he immediately started his own business, leaving him no time to attend to these trivial neighborhood matters, much like a grocery store in the last century.
He vaguely remembered hearing someone mention at a banquet that something seemed to have happened to the Li family, but he didn't pay attention to the specifics. As for his relationship with Li Yili, they weren't exactly childhood friends.
At most, we're just nodding acquaintances, and even then, only in a limited sense.
"Yes, that was true at first, but our family went bankrupt in less than a year in the United States."
Li Yili clutched the flyer tightly, tears welling in her eyes. "My mother bought all the jewelry and bags, and she couldn't make ends meet. My father almost jumped off a building, so I had to come back to find a job to earn money."
"Brother Shilin, why are you asking a question you already know the answer to?"
He was extremely aggrieved, his delicate face scrunched up as if he was about to cry.
Mo Shilin remained silent for a moment, then pulled out a tissue and handed it to him: "I'm sorry, I was presumptuous."
"It's getting late. You can finish your work tomorrow. Go home and rest."
He stood up and stuffed the room key into his pocket, indicating that he wanted to end the conversation.
But Li Yili grabbed his arm and whispered, "Brother Shilin..."
"Is there anything else?" Mo Shilin calmly withdrew his hand and put both hands in his pockets.
Li Yili mustered her courage, but her expression was a little embarrassed: "Could you... help me find a job? I don't have a proper job right now, and I'm really short of money."
Mo Shilin paused for a moment: "What did you study?"
"Journalism? I've always been a broadcasting student since I was a child, didn't you know that?"
Have you finished reading?
"I studied it in the US... um... but I didn't finish it..."
Tsk.
This is a bit tricky.
Mo Shilin was about to tell him to go back and wait for news when suddenly a thought struck him, and the image of another person appeared before his eyes.
He turned and stared at Li Yili for two seconds, then said, "Let's go work at my place first."
Meeting Li Yili's blank stare, he quickly added, "Household responsibilities, is that acceptable?"
*
He Xun had just come out of the bathroom after taking a shower when he received Mo Shilin's call.
"He Xun, thank you for driving all this way. I've been drinking tonight. I'll send the address to your phone."
The other person's voice sounded exceptionally soft and alluring, like the moon in the night, and He Xun agreed without much hesitation.
He haphazardly dried his hair, casually put on a white sweatshirt, and went out.
When the car arrived at its destination, he saw that there was someone he didn't recognize standing next to Mo Shilin.
The young man stood beside Mo Shilin, looking up at him with a broad smile and saying something.
The silvery moonlight shone down, and the begonias planted along the street bloomed in a fiery red and ambiguous way, making the two people on the roadside seem even more well-matched.
He Xun's hand gripping the steering wheel twitched slightly, then he calmly looked away.
He got out and dutifully opened the car door.
Without hesitation, Li Yili sat in the back seat and casually tossed the flyer to He Xun like trash: "Hold this for me, it's so thick, my hands are killing me."
He Xun glanced at him, guessing his identity, and was about to raise his hand when his wrist was grabbed by a cold hand.
He slightly raised his eyes.
Mo Shilin took the stack of flyers: "I'll take this, you drive."
From this position and angle, Mo Shilin could clearly see He Xun's fluttering eyelashes, pale pink lips, and hair still dripping with water.
He almost subconsciously twirled a strand of He Xun's hair, a drop of water breaking on his fingertip, icy cold, like ice piercing his heart. "Just finished showering?"
"Hmm." He Xun withdrew his hand, didn't look at him, and went straight to the driver's seat, quickly pulled over the seat belt and fastened it.
Mo Shilin stared at his back for a few seconds before moving to sit in the passenger seat.
Li Yili called out to him unhappily, "Brother Shilin, why aren't you sitting with me?"
"I'm not used to sitting in the back."
"oh."
After a while, Li Yili said again, "Brother Shilin, why are we going back so late? Didn't your friend give you the room key? We can just sleep upstairs. The room must be big, and we can sleep together."
He Xun, who had been expressionless the whole time, finally showed a subtle change when he heard the words "sleep together". He subconsciously looked at Mo Shilin in the passenger seat.
Unexpectedly, the other person was also staring at him, with a half-smile, but deep and unfathomable eyes, as if deliberately waiting for him to take the bait.
His throat tightened, and he pursed his lips, abruptly turning his head back.
That's strange, what does he have to be guilty about!
Fortunately, Li Yili in the back seat wouldn't let the atmosphere fall silent. He grabbed the front seat, leaned out, and relentlessly asked, "Brother Shilin, why aren't you saying anything?"
"Sorry, I was daydreaming just now."
"Distracted?"
"Yeah, I just saw something really beautiful and I got me mesmerized."
He was talking to Li Yili, but his eyes were fixed on He Xun.
He Xun clenched his back teeth even tighter.
"What is this thing? It's so beautiful!" Li Yili was still puzzled.
"Yes, it looks great."
Mo Shilin replied in an orderly manner, but in reality, his soul had been completely captivated and immersed by the fragrance of He Xun's shower gel.
Why does this person smell so good?
He had this inexplicable thought.
Did you really not wear perfume before coming?
Will it still smell this good after I take off my clothes?
......
The car drove smoothly and quickly to the villa, and the three of them got out together.
Mo Shilin said to Li Yili, "I'll take you to see Aunt Mu first. She'll arrange a job for you."
"Brother Shilin...it's too late today, can we talk about it tomorrow? Wouldn't it be better if you took me to my room to sleep first?"
"Aunt Mu hasn't rested yet." Mo Shilin's voice was both cold and polite.
"...All right."
The two quickly walked in side by side.
--elder brother.
He Xun savored the two words, scoffed softly, put his hands in his pockets, and followed him inside.
The villa lights were still on. He Xun went to the living room, poured himself a glass of water, drank it all, refilled the glass, and turned to walk towards his room.
Unexpectedly, a familiar voice came from behind—
"He Xun".
He Xun turned his head in surprise; it was Mo Shilin.
He thought for a moment, then took a few steps over and asked, "Is there anything else?"
Mo Shilin looked at him for a while, then said in a low voice, "It's nothing, get some rest."
"...good."
"You need to dry your hair too."
He Xun turned his head away: "I understand."
Seeing his reluctance, Mo Shilin deliberately said, "I'll check it in a bit."
He Xun: "..."
You're so bored!
Go with your dear younger brother!
*
He Xun was half right about Li Yili's identity – she was indeed a pampered young master.
However, it was the kind of family that went bankrupt.
Bankruptcy is not the most terrifying thing; what is truly terrifying is when people who have already gone bankrupt still live in the illusion of a non-bankruptcy bubble.
According to incomplete statistics, in just three days since Li Yili arrived, she has already accomplished a series of glorious deeds that make people's blood pressure soar, including breaking ten plates, three vases, smashing two paintings, using the bathroom mop to wipe the living room floor, and mistakenly pouring boiling water instead of cold water on a patch of camellias in the garden.
He was completely unaware of this and always acted arrogantly, making it seem like he was the owner of the villa.
Mu Xianglu had tried to reprimand him a few times, but as it turned out, reprimands only worked on smart people.
For someone like Li Yili, who was used to being waited on and pampered since childhood, it was like talking to a brick wall. In addition, since he was indeed the son of the Mo family's old neighbor, Aunt Mu gradually stopped paying much attention to him.
Li Yili truly considered herself the owner of the villa—at the very least, she was Mo Shilin's childhood friend.
Moreover, it was obvious that he particularly disliked He Xun, and his words were always barbed.
Even Ji Ruoyang, the minor cannon fodder, could see it.
When Li Yili deliberately bumped into He Xun's shoulder again and instead of apologizing, accused He Xun of not watching where he was going, Ji Ruoyang couldn't hold back anymore.
But he only dared to mutter under his breath in the corner after Li Yili had walked away, his tone indignant: "Brother Xun, is he jealous that you're prettier than him? Why is he always picking on you? I heard he studied broadcasting and hosting, how can he be such a terrible person?"
"......"
"Maybe."
He Xun chuckled softly, but his gaze toward Li Yili's retreating figure was chillingly cold.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com