Chapter 19

The next afternoon after school, Li Yuanhang went to Ling Mo’s desk and said, “Hey, my dad is back. He said he hasn’t seen you in a long time and wants you to come home for dinner!”
Qu Yun happened to walk to Ling Mo’s side and tugged at him, meaning it was better not to go back, what if it was a trap?
“Oh, I know.”
Hearing Ling Mo’s reply, Li Yuanhang snorted and left.
“Hey, what if Li Yuanhang’s dad rolls up his sleeves and beats you up?” Qu Yun asked nervously.
“Wouldn’t that be great?” Ling Mo turned his head, a smile playing on his lips, and leaned towards Qu Yun.
His nose seemed to be about to touch Qu Yun’s, and even his breath gently brushed against Qu Yun’s nose, making his heart itch.
“What’s great?”
“You’ll know then.”
This was the first time Qu Yun saw a smile in Ling Mo’s eyes.
Then, Ling Mo’s eyes narrowed slightly: “What’s that expression on your face?”
“You looked really good when you smiled just now.” Qu Yun exclaimed sincerely.
“Do you think saying a guy looks good when he smiles is a compliment?” Ling Mo’s finger suddenly poked Qu Yun’s belly.
“Ouch!” Qu Yun looked at him.
“Give you another chance to compliment me.” Ling Mo raised his eyebrows.
“You… you’re not serious, are you?”
“Yeah.”
Qu Yun was dumbfounded. He didn’t know how to compliment people. He didn’t know where it came from, but he blurted out, “It’s like a CEO’s charming smile!”
Ling Mo’s expression didn’t change, but his eyes looked at him like he was an idiot.
“Haven’t you seen it?” Qu Yun asked.
“Seen what?”
“It’s what girls often do during lunch break, they lower their heads and put a novel this big in their drawer!”
Qu Yun stretched out his hand to show the size.
Ling Mo was still staring at him, raising his chin: “Then what?”
“Then I glanced at it and saw that line…”
“Say it all at once.” Ling Mo’s chin was still raised.
Qu Yun felt like he had already heard the “humph” from his throat.
“It said, ‘The CEO smiled charmingly and pressed her against the wall…'”
Ling Mo still didn’t say anything, making Qu Yun feel uneasy.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it… it turned the page…”
Qu Yun didn’t actually understand the routine of romance novels. Ling Mo’s finger poked Qu Yun’s belly again: “Squeeze a heart, say goodbye.”
“Forget it…”
“What’s wrong?”
“You keep squeezing my heart, it’s going to make me sick.” Qu Yun said with a bitter face.
“I’ll check your homework tomorrow morning.”
Qu Yun’s heart sank instantly.
“Didn’t you say you didn’t care about me before?”
Qu Yun and Ling Mo parted ways at the crossroads, but Qu Yun hadn’t gone far when he was surrounded by Cheng Zhi and his brothers.
“Long time no see, little fatty!” Cheng Zhi smiled and walked towards Qu Yun.
His smile made Qu Yun instantly think of the image of a bandit about to rob a good woman in a TV drama.
“Oh… what’s up?”
Subjectively, Qu Yun wasn’t afraid of them. He could imagine a thousand ways to beat them up until they cried for their mothers.
But objectively, Qu Yun felt that with Mo Xiaobai’s current physique, it was actually possible to achieve… or should he try it?
Cheng Zhi stretched out his hand and flicked Qu Yun’s schoolbag strap: “Hey, I’ve always wanted a schoolbag, and yours is right up my alley.”
“Yeah. Little fatty, just leave your schoolbag here.”
Several people surrounded him.
Qu Yun backed away while observing the situation.
The students passing by saw that something was wrong and avoided them from afar.
“I’ve been using this schoolbag for a long time. How about I give you a new one tomorrow?” Qu Yun said with the sincerity of “being polite first and then using force.”
“But I just think the one you’re carrying now looks the best!”
Looking at Cheng Zhi’s gaze, Qu Yun understood that their target wasn’t his schoolbag, but him.
When Cheng Zhi’s men were about to pull Qu Yun’s schoolbag strap, Qu Yun flicked it back, avoiding them.
“Little fatty, if you don’t want to get beaten up, hand over your schoolbag!”
Cheng Zhi widened his eyes and looked at Qu Yun, trying to scare him.
Qu Yun hated nothing more than being threatened, especially by these low-level thugs. Even if he got beaten up, Qu Yun decided to defend his fragile self-esteem.
He also raised his chin and looked coldly at Cheng Zhi.
It wasn’t the gaze of a fourteen-year-old boy. Instead, it was cold, as if it had pierced through wind and rain, experienced life and death, and carried the ferocity of a battle into Cheng Zhi’s eyes.
For a moment, Cheng Zhi froze there. He felt a sense of terror as if he was about to be pierced.
The others also felt inexplicably that the little fatty was different today.
“If you have the guts, come and beat me up. Stealing my schoolbag, no way.”
Cheng Zhi’s fist swung out without a word. No one saw what happened. Qu Yun dodged to the side and pressed down on his fist, then twisted his waist, and Cheng Zhi was pressed to the ground, the whole process smooth and flowing.
Half of Cheng Zhi’s face was pressed against the ground, as miserable as it could be.
It was all too fast to be expected.
Qu Yun saw his brothers were about to come over, so he directly knelt on Cheng Zhi’s back with one knee. His shoulder was almost dislocated, and he was crying for his mother in pain. Qu Yun then looked coldly at the others, and they all froze there, not daring to come forward.
“We have no grievances between us, so tell me, who told you to come and cause trouble for me?” Qu Yun roared, instantly shocking them.
“It’s… it’s Li Yuanhang who told us to take care of your schoolbag! We just want you to lose your textbooks… and your homework… please… loosen up… it’s about to break…” Cheng Zhi’s voice trembled.
“How much did Li Yuanhang give you?” Qu Yun remained unmoved and continued to ask.
“Ten yuan. If you throw away your schoolbag and you can’t find it, we’ll get another ten yuan…”
“Oh, for two or three packs of cigarettes? You guys are really useless! You can go now. If you come to bother me again, next time I’ll twist your other arm! I’ll make you ‘invincible forever’!”
Qu Yun let go of Cheng Zhi and kicked him in the leg. Cheng Zhi stumbled and called out to his brothers, who ran away.
“My goodness… when did this fat guy become so strong!”
“He’s lost weight! He must have been training recently!”
Qu Yun touched his chin and thought: Li Yuanhang, you like to play dirty tricks so much, I’ll give you a taste of your own medicine. You really think fat guys are soft and can be squeezed!
As soon as Ling Mo entered the house, he saw Li Yuanhang’s father sitting at the dinner table with a cold face, while Li Yuanhang was already eating there.
“Xiaomo, you’re back. Come and sit down. Your uncle is back, so we can have dinner together as a family.” Chen Li said, and also served Ling Mo a large bowl of rice, “Your teacher criticized us. We’re all family, and we should take good care of Xiaomo from now on.”
Chen Li winked at Li Hao, telling him not to lose his temper.
Ling Mo’s lips curled up slightly, and he said, “Yeah, you don’t need to save on food and drink. Because even if you save money, it might not be for Yuanhang in the end.”
Chen Li’s shoulders stiffened, and Li Hao looked up at Ling Mo: “What do you mean by that?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking about my parents.”
After saying that, Ling Mo lowered his head and continued to put rice in his mouth.
Li Hao slammed his chopsticks on the table: “Speaking of your parents, are you trying to say that my wife and I don’t have as much education as them, so we can’t teach you well? That’s why you keep trying to frame your cousin! My wife and I work hard, isn’t it for you and Yuanhang?”
“Uncle, there’s only one thing you got right in what you just said.” Ling Mo put down his chopsticks and looked at Li Hao. His eyes were very cold.
“What?”
“You don’t have as much education as my parents. Everything else is wrong.”
Chen Li quickly went to persuade him. She had a bad feeling. Ling Mo was going to give Li Hao a big lesson!
“Uncle, why don’t you tell me, how did I frame Li Yuanhang?”
“You haven’t framed him? What about the homework? What about the textbook?” Li Hao thought of the grievances his son had told him, and he felt that as a father, he should have authority in front of his son!
“First of all, I didn’t give the homework to Yuanhang, he took it from my room while I was washing clothes. Second, I tried to stop him and get the book back, but he punched me in the eye. Aunt, didn’t you see that?”
“Yes! Yes! It’s Yuanhang’s fault! Don’t talk about it, eat!”
“As for the Chinese textbook, ask your Yuanhang. The school is so big, there are so many trash cans, how did he know which trash can the Chinese textbook was in? And wasn’t the one I brought back my own book? Didn’t Li Yuanhang frame himself?”
“You… you…” For a moment, Li Hao didn’t know what to say to answer Ling Mo.
“It’s not just one textbook! Isn’t Yuanhang living in my room? Isn’t your wife and I living in my parents’ master bedroom? Aren’t you using the passbook my parents left behind? Are you sure you can explain where the money in the passbook went when I go to high school?” Ling Mo’s voice was uniquely cold, a kind of coldness that pricked Li Hao’s heart like a needle.
“You ungrateful little wolf! Do you think my wife and I are raising you for nothing!”
“It’s not that you’re raising me for nothing, it’s that the savings my parents left behind are raising you, and you’re living in the house for free.”
“Damn it! You think you can get away with anything because you have a teacher backing you up! I’m going to beat you to death today!”
Li Hao was furious. He directly picked up the bowl of soup in front of him and threw it at Ling Mo.
“No!” Chen Li saw that something was wrong and wanted to stop him, but it was too late.
She clearly saw that when Li Hao lost control, Ling Mo had a smile on his lips!