Su Chengning had rested at home for two days, feeling thoroughly pampered by Tang Mo’s care.
Of course, this “pampering” mostly referred to the satisfaction of his culinary desires. As for his other desires… he didn’t really want to comment too much, lest he discourage the big boy who was currently humming a cheerful tune in the kitchen.
He leaned against the doorframe, dressed in simple and comfortable loungewear. Gone was the sharp, professional aura he usually carried in the workplace; he seemed much softer now.
Perhaps it was because Tang Mo’s cooking had spoiled his appetite over the past two days, but when Tang Mo walked out carrying two bowls of noodles, Su Chengning’s expression visibly soured.
He glanced at the steaming, perfectly presented egg noodles. The poached egg was fried to textbook perfection, but that didn’t change the fact that it was just a bowl of noodles with greens and an egg.
“You’re giving me this to eat?” Su Chengning looked at Tang Mo with a dissatisfied gaze.
“Brother, you said you wanted noodles yourself last night,” Tang Mo explained with a hint of grievance. “I specifically asked you back then, and you pointedly said you wanted egg noodles. I even added greens specially. Doesn’t the bright green vegetable paired with the golden poached egg and white noodles look particularly appetizing?”
“Did I say that?”
Under Tang Mo’s accusatory and resentful gaze, Su Chengning tilted his head and thought about it.
It seemed… maybe he did.
But things a man says in bed are often spur-of-the-moment whims. How was he supposed to remember that much? Why on earth had he impulsively thought of eating noodles at a time like that?
Su Chengning coughed lightly in slight embarrassment, deciding to let the matter drop.
After all, it was a bowl of noodles; it wasn’t like he couldn’t eat it.
He was satisfied with Tang Mo’s cooking. After finishing the entire bowl, he patted his stomach with a sense of satiety.
Su Chengning let out a satisfied sigh, only to find Tang Mo staring at him with a strange look in his eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
Tang Mo pursed his lips and suddenly leaned in close.
Su Chengning was momentarily dazed, only then realizing that Tang Mo’s fingers, carrying a slightly cool body temperature, were brushing against his lips.
For a split second, it felt as if an electric current was surging through his heart.
It was a numbing, tingling sensation.
“Brother, your mouth was a bit dirty.” Tang Mo looked a bit abashed as he withdrew his hand and hid it behind his back, subtly rubbing his fingertips together.
He thought to himself: Brother’s lips are so soft, I really want to kiss him.
Su Chengning noticed the fleeting change in his gaze and understood it clearly, but he asked anyway: “Is it clean now?”
He intentionally used his own finger to rub his lips heavily. In a moment, his originally pale red lips became excessively crimson and vivid.
Tang Mo’s body tensed instantly. His fingers clenched tightly, his grip so strong that the veins on the back of his hand were clearly visible.
Tang Mo tried his best to restrain the restless urge within him, his voice raspy as he hummed an “Mhm.”
“Is it really clean?” Su Chengning seemed doubtful. He stared at Tang Mo with a playful gaze without blinking until Tang Mo’s ears turned red. Only then did he laugh softly and let him off.
Tang Mo felt a sense of relief, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of loss.
“Brother, you’re teasing me again.” His tone was a bit low and gloomy as he gazed at Su Chengning resentfully.
“How did I tease you?” Su Chengning shrugged noncommittally.
“You were the one who said my mouth was a bit dirty. I just rubbed it a few extra times; otherwise, wouldn’t it be bad to stay dirty?”
After speaking, he even gave Tang Mo a playful wink, his eyes brimming with laughter.
Tang Mo sat there somewhat dully. The empty noodle bowls were left on the table, with a few stray vegetable leaves floating lonely on the surface of the soup.
Su Chengning looked at him with some surprise. “Are you angry?”
He carefully observed Tang Mo’s expression. Seeing that he wouldn’t speak and just kept staring, Su Chengning helplessly reached out to grab Tang Mo’s hand on the dining table.
Unexpectedly, he was pulled back with a counter-force. Su Chengning fell toward Tang Mo’s side, easily falling under his control.
The distance closed. From a distance, it looked as if the two were intimately kissing.
In reality, Tang Mo had raised his hand to cradle Su Chengning’s face, moving gently as he used his own lips and tongue to help “wipe away” the marks on the corner of his mouth.
Su Chengning was stunned for a moment. Sensing Tang Mo’s intention to pull away, he instead used the tip of his tongue to linger for a second.
Tang Mo’s hand holding him went stiff, and he didn’t dare move.
“Do you like it?”
The basketball game was scheduled for the weekend. Tang Mo was dragged by the basketball team to train every day, with the intensity increasing day by day.
When training ended that day, several teammates clamored about going out to relax.
“I’ve spent these past few days getting intimate with the hoop; I’m about to forget what girls look like.”
After one of them threw the ball into the basket, he wailed this line, making the others burst into laughter.
“You single dog, what kind of girls are you even dreaming about?”
“What? You want to laugh at me? Don’t act like you’ve escaped bachelorhood yourself.”
“We’re all in the same boat; nobody should be laughing at anyone.”
“You guys shouldn’t think too much. Just play the game well. Maybe some girl will fall for your heroic posture on the court.”
“Psh, Captain is flickering us again.”
“Exactly. No matter how ‘heroic’ we look, we can’t beat Tang Mo.”
“By then, it’ll probably just be another fan-meeting for Tang Mo’s fangirls.”
While they were joking around, they noticed Tang Mo was silently playing with his phone.
The Captain walked over and bumped Tang Mo’s shoulder.
“We’re going to relax in a bit, want to come?”
Tang Mo didn’t even look up as he replied, “Not interested.”
The Captain didn’t seem to mind the rejection and leaned in curiously. “I see you busy chatting on WeChat every day after training these past few days. Do you have a girlfriend?”
Tang Mo looked up at him, moving his phone inward to block the inquisitive gaze.
He said flatly, “No.”
“I see your enthusiasm for holding that phone and chatting twenty-four hours a day; how could you not have one?” The Captain seemed very experienced. “Only couples in the honeymoon phase are constantly wanting to communicate, wanting to know what the other is doing, and especially wanting to ask if the other person is thinking about them at every moment.”
The Captain put on the air of someone who had seen it all, speaking as if it were a proven fact.
Unfortunately, Tang Mo didn’t buy it and continued to deny it.
This instead piqued the Captain’s curiosity even more. “If it’s not a girlfriend, then it’s a boyfriend.”
As soon as the words fell, Tang Mo paused for a heartbeat. The Captain immediately understood.
“I knew it.”
“From our school?”
He hadn’t heard of anyone conquering the “Campus Grass” of the Economics Department.
Tang Mo originally wanted to continue denying it, but then he remembered that Su Chengning also graduated from Jingda, so he didn’t deny it.
“It really is someone from our school!”
The Captain hadn’t expected his random guess to be correct and couldn’t help but be surprised.
The others heard the commotion and looked over.
Someone asked curiously, “Captain, what’s up?”
The Captain waved the person off. “Nothing, nothing. I was just asking Tang Mo if he’s coming to hang out later.”
“Is he good-looking?”
He whispered the gossip quietly, earning a roll of the eyes from Tang Mo.
“You’re so gossipy,” Tang Mo said with a hint of cold disdain.
“I’m just curious,” the Captain chuckled. “But since you’re so handsome, you must be paired with a great beauty.”
The words “great beauty” seemed to please Tang Mo. His expression warmed up a bit, and he said with some pride, “That’s a given.”
Oh-ho.
It was the Captain’s first time hearing Tang Mo speak with such a proud tone. He couldn’t help but wonder what kind of person it was.
“For the game this weekend, you can invite him over. It’s a good chance for him to see your valiant posture on the court. Usually, young guys are especially obsessed with the hormone-filled side of their boyfriends.”
The Captain had always believed that a man was most charming on the sports field, where the collision of hormones and power created a blood-pumping thrill.
Tang Mo thought about it and replied, “He should be coming.”
Tang Mo had mentioned the game to Su Chengning two days ago, and Su Chengning had agreed at the time.
Because of this, Tang Mo had been able to train in the basketball gym with peace of mind these past few days all to show Su Chengning his most handsome and skilled performance.
On the day of the game, the weather was exceptionally good.
The game venue was bustling with noise; almost all the students who were free had come to watch.
Among them, many girls huddled together talking, their eyes occasionally drifting toward a handsome young man in the middle of the crowd.
“They said Tang Mo would participate in the game, and sure enough, it’s true.”
These girls were Tang Mo’s little fangirls who especially loved watching him play.
“We usually don’t see him playing. We finally looked forward to this game; I hope the basketball team doesn’t just let him play the first half again.”
In the past, Tang Mo was used as a trump card by the team. They wouldn’t easily bring him out unless it was a critical moment.
This had caused quite a bit of resentment among some of the fangirls.
“Probably not,” one girl who knew more said. “This game is quite crucial. If the basketball team doesn’t release Tang Mo, they probably won’t win easily.”
“The team coming from the neighboring school this time are all elite players.”
“No matter how elite they are, they don’t even have a ten-thousandth of Tang Mo’s skill.” A shy girl said this in a soft, waxy voice, and the other girls looked at her and nodded in agreement.
“With Tang Mo there, victory is certain.”
“I specially brought my camera today just to take more photos of Tang Mo.”
The others chimed in, “Please share the photos!”
When Su Chengning walked over, he happened to overhear their conversation and raised an eyebrow slightly.
This kid Tang Mo seems to have quite the popular following.