Upon hearing this, Mo Junyi had no intention of hiding anything from his aunt. He replied honestly, “He is a new friend I recently met named Su Xingting. You should have seen him on television.”
Mo Qinglian almost choked on her apple. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she asked in shock, “Su Xingting?! The one from The Years of Glamour?”
Mo Junyi didn’t watch many dramas. Hearing her question, he nodded hesitantly. “I believe so.”
Mo Qinglian couldn’t help but urge him, “I’ve lived this long and never seen such a big star in person. Hurry, let me see him again. Quick, quick!”
Mo Junyi had no choice but to indulge his aunt. He took the phone and walked into the kitchen.
Su Xingting was currently at the sink washing vegetables; his movements were actually quite skillful. Mo Qinglian watched his silhouette through the phone screen, not daring to make a sound.
Hearing footsteps behind him, Su Xingting thought Mo Junyi had finished his call and was coming to cook. He turned around completely unguarded, only to freeze when he saw Mo Junyi standing there holding the phone.
Seeing his reaction, Mo Junyi explained, “My aunt is a fan of yours. She wants to talk to you again.”
Earlier, Mo Qinglian hadn’t even recognized him through the screen; at most, she was a casual fan. But even if it were just a casual fan, Su Xingting never refused such requests. However, the current situation was different.
This woman also held the identity of being Mo Junyi’s aunt. Based on the information Su Xingting had gathered, Mo Junyi had grown up in his aunt’s home. She was clearly a mother figure to him. Wouldn’t this count as… meeting the parents?
Su Xingting looked at Mo Junyi piteously. Unable to voice a rejection, he could only stare at him with pleading eyes, hoping he would understand his meaning.
Unfortunately, while Mo Junyi did understand, he was a man who—despite usually looking cold and strict to the point that people at the police station would walk around him—sometimes harbored a bit of mischief. For instance, right now.
The more piteously Su Xingting looked at him, the more Mo Junyi wanted to tease him.
Thus, he deliberately said, “I’ll take your silence as consent.”
With that, he walked naturally to Su Xingting’s side. The distance between them was so close that if Mo Junyi just lifted his hand, he could wrap his arm around the other man’s shoulder.
In fact, he did exactly that.
This gesture wasn’t strictly intimate; it hadn’t reached the level of closeness between romantic partners, and it could be explained away as a friendly gesture between friends. However, in this current atmosphere, to say there wasn’t a hint of ambiguity would clearly be false.
At the very least, Su Xingting couldn’t calmly view this as just a gesture between friends. His eyes widened slightly, and he stiffened in Mo Junyi’s partial embrace.
Those eyes had long been praised by his fans. “Bright as the stars” was a description originally coined for his eyes that shone like a nebula, and they appeared even more dazzling now that they were slightly wide.
Seeing this, Mo Qinglian couldn’t help but exclaim, “You… you must be Su Xingting, right? Truly worthy of being a big star. Sigh, what kind of virtue did my nephew possess to have the good fortune of finding a friend like you… Wait, something seems a bit off…”
Su Xingting’s heart was thumping with nervousness, but on the surface, he maintained the dignified smile he used when receiving awards in Paris. “Auntie, you flatter me.”
Upon hearing this, Mo Qinglian showered him with more praise, finally concluding with, “They say a mother-in-law likes her son-in-law more the more she looks at him; that saying is truly correct.”
Su Xingting had heard that proverb before, but he never expected it to one day be applied to himself and Mo Junyi. He was so stunned that he forgot his nervousness and instinctively looked at Mo Junyi, thinking to himself: Is it possible she views you as a daughter?
Perhaps sensing his confusion, Mo Qinglian laughed and explained, “You don’t know this, but after I married Junyi’s uncle, I always wanted a daughter. Unfortunately, I couldn’t conceive. Luckily, I had this bratty nephew to make do with. At first, I wanted to raise him as a daughter, but from a young age, this brat didn’t have a single feminine trait other than his good looks. He was quite annoying.”
Seeing that Mo Qinglian was so stunned by Su Xingting’s beauty that she couldn’t even speak smoothly, Mo Junyi couldn’t help but interject, “You’ve seen the person now. My uncle’s chicken soup is likely finished. How about it?”
Mo Qinglian teased with a smile, “Oh ho, someone is starting to chase people away. They say once you have ‘that someone,’ you forget your mother; the ancients truly did not lie to me.”
These two sentences made Su Xingting’s face burn with shame. However, since Mo Qinglian hadn’t actually said the word “daughter-in-law,” he couldn’t easily refute it. He could only lower his head in embarrassment.
Seeing that Su Xingting was being bullied, Mo Junyi withdrew his hand from the other man’s shoulder. “Happy New Year. Hurry up and go eat. We haven’t even started cooking ours yet.”
Hearing this, Mo Qinglian hurriedly said, “Happy New Year, Happy New Year! Speaking of which, when do you plan to come back for the New Year?”
“The New Year” she referred to was the Lunar New Year. Mo Junyi thought for a few seconds. “I might have to work overtime. We’ll see then, but it won’t be later than the 28th.”
“Fine, then we’ll be at home waiting for the Young Master to return.” Mo Qinglian glanced smilingly at Su Xingting before adding, “The big star is also welcome to come over and visit during the holidays.”
Suddenly being addressed, Su Xingting nodded hurriedly. “Yes, yes. Happy New Year, Auntie.”
Seeing how handsome and polite he was, Mo Qinglian liked him immensely. A second before hanging up, she gave Mo Junyi a meaningful look. The look clearly said: “Win him over before the New Year.”
Mo Junyi acted as if he hadn’t seen it and simply hung up.
After the call ended, the two of them, sharing a tacit understanding, did not mention the implications in Mo Qinglian’s words.
Mo Junyi put down his phone to wash his hands. Seeing that the vegetables had been washed and arranged neatly, he looked at Su Xingting with some surprise.
Su Xingting, having finally found a way to change the subject, hurriedly explained that his culinary skills weren’t actually very good. However, when he left home in his teens, he had learned some simple cooking techniques. While the finished products were only good enough to fill one’s stomach, he was quite skilled at simple tasks like washing and cutting vegetables.
And so, that evening’s New Year’s Eve dinner was completed through their joint efforts.
Although this dinner came late, it was full of color, aroma, and flavor. Mo Junyi didn’t show anything special on the surface, but he had actually utilized his absolute best culinary skills for these dishes. Fortunately, nothing went wrong to ruin the atmosphere.
Facing the table full of food, Su Xingting couldn’t help but say, “This is the first time in years I’ve truly celebrated New Year’s Day…”
Mo Junyi lifted his eyes to look at him. Su Xingting’s expression had softened significantly. “Such a sumptuous meal… can I take a photo to post on Weibo?”
Mo Junyi nodded. “Of course.”
Su Xingting happily took out his phone and snapped several photos. After studying them for half a minute, he found that every single one looked good, so he simply posted them all.
“Sorry for the wait, let’s begin.” Su Xingting smiled with an indescribable sense of happiness. “Team Leader Mo, Happy New Year.”
“Calling me ‘Team Leader Mo’ is a bit distant, isn’t it?” Mo Junyi reminded him.
Su Xingting froze for a moment, his voice becoming quieter: “Then… Junyi, Happy New Year?”
Only then did Mo Junyi respond: “Mm. Happy New Year.”
Su Xingting felt that he had blushed more times today than in the previous twenty-odd years combined. He raised the drink in his hand and clinked glasses with Mo Junyi as a cover. At the same time, fireworks representing the New Year bloomed in the sky outside the window.
The “Little New Year’s Eve” dinner on the eve of New Year’s Day came to a close amidst the continuous blooming of fireworks.
After the meal, the two took turns bathing. Su Xingting had brought plenty of daily necessities this time, including his own pajamas, so he didn’t wear Mo Junyi’s clothes after his bath.
Mo Junyi had no objections. He finished his bath first. While Su Xingting was bathing, Mo Junyi was in the study handling a file Liu Minghua had just sent over.
Just as he finished, Su Xingting—having bathed and dried his hair—suddenly knocked on the door.
Mo Junyi paused. “Come in.”
Su Xingting was dressed in a set of silver-white silk pajamas. He was holding a thick notebook, and he wore a pair of thin-rimmed glasses that Mo Junyi had never seen him wear before.
His freshly washed hair hadn’t been dried completely; droplets of water fell slowly with his movements, landing on his collarbone before flowing along the hollow of his neck into his collar.
Mo Junyi’s breath hitched, yet the culprit remained entirely oblivious. “Um… there are some issues in the script I don’t quite understand. Do you have a moment?”
Mo Junyi’s gaze darkened. “I do.”
Hearing this, Su Xingting’s eyes lit up. He walked in hurriedly with his notebook and politely closed the door behind him. “Then, excuse the intrusion.”
The layout of Mo Junyi’s study was unique; the bed was right behind the desk and very close to his chair. Su Xingting walked over to him, unsure of where to sit. Seeing this, Mo Junyi said casually, “Just sit on the bed.”
Su Xingting obediently sat on the edge of the bed closest to Mo Junyi. Mo Junyi closed his computer and moved his chair back slightly, looking down at him while almost touching him.
Su Xingting was immersed in his thoughts regarding his professional knowledge. He didn’t notice at all that in such an ambiguous space late at night, the distance between him and Mo Junyi seemed a bit too close.
Su Xingting flipped the notebook to a certain page and leaned sideways to point out a specific line to Mo Junyi. “The original script is still with the crew and can’t be taken out right now. These are the notes I made.”
After Mo Junyi gave a sound of acknowledgement, Su Xingting looked down at his notes and asked, “It’s this small section. When filming, I always felt there were some logical issues, and I couldn’t quite grasp certain details. Could you help me look at it?”
Because the house was heated, Mo Junyi liked to roll up his sleeves while working in his pajamas. As Su Xingting leaned slightly, the tips of his hair inadvertently brushed against Mo Junyi’s propped-up wrist. A faint, fresh fragrance wafted through the dark night, gradually enveloping the man beside him.
Hearing no response for a long time, Su Xingting instinctively wanted to look up at Mo Junyi. However, they were sitting too close together. The moment he lifted his head, his lips coincidentally brushed against the corner of Mo Junyi’s mouth.
The warm, soft sensation and the indescribable atmosphere of the night caused both of them to fall into a sudden silence.