Mo Di had always been resolute, but when it comes to love, he hesitated.
Without the Mo family and Qin Cheng Yi, based on his character, he would be preparing a confession plan and go all out to pursue Mu Tian Heng.
But under the current circumstances, he was not allowed to do that. Firstly, he did not have much time or energy for dating. Taking precautions and revenge on the Mos, and also reconstructing his company were his top priorities. Second was ….
What if Mu Tian Heng turned him down or broke up with him after three months and they went their separate ways, wouldn't he lose his only shelter? When the Mo family, Qin Cheng Yi, and Ye Cheng Feng joined hands to deal with him, wouldn't he be left for dead?
Hence, for now, he had to cast aside his feelings.
But that did not mean he would completely ignore the matter. As there were too many elite men and women eyeing Mu Tian Heng, before they started dating, he had to ensnare Mu Tian Heng and make sure he would be unable to get him out of his head.
And so…
He had to be more aggressive and stir up Mu Tian Heng from time to time, making him gradually enticed by him; day by day, increasing the affection towards him. The best was to fall completely head over heels for him before he even confessed!
Mo Di finally closed his eyes in satisfaction and a sly smile spread across his lips.
En. That's settled then.
The following days went according to his busy school life. His day centered around the classroom, library, then back to his dorm where he would busy himself till two-thirty in the morning, sleeping only three hours a day.
Seeing Mo Di toiling day to night, Xian Yu Chao and others could not possibly stay idle. They were fueled with enthusiasm and followed Mo Di back to the dorm after class to learn coding from him. They were quick learners and in a short time were able to complete minor tasks that Mo Di assigned. With their contribution, Mo Di's workload was alleviated considerably.
Mo Di certainly would not let them work for free. When the competition progressed to the stage where they had to reside at the official base, he would formally invite them to the team and sign a contract, giving them a one percent share each.
…
Mu Tian Heng returned to Hua Xia after staying in America for eleven days. He went straight to Jind Da to give Mo Di a surprise.
Unexpectedly, he happened to bump into an 'acquaintance'.
Mo Liu Gui was coming out of the cafeteria to return to her dorm when she saw Mu Tian Heng and called out to him.
"Brother Mu, what a coincidence."
Mu Tian Heng frowned inwardly and turned to look at Mo Liu Gui in a yellow dress approaching him.
Mo Liu Gui sheepishly twirled her hair and said with a smile: "Brother Mu, are you here to look for Xiao Di?"
"We're not familiar with each other." Mu Tian Heng had an unwelcoming look, "The way you address me is inappropriate."
Mo Liu Gui was instantly stunned with awkwardness, she forced a smile and said: "But this was how Xiao Di called you."
"He is him, you are you. You should know for sure that you're both separate individuals."
Mu Tian Heng did not want to prolong this interaction with Mo Liu Gui but she stuck to him like glue, following closely behind.
"Then … what should I call you? I only wanted to ask about Xiao Di's wellbeing. He was my brother after all, I just wanted to meet with him but he ignored my tidings. Can you take me to see him? I beg you. I…"
Mu Tian Heng was getting a little impatient. He turned and converged his focus on Mo Liu Gui who was looking aggrieved behind him.
"If you sincerely wanted to see Mo Di, then you should tell him that in person instead of following me and express how much you care for him. Doing this doesn't prove your concern for him, unless, you're doing it for another purpose."
Mo Liu Gui turned rigid.
"That's … that's not what I'm doing."
Mo Liu Gui had a sullen look. Mu Tian Heng was the first person ever to not give her any face. His words even punctured the veil on her true intentions.
And yet it would be unbecoming of her to blame him, much less act aggrieved because there was no fault in Mu Tian Heng's attitude as he was keeping a gentlemanly grace when speaking to her.
What was most upsetting to her was his straightforwardness, speaking non-malicious words clearly and concisely without pulling any punches.
Mu Tian Heng could not be bothered with her any longer. He dialed Mo Di's phone directly. Matters involving the Mo family, it was better to let his little friend make the decisions. There may not be a need to mention this matter but if he let this slide, for whatever reason that this might come up in the future, it could stir up misunderstandings and cause a rift between them.
It was a pity that his plan for surprising him in the classroom was wasted now that he had called him.
The ring rang twice and was picked up.
"Hello? Brother, you're back?!" Mo Di's excited voice came through. He could tell that Mu Tian Heng was back because the caller ID was his domestic number.
Mu Tian Heng smiled the instant he heard Mo Di's voice. In a gentle voice, he said: "Um, but right now I have something to tell you. I just met Mo Liu Gui at your school. She said she was worried about you and wanted to know how you're doing. Do you want to come here and speak to her?"
Since they had already severed their ties, there was no need for him to call her sister and so Mo Di called her by her name: "…brother, you've spoken to her?"
"Um. She told me that she wanted to know how you've been. Because she had tried various ways to get in touch but you didn't respond so she had to ask me for help. Do you want to see her?"
"No. Brother, I'll wait for you at the east gate." Mo Di declined without much thought, he added: "And also, it was not possible for her to reach out to me."
After Mo San Zhi's arrest, the Mo family had put a lot of effort into abusing and cursing him on WeChat. At that time, he had blacklisted them all including those who were close to them.
So Mo Liu Gui was not able to get through to him this way. Furthermore, he did not believe that she wanted to see him. It had been more than ten days since he made this move, if she had wanted to speak to him, there were many ways to do so. She only had to look up his schedule and find the time, there was nothing hard to it.
Mu Tian Heng: "Then I'll help you pass along?"
"No need. Brother, turn on the speaker, I'll talk to her."
"Can you hear me now?" Mo Di's voice was transmitted through the phone.
"Xiao Di, you… you don't even want to call me your sister anymore?"
Mo Liu Gui had a saddened face and spoke in an aggrieved tone: "Xiao Di, we're siblings, our blood ties cannot be broken. Do you hate me so much, hate mom and dad, hate the family that had lived under the same roof with you? You cut your ties with us, blacklisted us, and insisted on putting your third brother in prison. Don't you even feel a little upset doing this?"
Mo Di: "And I actually thought you really wanted to ask about my wellbeing. It seems I was overthinking."
Mo Liu Gui froze on the spot. After she was able to react, there was some embarrassment and anger on her face.
"Sister, since that's what you wanted to hear, then I'll just call you this once. Don't you find that whenever you face me, you almost always have the same script?" Mo Di spoke in a moderate tone: "Have you made a habit out of this and so every time you spoke to me you can't get rid of this mode anymore?"
"We've cut our ties, of course we can't address each other the same way. If you sincerely want to talk to me, it's not hard to get hold of my schedule."
Mentioning this, Mo Di was actually a little mystified. Why didn't Mo Liu Gui come to pester him with 'concern' and tried to persuade him to go home like before?
But he was content with being able to draw a line between them.
Seeing that Mo Liu Gui was speechless momentarily, Mu Tian Heng ended the call.
"Xiao Di had misunderstood me." Mo Liu Gui asserted in a soft voice when she saw Mu Tian Heng leaving.
"Xiao Di had accumulated a deep misunderstanding of me since childhood. I can't get through to him but I've really been doing my best to treat him well. Xiao Di he just… he just doesn't understand or accept me. I don't know if it was something that I did wrong which caused him to feel that way. Can you help me persuade him? Or please teach me how I can unravel this misunderstanding…."
Mu Tian Heng ignored her and left indifferently.
It was probably a mistake to stop and listen to her. He felt a heartache thinking of how his little friend had to face these countless explanations and veiled remarks from Mo Liu Gui living in the Mo family for over ten years.
It took a lot of endurance and goodness to maintain healthy morals and rational thinking under such hardships.
Meanwhile, Mo Di had left the classroom and went straight to the east gate.
On the way, Mo Di was notified by his customized app that Mo Liu Gui had once again bought a hot search.
But this time, he did not plan to drown it. First was because Qin Cheng Yi already suspected that someone was deliberately suppressing Mo Liu Gui's hot searches so he could not make it too obvious. Secondly, he wanted to test how far Mo Liu Gui's popularity could go without the Mo family's backing. Could she still get to where she was in his previous life? This was also for him to gauge the extent her halo had disintegrated.
Lastly, there was another reason. He simply wanted to see Mu Tian Heng right now instead of going back to his dorm and deal with the hacking.
Mo Di was closer to the gate so when Mu Tian Heng arrived, he saw Mo Di standing under the largest Wu Tong tree near the entrance, waving to him.
A tender smile emerged on Mu Tian Heng's face as he picked up his pace towards him. The tall and suave figure was the most attractive amongst the crowd.
Mo Di grinned helplessly, secretly patting himself on the back for having such good tastes.
"Have you waited long?" Mu Tian Heng rubbed Mo Di's hair the moment he was within reach. It had been eleven days and he really missed the wonderful touch. "Brother will take you to lunch, alright?"
"Ok." Mo Di nodded and looked a him. "Brother, why didn't you tell me you've returned?"
"I wanted to give you a surprise but was interrupted with a little miscalculation. I planned to meet you at your classroom."
"It's ok, this is still a pleasant surprise." Mo Di spoke in an upbeat tone, unaffected by the stunt that Mo Liu Gui pulled.
"I'm glad brother told me about this directly. If Mo Liu Gui or others from the Mo family were to look for you in the future, brother, don't hide it from me."
"Of course not." Mu Tian Heng replied: "Did Mo Liu Gui come to look for you recently?"
"No. But this is very strange. According to her previous acts, she will definitely come to look for me. Telling me how everyone at home was worried and cared for me, and I should be understanding towards them. But after we broke off, she rarely confronted me face to face. The most would be through social networks or someone else, like what she did with you just now."
Mu Tian Heng creased his brows: "It changed after the breakup? That's indeed odd."
"Isn't it? It was as if she knew that in public, she could no longer mislead others into thinking that I'm a white-eyed wolf who is unfilial to his parents and does not care for his family."
Mo Di was baffled and shook his head: "This only gets stranger the more I talk about it. Maybe I was just being paranoid."