Desk-mate, Do You Like Me? - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The sky gradually darkened, and streetlights illuminated the road. There were far more people out than there had been at noon.

Exiting the main gate of the complex, the two streets in front and back were lined with various restaurants and supermarkets. Since it was busy at night, the uncle and nephew, preferring convenience, went into whatever place looked appealing.

Turning a corner, a restaurant named “Dare You To Eat” stood out, with a small line of text underneath: “Explosively Spicy, Extra Spicy, Pervertedly Spicy—Dare You To Eat?”

It was clearly a marketing gimmick, but Li Mo insisted on falling for it.

Yu Wencheng gave him a kick: “Do you have any idea how much spice you can handle?”

Li Mo rubbed the dust off his pants: “Life’s fun is in the challenge! My dad always said that a life without challenges is incomplete!”

“…”

Pushing the door open, the restaurant was filled with layers of smoke. The tiny space was packed with tables and people. Every table emitted steaming heat. The smell of chili mixed with the smoke was nearly suffocating.

They took a corner seat, and a waiter quickly handed them a menu.

Yu Wencheng gripped the menu, his brow heavily furrowed: “Mo Mo, these dishes look too spicy. They’re all Extra Spicy and Explosively Spicy. Can you really eat them? Maybe we should switch restaurants.”

“No need.” Li Mo waved his hand. “Those ‘Extra Spicy,’ ‘Explosively Spicy,’ and ‘Pervertedly Spicy’ names are all lies. I don’t believe they can be that spicy.”

Yu Wencheng rolled his eyes: No wonder this place is so crowded. They’re all people like you who can’t handle spice but insist on showing off.

The waiter nearby spoke up: “We have a kids’ meal on discount. It’s not spicy at all.”

Li Mo looked up slightly, noticing the waiter’s appearance for the first time.

The waiter was tall and thin, wearing an apron that said “Dare you finish it all?” He wore a white mask, and his black hair looked soft but was combed very neatly and sharply.

Overall, he looked to be about the same age as Li Mo.

Yu Wencheng couldn’t help but laugh: “Then we’ll take one kids’ meal…”

Li Mo immediately refused: “No, no, no! I never said I wanted a kids’ meal! I just don’t believe how spicy this can be!”

Knowing he couldn’t beat Li Mo’s stubbornness, Yu Wencheng waved his hand and tossed the menu over: “Fine, fine, fine. Just don’t end up crying for your mother because of the spice.”

“Impossible. Absolutely impossible.” Li Mo looked at the menu. “Hey, I’ll take this one, the Pervertedly Spicy Stir-Fried Chicken.”

The waiter affirmed, quickly jotting it down in his notebook.

Yu Wencheng picked and chose, ordering a few dishes that seemed less spicy by comparison. The waiter nodded, collected the menu, and rushed to the back kitchen.

While waiting for the food, Yu Wencheng was still worried: “What if you really can’t eat it? If you get a stomach illness, your mother will nag me.”

Li Mo was nonchalant: “Nothing will happen. I was fine even when I swallowed soap as a kid. What could happen from eating something spicy?”

“Tsk, you kid, can’t you boast less?”

“I’m not lying! My mom even took a picture back then. I remember I still have it saved. Let me find it for you.”

Seeing Li Mo actually pull out his phone and start searching, Yu Wencheng repeatedly refused: “Go, go, go, go, go! I don’t want to see it. You mother and son are something else. Why would a little kid swallow soap, and your mother still has the presence of mind to take a picture for posterity?”

“My mom, she doesn’t have many hobbies, just a love for taking my ugly pictures. But later on, she had a little brother, and she started focusing only on him, so she didn’t have time to take pictures of me anymore,” Li Mo said casually while fiddling with his phone.

Hearing this, Yu Wencheng fell silent.

Li Mo came from a blended family. When his parents divorced at the age of eight, he moved with Yu Wenxiu when she remarried into a relatively wealthy family. Two years later, when he was ten, Yu Wenxiu and his stepfather had a son, and her focus completely shifted to this younger son.

While Li Mo was never deprived materially, Yu Wenxiu and the stepfather always clearly favored the younger brother.

At the time, Yu Wencheng wasn’t home often and was worried that Li Mo might become psychologically twisted due to his parents’ favoritism and seek revenge on society.

But now, it seemed his worry was needless.

Not only did Li Mo not become twisted, but he had become carefree and indifferent. No matter how biased his parents were—even biased enough to send Li Mo to City A because of his younger brother’s words, “I don’t like my older brother”—the person concerned said nothing and didn’t take it to heart at all.

“That little brother of yours, he’s seven this year, right?”

Li Mo continued looking at his phone, answering with a simple “Mhm” without lifting his head: “Today’s his birthday, by the way. Should I transfer him a hundred [yuan] or fifty?”

“You’re going to give him money?” Yu Wencheng frowned. “If you ask me, you’re not home now, and you don’t have much affection for that kid, so you don’t need to celebrate his birthday, do you?”

Li Mo shook his head and smiled: “Uncle, you’re wrong to say that. His hating me is his business. If I don’t give him a gift or something, that little rascal will surely badmouth me to my dad and my mom.”

Yu Wencheng took a sip of water: “You still care about that? I wouldn’t have thought it.”

“She’s still my biological mom. Ultimately, we’re still family. Ah, a sensible kid like me is hard to come by.”

Yu Wencheng twitched the corner of his mouth and said no more.

The dishes arrived just then, with the Pervertedly Spicy Stir-Fried Chicken being the last one.

It was the same handsome waiter who had taken their order. After setting down the chicken, he gave another reminder: “Waste is shameful.”

The stir-fried chicken in the middle was so covered in chili that one couldn’t even see the chicken, only chili—red chili and extremely red chili.

Before even picking up his chopsticks, Li Mo’s eyes were stinging from the intense aroma of chili, followed by his nose, mouth, and ears starting to hurt.

Although Yu Wencheng was someone who could eat spicy food, the few dishes on the table could hardly be called dishes, as they were all chili!

The spicy stir-fried cauliflower didn’t even have a broken piece of cauliflower. How were they supposed to eat this? What kind of place serves plates of chili as a dish!

Li Mo picked up his chopsticks and searched for a while in the chili pile before finally finding a small piece of chicken. He put it in his mouth, chewed a few times, then spat it all out with repeated “Peh! Peh! Peh!” sounds.

Yu Wencheng frowned: “That spicy?”

“It’s spicy, but… why does it taste like dish soap?” Li Mo spat a few more times, getting all the meat out of his mouth, but the taste of dish soap still lingered.

“Really?” Yu Wencheng didn’t believe it and also picked up a piece with his chopsticks.

With that bite, he pulled out a small wad of wire mesh, with a few chili pieces hooked on it.

Li Mo instantly couldn’t sit still. He stood up and shouted: “Hey! What is wrong with your restaurant? How did you even get a business license with these sanitation conditions!”

The handsome waiter, being the closest, came over first: “Our restaurant’s hygiene is much cleaner than your mouth.”

Li Mo was so angry he laughed. He held up the small piece of steel wool with his chopsticks right in front of the handsome waiter: “Open your eyes and look! Does your spicy stir-fried chicken need steel wool for flavoring?”

The handsome waiter frowned, unable to speak.

“Where’s that fierce attitude you had just now?” Li Mo withdrew his chopsticks and put his hands on his hips. “What are you going to do about this? Thankfully, we had good eyesight. If someone swallowed this, who knows what could happen.”

Yu Wencheng pulled Li Mo’s arm: “You brat, don’t talk so aggressively. Young man, this should be your restaurant’s responsibility, right? What do you say should be done?”

The handsome waiter was silent for two seconds before speaking: “This is indeed our oversight. We will refund the full amount, and for the remaining compensation, we will pay whatever amount you request.”

Seeing the waiter’s sincere attitude, Yu Wencheng and Li Mo didn’t intend to make things difficult anymore. Just as they were about to conclude the matter, a curse came from the back kitchen.

“Who the hell said we’re giving them a refund?”

Li Mo looked over and became even angrier when he saw the person: “Aren’t you that pervert who sexually harassed someone this afternoon?”

The man spat on the floor: “You little bastard! You beat me up like that this afternoon, and I haven’t settled the score with you yet. Now you’re stirring up trouble in my damn restaurant, is that it?”

Li Mo nearly died laughing at that: “Oh, my dear big brother, how come it was your arm that got twisted, but your brain that got broken? This steel wool was pulled out of this dish. The waiter just agreed to compensation. You’re the one looking for trouble, aren’t you?”

The handsome waiter was about to speak, but the man pushed him away, glaring at him viciously and cursing: “You useless brat! Who the hell told you to offer compensation? Are you going to pay for it? They say it is, and you just agree? You read all that for nothing!”

The man then glared at Li Mo: “Little brother, we’re practically sworn enemies now. I won’t hold the afternoon incident against you, but your stirring up trouble in my restaurant, that’s unacceptable.”

Li Mo let out an angry laugh and rolled up his sleeves: “Who are you calling ‘little brother’? I’m telling you, if anyone is paying compensation, it’s you. If you’re really not convinced, try beating me to death first.”

Yu Wencheng quickly restrained Li Mo, who was about to charge and fight: “You kid! You want to go to the police station again after going this afternoon? You’re not a child anymore, why are you still so quick to use your hands?”

The man had seen Yu Wencheng at the police station at noon and had some recollection of him.

“You’re this kid’s guardian, right? The root is crooked, and so is the branch.” (An idiom meaning a bad parent raises a bad child).

Li Mo could absolutely not tolerate this. He shook off Yu Wencheng’s hand and punched the man in the face: “How dare you talk like that!”

The man was caught off guard, stumbled back a few steps, and painfully covered his nose. A few drops of fresh blood dripped through his fingers.

Seeing the blood on his hands, the man cursed. Disregarding the arm that had been twisted at noon, he charged up and kicked Li Mo.

The two wrestled in the narrow restaurant. The customers who were eating scrambled out, afraid of being dragged into the fight.

The handsome waiter and Yu Wencheng couldn’t pull them apart. In the end, the police arrived and separated the two, who were fighting fiercely.

The police in this jurisdiction didn’t know Yu Wencheng and Li Mo, but they were very familiar with the man.

“Xu Daning, how many times is this for you?” The police officer on the chair rubbed his temples in frustration. “What did you promise me last time? You said you would never do it again, didn’t you?”

Xu Daning and the handsome waiter were crouched together, facing Li Mo and Yu Wencheng.

The officer looked at the group, pointed at Li Mo, and sighed: “Come on, young man, tell us what happened.”

Li Mo immediately stood up straight: “Reporting, Officer Uncle! Their restaurant’s hygiene is terrible. I was asking for normal compensation, which was fine with everyone, but this guy here came in and said we were looking for trouble.”

The officer looked at Xu Daning: “Is what he said wrong?”

Xu Daning remained silent.

The police here knew what kind of person he was. A quick investigation would reveal who was really looking for trouble.

“Your hygiene is definitely unacceptable, and the portions are insufficient. Isn’t this pure consumer fraud?”

Both sides were injured, and one of them was a minor. The “Dare You To Eat” restaurant was ordered to close for rectification. Xu Daning compensated Li Mo for some medical expenses. Since Li Mo was the one who threw the first punch this time, Xu Daning avoided a few days of detention.

Outside the police station, Xu Daning still glared at Li Mo, clearly still angry.

In contrast, although Li Mo had bruises on his face, it didn’t stop him from being smug.

Yu Wencheng kicked him: “You little brat! Don’t be so impulsive next time! You even dragged that other kid into the police station with us.”

Li Mo shrugged and gave the handsome young waiter an apologetic smile: “Sorry, friend, I accidentally dragged you into this. My apologies!”

The handsome waiter hadn’t opened his mouth the entire time. Xu Daning cursed first: “Pah! You damn silent bandit! Now you don’t know how to open your mouth to talk?”

Li Mo was about to speak up for the waiter, but Yu Wencheng quickly pulled him away.

Only after walking some distance did Yu Wencheng release his grip: “You kid, they are family. How can outsiders interfere?”

“Family?” Li Mo was incredulous. “They’re a family? If I didn’t know better, I’d think it was just an unreasonable boss and a poor, miserable employee.”

“Stop being a wise guy.” Yu Wencheng sighed. “Look at you, going to the police station twice in one day. If your mother finds out, who knows how much she’ll scold both of us. I’m going back to school to prepare lessons tomorrow. School starts in a few days. Don’t leave the house until school starts, got it?”

Li Mo simply replied with a dismissive “Oh.”