Married to the Protagonist's "White Moonlight" - Chapter 2

Director Li’s full name was Li Zhenxiong. A Southerner, he spoke slowly and often with a bit of an accent. Being old friends with Mo Junyi’s aunt and uncle, he frequently “looked after” Mo Junyi. However, his direction of care was often a bit off, making Mo Junyi’s head ache the moment he heard him speak.

Mo Junyi shook his head helplessly, about to refuse, when he keenly caught a phrase from earlier: “Just returned to the country a few days ago?”

As luck would have it, a few days ago was the exact same time he had encountered that big star named Su Xingtong at the highway entrance.

Director Li, unaware of the connection, continued, “Yes, he traveled all the way back from abroad. You should at least meet him once.”

He made it sound as if the man had returned specifically for Mo Junyi. Mo Junyi didn’t have time to dwell on that; he slightly furrowed his brows and asked, “May I ask this gentleman’s surname?”

Thinking Mo Junyi was finally interested, Director Li’s eyes lit up. “Surnamed Su, called Su Xingtong. I hear he’s a celebrity. Don’t worry, he’s definitely a match for you.”

Hearing the name again, Mo Junyi wasn’t surprised. Instead, he felt a “fate-like” sense of as expected. Changing his previous stance of firm refusal, he remained silent for a moment before saying, “Since there’s such a coincidence, then let us meet.”

Director Li was overjoyed. “No day like today—how about this afternoon? The boy happens to be free these few days. Sigh, speaking of which, you really should take a vacation.”

Mo Junyi agreed. He went home at noon to pack a few things and headed out, arriving at the meeting place nearly an hour early.

Mo Junyi checked his watch. Seeing there was time, he ordered an Americano and began studying the novel on his phone.

The reason he was so sensitive to the name Su Xingtong was precisely because of this novel.

It was a book that had appeared out of thin air on his phone. When he first saw it, he didn’t think much of it, assuming it was a bug in the app. But after refreshing several times and seeing the page remain, and having just finished an all-nighter, he decided to read it to stay awake.

The main plot was incredibly “dog blood” (cliché drama). It told the story of a wealthy young man named Li Jinghan who was humiliated and plotted against after his family went bankrupt. During this time, he was entangled with four men, eventually returning to the peak of his life.

Unlike typical cliché novels, the Li Jinghan in the book was actually very smart and courageous—except when he encountered the “scum gong” (bastard top). It was as if he were cursed; he allowed himself to be deceived, humiliated, and toyed with without any resistance.

The early plot seemed normal enough, but as Mo Junyi read on, he noticed something wrong.

The protagonist Li Jinghan had a childhood playmate. They were practically childhood sweethearts. This little playmate had been kidnapped alongside Li Jinghan in a targeted kidnapping case and had successfully saved his life. Later, this person became the “White Moonlight” Li Jinghan could never forget—Su Xingtong.

This plot point seemed ordinary, but the kidnapping case in the book bore an uncanny resemblance to a real-life kidnapping case.

Seventeen years ago, a significant kidnapping case occurred in a “village within a city” in the suburbs of Huayang City. The victim was the son of the then-richest man. The person who handled the case was none other than Mo Junyi’s aunt, Mo Qinglian, a criminal police captain known as the “Iron Lotus” of Huayang City PD.

Because the personnel involved were somewhat unsavory, the case was quickly suppressed despite the public outcry. Currently, few in the bureau even knew about it; Mo Junyi had only learned of it through his aunt.

At this point, Mo Junyi immediately became alert. However, when he tried to download the novel, he failed. Realizing things were strange, he calmly made two preparations: taking screenshots and making handwritten notes.

Sure enough, the original novel vanished mysteriously after he finished his screenshots. What he was currently reading were his own saved images.

As mentioned, this was a story of a “shou” (bottom) entangled with four “gongs” (tops). Unfortunately, the author seemed to have lost control.

In the later chapters, the author spent a vast amount of space depicting the love-hate relationship between Li Jinghan and the scum gong. Of the other three tops, one remained nameless from beginning to end, one was only named in the author’s notes, and the last was the White Moonlight living in memories.

Even more unfortunately, the gong who was only named in the author’s notes was called Mo Junyi.

Mo Junyi had lived for over twenty years and had never known anyone named Li Jinghan. He found the situation absurd and bizarre. But to understand what this book was, he had to force himself to keep reading.

Whenever Li Jinghan was toyed with or cursed by the scum gong, he would think of the playmate who saved him. Thus, Su Xingtong’s image was continuously beautified in his mind. Su Xingtong’s status among the readers in the comments section also rose accordingly; after filtering out ninety percent of the profanity, the remaining ten percent basically consisted of praising Su Xingtong.

This was why Mo Junyi had such a deep impression of the name.

Li Jinghan endured, and the readers cursed. Finally, the plot reached the chapter where the White Moonlight Su Xingtong returns to the country. However, after reading for a long time, Mo Junyi still didn’t see his own name. He did notice the progress bar had reached 95%. Realizing something was wrong, he opened his screenshot of the final chapter’s comments—as expected, the book was “eunuch-ed” (unfinished/dropped).

Frowning, he flipped to the last page, which read: “—Just as Li Jinghan was bearing the humiliation, the plane Su Xingtong was on slid across the sky, landing on the airport runway like a god descending from the heavens.”

And then there was no “then.”

Mo Junyi’s breath hitched. Just as he intended to look closer at what had happened to Li Jinghan, a figure sat down opposite him without a word of greeting. He looked up sharply to see a beautiful person whose cold elegance couldn’t be hidden even by sunglasses.

“Officer Mo, we meet again.” Unlike the gentle and “cold but soft” version beautified in the book, the Su Xingtong before him couldn’t hide his cold, glamorous aura from his eyes to his hair.

Mo Junyi didn’t ask how he knew his name. He simply closed his phone and unobtrusively observed Su Xingtong. “Good afternoon, Mr. Su.”

Su Xingtong seemed to glance at him through the sunglasses, but didn’t return the greeting. Instead, he cut straight to the chase: “Five million. I’ll give you a chance to register a marriage certificate with me for one year. How about it?”

It was the first time in Mo Junyi’s life anyone had dared speak to him like that. He also hadn’t expected such a large contrast in Su Xingtong’s personality. He remained silent for a few seconds before replying, “I’m sorry, we people’s police do not accept monetary bribes.”

“Is that so?” Su Xingtong took off his sunglasses, looking at him with eyes as bright as morning stars. “What about bribes of beauty?”

Mo Junyi finally had a reaction, giving him a warning glance.

Su Xingtong curled his lips. “Just a joke to lighten the mood. Don’t be nervous, Officer.”

Mo Junyi didn’t want to know why there was such a contrast with the novel; he just tapped the table and asked, “Your purpose?”

Su Xingtong looked at him calmly. “—To deal with my parents. Is that answer satisfactory?”

Mo Junyi’s first reaction was that Su Xingtong was tricking him. It wasn’t his fault; after all, who would believe a currently popular superstar would enter a marriage agreement with a stranger just for his parents?

“If Mr. Su wants to reach an agreement,” Mo Junyi looked into his eyes, “then you at least need to show some sincerity.”

“I said what you wanted me to say, and you didn’t believe me.” Su Xingtong sighed. “In that case, there’s nothing more to talk about.”

He stood up to leave. This act, like bargaining in a wet market, played “playing hard to get” to the extreme. Yet Mo Junyi followed his lead. “Wait.”

Su Xingtong’s eyes flashed. He sat back down steadily and turned around. “Captain Mo changed his mind?”

Mo Junyi hadn’t changed his mind; he had planned this from the start.

The oddity of the novel spoke for itself, and this was currently the only way to investigate. Furthermore, registering a marriage with Su Xingtong wouldn’t cause any substantial harm. Regardless of what Su Xingtong wanted to do with that certificate, Mo Junyi wouldn’t be the loser in the end.

“I agree.” Mo Junyi took the last sip of his coffee. “I don’t need your five million. But during this period, if there are things I need you to do, you cannot refuse.”

Su Xingtong seemingly hadn’t expected him to say that and was momentarily stunned. Mo Junyi seemed to see through his thoughts, giving him a look of ambiguous meaning. “Don’t overthink it. I don’t need you to throw yourself at me.”

Su Xingtong appeared as if his secret thoughts had been exposed, awkwardly averting his gaze. “Officer Mo is the one who shouldn’t overthink. I didn’t mean that.”

“Better that way.” Mo Junyi looked at his watch, his tone suddenly shifting. “It happens to be Friday. Did you bring your ID card?”

“Eh?” Su Xingtong, who had looked like a sophisticated player just moments ago, was stunned by the question. “I brought it.”

“Then drink up quickly. After you’re finished, we’re going to the Civil Affairs Bureau.” Mo Junyi was as cold as if he were handling a case, acting as if he weren’t talking about his own marriage.

Su Xingtong seemingly hadn’t reacted yet, letting out an “oh” and obediently lowering his head to drink.

While Su Xingtong was drinking his coffee, Mo Junyi took out the novel again. He had only read the end of the last chapter, not the details.

The author clearly understood the principle of “suppressing before raising.” In the final chapter before Su Xingtong’s return, Li Jinghan’s situation had reached rock bottom—he had nothing and was forced to work at a KTV. As a fallen wealthy son, he unfortunately ran into some former wealthy peers while working, and even more unfortunately was humiliated by one of them. That person’s method of humiliation was to declare he wanted to “keep” (sponsor/sugar daddy) him, which drew cheers from the surrounding crowd.

The author noted in the comments: “This is a cannon-fodder gong! Scum Xie and Brother Su are arriving on the scene soon!”

However, even more unfortunately, this cannon-fodder gong had a very literary name—Lu Hengyu—and an unknown identity: Mo Junyi’s biological cousin.