Married to the Protagonist's "White Moonlight" - Chapter 4

Coincidences in this world sometimes arrive with catching-off-guard suddenness. Mo Junyi stopped knocking on the door and stared unblinkingly at the poster.

Liu Minghua and the middle-aged couple followed his gaze and were also taken aback. “Isn’t this Sister-in—” the second half of her sentence was cut short by Mo Junyi’s warning glare.

Seeing this, Father Liu said with a face full of gloom, “This is her… idol. If you ask me, these young girls are all led astray by these celebrities. Women really… sigh, it would have been better to have a boy…”

To think that in such a situation, this man could still find a way to criticize his daughter. Mo Junyi’s brow twitched, and he cast a look at them.

Liu Minghua, on the other hand, sneered sarcastically, “Exactly. Good thing you didn’t have a ‘Crown Prince,’ otherwise who knows how much trouble he’d cause.”

Father Liu was too intimidated by Mo Junyi’s glare to speak, but he dared to talk back to a woman like Liu Minghua: “What do you mean by that?”

Liu Minghua wanted to retort further, but Mo Junyi interrupted coldly, “Enough. Does she still like this celebrity now?”

Father Liu swallowed his words sullenly. Mother Liu, beside him, added to his point, “She does. She’s liked him since she was little. Sigh, I don’t know what’s so good about these ‘pretty boys’ who are useless except for their faces. He never did well in school since he was a kid, and now he looks so sharp and mean—a phoenix simply can’t fly out of a chicken coop.”

Automatically ignoring the sarcasm in her words, Mo Junyi keenly detected something was off. “Is he from your village?”

This was a major scoop. Liu Minghua’s eyes widened immediately. Mother Liu wiped her tears and said indignantly, “Yes, that kid was always terrible at studying…”

Mo Junyi didn’t care to listen to her nonsense. Leaving behind a “Wait here, don’t move,” he walked out.

Outside, the wind was biting. Mo Junyi strode to the intersection and happened to see Su Xingtong’s back, the hem of his coat fluttering in the wind. There was a person standing beside him, likely his assistant.

“Wait a moment!” Mo Junyi shouted from a distance.

Su Xingtong stopped upon hearing the voice. Turning to see him approaching, he looked a bit surprised and raised an eyebrow. “What are Captain Mo’s instructions?”

Mo Junyi went up and quickly told him about the situation, ending with the core thought: “Please come with me.”

The way he said it sounded a bit like Su Xingtong had committed a crime and was being arrested. His little assistant was immediately displeased, frowning and about to say something, but was interrupted by Su Xingtong: “Okay.”

Su Xingtong appeared to be the type of person who wouldn’t do anything without a personal benefit. Mo Junyi hadn’t expected him to agree so readily and was somewhat surprised, but the situation was urgent, so he eventually said nothing more.

Locking the car doors, Mo Junyi led the two people back to the Liu house.

The atmosphere inside wasn’t exactly great. If it weren’t for the respect due to a police officer, Liu Minghua likely wouldn’t have stayed this long.

Father Liu’s face had been cold a second ago, but when he saw the person following Mo Junyi, he froze on the spot. Then, he immediately stood up with a forced, fawning smile: “Isn’t this Xingtong… how do you have the time to come back?”

Faced with this man who changed faces faster than a book, Liu Minghua was shocked beyond belief, but Mo Junyi wasn’t surprised at all.

This couple was the embodiment of feudal small-peasant ideology—snobbish, opportunistic, sexist, disdainful of the entertainment industry, and looking down on grassroots civil servants. All these traits were visible. Yet, they had only this one daughter; no matter how much they preferred boys, they had nowhere to apply it. They could only “wish for the daughter to become a phoenix,” resulting in this contradictory and somewhat perverse mindset.

Su Xingtong and this family must know each other, and he likely knew exactly what kind of personality this couple had. Hearing the greeting, he merely nodded coldly. “I happened to be back for something. My friend mentioned something happened to Hongyu, so I came to take a look.”

Seeing him act so aloof, the smile on Father Liu’s face faltered. But due to Su Xingtong’s status, he didn’t dare say anything, let alone repeat his “grand declarations” from earlier.

Liu Minghua was gloating on the side. Mother Liu, fearing she would say something she shouldn’t, hurriedly pulled her to one side.

Mo Junyi had no interest in the various undercurrents in the room. He went to Liu Hongyu’s door and knocked: “Little girl, you should have heard by now. Are you still not planning to open the door?”

Finally, there was some slight movement inside. Su Xingtong walked to the door, his tone softening with rare gentleness: “Hongyu, do you still remember me? I’m Brother Su.”

Whatever Su Xingtong’s reputation was, his acting skills were indeed excellent. The image of the “big brother next door” was established instantly. Mo Junyi couldn’t help but glance at him.

Su Xingtong raised an eyebrow at him. From inside the room, a timid voice came: “…Is it really Brother Xingtong?”

“It’s me,” Su Xingtong answered gently. “I’ve come to see you.”

The room fell into silence again. Su Xingtong waited for a while and looked hesitantly at Mo Junyi. Mo Junyi shook his head, signaling for him not to speak.

Sure enough, after another moment, the door opened with a tiny crack. Father Liu, seeing this, looked both surprised and suspicious. He immediately wanted to go forward, but Mo Junyi’s hand pressed him down: “Please wait outside, both of you. We will notify you if there’s news.”

Father Liu said irritably, “This is my house! I can’t even see my own daughter?! I still haven’t asked her how she could be so shameless as to let someone do that to her, let me in—”

The door crack that had finally opened closed back up in fear at his scolding. Mo Junyi’s patience reached its limit, and his tone turned hard and cold: “Enough!”

Mo Junyi handled homicides all year round and naturally carried an aura of lethality. Combined with his habitually taciturn personality, the moment he spoke, Father Liu showed signs of his legs going weak on the spot. Even the assistant brought by Su Xingtong was stunned.

Only Su Xingtong wasn’t intimidated by his aura. Instead, he pursed his lower lip, looking at him unblinkingly, as if something deep down had been touched.

Father Liu didn’t dare say more. Mo Junyi withdrew his gaze and led Su Xingtong, squeezing gently through the door crack.

Behind the door stood a girl with a haggard frame and a terrified expression. She was wearing pajamas; seeing this, Mo Junyi averted his gaze. Su Xingtong said softly, “Hongyu, long time no see. The weather is a bit cold, just go sit on the bed.”

Liu Hongyu nodded and walked obediently to the bed, lifting the blanket and getting in.

Mo Junyi cleared his throat, trying his best to sound gentle, though the effect wasn’t very obvious: “Little girl, your parents said you are very smart. You should be able to guess why we are here.”

Liu Hongyu clutched the blanket and spoke hesitantly: “…They wouldn’t praise me like that.”

Having this well-intentioned lie exposed immediately, Su Xingtong gave a light laugh: “Hey, the police officer is just trying to make you happy. Besides, if they won’t praise you, it’s because they lack brains. Such a smart girl, why wouldn’t she be praised?”

Liu Hongyu’s face turned slightly red, and then she gave a light nod, answering Mo Junyi’s question.

Next, while one coaxed and the other questioned, they more or less cleared the matter up. Unlike the description from the couple outside, Liu Hongyu wasn’t all that withdrawn. Instead, she answered Mo Junyi’s questions directly, with minimal emotional fluctuation.

Toward the end, Mo Junyi asked a casual question. Liu Hongyu was silent for a moment and said, “The day I was… I wanted to call the police, but my parents wouldn’t let me.”

The expressions of both men froze. Su Xingtong’s practiced gentleness nearly broke.

“How old are you this year?” Mo Junyi didn’t respond to her statement directly, but asked about seemingly irrelevant content.

Liu Hongyu answered timidly, “The eighteenth of next month.”

“You’re about to be an adult. You should be clear on certain things.” Mo Junyi set down the police device used for recording, his tone serious but not harsh. “Your parents raised you; the law dictates you have an obligation to support them—that is a duty and a responsibility. But that doesn’t mean you are their accessory. If you are submissive now, you will still be ten or twenty years from now. Do you want to spend your whole life like this?”

Su Xingtong froze upon hearing this, the smile abruptly vanishing from his face. Liu Hongyu looked blankly at Mo Junyi. Ignoring everything else, Mo Junyi looked into her eyes and continued, “You are different from them, girl. I can see you have your own opinions. No matter whose fault this matter was, it wasn’t yours. You shouldn’t continue to be despondent over someone else’s mistake. The criminal will be brought to justice. As long as you want it, your parents can’t trap you. You still have a great future ahead.”

Before leaving, Mo Junyi made an appointment with Liu Hongyu to take her statement. Her state had stabilized significantly; she looked like she wanted to cry, but held it in.

The two men didn’t point it out. Seeing that Su Xingtong was about to leave, the girl suddenly remembered something else. She hurriedly got out of bed and rummaged through a drawer for a long time before pulling out a photobook of Su Xingtong. She held it out to him like a treasure: “…Brother Xingtong, can you give me an autograph?”

“Of course.” Su Xingtong nodded kindly, took a pen, wrote a string of encouraging words, and signed his name.

Mo Junyi glanced over and found that aside from the signature, Su Xingtong’s other handwriting was actually quite good; it looked as though it had been practiced.

As they were about to leave, the girl spoke cautiously: “Brother Xingtong, I heard your next drama is a criminal investigation drama… is it true?”

Su Xingtong raised an eyebrow and put a finger to his lips: “Shh—keep it a secret for me.”

Liu Hongyu showed an expression of sudden realization. She looked at Su Xingtong and then at Mo Junyi, then gave a firm “Mm!”: “I will!”

Hearing that Su Xingtong’s next drama was a criminal investigation drama, Mo Junyi suddenly had a inkling about why this person insisted on dragging him to the Civil Affairs Bureau. He looked thoughtfully at Su Xingtong and received a meaningful look in return.

The family saw them to the door. Father Liu had a sorrowful expression. Liu Minghua gave her phone number to Liu Hongyu and said softly, “Call big sister if something happens.” Then she glared at the couple and said harshly, “If it’s inconvenient next week when we take the statement, call me and big sister will pick you up.”

This was an open warning. Father Liu looked indignant, but didn’t dare say anything.

The group walked toward the car. Liu Minghua was itching to find a topic of conversation, but before she could speak, Su Xingtong’s assistant spoke cautiously: “Brother Xingtong… the hotel we booked suddenly sent a message saying we can’t stay there.”

Su Xingtong paused. “Why?”

“It seems to be because of… a prostitution crackdown?” The assistant looked at the message, sounding a bit incredulous as he spoke.

Mo Junyi was in the middle of deep thought, but his brow twitched at those words. He felt this person was about to cause trouble again. He turned his head and happened to catch Su Xingtong’s gaze. Under the setting sun, those eyes were translucent, shining like amber.