The Cannon Fodder Roles I Play All Become White Moonlights [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 9

Fang Mo took Su Qingmeng to his small break room. Su Qingmeng typed in her phone’s memo: She had gotten the money, and her sugar daddy had also given her this necklace, but she suspected the necklace had been tampered with.

She took off the necklace and handed it to Fang Mo for inspection.

Although Fang Mo had no expertise in jewelry, he had studied a fair amount of electronics. The moment he took the necklace, he sensed something was off.

He retrieved a set of tools from the shelf and sat down to dismantle it for inspection. Just then, Su Qingmeng unfolded the folding bed he had placed nearby, making quite a loud noise. He glanced over.

Su Qingmeng curved her eyes at him and typed “continue” on her phone. Yet, she sat on his bed and cooed, “Senior, why don’t you take the night off? I’m so tired today and want to go back early.”

Her voice was so sweet it could drip honey, making Fang Mo stiffen and his ears flush red involuntarily.

But Su Qingmeng didn’t stop there. She swayed on the bed, and the narrow folding bed creaked loudly under her movements.

Normally, when he, a grown man, lay on it, it made the same noise, and he never thought much of it. But now, with Su Qingmeng on it, he found the sound strangely suggestive.

Fang Mo couldn’t help but warn her, “Stop moving around.”

His words only made Su Qingmeng laugh. She held up her phone with the words “Ignore me, continue” displayed and asked with a smile, “What do you mean by ‘moving around’? Like what I just did?”

Fang Mo had never known that the sound of a bed creaking could make the back of his ears burn. His hand holding the screwdriver trembled slightly, nearly scratching the surface of the ruby. Fortunately, he quickly steadied himself and gently pried it open, revealing the tracker and listening device hidden behind the ruby.

He lowered his gaze. Ling Yuanbai had really spared no expense this time.

Su Qingmeng showed an understanding expression. She rocked the folding bed again, stood up, and approached Fang Mo, pointing at the ruby. “How am I supposed to go out like this later? Help me put it back on.”

“…” Fang Mo understood her implication, but his breath hitched. He looked up at her with a deep gaze. Even if it was to deceive Ling Yuanbai, she didn’t have to be so careless about her reputation.

Su Qingmeng leaned in slightly, whispering by his ear, “What’s with that look, Senior? If you keep staring at me like that, I’ll think you’re feeling sorry for me.”

The girl’s fragrance instantly enveloped him, making him feel somewhat dazed. Was he feeling sorry for her?

But the next moment, Su Qingmeng straightened up seriously. “How did the necklace come off? Brother Mo, help me put it back on.”

Fang Mo watched as she trustingly turned her back to him, lifting her long hair to one side to reveal her fair, slender swan-like neck. It was the first time he had ever looked so closely at a girl’s neck, it was beautiful, yet fragile. He tightened his grip on the ruby, quickly restored the necklace to its original state, and approached Su Qingmeng, but a hint of hesitation arose within him.

It had been over a month since they began pretending to be lovers. During this time, there were occasional unintentional intimate gestures, yet even when they were this close, Fang Mo’s heart would still race, his palms would grow slightly sweaty, and the ruby necklace in his hand suddenly felt heavier. He wanted to quickly fasten it back on her, but his fingers seemed unusually clumsy, the tiny clasp refused to cooperate no matter how many times he tried.

Fang Mo had to lower his head slightly, bringing his eyes closer to the necklace clasp.

“Fang Mo, why didn’t you go?” Shen Yue pushed the door open and entered, his words trailing off mid-sentence. From his perspective, it looked as though Fang Mo’s face was pressed against Su Qingmeng’s neck, like lovers sharing an intimate moment. “Uh… I didn’t mean to interrupt. Please, carry on.”

“Wait!” Fang Mo didn’t have time to stop him before Shen Yue swiftly closed the door and retreated from the room.

“Pfft!” Su Qingmeng giggled again. Without even looking at her, Fang Mo could imagine the mischievous glint dancing in her eyes. The clasp he had finally managed to open slipped from his grasp as she shifted, and he sighed helplessly, “Stop moving around.”

“You’re so clumsy, Senior,” the girl teased mercilessly, dragging out the last syllable.

Fang Mo’s ears flushed red involuntarily. By the time he finally secured the necklace, a fine layer of sweat had formed on his back. Fortunately, his voice remained as cool and composed as ever. “All done. Wait here for me.”

“Okay.” Perhaps satisfied with her earlier teasing, Su Qingmeng now seemed particularly docile, waving at him like an elementary school student. “Go ahead, I’ll wait here so we can go home together.”

Fang Mo headed straight for Shen Yue’s office. Shen Yue looked surprised to see him. “That was fast!”

“…” Fang Mo paused briefly before replying coldly, “Don’t talk nonsense. We’re not at that stage yet.”

“What stage?” Shen Yue winked suggestively.

Fang Mo shot him a sidelong glance. How had he never noticed how sleazy Shen Yue could be?

“Still, I’m surprised you’d get a girlfriend, Old Fang,” Shen Yue mused. He had always assumed Fang Mo would remain perpetually single, never expecting him to beat him in finding a partner. It felt somewhat unnatural.

Fang Mo, however, was thinking about what Su Qingmeng had said earlier. Her first words to him today were to ask him to quit his job at the restaurant. Had Ling Yuanbai given her new instructions? “I’m leaving early today.”

“Understood!” Shen Yue nodded emphatically. With a beauty in his arms, a man should charge ahead boldly.

Fang Mo didn’t bother explaining to Shen Yue that he and Su Qingmeng were merely contractual lovers. That was something only he and Su Qingmeng needed to know.

Su Qingmeng had expected to wait until midnight as usual, but to her surprise, Fang Mo returned quickly.

Meeting her misty eyes, Fang Mo’s hardened heart softened. “Let’s go, I’ll take you home.”

The weather was gradually cooling, and the leaves on the roadside plane trees had begun to fall. Under the glow of countless city lights, the autumn night in the capital seemed less desolate and warmer.

Yet, for Fang Mo at this moment, it wasn’t all that different from before, except for Su Qingmeng sitting on the back of his bicycle, unconsciously leaning closer to him.

When he turned to look at her, she gazed at him with innocent, wide eyes and said softly, “The night wind is too cold. Can you block it for me?”

Fang Mo noticed the undisguised calculation in her eyes, and a trace of amusement flickered in his own. He turned back around and continued walking. The night breeze brushed against his cheeks, it wasn’t as cold as Su Qingmeng had claimed. Instead, it carried an unfamiliar, restless warmth.

They returned to the tenement building earlier than usual. Su Qingmeng took the initiative to invite him upstairs, and Fang Mo, sensing she had something to say, nodded in agreement.

Su Qingmeng seemed accustomed to holding his hand. The moment he stepped onto the stairs, she slipped her hand into his larger palm. Standing a step above her, Fang Mo saw clearly for the first time how their hands intertwined. She said matter-of-factly, “The stairs are too dark. Hold my hand.”

He didn’t know whether she was deliberately speaking for the benefit of the eavesdropping device or simply teasing him. Either way, he had no choice but to let her lead him by the hand.

Though the tenement building appeared shabby from the outside, Su Qingmeng’s room was tidy, clean, and cozy, clearly a girl’s space, adorned with soft pink and white touches. Fang Mo’s eyes immediately fell on a photo hanging on the wall: a group picture of her and the children from the orphanage. At the edge of the photo stood a gray-haired elderly woman with a kind and gentle expression.

“That’s my ‘Mother Director,'” Su Qingmeng explained with a smile. “I was left at the orphanage’s doorstep before I was even a month old. I was lucky to meet her. She never married and raised us orphans as if we were her own children.”

Fang Mo looked at her.

This was the first time he had seen her smile so sincerely in front of him, without a trace of calculation or worldly shrewdness. The dim, warm light cast a glow on her face, and her beauty made him momentarily lose his focus.

Su Qingmeng took out a blank sheet of paper and wrote: “The 500,000 is in my bank account. By rights, half of it, 250,000, should be yours. How should I give it to you?”

Fang Mo picked up the pen, paused for a moment, and wrote: “Keep the money with you for now. We can discuss it later.”

“Alright,” Su Qingmeng didn’t press further. She continued writing: “They want you to fall out with Shen Yue and leave the restaurant…”

She stopped halfway, omitting Ling Yuanbai’s request for her to steal the computer. As she handed the pen back to Fang Mo, she suddenly leaned in close, blinked, and asked, “Senior, we’ve been dating for a while now, and you’ve never kissed me. Is it because you don’t want to, or because you don’t know how?”

In her eyes, Fang Mo immediately detected a mischievous glint. She clearly knew Ling Yuanbai could hear them, yet she deliberately asked him this. He pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth and refused to answer.

But Su Qingmeng persisted, leaning even closer.

The distance between them narrowed until their breaths intertwined. Perhaps their lips were almost touching, Fang Mo didn’t need to look down to see her crimson lips, so close that the slightest movement would bring them to his.

His heart skipped a beat. In the next moment, she placed her hand over his lips and pressed her own lips to the back of her hand, deliberately creating an intimate sound that echoed in their ears, and in the eavesdropping device.

Before Fang Mo could react, she had already lowered her hand. Just like the first time they met, she lightly pressed her finger to her red lips, making a “shh” gesture, and winked at him with her right eye.

He turned his head away and said coldly, “Stop provoking me.”

Only Fang Mo himself knew whether that statement was meant to deceive Ling Yuanbai or to warn Su Qingmeng.

Su Qingmeng took it as him playing along with her act. She smiled innocently and even gave him a thumbs-up.

Fang Mo stayed with Su Qingmeng for a while before leaving. As he was about to go, he shook the iron gate of her place, it was old and might not hold up against a grown man. He frowned slightly but said nothing more.

After seeing Fang Mo off, Su Qingmeng murmured to herself as if talking to no one, “I wonder if it’s true or not.”

On the other end, Ling Yuanbai heard her clearly. He recalled the bag she had resold to Lu Yaoqing and vaguely guessed what she was up to. Sure enough, two days later, Su Qingmeng went to a pawnshop.

Su Qingmeng placed the necklace on the counter but hadn’t even spoken when she noticed Ling Yuanbai walking in behind her. For a moment, guilt flashed across her face.

But just as quickly, she slipped the ruby necklace back into her bag and greeted Ling Yuanbai with perfect composure: “What a coincidence, Senior Ling! I never expected to see you in a small shop like this, hunting for treasures.”

Her expression was docile, her eyes slightly lowered, carrying a hint of restrained shyness. Ling Yuanbai was so amused by her act that he couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.