Chapter 7: How About I Just Hit You Instead?
Wearing a pair of small black leather shoes. Her legs, wrapped in white stockings, peeked faintly from under the skirt.
Mo Ziyang pulled Lin Muxi to stand in front of the mirror again. In the mirror, her long black hair hung softly over her shoulders. Her big, bright eyes were full of cuteness and innocence.
The black-and-white maid outfit seemed to come alive on her. Even though Lin Muxi already knew she was cute, she still stared blankly at her reflection, unable to look away.
“Do you look good?”
Seeing her spacing out in front of the mirror, Mo Ziyang smiled faintly, leaned close to her ear, and softly asked.
“…Yes.”
Still dazed, Lin Muxi answered without thinking.
But when her sensitive ears felt how close Mo Ziyang was, she suddenly came back to her senses. Her face turned red, and she pushed his face away.
“Seriously, can you act normal? You never act like this usually.”
Lin Muxi complained helplessly, as if she had already accepted this strangely different Mo Ziyang for the day.
“I can’t help it. You just look way too cute right now. I really can’t resist. And besides, today you’re also—”
Sensing what Mo Ziyang was about to say next, Lin Muxi suddenly felt nervous and quickly interrupted him.
“Hey, hey, don’t tell me you’re so desperate you’d even go after your own bro.”
As she spoke, her expression changed from helpless to looking at him like he was trash.
“Of course not. I, Mo Ziyang, am male and like women. Besides, what’s wrong with letting me enjoy the view when you’re dressed so nicely for once?”
Mo Ziyang looked completely unbothered, as if saying, ‘Say whatever you want. I’m going to keep looking today.’
“Yeah, yeah, share blessings and I take the suffering.”
She was used to their back-and-forth banter, so she shot back instantly, not giving him any face.
“How can you say that? Look, the money you earned today is probably enough for half a month, right? I’m just trying to help you out since I know how hard you usually work.”
Mo Ziyang smiled as he said it, and his words hit her heart. Thinking back, it was true. Every month, he always found ways to help her.
She didn’t want to accept it, but Mo Ziyang always had a “reasonable” way of giving, making her take it and feel bad about refusing.
Sigh… fine. I’ll just consider it as owing him.
Lin Muxi comforted herself in her mind and decided to let Mo Ziyang’s slightly perverted behavior slide.
“Let’s go. It’s about time.”
………………………………………
On the other side…
At that moment, the Mo family’s elder, Mo Chengling, walked out of his room. Behind him, two maids were carrying a big reclining chair.
Originally, he had planned to just stay in his room today, drink tea, and read books. But since the weather was so nice, he decided to go outside and enjoy the sunshine.
The maids placed the chair near the artificial lake in the garden. A few more maids brought plates of snacks and tea. Just like that, Grandpa Mo’s relaxing day began.
“Master, I’m not sure if I should tell you this… It’s about the young master,” one maid said after putting down the snacks.
“My grandson? What could he possibly have to say for himself? It’s already good enough if he’s not causing me trouble,” Grandpa Mo replied.
When he heard it was about his grandson, his brows furrowed for a moment. But he quickly calmed down and motioned for the maid to continue.
“Well, not long ago, another maid saw the young master bring a girl home. And they seemed to be laughing and talking together.”
“That brat!”
Mo Chengling immediately sat up, tossed the book in his hand aside, and got ready to deal with Mo Ziyang.
It was one thing for him to flirt with people at school, but now he had the nerve to bring someone home? This womanizing troublemaker needed to be taught a lesson.
So, with an angry expression, Grandpa Mo marched straight to Mo Ziyang’s room. Only to bump into him coming out with Lin Muxi.
Lin Muxi had been here many times before and had met Mo Ziyang’s grandfather, but now that she looked like a girl, she wasn’t sure if he would recognize her. Especially since she was wearing a maid outfit.
Mo Ziyang also found it strange, why would his grandfather suddenly come looking for him? Recently, his grandfather hadn’t exactly been very fond of him.
“Grandpa, why are you—”
Before Mo Ziyang could finish greeting him, his grandfather grabbed him by the ear and pulled him to the side, leaving Lin Muxi stunned.
“You brat! What did I tell you the other day? I told you to stop chasing after girls! And now you’ve brought one home? I’ll show you what family rules are today!”
Saying that, Grandpa Mo pulled off his belt and aimed it at Mo Ziyang’s backside.
Faced with his grandfather, and seeing that he was about to be hit, Mo Ziyang forgot all about saving face and quickly shot Lin Muxi a pleading look.
Lin Muxi saw his grandfather’s angry face and quickly guessed. He must think she was one of Mo Ziyang’s “targets.”
“Um… Grandpa Mo, I’m Lin Muxi, Mo Ziyang’s friend,” she said quickly, running over to explain and grabbing his raised hand.
“That’s right, Grandpa! She’s Lin Muxi, the one who’s always been to our house before,” Mo Ziyang hurriedly added, hoping to save his ear from his grandfather’s grip.
“You’re Lin Muxi?”
Grandpa Mo looked at her doubtfully. She did look somewhat familiar, and she had called him “Grandpa Mo,” but… Lin Muxi was supposed to be a boy. And this person in front of him was clearly a girl.
“You brat! Now you’re teaming up to lie to your grandfather?”
This was too much. If he didn’t punish him, the boy would never learn. Grandpa Mo angrily grabbed Mo Ziyang again.
Before Mo Ziyang could react, his grandfather yanked his ear and gave his backside a hard smack with the belt.
His scream rang through the entire garden. Even Lin Muxi, just watching from the side, instinctively covered her own butt in fear.
“Miss, don’t worry. Today I’ll give this guy a proper lesson and make him apologize to you,” Grandpa Mo said, feeling sorry for what he thought was a pretty young girl who had been wronged, yet was still defending Mo Ziyang.
“No, Grandpa, listen to me, she really is Lin Muxi! We’re just dressed like this because we’re going to an anime convention!” Mo Ziyang hurriedly explained, seeing the belt about to come down again.
“Oh, fine. Then prove it to me. If she’s really Lin Muxi, you can do whatever you want from now on and I won’t interfere. But if she’s not, you’d better get ready for a sore butt.”
With that, he let go of Mo Ziyang’s ear. He wanted to see just how far his “good grandson” was going to take this act.
After all, she looked like an almost-grown girl—voice, face, even no Adam’s apple. How could she possibly be male?
Seeing his grandfather finally let him go, Mo Ziyang gave Lin Muxi a desperate “Please save me” look.
But in the next moment, Lin Muxi stepped closer, leaned toward him, and whispered something that made him lose all hope.
“How about… you just take the beating?”
“???”