"Then you pay the bill!"
Mo Xiuchen tossed the empty skewers onto the table, reached for Wen Ran's cup, and took a sip. Wen Ran frowned slightly but remained silent.
"Xiuchen, that's not fair! Just now, you said you'd pay the bill, and now you're going back on your word? You change your mind faster than flipping a page in a book!"
Gu Kai protested, clearly dissatisfied. Not only had Mo Xiuchen driven him away earlier, but now he was making him pay for the takeout as well. That was just too much!
Mo Xiuchen smiled faintly and said slowly, "You ordered takeout, so naturally, you should pay."
"Then I'll just eat here! Ranran and I were here first. If anyone should leave, it's you, right, Ranran?"
Gu Kai changed his mind.
Mo Xiuchen's sharp eyes narrowed instantly, his gaze locking onto Gu Kai. What he focused on wasn't the fact that Gu Kai wanted to stay and eat, but the way he addressed Wen Ran.
"Don't call her that so intimately. You and Wen Ran aren't that close."
The more Mo Xiuchen forbade it, the more Gu Kai insisted on doing it. Smiling warmly at Wen Ran, he deliberately called her name again—twice.
"Ranran, Ranran, tell this petty man that you were the one who offered to treat me to barbecue."
Wen Ran, who had been innocently dragged into their little rivalry, had no choice but to look up. As soon as she did, she met Mo Xiuchen's deep and questioning gaze.
"Why did you treat him to food?" he asked.
"Gu Da-ge has helped me a lot. I just wanted to—"
"Stop!"
Mo Xiuchen interrupted, frowning even more. "Did you just call him 'Gu Da-ge'?"
"Yes, he's older than me by a few years. I can't just call him by his name, that would be rude."
Under normal circumstances, Wen Ran wouldn't speak to Mo Xiuchen this way. But tonight, she was upset. He had taken Cheng Jia to visit his mother's grave, but not her. That made her angry.
"That's nonsense. He's two months younger than me. If anything, he should be calling you 'sister-in-law.'"
Mo Xiuchen's tone deepened. Gu Kai might be his good friend, but he didn't like how close he was to Wen Ran.
They had been married for so long, yet Wen Ran never called him anything affectionate. It was always either "Hey," "That guy," or simply "Mo Xiuchen." But she called Gu Kai "Gu Da-ge" so naturally and warmly.
"Who knows, maybe Ranran is actually my long-lost sister!"
Gu Kai countered sarcastically. His own sister would have been about Wen Ran's age if she were still around.
At that moment, a waitress arrived with the packed food.
"Sir, your takeout order is ready."
The interruption broke the tension. Gu Kai took the bag, shot Mo Xiuchen a disdainful look, then stood up and smiled at Wen Ran.
"Ranran, thanks for the barbecue tonight. Next time, I'll treat you to a fancy meal!"
With that, he ignored Mo Xiuchen and walked off with his takeout.
Mo Xiuchen turned his gaze back to Wen Ran. She was still focused on eating her skewers, paying no attention to him. He frowned slightly and said in a low voice, "Don't eat too much. You shouldn't be eating this kind of junk food right now."
"This isn't junk food!"
Wen Ran argued back.
Mo Xiuchen took out his wallet, threw some cash on the table, then grabbed her unfinished skewer and tossed it aside before pulling her up.
"Mo Xiuchen, what are you doing?!"
Wen Ran's face darkened as he dragged her out of the restaurant. She struggled against him, glaring.
"There were still a few skewers left! Why are you wasting food?!"
"Get in the car. I need to talk to you."
Mo Xiuchen's face was clouded with an unreadable emotion as he pulled her towards the parking lot and stuffed her into the luxurious Aston Martin.
Earlier, he had been driving the business car that Xiao Liu used. After dropping Cheng Jia off, he had gone to pick up his own car, which delayed him a little.
Once inside the passenger seat, Wen Ran instinctively sniffed the air. There was no trace of Cheng Jia's perfume in the car, which made her feel slightly relieved. Then, she turned to look at Mo Xiuchen as he got into the driver's seat.
"Aren't you curious about why my clothes are wet?"
His deep, magnetic voice filled the enclosed space, his sharp gaze locking onto her.
"I'm not interested."
Wen Ran replied indifferently. She lowered her head to fasten her seatbelt, but before she could, Mo Xiuchen suddenly leaned in close. His warm, masculine scent enveloped her, making her heart skip a beat.
Before she could react, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward him.
The next second, his hand cupped the back of her head, and his lips crashed down on hers.
A long moment later, his voice, slightly hoarse, whispered against her lips:
"I got wet because I threw Cheng Jia into the bathtub at her house."
Wen Ran's eyes widened in shock, her lips still slightly parted.
Mo Xiuchen was satisfied with her reaction. His lips curved up slightly as he gazed at her flushed face.
"Cheng Jia was drugged. On the way to the cemetery, she kept saying she had a headache and felt hot. So Xiao Liu and I took her home—and I threw her into the bathtub."
Wen Ran was momentarily stunned.
"She was drugged?"
Mo Xiuchen sighed softly. She was too naïve to understand the filth and scheming in the world.
He raised his hand, gently tucking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. His voice softened as he explained:
"She brought this on herself. The drug was in the soup. And besides that, the perfume she wore tonight had a similar effect. Maybe she even drugged the soup she served me, too. But what she didn't know… is that kind of drug doesn't work on me."
Wen Ran's heart clenched at his last sentence.
To her, it sounded like he was implying that he was… physically incapable, and that even if he had been drugged, nothing would have happened.
"Did Cheng Jia drug herself? But that was at the Mo family house. How did she manage that?"
"She had help."
Mo Xiuchen's eyes darkened with a sharp glint.
Xiao Wenqing would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. If he hadn't caught on last time, the person being set up wouldn't have been Mo Zixuan—it would have been the innocent woman sitting right in front of him.