Rebirth Of A Cannon Fodder From A Novel CHAPTER 14

“Are you sick?”

Looking at the steaming Gu Ran Ju, Mo Di felt that the situation was baffling, and also quite laughable. The difference between Gu Ran Ju’s current self, and the one from his previous life who worshipped Mo Liu Gui as his angel and like an ancestor, were worlds apart. 

But he was glad to see this. If things continued down this path, either Gu Ran Ju would squirm in regret or Mo Liu Gui would lose one of her helpers. In any case, it deserved to be applauded.

“Stop saying crap!” Gu Ran Ju’s anger intensified when he heard the youth insulting him. His knuckles were clenched into a fist and he rushed at Mo Di, “I’ll hit till you call me grandpa!” 

Mo Di stepped aside and in the next moment, grabbed Gu Ran Ju’s fist and forcefully twisted his wrist two hundred and seventy degrees.

“AH!” Gu Ran Ju wailed in pain but did not back down. He bit his teeth and threw a heavy punch at Mo Di’s eyes.

Gu Ran Ju’s ruthless move made Mo Di’s eyes change slightly. The impatience and anger burst from within and he stopped holding back. His head turned sideways as he yanked Gu Ran Ju’s fist and then hit his knee against his chest.

“AHHH!!” Gu Ran Ju’s breathing was sluggish with pain and his teeth were cold. But before he could press down the pain and counter, he received a blow to the back of his neck. His brain turned dizzy and he fell to the ground.

“Who’s calling who grandpa?!” Mo Di kicked at Gu Ran Ju’s knee, stepped on his back and kneeled. He smiled and said: “Tell me, who’s calling who grandpa?”

“You…!” This was the first time Gu Ran Ju lost this badly in a solo fight. The last time he was beaten was in the alley where he had almost fainted. But he was ambushed in that fight and it was six against one. Never would he have expected that he would shamefully lose to a goody-two-shoes!

“Still want to hit me in the eye?” Mo Di grabbed Gu Ran Ju’s wrist, smiled lightly, and added some force.

“AhHH” Gu Ran Ju cried out again.

“Xiao Di!” 

When the two stopped fighting, Mo Liu Gui quickly ran over to their side and bent down: “Xiao Di…did you break his wrist?!”

Mo Di turned to look at Mo Liu Gui’s worried and disapproving face. He smiled and said: “Sister, you’re worried about him?”

“He’s just a child. Maybe a junior high student. How could you hurt him this badly…” Mo Liu Gui kept her worried look and glanced at Mo Di, “I’m not worried about him, I’m worried about you. What if his parents file a complaint with the school? If this gets in your record, it’ll be troublesome.” 

“That’s my sister. You think of everything.” Mo Di nodded without any expression. “I didn’t even think of going to his school and file a complaint against him.”

“?!” Mo Liu Gui was quite shocked: “No, that was not what I meant…”

“Then sis, what did you mean?”

“I mean…” Mo Liu Gui realized for the first time that this brother of hers had such black and bright eyes when staring at people. She was a little frightened by those eyes. Her throat moved unconsciously: “What I’m trying to say is that you two should apologize to each other and patch up. Fighting back and forth is not good.”

“Indeed, sister is right, but…” Mo Di raised Gu Ran Ju’s weakened wrist and said: “I didn’t break his wrist, I only dislodged it. And from the beginning, he’s the one who provoked me. I couldn’t stand it anymore and fought back.”

“You..you’re lying!” Gu Ran Ju totally ignored Mo Liu Gui and stared at Mo Di: “It was you who stepped on me, and you didn’t…”

“Didn’t what?” Mo Di pinched Gu Ran Ju’s face and said bluntly: “Didn’t send you to the hospital?”

Gu Ran Ju stared at Mo Di and did not speak, indicating that Mo Di was right.

“Please, I don’t owe you anything and your limbs weren’t broken, you can’t even dial 120 by yourself?”

Mo Di thought it was really funny. In his last life, Gu Ran Ju gave him so much trouble because of Mo Liu Gui. For all those destroyed business opportunities, he was already kind enough to not bury him behind a brick wall.

“But Xiao Di, you were indeed wrong.” Mo Liu Gui seemed to have grasped the situation, “If you can you should help others. At that time you saw that he was sick or injured? How could you not help and do nothing?”

She then squatted down again. Her long, curly hair fell to the side of her cheeks and her small, delicate face was gentle as she looked at Gu Ran Ju: “I’m sorry. It’s my brother’s fault. Let me apologize for him. But can you…”

“It’s none of your business!”

It was as if Gu Ran Ju was blind to the beautiful angel-like Mo Liu Gui. He was unresponsive and even a little impatient. He kept his stare on Mo Di: “I lost a lot of blood and was almost unconscious. If you didn’t step on me and wake me up, how could I call 120?!”

“Then you should be grateful to me.”

“You!!!”

“Anyway, I advise you not to test my limits. Next time I’ll not only dislodge your wrist.” Mo Di stood up. “Of course you can report me to the school, that is if your skin is thick enough.”

“I won’t do such a thing! Don’t look down on me!”

Mo Di no longer wanted to be bothered with him. He turned around and left. Mo Liu Gui did not know whether she should stay in place to take care of Gu Ran Ju or chase Mo Di. Hesitantly, she took a step forward and stopped. When she finally decided to go after Mo Di, he had already got in a taxi and disappeared out of sight.

“Uncle, please go to Feng Yang Housing Community.” Mo Di put his school bag aside, opened his phone and looked at the time.

It was 6 o’clock sharp.

His time was delayed by Mo Liu Gui and Gu Ran Ju. Mo Di frowned. He was about to put away his cell when a call came in.

It was Mu Tian Heng.

“Hello brother.” Mo Di spoke in his well-behaved voice which was slightly coarse.

“What’s the matter? It sounded like you just finished a run?” 

There was a smile in Mu Tian Heng’s voice. His timbre was steady and magnetic. Through the filtering of the microphone, the charm of this matured man’s voice became deeply prominent. It pierced through the ears and straight to the heart. Even Mo Di, who was not fascinated by Mu Tian Heng’s masculinity, felt his heart thumping. 

He had to admit, Mu Tian Heng was perfect, from his voice to his appearance. He was the most charming and sexiest man Mo Di had seen. 

“Little fellow, why aren’t you talking?” Mu Tian Heng put a Bluetooth headset in his ear and crossed his legs. He gestured to the assistant sitting in the passenger seat to pass him a folder.

“Oh I … I was trying to catch a taxi.” Mo Di’s facial expression remained calm yet his voice carried just the right amount of urgency: “I just got in the car. Brother, why are you calling?”

“You’re living alone now, of course I have to check in on you. After all, calling you directly is better than texting.” Mu Tian Heng said patiently, “Well, was there any trouble today? Did the mock exam go well?”

“Yes, it went well. And also there was no trouble. Brother you don’t have to worry.” Mo Di’s voice was clear and gentle as if it was smeared with honey.

“No trouble?” Mu Tian Heng maintained the spring-like smile on his face but his brows were wrinkled.

This little fellow’s guts had fattened. He dared to lie to him.

Not long ago, he received an email from principal Huang, seeking to earn credit for keeping tabs on the little guy. He reported in detail how the little fellow’s brother had been waiting for him outside the school every day without fail. And when he tried to break in, he was stopped by the school security. At the same time, he also mentioned that the kid’s sister, Mo Liu Gui, would look for him every day after class and after school. As a result, he had to hide from place to place.

But this act of ‘only reporting the good and concealing the bad’, was it because he was considerate and did not want to bother him, or …he did not want to get familiar with him?

“It’s true. I’m doing pretty well. When my mock exam results are back, You’ll be the first to know.” Mo Di deliberately bypassed the topic. He said with a smile: “How high do you think I will rank among the students?” 

“What was your ranking for the last test?”

Mu Tian Heng could discern that Mo Di did not want to talk about the previous topic. He could only follow Mo Di’s lead and respond. But deep down he made a decision to visit this little fellow who obviously had something to hide from him.

“The last time I scored…”

How was it possible that Mo Di could remember his ranking for the last exam from his previous life. But he should be able to garner a guess. Ever since he got beaten by his brothers for ranking first in class and made Mo Liu Gui sad, he had been maintaining his grades slightly higher than the average. He had to keep away from the smart and studious Mo Liu Gui.

“I didn’t do well in my last test. It was a little above the middle.” Mo Di sounded ashamed.

“It doesn’t matter. Sometimes we win sometimes we lose. It’s normal for results to fluctuate.” Mu Tian Heng behaved like a loving elder, his deep voice was patient and gentle: “Don’t need to worry and don’t be stressed. The last time you did not do well but your ranking was above average. This time just do your best and the result should be good.”

“Uhm.”

“Is there anything you want as a reward? If you do well, how about brother buy you a house?”

“?!!” Mo Di said immediately: “Brother please don’t!”

“I’m kidding. I know you don’t want it.” Mu Tian Heng gave off a chuckle like he was teasing a child and said: “Little fellow, is there any reward that you want except for the house?” 

“Brother, I don’t want a reward. Really.”

“How can you not have a reward? I want to celebrate your good results and cheer you up.”

“But the results are not out yet…” Mo Di lowered his voice.

“I know. But since you feel that it went well, then your results should be good. You must have confidence in yourself.” Mu Tian Heng continued: “Little fellow if you’re not going to say then it’s up to me to choose.” 

“But I, I really don’t have anything that I want at the moment.”

“Then how about this? You give it some thought then when you think of something, just tell me.” Mu Tian Heng wanted to help this child a little before he left Hua Xia. He said with a smile: “This reward is valid until your college entrance exam.”

“…ok.” Mo Di replied hesitantly.

He then changed the subject: “Brother, have you eaten the snacks in the capital?”

“No. But I do want to try.” Mu Tian Heng looked through his documents while thinking how quickly the little fellow’s thoughts jumped.

“Then when I have the chance I’ll take you to try the snacks that we have here. I know many authentic and delicious little shops. It’s not the same as those you find online.”

“Alright.” Mu Tian Heng fidgeted with his earphones and turned up the volume. He laughed: “as long as there’s a chance, I will follow my little guide and indulge in some gourmet food.”

…

Mo Di and Mu Tian Heng continued to talk for more than ten minutes before hanging up.

After hanging up, there was no way Mo Di would keep up the facade of being shy and obedient like a cute small animal. In the pair of ink-painted eyes was a profound calmness, and this expression was not one that a high schooler should have.

He closed his eyes, relaxed his body and leaned against the back of his chair.

He hoped that bringing Mu Tian Heng into his plans was not a mistake.

The taxi drove in the crowded traffic for more than 40 minutes before arriving at the apartment. Mo Di paid and went home. 

He made a dozen dumplings, added in half a garlic and vinegar and ate his simple meal.

After dinner, he continued to study according to his review guidelines from 7:30 till 12 midnight, and only when his eyes were dried did he stop. He applied some eye drops, cleared his desk, and went to take a shower. When Mo Di came out of the bathroom, it was almost 12:30. While wiping his hair, he went to the bedside to draw the curtains. 

When he got to the bedside and reached out his arm, he saw something that made him frozen in place. A chill crept from the sole of his feet to his scalp.