A Multi-Billion Dollar Project

"Fruit?" Xu Mo shifted his gaze from the TV.

Queen Lin placed the tray on the coffee table, her face beaming with a smile. "Yeah. Here’s the toothpick, passing it to you."

Xu Mo chuckled and took a couple of symbolic bites.

She’d already brought it over.

It’d be rude not to eat anything, right?

"Sweet?"

"Not bad."

"Good, these are the freshest ones. Have some more~"

"Mm o(￣▽￣)o"

Xu Mo couldn’t think of anything else to say, so he took a few more bites.

After a while, he noticed it was almost ten o’clock.

About twenty minutes left.

So he turned to Lin An'an and said, "It’s getting late. I should head back."

Queen Lin, who had been brainstorming ways to "conquer" Xu Mo, was stunned.

She let out an "Ah!" of surprise.

"So soon?"

Queen Lin sounded utterly bewildered.

Xu Mo pointed at the wall clock. "It’s late."

Lin An'an glanced at the clock dismissively and muttered, "Feels pretty early to me."

Is this the legendary—

I don’t care what you think, it’s what I think that matters?

Xu Mo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he picked up his jacket.

Originally, he’d planned to sit around for a bit to digest.

Wait for Lin An'an to finish washing the dishes.

Then make his escape.

At least that way, the timing would make sense.

And he could properly say goodbye to the host before leaving.

Just vanishing would’ve been weird, right?

But Lin An'an didn’t follow the script.

She stayed in there for ages.

Leaving Xu Mo in an awkward spot.

Leaving now felt rude, but staying felt forced.

In the end, he had no choice but to tough it out and wait.

But now, finally—

She was back.

Xu Mo didn’t notice Queen Lin frozen like a statue beside him.

Instead, he went to unplug his phone from the charger.

It had died earlier in the afternoon.

Xu Mo powered it back on.

Entered his lock-screen password after the reboot.

"I’m heading out," Xu Mo said, dropping a classic line straight out of the Playboy Handbook.

Lin An'an was dumbfounded.

Leave?

She hadn’t even gotten on board yet!

Leave?!

And then, as if on cue—

His phone rang.

Right after it turned back on.

It was a call from his old man.

Xu Mo swiped to answer without thinking.

"You little brat! You’ve got some nerve!!! I’ve been calling nonstop, and you only pick up now? Having fun, huh? Living it up, huh? ANSWER ME! Why’d you take so long?!"

Xu Fuqiang’s yelling blasted through the speaker.

Xu Mo held the phone away from his ear.

After the storm passed—

He finally brought it back and explained the situation.

"Where’s your phone?"

"Died."

"Why’d it die?"

"Used it too much this afternoon, nowhere to charge."

"Why’d you use it so much?"

"Killing time."

"·····"

Father and son, question and answer.

Finally, Xu Fuqiang couldn’t take it anymore.

"You think I’d believe that crap?! You were out fooling around again! Didn’t even come back for dinner—cough—didn’t even come back to eat with us! Don’t think just because you’re grown and married now that you can do whatever you want! As long as I’m alive, this family runs the way I say!"

"I don’t care where you are right now—get back here, NOW. And to make sure you don’t keep running wild—"

"Starting tonight, aside from basic living expenses, I’m cutting off ALL your cards!"

Xu Mo was stunned.

Holy crap!!!

The old man was seriously pissed.

Without his dad’s financial support—

Who was gonna fuel his sports cars and yachts?

"Dad, you’re really going this far?"

"Hah! I’m going too far? Brat, you have no idea what you’ve done! Your mom and I thought you’d stopped messing around, but you’re still the same! Ignoring the flower at home to go water the wild ones outside—what the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Fine, I’ll earn my own money then."

"Pfft, what skills do you have? I know you better than that."

Old Xu let out a disdainful snort.

He had zero faith in Little Xu’s ability to stand on his own.

All these years, Xu Mo hadn’t made any major mistakes at the company.

But that was only because—

Xu Fuqiang and Su Ting had anticipated every possible problem.

And nipped them in the bud.

Plus, the people assigned to work with Xu Mo—

Were all top-tier professionals.

The elite of the elite.

Four pros carrying one noob.

Playing in the minor leagues.

Unless the opponents were secretly experts—

Unless someone on their team turned traitor—

Eighteen cards to wipe us out?

I’ll rip your head off.

The truth was laid bare.

Little Xu knew there was no reasoning with Old Xu anymore.

"Dad, let’s leave it at that. I’ve got a multi-million-dollar project to discuss."

"????"

Xu Fuqiang’s face turned green. "How can you even say that with a straight face?! Damn it, get your ass back here! Don’t test me!"

At this point—

Old Xu’s fury was palpable, even cursing outright.

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Little Xu could tell—Old Xu had misunderstood.

"I’m serious. Let’s talk later."

Beep beep beep…

On the other end, Old Xu transformed into an enraged bird.

He called back multiple times.

But Little Xu had already blacklisted him.

To prevent his mom from calling next—

Xu Mo had no choice but to temporarily exile Her Majesty as well.

After handling that—

He finally looked at Lin An'an.

Making money is seriously so easy for me!!!

Literally effortless.

And coincidentally, there was a small project right here.

Feeling Xu Mo’s gaze—

Queen Lin, her cheeks flushed, instinctively took half a step back.

Just now—

She’d heard him say he wanted to discuss a big deal with her!!!

Thanks to the "education" from a certain she-devil—

Queen Lin’s mind had long been corrupted.

And the way Xu Mo said it sounded… suggestive.

Of course her thoughts went somewhere weird.

"Huh? You misunderstood too?"

"No! I didn’t! Don’t accuse me!"

"I really meant a multi-million-dollar business deal."

"Alright, go ahead. What kind of… positions do you like? Oh, and any preferences for outfit colors or materials? If not, I’ll just pick something random."

Xu Mo: "······"

Xu Mo’s face darkened.

After a few seconds of hesitation—

He walked up to Queen Lin.

Under her gaze—30% shock, 30% confusion, 40% anticipation—

He flicked her forehead.

Hard.

"Get your head out of the gutter!"

"I’m serious. I’ll write you a few more hit songs, you handle the promotion, and we split the profits."

Queen Lin clutched her forehead, eyes watery from the pain. "That’s it?"

Xu Mo glared. "That’s it."

She bit her lip, unwilling to accept it. "Really just that?"

"Really just that," Xu Mo confirmed.

(ˉ▽￣～) Whatever~~

You useless little—!!!

That’s ALL you’ve got?!

Waste of my time!!!

Got my hopes up for nothing.

Queen Lin’s gaze grew increasingly mischievous.

A faint smirk curled at her lips.

That expression—

Somehow reminded Xu Mo—

Of a certain smirking dragon king meme.

Isn’t this the classic smirk of the Crooked-Mouth Dragon King?

For no reason at all, Xu Mo raised his hand again.

And gave Queen Lin another knock on the head.

"Ouch… wuwu… what was that for?"

"Nothing. Just felt like teasing you. Got a problem with that?"

"Fine, fine. You’re amazing, you’re noble. You’re my big-shot partner now—whatever you say goes."

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