Chapter 42

Ghost Car 2: Love Strikes Unexpectedly

After leaving the auction house, Mo Fei found it hard to concentrate while driving. Images of his recent kiss with Anger flooded his mind. It wasn’t their first kiss – they had kissed once before at the bar's entrance – but this time felt entirely different. There was an unfamiliar excitement, his heart pounding faster than before.

Anger seemed unconcerned, sitting in the passenger seat, stroking the thick fur on Ais’s neck beside him, looking rather content.

“Why do you need Jiu Yi?” Mo Fei asked.

Anger turned to Mo Fei and leaned in, asking, “Mo Fei, why are you sweating nervously?”

“Am I?” Mo Fei gathered his thoughts, focusing on the road to avoid hitting a lamppost, but he was visibly uneasy.

Anger took a tissue from the box and wiped the sweat off Mofei's forehead, chuckling softly, "I want him to help investigate the ghost car case, make him run around and do some physical work."

Mo Fei nodded, asking, “Why did you choose him?”

Anger nonchalantly put away the tissue, saying, “Jiu Yi has Flying Mouse, and he's quite skilled. Besides, this job is somewhat dangerous, and I don’t want you to do it.”

Mo Fei was taken aback and glanced at Anger, then continued driving while asking, “Why is that?”

“Hmm?” Anger pondered for a moment, “I don't want you to take risks, so we need someone to handle the more dangerous tasks.”

Mo Fei was somewhat distracted. He tried to focus on driving safely home before speaking, but couldn’t help asking, “Why?”

Anger, who was playing with Ais's paws, enjoying the feel of the thick pads, was slightly bewildered by Mo Fei's question, “Why what?”

At that moment, Mo Fei finally managed to park the car in front of the gallery, letting out a sigh of relief. Anger opened the car door and entered the house with Ais. Mo Fei sat in the car for a while longer before getting out and walking into the gallery.

Anger was sitting at the table, taking out a ruby necklace and placing it on the glass coffee table for a closer look, admiringly commenting, “Mo Fei, it’s beautiful.”

Mo Fei nodded and walked over to Anger’s side.

“Ais, do you like it?”

Ais seemed to dislike the necklace, staying far away from it.

Mo Fei was somewhat puzzled and asked, "What's wrong with Ais?"

Angell smiled and picked up the string of necklace, holding it up to the light. She said, "Perhaps there's a hint of death on this necklace."

"A hint of death? What do you mean?" Mo Fei wasn't quite clear.

"Well... Huskies are the closest dogs to wolves, almost a subspecies of wolves, so they retain many wolf habits... Do you know what the apex predator in the food chain, like wolves, is most afraid of?"

"Humans?" Mo Fei asked.

"Indirectly, you could say that, but directly, it's death," Angell chuckled and continued, "Animals are all sensitive to the scent of death, especially a large number of corpses or the bodies of their own kind... I suppose only animals can detect such a scent."

Angell smiled, took out a box, and concealed the necklace inside. She said, "Perhaps it's because this necklace carries an ominous aura, that's why it dislikes it, isn't it, Ais?"

Ais lay quietly to the side, watching Angell.

"It's very late, time for bed." Angell, clearly very tired, yawned and got up from the couch, heading upstairs to get ready for sleep.

Mo Fei put away the necklace and followed Angell upstairs, but he felt inexplicably anxious.

Angell, as usual, asked Mo Fei to get into bed first, warming it up, and then she joined him.

Mo Fei had never felt this kind of discomfort before today. Angell, on the other hand, snuggled up to the warm spot as always, even reaching out to pull Mo Fei's arm under her head. She found a comfortable position, lifted her gaze, and saw Mo Fei with wide-open eyes, seemingly not sleepy at all.

Angell blinked and asked, "Why aren't you sleeping?"

"Uh, I'll sleep in a moment," Mo Fei replied, unconsciously moving closer.

Angell had her eyes wide open, saying, "You need sufficient sleep."

"Hmm," Mo Fei still moved closer, now quite close to Angell's face.

Angell still didn't mind and continued to sleep. Mo Fei then asked, "Angell, what are we having for breakfast tomorrow?"

Angell squinted at him, half-asleep, and replied, "I don't know..."

"What time are we getting up tomorrow morning?"

Angell furrowed her brow slightly and huddled under the covers. "Bother..."

Mo Fei also scooted down. "Angell."

"Hmm?" Angell raised her head with annoyance, looking at Mo Fei, who had disrupted her sleep.

Suddenly, Mo Fei leaned in, capturing his lips in a kiss... As for why he did it, Mo Fei couldn't quite explain it himself. All he knew was that he wanted to kiss Angell, savoring the taste of their initial contact, which seemed somewhat sweet.

Though Angell was quite tired, Mo Fei's actions made it impossible for her to fall asleep again. She let him kiss her for a while, and when Mo Fei finally raised his head slightly, Angell turned to look at him and asked, "Are you still experimenting?"

Mo Fei felt a bit disheartened and said, "I think I might be ill... Forget it, you can go to sleep."

Angell blinked and playfully poked Mo Fei's chin. "Why the long face?"

Mo Fei pondered for a moment and replied, "I don't know... It just felt good. How about you? Did you mind it?"

Angell raised an eyebrow and continued to sleep. "It's fine, but let's not do it again next time."

"Why?" Mo Fei asked anxiously.

"Can't catch my breath," Angell casually replied, then went back to sleep.

Mo Fei stared at Angell's dark hair, which remained outside the covers after she had retreated under them, and he couldn't find any sleepiness...

During the night,

Mo Fei, wide awake, kept his eyes open and glanced at the clock on the wall. Bathed in moonlight from outside the window, he could clearly see that it was already two in the morning.

He lowered his head to look again, and Angell still maintained a peaceful sleeping posture, deeply asleep.

Mo Fei raised his hand and gently turned on the light...

Almost involuntarily, he lifted the covers slightly and saw Angell sleeping peacefully. He reached out, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. Mo Fei leaned closer, silently studying Angell's eyebrows and eyes...

After a long while, so long that Mo Fei heard the distant chimes of a clock ringing three times from somewhere unknown...

Startled by the realization that he had been gazing at Angell for a whole hour, Mo Fei took a deep breath, withdrew his gaze, and turned off the light.

He lay down, but his mind couldn't return to sleep. His hand slowly reached towards An'gel's waist, gently exploring along it with a lingering touch.

Eventually, Mo Fei fell asleep, but unfortunately, his mind was still filled with An'gel, imagining scenes of their extreme intimacy together.

……

Waking up from a series of heart-racing images, Mo Fei felt incredibly awkward, almost like a teenager in puberty. Shaking his head, unable to sleep, he simply continued to stare at An'gel.

Watching until the sky began to lighten, Mo Fei yawned, feeling a bit groggy. Reluctantly, he got out of bed to take a shower.

Concerned about An'gel feeling cold, Mo Fei turned on the electric heater for him before going to take his own shower.

With an excess of energy and nowhere to expend it, Mo Fei started preparing the most lavish breakfast he had ever made in the kitchen.

Ais wandered into the kitchen, stretching and yawning largely, looking somewhat dazedly at Mo Fei. His gaze seemed to say, "Mo Fei, this isn't a time for humans to wake up, is it?"

Mo Fei, holding a ball of dough, responded to Ais, "If I lie down any longer, I'm going to have a mental breakdown!"

Ais looked at him sympathetically, flicked his tail, and glanced at his dog food bowl—since he was up, it was time for a bite to eat.

Mo Fei first gave him a dog biscuit, then continued to knead the dough.

……

At a little past seven in the morning, An'gel woke up on time. As he yawned and came downstairs, he was greeted by an enticing aroma from the kitchen. Waking up to find the electric heater on, An'gel naturally deduced that Mo Fei had been up early, which puzzled him.

"Mo Fei, how many hours did you sleep last night?" An'gel asked as he picked up a homemade healthy burger from the table and took a bite. He raised his eyebrows in appreciation, "Mo Fei, this bread is really fresh."

Mo Fei, with dark circles under his eyes, was cleaning dishes in the kitchen. Ais lay beside him, dozing off, seemingly well-fed.

"It is fresh," Mo Fei said. "I made it when I got up."

"Did you bake the bread yourself? Last time, it took you an afternoon just to let the dough rise," An'gel looked at him somewhat blankly. "Did you get up in the middle of the night?"

Mo Fei shrugged. "It's okay, I couldn't sleep."

"Why couldn't you sleep?" An'gel walked out of the kitchen and sat down on the sofa to read the newspaper. Ais quickly ran over, wagging his tail, jumped onto the sofa, and lay down beside him.

"I don't know," Mo Fei said, bringing out some tea and placing it in front of An'gel. After a pause, he added, "I just couldn't sleep."

Noticing Mo Fei's seemingly off complexion and a hint of irritation, An'gel ventured, "Is it because of being in love? Is that what's causing your emotional instability?"

Mo Fei's mouth twitched as he looked at An'gel.

An'gel smiled and asked, "Hmm... who have you fallen for?"

Feeling somewhat stifled, Mo Fei turned and went back to the kitchen to continue washing dishes.

An'gel, seemingly intrigued, finished his burger and took a sip of tea before following Mo Fei into the kitchen. He sidled up to Mo Fei, saying, "Mo Fei, I want some cake."

Mo Fei looked at him helplessly and responded, "Cake, first thing in the morning?"

"Hmm... I'm in the mood for chocolate flavor today," An'gel said, deciding for himself.

"We don't even have any chocolate powder..." Mo Fei untied his apron and said, "I'll go buy some."

"There should be some in the upper cabinet," An'gel said, recalling, "I remember a previous assistant bought a large jar and put it up there."

As he spoke, An'gel pulled over a stool and began to climb up to retrieve it.

"Hey, let me do it."

Mo Fei came over and steadied the wobbly, wheeled stool, urging, "You get down."

An'gel opened the cupboard door, reached in, and brought down a jar of chocolate powder, saying, "See?"

"Come down first!" Mo Fei anchored the stool with his foot and reached up to embrace An'gel.

"You think it might have gone bad, being so old?" An'gel questioned as he opened the jar to check.

Mo Fei wrapped his arms around An'gel's waist and lowered him to the ground, saying, "Give it to me... Next time, don’t climb up yourself; this stool is really unstable."

An'gel placed the jar on the table and patted Mo Fei's cheek, saying, "It was just to confirm your feelings... Does being close to me make you feel good?"

Mo Fei froze, looking at An'gel with a mix of confusion and surprise.

"Hey, Mo Fei." Anger reached out and tugged at his collar, smiling slyly. "Is the one you fell for me by any chance?"

Mo Fei remained silent for a moment before asking, "And what if it is?"

Anger laughed, stroking his chin, "If it is, that would be quite intriguing."