Chapter 57: Can a Gloomy Extra Be Locked in a Dark Room? [23]

Chapter 57: Will the Gloomy Cannon Fodder Get Locked in the Dark Room Too? "23"

Mu Jin paused mid-movement, lowering his hand. Hearing that he'd get to tail Ji Fengyan, he stopped fussing over the marks on his body.

Anyway, these marks weren't a big deal to him—a high-collared shirt would hide them completely.

Just as Mu Jin finished changing, he heard his phone ping with a message notification.

He picked it up and glanced at the screen—another message from Wen Yihe.

Lately, Wen Yihe had been constantly trying to get him to go out, but he'd refused every time, making up some excuse.

Even so, Wen Yihe hadn't given up. If anything, he seemed more worried about Mu Jin, insisting on seeing for himself that Mu Jin was okay.

Wen Yihe: "A Jin, a new dessert place just opened up near my office. I've already tried it—the taste is really good. They're doing a buy-one-get-one-free deal for the grand opening. Wanna come out and try it with me?"

Wen Yihe: "Image" "Image"

Mu Jin looked at all kinds of fancy desserts and drinks in the photos, his eyes brightening slightly. Those actually looked pretty tasty.

But he had something more important to do today, so he couldn't make it.

Mu Jin: "Thanks, but I have something very important to do today, so I can't join you. Some other time."

Yeah, he'd have 648 look up the exact location of that dessert shop later.

After he finished tailing Ji Fengyan, taken photos, and sent today's harassment text, he'd go try it out.

Wen Yihe stared at Mu Jin's reply on his phone. He was still smiling, but his eyes slowly went cold.

Rejected again...

Scrolling back through their chat history, Mu Jin either ignored his messages or turned down his invites.

Wen Yihe leaned back, shut his eyes, and sighed deeply.

"Ah Jin..."

Wen Yihe opened his eyes, his gaze dark and unreadable. Since Mu Jin wanted to avoid him, he couldn't blame Wen Yihe for using other methods.

His slender fingers curled slightly, tapping idly on the table in front of him. Wen Yihe called Mu Yu.

Meanwhile, Mu Jin had just left the house, getting ready to tail Ji Fengyan according to the address 648 had given him.

What Mu Jin didn't know was that the moment he stepped out the door, Ji Fengyan was looking at the moving red dot on his phone with a smirk.

Finally willing to come out for a walk after all these days.

However, it wasn't long before Ji Fengyan noticed that Mu Jin's route was starting to overlap with his own, staying a steady distance behind him.

Suddenly realizing that Mu Jin was probably following him, Ji Fengyan raised an eyebrow, his smile deepening.

Mu Jin had no clue he'd been spotted ages ago. He kept tailing Ji Fengyan, followed him into the club, and snapped a few sneaky photos.

Just as he was about to leave, feeling satisfied with his haul, a hand landed on his head and ruffled his hair.

Mu Jin's eyes widened. He instinctively tucked away his phone and looked up at Ji Fengyan, who was standing behind him—with no idea when he'd shown up.

He sucked in a sharp breath. How had Ji Fengyan suddenly appeared behind him? So he hadn't been caught taking those sneaky photos, right?

Mu Jin stared at Ji Fengyan's face and didn't notice anything unusual—it was still that same gentle smile as usual.

Once he confirmed Ji Fengyan hadn't caught him, he let out a small sigh of relief.

"Why are you staring at me like that? Got something on my face?"

Ji Fengyan said with a smile: "What a coincidence, I didn't think we'd run into each other here."

Mu Jin didn't know why Ji Fengyan was in such a good mood, but remembering that he still hadn't sent today's harassment text, he muttered:

"Yeah, what a coincidence. Didn't expect to run into you here. I just remembered I've got some stuff to handle at the flower shop, so I should head back first..."

As he spoke, Mu Jin turned to leave right away. He'd only taken two steps when Ji Fengyan wrapped an arm around his waist, pulled him back into his arms.

Ji Fengyan whispered in his ear: "A Jin hasn't been to the flower shop recently. How come there's suddenly stuff to handle?"

Mu Jin couldn't stand the warmth of Ji Fengyan's breath brushing against the side of his neck—it made his skin tingle, such a weird feeling.

He coughed lightly: "Ahem... it's exactly because I haven't been there in so long that there's stuff to handle... How about you let me go first?"

Ji Fengyan: "Oh, since it's been sitting that long, it probably isn't that important."

"Since you're here anyway, why not come meet some of my friends?"

Mu Jin: "Ah... that's not necessary, right?"

But Ji Fengyan didn't give Mu Jin any chance to refuse. He simply turned around and walked back, dragging Mu Jin along.

"It's fine—you'd have to meet them sooner or later anyway. Might as well do it today."

Ji Fengyan was here today to catch up with a few old friends.

Ever since he returned to the country, he'd been busy taking over the Ji family business and hadn't had time to meet up with these friends.

Now that he'd established himself and those major projects were progressing smoothly, he'd finally made time to accept the invite.

The private room, which had been lively, went quiet for a few seconds when Ji Fengyan and Mu Jin walked in.

They hadn't expected Ji Fengyan to bring anyone.

But a few sharp-eyed people recognized Mu Jin as the guy Ji Fengyan had brought to his birthday party last time.

For a moment, the looks they got turned knowing. A girl in a red dress smiled and said:

"Hey, Ji Fengyan, you gonna introduce us or what?"

Others chimed in: "Exactly, exactly. It's been so long—come on, tell us who this is?"

"Ji Fengyan, you lucky bastard, where'd you find such a good-looking kid?"

"Tsk, Ji Fengyan, you're late today. Come on, down three drinks first."

"I've been wanting to ask since Wen Yihe's birthday party—come on, introduce us."

Mu Jin was still a little out of it when he was brought into the private room.

Ji Fengyan just pushed him down to sit next to him, then shoved a glass of juice into his hand. Mu Jin instinctively took the straw in his mouth and started drinking.

Mu Jin, sipping his juice through the straw, was totally confused. He'd come here to tail and take secret photos—how did he end up getting dragged into the private room by Ji Fengyan?

Ji Fengyan smiled lightly and downed three glasses of wine, then glanced at Mu Jin beside him, who was obediently sipping his juice, his eyes softening.

"Alright, let me introduce him. This is Mu Jin, my..."

Mu Jin suddenly looked up and instinctively cut him off: "Friend, we're friends!"

His intuition told him that if he hadn't interrupted Ji Fengyan, the latter was about to drop something shocking.

Ji Fengyan's smile dimmed a little, and he gave Mu Jin an unreadable look, but ultimately said nothing.

"Yeah, we're friends."

A young man fiddling with his wine glass suddenly stopped and spoke up: "Wait, Mu Jin? The Mu Jin from the Mu family?"

As soon as he said that, the others, who were just there for the show, also snapped to attention and stared at Mu Jin with wide eyes.

"Mu Jin? Huh? No way, you're actually Mu Jin?!"

"Whoa, Ji Fengyan, you're not kidding?"

"Sheesh..."

Mu Jin didn't understand why they were reacting so strongly. He remembered that "Mu Jin" barely had any interactions with these people—they might not have even crossed paths.

So this was basically their first meeting, but their reactions made him hesitate: "Yeah, that's me. What's up?"

Ji Fengyan handed Mu Jin a plate of cut fruit and said calmly: "They're just like that, always making a fuss. A Jin, don't worry about them. Eat some fruit first."

Mu Jin: "Oh."

Even though things weren't going as he'd expected, since he was already here and there was food, he might as well enjoy it.

Luckily, Ji Fengyan quickly steered the conversation elsewhere, not letting them fixate on Mu Jin for too long.

Mu Jin sat next to Ji Fengyan the whole time, munching away, while Ji Fengyan caught up with the others, occasionally bringing up recent stuff.

With Ji Fengyan around, Mu Jin didn't need to reach out or speak—Ji Fengyan would automatically put whatever he wanted to eat or drink right into his hands.

Everyone took in the scene, not saying anything out loud, but inwardly knowing these two were definitely not just friends.

Who takes care of their friend like that?

They sure wouldn't.

But seeing Mu Jin today, and thinking of the rumors about that good-for-nothing eldest son of the Mu family, who couldn't even beat out an illegitimate child and ended up running a flower shop, they all thought: man, those rumors could really spin a story.

This Mu Jin clearly wasn't some useless rich kid!

Too bad they wanted to get closer to Mu Jin, but Ji Fengyan was guarding him like a hawk.

Before they could even get close to say hi to Mu Jin, Ji Fengyan would shoot them a light but warning look.

Everyone was left speechless: "..."

Right, they said they were friends, but he was practically ready to stuff the guy in his pocket, and still claimed they were just friends.

Wait!

A few of them quickly caught on—it was Mu Jin who'd said they were friends, and Ji Fengyan had merely gone along with it.

So, was Ji Fengyan into the guy but hadn't won him over yet?

This realization made them look at Ji Fengyan differently.

Some with pity, some with gleeful schadenfreude.

They even made a small group chat without Ji Fengyan, right in front of him, and started furiously discussing it.

Although Ji Fengyan was their friend, he'd always been the textbook "perfect kid" since childhood. Now that they had a chance to see him embarrassed, they definitely weren't going to let it slide.

As for the two people being furiously discussed, one was patiently feeding the other, and the other was obediently accepting it.

That night, Mu Jin lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

Mu Jin suddenly sat up in bed: "Wait, I clearly saw him about to go in. How did he suddenly see me and drag me in there?"

648 yawned: "Maybe he just happened to see you. Alright, host, it's late. Get some rest—staying up late is bad for you."

Mu Jin lay back down with a sigh, pulled the blanket over his head, and a muffled mutter came from under the lumpy blanket: "First time stalking, and I already failed."