CH 46

Preparations for the Spring Campus Gala began one week after the start of the school year and they would continue until the official performance in mid-March, leaving students with half a month of practice time.

However, the programs for the Spring Campus Gala were not set at the beginning. Instead, they were prepared by each department and had to be selected by the Student Council before they were allowed to perform on stage. The final selection was decided one week before the event. Although the selection process was a bit cruel, and it was unfortunate to see programs eliminated, it was all for the best presentation of the gala. 

Mo Lingqiu’s Chinese Language Department prepared a recitation that sounded inspiring and exhilarating. The content was drafted by the Department’s students themselves, worded to include themes of positivity and motivation. It was very popular among the student council’s members and was selected without any doubt.

Jiang Chenming’s PE Department sent two shows: one was a model walk and the other was a freestyle rap show. The PE Department students all had relatively good bodies and the show itself was very cool. The clothes were even handmade in a collaboration with the Design Department, showing off the connection between different departments. It was successfully selected. However, the performance of the freestyle rap show was a bit inconsistent and not quite in line with the theme. It was ultimately eliminated. 

Since Jiang Chenming was the host, he didn’t have to face elimination. He had been rehearsing with the three other hosts for half a month, so he had already memorized the script well by the day of the gala.

“I didn’t even memorize this much for the entrance exam,” Jiang Chenming said, joking with Mo Lingqiu as he shook the wrinkled script in his hands.

“Good.” With a serious face, Mo Lingqiu lifted his hand and gave him a thumbs up.

Jiang Chenming moved forward. “Teacher Mo, give me a kiss. I’m going on stage later.”

Mo Lingqiu pursed his lips and lightly blushed. The man in front of him was wearing a black suit, shiny shoes, and had a handsome appearance full of smiles, but he was also speaking shamelessly, causing Mo Lingqiu to not be able to resist him.

Mo Lingqiu raised his hand and gently pulled Jiang Chenming’s tie, bringing him closer. Just as his lips covered Jiang Chenming’s, he took the lead and held the back of Mo Lingqiu’s head, deepening the kiss.

When Jiang Chenming’s co-hosts pushed the door and came in, they watched the hot scene happening in the lounge, dumbfounded. 

The other male host reacted quickly and quickly pulled the two female hosts away from the room, closing the door on his way out. 

However, the door closed too quickly with a bang, startling Mo Lingqiu and Jiang Chenming, who had been immersed in their passionate kiss. 

Jiang Chenming half-held the back of Mo Lingqiu’s head, stood up, and looked at the closed door. He then pulled at his tie before picking up Mo Lingqiu to place him on the dressing table and kiss him again. 

Mo Lingqiu grabbed at his clothes. The corners of his eyes were red, and his glasses had been taken off and put aside by Jiang Chenming at some point.

When the glands at his nape were finally wrapped in a warm heat and bitten with teeth, Mo Lingqiu stifled a grunt, instinctively leaning into Jiang Chenming’s arms to draw in his pheromones. 

The marking lasted for a while. When Jiang Chenming loosened his bite, the aftermath was still very strong for both of them, especially for Mo Lingqiu, who sat motionless on the dressing table for a long time. 

Jiang Chenming stroked the layers of hair on Mo Lingqiu’s forehead. “Are you okay?”

“…En.” Mo Lingqiu replied, voice hoarse. 

“I’ll have to leave in a bit. I saved you a seat in the second row on the right, just so you can see me.” Jiang Chenming kissed him again. 

“Okay.” He jumped down from the dressing table with Jiang Chenming’s help and followed him out of the lounge.

The three other hosts who had entered by mistake had disappeared. They were probably waiting to go on stage.

After following Jiang Chenming to the waiting area, Mo Lingqiu walked out through the door and sat down in the seat Jiang Chenming had reserved for him.

Not long after, the Spring Campus Gala officially began. As the lights in the audience seats went out, the stage lit up and the four hosts came up from backstage one after the other.

“Dear teachers, students…” With the female host’s clear voice, the whole gala proceeded in an orderly manner.

The last time Mo Lingqiu had participated in such a gala at University A was during his first year working at the university. It had been the start of a new semester. All the teachers had been invited to the Chinese Language Department’s welcome party for new students.

However, it had only been the department’s welcome party, so it was definitely not as big as the current university-level gala. At that time, the venue had only been the auditorium of the Chinese language Department hall, and there hadn’t been that many seats. The teachers had sat in three rows, and Mo Linqiu, as a newcomer, had sat in the corner of the third row.

At that time, Mo Linqiu had watched the party quite seriously, but he had also forgotten about it after watching, since there hadn’t been a show that had left a strong impression on him. Either that or he hadn’t been watching with his full attention. 

For today’s Spring Gala, he remembered the order of the programs clearly because of Jiang Chenming’s presence. Although he had forgotten some of the content of the shows, they still left a deeper impression than before. It was probably because of Jiang Chenming. 

When the gala was coming to an end, there was an unexpected program. Other than the school’s student council organizers and the four hosts, everyone was watching the documentary that had started playing on the big screen with a dumbfounded look.

It wasn’t certain when the documentary had been made, or maybe it looked more like a video made with multiple contributors that had finally been edited together in one complete mix.

When Mo Lingqiu saw himself in the documentary, he was as surprised as some of the other people who appeared on the screen. 

In the documentary were both teachers and students. All the video clips were records of trivial parts of life and work.

Mo Lingqiu’s part showed him preparing for a lesson at home, wearing more casual attire, dressing much more relaxed than he usually was at work. Even still, him wearing glasses and being serious was still very special. 

He didn’t even have to think about it—it was clearly Jiang Chenming’s submission.

When the documentary finished, Jiang Chenming and the three other hosts said some words to conclude the video, leading to the last program of this party: the recitation prepared by the Chinese Language Department.

With the end of the resounding recitation came the official end of the whole party.

After everyone left, the performers, staff, and school leaders had to take a group photo together. Mo Lingqiu simply went backstage to help Jiang Chenming get his things before sitting down to wait for him to finish taking the photo.

When Jiang Chenming hurried to the backstage, Mo Lingqiu was watching videos on his phone.

“Teacher Mo, are you ready? Let’s go home.”

“It’s over?” Mo Lingqiu stood up with Jiang Chenming’s bag.

“En. Teacher Mo, that video I recorded… You aren’t upset, right?” Jiang Chenming was actually a little apprehensive. The video showed Mo Lingqiu working at home, and he didn’t know if Mo Lingqiu would be upset because of such an invasion of privacy.

“It’s okay.” Other than feeling surprised when he first saw the video, he didn’t care that much. Moreover, Jiang Chenming had shot it very well, which made many students feel that the invisible sense of distance from Mo Linqiu had shortened a lot. Of course, these things were only discovered by Mo Linqiu some time afterwards.

“That’s good. I was worried that you would be upset if I just took the video in an obvious way.” Jiang Chenming scratched his head.

Mo Lingqiu suddenly threw out a question, making Jiang Chenming, who was good at speaking, dumbfounded. “Then, why didn’t you ask me about it from the beginning?”

After a long moment, Jiang Chenming grew a little embarrassed and said, “Because that was the most good-looking moment of you that I’ve ever seen, Teacher Mo.”

Mo Lingqiu was a little happy in his heart, but it didn’t show on his face. “Is that so?”

“Of course. You look good at every moment.” Jiang Chenming took Mo Lingqiu’s hand and walked towards the outside of the auditorium.

They were initially going home to rest under the night sky, but, when they passed by the snack street, they couldn’t resist stopping for a snack.

They parked the car in a roadside parking space, walked down the snack street, and finally decided to have something to eat at a barbecue restaurant.

Jiang Chenming knew Mo Lingqiu liked meat, so he ordered a lot of lamb and pork. Mo Lingqiu added chicken wings and some vegetable dishes. What they ordered together summed up to more than three hundred yuan, and when the boss brought the dishes to them, the table was filled up. 

“Want something to drink? Beer? Fruit wine?” Jiang Chenming glanced at the liquor displayed in the store. He somehow felt pity eating barbecue without drinking something to go with it.

“Fruit wine.” Mo Lingqiu pointed to RIO. “I want to drink the peach flavoured one.”

“Okay.” Jiang Chenming smiled and went to the refrigerator to get two bottles of peach-flavoured RIO.

As they ate and chatted with each other, Jiang Chenming was still wearing his black suit and sandals. To eat more comfortably, he later took off his black blazer and rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt. His arm muscles were highlighted with each movement. Mo Lingqiu’s face burnt up as he looked at them.

“Teacher Mo, have you seen Dr. Fan recently?” Jiang Chenming asked casually.

“No. Why?” Mo Lingqiu hadn’t seen Fan Nian since winter break. With Jiang Chenming’s question, he realized that he hadn’t received any messages from Fan Nian for some time, and it seemed that he hadn’t even updated his Moments.

“Actually… I haven’t seen my brother either.” Jiang Chenming touched his nose. “I heard Uncle Yu say that he’s been working overtime at the company, but I always feel like something isn’t right.”

“…I’m not too sure.” Mo Lingqiu wasn’t confident. The matter between those two was a bit outside of his expectations.

“The more I think about it, the more worried I get.” Jiang Chenming spun his phone before finally calling Jiang Junshen. “I’ll see if he picks up.”

No one picked up, but a ringtone sounded off nearby.

Jiang Chenming froze, looked around at their surroundings, and saw Jiang Junshen standing not too far away, holding a box of takoyaki in his hand. He was watching the person in front of him eat with no expression.

Jiang Chenming gently patted Mo Lingqiu’s hand and said, “Teacher Mo, look.”

Mo Lingqiu turned his head and saw Fan Nian with octopus teriyaki in his mouth. He couldn’t swallow it because it was too hot.

Jiang Junshen said something to Fan Nian and Fan Nian suddenly became shy. He then huffed and finished chewing the octopus takoyaki in his mouth.

“…Are they together now?” Mo Lingqiu was doubtful.

“…Probably?” The phone call from Jiang Chenming’s phone hadn’t been accepted yet, but Jiang Junshen wasn’t picking up either. He was about to hang up when his brother surprisingly answered the phone. 

“Hello.” Jiang Junshen’s face was cold.

“Brother, what a coincidence.” Jiang Chenming raised his hand.

Jiang Junshen twisted his head and quickly noticed him and Mo Lingqiu.

Fan Nian also saw them, and, after freezing for a moment, he threw the octopus takoyaki in his hand, not too sure whether he felt ashamed or anything. He turned his head and ran. However, Jiang Junshen grabbed him with his quick hands and reflexes and pulled him directly into his arms.