Raising You This Small Stuff

Chapter 78.1 Mo Yi Cheng’s mysterious girlfriend

As soon as the news that Mo Yi Cheng was coming as a ‘mystery guest’ to help Chen Jiao was released, with Mo Yi Cheng interacting with Chen Jiao on Weibo a number of times, Chen Jiao’s popularity value soared, almost overshadowing Xu Jingnan who was currently in first place.

The programme team didn’t expect Chen Jiao to be able to invite a celebrity of Mo Yi Cheng’s calibre, so they spent the entire night revising the script and relevant details for the day’s recording.

“That fat bastard, he’s really catching up.” Qian He had recently launched two films in a row, his popularity had rebounded and his previous incident had almost been cleared up.

Xu Jingnan’s face was even more unpleasant, “Fortunately, I bought some votes yesterday, otherwise I would really have been overwhelmed.”

“This is just the beginning, when the show airs, the number of votes you bought won’t be enough.”

“Please, then I’ll just buy more!” Xu Jingnan glared angrily.

Qian He shook his head, “Everyone is not blind, if his popularity is obviously rising, your votes will attract black fans.” After the last incident, Qian He had become much more wiser.

“So what should we do?”

“Let’s just leave it to fate.”

“Ahhhhh, no! I have to win this championship. Qian He, you and I have been friends for so many years, please help me out!”

Qian He’s eyes twinkled, “If you can invite someone, there’s still a chance for this to work.”

“Who?”

“Lin Mengxue.”

“Lin Mengxue?” The expression on Xu Jingnan’s face became difficult to look at. “She has participated in quite a few variety shows recently, and her popularity is indeed very strong, but I’m not friends with her.”

Qian He smiled and said, “You don’t need to be friends, as long as she and Mo Yi Cheng have a relationship, that’s enough.”

Xu Jingnan, a smart person immediately understood what Qian He meant. There had been rumours about the relationship between Lin Mengxue and Mo Yi Cheng before, Mo Yi Cheng’s first ‘scandalous girlfriend’ since his debut and although both parties had clarified the issue later, Lin Mengxue’s team still took advantage of Mo Yi Cheng’s popularity from time to time to create hype. And now, Lin Mengxue wouldn’t miss such a good opportunity to be on stage together.

—

In the past two days, Yuan Suo had been preparing for the start of the school year, and Mo Yi Cheng had been accompanying him in his course selection as if he were his father.

After this half year, which was more than three years of growth for Yuan Suo, there was no longer any need to worry about whether the homework will be too heavy or whether he would be able to pass his exams.

The only thing the two needed to worry about now was what to do to delay the upgrade.

“Skipping class?” Yuan Suo shook his head, “Skipping class won’t work. The system has an automatic screening ability, if I skip classes to avoid upgrading, the system will limit my range of activities or just reduce my privileges without reducing my level.” In other words, it was very possible that his level would still be 90, but he wouldn’t be able to access the phone freely, or he would lose his premium skin.

“Pick something easy then.” In order for the two of them to spend more time together, Mo Yi Cheng was already preparing to scale back what he was going to do next.

“En, I’ll pick just one course.” Yuan Suo nodded at the medical course, “This one has 6 points for one course, which will meet the system’s requirements.” And since he’d already had some attainment back in the second trial space, it should be very easy to learn.

“Won’t you choose art?”

“Practice is more important.” There were too few points for Fine Arts, meaning he would have to choose another course in addition if he picked that one.

Mo Yi Cheng didn’t expose him, “What about acting?”

“Acting….. I’ll learn it at home.” Yuan Suo blinked, lifting his chin slightly.

Mo Yi Cheng smiled: “Alright, then later on teacher Mo will teach you.”

“Okay teacher!”

The sunlight was just right, and Yuan Suo’s fair face was so clear that every soft sweaty hair on his skin turned into a light golden colour.

Mo Yi Cheng couldn’t help but kiss it gently, his voice low, “I’ll be helping Chen Jiao sing tomorrow. I’ve arranged for Kan Ming to follow, be good and stay off stage, the phone will be here with me.”

Since the last incident, Mo Yi Cheng fired his new assistant and took all matters relating to cell phones personally, except for special circumstances where he hand them over to only Kan Ming for safekeeping.

“En, okay.”

—

The day of the event.

The news suddenly came out online that the guest Xu Jingnan had originally invited was suddenly unable to participate in the show due to illness, and Xu Jingnan was both anxious and sad during the interview.

Chen Jiao was already very strong in his own right, with the added support of Mo Yi Cheng, whereas she was a girl and there was a problem with her support singer, hence the many tears she shed garnered a lot of attention.

Three hours before the event started, Xu Jingnan’s company’s official Weibo announced a new supporting singer, none other than Lin Mengxue!

A few spots at the front of the trending hot list were instantly taken up by the competition.

#Mo Yi Cheng

#Mo Yi Cheng Lin Meng Xue

#Mo Yi Cheng Chen Jiao

#Chen Jiao

#Lin Meng Xue support singer

#Xu Jingnan crisis

“Yi Cheng, I’m really sorry, I didn’t expect this to happen.” Chen Jiao was very upset. He had been with Mo Yi Cheng for so long and knew very well his aversion to this kind of news.

Mo Yi Cheng smiled and said comfortingly, “It’s alright, you just have to sing well. Right, how come I haven’t seen big brother?”

“Ah….. Yi Yan has gone to a meeting overseas, but the weather there isn’t good for the plane to take off, so he might not be able to make it.” Chen Jiao tried his best to speak as easily as possible, but a hint of loss could still be heard in his words.

With two bodyguards in tow, Kan Ming escorted Yuan Suo to take his place under the stage. For fear of attracting attention or scaring other audience members, at Yuan Suo’s strong suggestion, the two big, burly bodyguards wore big cartoon T-shirts over their suits and sat left and right, sandwiching Yuan Suo and Kan Ming in the middle.

The top three singers in the previous round each sang a song and the votes from the audience were accumulated into the final overall score.

It must be said that Xu Jingnan was good. With a sweet voice and a lovely appearance, together with a very professional stage effect, the audience’s emotions were stirred.

In comparison, Chen Jiao’s song was much quieter and more subdued, but when he appeared in the center of the stage wearing simple jeans, white shirt and white sneakers and sang quietly, the cheerful scene immediately fell silent as everyone held their breath, feeling the beauty of the soothing and gentle voice passing against their ears.

In the first round, all three singers weren’t too far apart.

The second round was for the guest supporting singers, and as soon as the MC announced it, the place was immediately abuzz with excitement.

Yuan Suo stood up and cheered, holding up support signs with the word ‘Mo’ written on them.

The order of the top three contestants was determined by the number of votes received in the previous round.

The first contestant to appear was the one with the lowest number of votes. He was a handsome singer in his early twenties, and his backup singer was also known for his dancing skills.

Xu Jingnan came out second.

When the host introduced the supporting singers, Yuan Suo heard two girls in the front row discussing Lin Mengxue and Mo Yi Cheng’s relationship loudly.

“I’m their CP fan! The two of them look so good together!”

“What’s going on between them? Didn’t they clarify before that they were just friends?”

“It’s for the sake of their career. I think the two are a couple, otherwise how could they appear on a show so ‘coincidentally’.”

“Ah — they’re out!!!”

There was a cacophony of shouting and cheering all around, but the conversation between the two was so clear that Yuan Suo’s originally high mood dropped instantly.

Xu Jingnan first described in an emotional voice how helpless she was concerning her originally supporting singer, then gushed about Lin Mengxue’s fair appearance. Lin Mengxue also smiled coyly, “Actually, I’m just doing my best, I’m not a professional singer, so as long as I don’t hold Nan Nan back, I’m fine.”

This was a similar statement to what Mo Yi Cheng had said in an interview earlier, which naturally made fans think more.

Then the two started singing.

Xu Jingnan had originally prepared an original song for her supporting singer, but now that the supporting singer had changed, it made sense to change the song.

But when the intro started, there was an immediate uproar.

The song they chose this time turned out to be the theme song of the movie that had crowned Mo Yi Cheng as a movie emperor. Because of the popularity of the movie, this theme song was once everywhere. Now that they were singing it here, it was just a way of confirming the extraordinary relationship between Lin Mengxue and Mo Yi Cheng.

This song was naturally familiar to Yuan Suo, as he had even learned it deliberately for Mo Yi Cheng.

“This…” Kan Ming looked at the stage with a big frown, then glanced sideways to look at Yuan Suo, only to find out that the expression on his face wasn’t very good and that his mood also seemed to be very low.

“Du Du.” Kan Ming tried to talk to him, but his voice was drowned out by Xu Jingnan’s singing.

Although Yuan Suo knew that Mo Yi Cheng and this woman had nothing to do with each other, he still felt a pang of sadness in his heart when he heard that they were being hyped as a couple.

Chapter 78.2 Mo Yi Cheng’s mysterious girlfriend

As Lin Mengxue said, she was indeed not a professional singer and although there were no highlights in the song, fortunately there were no major slip-ups.
 
During this period Xu Jingnan’s online vote climbed all the way up, but whether they were real votes or a manipulation behind the scenes was unknown.

By the time Chen Jiao and Mo Yi Cheng came onto the stage, the audience’s attention was already focused on the ‘Mo Xue’ romance.

Mo Yi Cheng was dressed in a black suit. It was understated yet quality, with every cut just right, making his already tall and handsome figure look even more regal.

Chen Jiao was still plain in his white shirt and black trousers.

The song they chose for the chorus was ‘Galaxy’, with some minor changes made to match Mo Yi Cheng’s voice, giving a touch of grandeur to the song that was originally already very youthful and subdued.

Yuan Suo unconsciously shook the sign in his hand gently, humming along as they sang softly.

For some reason, the mood and feeling of ‘Galaxy’ matched his state of mind at the moment.

Under the stars, the lovers were beside each other, but they were already thinking about…

The song ended.

It took a couple of seconds for the crowd on stage to react, then there was thunderous applause and cheering!

Against the light, Mo Yi Cheng couldn’t actually see clearly off the stage, but he knew where Yuan Suo was sitting at the moment, and with his eyes fixed there, he felt at ease even though he couldn’t see.

The hosts invited the two to the interview area excitedly.

After a few questions, the host suddenly threw in another question.

“This question, I think, is what the audience here and what the viewers in front of the TV at this moment want to know the most. Yi Cheng, if I may ask, did you and Meng Xue arrange to come to our show together? “The host was all smiles as he threw the question to him.

Chen Jiao’s grip on the microphone tightened immediately. His years of experience as an assistant led him to instinctively want to reject the question for Mo Yi Cheng, but Mo Yi Cheng unexpectedly raised his hand to stop him.

Mo Yi Cheng smiled, “No, it’s just a coincidence.”
 
“Ah, then it’s really fate!” The host bit off the word fate and threw a meaningful wink at the audience below stage, and there was immediate cheering from below.

The smile on Mo Yi Cheng’s face faded, but he didn’t say a word.

Yuan Suo’s chest tightened up amidst the screams and although he knew it was just a conjectural assumption, it was hard to contain the sour feeling.

“I… let’s go backstage first.” He said to Kan Ming, not wanting to stay any longer.

Kan Ming already had a guess in his heart. Lin Mengxue’s appearance this time was definitely not a coincidence, there may be more mishaps later, so it was better to take Yuan Suo away first.
 
“Okay, let’s go and wait in the back, I’ll ask someone to tell second young master later.” Saying this, he called for two bodyguards to escort Yuan Suo outside.

The host’s voice rang out again, “Can the two contestants, along with their support singers, come to the stage? Everyone, you can start voting for your favorite support singer now.”

Xu Jingnan and Lin Mengxue came on stage holding hands, looking like affectionate sisters, with Lin Mengxue walking behind, a bashful expression on her face which was caught by the camera and displayed on the big screens on either side, drawing another wave of cheers.

“Ha ha, thanks for the applause, but before the voting starts, can we first take a picture with XX camera?” While the hosts spiced things up, they didn’t forget to do their jobs. The sponsor’s advertisements still had to be done.

“That, can Yi Cheng and Meng Xue stand together, haha, after all, it’s a delight for everyone.” The host continued to add fuel to the fire.

Lin Mengxue looked at Mo Yi Cheng with an expectant gaze as if she was shy.

Mo Yi Cheng raised the microphone in his hand and said with a light smile, “It’s better if I don’t. It’s good everyone is happy, but I’m afraid I’ll have to suffer tonight when I go home.”

???

The expressions on the faces of all the people on stage, including Chen Jiao, could have been viewed as a comic strip as they were very rich.

Yuan Suo’s foot, which was already on the steps jerked.
 
“This…. this….” The male host squeezed a smile onto his frozen face, “This is kind of a big surprise ha!”

The other hostess was a bit more calm, “Yi Cheng seems to have revealed a little secret to us just now. Everyone, should we ask to get to the bottom of it?”

The lights on the stage were a bit dimmer than during the concert, so Mo Yi Cheng could see Yuan Suo who froze and then turned around with a jerk. He said with a smile, “It’s what everyone is thinking. But I’m here to help sing today, hence I can’t take all the attention, so it’s better if…. we take a group picture first.”

Mo Yi Cheng brought the topic back, but this time both the audience at the scene and the viewers in front of the live broadcast couldn’t sit still any longer, with everyone starting to speculate who Mo Yi Cheng’s mysterious girlfriend really was.

Lin Mengxue’s face was very ugly until the voting was over and the results of the round were announced. She didn’t expect that Mo Yi Cheng would really deny everything like this! How dare he admit that he was in a relationship on such an occasion? This was a slap in the face to her, all the preparations and follow-ups that they had planned had gone down the drain!

Indeed, people soon started jumping online to roast Lin Mengxue’s hype. Her sudden appearance on the show and her performance of the title song of Mo Yi Cheng’s acclaimed work, including all the previous ambiguosness. If Mo Yi Cheng hadn’t exposed everything today, all this would have created a false sense of ambiguity between her and Mo Yi Cheng, but now that Mo Yi Cheng had openly admitted that he had a lover, Lin Mengxue’s method of creating hype was revealed clearly.

In just a short time, even Xu Jingnan was roasted. Some people also found out that she had falsified her votes, and the evidence was exposed online, leading to a wave of criticism.

Mo Yi Cheng then posted a short Weibo with a carved wooden frame that Yuan Suo had given him.

[I have wanted to share this with you for a long time, but the last proposal failed, so as everyone knows….. since it failed, I still need to work hard.]

The fan network was abuzz once again.

[Ah ah ah ah ah if she won’t marry you I will!]

[Who is it? Who is it? Who is it?]

[Am I the only one who thinks this wooden carving looks familiar?]

[Poo wood carving JPG, it’s similar to the poo wood carving from the previous post! Was it done by the same person?]

[I’m heartbroken! o(╥﹏╥)o]

[Boss, we’ll always be your forgetful backers, charge ahead! Bring our sister-in-law home!]

[I suspect this woman’s temperament is tough. Yi Cheng is even afraid of taking a picture ~ afraid that he will have to kneel on the board so he announced it directly! ]

One more reply was sent out, but quickly disappeared into the tide without attracting attention, a defense by Yuan Suo with his secret little account: I’m not… I’m not tough.