Stuttering Big Boss’s White Moonlight

ly digested all the food.
When he licked the soup clean, Cheng Chu had just finished eating.

The two of them stood in front of the cash register waiting for check out.

“How much is it?” Wang Donghai glanced at the price listed on the menu and purposely asked.

The price was clearly marked in the store.
Generally, customers will calculate the money themselves and pay directly without asking much.

Gu Miao knew that he was looking for trouble.
His thin lips were pressed tightly into a straight line.

[This time, I must not stammer.] he thought to himself.

But when he opened his mouth, his lips uncontrollably stuttered and repeated: “T-T-Ten”

Wang Donghai smiled maliciously from the corner of his mouth.
He took out crumpled ten-dollar cash from his pocket and threw it directly at the cash register.
He sneered: “Oh, so it’s ten dollars.
Here you go.”

After he finished speaking, he picked up his school bag from the chair, turned then left.

The clear powder soup plus beef add up to a total of fifteen dollars.
Wang Donghai was clearly doing it on purpose.
[In Chinese, fifteen is directly translated to ten five.
That’s why Gu Miao stuttered ten.]

If there is money missing, he would have to pay back the loss.

Gu Miao’s daily salary wasn’t that much, to begin with.
Even if it was just five dollars, he still cherished it.

So even though he knew that stopping and arguing with Wang Donghai would have repercussions, he must do so.

Gu Miao gritted his teeth and was prepared to walk out of the front desk to stop Wang Donghai.

But before he could, the girl had already taken a step forward and quickly prevented Wang Donghai from leaving.

The girl standing in front of Wang Donghai appeared tiny, she was a head shorter than Wang Donghai.
Still, she fearlessly stares him down, her doe-like eyes clear and brave.

“He hasn’t finished talking yet.
Where are your manners?”

Wang Donghai recognized Cheng Chu.
She’s the school flower, who wouldn’t know her?

He and his lackeys even secretly sexually joked about her; after all, she’s the most beautiful girl in the school.

But when this beautiful girl stood in front of him and blatantly accused him, Wang Donghai felt a rush of annoyance.

“He said ten so I gave him ten, what’s the matter?” He straightened his neck and stared at Cheng Chu condescendingly.

Gu Miao was about to step forward to speak when he saw the girl folding her arms around her chest.
Then, she scoffed and looked up and down at Wang Donghai with disdain.
She sneered and said: “You look so old and yet you do things kids won’t even do.
You are cheating your way out!”

She pointed her finger at the price list on the wall and said loudly: “You had the clear powder soup with beef.
The soup is ten dollars and the beef is five.
Ten plus five equals fifteen.
Can’t you count? Are you really from our high school?”

Wang Donghai blushed from embarrassment but he couldn’t refute her words.
So he yanked out five more dollars from his pocket and threw it at Gu Miao and stubbornly said: “Fine, here.
You can’t even speak clearly and you work at the front desk.
What a joke.”

He grabbed his backpack and left the diner with huge strides, never glancing back at Cheng Chu.

Cheng Chu glared at his retreating form, rolled her eyes, and whispered: “My gosh, what kind of person does this!”

She turned around and saw Gu Miao squatting on the ground, silently picking up the crumpled, dirty five buck.

The boy wore overly large diner uniforms, which made him seem pale and thin.

Cheng Chu’s heart turned bitter.
She pursed her lips tightly and said in a soft voice: “Don’t bother with those kinds of people.”

Gone were the iciness from her voice, she spoke softly and gingerly to him.

Gu Miao felt as if he was fed soft cotton candy, sweet enough to melt his heart.

He flattened the wrinkled five buck, put them in the cash register, and whispered: “T-Thanks.”

“No problem.” Cheng Chu took out the money in her pocket and handed it to him.
She said: “I got the Three Fresh Mei Fun with eggs.
It’s thirteen dollars, right?”

The girl’s hands were slender and long; her nails were neatly trimmed to perfection.

A pair of pianist’s hands.

Gu Miao lowered his eyes and saw the ten-dollar cash and a small pile of coins laying quietly in her palm.

“I-I, please, I’ll p-pay for you.
T-Thank you for h-helping m-me.”

Gu Miao didn’t know how else to express his gratitude.

Although thirteen bucks were about half his salary for the night, thinking that it was spent for her, there was a surge of happiness from the depth of his heart.

“Oh don’t! I got you five bucks back and if you pay thirteen for me, It’ll be your loss if you do that.”

The girl was afraid that he would refuse her offer, so she placed the thirteen dollars on the cash register and ran away with her school bag on her back.

The sycamore leaves fluttered down near the doorway.
Gu Miao smiled involuntarily while looking at her leaving form.

Only when her back completely disappeared from his view does he come back to his senses.

Gu Miao thought to himself, [How long has it been since I last smiled?]

On the clock, the hour hand slowly moved to nine o’clock marking the end of his work shift.

As Gu Miao shut close the diner door, the violent quaking from his heart hadn’t ceased but gradually growing more intense.
Like a flame that grew larger and larger in the middle of winter, the heat warming up the cold edge of his heart.

He started to look forward that one day he could stand a little closer to the dazzling girl, and hopefully speak to her, even a few words are enough.

But even when autumn comes and goes, leaving spring here.
The sycamore tree that lost all its’ leaves had regrown green ones.

The girl never came again.

Gu Miao rarely sees her at school.
The few times he did, the girl was surrounded by people that seemed to worship her like a star.

He didn’t even have a chance to stand closer to her.

Life seemed to return to its original track, the bright morning sun disappearing from his life.

But her warm gesture, as if forever engraved in his heart, melted into his soul.

He thought their closest distance would only be passing by each other in the corridor.

He never thought that one day, the girl would appear in his life again.

At that moment, like a dead forest regenerating, his deadly still heart came alive in an instant.