Darker Side of The Moon (Angel Devourers #1) WangXian FF

8

The moment Shen Qingqiu landed his eyes on Mo Xuanyu, he frowned.

This was not the same slutty lolita Mo Xuanyu that he remembered, and he remembered well because she often visited the boutique while he was there.

First, the silver hair, and those eyes. The different colored eyes. Heterochromia, and a very rare color on top of that. Usually heterochromia consists of blue, green, and hazel. Not silver and gold.

Then her outfit. She wore long black skinny jeans, fitted turtlenecks, and a bomber jacket with fur on the neckline. She wore no makeup, but it only emphasized her natural beauty. 
 
So different from the usual Mo Xuanyu.
 
He knew Mo Xuanyu had some kind of self-conscious issue, due to her home situation, thus the ever changing hair color and the attention seeker dress that screamed look at me!  

But this… he had never seen this kind of beauty that exuded danger. It was like the air around her became heavy with threat, and he was like a small animal in front of an apex predator.

As far as he knew, there was only one person who was capable of doing that, unfortunately he was missing as of now.
 
"Miss Mo." 
 
He tried to reverse the mood by using his most oppressive voice.
 
"Mr. Shen."
 
Judging by the flat tone, she was not intimidated at all, rather, her eyes looked like she was laughing at him.
 
"I heard you are interested in my designs?"

"Yes, Mr. Shen. I'm so lucky that you're here. You can make adjustments as we go."
 
Adjustments? Adjustments?? How dare she!
 
He decided to pause for breath before he replied.

"I don't make adjustments, Ms. Mo. It's either you wear the dress or the dress wears you. There's nothing in between."

Wei Wuxian chuckled. 

This man was still as prickly as he last remembered, which was probably a couple years ago since he moved here to pursue his love for chinese traditional clothing, the qipao. Unfortunately there were not that many qipaos in the collection, the rest of them were some kind of avant garde shit that he wouldn't look at twice.

"Well, let's get on to it then, Mr. Shen?" Wei Wuxian put the champagne glass down and stood up to take a long black qipao dress embroidered with red spider lily so fine it looked like it was painted. It had a thigh high slit, and a standard model's size. 

"Xiao Lei, please prepare tea and snacks for me and Mr. Shen here, we'll get on to try the clothing now." 

It was a polite way to shoo the sales assistant away while he talked to Shen Qingqiu.

He walked casually to the changing room and changed into the qipao. 
 
It fitted him perfectly.
 
He smiled in satisfaction, then strutted outside to meet the prickly Mr. Shen Qingqiu, who was just sipping his tea.

When Shen Qingqiu looked at the way Mo Xuanyu wore his qipao, he suddenly had heart palpitation.

The hair, the face, the eyes, all were in contrast with the dark color of the dress, and instead of washing her out, it emphasized her ethereal look.

She was just a virtual depiction of Persephone, the underworld goddess.

"Why, Mr. Shen, you look dazed… do I pass your test?"
 
Shen Qingqiu coughed and put his tea down.
 
"It suffices."
 
That was the highest praise he was going to give anyone ever.

But with the visual in front of him, he would be able to create a lot more for her, not his usual nouveau riche trash. 

Ever since his last muse was missing, he created a lot of trash for the upper class who didn't seem to be able to carry his vision or even did some justice to his creation. Thus, his temper.

This was the first time he was so enamored he was this close to ask her to be his muse, but he still held himself back since this was the infamous Mo Xuanyu.

Wei Wuxian held his laugh, seeing the barrage of emotions on Shen Qingqiu's face. He could read his thoughts as easily as an open book, but this tsundere bitch wouldn't admit it that easily. So he sat in front of the flabbergasted designer, poured the tea and sipped it carefully. 
 
He needed to convince him. Fast.
 
Then Wei Wuxian smiled devilishly, since he remembered the secret that only he knew in the whole wide world.

He stood up and twirled in front of Shen Qingqiu, who tried to calm himself by sipping the tea while he peeked from the corner of his eyes.

"You know Mr. Shen, this dress reminds me of a novel I read recently, it was called… Tales of the Red Mansion, have you ever heard of it? The main character was described to wear the same dress as this one."

As soon as he heard what came out of Mo Xuanyu's mouth, Shen Qingqiu choked on his tea, and he looked at the other person with his murderous gaze.

"...I'm not familiar with the local erotica, Miss Mo, don't you think you're a bit too young to read such a book?"

Shen Qingqiu's ears were redder than tomatoes, and it took another second for him to compose himself.
 
Damn this little girl…
 
"But Mr. Shen, I didn't say anything about the genre of the book, how do you know it was erotica if you're not familiar with it… or should I call you, Shen Yuan?"
Shen Qingqiu stood up so fast he dropped the teacup and it shattered on the floor. 
 
Shen Yuan was the pseudonym he used to write the Tales of the Red Mansion series, and no one knew about it.
 
"You…"
 
The commotion took Wang Lei to peek inside, which earned him a glare from Shen Qingqiu.

"I thought I heard some…"

"It's alright Xiao Lei, Mr. Shen here is just so enthusiastic he dropped his teacup. Please put the bill in my tab."

Wei Wuxian waved at him to ensure that everything was fine.

Wang Lei looked at both of them suspiciously, but he finally left.
 
"Now, where were we…" Wei Wuxian gave Shen Qingqiu his sweetest smile. "The last time I read the book was on volume 3, I wonder if the author has written the new book already?" He still wanted to tease him, but he noticed that the designer was on verge of exploding, so he took pity and relented.

"Qiuqiu, won't you calm down please, you're gonna pop your veins in a second." Wei Wuxian sighed and sat down on the couch, pouring fresh tea for himself then he took the mini cucumber sandwich and munched it. "Mm, this is good, you should try it."
 
Shen Qingqiu looked at him with surprise and disdain in his eyes, before he finally gathered the leftover patience to speak in a calm manner.

"...you're not Mo Xuanyu. She was timid and shy and only care about her stupid pink dresses. Who are you? How did you know…"

"That you're the author of that popular BDSM erotica? Please, Qiuqiu, I know every inch of your dirty mind. How's Binghe by the way, he's good?"
 
Shen Qingqiu felt like he was hit by a ton of bricks. His throat closed and he had difficulty breathing.
 
There was only one person in the world who dared to call him that pet name, but… he was supposed to be a man in his 20s, not this scrawny girl. 
 
But somehow…
 
... did she just ask him about Binghe?
 
No way.

"... Wei Wuxian?"