Chapter 2
August 8th of the lunar calendar was top star Wei Yuan’s 25th birthday and the fifth anniversary of his debut.
He held a grand birthday fan meeting at Jing City’s Third Stadium.
The stadium, with a capacity of over ten thousand, was packed.
Having debuted as a singer and dancer, Wei Yuan’s fan meeting turned into a concert, complete with expensive gifts for every fan.
On Weibo, he also organized thousands of lottery draws for fans who couldn’t attend, with a total value of one million yuan.
The entire day, Weibo seemed to be filled with news about him, a true nationwide celebration.
The festivities continued until sunset, and Wei Yuan happily bid farewell to his fans and headed backstage.
He still had to drive home and celebrate his birthday with his family.
Reporters followed him to the dressing room door.
His manager, Su Da, stopped them with a smile. “Friends, Yuan Ge has private plans now, so please cooperate. We’ve prepared dinner at the hotel next door. You can go grab a bite. You’ve worked hard today.”
Wei Yuan’s studio was known for its generosity. Although Wei Yuan himself, having grown up in a wealthy family, had a bit of a spoiled temperament and did things according to his whims, his studio staff were incredibly good-natured, highly emotionally intelligent, and efficient. Therefore, reporters enjoyed working with them.
Hearing Su Da’s words, the reporters stopped their pursuit.
Only one familiar reporter smiled and said, “Can I ask Yuan Ge one last question? The fans have been dying to know.”
Su Da turned to Wei Yuan for his opinion.
Wei Yuan wasn’t in a hurry, and in a good mood, he nodded at the reporter. “Ask away.”
The reporter immediately asked, “Yuan Ge, would you mind sharing what you wished for earlier?”
A harmless question, but one that the fans genuinely cared about.
After all, Wei Yuan seemed to have it all: wealth, fame, looks, and a successful career. It was hard to imagine what else he could desire.
Wei Yuan paused, then smiled nonchalantly. “I’m at that age. I want to find a partner.”
An unexpected but understandable answer.
The reporters weren’t surprised. Satisfied with the answer, they all left.
If any other top star said they wanted to date, it would be a career-ending scandal.
But since his debut, Wei Yuan had been upfront about not sacrificing his personal life for his career. He’d said that if fate allowed, he would date and marry. He even told fans that if they couldn’t accept him dating, they weren’t fit to be his fans.
And if pushed too far, he might actually retire from the entertainment industry and return to his life as a wealthy young master.
Therefore, after layers of selection, the remaining fans were prepared for their idol to suddenly announce a relationship.
Su Da personally escorted the reporters out.
Wei Yuan remained, sighing wistfully.
No one understood. He, a fifth-generation chaebol, was surrounded by young masters and misses who had changed boyfriends and girlfriends one after another.
Yet he, with his prominent family background and good looks, hadn’t even kissed anyone yet.
Who would believe it?!
Wei Yuan sighed again. Seeing his manager return, he took out his key, opened the door, and entered the dressing room alone to change.
As usual, Su Da stood guard outside the dressing room, preventing anyone with ill intentions from approaching.
Inside the dressing room, Wei Yuan looked around.
The room was only about thirty square meters. The lights were off, but the light from the stadium’s inner field filtered through the window, illuminating the room dimly.
It was already dark outside. Turning on the lights now would require drawing the curtains to prevent people outside from seeing in.
Too lazy to bother, Wei Yuan left the lights off and walked towards the clothes rack.
After quickly changing, he realized his jacket was on the sofa.
Su Da, waiting outside, was watching a replay of the day’s livestream. The sounds of cheerful chatter drifted through the door.
The fans’ chants of “Happy Birthday” reached his ears, and Wei Yuan chuckled softly, murmuring, “I’d be truly happy if I had a boyfriend.”
He walked to the sofa and picked up his jacket.
Just then, a fluffy object rolled off the jacket and onto the sofa.
Simultaneously, the fluffy thing let out a soft, slightly aggrieved “Meow~.”
In an instant, Wei Yuan’s hair stood on end.
He instinctively yelled and bolted for the door.
Su Da, startled by the sound, hurriedly tried to open the door, but it was locked. He anxiously patted the door, shouting, “Yuan Ge, what’s wrong?! Are you okay?!”
Without looking back, Wei Yuan rushed to the door, trembling as he opened it and dashed out.
Su Da stumbled, caught off guard, and quickly grabbed him.
Wei Yuan hid behind Su Da’s plump figure, pointing a trembling finger at the room, terrified. “Cat! Cat!”
Su Da, already imagining scary scenarios like stalkers or hidden cameras: “…”
His Yuan Ge feared nothing, except cats. This wasn’t the first time this had happened.
Su Da expertly comforted him, “Okay, okay, Yuan Ge, don’t be afraid. I can handle a little kitty.”
He reached out and turned on the dressing room light.
The small space was easily visible, yet after looking around, he couldn’t find any trace of a cat.
Wei Yuan peeked over Su Da’s shoulder, cautiously looking into the room.
“Where’s the cat?” Su Da asked.
Wei Yuan insisted, “It must be hiding.”
“Oh.” Su Da entered the dressing room and began searching.
Wei Yuan stayed outside, slightly cowardly but still said, “I don’t know if I fell on it or kicked it in the chaos. See if it’s injured.”
“Oh, okay.” Su Da obediently searched everywhere.
He checked every corner of the room, even looking inside the cups, but there was no cat, not even a single cat hair.
He turned to Wei Yuan suspiciously.
Could it be that his Yuan Ge was too excited today and hallucinated?
Wei Yuan glared, exasperated. “What’s with that look! There really was one, lying on my jacket. When I pulled the jacket, it fell off and meowed.”
He spoke without pausing for breath, and Su Da was almost convinced.
But unable to find any trace of a cat, Su Da speculated, “Maybe it ran out when you opened the door. It probably wasn’t hurt.”
Wei Yuan, still worried, tiptoed into the room and checked the sofa area.
Seeing no bloodstains, he finally relaxed.
Although he feared cats, he didn’t want to hurt a small creature for no reason.
“That doesn’t make sense, Yuan Ge,” Su Da suddenly said. “This door has been locked. We both have the keys, and it hasn’t been opened. How could there be a cat?”
Besides, everyone in the studio knew Wei Yuan was afraid of cats. How could they let a cat near the dressing room?
Wei Yuan frowned, realizing the door hadn’t been opened. The window hadn’t been opened either.
Was it really a hallucination?
A strange feeling crept over Wei Yuan, sending a chill down his spine.
He rubbed his arms and hurriedly left the dressing room.
Su Da, after a final check, followed him out.
Just before closing the door, Wei Yuan couldn’t resist taking one last look at the dressing room.
The light from outside cast swaying tree shadows into the darkened room.
The strange feeling intensified, and Wei Yuan shivered. After Su Da locked the door, he quickly pulled him away.
The assistants would come to collect the things in the dressing room later; they didn’t need to do it themselves.
Su Da still had things to attend to, so Wei Yuan decided to drive home alone.
Perhaps due to the earlier scare, Wei Yuan felt uneasy, as if something was about to happen.
He pushed the thought aside and turned on the car radio to distract himself before stepping on the gas.
On the entertainment channel, the female host sternly reported, “At noon today, actor Lu Dingyun encountered stalkers and scalpers blocking and chasing his car on the South Second Ring Road, nearly causing a chain collision…”
Lu Dingyun?
Wei Yuan frowned.
This Movie Emperor Lu was three years older than him and had debuted three years earlier. He had already won every major film award.
Logically, he and Wei Yuan, a singer, weren’t even in the same field. However, as Wei Yuan had started venturing into the film industry in recent years and even won a prestigious acting award, they had begun to overlap.
Since they were of similar age, both considered top visuals in the entertainment industry, and had large fan bases, they were often compared.
Gradually, they became recognized rivals in the industry.
Wei Yuan’s impression of Lu Dingyun wasn’t particularly good, as the other man always had a “don’t come near me” air about him.
Wei Yuan was annoyed. How could someone be even more pretentious than him? Unacceptable!
Moreover, rumors suggested that Lu Dingyun had violent tendencies and enjoyed dissecting small animals, which made Wei Yuan dislike him even more.
But dislike aside, hearing that someone had almost been harmed by stalkers, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of shared indignation.
Unbeknownst to him, the stalkers he was criticizing were currently tailing his car in an SUV.
Wei Yuan was heading back to his family’s old mansion, located halfway up a mountain outside the city, accessible via the ring road.
It was only 8 pm, and traffic was heavy.
Wei Yuan wasn’t driving fast, but suddenly, an SUV behind him began weaving through traffic at nearly 160 kph, catching up quickly.
Horns blared throughout the highway.
Wei Yuan was startled and instinctively glanced sideways.
The car causing the commotion pulled alongside him in the next lane, finally slowing down. However, since they were on the highway, both cars were still traveling at around 120 kph.
Driving side-by-side at that speed was dangerous.
Yet, the other car showed no intention of moving ahead, maintaining its speed beside Wei Yuan.
Wei Yuan frowned, a bad feeling creeping in. As he suspected, the other car’s window rolled down.
The first things to appear weren’t faces, but several dark camera lenses.
The car edged closer to Wei Yuan’s, the lenses protruding from the window, almost touching his car. The flashing lights were blinding.
Wei Yuan’s face darkened.
With cars ahead and behind, he knew he couldn’t accelerate or suddenly brake.
He turned on his hazard lights and honked frantically.
The car behind him began to slow down, and the car in front sped up, creating space for Wei Yuan to maneuver.
However, the SUV beside him, fearing Wei Yuan would escape, accelerated again, cutting into his lane and slamming on the brakes.
Someone in the backseat leaned halfway out the window, camera in hand, snapping photos relentlessly. The flashing lights momentarily blinded Wei Yuan.
Wei Yuan hadn’t expected such reckless behavior, a deliberate attempt to force him to stop.
In this situation, he couldn’t brake suddenly or swerve, or he might flip his car.
All he could do was lightly tap the brakes, grip the steering wheel tightly, and brace for impact with the car in front.
This way, he and the people in the other car might have a chance of surviving. Otherwise, they were all doomed.
“Bang—”
The deafening crash was almost earsplitting.
On an operating table, a sleeping kitten suddenly convulsed.
It was a spacious room, composed of pure white walls, tiles, and silver metal equipment, exuding a minimalist aesthetic.
In the center stood an adjustable operating table, covered with a light blue sterile sheet.
Lying on the clean sheet was a small, thin cow cat.
The kitten lay on its back, its limbs limp, its chest rising and falling faintly. If one didn’t look closely, they might think it had stopped breathing.
A faint clinking of metal came from one side of the room.
The sleeping kitten, after convulsing, became still again.
But soon, its small triangular ears twitched, and its paws moved involuntarily.
Wei Yuan gradually regained consciousness, hearing the rustling sounds, somewhat distant yet seemingly within the same space.
It instinctively tried to open its eyes but found its eyelids heavy.
Breathing rapidly, Wei Yuan exerted more effort, finally opening its eyes.
Its vision cleared, and the first thing it saw was the surgical lamp directly above.
Simultaneously, the kitten instinctively sniffed, detecting the strong smell of disinfectant and other unidentified medicinal scents.
This was an operating room.
Wei Yuan immediately realized it was in a hospital.
Its memories were jumbled. It remembered a car accident. Was it in the emergency room now?
But why did it remember turning into a cat?
After becoming a cat, it seemed to have been injured and rescued by a kind person while near death…
A handsome face flashed before its eyes, and Wei Yuan paused, its thoughts suddenly clearing.
It tentatively made a small sound.
“Hello?” Wei Yuan spoke, but the moment the sound emerged, it closed its eyes, its heart sinking.
It wasn’t a dream after all.
It had heard its own voice, not the magnetic voice of its human form, but a weak, almost inaudible “Mew~” of a kitten.
So, it really had turned into a cat and then been rescued.
And the person who rescued it, coincidentally, was Lu Dingyun!
But Lu Dingyun had brought it to a hospital, which was quite kind. It didn’t seem like he abused small animals as the rumors suggested.
Wei Yuan’s impression of Lu Dingyun immediately improved.
Since he had saved its life, if it could turn back into a human, it would clear up the rumors and negative press about him as a small token of gratitude.
Of course, a life-saving debt couldn’t be repaid so easily. If Lu Dingyun needed anything, it would do its best to help.
The grateful young master didn’t have time to think further, its attention drawn back to the worsening pain.
The rustling sounds continued nearby.
Listening closely, it sounded like surgical instruments being placed on a tray.
Wei Yuan was in so much pain that it couldn’t even turn its head. It could only focus on the sounds to distract itself from the agony.
The rustling finally stopped, followed by footsteps and the rolling of wheels.
It must be the doctor pushing a cart over.
Wei Yuan exhaled. The surgery was about to begin. It was going to be saved!
It relaxed, waiting for the doctor to approach.
The bed slowly rose to a height convenient for the doctor.
Wei Yuan sluggishly thought, raising it so high, the doctor must be quite tall.
“Hmm?” The doctor noticed the kitten was awake. A pleasant voice emerged from behind the mask. “The kitten’s awake?”
Wei Yuan’s ears twitched. The doctor’s voice was nice, somewhat familiar.
Before it could think further, the doctor stood beside the bed, leaning slightly to look at it.
Wei Yuan unexpectedly met a pair of deep, inky black eyes.
In the next second, its heart nearly stopped, its fur bristling.
The “doctor” was wearing a mask, surgical cap, and scrubs, but with just one glance, Wei Yuan recognized him.
Lu Dingyun!
Lu Dingyun’s last role was a doctor, and he had been trending on social media almost daily in this attire. It was impossible for Wei Yuan not to recognize him.
But what was going on?
Had Lu Dingyun not taken it to a hospital?
And in this attire, was he planning to perform the surgery himself?!
No way!
Did he think that just because he played a doctor, he could actually save lives?
Besides, the doctor he played wasn’t a veterinarian!
Wei Yuan suddenly recalled the rumors about Lu Dingyun – abusing small animals, dissecting them in his pre-fame days, and even posting his “thoughts and experiences” online as a little essay to show off.
Since the alleged Weibo screenshots had been deleted, Wei Yuan hadn’t fully believed them.
But now, he thought, there’s no smoke without fire.
Maybe Lu Dingyun really did have strange hobbies!
Realizing this, Wei Yuan’s heart sank.
It was over.
This wasn’t an operating table; it was a dissecting table!
