Chapter 18: Tail

Jiang Xiaoyu glared at the watch, his expression as if he’d seen a ghost.

Ye Lan, however, couldn’t see it and continued on her own: “For what I say next, meow once if yes, meow twice if no. Be good and cooperate with me, or I’ll tell Ye Lian about you stealing his phone.”

How could someone threaten a little kitten like that! No, I can’t exactly count as a little kitten… Jiang Xiaoyu shook his head to dispel the random thoughts. Amid her repeated question from across the line, he meowed once to indicate agreement.

Ye Lan asked, “You’re a person transformed, right? Are you a cop?”

At this point, pretending further was meaningless, so Jiang Xiaoyu simply meowed once in agreement.

There was a pause on the other end, then she asked again, “Are you here to harm Ye Lian?”

This question left Jiang Xiaoyu unsure how to respond for a moment. From the evidence gathered so far, Ye Lian had no direct connection to the drowning case, but Ji Wangan was his younger brother… If Ji Wangan was caught and brought to justice, would that count as some kind of harm to Ye Lian?

He meowed twice, then hesitantly added one more.

The other side didn’t press further, seemingly lost in thought, and instead asked, “Has Ye Lian gone to work?”

Jiang Xiaoyu meowed once.

Before coming to the Ye Residence, the domineering CEO he’d imagined was someone who lounged around all day eating, drinking, and having fun, unconcerned with worldly affairs since stock dividends took care of everything. After getting to know Ye Lian, he realized this man was incredibly busy with work— the study light stayed on until one or two in the morning, he’d get up early for a morning run the next day, sleeping only four or five hours. It made Jiang Xiaoyu worry he’d drop dead from overwork.

“Has he been eating properly?”

What kind of question was that? Jiang Xiaoyu found it odd—who didn’t eat? What would there be to eat if he didn’t? He meowed once.

“Good, as long as he’s eating.” Ye Lan’s voice sounded a bit shaky. After asking a few more questions about Ye Lian, she hung up the call contentedly.

Her behavior at the Ji Family made her seem on poor terms with Ye Lian, yet her questions brimmed with concern for him. Over the next few days, she kept inquiring nonstop about all sorts of things regarding Ye Lian. Jiang Xiaoyu was a bit lost, as he hadn’t spent much alone time with Ye Lian and couldn’t answer many of her questions. So, to gather info for Ye Lan’s queries, after dinner, he slipped up to the third floor where Ye Lian was.

The study door was closed, light spilling from the cracks. Jiang Xiaoyu raised a paw to knock.

After a few knocks with no response from inside, he went to knock again, but the door suddenly opened. His paw landed squarely on Ye Lian’s calf.

In that instant, he felt a wondrous, subtle sensation. The soft paw pad met smooth skin—warm. He could clearly sense the texture and grain of Ye Lian’s skin, so delicate. What shocked Jiang Xiaoyu even more was the solid, powerful muscle beneath that thin layer of skin.

He’d seen him shirtless and knew he had eight-pack abs, but only upon touching did he understand the true strength of those muscles.

Seeing the cat staring at him again lost in a daze, a hint of teasing flickered in Ye Lian’s eyes. “Not done touching yet?”

Jiang Xiaoyu jolted back to reality, only then noticing his paw had been roaming and exploring the man’s calf for quite a while. He hastily withdrew it, placing both paws in front awkwardly, intending to cover with his tail—before remembering after much tail-wagging that his tail was too short to reach the front.

Ye Lian’s lips curved at his flustered look as he stepped aside. “Come in.”

This was Jiang Xiaoyu’s first time entering the man’s private space. The room was already huge, let alone viewed from a cat’s low angle. Rows of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves neatly displayed books of all kinds—from literature to history, art to science—the breadth of subjects left Jiang Xiaoyu smacking his lips inwardly. “Did you read all these?” They couldn’t just be for show, right? His furry face looked skeptical.

Ye Lian didn’t answer, sitting back at the desk to work. Jiang Xiaoyu wandered the room a few laps on his own, then came to Ye Lian’s side to watch.

“Want to come up?”

Jiang Xiaoyu meowed once. Just as he prepared to jump, the man scooped him up onto the desk. “Play by yourself for a bit, Uncle’s got work to do first.” He pinched the cat ears, then turned his gaze back to the computer.

There was a cat-shaped figurine on the desk—Jiang Xiaoyu remembered this was the camera that had captured Zhou Wantong committing the theft. He pawed at it, finding it incredibly lifelike, with no trace of it being a camera.

“I wonder how Zhao Xiaoting’s doing… So unlucky, wrongly accused while just doing her job properly, not to mention losing her livelihood outright. What an undeserved disaster.”

A closed book sat on the desk. Jiang Xiaoyu sneaked a glance at Ye Lian, seeing the man focused on work with no attention to spare, so he pawed it open. Some minor foreign language book, with handwritten annotations in the margins—the handwriting matched the man, neat and imposing. He couldn’t read it, so he closed it and shifted beside Ye Lian, sprawling openly by the computer to watch the screen. Mm, still couldn’t make heads or tails of it…

This man and he were from two different worlds—his knowledge, experiences, status, all worlds apart. If not for this case, they’d probably never cross paths.

At that thought, Jiang Xiaoyu felt inexplicably downcast. The evidence was already in hand; it wouldn’t be long before everything came to light, and then he’d leave this place. They probably wouldn’t meet again after that.

Those cat ears drooped again, baffling Ye Lian a bit. He reached out to pinch them, asking gently, “What’s got you unhappy?”

Jiang Xiaoyu didn’t know how to respond, burying his head in his paws.

Ye Lian’s long fingers stroked from his ears down his back. “Is it ’cause Uncle’s working and ignoring you, so you’re mad?”

“No.” Jiang Xiaoyu meowed once. As if the man couldn’t understand cat speech, he replied, “Then Uncle’ll play with you for a bit.”

He closed the computer, pulled open a drawer, and took out a comb, gently grooming Jiang Xiaoyu’s fur. “Uncle Chen bought this a few days ago. Uncle was even thinking of how to ask permission to brush you with it.”

Jiang Xiaoyu’s face heated. “What reason do you need to brush a cat’s fur? Just do it!” Why was this guy like this, so serious about treating a cat—needing consent just to brush fur?

“Little guy, your fur’s really curly.” Ye Lian chuckled lightly. “Like a little lamb.” As he groomed the cat, he imagined Jiang Xiaoyu in human form—his hair was somewhat curly, but nowhere near this degree.

The only similarity was probably those eyes: green like a forest, or deep like a lake. But as a human, no birds sang in that forest, no fish swam in that lake—his emotions always restrained and controlled. Looked like cat form was more fun: argumentative, scratching, even thieving.

Ye Lian suppressed a laugh, using the comb to lightly nudge Jiang Xiaoyu’s tail. “Baby, can I touch here?” It was just too amusing—how could a cat have a bunny tail?

“No!” Jiang Xiaoyu bristled.

Ye Lian talked to himself: “Hm? Meowing so loud means yes? Then Uncle’s touching.” His fingertip prodded the tail.

Jiang Xiaoyu leaped up, the whole cat like a boiling kettle sputtering steam. “I said no!”

Ye Lian feigned incomprehension, reaching out again. “One more touch.”

“You jerk! I said no!” Jiang Xiaoyu pounced and bit the hand offered toward him.

He chomped and kicked at Ye Lian’s wrist for a good while before realizing the man wasn’t resisting or moving. Snapping back, he quickly released, staring guiltily at the bite mark on Ye Lian’s hand. Crap, what if he got mad… His mission wasn’t done yet—what if he got kicked out over this…

He didn’t dare look up at the man’s face, but the room was deathly quiet, making him fidget like needles on pins. Paws clenched, furry face taut as steel, after much mental prep he finally peeked up at him.

He expected anger, or at least no more smiles, but the man’s gaze remained gentle. He tilted his head slightly. “Not mad anymore?”

“Sorry…” Jiang Xiaoyu hung his head. This person’s upbringing and temper were too good—good enough to make Jiang Xiaoyu’s eyes sting a bit.

“You bit Uncle so hard it hurts.” Ye Lian poked the black cat’s drooping ear again. “Uncle’s mad now.”

Jiang Xiaoyu froze in place. Yeah, he deserved to be mad. He was just a cat, an adopted stray at that. What was wrong with an owner touching his pet’s tail? Perfectly normal pet-owning behavior—he’d touched Little Stray’s tail plenty himself. The problem was him alone, not knowing his place. Just like Jin Ge said: a cop undercover who couldn’t drop his ego—ridiculous.

Ye Lian didn’t need to guess to know the little guy had sunk into self-denial again. He sighed inwardly—wasn’t it normal for cats to bite? Why so oversensitive? As he thought this, he conveniently forgot how he’d punished the Husky for two meals just for biting his slipper—double standards to the max.

He held out his index finger in front of Jiang Xiaoyu. “Let Uncle touch your tail once, and I won’t be mad.”

Jiang Xiaoyu looked up blankly, meeting his eyes again. The man’s eyes curved in a beautiful arc, fine lines at the corners like threads of years, tender and lingering.

He raised a paw, pressing it to the man’s finger like sealing a promise.

Ye Lian let out a soft chuckle, his tone indescribably doting or whatever, making Jiang Xiaoyu’s face heat up again in silence.

What a pushover, Ye Lian thought with narrowed eyes. Just a little bit of kindness and he would be completely ensnared. Call him dumb? He still had some vigilance toward danger. Call him smart? That silly, dazed look really wasn’t convincing at all.

Look, he even turned around and shoved his tail right into someone else’s hands.

Ye Lian propped up one side of his face with one hand while touching the tail with the other. He still wore a smile of triumphant scheming, but when he felt that clearly unnatural fracture at the tailbone, his eyes abruptly turned cold. “How did your tail break?”