The police wouldn’t just sit around waiting for Jiang Xiaoyu to persuade Ji Wangan. Now that they had cleared Ye Lian’s name and confirmed the Ye Residence’s stance through Jiang Xiaoyu, they began preparing a two-pronged approach to close the net. Meanwhile, the Discipline Inspection department was also poised and ready, just waiting for the right moment to nab Shen Qi.
The rainy season had finally passed, and scorching sunlight poured down unobstructed from the clear blue sky. Jiang Xiaoyu listlessly picked at his cat food, then tossed the rest to the Husky squatting behind him when he really couldn’t eat any more.
“You’re so picky—how are we going to deal with that?” The old butler looked at the cat bowl still filled with a third of its contents, his expression stern as he held up the comb and gestured for Jiang Xiaoyu to come over.
Jiang Xiaoyu didn’t argue that he wasn’t being picky but just couldn’t eat in this heat. He padded over to the old butler and tucked in his paws, lying down.
When the comb gently slid over his tail, he tensed his butt slightly before gradually relaxing. Time was truly a scary thing—he had actually grown quite used to letting the old butler groom his fur.
“Little Slob.” Chen Yiqu sounded disdainful, but his hand was already pinching Jiang Xiaoyu’s cat ears. So soft and fluffy; no wonder the young master liked pinching them. His mustache twitched up and down, and out of Jiang Xiaoyu’s sight, his expression clearly held some delight.
Yan Feilang, passing by with the Husky in tow, had a profoundly enigmatic look on his face. Under the old butler’s murderous glare, he muttered under his breath, “Dead tsundere!”
The sunlight blazed, the air was still. Jiang Xiaoyu felt a moment of daze mixed with melancholy. He probably wouldn’t be here much longer. At the thought, he rubbed his head against Chen Yiqu’s hand holding the comb. Though their initial interactions hadn’t been pleasant, this old man was a good person. His schedule was just a bit hard for a cat to handle—he went to bed early and got up even earlier, rising at the rooster’s crow, then urging Jiang Xiaoyu to get up and go running with Ye Lian…
Speaking of roosters, Jiang Xiaoyu turned and asked the Husky, “Are there chickens on the mountain?”
The Husky was a typical city dog—it had eaten chicken legs and chewed chicken meat, but never seen a live chicken. It stared blankly and asked, “What’s a chicken?”
Jiang Xiaoyu tried to explain, “It’s just… ah, forget it. Don’t you hear the rooster crowing every morning?”
Now the Husky got it and barked once: “The old man’s calling!”
“Not the old butler practicing his singing!” Jiang Xiaoyu thought it was referring to Chen Yiqu’s unvarying morning vocal exercises and chalked it up to low IQ. “Forget it, forget it, can’t explain it.”
The Husky rolled its eyes with a wronged look. “It’s the old man!” Over there, Yan Feilang quickly dragged the dog away with a cigarette in his mouth. “Bro, let’s go for a run.”
The thing had endless energy. Luckily, Yan Feilang spent his days tending the garden and walking the dog, taking it out eight hundred times a day to wear it out so it wouldn’t destroy the house. Otherwise, Chen Yiqu would’ve tossed it out long ago.
Jiang Xiaoyu lifted his paw for the old butler to groom his foreleg when he heard the doorbell at the front courtyard. The new cleaning lady jogged over and said, “Butler Chen, there’s a woman at the main gate. She says her name is Zhao Xiaoting.”
Wasn’t that the name of the girl wrongly accused of stealing? Jiang Xiaoyu looked over in surprise and saw the girl carrying a small suitcase. Spotting him, she happily waved.
“You’re here.” Chen Yiqu stood up. “Young master hired you a nanny. Let’s go take a look.”
Huh? Hired a nanny? For me? Jiang Xiaoyu pointed at himself in a daze until Chen Yiqu nudged him with his foot, then he followed to the door.
From their conversation, Jiang Xiaoyu learned that Ye Lian already knew about his mukbang streaming. He felt his fur-face cringe in social death.
“Because that account hadn’t updated in a long time, everyone was worried the little cat had escaped after being abused. Mr. Ye said he would contact the cat’s original owner and fight for custody of the cat.”
How rare. Jiang Xiaoyu’s fur-face turned serious. Someone actually wanted to fight him for his own custody?
Chen Yiqu was getting on in years and rather old-fashioned; he had no experience with short videos. Staring at the screen of the Little Black Cat intently eating boiled meat slices, he said, “You can finish even that?” He looked reproachfully down at his feet. “See, I do spoil you too much. You only ate a few bites of that lavish breakfast this morning!”
Jiang Xiaoyu, who had forced down boiled meat for the sake of earnings, glared fiercely and stomped on his foot.
She was supposedly hired as Jiang Xiaoyu’s nanny, but her main job was taking care of the mansion, with occasional part-time filming videos for Jiang Xiaoyu to reassure the aunties online worried about his wellbeing.
Jiang Xiaoyu breathed a sigh of relief, unable to imagine what it would feel like to have someone following him twenty-four-seven.
That evening, Jiang Xiaoyu sprawled on the desk, his gaze drifting uncontrollably to Ye Lian beside him. Under the dim yellow lamplight, the man focused intently on the documents in his hands, lips lightly pursed, making his jawline more pronounced and giving him a somewhat aloof air.
Noticing Jiang Xiaoyu’s stare, he looked over, a thread of amusement in his eyes that softened the chill, like spring water melting ice, making his whole demeanor gentler.
Man and cat stared at each other for a long time, as if the whole world had gone quiet—until Jiang Xiaoyu couldn’t help turning away.
“Uncle just found out you’re a mukbang streamer.” He tapped Jiang Xiaoyu’s nose. “And you have a proper job too.” This proper job was pointedly meaningful, but unfortunately, Jiang Xiaoyu hadn’t caught on yet and just thought he meant the streaming.
“To make money,” Jiang Xiaoyu mumbled, a hint of unconscious complaint in his tone. “I have a yard full of Little Strays to feed.”
Ye Lian had already investigated this and knew his situation. With his salary of just three or four thousand yuan, supporting that many animals was no small feat. This little guy’s bond with animals was deep—deep enough to make Ye Lian a bit jealous. But from another angle, it was something that could be utilized.
He narrowed his eyes like a big cat luring prey and said warmly, “Uncle has already contacted your former owner. If he’s willing to hand over custody, that would be best.”
Jiang Xiaoyu’s face flushed red. “I’m not a kid! What’s this custody nonsense?!” Ever since Ye Lan gave him the watch, he hadn’t checked his old phone in ages and naturally hadn’t seen the comment left on his short video account.
Ye Lian’s eyes curved without answering. Instead, he shifted his finger down and pinched Jiang Xiaoyu’s tail. “Just looking at what you used to eat shows he didn’t take good care of you. Since he’s so neglectful, let Uncle raise you instead.”
A swelling feeling rose in Jiang Xiaoyu’s heart, something entirely new that he couldn’t identify. What willing or unwilling handover of custody? He’d be leaving soon anyway—what did it matter?
At the thought, he felt inexplicably aggrieved. He clamped down on Ye Lian’s hand pinching his tail. “I don’t need you raising me.” He’d always been on his own, raising all these furballs. He could take care of himself. Even if it was food he didn’t like, he’d force it down because he had no reason or person to act spoiled for.
Ye Lian chuckled softly, withdrew his hand, and ruffled Jiang Xiaoyu’s head. “Whatever you say.”
Whatever you say? Does that mean no raising? I say no and you just drop it? Jiang Xiaoyu sniffed, his nose stinging a bit, kicked him once, and ran off.
He felt inexplicable. They weren’t even speaking the same language—he couldn’t understand his own words—but he’d linked them somehow and now felt inexplicably down.
After he left, Ye Lian rubbed his kicked wrist and murmured to himself, “Temper’s grown quite a bit.” Biting had gotten much more skilled too.
He was clearly in a good mood, eyes gleaming with pleasure as he looked at the property deed Wang Chengzhi had just sent—the flat Jiang Xiaoyu rented in the suburbs.
“Mm, if we raise the rent threefold…”
Jiang Xiaoyu had no idea his rent had been jacked up threefold by the landlord! Or that in a few days, he’d have to find a new place for himself and his furry crew. At the moment, he stared at the message on his watch, his pupils narrowing to slits.
“Ji Wangan got into a car accident on his way to turn himself in.”
