These words were beautifully said, and they truly made the listener feel comfortable. Although Ye Qingxu didn’t want to owe such a huge favor, if it were full payment, he could afford it, but it would strain his short-term cash flow.
Moreover, with the other party already saying this much, further refusal would seem deliberate. He didn’t hesitate any longer and accepted Ye Lian’s kindness. “Then I’ll have to trouble you.”
Ye Lian’s lips curved into an arc. “You’re too polite.” This was his future father-in-law, after all—not that he needed to fawn over him, but he couldn’t let the little guy get stuck in the middle and feel torn later.
—
The case had made breakthrough progress, and Jiang Xiaoyu’s heart fluttered lightly like a leaf drifting down from a branch.
He stood at the entrance of the bureau waiting for Ye Qingxu to pick him up. A few colleagues from other departments were also getting off work and passing by, greeting him. “Officer Jiang, heading home?”
Jiang Xiaoyu held the Snack Box in his arms, not quite used to their sudden friendliness. He nodded with a “Mm.”
“You’re waiting here for someone to pick you up?” It was the familiar face Chen Siming, the criminal tech guy handling the Jiang Fei case—a middle-aged man.
Jiang Xiaoyu had interacted with him quite a bit because of the case, so he felt more at ease facing him. “Yeah, my dad is coming to pick me up.” After saying it, he lowered his head to look at the Snack Box in his arms, still finding it unbelievable that he could say those words so naturally. It had only been a few days, but he was already so familiar with the word “dad.”
Chen Siming hadn’t even responded yet when a young cop nearby piped up. “Officer Jiang, is the jade token around your neck something your dad bought you?”
Jiang Xiaoyu subconsciously touched the jade at his collarbone, not planning to chat too much with them, so he vaguely acknowledged it.
Another person let out a “Whoa”: “Look at that water quality, that color—this ain’t cheap.”
Jiang Xiaoyu had no experience with such things at all. The most expensive thing he’d ever owned before was the phone Jin Ge gave him when he started university. At his strong insistence, Jin Ge had picked a cheap one—just a little over a thousand bucks. Later, the most expensive thing became the new phone Ye Qingxu bought him, which he’d checked and cost over ten thousand. He’d overheard female colleagues talking about Xunyu jade bracelets before, saying the nice ones were only a few hundred bucks, so he’d assumed this jade token was about the same. Hearing them say this now, he anxiously thought to himself, “Is it that expensive?”
“Ah.” The cop squinted and examined it closely. Jiang Xiaoyu felt uncomfortable under his gaze, but luckily the guy didn’t touch it. After observing for a bit, the cop said, “My Granny Apo has a piece of jade too, passed down through the family. Its water quality is at least two grades worse than this. I had it appraised recently—it’s worth this much now.”
He held up five fingers. Jiang Xiaoyu asked blankly, “Five thousand?”
“What?!” The cop slapped his hand. “Five hundred thousand! Yours is quite a bit smaller than my Granny Apo’s, but that water and color are top-notch—at least a million.”
Jiang Xiaoyu was dumbfounded. He mentally pried open his cat paws to count out what a million even was, but before he could figure it out, he heard a familiar voice calling him. “Baby, Dad’s here. Get in the car.”
Hearing that form of address, Jiang Xiaoyu’s face flushed red as he glanced at Chen Siming’s teasing expression nearby. He hurriedly ducked into Ye Qingxu’s car.
Chen Siming lived not too far or too near and biked to work on a shared bicycle every day. Seeing the center of the conversation leave, he scanned a bike and prepared to go.
After pedaling a few steps, he could still hear them discussing behind him: “BMW 7 Series—not super expensive, but pretty nice. Looks like his long-lost dad is doing pretty well.”
That’s how relationships between people work; the warmth and coldness of human feelings are nothing more than this. As Chen Siming pedaled his bike, he actually felt a bit happy for Jiang Xiaoyu.
—
Jiang Xiaoyu fastened his seatbelt before realizing Ye Qingxu had changed cars. “It looks different.” He touched the glove compartment in front; the texture felt pretty good.
Ye Qingxu turned the steering wheel, smiling as he said, “Since you’re here, Dad plans to settle down in Pine City. Might as well get a handy car—feels more comfortable to drive.”
Hearing this, Jiang Xiaoyu’s ears turned red as he touched the Snack Box on his lap.
Ye Qingxu followed his gaze and saw the box was empty, puzzled. “Why’d you bring the box back? If it’s for snacks, Dad could’ve just packed them in a bag for you to carry.”
Jiang Xiaoyu mumbled softly, “Not for snacks. I want to take it home.”
Ye Qingxu didn’t get it, but then he heard Jiang Xiaoyu say, “If it’s in the office, they come grabbing snacks from all directions, no care or restraint—they’ll ruin the box.”
At a red light, Ye Qingxu stopped the car in a daze and turned sideways to look at the kid pursing his lips. Suddenly realizing something, he asked, “Little Yu, do you really like this box that much?”
Jiang Xiaoyu nodded. “You worked so hard on it… What if it gets broken?” From the blueprint to assembly, though Ye Qingxu’s craftsmanship was average overall, he’d been very careful with this box—Jiang Xiaoyu had seen it.
Clearly, Jiang Xiaoyu was already as tall as Ye Qingxu and of adult age, but that nodding motion made Ye Qingxu feel like his kid was so good and obedient. His eyes stung; he quickly turned back, forcing his eyes wide to keep the tears from falling. After a long moment, he swallowed hard a few times and said, “Then Dad will make you a metal one when we get back—no one will be able to ruin that.”
Jiang Xiaoyu nodded again, pursing his lips in a small smile.
Ye Qingxu saw it and felt his heart melting. He wished he could sit at the workbench right now and make a hundred of them for the kid.
—
That Snack Box ultimately became Jiang Xiaoyu’s little cat bed. The freshly bathed Little Black Cat curled up inside, propping his phone against the edge of the box and painstakingly typing with his paw pads: How much is the jade token?
He thought Ye Lian would say it wasn’t expensive, but the reply was: Very expensive! Has Officer Jiang thought about how to make it up to Uncle?
Jiang Xiaoyu endured his flushed face: How expensive is “very”?
Ye Lian: Just a little over a million.
Back then, considering Jiang Xiaoyu’s cat form size, he hadn’t had the jade token carved too large, so it wasn’t actually that pricey. What was truly expensive was the inconspicuous red cord made from cutting-edge new tech materials. Of course, no need to tell him that.
Jiang Xiaoyu was dizzy. His paw typed out a string of gibberish, deleted it, and retyped: Then give it back! How is it that expensive? Were you scammed?
Ye Lian typed with a grin: Nope. If you give it back, Uncle will get mad and stop liking Little Black Cat.
How shameless is this guy? Jiang Xiaoyu’s ears burned as he huffily smacked the screen—but accidentally tapped the video call.
His freshly blow-dried fur puffed up. He fumbled to hang up, but it connected.
As soon as it did, the screen showed eight-pack abs. The phone seemed placed on some rack in the bathroom. Ye Lian was drying his hair, his refined jawline shrouded in steam, glowing softly and beautifully.
Jiang Xiaoyu quickly turned away, meowing, “Why aren’t you wearing clothes!”
Ye Lian innocently paused his hair-drying. “I just finished showering. Why don’t you say you picked a great time? Calling Uncle for video right now? Tell me, was it on purpose?”
Ye Lian’s low, rich voice came through the device, tinged with hoarseness, drilling into Jiang Xiaoyu’s brain through his flushed ears. He said he couldn’t bear for the box to get ruined by others, yet now his paws viciously scratched at the air as if clawing the man’s wrist.
“Cats don’t want to see you! You’re the shameless one!” Jiang Xiaoyu squeezed his eyes shut, his whiskers twitching in annoyance.
Ye Lian chuckled softly. “Alright, then Uncle will put on some clothes.” After a while, Jiang Xiaoyu heard him say, “Okay, turn around.”
Jiang Xiaoyu peeked with one eye, sneakily turning his head. Seeing the man really had put on a bathrobe, he relaxed and said sternly with his fuzzy face, “You need to be more careful from now on!”
Ye Lian didn’t get it. “Huh?”
“You’re so pretty—if you casually show your body and someone else sees, what then? There was just a case from the Criminal Investigation side: a really good-looking guy got off work, was followed, and something happened! What era is this?! Men need to protect themselves too! I’m a cop so I won’t do anything to you, but you can’t keep doing this in front of me!”
He meowed and grumbled a bunch to himself. Ye Lian’s eyes widened in surprise, thinking: This little guy’s serious? Well, with all that huffing and puffing and scratching, yeah, serious.
Ye Lian found him excessively cute like this and couldn’t help chuckling a few times. “Got it. Pretty Uncle will be more careful from now on.”
Seeing he’d listened, Jiang Xiaoyu stopped nagging. He pressed a few times on the little ball in the box and muttered, “You really won’t take the jade token back? It’s so expensive.”
“Nope, it was a gift for you. No reason to take it back.”
Jiang Xiaoyu rolled the ball around, then said, “Alright then, bye-bye.”
That was it? Before Ye Lian could chat more, Jiang Xiaoyu decisively smacked the screen with his paw and hung up.
He had to hang up—because the next second, he couldn’t hold back anymore. Stepping on the ball, he started purring like an engine.
