Chapter 82: Saying Goodbye to the Mud

Li Chenglong held his own child while dragging his wife, blocking the entrance to the Police Station and yelling loudly at the gate guard that he wanted to see Jiang Xiaoyu.

“Get him out here! This is outrageous! My parents raised him until he was nine, and now he dares to turn the tables and accuse them of trafficking? You’re full of shit!”

Li Chenglong’s wife was clearly embarrassed, but due to her husband’s stubbornness, she had no choice but to follow behind. “Let me hold the child.”

Her movements only fueled Li Chenglong’s anger even more. He swung back and slapped her across the face. “You worthless woman, get lost! I’m getting justice for my parents. This little white-eyed wolf is ungrateful, biting the hand that feeds him. I have to ruin his reputation!”

The woman had a trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth from the hit but didn’t dare resist. The child was even more frightened by his rough actions and angry shouting, bursting into loud wails.

Seeing this, the guard hurried forward to stop Li Chenglong. At first, he tried verbal communication. “Sir, please calm down. For the details, come into the reception room and talk to the relevant personnel.”

But Li Chenglong was the type to push his luck. Seeing the guard’s gentle attitude, he immediately bullied the weak and shouted at the top of his lungs. “I’m not going in! You all know him. If I go in, you’ll definitely side with that white-eyed wolf! I want everyone to see this right here at your unit’s gate—raised that orphan for nine years, and he turns around and calls us traffickers. Is there any justice in this world?!”

The guards had seen plenty of scoundrels. When communication failed and warnings didn’t work, the guard hardened his attitude. “Sir, if you continue making a huge racket and disturbing public order, we’ll have to take compulsory measures against you.”

With that, the guard signaled to his colleagues around him. Several guards understood and quickly surrounded Li Chenglong, boxing him in.

Li Chenglong found the child’s crying annoying and tossed him to the woman behind him. He rolled up his sleeves and called out to the onlookers. “Hey! Come on, everyone, come look! The cops are threatening to beat someone!”

A textbook rogue.

Just as the guards were about to take strong measures, Jiang Xiaoyu arrived at the gate, having received the message.

“I hear you’re looking for me?”

This calm, clean voice stunned the enraged Li Chenglong for a moment. When he turned and saw Jiang Xiaoyu, and heard the guards call him “Officer Jiang,” his brain went blank as if struck by lightning.

In his memory, this person had always been skinny and small from lack of food—even five-year-old him could trip up seven-year-old him with a kick. He never dared fight for food, only staring at people with those big, creepy green eyes. In Li Chenglong’s imagination, once this person entered the Welfare Institute, he’d get beaten to death or become societal scum, just like him—unable to get into university, working from dawn to dusk for meager wages.

He’d just learned Jiang Xiaoyu worked at the Police Station, but he had no idea what he did, assuming someone like that was at most a janitor. But when he actually saw Jiang Xiaoyu, realizing that after more than a decade, the scrawny kid who could only scavenge food from dogs had grown into a sharp, upright young man, the lingering sense of superiority he’d always harbored burst like a bubble, mercilessly popped.

Jiang Xiaoyu had merely stood there, doing nothing, yet Li Chenglong staggered back a few steps as if frightened, his bravado deflating instantly. “You… you, you can’t sue my parents. My parents said you’re the one who was abandoned, and they kindly raised you.”

Jiang Xiaoyu stated the facts. “I didn’t sue them. My father is the one suing them, and I respect, understand, and support his decision. If it’s a false accusation, you can sue your parents and seek compensation. If not, the law will punish them severely.”

His words were so calm and natural that Li Chenglong stammered, unable to retort. His face flushed purple. Suddenly, he yanked over his wife and child, slapping the kid to vent his rage. “Still crying? What’s there to cry about? Your grandparents are going to jail! And you have the face to cry?!”

He hit the child, and his wife tried to stop him with teary eyes only to get hit too. Just as his hand was about to fall again, Jiang Xiaoyu grabbed it. “If you keep hitting people indiscriminately, I’ll take compulsory measures against you according to the law.”

Li Chenglong struggled a couple times but couldn’t break free. As a child, he could bully the person before him freely with his parents’ indulgence, but now he was powerless. Furious and humiliated, he yelled impotently. “Are you crazy? I’m disciplining my own wife and kid—what’s it got to do with you? So what if you’re a cop? Does being a cop mean you can interfere in my family matters?”

A nearby female officer who couldn’t stand it shielded the woman and child behind her and said coldly, “If you don’t know the law, shut up. Harming others has nothing to do with whether they’re your wife or kid.”

“What’s it to you? This father of yours will fu—!” Li Chenglong’s filthy words cut off as Jiang Xiaoyu kicked the back of his knee, sending him crashing to the ground. His arm was twisted behind him, his pained curses stopping abruptly. With a crisp click at his wrist, Jiang Xiaoyu cuffed him and handed him over to a nearby officer.

Jiang Xiaoyu returned to the Case Handling Office and sat down silently. Suddenly, he wanted to talk to someone.

He opened his screen, and the first thing he saw was a photo from Ye Lian: the Curly-Haired Old Cat curled up on the small cat bed.

Ye Lian: Your grandpa didn’t see you last night and is throwing a bit of a tantrum.

Jiang Xiaoyu’s heart softened uncontrollably, his eyes curving up. He was too big; he could barely fit.

Though Wan Qianli was frail, his size was there—bigger than a Maine Coon, struggling to squeeze onto Jiang Xiaoyu’s little bed.

Jiang Xiaoyu tapped on the keyboard a few times: I just ran into Li Chenglong.

He told Ye Lian about what had just happened.

Jiang Xiaoyu: When I was little, I was really scared of him. He was so domineering, always snatching my food, and I couldn’t fight back because that would bring beatings from the adults. But just now, I realized I could subdue him effortlessly. I’m not afraid of him anymore.

He hadn’t missed the flash of fear in Li Chenglong’s eyes. He found it strange—what had he done to provoke such a reaction?

Ye Lian: You live in the sunlight, while he wallows in the shadows. When someone realizes the person they’ve always bullied has escaped the darkness and is living even more brilliantly than themselves, that sense of disparity is enough to crush them, filling them with frustration and fear. Little Yu Baby, you’re so strong. You didn’t just defeat him—you defeated the past.

Jiang Xiaoyu’s eyes grew a little wet. He sniffled: I saw him hitting his wife and kid, and I got a bit angry.

Ye Lian: You can not only get angry—you can be furious. Come on, you’re the super awesome Little Cat Cop! You can pull out your gun and go biubiubiu~

Looking at Ye Lian’s words, a blush crept onto Jiang Xiaoyu’s fair cheeks. How could Wife Cat be this cute!

Jiang Xiaoyu: No imitating cat or dog talk! No calling me Little Cat Cop! And we cops don’t just pull guns willy-nilly!

Ye Lian: ^^ Okay, Little Cat Cop.

Ye Lian’s eyes curved in a smile. He’d just locked his phone screen when his expression turned cold. He called certain people and ordered them to push the Jia Muqin and Li Shouping trafficking case. “We follow the law, but within the legal bounds, I want them sentenced as heavily as possible.”

With pressure from the Wan Family and attention from the Ye Family, the process moved quickly. In just a few short days, the verdict came down for the two.

Li Shouping and Jia Muqin were sentenced to fifteen years in prison for child trafficking and buying trafficked children. By the time they got out, they’d be in their twilight years, only able to scrape by.

But Ye Qingxu didn’t feel any satisfaction. Even if Li Shouhai came back from the dead and went to jail, even if they got thirty years or three hundred—what could that erase from the twenty-two years he’d been separated from his child? The things he’d lost couldn’t be compensated just by seeing those people get their due punishment.

Jiang Xiaoyu heard about it and saw it more openly, instead comforting Ye Qingxu. “Dad, don’t mind them anymore.” The past was the past; dwelling in pain was pointless. He had so much now; it wasn’t worth fussing over those unnecessary people.

Ye Qingxu was comforted by his child and could only force himself to let go of his worries, focusing on the present. But Wan Keyao wasn’t the magnanimous type. Even with those two in jail, he wasn’t going to let them off easy—especially after learning about Li Chenglong’s Police Station fiasco.

“Have the relevant departments investigate Li Chenglong’s breakfast shop. For a guy like that, I don’t believe everything he does is up to code.”

Li Chenglong was a scumbag in character but had damn good luck. His old man Li Shouping was trash, but his love for his son was real. A few years back, he’d won a small fortune gambling and gave the money to Li Chenglong to open a shop, allowing the good-for-nothing to marry a wife.

Wan Keyao ordered coldly, “Get lawyers to contact Li Chenglong’s wife, offer her money to divorce him and take the kid. Consider it my act of mercy, helping her escape her misery.”

If Li Chenglong knew that his little stunt at the Police Station not only failed to bail out his parents but got his livelihood shut down, his family shattered, wife and child gone, he might regret that day’s decision.

But all that mud had nothing to do with Jiang Xiaoyu, who was racing toward the light.

—

Amid the hectic cases that left no time to breathe, Jiang Xiaoyu finally got a day off. He sprawled in the Ye Residence courtyard, sunning his belly.

Zhao Xiaoting—that was the girl who had been wrongly accused of stealing a diamond ring before. She was now holding a camera, filming Little Black Cat’s movements. Back then, she had lost her job due to Chen Yiqu taking his anger out on her. Later, Ye Lian had called her back on a whim to coax the kid, and just a few days ago, Wan Corporation had poached her with a high salary. Now, she was Little Black Cat’s exclusive cameraperson. Her experiences over these short few months could truly be called a rollercoaster of ups and downs. Fortunately, after the worst came the best, and the result was a good one.

“Xiao Yu, come on, let’s change positions.” She knew nothing about shapeshifters and simply thought this cat was lucky to have an owner who doted on him. Her main job now was filming this curly-furred little kitten named Jiang Xiaoyu, along with the large pack of stray cats and dogs it led, then editing them into cute and heartwarming daily clips to post on Jiang Xiaoyu’s original video account.

This was Wan Keyao’s idea. This old dad had pondered for a long time over what the kid liked and wanted. Materially speaking, of course he would give him the best, but spiritually… that was probably these little strays he cared about.

With control of Ginkgo Country’s strongest self-media platform in hand, he catered to the kid’s interests by shooting videos of his pack of kittens and puppies to promote awareness and concepts for protecting stray animals. Jiang Xiaoyu’s video account had been quietly taken over by Wan Universe’s official side. After discussing with Jiang Xiaoyu, all the traffic value and earnings would be fully invested into public welfare for rescuing stray animals, forming a virtuous cycle.

In just a few days, the over 100,000 yuan in earnings from the video account had been fully allocated. Partnering with the charitable foundation under Ye Corporation, they prepared to start a pilot in Pine City, beginning construction on the Stray Animal Home.

Jiang Xiaoyu was indeed immensely happy about this. He lay down in the pose Zhao Xiaoting indicated, perking up his pink and tender paw pads in the autumn air that was slightly cool, blooming open like flowers.

“Ah!!! Too cute! How is he so smart!” Zhao Xiaoting clutched her camera, excitedly huffing through her nose. “Come on, let Auntie see your little tongue.”

Jiang Xiaoyu felt a bit shy and pretended to yawn casually, curling up his bright red tongue tip.

“So smart, aah! Auntie’s gonna kiss you to death!! Say goodbye to your dad! Auntie’s gonna steal you away!” The woman’s heh-heh laughing posture was straight-up creepy pervert madness, giving Yan Feilang, who was passing by walking his Husky, goosebumps all over. He hurriedly tugged the dumb dog away from the area.

Ever since Jiang Xiaoyu had come to stay at the Ye Residence, the cats and dogs at his home had also gained freedom, scampering all over the mountain and below. They all had trackers anyway, so there was no fear of them getting lost, and they were all very well-behaved—not causing chaos outside, and returning home at the foot of the mountain every night to be roll-called one by one by Ye Qingxu.

With the weather being hot, they were all sprawled around Jiang Xiaoyu, either play-fighting or dozing off. In groups of two or three, you bit me, I swatted you—there were so many funny moments that Zhao Xiaoting couldn’t film them all.

After wrapping up the shoot, Zhao Xiaoting returned to the company with several full memory cards to edit the videos. Jiang Xiaoyu rolled over, letting the warm sunlight spill all over him.

Wife Cat had gone on another business trip. Jiang Xiaoyu lazily narrowed his eyes, missing him a bit. He wondered if Wife Cat had talked with Wife Cat’s mom these past few days? Had the mother-son relationship improved at all?

As he thought about it, he saw a pair of feet stop in front of him.

Qinghua-patterned low heels, an ink-green hem finely woven with gold threads into petals, and a familiar pleasant fragrance. He lifted his head, and Ye Lan shook open a sack: “Nice cat. Stealing it.”