Chapter 85: So Many Zeros in the Bank Card Part 1

Ye Lian had come straight from work to pick up Jiang Xiaoyu and head back up the mountain. Seeing him stretch out his paws in a aggrieved manner, asking to be held, his heart melted. He took him from Ye Qingxu’s arms.

Ye Qingxu said, “Thanks for the trouble.”

Ye Lian looked up and met Ye Qingxu’s gaze for a moment. Seeing the clear apology in the man’s smile, he curved his eyes to indicate it was no big deal.

Ye Lian used his fingers to pinch Jiang Xiaoyu’s ears into a bunny shape, coaxing him in a low voice: “Say goodnight to Daddy.”

Jiang Xiaoyu obediently meowed: “Daddy, I’m heading up the mountain. Be safe tonight.”

Ye Qingxu watched his appearance—ears pinched, almond-shaped eyes pulled into ovals by the motion, looking somewhat cute and comical. He couldn’t help laughing: “Got it. Daddy has to head out early tomorrow, so have Aunt Qing prepare tomorrow’s bento for you.”

Once Ye Lian had carried Jiang Xiaoyu away, Ye Qingxu put away his smile, feeling that Ye Lian was truly peculiar.

Not to mention compared to Wan Keyao—even compared to himself, the man was a good ten years older, with a whole generation of Jiang Xiaoyu in between. Yet he interacted with them so naturally, like peers. It made it so that when he came to pick up Little Yu, Ye Qingxu didn’t feel the slightest bit of wariness. It felt as natural as a senior coming to pick up a junior…

“What a strange thing.” Ye Qingxu tilted his head and muttered, “Somehow it feels like he’s the parent of the baby.”

Ye Lian’s palm was broad enough to cup the little cat’s butt and hold him securely in his arms: “Who bullied our Little Yu officer?”

His emotions had flared up in an instant, but by now Jiang Xiaoyu had calmed down and felt a bit embarrassed. His paws fiddled with the cufflink on Ye Lian’s shirt as he quietly complained to the man once more, then said: “Doesn’t this make me seem petty, like I’m holding a grudge?”

Ye Lian leaned down and kissed the tip of his ear: “How could it? So what if you’re petty? So what if you hold a grudge? Next time you see them, just claw at them. Even if you scratch them up, no worries—Uncle’s here.”

Jiang Xiaoyu felt embarrassed by his words but also a bit satisfied. Unable to hold back any longer, he stretched out his paws to hug the man’s neck: “Cats are police officers—they wouldn’t do that!” He buried his head in the crook of Ye Lian’s neck, inhaling the scent from the man, finally feeling at ease. He couldn’t resist rubbing against him: “Why are you so good to me?”

A lotus-scented big white cat, so fragrant.

Facing a cat, Ye Lian could still keep himself in check, no amorous thoughts arising. But the rubbing tickled him, so he raised a hand to block and control the cat in his arms: “Uncle can be even better to you, but…”

He paused mid-sentence, and Jiang Xiaoyu perked up his ears to ask: “But what?”

Ye Lian smiled meaningfully: “But you’ll have to wait until you’re a bit bigger.”

What exactly did Wife Cat mean by that?

Jiang Xiaoyu fretfully pulled a bag of dried fish from the snack box, fretfully tore it open, and fretfully munched on it.

Zhang Pangpang spotted his furrowed brows and asked: “No progress on your case? What’s got you worrying like this?”

Jiang Xiaoyu snapped back to attention, too embarrassed to admit he was thinking about Wife Cat. He finished the dried fish in his paw and grabbed another: “Yeah, still investigating.”

With the weather cooling down, the kittens’ instincts drove them into a frenzy of eating. The orange cat had even gained several pounds in just a few days. Even Jin Ge wasn’t staying up late as much anymore, sleeping more.

Jiang Xiaoyu ate several in a row. Seeing Zhang Pangpang eyeing them enviously, he pulled out a few and handed them over: “How come you’re not buying snacks anymore?”

Zhang Pangpang did want to eat, but he patted the spare tire on his belly and grimaced: “I’m trying to lose weight. New Year’s coming up soon. My mom says if I’m too fat, I won’t find a match on blind dates when I go back.”

Jiang Xiaoyu was the type who never gained weight no matter how much he ate, so he had no experience with that trouble. He said: “But it’s about to get cold soon.” Losing weight now— wasn’t that going against the cats’ natural habits?

“Exactly!” Zhang Pangpang pulled a face.

As the two were chatting, Lu Wanhui arrived at the Case Handling Office with a stack of documents. These past few days, he’d noticed Jiang Xiaoyu wasn’t keen on talking to him. Recalling his own childish antics from randomly getting jealous before, he could understand.

“We’ve got Ding Zhiman’s family info.” He handed the documents to Jiang Xiaoyu.

Jiang Xiaoyu took them and flipped through two pages, his expression freezing: “Huang Li?”

“You know her too?” Lu Wanhui raised his brows in surprise. In this case, it seemed Jiang Xiaoyu had come across quite a few victims and victim cats. “Ding Zhiman has an ex-wife and a daughter. After the divorce, the daughter went with her mom and changed her name to Huang Li. The Special Task Force has already sent people to tail her.”

“But Huang Li’s disabled.” The words slipped out of Jiang Xiaoyu’s mouth.

As soon as he said it, he realized that upon hearing Huang Li was connected to Ding Zhiman, he’d subconsciously linked her to the Rabbit Head Man. But he immediately dismissed the idea—Huang Li’s legs were paralyzed, an obvious fact that couldn’t be faked, which was why he’d blurted out that out-of-context remark.

Lu Wanhui’s sixth sense in cases was sharp. He asked directly: “You suspect this Huang Li is the Rabbit Head Man? Or connected to him?”

Jiang Xiaoyu stared at the documents and repeated softly: “I’ve seen her legs—severe muscle atrophy, completely unable to stand.”

Lu Wanhui pondered: “Regardless, she’s a great entry point. We’ve pulled some records on our end and just found out she showed up in footage from the previous two cases.”

Just found out? Jiang Xiaoyu felt a bit puzzled. He’d mentioned Huang Li to Jin Ge earlier—hadn’t Master passed the info to the Criminal Investigation Division? Well, different departments, info sharing not always timely. The thought flashed by, and he didn’t dwell.

Lu Wanhui continued: “Ding Zhiman’s case is different from the previous ones. Can’t rule out someone taking advantage of the hype to commit murder on purpose. Due to the peculiarities of the earlier cases, all departments have been tracking and controlling animal abuse lately. The killer hasn’t picked a new target yet. Looks like we still need to focus on that Live Stream Group…”

He hurried off mid-sentence. Jiang Xiaoyu lowered his gaze, thinking it was a case of unintentional benevolence—the spate of revenge murders for human lives had heightened vigilance against animal killings.

“Is this a case of little animals turning misfortune into fortune?” Jiang Xiaoyu smiled wryly.

—

Jiang Fenghua had been in much better spirits these past few days. With the kid at work and away from home, she’d gone to see Ye Qingxu twice. Though his expression wasn’t great, he was still a man of poise and courtesy. Despite their unpleasant history, he didn’t chase her away when she showed up and even accepted the clothes she’d bought for the kid.

“How could I have been so blind back then?” Jiang Fenghua placed the embroidery frame on her lap, her face full of regret. “If I’d been more rational and clear-headed at the time, Little Yu wouldn’t have been left out in the cold, suffering so much.”

She’d investigated, of course, and knew Jiang Xiaoyu’s past. But how could she relieve this heartache? The perpetrators had already been sentenced, yet she still wasn’t satisfied: “Back when Qianli was young, he’d have grabbed a gun and gone to fight them himself.”

A-Cui was helping Jiang Fenghua with the silk threads, thinking of the scrawny little Jiang Xiaoyu from the files in his childhood. She was indignant too: “Our young master was so cute as a kid—what kind of person could lay hands on him? Heartless bastards. We should pull strings in prison so even after they’re locked up, they don’t have it easy!”

Hearing this, Jiang Fenghua hesitated: “Let the state decide the sentence. Obsessing over those people is pointless. I’d rather think about how to be good to Little Yu.”

A-Cui breathed a sigh of relief seeing her regain reason. This old madam was like that—if you opposed her and forbade her, she’d probably do it anyway. But if you went along and let her, she’d realize it wasn’t right. A-Cui threaded the needle and handed it over: “In my opinion, young master doesn’t need worrying about food and clothes these days.”

“How not?” Jiang Fenghua retorted. “Look at him—he’s grown taller, but still so slim. When buying that baseball jacket, the clerk had to pick the smallest size. Honestly, why can’t we fatten him up a bit?”

Those trendy baseball jackets from abroad ran large anyway. With young master’s not-short height, unless he ballooned to two hundred pounds, he’d always need small sizes! Of course, A-Cui could only gripe inwardly. Out loud, she said: “I’ve seen the young madams in Locust City go abroad every year for fashion shows. A-Yao and Little Ye, those two big men, aren’t interested at all. Why don’t you just go pick styles yourself? Buy as many as you want and bring them all back for young master.”

“That I can do.” Jiang Fenghua agreed, rubbing the silver needle on her hair a couple times before lowering her head to embroider: “But besides food and clothes, what else? Anyone can do that… and he doesn’t lack for it. A-Yao bought him a car, but I don’t think it looks good. Should I look at others for him? Houses too—more properties are always good, right?”

She was like an old rich miser sitting on piles of gold and silver, clueless on how to spend it to please the kid—positively stumped.

It was A-Da, who’d come over with their afternoon tea, who spoke up from the side: “I’ve followed young master for all those days. I do have an idea.”

Jiang Fenghua set down her needlework at once. “Tell me.”

“The Little Young Master is a kind-hearted person. All those cats and dogs in the yard are stray animals he rescued. A-Yao’s company has even set up a new department specifically for stray animal welfare projects. How about this—you go over there and see if you can lend a hand. Once you’ve been doing it for a while, won’t you find common ground with the Little Young Master? Then getting along will be much easier, right?”