Chapter 41: Heartbeat Accelerating Part 1

Li You woke up and found himself lying on Li Ye’s body, while his brother was sleeping at that time.

He got up and sat on Li Ye’s chest, tilting his head and staring unblinkingly at the other’s sleeping face. The tail behind him swished left and right. He stretched out a paw and lightly pressed his brother’s chin.

After staying still for a few seconds, the kitty affectionately rubbed his head against Li Ye’s face, then lightly leaped back to the floor. His tail stood high, and he patrolled the lounge with proud steps.

Li You discovered a handbag on the sofa chair. He jumped onto the chair, buried his head into the bag, and bit out a ball of pink yarn. He jumped off the chair back to the floor and lay down, placing the yarn ball in front of him. First, he stared straight at it, then gently pawed at the ball, pushing it far away. He then pounced after it, intercepted the rolling ball, and brought it back to the original spot in his mouth.

He repeated this over and over, entertaining himself for several rounds, until the yarn ball’s loose end unraveled…

When Li Ye woke up, the first thing he felt was the heaviness on his chest. He lowered his gaze and met the eyes of the Ragdoll cat, whose fur was tangled messily with the pink yarn.

The Ragdoll cat’s pair of deep blue, round eyes gazed at him pitifully. Its entangled paws lightly scratched at Li Ye’s shirt on his chest, and it looked up: “Meow…”

【Brother, save me!】

Li Ye got up, picked up the cat, and examined it carefully. Amid the fluffy cat fur and tangled yarn, he leisurely rubbed the cat’s ears, smoothed the fur, parted the tail fur to check, and finally found the end of the yarn. Only then did he start untangling the yarn from the cat.

Li You obediently stayed still. Once freed, he immediately bumped his head against Li Ye’s face: “Meow!”

“When did you wake up?” Li Ye asked him.

“Meow woo woo…” The kitty looked up and kept meowing.

【Anyway, I woke up earlier than you!】

Li Ye threw the messy ball of yarn into the trash bin and tucked the cat into his pocket as he stood up: “Yarn is too dangerous. If you want to play, we should still buy proper toys.”

【Got it.】

Li You licked his paws a couple of times and rubbed against his brother a few times. He pressed his paws on Li Ye’s shoulders, touched his soft nose tip to the other’s forehead, rooted upward like a little piglet, then laid his face on top of Li Ye’s head. His front paws hugged the other’s head tightly, and his purring was extremely loud.

Li Ye, whose vision was completely blocked, calmly peeled off the “cat pancake” stuck to his face and tucked it away as he headed to the bathroom. He put the cat inside and placed the clothes he had just tidied on the nearby counter: “Put on your clothes. We’re going to the lab.”

The cat looked up: “Meow!”

Li Ye left and closed the door behind him. The cat on the floor stayed still for a few seconds, then slowly shifted back into human form and stood up. Li You looked at himself in the mirror, used his hand to tidy his messy hair, swiftly put on his clothes, and was pondering how to tie his hair when a very short scene suddenly flashed in his mind.

A pitch-black space, too dark to see one’s hand in front of one’s face. In the distance, flames suddenly ignited. The giant dragon coiled there opened its eyes. Li Ye, who lazily lounged atop the giant dragon’s head, lifted his eyelids and looked toward him. Those eyes held endless cold indifference.

The scene lasted only a few seconds before vanishing, with no more information to be gained.

Li You was very familiar with this sensation. It was his precognition ability activating. So what he had just seen was something that would happen in the future.

A chill ran down his spine in waves. He stared fixedly at his messy-haired self in the mirror, his mind gradually falling into chaos.

What did that mean?

Why would his brother show that kind of gaze?

It was a bloodthirsty gaze like that of a cold-blooded monster.

Like a beast starved for too long suddenly spotting delicious prey, as if the next second it would charge over and tear the food apart.

In Li You’s memories, Li Ye had a very indifferent personality, but no matter how indifferent, he would never show eyes filled with signals of danger and wildness.

That gaze from earlier made Li You feel unfamiliar. For a moment, Li You even felt that it wasn’t Li Ye at all.

But that face couldn’t lie, and the monstrous giant dragon coiled beneath Li Ye undoubtedly proved it was him.

But why did this scene appear?

What would happen in the future?

Could it be that something would happen to his brother?

Li You didn’t bother tying his hair anymore. He turned and pulled open the bathroom door: “Bro—”

As soon as Li You stepped out of the bathroom, a familiar sensation followed closely. A new scene built up in his mind, flashing by in fragments, coming and going in a hurry.

He froze in place, furrowed his brows tightly, and focused entirely on capturing the flickering scene.

The environment was similarly dark, but one corner let in a thread of blue moonlight. In front of a floor-to-ceiling window draped with white gauze curtains, two people stood face-to-face.

Li You saw himself.

The Li You by the window wrapped his arms around Li Ye’s neck, gently tiptoed, tilted his head up, and kissed Li Ye.

The scene vanished in an instant, with nothing else.

Li You’s mind blanked. His foot slipped, left tripping over right, and he fell face-first toward the floor.

Hearing the noise, Li Ye opened the lounge door and came in. He saw Li You lying motionless on the carpet outside the bathroom door, walked over, squatted down, and quietly looked at his crown: “What are you doing?”

“…” Li You stayed still for a few seconds, then slowly sat up cross-legged. He glanced at Li Ye and forced a smile: “Didn’t you see? I took a tumble.”

Li Ye noticed Li You’s evasive gaze. He narrowed his eyes, stood up, and extended a hand: “How did you fall?”

Li You took his brother’s hand to stand up, lowered his head to pat the dust off himself, and straightened his now wrinkled clothes: “Zoned out for a second.”

“Be careful next time.”

“Yeah, got it.”

Looking at the teenager’s flickering eyes, yet hearing no inner voice from him. Li Ye was silent for a moment, then held Li You’s hand to remove the hair tie from his wrist. He turned behind him to tie his hair.

The instant his fingertips touched skin, Li You’s fingers curled slightly. He stood still, but in his mind, those two scenes from earlier kept replaying.

His current precognition ability was too limited, with pitifully little information, making it impossible to probe further.

If those were things that would happen in the future, then Li You had to find a way to deal with them.

Just like a long time ago, find a way to change the situation.

Right, the future could be changed. He had done it before.

Li You stayed quiet. In a daze, he touched his lips with a finger. When he realized what he was doing, he was startled and immediately withdrew his hand.

【What are you thinking?!】

【Li You, what are you thinking?!】

Finally hearing the inner voice, Li Ye’s gaze shifted. When he looked up, he happened to see the teenager’s reddened ear tips.

【Why kiss him…】

Li Ye’s eyes suddenly darkened, but he heard no more. He stared straight at Li You’s nape, withdrew his gaze, suppressed his emotions, and leisurely tied a small ponytail for him. He let go and casually asked: “How did you know the way to Kailenoa?”

Li You was stunned for a moment, turned to look at his brother, then quickly dropped his eyes to the floor: “I stumbled upon it by accident during an investigation before. That place really isn’t easy to find. Finding it did involve some luck.”

【Still not telling him I can foresee the future…】

【Everyone knew about the things I did before, leaving me with no privacy at all.】

【No one knows about this one.】

【Good thing I kept my mouth shut back then and never muttered it to myself.】

【Eh… even if I slipped up, probably no one would believe it anyway.】

Li You comforted himself and looked up with a smile at Li Ye: “When are we heading to the lab?”

Li Ye gazed deeply at him for about ten seconds, then used his fingertip to wipe the dust from his face: “Now.”

“Okay.” Li You instinctively dodged Li Ye’s touch, turned, and walked ahead first, muttering in his heart.

【I need to change how I interact with Bro. This can’t go on; it’ll be bad.】

【Seriously… why would I kiss him?】

Li You walked while knocking his head, continuing to mutter.

【Good thing the future can be changed.】

【I turned around that awful future from ten years ago. This little scene won’t stump Youyou!】

【Can’t covet Brother; he’s family. Can’t covet Brother; he’s family. Can’t…】

“…” Li Ye watched Li You’s receding figure, lowered his gaze to the fingertip that had just brushed the other’s cheek. Beneath his seemingly calm eyes hid countless suppressed, surging waves.

“So that’s how it is…”

Li Ye rubbed his fingertip, lowered his hand, and said in a deep voice, “Li You, even now, you’re still like this, keeping everything to yourself and making plans alone.”

In Li Ye’s impression, Li You was a person with extremely strong dual sides.

Whether ten years ago or now, this guy seemed clingy, seemed to need reliance and lacked a sense of security greatly, but in reality, he was extremely independent and assertive. Even when facing the hardest things, his first thought wasn’t to seek help but to rack his brains on how to shoulder it himself.

Li You’s personality: on the surface, a clingy, affectionate little kitten cub, but deep inside, a lone-wolf, aloof cool cat who seemed to need no one, only to suddenly flop into your arms and act spoiled the next moment.

He deceived everyone with his innocent, cheerful shell. He schemed many things alone, not wanting to involve anyone, not wanting anyone hurt, embodying “suppression” to the fullest. He always loved occasionally acting spoiled toward humans to muddle through.

Li You was a very deceptive cat, a very independent cat who wouldn’t truly rely on humans.

During those ten years, Li Ye had thought countless times day and night: if only Li You could rely on him a little, even just willing to share his heart, perhaps the outcome back then would have been different.

Thinking of this, Li Ye clenched his fist.

He actually knew the answer. Li You was unwilling to rely on anyone because from childhood, he had lived amid the public’s scorn and curses. Such a repressive environment never let him experience “reliance”; he was long accustomed to disappointment.

Li Ye pinched his brow, heard Li You calling from outside the door, temporarily set aside his thoughts, and quickly followed.

In his mind, he planned: if this little deceiver kept retreating and hiding, then he would pin him down and drag him back.

The two left the Imperial Military and headed to the lab, where they visited Li Yiwan, who was still in deep sleep. In the early afternoon, they prepared to go to the Imperial Capital Center to buy clothes for Li You and get his hair done.