After listening to Li Ran’s complaint of “I’m not happy,” Chi Mo pursed his lips in silence for a moment before gently wiping away his tears. He made no comment on Bai Qingqing’s quick-changing face or Zhao Zeyang’s revealed fox tail.
He knew Li Ran just needed comfort and companionship—he didn’t really want to hear him badmouth those irresponsible adults. He didn’t want to dirty his own mouth either.
Chi Mo had never been interested in other people’s family affairs. The only thing that mattered was that his spoiled little one had gone out for a few hours, come back aggrieved, and cried in his arms.
Li Ran rarely showed his emotions; it always took courage. No matter what, Chi Mo had to seize the moment and use his actions to tell him that crying wasn’t shameful, complaining wasn’t shameful—he could do it again next time.
Chi Mo smiled. “Flower cat face.”
His two large hands reached over the center console. Without asking for Li Ran’s agreement, he gripped under his armpits and lifted him up with astonishing arm strength, pulling the nearly 18-year-old boy onto his lap. Up close, he wiped away the tears and said softly, “Go home and compare with Black and White Impermanence—see if your face is more smudged. You look more like a kitten than they do.”
Li Ran had never sat on anyone’s lap in his life, let alone a rock-hard grown man. He was so startled that he stopped crying, shrinking weakly into Chi Mo’s arms with his back ramrod straight. Apart from lowering his eyes and twisting his fingers, he didn’t dare move.
He couldn’t help but recall the time he went to Qing Bar with Qi Zhi and unluckily got caught red-handed by Chi Mo. When he got home, his hands were bound with a tie, and he was pressed over Chi Mo’s lap, beaten miserably.
His buttocks had taken the hits, so he hadn’t felt what sitting on Chi Mo’s lap was like, but his belly had. Chi Mo had been furious then, using force to subdue him, with all his arm and leg muscles tensed. Lying on top, Li Ran had felt how hard it was—it had hurt his stomach.
When his mom spanked him as a kid, Li Ran had found it utterly humiliating, and he hadn’t dared make mistakes for years. Getting spanked as an adult doubled the shame. He remembered avoiding Chi Mo with his head down for two days after. But now, thinking back, time had diluted what once seemed like a huge deal into a sweet memory worth recalling.
So what if he got spanked? Of course, he had to be punished for wrongdoing.
A person went through so many things in life—what was the big deal?
Li Ran, who should have kept crying, subtly adjusted his position to get more comfortable without being noticed. Chi Mo wasn’t angry now, so his muscles were relaxed, right? But Li Ran still felt the hardness, in stark contrast to his own soft buttocks and thighs—he could definitely feel it pressing against him.
How could he know Chi Mo had strict requirements for his physique? Fitness was just one part; combat training and boxing were the focus, filling his body with explosive power.
“I’ve already cried, and you’re laughing,” Li Ran said, not daring to face Chi Mo directly. He caught a glimpse of the curve at his lips from the corner of his eye and pouted.
“Mm,” Chi Mo replied, smiling again. “The kid knows to come home and tell his family instead of holding it in—I’m happy.”
Li Ran: “…You can praise that?”
Chi Mo: “Mm. You did great, good boy.”
He pinched Li Ran’s earlobe and used his warm, dry palm to carefully wipe away the tears.
“Stop crying, good treasure,” Chi Mo said half-seriously, half-jokingly. “If you keep crying, I’ll lick your tears. I’m pretty beastly anyway—you know how I feel about you. I do what I say.”
On the way back, Li Ran obediently shrank into the passenger seat without a word, his eyes red and his ears too.
He thought, luckily he hadn’t really invited Chi Mo up when he went to his mom’s for lunch midday. What if he suddenly went crazy and said something weird? His mom would definitely grab the “poop extractor” toilet plunger and smash it into his and his bro’s faces, sweeping them out the door.
He and his bro weren’t some doggy gay couple…
Beyond that, Li Ran couldn’t figure out why he felt no sense of offense or crisis about Chi Mo’s “love” for him.
It was like his bro was just joking around, so he just listened without taking it seriously.
As long as Chi Mo didn’t press step by step or force him to decide right away, he could pretend it never happened.
He was a master at self-deception.
Li Ran had never been pursued. He was honest and dull, knowing little about romance or ethics. In junior high, he found a pink envelope in his desk pouch and thought it was a school event everyone had to join, so he issued a written notice for classmates to pay attention. He didn’t even open it—teachers and class monitors would remind everyone anyway.
A few days later, when he belatedly realized that color envelope was a love letter, his heart raced. He couldn’t believe someone like him could be liked. But when he went back for it, it was gone.
The “blind” person who had secretly liked him must have used eye drops to clear their filter on honest guys, angrily confiscating the letter and sentencing Li Ran to death.
After that, though Li Ran never heard it himself, many people knew privately: this idiot had no love brain—his IQ and EQ were all traded for beauty. Admire from afar, but don’t bother sending love letters and humiliate yourself.
That unwritten rule followed Li Ran into high school, growing stronger with more ink drunk—a high-education rule. By the middle of his senior year, he hadn’t received a single love letter.
But Li Ran had grown too, seeing more with his eyes. Through his romantically experienced deskmate, he saw that Qi Zhi, liked by men, women, old, and young alike, pursued whoever he fancied. Almost no girl refused him, but during the process before confirming a relationship, Qi Zhi never skimped—confessions, flowers, movies, dinner dates, every step complete.
Chi Mo had done none of that.
So Li Ran felt zero pressure.
The flight to Chi Wei’s only took half an hour—convenient. But with no one home, they had to bring Black and White Impermanence, and cats had to go in cargo while people flew coach. Li Ran wasn’t okay with that, so Chi Mo said, “We’ll drive.”
“Three or four hours on the road—perfect to see the scenery,” Chi Mo dispelled Li Ran’s worry about the time, coaxing him. “Pack up. Bring extra food for them.”
“We’ll come back in a couple days.”
Li Ran happily dug out the dusty airline crate—the one bought for the two cat bros at the pet store when they first arrived. He wiped off the surface dust with wet wipes and put canned food inside. Simple trap set.
White Cat didn’t move, her ice-blue eyes watching the human, pondering what he was doing.
Hei Ge wasn’t the sharpest, always remembering food over beatings. He charged in at the smell, burying his head to chow down. When half the can was left, Hei Ge thought of his wife and hooked the can with his paw, trying to drag it out.
Li Ran of course didn’t want him to escape and blocked the door like a door god.
“Little White, come in,” he invited White Cat repeatedly, his face almost fawning.
White Cat stayed slanted in her cat bed, tail swishing. Hei Ge had reached the crate entrance; Li Ran knelt on one knee, pushing his butt. Hei Ge realized the trap, turned, and hissed at him. Human and cat reached a stalemate.
White Cat meowed long, like a drawn-out sigh, unclear whom she indulged. She stood, walked to the crate, patted Li Ran’s hand with her fluffy paw to move it, then elegantly entered and slowly savored the can Hei Ge meant for her.
Black Cat instantly behaved, no longer plotting escape, and licked his male wife’s fur beside her.
Apart from two changes of clothes each, they brought almost nothing— the trunk was full of cat stuff.
Food, toys, beds—everything.
After a little over three hours, they arrived at the city center of the neighboring city. The last day of the New Year, and ten o’clock at night still saw endless traffic, everywhere glittering brilliantly. Compared to Li Ran’s suburban home, it was total country bumpkin entering the city—he was dazzled.
“Bro, did you used to live here before? Same as Little Uncle and them?” Li Ran pressed against the car window, face in the cold wind, exclaiming now and then as he asked.
“Come back—your nose is frozen red. Close the window.” Chi Mo said, “When I returned from abroad at 17, yeah, I lived here. Two years later, in your city, I opened a subsidiary and stayed temporarily at Grandpa and Grandma’s.”
“…Subsidiary?” Li Ran obediently closed the window. “So there’s a head company too?”
Chi Mo nodded. “Mm.”
Li Ran really was frozen, sniffling, voice trembling with disbelief. “Right here?”
“Mm-hmm.” Chi Mo said indifferently.
The head company had been stable for years, with Chi Wei helping here, so Chi Mo staying at the subsidiary was no issue.
“…The gap between people—how can it be this big?” Li Ran sadly shrank into the passenger seat, clutching the seatbelt and mumbling.
Chi Mo glanced at him, smiled, reached over to ruffle his hair, and said meaningfully, “It’s all yours anyway.”
Hearing they’d arrive around ten, Ye Chengwan and Chi Wei waited. Not yet middle-aged, staying up a few nights was fine.
Ten wasn’t even late.
“You two are enough here—why aren’t you two elders sleeping? Are we gonna entertain them away or something? I don’t eat people.” Chi Wei glanced at Cheng Ai Mei, ordered back to bed, peeking guiltily from upstairs every few minutes like a thief. Unable to take it, he headed upstairs to argue. “At your age, take care of your health, okay? No wonder Ye Chengwan’s so hard to manage—he takes after you two.”
“Tch, you’re so annoying,” Ye Chengwan smacked his head. “Now it’s paying for dad’s debts with the son’s? You’re the king of guilt by association.”
Ye Ze popped out from behind Cheng Ai Mei, puffing his chest. “Yeah, yeah.”
Just then, a car sounded in the villa courtyard. Everyone instantly faked a “loving family” scene.
After a quiet few minutes, two people entered one after the other, frost and chill clinging to their shoulders, white breath escaping lips before the door shut. Chi Mo carried the cat gear in both hands; Li Ran hugged the airline crate with the two cats nestled inside.
Chi Wei eyed the stuff in his hands, finally scoffing. “You come over without bringing anything for humans—all cat stuff? Couldn’t you bring two boxes of high-end gifts for your little uncle and aunt? Our generation’s not enough—aren’t there two elders? No fancy bird’s nest or supplements for seniors?”
Chi Mo gave no face, setting the cat food, toys, and bed on the floor. “What do you need? Money, power, wife, in-laws—but no maternal family. Don’t be too greedy, Little Uncle.”
Ye Chengwan “pfft”-ed with laughter.
“My dad’s not dead yet,” Chi Wei said, face taut to hold back a smile, egging him on.
But Chi Mo didn’t continue, just scoffing rebelliously.
Implying he might as well be dead.
Li Ran remembered Chi Wei’s obsession with him and his bro’s cats. After greeting Little Uncle, Late Uncle, and the grandparents rushing down from upstairs, he hugged the crate tight, not daring to let the cats out.
First, afraid the kittens would stress in a new place and needed gradual adaptation; second, afraid Chi Wei would see them and claim the gay cat couple as his, no take-backs.
“—Heh.” Chi Wei saw how fiercely Li Ran guarded the cats and said, “Since you’re at my house, the cats become mine.”
Li Ran paled in shock, hurriedly shoving himself and the cats into Chi Mo’s broad embrace.
Ye Chengwan helplessly: “Can you not scare the kid?”
Chi Mo draped an arm over Li Ran’s shoulder, teaching him a counter. “If he really dares keep the cats, you take his wife.”
Now Chi Wei paled in shock—his wife was human; she could actually be taken.
Ye Chengwan even more helpless, turning to Chi Mo. “Can you not scare the adult?”
Cheng Ai Mei and Ye Ze came down the stairs slowly with their old limbs, wanting to sprint but steadying at Chi Wei’s warning glare—elders tumbling down stairs wasn’t funny.
Finally, they reached Li Ran and hugged him. Cheng Ai Mei said sadly, “My good grandson, you’re here. You don’t know what kinda days I’ve had. Eating and sleeping on schedule, no extra phone time, and in this damn cold winter, dragging outta warm beds for exercise—straight-up prison…”
After the elders vented and really couldn’t stay up, they miserably went upstairs to sleep. The scolded Chi Wei remained unmoved. Before heading to his room, he looked at Li Ran, then at Chi Mo.
He wasn’t joking, dead serious. “This child bride of yours—you’re taking her over tomorrow?”
The teenager, who seemed like a child bride, had just released Black and White Impermanence when Li Ran, hearing the voice, pointed at himself in surprise and asked hesitantly,
“…Me?”
