In just half an afternoon, Su Jiujiu had built a good friendship with the front desk girl.
Mainly because she was willing to let it play with the iPad, even opening Douyin for it and teaching it how to swipe up and down, so it could squat on the side and watch videos by itself.
After a couple of days with no entertainment, Su Jiujiu finally had something to pass the time with, immediately setting Douyin to the cute pets category, and even ended up seeing a lot of borderline naughty cats.
Ahem, this isn’t really her nature; she just wanted to take a page from other pets’ playbook of acting innocent.
Usually working overtime every day, Tan Chen surprisingly left early today and came to the front desk, picking up the cat right away.
Su Jiujiu was being held by the scruff by Tan Chen, her little paws still clinging to her iPad, reenacting the forced separation scene of the white snake and Xu Xian with the front desk girl who hadn’t left yet.
It was as if Tan Chen was the monk Fa Hai, breaking up the lovers.
Tan Chen looked at how clingy it was, forcing a smile, “What, want to go home with her instead?”
As soon as he said that, the receptionist’s eyes lit up, but Su Jiujiu immediately let go of her hand, dived into his arms without a second thought, and didn’t look at the receptionist again.
Just like a player.
Its sensible behavior actually made Tan Chen pretty happy; looks like it does know who its owner is.
“I’ll open a can for you at home.”
“Meow…” But I want to eat big lobster.
Tan Chen just took it as agreement, hugged it, and turned to leave the company.
The receptionist watched in disbelief as the CEO lifted his cat in the roughest way possible, and the key point was that the cat didn’t show any discomfort at all.
She wanted to correct the CEO’s way of holding the cat, but in the end, she didn’t dare to speak up.
Su Jiujiu noticed the receptionist’s hesitation and peeked at her from behind, sighing helplessly: she couldn’t help it either, after all, relying on the male lead for support, being a pet cat rather than a stray, she still had to consider her owner.
The extended cat head seemed to be stared at by a deadly gaze. Su Jiujiu’s strong survival instinct kicked in, and she quickly turned her head and stretched her body, obediently rubbing against Tan Chen’s chest, acting cute.
“Meow meow meow~”
Looks like the male lead can get jealous quite easily!
…
When Tan Chen brought the cat home, he happened to run into the aunt restocking the fridge at home.
“Aunt Liu, why are you coming so late?”
Aunt Liu, who was getting on in years but still full of energy, turned around and said with a smile, “Master asked me to bring you some dishes. He said that you’re home alone and sometimes going to a restaurant isn’t very convenient.”
Tan Chen, hearing this, instinctively stroked the cat in his arms and lowered his eyes. “But I can’t let you make such a trip. You’re getting old too. I’ll find some time tomorrow when the company is free to go see Grandpa.”
Aunt Liu had been waiting for him to say that: “Ah, then I can report back to Master!”
During their conversation, Su Jiujiu felt that Tan Chen’s grip was slightly firmer than usual. She frowned and lifted her head, immediately meeting his lowered eyes, and clearly saw the whirlpool within them.
…Whirlpool? What the heck? Why would she describe the male lead’s eyes like that!
The system popped up at just the right moment: [That’s exactly how it was written in the original! The male lead has a pitiful background, no one cares for or loves him, so when he meets the female lead, this warm and kind little sun, he quickly falls in love with her!]
Su Jiujiu was dumbfounded by this old-fashioned flavor, only knowing to tilt her head back and stare blankly at Tan Chen.
Tan Chen’s attention hadn’t originally been on the cat, but when he saw the cat trying so hard to look up at him, he strangely felt a bit of warmth.
He didn’t expect a cat to sense his emotions; even though it can be a bit cheeky at times, it’s still very sensitive.
He calmed his own emotions and gently pressed the cat’s head back down.
Su Jiujiu: “Meow?”
Why are you pressing my head down?
Tan Chen’s mouth curved up slightly, and he reassured, “I’m fine.”
One person and a cat, talking past each other, somehow managed to communicate successfully.
At that moment, Aunt Liu finally noticed the cat in Tan Chen’s arms and said in surprise, “Young master, why did you suddenly get a cat?”
Every time she had come before, she only saw the lonely young master. This time, he was holding a cat, and the coldness he normally carried was completely softened by a single cat!
“Ever since the young master left the family’s home, how long has it been since we’ve seen him smile…” Aunt Liu said with relief, “This is also the first time I’ve seen you bring a cat home.”
The next moment, the cat that had been brought home could no longer bear it and buried its head into Tan Chen’s chest.
Help!
Help!
Su Jiujiu could really be so embarrassed by this line that she extended her cat claws and began frantically scratching Tan Chen’s suit.
Tan Chen had just been comforted by the cat, and at this moment was also quite tolerant. Even if it snagged the six-figure custom outfit he was wearing, he only gave a light reminder: “This outfit is worth six figures.”
Su Jiujiu’s cat claws froze on the spot. She looked at the few threads still caught on her nails, hesitating for two seconds between ‘carefully retracting them to seek forgiveness’ and ‘pretending not to understand and continuing to mess it up.’
Not wanting to appear too human-like but also not daring to continue damaging the suit, Su Jiujiu could only put away her claws with tears in her eyes and continue using the cat mat to paw at his suit.
After watching her series of actions, Tan Chen’s eyes flashed with a trace of a smile. Such a timid and dramatic little creature.
Thankfully, Su Jiujiu didn’t know his opinion of her; otherwise, she would definitely have made him say it in front of the female lead.
Aunt Liu looked curiously at the cat interacting with the young master: “Young master, what’s this cat called?”
“Dudu.”
“The young master hasn’t eaten yet, right? The meal is ready in the dining room. As for Dudu, how about I make a cat meal for it?”
Aunt Liu has been a housekeeper for decades, and her employers have had many pets, so she knows all about feeding them.
Tan Chen thought of the diet meal he gave the cat last night and indeed felt it should eat something proper.
“Okay.”
So, when Tan Chen went to the dining room to eat, Su Jiujiu slipped into the kitchen to watch Aunt Liu prepare the cat’s meal.
The moment she opened the refrigerator, Su Jiujiu was instantly shocked!
This is exactly the difference between someone being home and no one being home! Yesterday, there were only a few lonely pieces of fruit and chicken breasts in this fridge; but today, this double-door large refrigerator was packed full of ingredients!
When the aunt opened another small fridge, she also saw it stuffed with seafood, and there was even a big lobster and a big crab!
“Meow, meow meow!”
Auntie, quick, quick, quick, put all of these into my mouth!
However, Aunt Liu only took out some small fresh shrimp and mussels, obviously not planning to use those ‘big ones.’
Su Jiujiu, relying on the fact that she is a cat, suddenly leaped to the small fridge, pawing at the lobsters and crabs inside, repeatedly signaling to Aunt Liu.
Eat this!
Eat this!
Aunt Liu smiled and patted its head: “It seems you’re still a wealthy cat, only knowing how to pick out good things to eat. But it’s too late today, so tomorrow, Young Master will make it for you.”
Su Jiujiu widened her cat-like eyes. Did Tan Chen really seem like such a generous person? He even bought it such a simple cat bed, completely unworthy of his CEO style!
In order not to let her fate fall into Zhou Bapi’s hands, she started to act spoiled wildly towards Aunt Liu.
[Zhou Bapi (周扒皮, literal meaning “Zhou who skins/rips off the skin”) is a famous fictionalized archetype of a greedy, exploitative landlord in modern Chinese literature and political culture, originating from the autobiographical novel [Gao Yubao (高玉宝)] by military writer Gao Yubao, specifically chapter nine titled “Midnight Chicken Call” (半夜鸡叫). ]
Feed me, feed me! Cats should be eating big lobsters and crabs!
Aunt Six was just starting to loosen up under its teasing when a familiar voice sounded at the kitchen door.
“What’s wrong?” Aunt Liu smiled. “Dudu wants to eat a big lobster, and I was planning to make it for him.”
“Make what?” Tan Chen looked at the cat casually and said, “It’s not some rich fancy cat; why bother at this late hour?”
Su Jiujiu quickly turned her head to glare at him.
Man, where did your tenderness just go?
Tan Chen raised an eyebrow. “What, not convinced?”
The cat lowered its head and glanced at him out of the corner of its eye, its gaze full of anger and resentment.
The man hadn’t learned how to hold or lift a cat yet, but his move to bend down and pick up Su Jiujiu was smooth, like flowing water.
He weighed the cat in his hands: “Aunt Liu, just do whatever you want, it’s late so don’t bother too much.”
Aunt Liu looked at the way he was holding the cat, hesitated for a moment, and seeing that the cat was fine, she didn’t correct him in the end: “Okay.”
Su Jiujiu’s dream about the lobster was instantly shattered by Tan Chen. After he brought it to the table, looking at the spread of dishes made it even more annoyed.
It squatted on the table with its back to him, and even from the back you could see its proud spine.
Seeing it like that, Tan Chen found the rice in his bowl even more delicious.
While the person and the cat were at a stalemate… mainly the cat holding its ground, Tan Chen’s phone, which had been set aside, suddenly rang.
The note flashing on the screen read: Li Jiaojiao.
Tan Chen thought about what happened this morning, and his expression immediately darkened.
Rarely ignoring a call, he picked up right away.
Li Jiaojiao had made a video call, not expecting Tan Chen to answer, and certainly didn’t expect him to pick up so quickly.
Even the low-quality screen couldn’t hide the man’s handsomeness. Even though Li Jiaojiao had been hurt this morning, she felt her heart stir again.
“Brother Tan…”
She only started speaking when Tan Chen interrupted her: “Where’s the cat?”
Li Jiaojiao’s smile froze instantly.
Yeah, she really wanted to ask about the cat too, but the problem was, she had no idea when the cat had run off from the car!
“The cat… I already took it back to the pet store! After all, Brother Tan, you didn’t want to keep it, and I didn’t have time to take care of it either.”
She was the one who had eagerly brought pet supplies in the morning, and she was also the one saying she didn’t have time to take care of the cat at night. Despite the inconsistency in what she said, she didn’t feel guilty at all, at least she looked calm on the outside.
As long as this thick-skinned attitude isn’t used to chase men, why wouldn’t it succeed?
Su Jiujiu secretly pricked up her ears to listen to Tan Chen’s reaction.
“Already returned to the store?”
“Yes!”
Tan Chen restrained his anger: “Are you sure?”
With him questioning like this, Li Jiaojiao also felt a bit guilty: “I-I’m sure!”
“Li Jiaojiao, I originally thought you were just spoiled, but I didn’t expect you to be so emotional and irrational! If you really returned the cat to the store, why did I still see someone in the group this morning saying that a cat was hit on the road and killed?”
As soon as these words were spoken, Li Jiaojiao was stunned. Her first reaction was that Tan Chen had misunderstood and thought she had run over the cat.
“That cat was hit and killed?”
“It wasn’t me! It just ran away, that’s all. How could I possibly run over a cat!”
She was afraid Tan Chen wouldn’t believe her, so she quickly explained what had happened: “I don’t like it, but I only scolded it a couple of times this morning. When I was about to send it back, it ran out of the car window on its own!”
“Did you go back to look for it?”
Li Jiaojiao couldn’t answer. She really hadn’t done anything to the cat, but you wouldn’t exactly call it kindness either. After the cat ran away, she hadn’t even thought about looking for it.
Tan Chen’s expression was very serious: “Actually, I have checked the nearby surveillance, and the cat did indeed jump out of the car window by itself.”
“But since you brought this cat here for your own personal desire, even if it runs away, shouldn’t you at least try to look for it?”
“Or did you already decide when you brought it over that if I keep it, it means it is useful, and if I don’t, then it can go wherever it wants?”
These words left Li Jiaojiao speechless. She wanted to argue, yet she found no way to respond.
At that moment, Su Jiujiu, who had almost become a stray cat that morning, silently walked up to Tan Chen’s shoulder. She first struck a pose befitting a queen to assert her presence, and then flashed the classic cat emoji expression at Li Jiaojiao in the camera
—just a mischievous and enchanting smile.jpg.
Since her shot in the video was only in a small frame, she shamelessly showed such a provocatively cheeky expression to Li Jiaojiao, turning her back to the male lead, completely unconcerned about him seeing it.
Sure enough, Li Jiaojiiao was startled by the cat that suddenly appeared. Perhaps her brain hadn’t caught up yet, but her nerves sensed the provocation first, so they took control of her hands, allowing her to quickly take a screenshot in that one second.
Only after taking the screenshot did Li Jiaojiiao realize that Tan Chen had picked up the cat again, and it was staring at the camera to taunt her!
Could she bear it?
Of course she couldn’t!
A screenshot documenting Su Jiujiu’s wrongdoing was sent to Tan Chen.
“I suggest you take a look at this screenshot, and you’ll understand why I don’t like it.”
Tan Chen exited the video interface and opened the screenshot sent by Li Jiajiao. His eyes immediately fell on the provocative cat in the center of the image.
Tan Chen: “……”
He then looked at the cat crouching on the table, which was innocently raising its paw to lick its fur.
“Meow?”
What are you looking at me for?
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Smooch! I want to see more and more comments
Thank you all so much for your support, I will keep working hard!
