Otaku-10

Qin Fanglu stepped into his house. The room inside was pitch black, and amidst the darkness were three pairs of eerie green eyes, flickering. 

When the light was turned on, you can see an orange cat lying in the center of the sofa, a tuxedo cat coiling on the cat tree, and there’s actually another one who god-knows-went-where. 

Qin Fanglu’s bare feet stepped on the spotless wooden floor and walked straight to the back of the sofa. And under the black shadow was the black cat he was searching for.

The three cats didn’t even bat their eyes towards Qin Fanglu as their shit-shovelling official come back, still lazily lying down in place.

Qin Fanglu went to the kitchen and took out some cat food, chicken breast, beef, and canned food, preparing late dinner for the three ancestors.

“Time to eat.”

Carrying three bowls full of cat food, Qin Fanglu finally received enthusiastic welcomes. The three cats ran to him from different directions, the black cat kept meowing unrestrainedly. 

The orange cat’s whole intelligence seemed to be spent on eating. In just a second, it judged which bowl had the largest amount of food and practically shovelled the food into his mouth with sounding crunches.

Qin Fanglu’s brows slightly creased, he pushed the bowl with the least amount of food to the orange cat, “No, this one is yours.”

It’s already too fat, the veterinarian had said he had to watch over its weight.

The orange cat clung to the bowl with more food, not letting go. Qin Fanglu had to use some force to tear it away, he held a cat in one hand, the other holding on to the bowl, then shut the orange cat in the kitchen.

The orange cat loudly meowed in protest. Qin Fanglu calmly took a piece of paper from the shelf, and then showed it in front of the cat, preaching and reasoning with it, “You can only eat this much, or else you might get high-blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, and high cholesterol. This is the doctor’s note from the veterinarian, you look at it yourself, ask me if you don’t understand it.”

Only then Qin Fanglu started to prepare his own dinner, ignoring the cat who kept meowing in protest beside him.

The orange cat meowed for a while, then decided to eat its dinner first before arguing again. No strength to quarrel if it hasn’t eaten its fill.

Qin Fanglu only fried a steak with asparagus. He then took out a bottle of coke beside the whiskey in the freezer, brought them to the dining table and then turned on the TV.

He has been busy with work recently and has yet to watch several newly released episodes. Since he has some free time tonight, he can enjoy himself and watch everything all at once.

The black cat, after finishing its meal, gracefully jumped onto Qin Fanglu’s lap, laid down, found itself a comfortable position, and then dozed off after nesting into a ball.

Qin Fanglu looked at the heavy warmth pressed onto his lap, his gaze lingering for longer than usual.

The little kitty curled up into a ball, its furry body slightly undulating as it breathed, making Qin Fanglu inexplicably think of that little guy sleeping with great fanfare in his lounge that day.

Actually it wasn’t ‘with great fanfare’ at all, Ruan Cunyun was actually huddling up when he slept, clearly prudent and cautious, just like a stray cat that has just been picked up.

Qin Fanglu paused the anime as his thoughts strayed, then he picked his phone and gave Cheng Kai a call.

Cheng Kai who was freaked out, “Mr. Qin, may I ask what has brought you to call me on this weekday evening?”

Qin Fanglu was too lazy to deal with him and directly went to the point, “What do you usually do if you see your employees were dispirited?”

Cheng Kai continued to be astonished, “Do you really plan to foster intimate relationships with your subordinates ah? Could it be that you want to try the approachable and friendly leadership route? Don’t ah! That’s terrifying!”

Qin Fanglu took out two pieces of paper filled with neat and tidy mapped out plans from his bag

“Not planning to go down the approachable and friendly route, but I do plan to improve my leadership tactics.”

Human resources is a very important aspect for a company, especially in the intensely competitive fintech field, where having money alone isn’t enough to survive.

Cheng Kai, seeing Qin Fanglu being really earnest, immediately boasted happily, “Hm if the employees were dispirited, then of course we have to find a chance to talk with them, ask them if they have some sort of dissatisfaction. If it is a problem within work or the company, we can try to make it better. If it is a personal problem, you can see whether we can provide some sort of support.”

Qin Fanglu talked with Cheng Kai as he wrote down the key points on a paper.

Qin Fanglu then abruptly asked, “How is your company’s lounge?”

Cheng Kai’s was almost puffed to bursting with pride, “Our company’s lounge can be used for sleep!! There are two nap pods aka sleeping cabins, each one of them costed ten thousand USD!”

Cheng Kai deliberately sprinkled salt on Qin Fanglu’s wound, “Ai ya, you don’t have to think about it. Your company has such a grave and serious atmosphere, who would dare to sleep ah? Only I, this kind of approachable and friendly boss, could be so considerate to his employees~.”

“Understood, thank you.” Qin Fanglu, resolute and decisive as ever, said, “I’m hanging up.”

***

A night time was really not enough for Ruan Cunyun and his friends to reminisce, they didn’t even have the time to play games before having to disband.

Xu Feifei heaved a long sigh, “Ai, this young master now will also become a corporate slave! I have to wake up early tomorrow, I will lay dead once I get home.”

Ruan Cunyun waved his hand, “I also have to work tomorrow. Let’s hang out on the weekend.”

Bai Qiangwei and Qi Chang sent them off until the subway entrance, and the four of them had to bid farewell reluctantly.

The next morning, Ruan Cunyun still prepared his own bento, though he cooked a few different dishes.

Everyone went to eat outside in groups for lunch.

“Xiao Ruan, did you still bring your lunch today?” Xiao Mei leaned over towards Ruan Cunyun and saw his Lotso lunch box.

“Yes,” Ruan Cunyun nodded and opened the lid, revealing the neatly arranged dishes inside.

Xiao Mei almost tumbled over as she smelt the fragrance, “It must have been prepared by your girlfriend, right!”

Ruan Cunyun, “Nope, I made it myself.”

“Oh~” Xiao Mei put on an ‘I understand’ smile, “So you also made your girlfriend’s bento?”

Truly deserving of a gossipy old fox, Xiao Mei’s prodding was masterful and subtle, only now did Ruan Cunyun realize that Xiao Mei was trying to fish out some information from him.

Ruan Cunyun’s embarrassment could hardly be seen as he said, “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

Surprise showed in Xiao Mei’s eyes, “Really? What’s your type? Want me to introduce you to some hahahaha! Just go sing in the KTV or play some board games, you will be familiar in no time! You might run into someone you like!”

Ruan Cunyun’s hair had stood on end when he heard the word KTV, he quickly shook his head, “Thank you, Xiao Mei jie, but I currently have no plans to date someone.”

Xiao Mei also understood, youngsters nowadays enjoy being single a lot, so she just jokingly said to Ruan Cunyun, “Then if you want to meet some other girls, you can look for me. I have a lot of sisters¹Referring to other women she knows well, not limited to her blood-related sisters. who like the younger brother type.”

And just like that, Ruan Cunyun was classified as the ‘younger brother’ type. There also seemed to be nothing to refute, so he just went along with it and nodded.

After his colleagues had gone for a while, Ruan Cunyun picked up his lunch box, took a bottle of fruit juice, then familiarly walked down towards the hidden lounge.

Today the lounge was also empty, lucky!

Ruan Cunyun was somewhat excited, and as usual, he sat in the same place as yesterday, and then skillfully opened his phone’s media player and lunch box.

As Ruan Cunyun’s gaze slid, he keenly noticed that there were several more blankets on the sofa compared to yesterday. 

Ruan Cunyun sat motionless, not reaching out, only quietly scrutinizing the pile of neatly folded blankets with his round eyes, as if those blankets would spread their wings and take off the next second.

——Like a cat cautiously probing the new toys with its whiskers.

Perhaps a colleague put them here but didn’t take them back.

Ruan Cunyun had stared at the blanket pile for quite some time before coming to this conclusion.

Anyway it would be fine as long as he didn’t touch it.

Ruan Cunyun thought as such and continued to eat his bento with peace of mind.

Keeping yesterday’s experience in mind, Ruan Cunyun grabbed his phone, obediently set his alarm, obediently sat upright, tilted his head back to look upwards, then peacefully slept as he leaned on the sofa. 

Perhaps because the presence of the alarm made him feel secure, Ruan Cunyun’s sleep was very peaceful, he saw Duke Zhou²Known as the god of dreams, here means Ruan Cunyun entered deep sleep very fast. in just a second. As his sleep deepened, his body gradually became out of control.

Qin Fanglu initially wanted to have a chat with Ruan Cunyun today, but the morning meeting took too long. When he came over, it’s already Ruan Cunyun’s nap time.

In short, when Qin Fanglu walked into the lounge, what he saw was half of Ruan Cunyun’s body leaning on the sofa, his legs had crooked up but still maintaining a sitting posture, one of his hands curled up in front of his nose, like subconsciously putting on defensive posture.

The little guy slept very soundly, his shoulders moved up and down along with his breath.

The blanket he had Kiki prepare yesterday was still neatly stacked on the side, not a trace of having been moved.

Qin Fanglu felt a bit helpless because the temperature in the lounge was indeed low. Added with the fact that Ruan Cunyun’s sleeping posture was a bit twisted, a small section of his waist under the clothes was also exposed, his sunken in navel could also be vaguely seen.

The skin was truly fair.

He slept like this for an hour, it would be strange if he didn’t catch a cold.

A good boss should care about the physical and mental health of their employees, they can’t ignore their employees as they slip into the abyss of serious maladies and look on unconcernedly. At least, Qin Fanglu still has this sense of responsibility.

So he shook open a thin blanket and gently draped them over Ruan Cunyun’s body.

Qin Fanglu had never done such a thing before and thus his movement was somewhat awkward. He stretched his arm and lifted the edge of the blanket, covering Ruan Cunyun’s thigh to neck with it. But because he didn’t estimate the length of the blanket correctly, there was a large section of the blanket that covered a large part of his face.

The fine fur on the blanket rubbed on his face, making it itchy. Ruan Cunyun shrunk onto himself uneasily, his lashes trembling.

Qin Fanglu’s body froze, holding on his breath as he observed with rapt attention, thinking that Ruan Cunyun was about to be woken up by him.

Fortunately, Ruan Cunyun only rubbed his face a bit and then quickly went back to sleep.

Qin Fanglu lightened his moves, dragging the blanket little by little until the edge of the blanket covered Ruan Cunyun’s chin just right. Ruan Cunyun’s whole body was wrapped up in the blanket, just like a Zongzi³This is zongzi, a type of food made with glutinous rice and a choice of filling (can be sweet or savory). Chinese people usually refers to something that is “tightly wrapped” as ‘like a zongzi’.

Yes, that’s more like it.

Qin Fanglu gazed at him for a while before then turning around and left.

Ruan Cunyun had a dream.

Maybe it was because they had talked about Pyramid head last night, now Ruan Cunyun was dreaming of that Pyramid Head Da ge from the past comic convention.

The terrifying sharp mask slowly went towards him, closer and closer, until the sharp steel corner of the mask poked against his chin. Somewhat painful. Somewhat itchy.

Then, Ruan Cunyun’s whole body was pressed down by the heavy metal pyramid. So stuffy. So hot……

All of a sudden, the triangles⁴Yeah I don’t really get it either, the RAW indeed said triangles, but in his dream (my understanding) there was only one pyramid head. I suppose it refers to the triangles in the pyramid surface??? shrieked loudly in unison. Ruan Cunyun abruptly opened his eyes.

Turns out it was his alarm going off.

He was still drowsy and sluggish, Ruan Cunyun’s eyes were squinting, but he quickly noticed something unusual on his body.

A bit heavy and also really hot, it seemed like he was covered until he was sweating.

Wait, who tf covered him with a blanket!

Ruan Cunyun was so scared out of his wits that his drowsiness went up the smoke. He sat up abruptly, the blanket slid to the ground.

He was sweating all over, half because of fright, the other because of the heat.

Based on the fact that a stack of blankets were placed in an air-conditioned room, Ruan Cunyun finally guessed that those blankets were here for people to keep warm.

But the question is, who would be so kind as to cover him with a blanket? Moreover they covered him so tightly?

The figure of the cleaning auntie suddenly appeared in Ruan Cunyun’s mind. She has always kindly helped the employees throwing out empty milk tea cups, she also reminds everyone to do more exercise and to not always sit still in front of the computer.

Rather than cleaning auntie, she resembles a benevolent elder in the family more.

The relationship between auntie and the employees was really good, sometimes everyone would also give her some things.

Ruan Cunyun seemed to have been enlightened.

This kind of elderly way of covering someone with a blanket from head to toe, this kind of silent act of devotion, no one else except the cleaning auntie would do it!

Thank you, Auntie blanket hero.

Ruan Cunyun had paid attention to the time and didn’t have to worry about getting late. He tidied up the blanket, then unhurriedly walked to the office, just at the right time to bump into the cleaning auntie who was cleaning the floor surrounding Qin Fanglu’s desk.

Ruan Cunyun was a little delighted, he seriously said to the cleaning auntie, “Auntie, thank you for covering me with a blanket, I wasn’t cold at all.”

The cleaning auntie looked up in confusion: ?

The real blanket hero, who-was-forced-to-rest-at-his-desk-due-to-his-lounge-being-occupied-and-was-currently-taking-off-his-neck-pillow-from-his-neck Qin Fanglu: ???

---

The author has something to say:

Qin: You didn’t even want to give me a glance.

---

Translator’s note:

Teacher Big Balls fact list:

1. Big balls
2. Big boobs and killer body
3. Shark lines
4. Animal whisperer
5. Is a caring elder boss