In Zhu Heng’s more than thirty years of life, today was probably the most bizarre and twisted day. He had failed at sneaking into the cat café, taken a headfirst fall that nearly cost him his life, gotten tied up and even beaten by cats, stayed up all night, spent the entire morning washing carpets, and still had to mop the floor later…
He had only come to steal a cat, and he hadn’t even managed that. Why did it have to be this miserable?
Zhu Heng’s vision darkened as he listened to the cat café owner talking with another man. The more he heard, the more he felt doomed.
“Take them away after you finish mopping. If witnesses are needed later, I can show up.”
“Alone?”
“What else? Do you think I can just leave? You’re a bureau director. Handling two people shouldn’t be a problem for you, right?”
…
The more Zhu Heng listened, the more wrong it felt. Take them away? Take them where?
Countless terrifying thoughts flooded his mind. He seriously doubted that if he were taken away, he might not see the sun tomorrow. No, it couldn’t happen… Zhu Heng abruptly dropped the carpet in his hands and rushed over to face Bo Jin: “No! You can’t deal with me like this!”
Pei Shiyi was suddenly cut off. Arms crossed, he swallowed the rest of his words and raised an eyebrow at Bo Jin.
He had sharp, arched brows and phoenix-shaped eyes. When he didn’t show any expression, he looked solemn, almost like a deity sitting quietly in a grand temple, with the slightest hint of unapproachability at the corners of his eyes and brows. But the moment he showed any expression, his entire presence became strikingly vivid.
If he smiled slightly, there was even a trace of warmth and friendliness.
Of course, it would be even better if his gaze didn’t seem like he was watching a theater performance.
Bo Jin’s eyes scanned Pei Shiyi’s face once, then lowered to Zhu Heng: “What?”
Zhu Heng thought he hadn’t heard clearly and hurriedly repeated himself.
Bo Jin had, of course, heard perfectly: “You’re saying I can’t handle you?”
Zhu Heng panicked: “I’m not a citizen of China! You can’t deal with me in your country! I want to contact my embassy! I want to go home! You unreasonable monkeys!”
Not a Chinese citizen?
A flash of severity passed through Bo Jin’s eyes. He immediately recalled the few cases the Supernatural Management Bureau had been handling over the past couple of days, which clearly weren’t the work of domestic demons.
Because of this, Bo Jin had recently become very sensitive to foreign demon mouths and human trafficking. At the words, he slightly raised an eyebrow, feeling it necessary to treat the matter seriously. At the very least, tracing back eighteen generations.
Zhu Heng could never have imagined that a few words of his would dig a grave for himself. Shovel in two extra heaps of dirt, and yet he still looked at Bo Jin full of hopeful anticipation.
Nationality issues could be either trivial or serious. Anyone faced with them would be wary. Zhu Heng believed that, given he had only dirtied a few carpets, most people wouldn’t care.
Cross-regional handling of problems was inherently complicated. With different factions involved, a normal person would simply give up pursuing it.
Pei Shiyi, accustomed to seeing multiple factions bicker endlessly, lost all interest the moment he heard nationality might be involved. “Solve it yourself. I’m going downstairs,” he said flatly.
Bo Jin: “You didn’t say that just now.”
Only a few minutes ago, he had insisted a witness would need to come to him. But after hearing Zhu Heng’s words, he immediately changed his tune, bossing Bo Jin around with complete confidence. The proud bureau director had become nothing more than a tool, stripped of all dignity.
Pei Shiyi leaned on the railing and glanced back, his skin pale and cold, a taut line of neck and shoulder disappearing into the black collar. He said, “That’s just a matter of timing.”
Bo Jin: “…”
Wasn’t this just double standards?
Probably worried that Bo Jin might get angry enough to die, Pei Shiyi prudently eased off, no longer adding fuel to the fire. He turned to walk downstairs cheerfully.
Zhou Yan had been waiting for him downstairs for a while. Seeing him come down, he hurried over: “Boss, please, help us out quickly.”
Pei Shiyi looked puzzled. “Hm?”
Zhou Yan said, “Aren’t we supposed to get the third video ready? I wanted to film Fondant. She’s really popular online. But… the big boss won’t let me.”
Hearing this, Pei Shiyi smiled. “So you chased Fondant to film her, huh? Hmm. Our little princess is a bit shy, and Yun Chao will definitely scold you to protect her.”
Zhou Yan thought: Yeah, right. The boss clearly favors girls over boys!
Pei Shiyi took Zhou Yan’s phone and leisurely went to find the two little fairies at home. Zhou Yan followed behind with a face full of grievance. They rounded a wall and, sure enough, saw Yun Chao and Fondant.
Fondant was lying on the floor while a customer waved a teasing cat toy in front of her. Fondant raised her head, eyes fixed tightly on the toy, her head swaying left and right, lively as ever.
Yun Chao lay beside Fondant on a mat, her big, fluffy tail lazily swishing behind her. A circle of customers eyed the tail longingly until a little girl couldn’t resist and quietly reached out. The soft, long fur brushed against her palm, a subtle tickle running straight from her hand to her chest. The girl covered her chest and collapsed straight into her best friend’s arms: “I’m dead.”
Once someone touched the cats, a few other excited customers also reached out with eager hands. Yun Chao remained unmoved, allowing the girls’ delicate hands to gently stroke her, until… a noticeably larger hand pressed down on her head, flattening her ears like airplane wings, and then ran a hand over her from head to tail…
Yun Chao: “…”
The strength and technique of that hand, as if it wanted to brush all her fur off, didn’t exactly look like it came from a girl…
She twisted her head and saw a tall boy crouching behind her, looking like a student from Yuchuan University. His eyes sparkled as he stared at her. When he saw her turn, an excited yet nervous expression crossed his face. He reached out his hand toward her again.
He was the one who had just touched her.
Yun Chao’s fur bristled all over. Before the customers could even react, a swish of her tail brushed the boy’s hand, and in the blink of an eye, she had leapt several steps away.
The boy was dumbfounded, completely unprepared, and stammered: “What… what happened?”
Yun Chao, both shocked and angry, felt uncomfortable from head to tail. Beside her was a regular visitor to the cat café—a young girl—who, seeing Yun Chao so annoyed, quickly came to soothe her.
Without turning her head, Yun Chao dove into the girl’s arms, letting the girl hug and kiss her, becoming like a fluffy, soft cat-shaped marshmallow that didn’t move.
The girl laughed: “Did we scare you, Yun Chao?”
The boy panicked: “I-I-I… did I do something wrong?”
Before anyone nearby could answer, he heard a gentle, smiling voice from behind: “No, our Yun Chao fairy just has a little temper. Please don’t mind it.”
The voice was unusually clear and bright. Both the boy and Yun Chao turned around to see the handsome cat café owner holding a phone, standing right behind them.
Yun Chao leapt down from the girl’s arms. Pei Shiyi bent slightly, and Yun Chao immediately stepped onto his arm and nestled into his embrace.
The big fluffy bundle in his arms let out a low mew, pressing her head tightly against Pei Shiyi’s chest, her ears and breath all low and subdued.
The usually aloof little fairy looked utterly humiliated in her sulking pose. Pei Shiyi struggled to suppress a smile, running his hand along Yun Chao’s fur, soothing the rare temper tantrum while also addressing the customers: “Did she hurt you just now?”
Yun Chao was always mindful of her limits. Even when sulking, she never hurt anyone. But as the owner, checking in and apologizing was still necessary.
The boy hurriedly shook his head. “No, no, she didn’t hurt me at all.”
He had only brushed against her tail fur, which caused just a slight tickle.
Looking at the soft white fur peeking out from Pei Shiyi’s arm, he admitted with longing, “Did I press too hard just now? Did I hurt her?”
The girl who had just held Yun Chao wasn’t entirely sure either. But as a regular at the café, she knew exactly how much pressure Yun Chao liked and where she was ticklish. She said, “You pressed her ears, and don’t grab the tail all at once. Use a little less force. Our Yun Chao is a little girl, very delicate.”
The boy nodded repeatedly.
Zhou Yan, who had been watching the whole incident with a blank expression, thought silently: Different reason. Your mistake was being a man.
However, Zhou Yan stared at his own boss with a face full of suspicion. He shuffled a few small steps closer and whispered, “Boss, why doesn’t Yun Chao reject you?”
All the male creatures in the entire cat café were disliked by this big boss. Even the boss’s own cold and indifferent best friend had to watch the big boss’s mood. Only the boss, at any moment, could scoop the big boss into his arms and hold her.
Pei Shiyi held Yun Chao and looked surprised. “Why would my cat reject me?”
Zhou Yan choked at the question and felt that the boss actually made a lot of sense. Zhou Yan glanced at the aloof Yun Chao and sighed sincerely, “A flower on a high mountain.”
Truly the perfect model of committing violence by relying on beauty.
Yun Chao glanced at Zhou Yan, then coldly turned her head away and buried herself in Pei Shiyi’s arms, thinking to herself: Men are all big pig trotters.
Pei Shiyi smiled slightly. “Fondant still didn’t get photographed, but I did record Yun Chao.”
Yun Chao lifted her head, her chin resting in the crook of Pei Shiyi’s arm. Although she was a large cat, her bones were extremely delicate, and clear confusion showed in her heterochromatic eyes.
It was Zhou Yan’s first time being this close to Yun Chao. Even though he was a Fondant fan, he was still stunned by Yun Chao’s beauty. Holding his phone, he deeply admired the looks of the cats in this café.
Pei Shiyi said, “Mm… I just filmed a video. Can it be posted online?”
Seeing his tone and expression while speaking, it looked exactly as if he were communicating with a person. Zhou Yan suddenly understood why Yun Chao treated the boss so differently.
Yun Chao knew the cat café was doing an online promotion. She felt that she hadn’t done anything just now that couldn’t be seen by others, so she patted Pei Shiyi, signaling that she understood.
Only then did Pei Shiyi save the video and hand the phone back to Zhou Yan. “I’ll leave the new video to you.”
Zhou Yan was still receiving extra pay, so of course he didn’t find it troublesome. Moreover, that clip from just now really had a good hook. With a bit of editing to highlight the difference in how Boss Yun Chao treated male customers and female customers, Yun Chao’s image could be fully established right away.
Zhou Yan gave Pei Shiyi a crooked, lopsided salute, then ran off holding the phone. After only a few steps, he happened to bump into Bo Jin, who was coming down the stairs. With a single glance, Zhou Yan spotted Zhu Heng and said in surprise, “Th-this isn’t that cameraman from the program crew two days ago? Why is he here?”
And why did he look so miserable? His clothes were wrinkled, there was a large, swollen, red bump on his forehead, his eyes were filled with red blood vessels, and there were dark, bluish shadows under them. He looked as if someone had put a sack over his head and beaten him up.
Zhu Heng’s nose was bruised and his face swollen. He trailed behind Bo Jin with his head drooping. Suddenly hearing Zhou Yan’s question, he hurriedly shot a look of distress like a signal for help.
Zhou Yan was completely baffled, his expression even more confused than Zhu Heng’s. “Are your eyes cramping?”
Bo Jin paused his steps and said calmly, “He said he wants to shoot an additional video for our cat café, didn’t he?”
Zhu Heng’s eyes filled with hot tears, yet he didn’t dare argue. “…Right.”
Pei Shiyi, who had been watching the scene for a while with his chin propped in his hand, said, “Well, that’s great then. Mr. Bo, have him send it over as soon as possible so I can give it to Zhou Yan to edit.”
Zhou Yan said happily, “That’s great! A professional cameraman is definitely different from an amateur like me!”
Zhu Heng was completely baffled: Wasn’t that supposed to be just an excuse used to brush off ordinary people?
Bo Jin lowered his eyes and glanced at Pei Shiyi. The other party was clearly setting Zhu Heng up. It just so happened that upstairs, he had been snapped back at by Pei Shiyi a couple of times and hadn’t had the chance to retort yet, so at this moment, he casually pinned that bit of displeasure onto Zhu Heng. “He said he can finish filming it within five days.”
Zhu Heng’s vision went black. Good heavens, they’re actually serious!
He was just a pitiful guy who failed at stealing. Did they really have to squeeze the remaining value out of him like this?
Author’s note:
Zhu Heng: One wrong step, and my whole life is ruined!
Pei Shiyi: watching the show.jpg
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Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152