Chapter 31 – Classmate
Lin Yan heated a cup of milk, poured himself a shot of espresso, then went to the kitchen to warm a slice of bread. He carried everything to the table and began eating.
Meiqiu was playing nearby with the cat climbing frame Lin Yan had bought for him. He especially loved the little fuzzy ball attached to it, batting it back and forth.
He ran around excitedly, making the toy swing wildly everywhere.
Sunlight poured nicely onto the balcony. After parkouring his way from the living room to the balcony, Meiqiu finally stopped, bent his legs, and crawled there while lightly kicking his own small chest.
On the surface, it looked like he was sunbathing.
In reality, he was observing.
He was observing the surveillance camera — the one Lin Yan had installed the moment he got home yesterday.
Because he had been too busy clinging to Lin Yan, acting spoiled, and asking for hugs last night, he had completely failed to notice that the device had been installed on the top shelf of the sideboard.
That location was terrible.
It was aimed directly at the bedroom door. Wouldn’t that mean he’d be filmed every time he came out after changing clothes?
No.
This would not do.
A perfect plan was required.
Meiqiu glanced at Lin Yan, then flicked his eyes toward the camera. His round pupils instantly turned into narrow vertical slits.
Lin Yan looked at the little creature, confused. He had no idea why Meiqiu seemed so puffed up and angry this early in the morning.
After swallowing the last bite of bread, he pulled out a new bag of coffee beans from the drawer, opened it, and poured some into the grinder attached to the coffee machine.
He casually placed the bag on the top shelf of the sideboard.
Meiqiu watched him carefully, then narrowed his eyes.
Once Lin Yan left, Meiqiu began plotting how to deal with the camera.
Step by step, he wobbled his way up onto the top of the sideboard. There were too many things up there, leaving him nowhere to place his paws.
He knocked the coffee bag and several other items onto the floor.
Ignoring the mess, he immediately rotated the camera so that it faced the wall.
But this camera could be controlled remotely by phone. Meiqiu tilted his head, studying the base of the device. Suddenly, he understood.
This type of camera could only adjust the lens up, down, left, and right — it couldn’t rotate its body.
So Meiqiu stretched out his little paw and turned the coffee bean bag, placing it directly in front of the lens and blocking it completely.
Mission accomplished.
He hopped down and went to the bedroom with peace of mind to change his clothes.
After coming out, he carefully put all the fallen items back in place.
Throughout the entire process, he avoided the camera’s field of view, afraid it might capture his paws. When he finished, he turned the camera back to its original position — still blocked by the coffee bag.
…
Only a few minutes into work, Lin Yan felt the urge to slack off and check the camera to see where Meiqiu was.
He opened the feed.
After the image finished loading, only a few huge characters appeared on the screen:
Schubert Rose — Dark Roast
Wasn’t that the coffee bean bag he had taken out this morning? It had been sitting far to the side — how had it ended up directly in front of the camera?
He tried adjusting the camera up, down, left, and right.
No matter how he moved it, the only thing visible was those same words.
At last, helpless, he switched to the footage that had automatically been uploaded to the cloud.
Half an hour earlier, movement appeared in the footage.
When he tapped to open it, Meiqiu was tilting his head at the camera. These cameras all had wide-angle lenses, and Meiqiu’s head tilt looked unbelievably adorable.
Lin Yan was instantly melted by the cuteness.
Then, the very next second, he saw Meiqiu’s tiny paws pushing at the camera, shoving it to the side.
So it really had been that little rascal’s doing.
Lin Yan dragged the progress bar back and replayed the video carefully. He watched it many times and discovered that the camera had been moved twice.
The first time, it was blocked by the coffee bean bag.
The second time, it was pushed even farther inward.
Did that little guy really give it an extra shove?
Even after watching the clip over and over, Lin Yan was still helplessly charmed by Meiqiu’s tilted head.
So he took a screenshot of the frame
and set it as the background for his Moments page.
While he was admiring Meiqiu’s devastatingly cute head tilt, someone suddenly knocked on his desk.
He looked up — it was Gu Han.
“Hey,” Gu Han greeted him enthusiastically.
Why was this person here? Lin Yan froze for a moment before finally forcing out a sentence.
“Did you come to start work?”
“Yeah.” Gu Han glanced down and noticed Lin Yan’s phone screen. “You have a cat?”
He bent closer to look. “So cute. What’s his name?”
“Mhm.” Lin Yan didn’t answer. He turned off the screen instead. He didn’t want anyone to see it — especially not this person.
“Xiao Yan, have you been busy these past few days?” Gu Han stood in front of Lin Yan’s desk.
It was still early. The office was empty. Lin Yan had no idea why this man had arrived so soon. Did he really love work that much?
“I’ve been busy.” His reply was cold and distant. Lin Yan didn’t want to stay around him. He stood up, preparing to leave.
The moment he passed by, Gu Han grabbed his arm.
“What are you doing?”
Outside the glass door, a pair of eyes was staring intently at the two of them.