Sister Chen was watching from the side, trying not to laugh.
She didn’t know if it was just her imagination, but she kept feeling that her artist’s attitude toward this little cat was… strangely similar to how he treated that girl living in his home.
Only with a bit more warmth.
When they arrived, outside the venue was full of flashing cameras pointing at their car.
As they got out, the kitten’s eyes were overwhelmed by all the lights. Walking in front of them, Chi Yan didn’t look back, but somehow seemed to sense it. He reached over, picked the kitten up, and let her bury her head in his arms.
Her human might be foolish, but sometimes he could be quite considerate.
Li Wan silently swished her fluffy tail and rested it on the man’s wrist as a sign of praise.
Once inside, Li Wan was placed next to assistant Xiao Li to watch the movie with everyone.
It was a wuxia film. Her foolish two-legger played a taciturn swordsman.
The swordsman seemed carefree, but in truth he carried a blood feud. Everyone he loved had died, and he himself was poisoned. The only reason he was still alive was to avenge his friends and family.
But he didn’t actually know the true identity of his enemy, so he had to wander the land, following the one clue he had.
Along the way, he met a kindred spirit. The two became the famed Twin Swordsmen of the jianghu.
As the story progressed, the truth gradually came to light. His true enemy was none other than the brother-in-arms beside him.
From the moment the brother saw the clue in the swordsman’s possession, he knew everything. At first he approached him only to kill this surviving loose end.
But after experiencing so much together, he began to doubt whether killing the swordsman’s entire family for revenge had been the right thing.
In the end, he realized there was no way to untangle the mess. Their lives were like two threads hopelessly knotted together; no matter how he tried, it was just a snarl.
They owed each other too much.
He resolved to remove the poison he himself had planted on the swordsman long ago, and then settle everything in a fair duel, an ending to the grudge that had entangled them for half their lives.
In the final act, after learning why his brother had killed everyone he loved, the swordsman discarded the only antidote. They fought.
He won. His brother died beneath his blade. But the poison in his own body remained; he would soon follow after him.
The last shot before the screen went dark was of him sitting on a vast, misty river, holding his brother’s sword, calmly raising a cup of alcohol and pouring it into the water.
Li Wan heard the soft sounds of people crying around her, and she too felt her heart twist.
Thankfully she was now a little cat who wouldn’t cry from emotional swings. Otherwise, she would’ve been bawling.
The whole film was a complete tragedy.
The premiere began. The host’s voice sounded out, and the audience’s attention shifted to the stage.
Li Wan looked over as well, but didn’t expect that at that moment, a boy suddenly leaned close.
“Wow, so this is the kitten Brother Chi keeps at home? No wonder, the kitty is just as gorgeous as Brother Chi.”
Li Wan thought he looked familiar. She stared at him for a while before recognizing him. He had appeared in the film too.
But his screen time was short, so he wasn’t part of the premiere presentation.
He chattered for a long time, every sentence full of praise for Chi Yan.
Xiao Li and the others were used to this kind of situation and responded with perfectly expressionless “mm-hm, yes, right.”
The boy didn’t give up. Talking and talking, he even tried to reach out and touch the kitten.
Li Wan frowned and glared at him. Seeing he intended to touch her anyway, she bared her teeth and hissed at him.
Sister Chen noticed and quietly picked her up and moved her away. “Sorry, Wanwan doesn’t like strangers touching her.”
A flash of obvious disappointment passed through the boy’s eyes.
He had actually hoped to anger the cat. Best case, she’d scratch him.
The traffic this cat got was far greater than his own. And her owner was Chi Yan. If he could stir up something and link himself to Chi Yan somehow, he could get a lot of attention.
Even if people cursed him, it didn’t matter. Infamy was still fame.
In this industry, the scariest thing was having no buzz.
But even if he couldn’t touch the cat, it was fine. His main goal was to show his face in front of Chi Yan.
The premiere was long and boring. The kitten grew impatient and started dozing off, and when she woke up, she was already in her human’s arms.
It’s over?
She lifted her head and twitched her ears.
They were in the car. The manager and makeup artist hadn’t come with them, only assistant Xiao Li was driving in the front.
Li Wan tilted her fluffy head. The man holding her felt her movement, rubbed her head casually, and said, “You can sleep a bit more. We still have half an hour to go.”
The kitten shook her head. *Meow meow.*
—”I don’t want to sleep.”
Chi Yan couldn’t understand her words, but after spending so much time together, he could guess some of what she meant.
He didn’t insist. He took out the kitten’s phone and let her play with it.
Up front, Xiao Li heard movement and glanced at the backseat through the rearview mirror. His expression looked a little strange.
…Did he see it wrong?
The little kitty was playing on a phone with a pink bunny phone case.
Why did it look so much like the one he bought earlier for that girl named Li Wan who lived in Brother Chi’s house?
But after just a moment, he shook his head and pushed the thought away.
He must be losing it, probably just saw it wrong.
After all, who can live without a phone these days? And young people value their privacy; they wouldn’t casually hand their phones over to someone else.
Let alone give it to a cat to play with.
Sigh, he was definitely overthinking.
Li Wan was browsing Weibo.
Just as expected, her butler was on the hot search again today, under the name of the movie’s protagonist.
She checked the comments, and most of them were positive.
【I really didn’t expect Brother Chi to be this good at stabbing hearts】
【Wuwuwuwu I was shipping Lin Xi and Gu Chao CP, wtf!!】
Lin Xi was the swordsman played by Chi Yan in the film, and his good brother was Gu Chao.
【Who said their CP had a HE?? I’m losing it, how is this not a scam?!!】
【Hahaha calm down, think of it this way. Both of them die, isn’t that a sort of alternative HE?】
【QAQ I’m gonna pass out】
【Is it really that good? There’s no romance line, what’s so good about it?】
【Don’t flame me, I’ve just been scammed too many times. Blood-written request for an honest review.】
【Seriously, who said so-and-so plays the female lead? Ha, she appears for less than two minutes, and only in Lin Xi’s memories?!】
【It’s really good, I’m not even a fan of the male lead. I only went because I trust the director’s ability.】
【It’s REALLY good.】
【Scam. There’s zero romance.】
【Chi Yan just knows how to sell bromance, disgusting.】
【???? Are you mentally ill? Two men = romance? They’re pure brothers! Both have women they like!!】
【You’re actually insane. If two men together = love, then when your dad and brother are together why isn’t that love?】
【Ew】
【Don’t argue, sisters. Just quietly support our Brother Chi.】
【Anyone got screenshots from the premiere livestream? Damn, Brother Chi was stunning today.】
【Really, really stunning. I used to think his peach blossom eyes were a bit feminine and flirty, but today he looked like he was born to be a swordsman!!!】
【DM me, I was at the venue. I took photos and will send them for free.】
Seeing this, Li Wan felt they all made perfect sense.
Her butler really deserved to be her pet human, he was just as pretty as she was.
Meow meow meow.
She quietly tapped into the commenter’s DMs. She had barely sent a ‘hello’ when the girl, apparently spamming messages continuously, sent over a whole stream of photos.
【No need to thank me, all of these are Baby Chi’s gorgeous pics!!】
…Baby Chi?
The little kitty froze for a brief moment, then slowly turned her head to look at the expressionless man beside her, who was gazing out the window.
…Okay.
Calling him ‘Baby Chi’ actually suited him quite well.
After all, her butler was a silly, clumsy, weak, helpless, and sickly human.
By the time they arrived at the meeting place, the other four had already shown up.
Everyone had brought a pet—except for Fu Shilin, whose dog Qiu Tian was absent.
He explained that Qiu Tian had been irritable lately and wasn’t suitable for meeting people, so he didn’t bring him out.
Everyone looked doubtful inside, but they all kept smiling politely and didn’t question him.
When they saw Chi Yan arrive with Li Wan, the group immediately became lively.
Li Xiaoyun and Du Qingqing, being thoughtful girls, had even ordered flowers for Chi Yan.
Li Xiaoyun smiled, “We didn’t make it to the premiere, but we watched the livestream!
“This movie is doing super well online. Brother Chi might get another Best Actor.”
Everyone laughed.
Zhou Jia, holding Yueya, joked, “Luckily I don’t act. Being under Brother Chi’s pressure must be terrifying!”
Du Qingqing laughed too. “Good thing I’m not a man, or I’d have to wait for Brother Chi to retire before I could win any awards.”
The group burst into laughter.
Only Fu Shilin looked annoyed.
Tch. These people just loved flattering Chi Yan.
So what if Chi Yan could act? If he, Fu Shilin, joined the film industry, Chi Yan wouldn’t stand a chance.
Tch.
While they were praising Chi Yan, Li Wan proudly puffed out her chest.
Yes yes yes, her butler was amazing!!
On the side, Xixi twitched her whiskers and said coolly, “Looking at you, one would think you were the one being praised.”
Li Wan didn’t mind at all. She flicked her tail and smiled, “Same thing, same thing.”
That great human is someone protected by this Master Cat!