Li Wan was stunned again.
It was that necklace she thought had been a gift for Mama Qingqing.
It was also the source of her earlier sulking.
Why had it suddenly been brought out to appease her?
Suddenly, a thought struck her, and an overwhelming sense of guilt surged through her like a massive tidal wave, dragging a kitten who wasn’t exactly skilled at swimming along with it.
This was originally a gift for Mama Qingqing.
Yet now, because of her own childish tantrum, her two-legger had chosen to use this necklace to placate her first.
In that instant, it almost felt like the kitten held a higher place in her two-legger’s heart than the girl he liked.
The kitten was shameless; she truly felt a sense of joy from her human’s action.
But…
How could this be right?
Panic set in.
She reflected on how mean she was being.
She really wanted to stretch out and take that beautiful necklace, to say thank you to Chi Yan.
But reason told her she couldn’t.
That necklace had originally been bought for Mama Qingqing. Even though her two-legger hadn’t given it to Mama Qingqing yet, there was no doubt it belonged to Mama Qingqing.
Setting aside the fact that she was just a minor character in the original novel, and Chi Yan was just the villain, looking purely at this situation, she still couldn’t do that.
The kitten felt even worse. Her head was a jumble of thoughts, too tangled to sort out. All she wanted was to revert to her cat form, to wrap herself up in her fluffy, soft tail.
She thought this, and she acted on it.
With a *thump,* she transformed back into a small, white, cotton-like kitten in front of Chi Yan.
Even so, she still yearned for the necklace in her butler’s hand, the one that didn’t belong to her.
She forced herself to resist, keeping her gaze lowered as she quietly walked to her feeding area and began eating.
Today’s canned food seemed to have been opened too long and was slightly oxidized. Though it was supposed to taste sweet, like tuna, it was somewhat bitter to her.
Annoying.
She started sulking, leaping twice onto the cat tree, sharpening her claws, then staring blankly at the darkness outside the window.
Chi Yan watched the fluffy little kitten’s back, confused.
He didn’t understand what the kitten was thinking or why she was upset, but he could tell she didn’t want to interact with him.
This made him even more restless.
It was the first time since Li Wan had come to his home that she had actively shown that she didn’t want to engage with him.
Previously, the kitten always followed him around.
Without the warmth she brought, the monster’s heart became cold and damp again.
He watched her tail dangling from the space capsule, restraining his darker thoughts as they slowly grew.
If he could, he thought, he might as well just tie this cat up and keep her.
Keep the cat and himself together, whether she wanted it or not. When she opened her eyes, the only human she would see would be him.
The thought was intoxicating. Desire blossomed in his dark peach blossom eyes. If the kitten paid even a little attention to him, her soft fur would surely bristle in alarm.
But before the kitten noticed, he collected himself, hiding the desire in his heart. He sighed, calmly put the necklace away, and turned to give the kitten a different can of food.
The next day, Li Wan still didn’t come downstairs for breakfast.
She felt a little sad and guilty about her own despicable thoughts from yesterday, unable to face Mama Qingqing, who had always treated her so kindly.
A kitten’s hearing was very sensitive.
Even though she hadn’t gone downstairs, most of the activity below reached her ears.
Fu Shilin seemed to know that her two-legger had given Mama Qingqing a necklace and spoke sarcastically to Chi Yan during breakfast.
As before, Chi Yan brushed off Fu Shilin’s words effortlessly, but Fu Shilin seemed genuinely provoked this time, getting angrier and angrier, his words increasingly excessive.
Du Qingqing couldn’t stand it anymore and said: “Fu Shilin! That’s enough!”
Fu Shilin’s eyes reddened with anger. He slammed the table, stood up, and glared at Du Qingqing.
“Enough? What do you mean ‘enough’?!
“Du Qingqing, I’m talking to Chi Yan. What’s it to you?! Or are you so low that you’re with Chi Yan just because of a necklace worth a hundred bucks?!
“You like cheap things, why didn’t you say so? If you had, I could’ve given you ten, a hundred, back when I was pursuing you, I could’ve had you—”
*Slap!!*
Du Qingqing hadn’t been this angry in a long time. She didn’t even think about the fact that they were still live-streaming. She just slapped Fu Shilin directly.
She had always maintained a gentle, goddess-like image. The sudden action left everyone present stunned.
Li Xiaoyun reacted quickly, running to her side: “Sister Qingqing……”
Zhou Jia said, “Teacher Fu, what you said is too much……”
But fearing Fu Shilin’s unpredictable temper, he didn’t press further and quickly stopped speaking.
Fu Shilin realized he’d gone too far, but being the eldest son of the Fu family, accustomed to being pampered since childhood, he couldn’t bring himself to apologize in front of the cameras.
So, the two of them glared at each other, eyes red, necks stiff.
Du Qingqing’s hands shook with anger.
Only at this moment did she truly start to doubt whether she had been blind before. How could she have liked someone like Fu Shilin, such trash?!
She sneered coldly.
“Fu Shilin.
“Whether I’m with Brother Chi or not, what does that have to do with you? Who do you think you are?”
These words basically denied even the flirtation they had before.
Fu Shilin finally got scared. Ignoring the burning pain on his face, he reached out to grab Du Qingqing: “Qingqing, I—”
But Du Qingqing seemed not to notice him. She stepped back and turned to go upstairs.
She truly didn’t want to see Fu Shilin. Even the tasks assigned by the production team that afternoon, she had asked for leave to skip.
Li Wan listened, feeling a bit worried.
After all, in the original novel, Fu Shilin was the official match for Mama Qingqing. They had had a period of flirtation before, and anyone saying that Mama Qingqing never had feelings for Fu Shilin would be lying.
Now, although Mama Qingqing no longer has that kind of interest in Fu Shilin, hearing him publicly humiliate her so ruthlessly in front of the cameras must still hurt her heart.
Li Wan stomped her little paws on the spot, worried about Du Qingqing and wanting to comfort her.
But then she remembered what had happened yesterday, and her whole little cat body wilted.
She wasn’t exactly a ‘good cat’ either. She had done things that were unfair to Mama Qingqing, how could she have the right to comfort her?
Actually, she had already figured it out.
Yesterday’s outburst wasn’t because she was jealous of Mama Qingqing.
Since coming to this world, the person she had interacted with the most was her own two-legger, Chi Yan. Chi Yan treated her very well, and she regarded him as family.
Family is important. And coming from her old world, where hardly anyone cared about her, suddenly having Chi Yan naturally made her cherish him greatly.
She was just afraid that if Chi Yan liked someone else, he would stop caring about her.
Once she realized this, she felt a little exasperated with herself.
This kind of worry was completely unfounded. Even if he was family, it was his freedom to choose who to be with.
Besides, Mama Qingqing had always been very kind to her and genuinely liked her. There was no possibility of the things she was worried about happening.
The little cat was just being too petty.
The more Li Wan thought about it, the more she felt she had done wrong. When Chi Yan came upstairs, she deliberately acted extra affectionate, arching her body to rub against her two-legger’s pants leg.
Chi Yan was a bit surprised, picked her up, and said, “Not mad anymore?”
Li Wan: *Meow meow.*
—”Kitty wasn’t mad at all.”
She wanted to speak, but felt that this fluffy body was cute but not convenient for communication. Biting her own clothes, she trotted to the bathroom and soon returned as a girl.
She sat on the sofa and patted the spot opposite her, signaling for the two-legger to come over.
In this form, her mood seemed restored.
Although he didn’t know why, Chi Yan indeed relaxed and came to sit down.
The little cat looked serious: “Brother, be honest with me, do you like Mama Qingqing?”
Chi Yan: “????!”
For a moment, he doubted he had heard correctly.
But the little cat assumed that his silence meant consent, and continued: “It’s okay, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. If you like her, then you like her.”
Actually, as she said this, she still felt a little uncomfortable inside, a sour tightness in her chest.
But she had already made up her mind not to let this emotion grow.
After all, the two-legger, though she raised him, was an independent individual. It was his right to like someone else and form another little family.
Li Wan suppressed the heavy feeling in her heart and murmured softly.
“It’s just right.
“Fu Shilin went too far today. Mama Qingqing must have been so sad and hurt. You can go comfort her, take this opportunity. Although taking advantage of someone’s weakness isn’t gentlemanly, but—”
“Wait,” Chi Yan laughed, crouching in front of her across the coffee table, “Who said I like your Mama Qingqing?”
Though tall, his crouched posture made him slightly shorter than Li Wan, who seemed like a tiny figure in front of him. He looked down at her just slightly.
His eyes were deep.
Li Wan met his gaze but didn’t feel any pressure. Instead, due to their positions, she felt the two-legger’s infinite patience toward the little cat.
No matter what she said, it felt like he would unconditionally accept her.
Li Wan felt her heart burn a little. Her ears flushed instantly, but she dared not show it. She could only silently lower her head slightly so the man couldn’t see her expression clearly.
“Ah… isn’t it?”
Chi Yan could see her clearly.
To be honest, he wasn’t upset at all. On the contrary, he felt a bit excited, as if the blood in his body was slowly heating up.
He had assumed the little cat he raised was still young, didn’t understand much, and would need more time to raise.
But now it seemed otherwise.
Hot blood surged into his chest, warming his whole body.
Yet he didn’t show it, only rolling his Adam’s apple slightly, keeping a composed appearance.
“Wanwan, I don’t like her.”
Li Wan didn’t quite believe him.
The more she thought, the heavier her heart felt, her tone nearly breaking through: “Then why did you deliberately buy a necklace for her yesterday?”
She spoke quickly and unclearly, but Chi Yan heard her perfectly.
Suddenly he understood what had happened yesterday, why the little cat had suddenly gotten angry.
A stronger smile appeared in his eyes. His heart felt poked by something soft. Looking for it, he realized it was the soft fur of the little cat’s tail.
So cute.
He stood up, retrieved the box with the necklace, and handed it to Li Wan.
Li Wan was a bit stunned. Feeling emotional, her almond-shaped eyes were moist, looking especially endearing.
Chi Yan said softly: “It wasn’t for Du Qingqing. It’s for you.”
He guessed that the little cat might have seen the live broadcast or online comments, so he explained: “I asked Du Qingqing which looked better. I just thought since she’s a girl, you would like what she chose even more.”