Listening to the busy signal coming through the phone, Mrs. Fu didn’t know what expression to put on her face for a moment.
The maid beside her spoke up indignantly: “Madam! Young Master is really being too thoughtless. You’ve done so much for him, even more than for your own biological son—”
Mrs. Fu glared at her viciously.
The maid immediately went silent, lowered her head, and stammered: “I-I’m sorry, Madam. I shouldn’t have said that…”
Mrs. Fu snorted coldly, putting down the phone.
“What do you know? A’Lin has been spoiled by me since he was little. The fact that he tells me these things means he’s long considered me his real mother!
“Although he usually gets impatient on the phone, he’s never been this angry…” She thought for a moment, frowned, and then gave an order, “Go! Find out!
“Find out exactly what happened with that wretch Chi Yan stealing his girlfriend.”
The maid hesitated for a moment, then spoke in a low voice, “There’s actually no need to investigate, Madam. Didn’t you ask me to keep an eye on Young Master’s variety show? What he’s referring to should be what happened on that show.
“The girl Young Master likes is named Du Qingqing. Before the show, she and Young Master were supposed to be together, but after the show, she got closer to Chi Yan instead…”
The maid explained the whole situation, without adding personal feelings, though inside she was quietly venting about her own young master.
Chasing a girl isn’t always straightforward. Considering what Young Master did and said on the show, it’s normal that the girl didn’t like him.
In any case, this shouldn’t count as Chi Yan stealing his girlfriend.
But Mrs. Fu didn’t care. After hearing it, she slammed her hand on the table: “So it really is that little brat!
“He killed his father and it wasn’t enough; I’ve already cut him off, and now he wants to come ruin me too!!”
The maid had long been used to Mrs. Fu blaming Chi Yan for everything without distinction, so she didn’t dare say a word.
She was just a servant, there’s no way she’d risk her job over this meaningless sense of justice.
Mrs. Fu grew angrier the more she thought about it. She picked up the phone to call Chi Yan, but unexpectedly, he didn’t answer!
“Bastard! How dare he not even pick up my call!!”
“Who’s calling? Why aren’t you picking up?”
Li Wan was curled up on the sofa, holding a cat plushie, legs up, watching TV while asking.
Chi Yan just lowered his eyes at the phone for a glance, turned off the screen, picked up his script, and said indifferently, “Nobody. Just a sales call.”
Li Wan didn’t suspect anything at first, but in less than two seconds, the phone rang again.
Uh.
She looked at him with a strange expression. He looked calm, eyes glued to the script the entire time, completely focused.
If she didn’t know him a bit, she might have been fooled. She drew out her voice: “Really just a sales call?”
Chi Yan paused and looked up at her.
Li Wan sighed, got up from the sofa, and grabbed his phone. Sure enough, looking down, she wasn’t wrong. It was the woman who had abandoned her own child, his mother.
“Not picking up?”
Chi Yan pressed his lips together, hesitated, but still took the phone and answered.
As he expected, almost immediately, the woman’s cold voice came through, launching a full-on scolding.
“Chi Yan.
“Didn’t I warn you to stay away from my current family? You’ve already ruined your father. Do you want to ruin me too?!
“My life is perfect now. What are you dissatisfied with? Why do you have to provoke the Fu family, provoke A’Lin?!
“Arin told me you stole his girlfriend? Ha! Why are you jealous of him? He’s not like you! You’re the disaster that killed your father! How disgusting are you?! You can’t even live a proper life, so you want everyone else to be miserable like you?!
“Was my whole life supposed to owe you?!”
Li Wan was stunned by the tirade. Her cat instincts flared up, and soft triangular ears popped up on her head.
She stared at her two-legger in shock.
The last time this woman called, Li Wan knew she wouldn’t say anything nice to Chi Yan, but she never expected her to be this vicious!!
Every sentence was full of disgust toward Chi Yan.
Even though he was the biological son she bore after ten months, she wished him dead!!
Yet Chi Yan, even hearing these words, remained calm, as if accustomed to her treatment.
The shouting continued.
“A’Lin is different! He has someone who loves him!!
“Chi Yan, are you that desperate for love? Do you have to be like a bug, constantly proving your existence in front of me?! I’m telling you, no matter what you do! You can never compare to A’Lin! You’re… doomed!!”
By this point, her voice was chillingly venomous.
“If it weren’t for you! I wouldn’t have lost my husband! I wouldn’t have lost my happy family!
“If it weren’t for you! I would never have resolutely chosen to leave my home, to come to the Fu family, and painstakingly try to curry favor with them to secure Madam Fu’s position!!
“I hate you! I hate you!! If time could be reversed, I’d never have given birth to you! I’m telling you, that’s what you are! You’ll always be inferior to A’Lin!
“Even if you used vile methods to steal A’Lin’s girlfriend, so what?! In this world, plenty of people like A’Lin, but you? You’re nothing! You’re a sewer rat, unworthy of anyone’s love!!”
“!!!!”
Li Wan couldn’t take it anymore!!
Her cat ears shot up, her tail flung out, and she didn’t even bother speaking to her two-legger, she grabbed the phone straight out of his hand!
How could someone’s mouth be so foul! So annoying!!
“Shut up!!” She practically shrieked to cut off the woman on the other end of the phone, stomping her foot in rage.
“You’re the one nobody loves!!
“So what if you married into the Fu family?! You’ve been flattering those father and son for years, and Fu Shilin still only ever takes his anger out on you! You’re nothing but their trash can!!
“So what if you don’t like Chi Yan? Plenty of people like him! I like him!! I just hate Fu Shilin!! Fu Shilin’s an idiot!! And you’re an idiot too!!!”
Her whole body was shaking with anger, but her mind was still fast enough to know her meager trash‑talk skills were no match for her biological mother. So after cursing, she immediately hung up the phone, not giving the woman any chance to respond!
But she was still furious, so furious all her fur felt like it was about to explode!!
Her kitten instincts completely took over. She couldn’t sit still on the sofa at all, bouncing around like crazy.
“I’m so mad, I’m so mad!!
“How can there be such a braindead person in the world?! Such a huge idiot!!!”
Only after quite a while did she calm down a little, enough to realize the two‑legger beside her hadn’t said a single word the entire time.
“……”
Her heart skipped a beat. Almost instantly, deep worry flooded her apricot eyes. “Brother…”
Chi Yan didn’t respond.
Li Wan’s heart sank. She grew even more anxious, squeezing her little head right next to him and tilting it to look at him. “Don’t be sad…”
Of course.
Chi Yan had become the way he was because of that woman. He was deeply affected by being abandoned when he was young, so naturally he’d also be deeply affected by the things that so‑called ‘mother’ said to him.
Hearing those words just now, he must be really upset, really hurt… maybe even his headaches were acting up…
Li Wan grew more worried, but had no idea what to do. She could only keep babbling:
“Don’t listen to what she said, okay? She’s a complete lunatic! A total lunatic!!
“Those things have nothing to do with you! She’s the one who’s too cowardly to face them, so she blames everything on you!!
“It’s not true that nobody likes you! She’s the one nobody likes! I like you! I like you the most!!”
The man’s dark pupils trembled slightly. When he finally spoke, his voice was a little dry: “What… did you say?”
Li Wan didn’t realize it at first. “Hm?”
Then suddenly remembered everything she had just blurted out, and went completely red from head to toe, frozen.
“I…”
What was happening?!! How could this happen!!
How could she say something like that?!!
🙀🙀🙀
Instinctively, she wanted to turn and run upstairs to hide, but before she could move, the man grabbed her, holding her in place, not letting her escape.
Right now, Chi Yan seemed oddly calm, almost gentle. He asked, “Say it. What did you just say?”
Li Wan: “……”
AAAAAAAHHHHH—!!!!
Meow meow meow meow!! Just let her die!!!
How could a person—no, a cat—cause such a catastrophic disaster!!!
She was about to break down, her clear apricot eyes welling up, looking like she might cry any second.
She had never once mentally prepared for confessing to her butler. If the little cat had been smarter, she would have immediately played dumb, pretend she didn’t even know what ‘like’ meant. No matter how the human questioned her, she wouldn’t say a single honest word.
But now…
They both knew, it was already too late.
Her current reaction was basically having the words ‘I like Chi Yan’ stamped right on her forehead.
Li Wan knew she was done for.
The two‑legger had figured out her rebellious, forbidden thoughts. She could never again act like an innocent kitten around him or continue having any overly intimate contact.
In fact, they shouldn’t even live together anymore.
Any moment now, she expected to hear his inevitable rejection:
—“Li Wan, how could you?”
—”How could you have such filthy thoughts.”
Li Wan was genuinely about to cry.
She had dug this hole herself, and there was no way to fix it. She could only tremble silently and wait for the man’s judgment.
Finally, she heard him sigh softly, and he spoke.
He said.
“What a coincidence. I like you too.”