Chapter One Hundred and Forty-two: The Unusual Faye

“Speaking of which, what is that?”

After their one-sided “gossip”, Xiao Yu noticed the small box next to Chu Ge’s feet.

It was about ten centimeters long, five centimeters wide, and not very high. A blue cover was draped over it.

“Well, this…”

Chu Ge very carefully pulled the blue cover back and revealed a gray rodent with a pair of large ears.

“Hey, is this a hamster?”

Xiao Yu examined the daft-looking creature in the cage. He felt it looked extremely similar to his own hamster form.

He wondered which one Yan Jin would think looked cuter.

“Almost. I think these things are called chinchillas.” Chu Ge himself wasn’t really clear on the difference either. Out of the all the pets in the pet store he had combed through, this one looked the most similar to Fishy.

“Are you giving it to Yan Jin?” Xiao Yu asked.

“Nope, he said he never wanted pets anymore. I rented it to help ease Yan Jin’s loneliness.”

Xiao Yu: ……

Chu Ge laughed, “Although it seems like Yan Jin doesn’t need it anymore.”

“Yep,” Xiao Yu laughed too.

“Right, this is for you.” Chu Ge took out a small bag of melon seeds meant for the chinchilla from the pocket of his windbreaker. Putting it on the table, he said, “Please accept my apologies for what happened in the hospital.”

“Thanks.” Xiao Yu gracefully accepted it.

With the conversation over and the gifts presented, Chu Ge felt it was about time he should leave.

“That’s about it for today. I’ll visit again when Yan Jin’s around next time.”

Without Yan Jin around, Chu Ge felt uncomfortable around Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu was slightly better, but it really sucked for Chu Ge. Whenever he saw Xiao Yu, he was always reminded of his premeditated role in the events following the car crash. Even though he was mentally aware of Xiao Yu’s true identity, changing his instinctive reaction still needed time.

To talk with Xiao Yu for so long like this already demonstrated Chu Ge’s exceptionally strong mentality. If anyone else were in his position, a more aggressive reaction might have included elevated blood pressure.

“Alright, I’ll see you out then.”

“No need, I know this place very well.”

Chu Ge waved his hands and lifted the cage to get up. Suddenly, he stumbled on something at his feet.

As Chu Ge fell forward, a stern call of “Faye!” was heard. It would have been a disaster if Chu Ge hadn’t reacted quickly and supported himself on the sofa.

“What’s this?”

Chu Ge lowered his head and saw a fluffy white bundle of fur hanging off his pant leg. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be trembling a little.

Xiao Yu paced over and grabbed Faye. He lifted her up and rapped her head. “How can you doing something so dangerous? Hurry up and apologize!”

“Meow, ” meowed Faye very insincerely

“Hurry up and apologize.” Xiao Yu repeated.

“Meoww.” Hmph.

“If you don’t apologize, no food for you.” Xiao Yu threatened.

Chu Ge couldn’t watch from the side any longer and hurriedly went to broker peace. “No worries, it doesn’t matter. Why argue with a cat? I made a mistake too; I wasn’t paying attention to where I was walking.”

Xiao Yu grimaced apologetically at Chu Ge and sternly said to Faye, “Apologize, now! Otherwise you’ll really be in trouble when Yan Jin gets back.”

“Meowmeowmeow.” I’m sorry.

Only when she heard Yan Jin’s name did Faye very unwillingly apologize.

After lowering her head and giving three meows from Xiao Yu’s arms, Faye lifted her head and proudly wriggled around to point her butt at Chu Ge.

Chu Ge finally realized something was amiss.

“This cat, it can’t be that…”

Chu Ge looked between Faye and Xiao Yu.

With Xiao Yu’s existence as a basis, Chu Ge felt that nothing could surprise him no matter what he saw.

“Faye’s circumstances are slightly different from mine. She shouldn’t be a person that’s changed into a cat, but both Yan Jin and I believe she has some human understanding,” Xiao Yu answered.

On the morning Faye had been retrieved from the pet store, Xiao Yu had Yan Jin help specially examine Faye.

Although Xiao Yu could understand Faye, he wasn’t sure if that was because of his own abnormality or Faye’s. After he had explained to Yan Jin, Yan Jin had randomly asked Faye some questions. Regardless of whether Faye had actually answered, Yan Jin could understand Faye’s thoughts. He had concluded that while Faye definitely wasn’t a normal kitty, she didn’t display the same ingenuity Xiao Yu had.

After what Yan Jin said, Xiao Yu was pretty much convinced that Faye’s condition was different from his own.

However, Xiao Yu hadn’t realized that he’d overlooked a critical point: Yan Jin’s conclusion of “not displaying the same ingenuity Xiao Yu had”, compared to objective reality, seemed much more like a subjective assumption.

Hypothetically, if there were other members of Xiao Yu’s type and they were placed side-by-side with Xiao Yu facing Yan Jin, Yan Jin would still very shamelessly say “Fishy is one of a kind” and “No hamster could compare with Fishy.”

“Meowww.” Faye let out a long meow as if to say her high IQ was different from normal kitties.

“Heyy, why does this kitty seem familiar?” Chu Ge pushed his glasses up.

He was a little unsure since most Persian cats looked pretty much the same. He didn’t know why, but somehow he felt he’d seen this particular one before. Even the name “Faye” sounded familiar.

“Wow, you recognize her? This is Fan Xiaoge’s cat,” Xiao Yu happily said. “Even Yan Jin didn’t recognize her.”

“Sssss~~”

The moment he heard the name Fan Xiaoge, Chu Ge exaggeratingly covered his own ears. “Can we not bring up that woman? It was the humiliation of a lifetime to me.”

Xiao Yu played along and covered his own mouth using Faye.

He knew what Fan Xiaoge had done in that self-directed self-acted play of the year.

“Now that you mention it, I remember. No wonder why the cat looked so familiar,” Chu Ge sighed. “I gifted this cat to that woman.”

“Ah?” Xiao Yu didn’t expect that.

“Before we broke up, she said she wanted to raise a pet. I thought it was strange because I remembered she had been scared of little animals. Once when we came across a puppy no bigger than my palm, she still hid behind me. She told me she wanted an adorable kitty to help her overcome her fears as she raised it. My god, I believed all of it,” Chu Ge recounted brokenly. “I specially went to the pet store to select a cute and obedient Persian cat. I even accompanied her to pick out a collar bell. Look! It’s this one here.”

Now that he thought back on it again, the only reason Fan Xiaoge suddenly wanted to raise a cat was to get in Yan Jin’s good books. She’d probably heard Chu Ge occasionally mentioning Yan Jin’s spoiled Scottish Fold cat. She had decided to use Chu Ge one last time.

Chu Ge reached out for the little bell on Faye’s neck to show Xiao Yu. Unfortunately, he accidentally used too much strength and choked Faye. Her eyes flashed coldly and her paw whirled past.

Without enough time to withdraw his hand, Chu Ge was left with three bleeding scratches.

“Fuck!”

“Are you okay?!”

As a doctor, Chu Ge was much calmer in these situations than most. After examining his wound his first reaction was to ask, “Has this cat been vaccinated?”

“Yes, very recently.”

“Then it should be fine, it’s just red and bleeding very little.” With very practiced hands, Chu Ge unhesitatingly reached under the coffee table for the medical kit and quickly treated himself.

“Sorry sorry, Faye isn’t normally like this.” Xiao Yu looked ready to blow up in anger. His arms tightened around Faye.

Faye innocently blinked her large blue eyes. Her face seemed to be smiling.

Looking back from Chu Ge finishing up his own treatment, Xiao Yu rounded on Faye. “You still dare to smile? What is going on?”

“Meow.” Faye doesn’t like him.

“You can’t scratch someone just because you don’t like them. Why were you hanging from his pant leg earlier then if you didn’t like him? You almost got stepped on.”

“Meow.” Hmph, that’s just how I behave when I don’t like someone.

“It seems like you really like Yan Jin.”

“……Meow.” I dislike him even more.

Finished treating his cuts, Chu Ge picked up the cage and said his goodbyes to Xiao Yu. Xiao Yu very politely saw him out.

After, Xiao Yu placed Faye on the table and looked into her blue eyes. One word at a time, he said, “Explain yourself! What’s wrong with you? Otherwise we can wait for Yan Jin to come home and ask you personally.”

……

Yan Jin used his company’s landline to place a call.

“Hello? Who is this?” Chu Ge didn’t trust this unfamiliar phone number. How did they get his personal number?

“It’s me.” Yan Jin’s voice sounded.

“Shit.” That single word encapsulated Chu Ge’s mood.

“I don’t care if you’re busy, you have one minute to explain it to me clearly. Otherwise there’s no need to come back after you leave.” While tossing some mail into the trash, Yan Jin leaned on his desk and casually threatened his comrade.

Chu Ge cussed a few times before reluctantly acceding, “What’s going on with that guy?”

“Ah?”

“What are you pretending for? What’s with Xiao Yu, Fishy, and your reincarnated pet hamster?”

Yan Jin inhaled deeply and unconsciously glanced at the date. “When did you get ahold of the keys? What’s the Yan Family planning on doing?”

“…That’s not important.”

“You can get lost overseas now.”

“Heyheyhey, **. Whatever… It’s a little complicated. Come out so we can talk face to face; I’m about to pass your office.”

Chu Ge’s anger momentarily died down a little.

“Okay.”

“Before this, that guy Xiao Yu, what’s with him?”

“It’s pretty much as you understood today. If you want more details you can go ask Liu Ye.”

“Fuck, how is he even related?”

“Fate decreed.”

“Then I don’t want to know anymore. I don’t get along with that gloomy fellow.”

Yan Jin glanced at the date again and sighed regretfully. Chu Ge’s intuition really was too accurate; that “gloomy fellow” he didn’t get along with was about to take off with his only younger brother.

“Let’s talk again when we meet face-to-face.”

“Alright.”

……

Before hanging up, Yan Jin specifically emphasized, “No matter what role Xiao Yu played in this entire business, it’s all in the past now. His only identity in the future is my lover. Do you understand?”

“Fucking hell, okay okay. I’ll keep your secret. I really hope the saying ‘the more you flaunt your relationship the faster it falls apart’ is true for you, you scoundrel.”