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nChapter 3: To remain silent or be eliminated

nYan Jin immediately regretted his action.

nOf course, it was not because he pitied Xiao Yu who was so giddy that he could not get up after falling again; but it was because that filthy, soaked hamster just left a very visible stain on his pure white blanket.

nHe had to inform the cleaners to pay more attention to that tomorrow.

nYan Jin clicked his tongue, then scooped Xiao Yu off the bed in annoyance before making big strides into the washroom.

nXiao Yu, who had just barely recovered from the dizziness, was showered with gushing, ice-cold water.

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nSqueak!

nUnder the impact of the water gushing downwards, Xiao Yu’s screaming for help was next to nothing. Not only did Yan Jin not hear him, he even squeezed some hand-washing liquid and rubbed it onto Xiao Yu’s body. Of course, it’s not like he would have stopped even if he had heard him.

nAfter getting thrown around and being violated by the gushing water, the fear that Xiao Yu never felt before he died started to overwhelm him.

nYet, the nightmare wasn’t over. After the shower, Yan Jin conveniently grabbed the blow dryer on the side and switched it on, aiming directly at Xiao Yu.

nWuuuuu—

nXiao Yu’s soul almost got blown away as he cursed this dictator, this tyrant!

nEvery time Xiao Yu wanted to dodge the clamoring wind, he would face Yan Jin’s violent suppression. A few times later, Yan Jin simply grabbed Xiao Yu in his palm to blow him.

nNo, he couldn’t remain silent. At this rate, Yan Jin would think that he was an easy target!

nTo die in silence or to break out from the silence!

n“SQUEAK!”

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nXiao Yu used all his might to voice his protest, sharp and long.

nSeeing how this hamster would not only run everywhere but also be so uncooperative, Yan Jin’s patience had reached its limit. He very fiercely threatened, “Shut it, or I’ll squeeze you to death.”

nChairman Yan’s piercing gaze was too dangerous, it clearly conveyed a single meaning –

nTo remain silent or be eliminated.

nXiao Yu laid down the flag and stilled the drums.

nWhen he was a human, Xiao Yu was not a hot-blooded person. Nicely put, he was a person who yielded to force but rejected the soft approach. In a not-so-nice way, he was easily terrified.

nNow that he was in a fragile body that only knew how to look cute and even received several scares from this fiend named Yan Jin, Xiao Yu could no longer rouse any sort of thoughts about rebelling.

nYan Jin was very satisfied with Xiao Yu after showering him clean and blowing him dry. Like a gray little ball – fluffy, soft, and adorable.

nAfter the series of tortures, Xiao Yu was completely immersed in the fear of being manipulated by this tyrant. Regardless of what Yan Jin did to him, he cooperated fully. When Yan Jin once again grabbed Xiao Yu in his palm, Xiao Yu obediently laid down and allowed him to play with his body however he liked. Out of a hamster’s instinct, he even laid on his back and fully exposed his belly.

nAnd so, when the weary Yan Jin brought Xiao Yu back to his bedroom and once again threw him onto one of the pillows, reminding him to ‘sleep well and don’t run around’, Xiao Yu subconsciously nodded his head and obediently closed his eyes.

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nYan Jin placed the tomato onto the bedside cabinet on Xiao Yu’s side and quietly said, “Your ownership fund, I’ll leave it here.”

nHearing Yan Jin’s words, Xiao Yu’s ears twitched but he did not open his eyes.

nHn, I’ll ignore you.

nThe experience of the whole day that he had gone through was enough to write a diary full of great adventures. The moment the extremely tired Xiao Yu laid down on the soft pillow, waves of sleepiness instantly overwhelmed him as he slipped into dreamland very quickly.

nYan Jin adjusted the air conditioning to a higher temperature and leaned against his pillow, playing on his mobile for some time. When he was preparing to call it a day, Yan Jin realized that Xiao Yu’s round and plump eyes had already closed long ago and was in deep sleep while lying on the pillow.

nSeeing how deeply asleep Xiao Yu was, Yan Jin did a rare, kind deed by not disturbing the little hamster. Instead, he switched off the lights in consideration.

nThe short night passed by.

nMorning, 6 am.

nThe first alarm rang, and Yan Jin threw his mobile onto the floor. The pitiful mobile tumbled a few times before laying still on the floor and then miserably went silent. Yan Jin, who wanted to sleep a while more, suddenly remembered something. Thus, he stretched his hand and touched the pillow beside him.

nA smooth surface.

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nThe hamster who was supposed to be lying on the pillow was no longer in sight.

nYan Jin squinted his eyes as he released a very terrifying aura.

nAlthough he was mentally well-prepared, when the situation actually happened, Yan Jin still had a feeling of betrayal.

nThe sulking Yan Jin no longer felt sleepy. He got up from his bed and slipped on his slippers. The first thing he did was not wash his face and brush his teeth. Instead, he strode to the other side of the bedside cabinet, grabbed the tomato on it, and took a big bite out of it.

nBoop.

nThe gray-colored dango¹ fell onto the bedside cabinet.

nXiao Yu, who was woken up by the shock, blinked his eyes. The first thing he saw when he woke up was Yan Jin chewing on the tomato – how bizarre.

nWhy did Xiao Yu drape himself on top of the tomato as he slept?

nThe reason was this: last night, after Yan Jin adjusted the air conditioning to a higher temperature, as a hamster that was fully covered in a thick layer of fur, Xiao Yu soon woke up due to the heat. After he woke up, he ran from the warm pillow to the bedside cabinet in a daze, crouched beside the cool tomato, and fell asleep.

nWhen he was a human, Xiao Yu had a habit of hugging his pillow to sleep. Even as a hamster, in his sleep, he would unconsciously look for something to hug. In the end, he climbed onto the tomato and slept in that awkward position.

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nWho knew that not too long after he slept, Yan Jin would suddenly go crazy and wake him up.

nXiao Yu could feel every inch of his fur exploding in anger, wary of what Yan Jin might do to him next.

nYan Jin had an obvious blank look for a moment – he thought that the hamster had run away, who would have known that it would still be here?

nChairman Yan did not understand a hamster’s habits and hence he did not think about the air conditioning issue. He glanced at the tomato that was missing a chunk and curled his lips. Putting back the tomato in front of Xiao Yu, he said,

n“If you treasure your belongings, then guard it well.”

nAfter putting the tomato back in place, he walked towards the bathroom in a pleasant mood. On his way, he picked up his mobile and worked on it for a few moments before throwing it onto the bed.

nXiao Yu had a confused and blank look.

nAfter Yan Jin finished washing up and dressing, he took his briefcase and left for work, not even giving a second glance to the hamster on his bedside cabinet. Xiao Yu, who was a little hungry, looked at the tomato that was missing a chunk – very disgustedly.

nHe was certain that Yan Jin would not make any breakfast, and hence he would buy his breakfast on his way to work. That was something he did in his previous life.

nI miss the youtiao² soy milk, egg pancake, and bean curd in front of the company’s entrance… Not sure if I’ll get the chance to eat it again…

nXiao Yu sighed mentally and then jumped back onto the bed. After pushing the edge of the blanket towards the floor, he carefully slid down the blanket.

nThankfully, he was not just a normal hamster. Any normal hamster would have died long ago from Yan Jin’s torture and starvation.

nYan Jin wasn’t around anyway, so Xiao Yu searched for food in the empty villa. Although he said ‘searched’, but it consisted of just randomly looking around. Since he had successfully entered Yan Jin’s house, the chances of starving to death due to lack of food had already decreased to the lowest possibility.

nYan Jin had closed the bedroom door on his way out earlier. Xiao Yu did a visual assessment – at his current strength, it was probably a difficult task for him to open the door.

nAs for water sources, the bathroom linked to the bedroom was one. Now that he was already a hamster, Xiao Yu no longer cared if it was tap water or mineral spring water. As for other matters, that depended on whether Yan Jin had a habit of stocking up snacks in his bedroom.

nAfter looking through all the drawers that he could open, other than some paper and pens, books and some daily essentials, Yan Jin’s room did not have anything else.

nAfter all, when Yan Jin was hungry at night, he could only take out two tomatoes from the refrigerator; how could he have other rations?

nXiao Yu sadly traced his way back to the bedside cabinet and depressingly looked at the tomato before him – and the fact it was missing a chunk.

nDid that mean that he had to survive on this for the day?

nAlready chewed on by Yan Jin. Disgusting.

nAfter busying himself and gaining nothing in return, hunger was one thing, but the main issue was having slept for only a few hours. At that moment, Xiao Yu suddenly felt his weariness overwhelm him.

nFor the past few days, he had been worried that nobody would take him in and thus did not have any good sleep. Xiao Yu thought for a moment. Since it was a rare opportunity to not live a life of running about, why not enjoy this laid-back morning?

nThis time around, he cleverly went to the bedside cabinet on Yan Jin’s side, picked up the remote control, and adjusted the air conditioning to 22°C. Then he returned to his pillow.

nBefore he slept, Xiao Yu quietly thought about the issue of being adopted by Yan Jin. Although he could escape any time he wanted, after escaping, how was he going to live?

nAlthough Yan Jin was the person that he didn’t want to face the most, after Xiao Yu had painstakingly found his way back to the human civilization that he was most familiar with, he really didn’t have the courage to go out and wander around.

nWhen it gets hot, there’s air conditioning. When he gets thirsty, there’s water to drink. When he’s hungry… well, at least there are tomatoes.

nForget it, before I can find a better place to go, I shall force myself to acknowledge Yan Jin as my owner.

nAfter some deep thinking, Xiao Yu sweetly fell asleep. And this nap lasted for quite a few hours until the sun was high up in the sky when he was woken up by some noise.

nTranslator’s Note:

n1 Dango – a Japanese dumpling and sweet made from mochiko (rice flour), related to mochi.

n2 Youtiao – also known as Chinese fried churros, Chinese cruller, Chinese oil stick, Chinese doughnut, You Char Kway

/Cakwe

/Cakoi

/Kueh

/Kuay and fried breadstick, is a long golden-brown deep-fried strip of dough eaten in China and (by a variety of other names) in other East and Southeast Asian cuisines

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