Chapter 1971: Chapter 1971: Pet Care Guidelines (12)
—Like you.
Seeing the words on the phone screen, Shang Qi’s first reaction was surprise: "You actually know how to read."
Chuzheng: "..."
Do I come off like I’m illiterate?
A few seconds later, Shang Qi reached out and patted Chuzheng’s head: "Then I’ll keep taking care of you from now on, okay?"
Even though Chuzheng behaved differently from a normal cat, to Shang Qi she was still just a small animal; it never even crossed his mind to think otherwise.
Chuzheng flicked her head—no touching the head!
"Okay, I won’t." Shang Qi withdrew his hand.
Chuzheng pawed at the phone, typing.
—Who wants you to take care of me.
Every stroke dripped with disdain.
Then she shamelessly added:
—I’ll take care of you.
But...
Bastard still hasn’t responded till now. Don’t tell me it’s broken?
[Miss, it hasn’t.] King’s Account immediately cleared its own name: [Miss, are you looking to blow money? I can fulfill that wish for you.]
No!
I don’t want to!
I’m a cat right now and you still won’t let me go. Who’s the real lunatic here!
[Then, Miss, what are you going to use to support your Good Person Card?] King’s Account’s Taobao-customer-service tone was so practiced it sounded like it had gone through training.
I have plenty of ways.
[Miss, we should be civilized, harmonious, and friendly good people, so please don’t have those unrealistic thoughts, okay?] She definitely wanted to go out killing and burning.
I’m not even a person right now.
[...] Actually left speechless.
[Be a good cat!]
While Chuzheng was chatting with King’s Account, Shang Qi also snapped out of those three shamelessly bold words "I’ll take care of you."
"And what are you going to use to support me? Dried fish?" Shang Qi tapped Chuzheng between the brows. "I don’t eat dried fish."
—I don’t eat it either!
Shang Qi: "..."
Fine.
Shang Qi didn’t continue that topic: "Have you become a spirit or something?" How could she communicate with people and even type?
—I’m smart.
Shang Qi seemed amused, but only for an instant; the curve at the corner of his lips was pressed flat before it could fully appear.
Chuzheng’s paws clacked on the screen, typing.
—You should smile more.
A Good Person Card should smile more; it’s easy on the eyes.
Shang Qi stared at those few words for a while before saying, "Okay, I’ll try."
—Smile.
"Right now?"
—What else?
"..."
Shang Qi’s gaze flickered slightly: "Call out once, and I’ll smile."
Chuzheng almost jabbed a crack into the screen with her claws. Dream on, you damn idiot. That cutesy mew-mew act, you think I’m gonna do it?
Chuzheng coldly pushed the phone aside and started batting at her own tail for fun.
Shang Qi wasn’t very disappointed; after all, he’d dodged a bullet too.
When Shang Qi got up, he unceremoniously tossed the nearby bath towel over Chuzheng. The towel was huge; by the time Chuzheng struggled out from under it, Shang Qi had already put on his bathrobe.
Chuzheng: "..."
Screw you!
Calm down!
A big boss can’t lose composure like this.
Shang Qi tied the belt, walked over to Chuzheng, and said in that utterly calm, rippleless tone: "You should wash up too."
Chuzheng’s eyes widened: I am not!!!
Chuzheng’s resistance didn’t get through to Shang Qi at all; she was quickly pressed into the water and given a bath.
Chuzheng: "..."
Life-is-meaningless.jpg
Shang Qi blow-dried the fur on Chuzheng’s body and carried her out.
After all that fuss, Night Color was already deep. Shang Qi didn’t do anything else and went straight to bed.
Chuzheng usually lay beside Shang Qi.
Today, Chuzheng went straight into Shang Qi’s covers.
Shang Qi froze for a second, but didn’t refuse. He even took the initiative to hold her. "Good night."
-
Shang Qi got up in the night and left the room, only to find the bodyguards Xiao San and Xiao Si standing in the hallway talking.
"What are you doing here?"
"Sir." Both of them jolted and straightened up at the same time.
Xiao San nudged Xiao Si, and Xiao Si glared at Xiao San.
Shang Qi frowned at the two of them: "What is it?"
"Ahem..." Xiao Si coughed once. "Um, earlier we received news that your father’s car... had an accident on the way down the mountain."
Had an accident...
Shang Qi didn’t react much. Xiao Si glanced at his colleague and carefully called out, "Sir?"
Shang Qi came back to himself: "How badly is he hurt?"
Xiao Si quickly said, "It’s not life-threatening, but he might need to be hospitalized for a while. The young man who was with your father is more seriously injured."
Shang Qi nodded slightly: "Got it. Go rest."
The two didn’t dare say more and hurried downstairs.
Shang Qi stood in the hallway. He didn’t know how long he stayed there before he went downstairs, almost stomping, and poured himself a glass of water.
Shang Qi wasn’t sleepy at all. He didn’t go back to his room; instead, he went to the window and looked out at that patch of Dark.
One day, he would be swallowed by that Dark too and become a monster in the Dark.
The glass reflected his outline.
He tried to lift the corners of his mouth, but the smile that appeared was stiff and eerie. Shang Qi quickly pressed his lips back down.
Shang Qi took out his phone and searched entries like #how to practice smiling# #the best way to smile# and so on.
Following the methods described, Shang Qi tried several times and finally felt that, for him, it was just too hard.
But he didn’t give up. He watched the videos over and over, practicing along with them.
As the sky gradually turned pale, Shang Qi rubbed his slightly stiff mouth, sighed, and slowly went upstairs.
Shang Qi moved quietly as he lay back down on the bed.
That Soft and Tender little ball of fluff scooted over to him on her own. Her little paws reached his chest, hugging him like a person.
Shang Qi rubbed his fingertips against her paws, then closed his eyes.
This time Shang Qi fell asleep quickly. Once his breathing grew steady, Chuzheng twitched her ears, opened her eyes, tipped her head up to look at him, and after a moment withdrew her gaze.
-
The sun hung at the edge of the sky, its warm golden light filling the entire room.
On the big bed, a handsome man slept with his eyes closed, a snow-white Little Cat in his arms. The Little Cat’s sleeping posture was even more un-catlike, body stretched out long like a person, her paws slipping inside through the edge of his bathrobe.
If you swapped in a different "object," this would definitely be a scene the core socialist values wouldn’t allow to appear.
But right now, it just looked all the more warm and adorable.
Shang Qi shifted, wanting to roll over. Feeling the fur beside him and the ticklish sensation on his chest, his drowsiness vanished.
The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Chuzheng’s furry head and ears.
The paw pads were resting on him, already pressed against his skin.
Shang Qi sighed and gently removed Chuzheng’s little paws.
Faced with a small animal, Shang Qi naturally had no other thoughts. He set Chuzheng down properly and got up first.
As soon as Shang Qi sat up, Chuzheng opened her eyes and sat up too.
Shang Qi had been careful at first, but when he saw she was awake, he sat back down again: "Not sleeping anymore?"
Chuzheng shook her head.
The Little Cat had just woken up, her fur still not smoothed down. Shaking her head like that, she looked cute no matter how you saw it.
Shang Qi was melted by the cuteness; a bit of warmth entered his eyes. "Then get up. I’ll go make breakfast."
Chuzheng glanced at the time on the bedside. At this point, it was already past ten; once it was done, it would basically be lunch.
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