“It… It’s not like I like this name that much…”
Su Yuqing subconsciously avoided her direct gaze.
Her cheeks were burning, and her tone carried an awkwardness as she tried to hide the surging emotions in her heart.
“Mainly… it’s just that at the time… you couldn’t speak! I… I’m not a mind reader. How was I supposed to know the name your mother gave you… was such a… such a formal name like ‘Bai Wanxue’…”
Her voice grew smaller and smaller, carrying a sense of helpless grievance and the relief of finally being able to explain after so many days.
However, before she could finish —
A force that could not be resisted suddenly struck!
Su Yuqing felt her back slam into the soft cushion of the living room sofa.
A dizzying sense of vertigo seized her.
When she recovered, she found that Bai Wanxue was like a real kitten overwhelmed by massive joy and excitement.
She had pounced onto her, hugging her with all her might!
Her long, silver-gray hair was like a waterfall woven from moonlight, cascading over Su Yuqing’s neck and chest.
The girl’s body was light and warm, but at this moment, it carried the excitement of something lost and found again.
“Wanxue… no, Mantou! Mantou will never ignore Master again! Meow!”
The girl buried her face deep into her shoulder.
Her voice was muffled, but it held the strength of a decisive vow, as if every word was squeezed from the depths of her heart.
“Mantou promises! I will always, always love Master! I will always love you from now on! I’ll never leave Master again! Meow…!”
This sudden confession and hug made Su Yuqing freeze completely.
She instinctively wanted to push the other girl away, but her arms felt as heavy as lead.
The clean scent coming from the girl — a mixture of grass after a rain and sunlight — along with the unquestionable dependence and joy transmitted through that tight hug, felt like a warm current that instantly broke down the mental defenses she had built up.
The threats from Zhi Ai, the worries about future troubles, and the concerns about the absurdity of it all… at this moment, they all seemed distant and blurry.
She could even feel that the girl on top of her seemed to have an invisible tail behind her, wagging happily and vigorously.
Just as Su Yuqing’s defenses were about to collapse completely, and her arms were almost ready to involuntarily hug back the “lost and found” little one —
“How touching… Meow…”
A sweet, drawn-out voice, where every syllable seemed to be quenched in ice shards, slithered into Su Yuqing’s ears like a venomous snake without warning.
This voice… was too familiar!
It was so familiar that it made her feel as if she had fallen into an ice cellar, and all the blood in her body froze in an instant!
Su Yuqing snapped her head up and looked toward the source of the sound.
In the shadows of the corridor connecting the living room and the bedroom, the bedroom door that she had confirmed was empty earlier was now fully open.
A figure leaned lazily against the door frame, holding a phone in one hand.
The cold light of the screen reflected off half of her face, and the corners of her mouth were hooked into a cold and cruel curve.
Liuli-colored eyes flashed in the darkness with the excited and cruel light of a hunter seeing its prey fall into a trap.
She was staring unblinkingly at the sofa —
To be precise, she was staring at Bai Wanxue, who was pinned on top of Su Yuqing in an extremely intimate position.
It was Kasahana Chiai!
She hadn’t gone out at all!
Or rather, she had returned long ago!
She had been here the whole time!
Like a patient hunter hiding in the dark, she had been calmly watching it all!
Waiting for this perfect “Caught Red-Handed” moment!
“Heh heh…”
Zhi Ai gave a soft laugh that held no warmth at all.
She shook the phone in her hand, the camera clearly pointed at the two people entangled on the sofa.
“When Big Sister Xiao Ying told me on the phone earlier, I didn’t quite believe it at first… I never expected this…”
“She was right. Tonight, while I was out, you would sneakily… bring back some ‘Seductress’ from who-knows-where to mess around… Meow.”
She tilted her head, an innocent yet malicious smile on her face.
Her gaze swept back and forth between Su Yuqing’s pale face and the confused Bai Wanxue, who had looked up.
Finally, it fixed on Su Yuqing’s eyes, which were filled with horror and despair.
“How is it? Do you need me… to help you two star-crossed lovers take a few more warm Family Portraits for a souvenir? Meow?”
Time seemed to congeal in the air following Kasahana Chiai’s cold and playful suggestion of a “Family Portrait.”
A sense of explosive tension filled the living room, mixing with the sound of the wind and rain outside that hadn’t stopped, making it hard to breathe.
About a few seconds passed — seconds that felt as long as centuries to Su Yuqing.
The person who had been immersed in the excitement and warmth of the reunion, burying her face deep in Su Yuqing’s neck while letting out a faint, satisfied purr — Bai Wanxue — suddenly stiffened.
It was a violent reaction, going from extreme relaxation to instantaneous tension, as if she had been electrocuted.
Her arms, which were wrapped around Su Yuqing’s waist, suddenly tightened, making Su Yuqing almost groan in pain.
Immediately after, as if pricked by an invisible needle, she snapped her head up from Su Yuqing’s embrace.
Her movement was too fast and too sudden.
A few strands of silver-gray hair stuck to her slightly damp cheeks, but she didn’t notice.
Those pale red eyes, which had been misty and soft from the reunion and confession, now saw their pupils contract sharply.
Like a startled feline, they shrank into two dangerous vertical slits.
Her gaze, like ice-quenched arrows, pierced through the warm yellow light of the living room and nailed itself onto the blonde figure leaning lazily against the bedroom door frame with a cruel, mocking smile.
It was her!
That face — that face that mixed an angel-like pure visage with a demon-like playful expression — was one that Bai Wanxue would absolutely never mistake!
Even if time had passed, even if she had changed from a cat into her current form, the fear and hatred engraved in the deepest part of her soul had already branded every detail of that face deep into her memory!
A chill rushed from her tailbone straight to the top of her head.
Accompanied by a sharp ringing in her ears, the scenes of that desperate rainy night many days ago slammed open the gates of her memory like an old but bloody silent film, exploding clearly in her mind x—It was also a night like this, with wind and rain.
In fact, it had been even more violent than tonight.
At that time, she was still just a little white cat snuggled at her Master Su Yuqing’s feet, satisfied with a colorful cat bed.
Warmth, canned food, and a little bit of newfound dependence were her entire understanding of “home” back then.
Then, this blonde girl, like a ghost crawling out of a crack in Hell, had suddenly intruded into her small world.
She couldn’t remember the specific details, only those Liuli-colored eyes flashing with cold disgust in the dark, looking at her as if they were looking at a piece of trash.
Immediately after, there was a dizzying sense of losing control.
She was roughly grabbed by a cold hand, and no matter how she screamed and struggled in terror, it was useless.
Finally, there was the vertigo of weightlessness as her body was thrown, along with the violent wind mixed with icy raindrops hitting her face.
Bai Wanxue had been ruthlessly thrown from the sixth-floor balcony of this place they called “home”!
Was she lucky?
Perhaps.
The bushes downstairs buffered the fatal impact.
She didn’t die on the spot; a faint breath of life remained.
But that was precisely the greatest misfortune!
Because she clearly remembered that in the long, seemingly eternal hours that followed, she had lain in the rain-soaked bushes.
Every bone felt as if it were shattered, her internal organs felt mangled, and the cold rain ruthlessly stole the last bit of warmth from her body.
She could only twitch weakly over and over, feeling her life slip away from her tiny body bit by bit, accompanied by extreme pain and unspeakable fear.
That torture of slowly walking toward death, that despair of being abandoned by the entire world, was far more cruel and unforgettable than an instant death!
And the perpetrator of it all was standing just a few steps away, asking in that casual tone as if looking at an ant: “I? And what’s wrong with me, exactly…?”
New grudges and old hatreds — or rather, old hatreds that had already fermented into venom — erupted like a volcano in this instant, completely drowning out all of Bai Wanxue’s reasoning!
The joy of reunion, the warm embrace, the promises to her “Master”… everything was burned to ashes by this towering hatred!
“It’s… you…!”
Those two words were squeezed out from between her teeth, carrying a raspy tremble like the low growl of a dying beast.
Her body leaned forward slightly, assuming a highly aggressive posture.
Her originally exquisite and cute face was slightly distorted by extreme rage, and those pale red eyes were burning with a fierce flame.
Hiss—!
She took a deep breath, her chest heaving violently, and then let out a sound of warning and hostility!
This was the most instinctive reaction of a feline when feeling extremely threatened and preparing to attack.
Chiai was clearly amused by this direct and primitive provocation.
Instead of being afraid, she became even more interested, as if she were watching an extremely entertaining performance.
Her Liuli-colored eyes sparkled with even more intensity.
She even stood up a bit straighter, mimicking Bai Wanxue by taking an exaggerated breath, and then returned a much louder: Hiss!
Immediately after, she mocked in that sweet yet bone-chillingly cold voice, “What? Is this Seductress who came from who-knows-where now trying to pick a fight with me, the real master of this house? Meow!? Ha! Come on then! Let’s see how many hits that little body of yours can take from me!”
As she spoke, she seemingly casually rolled her wrists and ankles, but those Liuli-colored eyes were like those of a cat staring at its prey, locking onto Bai Wanxue as if she were ready to pounce at any moment.
Invisible smoke filled the air, and the hostility between the two “cats” felt like a tangible electrical current, crackling and popping.
A violent physical conflict seemed inevitable.
Seeing that the atmosphere had reached a breaking point, and both the blonde and silver “cats” in the room had arched their backs, their fur standing on end, baring their teeth and ready to escalate from a verbal conflict to a physical brawl, Su Yuqing — the nominal master of the room and the core trigger of the conflict — finally forced herself out of the series of shocks, realizations, guilt, and massive panic!
She couldn’t remain silent any longer!
Otherwise, this house would definitely be torn apart tonight!
Moreover, no matter which side got hurt, it was a consequence she couldn’t bear and didn’t want to see!
“Wait—!!!”
Su Yuqing almost used the maximum volume of her voice.
Her voice cracked slightly due to urgency and fear as she lunged between the two of them.
She spread her arms wide, like a mother hen protecting her chicks, trying to separate the two “cats” whose crossing gazes were practically spitting sparks.
“Stop! Both of you, stop! Listen to me!!!”