In the dead of night, only a single wall lamp remained in the living room, casting a dim, yellowish glow.
The outlines of the furniture were stretched into blurry, ambiguous shadows.
In the air, there seemed to be a residual tension from the recent exposure of the “Treasure,” mixed with the faint, antagonistic aura radiating from the two “cats.”
At that delicate moment — when Zhi Ai was overwhelmed with shame and anger due to the exposure of the “Stolen Goods,” and Bai Wanxue was secretly gloating over having caught her —
Creak —
A slight sound of a door turning was exceptionally clear in the overly quiet living room.
The bedroom door was pushed open a crack.
Su Yuqing rubbed her bleary eyes, her messy black hair a bit disheveled as she leaned half of her body out.
She had clearly just been woken up from her sleep.
Her face still bore pillow marks and lingering drowsiness, and her voice carried a thick nasal tone and a hint of annoyance at being disturbed.
“So… you two… what are you doing here instead of sleeping in the middle of the night?”
Her gaze swept suspiciously between the deadlocked Zhi Ai and Bai Wanxue, finally landing on the sofa cushions that had been removed and the vaguely visible, differently colored fabrics lying beside them.
“You’re making quite a racket…”
Zhi Ai shuddered.
Almost as a reflex, with lightning speed, she stuffed the crumpled piece of fabric in her hand under the nearest cushion behind her.
The movement was so fast it almost left an afterimage.
An extremely unnatural, sickly sweet smile instantly plastered onto her face as she tried to use an exaggerated tone to hide her guilt.
“Ah… haha! N-nothing at all! A pillow fight! Right! This meow… this meow was playing, playing a pillow fight with her!”
As she spoke, she used her elbow to inconspicuously nudge Bai Wanxue, who was still dazed.
Her eyes were filled with a threatening ‘Cooperate with me!’ signal.
Bai Wanxue swayed slightly from the nudge.
Her pale red eyes blinked, seemingly coming back to her senses from her immersion as the “winner.”
She looked at Zhi Ai’s fake smile that seemed on the verge of a cramp, then at Su Yuqing’s confused expression.
Though she didn’t quite understand the specific meaning of a “Pillow Fight,” based on a feline’s instinct to seek benefit and avoid harm and her quick assessment of the current situation, she chose to cooperate for the time being.
Thus, she gave a slight nod and uttered a vague syllable: “…Mm.”
Su Yuqing’s brow furrowed even deeper.
She padded closer in her slippers, bent down, and carefully looked at the “weapons” thrown on the floor.
Her tone became even more suspicious.
“A pillow… fight? But the things you’re holding, and these things on the floor… they don’t look like pillows.”
She pointed at the components that were clearly sofa cushions and the edges of soft fabric peeking out from the gaps — fabric that definitely didn’t belong to the sofa’s original parts.
“So… you had nothing better to do than take apart my sofa cushions in the middle of the night… what exactly are you trying to do?”
Her voice carried a hint of helplessness and a headache, as if she were facing two extremely troublesome pets obsessed with wrecking the house.
“Uh… well, about that —”
Zhi Ai’s brain worked at high speed.
Cold sweat almost soaked her fake, cute bangs as she desperately thought of a reasonable explanation.
Right then, the previously quiet Bai Wanxue suddenly spoke.
Her voice remained in that calm, emotionless tone that always managed to surprise people.
She pointed to the cushion where Zhi Ai had just hidden the item and then to the disassembled sofa body, stating in a matter-of-fact tone.
“It was Wanxue’s suggestion, Master.”
“It was your suggestion?”
Su Yuqing’s attention was immediately drawn away as she turned her gaze toward Bai Wanxue.
“Suggestion for what?”
Bai Wanxue met her gaze.
Not a trace of lying could be seen in those pale red eyes, as if she were talking about something perfectly natural.
“Because Wanxue felt that the… um, small pillows that come with the sofa were far too small and light in terms of size.”
She motioned with her hand to indicate the size of a normal throw pillow, then pointed to the thick seat cushions and continued, “Playing with those… isn’t exciting enough, doesn’t have enough weight, and isn’t fun enough. Therefore, Wanxue felt it would be better to use these big ones.”
She spoke with logic and clarity, even carrying a sense of seriousness about perfecting the “gaming experience.”
Su Yuqing listened, stunned.
She subconsciously repeated, “Oh? Is it really… like she said?”
She looked at Zhi Ai, her eyes full of the question:
‘Are your feline entertainment methods always this hardcore?’
At this point, Zhi Ai didn’t care about how ridiculous Bai Wanxue’s explanation was.
Like a drowning person grabbing a straw, she hurriedly nodded like a chicken pecking at rice.
Her face squeezed out an even more “brilliant” smile, and her voice was cloyingly sweet.
“Mm-hmm! Really, really! I—I indeed feel that way too, meow! The big ones… are more satisfying to hit with! More challenging!”
As she spoke, she secretly used her foot to kick another conspicuous piece of “Stolen Goods” on the floor deeper under the sofa.
Su Yuqing looked at the two girls — one with a “pure” face and the other looking “sincere” — and then at the mangled sofa.
She let out a weary sigh.
Although her intuition told her things were definitely not that simple, her intense sleepiness and a premonition that ‘delving deeper might be more trouble than it’s worth’ made her give up on thinking.
She rubbed her temples and waved her hand, her tone carrying a deep sense of powerlessness.
“Fine… then. You two… continue ‘playing nice.’ Remember to rest early; we all have things to do tomorrow…”
She looked at Bai Wanxue with particular emphasis.
“Especially you, Wanxue. You have to follow me to the company first thing tomorrow morning to finish the rest of the onboarding paperwork —”
“Oh, I know, I know! Go back to sleep! Go back to your stupid sleep right now!”
Fearing Su Yuqing would notice more flaws if she stayed a second longer, Zhi Ai interrupted her.
She practically pushed Su Yuqing toward the bedroom while making solemn promises.
“This meow promises! I promise I’ll watch her and make her rest early! I definitely won’t delay any official business!”
Bai Wanxue also nodded obediently and said softly to Su Yuqing’s retreating back, “Thank you for your concern, Master. Wanxue will definitely rest early.”
Pushed and nudged to the door by Zhi Ai, Su Yuqing still turned back uneasily.
She held up one finger and gave a serious final warning, her gaze shifting between the two.
“And the most important point! Play is play, mischief is mischief! Don’t actually get into a fight! Did you two… hear… me… clearly? No. Fighting.”
“I know, I know!”
“Yes, Wanxue will remember.”
Watching the bedroom door close softly again and hearing the latch make a quiet click, Zhi Ai and Bai Wanxue let out a long sigh of relief almost simultaneously.
Zhi Ai slid down against the door panel and sat on the floor.
She patted her chest and muttered in a small, fearful voice:
“Phew… scared me to death… for now… I barely managed to fool her…”
She felt as if her nerves had been tighter just now than during three consecutive concerts.
However, the brief atmosphere of “alliance” vanished instantly as the crisis was resolved.
Bai Wanxue had already redirected her attention to the “Treasure” on the floor.
She crouched down, cautiously picked up a lace-edged item with her finger, and sniffed it lightly at the tip of her nose.
Then, she looked up at Zhi Ai, who was still slumped on the floor.
Her pale red eyes shimmered with a strange light in the dim glow, her tone calm yet carrying an indisputable conclusion.
“So, these clothes… all belong to Master, right? They have Master’s scent all over them.”