Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Meng Shijiu woke up at his usual hour, a little early.

The Alpha beside him was lying on his side with an arm around him, his nose deeply buried in Meng's soft silver hair.

Damn biological clock, Meng Shijiu thought.

He was just about to turn over when the arm around his waist suddenly tightened, pinning him firmly against the person beside him.

A faint rustling came from overhead. The hand that had been resting in his hair suddenly lifted, its broad palm gently covering his eyes.

The Alpha's fingertips carried the warmth of morning, the calloused pads of his fingers brushing over Meng's brow bone, eliciting a faint shiver.

"Sleep."

Shen Huaixu's voice held the low hoarseness of someone just awakened, like a spell. Meng Shijiu's covered eyelids gradually grew heavy, and before long, he was asleep again.

In the last moment before sinking back into slumber, he felt a light kiss land on the crown of his head.

Kissing fiend, Meng Shijiu thought with his eyes closed.

When he awoke once more, the bed beside him was empty. Shen Huaixu was holding a terminal, working on the sofa just three meters away.

Meng Shijiu looked at him, opened his mouth, but only half a rough, abrupt sound emerged from his throat.

Still not better, huh. Meng Shijiu turned over, pulling the blanket over his face.

Hearing the movement, Shen Huaixu got up and walked over.

When Meng Shijiu pulled the blanket away again, he happened to meet Shen Huaixu's gaze. The man was standing by the bed, looking down at him with great interest, having watched for who knows how long.

Shen Huaixu pressed one knee onto the soft bedding, leaning in and sweeping aside the stray hairs on Meng Shijiu's forehead.

"Your hair's gotten a bit long. Need a trim?"

"Ah." Meng Shijiu narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "Next time."

Hearing this, Shen Huaixu smiled slightly.

"Alright, next time."

Meng Shijiu: "..." That's a bit weird.

...

By the time they returned to Yanbei District 16, it was almost noon.

Yesterday's erratic weather seemed like an illusion; Yanbei's sky had returned to its neither-overcast-nor-sunny hue.

Getting rid of Shen Huaixu was much more troublesome than with Cui Suifu. Meng Shijiu didn't bother wasting the effort, letting the man see him to the dormitory building.

At this hour, whether it was the students of St. Mary's or the Combat Department, everyone was off training. The area around the dormitory building was quiet, with no one around.

Shen Huaixu wanted a kiss, but Meng Shijiu dodged him.

Meng Shijiu stared at him, his expression indignant.

Shen Huaixu gave a soft laugh and simply said, "Remember to reply to my messages."

The silver-haired Alpha hadn't tied up his hair; it was loose, carrying a languid, tender air. He neither agreed nor disagreed, taking advantage of his inability to speak, lazily waving a hand before disappearing into the dormitory entrance.

The building was empty, but before Meng Shijiu even entered, he heard a cat's wail—

See bolted from the window to the door, the anger and reproach in its voice so thick it was as if it had been cheated out of billions: "—You finally remember to come back!!"

See: "You finally remember to come back?!"

Meng Shijiu standing by the door: .

The door was pushed open.

The silver-haired Alpha walked in.

As soon as See saw him, its tone gradually calmed down: "Good, perfect timing. Yue Xuanli just left, otherwise she would have witnessed you kissing someone else firsthand."

—Sarcastic.

It had seen everything clearly from its perch by the window just now. That guy who was holding its host by the nape trying to kiss Meng Shijiu—wasn't that the always elusive headmaster?

Meng Shijiu shot it a glance, ignored it, and walked straight in. See followed behind him, its pair of silver eyes fixed intently on him.

See's impression of Shen Huaixu was still stuck on their brief encounter at the St. Mary's auditorium last time.

In fact, what it didn't know went far beyond that. Since becoming a cat, although See seemed to have gained the chance to get close to its host, even seeing its own reflection in Meng Shijiu's eyes—all of this seemed worse than not changing at all.

It could no longer participate in Meng Shijiu's life almost entirely like before.

Last night, it couldn't even sleep with its host.

See felt something akin to "grievance," but this emotion didn't align with its logic, nor seemingly with human logic either.

See had sharp eyes.

The moment Meng Shijiu sat down on the edge of the bed, it suddenly caught sight of an utterly glaring scene.

The pitch-black cat's body instantly tensed. Like a spring, it launched itself from the floor, pouncing unexpectedly towards the Alpha who was sitting on the bed, reaching for the terminal on the bedside table.

Meng Shijiu's turned face didn't have time to look back. He leaned back with the motion, his long arm sweeping out to grab the terminal, then leisurely lay down on the bed and turned it on.

A blue light screen suddenly lit up, illuminating Meng Shijiu's expressionless face.

Even though it was daytime, the color of his half-lidded pupils resembled the phosphorescent fire of night.

See pounced onto his chest, grabbing the silver-haired Alpha's collar with its teeth and pulling it down.

The scene it had glimpsed when Meng Shijiu turned his face was now clearly exposed to the air—

Layer upon layer of kiss marks covered the cool, pale skin like fallen plum blossoms, disappearing deep into the collar.

The faint red mole three inches below the right collarbone seemed to have been especially cherished and ravished, becoming vividly crimson, surrounded by unsightly, mottled marks.

See, like a crazed little dog, tugged at Meng Shijiu's clothes, nuzzling and pushing, clearly seeing that the silver-haired Alpha's arms and waist now bore purplish-red marks that looked like they were from abuse.

See: "—Meng Shijiu!!!"

Meng Shijiu was startled. Before he could even open the messages on his terminal, See's howling and wailing made his hand jerk, causing him to exit the screen.

The sound that leapt to his throat was choked back, as if swallowed by the sea: "……."

Still unable to speak.

See: "What happened to you?"

It still wouldn't believe it, even starting to spout blind nonsense: "Were you beaten up?"

Meng Shijiu touched the purplish-red marks on his waist, tugged his shirt hem down, and reopened the terminal, kindly throwing in an explanation for Shen Huaixu:

"These are from kissing, not pinching. They don’t hurt."

See was about to lose it, but Meng Shijiu’s attention was no longer on it. The messages on the terminal were mostly as he expected, with only Yue Xuanli’s messages giving him a slight pause—

He’d actually sent the second-most messages.

Meng Shijiu opened the chat with Yue Xuanli and saw that his last message was from half an hour ago.

Recalling See’s words when he entered the room, Meng Shijiu thoughtfully tapped his fingers a couple of times.

The last message was also concise—

Yue Xuanli: "Shi Jiu, my rut has started. I’m heading back to Frost first and will return in a week."

The messages above were all from before midnight last night, all of them, without exception, were call requests.

Meng Shijiu had intended to call him back but remembered he couldn’t speak right now, so he typed a reply instead.

[Photosynthesizing]: "Okay"

[Photosynthesizing]: "Were you waiting for me downstairs earlier?"

After waiting a moment with no reply, Meng Shijiu opened the chat with Butler Lin.

[Photosynthesizing]: "Has A Li arrived home yet?"

Quickly.

[Butler Lin]: "Almost. The young master is getting an inhibitor shot [image]"

[Butler Lin]: "Has the Second Young Master remembered to eat breakfast?"

[Butler Lin]: "[Rose][Rose]"

Meng Shijiu replied briefly. Before he could exit the chat, See, who had been muttering incoherently, suddenly raised its volume.

See: "*—"

See: "Say something! You never treat me like I'm a person!!"

As soon as Meng Shijiu exited the chat, he saw Cui Suifu’s densely packed messages and said without thinking: "...Well, you're not."

See: ……

Meng Shijiu: "Uh."

Meng Shijiu tried to backtrack: "You’re a cat."

See: "What exactly happened??"

See, holding a star coin it had dug out of his pocket, started nudging Meng Shijiu’s face with it: "And what’s this?"

To be precise, it wasn’t a star coin—it was a magic coin.

It was from the girl at the dessert shop.

Meng Shijiu took the magic coin and examined it, having no recollection of when the girl had slipped it into his pocket.

Meng Shijiu: ...Is everyone around here a born pickpocket?

Meng Shijiu casually stuffed the magic coin back: "A consolation prize for losing a game. Emotional distress."

Meng Shijiu shoved the magic coin back into its mouth. See: "?"

Meng Shijiu patted its head, continuing to soothe: "Now you’re not just an ordinary cat. You’re a gold-swallowing cat."

"A gold-swallowing cat, you know? The super lucky kind that attracts wealth."

See stared back, stony-faced and silent.

Twenty minutes later.

See: "So you’re saying—in an unfamiliar place, penniless, you trusted a stranger, followed a scheming individual back to his home, and in the end, even submitted yourself to him?!"

Meng Shijiu was impressed by its vocabulary.

Meng Shijiu: "...I agreed to it."

See had lost it completely, turning selectively deaf: "It’s like a lamb walking into a tiger’s den! A pearl cast into darkness! Plunging yourself into peril!!!"

The two of them stared at each other.

See gave a grudging nod.

Meng Shijiu: ...Some backbone you've got.

Meng Shijiu prepared to continue replying to terminal messages but got swatted away by See’s paw.

See snapped: "—Take a look at your own face!"

See whipped out a mirror from nowhere and shoved it in his face—

The mirror wasn’t held very steadily, but it still clearly reflected that stunning visage—

Like a layer of rouge over snow, the corners of the eyes tinged with red, the brows carrying a hint of affection, the eyes like lakes shrouded in thin mist, shimmering with lingering ripples, vaguely exuding an air of tenderness.

Meng Shijiu glanced at it: ".*#……"

What he meant to say was: Good God.

See was taken aback: "What did you say?"

Meng Shijiu knocked the mirror away, gritting his teeth: "I said... very handsome."

See snorted coldly.

Meng Shijiu opened the terminal.

Then, almost as an afterthought, he opened Ye Lingxi’s messages.

Only he himself knew how he had managed to roll the car twice yesterday. Right now, he found Ye Lingxi particularly pleasing to the eye.

Ye Lingxi lived up to his good opinion. Although he hadn’t received Meng Shijiu’s usual three daily questions yesterday, he still proactively volunteered the answers. Compared to Cui Suifu’s chat window, he seemed extra well-behaved.

Meng Shijiu had just tapped the input field when a message from the other person suddenly popped up.

[Ye Lingxi]: "You're back?"

[This message has been recalled]

Meng Shijiu: ...

[Photosynthesizing]: "...I thought you were training right now?"

Meng Shijiu finally understood.

—So, this guy had been intentionally recalling his messages right under his nose every single time.

Meng Shijiu put on a cold face and shut off the terminal.

See, who was still cursing Shen Huaixu, suddenly noticed something was wrong: "—What’s wrong with your voice?"

Meng Shijiu: "."

Meng Shijiu: "Can’t speak."

See: "What happened?"

Meng Shijiu: "..."

Man and cat stared at each other.

Three seconds later—

See had a complete meltdown: "—Why?!"

...

"—What the hell is that damn cat caterwauling about now?"

The bathroom door was suddenly pushed open. The blond Beta stepped out with a dark expression but abruptly halted upon seeing the person on the bed—

Meng Shijiu raised a hand, as if he'd been expecting this, and gave a lazy wave in greeting to Qian Chunyan.