Chapter 35: Plan

Chapter 35: The Plan

Butler Zheng looked shocked, his heart in turmoil.

He had previously thought that the young master bringing Fei Yu and Sui Sui home was merely out of care for a friend.

At most, there might be some improper feelings towards the child's father.

But now, Butler Zheng felt he might have stumbled upon a huge secret.

He twisted his neck stiffly and glanced at Sui Sui across the table, who was obliviously scooping tomato soup with a happy look.

He couldn't help wondering: does the young master know this secret?

Butler Zheng thought numbly, probably not.

Then who was the child's mother?

Could it be that Fei Yu wasn't actually the child's father, but rather a relative from the mother's side?

Or was he just getting old and mistaken?

Questions came one after another, and Butler Zheng felt dizzy and lightheaded.

Young people's world—he just couldn't get it!

*

Warm sunlight filled the villa; it was a nice afternoon.

In spring, cats shed a lot. Fei Yu washed the duvet covers and pillowcases and took them to the third-floor terrace to dry.

Sui Sui turned into a kitten and was playing with the remote-controlled chick his father had brought back.

The toy chick followed behind the hen, still learning to walk, wobbling unsteadily.

Sui Sui followed close behind, every now and then wiggling his body to nudge the wobbling chick back to the middle.

The little kitty helping the little chick—what a good Sui Sui!

Strange footsteps came from outside the door. Sui Sui's ears perked up, and he quickly transformed back into Little Meow right there.

Daddy said that at Kind Uncle's place, cat Sui Sui can't just show up.

Two knocks on the door, then Uncle Zheng's gentle voice came from outside.

"Sui Sui, Uncle cut some fruit. Want some?"

The little foodie's eyes lit up. He scrambled to his feet: "Baby wants fruit! Thank you, Uncle!"

Uncle Zheng chuckled and pushed the door open, placing the fruit plate on the table and looking at Sui Sui with eager eyes.

"There's oranges, bananas, avocado, mangosteen... What would Sui Sui like to eat?"

Sui Sui looked around: "Where's Daddy? Daddy should eat first."

Uncle Zheng: "Fei Yu's fruit plate is downstairs. This one is for Sui Sui. You eat first."

Finally satisfied, Sui Sui reached out his little milky-white hand toward the fruit plate.

Sui Sui took a big bite of banana, and Uncle Zheng nodded. His young master had also liked bananas when he was little.

Sui Sui took a piece of watermelon. Uncle Zheng hesitated a little—his young master seemed okay with watermelon.

Sui Sui ate several bites of avocado. Uncle Zheng fell silent. His young master disliked avocado the most.

As the fruit slowly disappeared, the oranges beside it hadn't been touched at all.

Uncle Zheng couldn't help asking: "Does Sui Sui not like oranges?"

"Don't like!" Sui Sui's face scrunched up, and he put his hands behind his back, shaking his head stubbornly.

Uncle Zheng's heart skipped a beat. He remembered his young master liking oranges quite a bit when he was little.

"Alright, then we won't eat oranges," Uncle Zheng coaxed. "Then would Sui Sui like some mangosteen? It's soft and sticky, and really sweet."

Sui Sui looked at the mangosteen, then at his own hands, a bit hesitant.

He looked up, his big watery eyes drooping sadly as he gazed at Uncle Zheng.

In a babyish, pleading voice, he said: "Mangosteen looks like little cat paws, Uncle. Can we not eat it, please?"

How could Butler Zheng refuse? He quickly comforted Sui Sui and left with the fruit plate.

As he left, he unconsciously glanced at the oranges in his hand, then at Sui Sui sitting on the carpet, lips pursed, concentrating on his blocks.

Looking at it this way, Sui Sui didn't really seem like the young master's child.

After all, when the young master was little, he had never acted spoiled like Sui Sui.

He stroked his beard and wondered: had he really been wrong?

*

The weekend passed quickly, and soon it was a new week. Sui Sui had to go to school again.

Little Meow was lively and outgoing, and adapted quickly.

He quickly got to know Xingxing and Xiaoning, who sat in front of him, and they became inseparable.

During morning exercises, they stood in a row; on the slide, they went down one after the other; at snack time, they shared bites.

They all didn't like Teacher Chen very much—sometimes she was gentle, and sometimes she seemed a bit fierce.

The three little tykes would gather as soon as they entered kindergarten, chattering nonstop every day.

Sui Sui even knew that Xiaoning's parrot liked to say "Gong xi fa cai" when happy and "dao you dao you" when grumpy.

One day, after lunch during free time, the three kids were whispering together as usual.

After chatting for a while, Xingxing suddenly said mysteriously: "We're good friends now. Mom says good friends can't keep secrets from each other."

"So today, I'm going to tell you a secret."

Sui Sui twisted his fingers together and lowered his head in shame.

Sorry—Little Meow had been keeping a super big secret from his good friends.

Xiaoning asked curiously, "What is it?"

Xingxing looked around and, not seeing Teacher Chen nearby,

She covered her mouth with her hand, frowned in a 'cute but fierce' way, and whispered, "Follow me."

All the kids from the kindergarten were gathered in the empty playground.

The three little kids poked their heads out and quietly sneaked away from the crowd.

Xingxing led them to the treehouse at the back of the kindergarten. The treehouse was perched high on an oak tree, with decorative plastic vines hanging down below.

She crouched down first, lifted the dangling vines, and motioned to her two friends behind her.

The three little ones crawled in one by one.

The long vines blocked the white light outside, and the inside suddenly went dim, like a cozy little tent.

The grass here grew thick, and the tips of the grass scraped their wrists, tickling.

Xiaoning scratched the back of his hand and asked in confusion, "Why can't I see anything?"

Xingxing put her finger to her lips and softly shushed them: "It's really shy, so you have to be quiet."

She signaled her friends to stand up slowly.

In a corner of the grass, a cat was curled up into a round little ball, fast asleep.

Surrounded by grass blades, it looked tiny, but its belly was bulging.

Hearing the noise, the cat perked its ears alertly and lifted its head to look.

Seeing only three tiny tots, it wagged its tail and curled back up, closing its eyes again.

Xiaoning let out an exaggerated "Wow! A kitten."

Suisui blinked in surprise too: "A calico cat."

Seeing the cat's round belly rise and fall, Xiaoning asked curiously, "Why is its belly so big? Is it sick?"

"It's not sick," Xingxing shook her head. "Wendy at home has a big belly too. My mom said Wendy is having babies, so we can't just touch her belly."

"This cat probably has babies too."

Suisui got worried: "It's hard for cats to have babies."

Pangqiu Brother once said we should love our dad because when Dad had us, it was really hard.

You have to carry a big belly, never get enough sleep, even throw up, and can't eat yummy cat food.

Xiaoning worriedly said, "I wish the kitten would come home with me. My mom loves cats the most."

"Little cat, little cat, will you come home with me?"

But no matter how long Xiaoning called, the cat ignored him, not even lifting its head, and kept its eyes closed, sleeping calmly as if nothing was wrong.

He scratched the back of his head in frustration: "The cat doesn't understand me."

Suisui clenched his fists and suddenly spoke up: "I... I have a secret to tell you too."

He took a deep breath, puffed out his cheeks, and his chubby face looked dead serious.

"Actually, I can understand what kittens say."

Dad said that Little Meow's existence is a big secret that no one can know.

If he was ever in real danger, he could only tell others that he can understand what cats say.

Suisui believed this was one of those moments.

Xingxing looked confused: "Like how I can understand Wendy?"

Xiaoning urged anxiously, "Suisui, please ask the kitten if it wants to come home with me!"

Suisui nodded and tentatively asked into the space, "Meow meow, Calico Sister, do you have little babies?"

"Meow?"

The calico cat immediately looked very surprised and slowly raised itself toward them.

It opened its eyes wide and meowed curiously, "Where did you little kitten come from? What are you doing here?"

Suisui's eyes sparkled as he continued, "I'm here to ask you, Calico Sister: having babies is hard, so do you want to come home with Xiaoning? He'll take good care of you."

Beside him, Xiaoning seemed to be under inspection, holding his breath and puffing out his chest nervously.

The calico cat glanced at the little tot, wagged its tail, and refused, "No, he's just a little kid himself."

It lifted its chin: "Besides, I don't like humans."

Suisui stammered, "But, but..."

"Little human and little cat are both noisy!"

The calico cat didn't want to listen anymore. It turned around, pushed through the grass, and ran off.

Watching the cat run away, the three little kids looked at each other.

After a long while, Xiaoning slumped his shoulders and said in a pitiful voice, "I guess the cat doesn't like me."

They dejectedly crawled out of the vines and shuffled back with their heads down.

But just as they reached the edge of the playground, their vision went dark when a large shadow suddenly appeared.

"Teacher Chen!" The three little ones snapped to attention.

Teacher Chen appeared from somewhere, standing in front of them. Though the corners of his mouth were raised, there was no smile on his face.

He glanced at their dirty clothes and said irritably: "Why aren't you three kids sleeping? What are you doing here?"

When no one answered, his face darkened.

He said in an eerie tone, "Tell the teacher, did you sneak off to do something bad?"

"Kids who don't behave will be taken away by the big bad wolf, you know."

Xingxing and Xiaoning immediately clamped their mouths shut and shook their heads vigorously.

Suisui thought seriously, tilted his head in confusion, and asked, "Does the big bad wolf eat bad grown-ups too?"

He widened his eyes and asked, "Teacher Chen, are you good?"

The child's pupils were pitch black and unwavering, clearly reflecting his figure.

The child's words were innocent and naive, just meant to be a joke.

Chen Yu’s back broke out in a cold sweat, and he stammered, “Of c-course! How could you doubt your teacher?”

“Teacher Chen, did you find them?”

Just then, Teacher Xiaohua, who had been in the flower room ahead, heard the commotion and hurried over.

“Teacher Xiaohua!”

The three children’s eyes lit up, and they all ran toward her.

Teacher Xiaohua crouched down and carefully checked each of them one by one.

After confirming none of the little ones were hurt, her tense nerves finally fully relaxed.

She smiled gently and with a helpless expression, “Did you kids get up to mischief again? Playing hide and seek on purpose, getting your clothes all dirty.”

“Now that Teacher has found you, game’s over. Come with me to change clothes.”

“Okay!” The three little tykes nodded obediently.

Seeing the children were fine, she stood up and turned to Chen Yu.

The smile on her face dimmed as she said, “Teacher Chen, since we’ve found them and nothing’s wrong, I’ll take them back now.”

Chen Yu was a bootlicker who loved currying favor with the director, and thanks to some connections, often slacked off at work.

He hadn’t paid attention to Suisui and the others this time, and Teacher Xiaohua wasn’t too happy about it.

Chen Yu forced a smile, “Sure, sure.”

Watching her walk away with the three children, Chen Yu’s expression instantly darkened.

He glared fiercely at the round-faced child on the far right, a hint of irritation rising in his eyes.

It was this kid again!

Last time, he had accidentally caught a glimpse of me.

If he accidentally blabbed, how could he stay here?

He heard that the kid’s father was just a lowly assistant, and a single-parent family at that.

If there was a chance to get rid of him...

Chen Yu slowly wiped all expression from his face, as if nothing had happened.

His gaze swept over the spot where the three children had emerged from, lost in thought.

*

That evening, after giving Suisui a bath and putting him into the big bed, Fei Yu read a picture book to the baby as usual.

Suisui lay face-down on his thigh, looking down and playing with his own fingers, his eyelashes fluttering like little fans, his mind clearly was not on the story.

The baby usually loved story time and was rarely this distracted.

Fei Yu quickly put down the book, gathered the little one into his arms, and asked softly, “Baby, what’s wrong? Were you unhappy at kindergarten today?”

“Daddy…”

Suisui looked up with worry and told his father what had happened that day.

He grabbed his father’s shirt hem and gently tugged it.

His chubby face scrunched up like a little bun, and his eyes were full of concern.

“Daddy, Calico Sister doesn’t want to come home with us. Can we go help her, please?”

Wild cats are at their weakest during giving birth.

Without proper care, they can suffer from malnutrition and complications during birth, and may even be in danger.

The Catfolk, blessed by the Cat God with the chance to become human, have a responsibility to help other cats in need.

Fei Yu: “Of course, we can.”

He patted Suisui’s back and said with concern, “But from what you said, the calico cat doesn’t like humans.”

“If we go like this, she might not be willing to come with us either.”

Suisui clutched his father’s shirt hem tighter and looked up at him, “Then what should we do?”

Fei Yu thought for a moment, then lowered his voice: “Tomorrow, Daddy will pick you up alone.”

“After everyone leaves the kindergarten, you can distract everyone for Daddy. Daddy will turn into a cat and try to convince Calico Sister. Does that sound good?”

“Yes!” Suisui agreed immediately.

He pressed his little hands together and said in an admiring tone, “Daddy is so amazing.”

Fei Yu finally smiled and stroked his baby’s hair.

Find a place where no one’s around, turn into a cat—without anyone noticing–no one will ever know.

The next afternoon.

Fei Yu had originally planned to tell Song Ji directly that he’d go pick up Suisui alone today.

But in the time it took him to go downstairs and hand in some documents, Song Ji was already in a meeting.

Fei Yu opened the meeting room door a crack and peeked inside.

Song Ji sat at the head of the table, his fingertips barely touching the table, his eyes slightly lowered, looking calm as he listened to the reports being given from below.

The meeting room was silent, and a large crowd of people in suits sat below him, occasionally jotting notes.

Clearly, it wasn’t the right time to say anything.

Fei Yu quietly closed the door.

As he was leaving, he happened to run into Secretary Zhou, who was passing by, and couldn’t help but ask, “Secretary Zhou, how much longer is the meeting?”

Zhou Xun glanced at his watch and said warmly, “Today is the group’s end-of-month meeting, with each department reporting in sequence. It’ll probably take around three to four hours.”

His eyes crinkled in a smile behind his glasses. “Suisui will be getting out of school soon. Assistant Lin, you might as well go ahead and call it a day.”

Three or four hours—plenty of time for him to find the calico cat.

By the time the meeting ends, he and Suisui will probably already be home.

Fei Yu was relieved, smiled, said goodbye to Secretary Zhou, and went to pick up his baby.

Zhou Xun said goodbye to Song Ji and, holding the report, went to the secretariat to hand over work.

Unexpectedly, the regular month-end meeting ended unusually fast.

Secretary Zhou had just sat down in his office and processed emails for less than an hour when he saw department managers in suits file out of the conference room.

They even had rare smiles on their faces, completely unlike their usual gloomy expressions after getting scolded.

"President Song is in a great mood today. I thought with the game department's figures this month, we'd inevitably get a scolding, but President Song just asked us to revise the plan!"

"Exactly. I wonder which department is so capable, that performed so well it satisfied President Song."

Secretary Zhou kept a blank expression and silently stood up from his desk.

This situation… why does it sound so familiar?

When President Song came out of the conference room, Secretary Zhou relied on his professionalism to recompose his expression.

As his boss casually glanced up and asked seemingly offhandedly, "Where did Assistant Lin go?"

He also pretended to adjust his glasses casually and answered calmly, "There's nothing else in the President's Office, so I let Assistant Lin leave early to pick up his child."

Song Ji nodded indifferently and strode toward the elevator: "The secretariat has worked hard this month. You all can leave early too."

As soon as President Song left, the silent secretariat erupted into chaos.

The departments on other floors are far away and aren't aware of President Song's recent change in mood, but the people in the secretariat, being closer to him, see it very clearly.

Since a new assistant was appointed to the President's Office, President Song's mood has been like a leap from winter to spring.

The President's Office, which had been in a constant tense atmosphere, finally lets people breathe easier.

Someone laughed and said, "Assistant Lin always likes to keep a straight face at work, pretending to be serious."

"But the way he tries to look serious is actually cuter."

The employee next to her, holding a document, thought of something funny and couldn't help smirking.

She showed the document in her arms to everyone: "Look at this report of his. Every answer about kitten toys is serious and well-reasoned."

"So cute, as if he really knows what kittens are thinking."

Everyone marveled: "Indeed. Where do you think President Song unearthed such a treasure?"

Someone bold couldn't help gossiping: "What exactly is the background of this Assistant Lin?"

"Could he be President Song's relative? Is he still single?"

Zhou Xun was smiling, his voice not loud but full of authority: "Gossiping about President Song, do you still want this month's bonus?"

The people in the secretariat obediently fell silent.

Zhou Xun shook his head, thinking that Assistant Lin is not President Song's relative at all.

I'm afraid, soon, he will be our boss's boss.

Haven't you noticed his salary isn't disbursed by our finance department? It comes straight out of President Song's pocket!

-----------------------

Author's note: Just when you think nothing unexpected will happen, something unexpected is about to happen.

Hehehe, his cover will be blown first, so that the baby can also freely turn into a kitten at home.