Chapter 42

Chapter 42

After harassing Lu Xingwen, Su Xingze dozed off with his head lolled to one side, and didn't stir until the sun came up the next morning, still groggy.

It was Monday. He was running late for his morning class again. Since it wasn't the first time, Su Xingze took his time getting up and heading downstairs to eat.

As he ate, last night's events finally came back to him. After getting a taste of the medicine, Xiaolu had gone quiet, and Su Xingze, too drowsy to push it, had just passed out.

Looking back, Xiaolu had clearly dodged the question on purpose, stalling until Su Xingze dozed off just to weasel his way out of it.

Su Xingze scoured the internet for similar little white bottles but came up empty. Finally, at his wit's end, he went to ask Aunt Zhang about it.

Aunt Zhang got all secretive and whispered, "From my experience, if an Alpha's buying a white-bottle medicine, it's probably for... you know, performance enhancement."

"Pfft, cough, cough, cough..." Su Xingze spat out his food and scrambled for water, chugging several big gulps without any relief.

Aunt Zhang was a terrible liar. She knew the meds were for a mental condition, but she couldn't say that, so she'd cooked up a ridiculous excuse to dodge the question.

"How'd you choke? Drink some more water." Aunt Zhang patted Xiaoze's back to help him breathe easier.

Su Xingze finally caught his breath and slumped back in his chair, stunned. Performance-enhancing meds? No freaking way. With Xiaolu's stamina and staying power, why would he need those?

"I'm good now, Aunt Zhang. Go do your thing. After I finish eating, I need to go sign a contract with the shop owner." This time, Su Xingze was going with Fu Yao.

Fu Yao had nothing going on at home and said he wanted to chip in as an investor. Having someone he trusted to back him up would save a ton of hassle, so Su Xingze set it up to go sign with Fu Yao.

By the time he was done eating, the kitten had finished too. Fu Yao was a sucker for cute little critters and begged Su Xingze to bring Xiaobei along. Su Xingze couldn't say no, so he decided to bring Xiaobei along to show him off.

When Su Xingze got there, Fu Yao had already been waiting a while. Xiaobei was on his best behavior and did him proud, lying in Fu Yao's arms like the perfect little angel.

Su Xingze grabbed two cups of milk tea and, seeing how smitten Fu Yao was, asked, "If you love them that much, why not get one of your own?"

Fu Yao said helplessly, "My mom's allergic to animal fur. We can't have any pets at home."

"Well, that settles that." Su Xingze sat on the bench and asked him, "So how've you been holding up?"

"What do you think? As long as that Ying Ying's still breathing, I don't dare step out alone. Even when I'm out with you, I'm scared out of my mind, constantly scanning the crowd." Fu Yao glanced around as he talked, like it had become second nature.

Su Xingze said, "I've been thinking. He reeled me in, and he reeled you in too. It's gotta be because we're useful to him. But the guy's such a player, there's no way we're the only ones he's hooked. A guy like that is capable of anything. Sure, he's got powers normal people don't, but we can't just hide forever. If he's gonna push us around, we need to fight back now!"

Fu Yao said gloomily, "How are we supposed to fight back? The second I see him, I turn to jelly and do whatever he says."

A lightbulb went off for Su Xingze: "If we can't meet face-to-face, what about WeChat? Send him gifts to keep tabs on him?"

Fu Yao snapped out of it: "Xingze-ge, that actually makes a ton of sense! I was so terrified of him that I avoided him like the plague. It never even crossed my mind to use him!"

Su Xingze said helplessly, "He doesn't trust me anymore, and I've already deleted all his contacts."

Fu Yao was equally troubled: "Same here. I was scared shitless. No way I was keeping his info."

"What if we test the waters?" Su Xingze suggested.

Fu Yao was sick of living in the shadows too, so he agreed.

They hashed it out: tomorrow Fu Yao would re-add Ying Ying, and three days later, Su Xingze would do the same.

Know your enemy and know yourself, and you'll never lose a fight. To get rid of him, the best move was to confront him head-on and make him pay for what he'd done.

The landlord showed up. After double-checking everything, Su Xingze signed the contract and took the renovation company the landlord recommended.

Su Xingze left the design plans to the renovation crew. The plans wouldn't be ready for a few days, so he had time to kill. Then he remembered the guy who'd saved the cat had sent him an address for his family's cat café.

"Wanna hit up a cat café?" Su Xingze suggested.

Fu Yao was all in and asked, "You know a good one?"

Su Xingze nodded: "I caught Xiaobei. A young guy caught the other one, and he said his family runs a cat café. We can drop by whenever."

"Then let's go! I'm totally obsessed with cats now!" Fu Yao hailed a ride, and they got to the address in no time.

The two hopped out, took in the courtyard in front of them, exchanged a look, and knocked.

It was a little past noon. The door opened, and a man with a very tough look—black earrings, a scarred eyebrow, and a cigarette in his mouth—appeared. He looked them over, saw the carrier, and asked, "Here to pet cats and dogs? You're lucky. We're usually only open on weekends, but I happen to be here today. Come in."

"Are we the first customers today?" Su Xingze asked with a smile.

"Everyone thinks we're closed during the week, so few people come." The boss handed over a menu: "Take a look at what you want to order. Sit anywhere. I'll go let the dogs and cats out."

Fu Yao was already looking at the menu. The food here was very substantial—there were noodles and rice, and even hot pot and iron pot stew, like a regular restaurant.

Fu Yao was dazzled by the options and said in shock, "Can this really be called a cat café? This could pass for a guesthouse!"

Actually, he wasn't wrong. The environment here was great. The courtyard had a lot of greenery, with flowers blooming fragrantly, and there was a thriving persimmon tree, heavy with fruit in this autumn season.

Fu Yao ordered a lot of food. Before the boss went into the kitchen to cook, Su Xingze asked him, "Is there a high school senior here? Named Ying Yue?"

"How do you know?" Wang Xin put out his cigarette. "I did take in a kid to raise, but he's a senior now and went off to school."

Su Xingze let Xiaobei out. "Xiaobei here was caught with Ying Yue's help. I'm very grateful to him, so I wanted to come see his cat friends and thank him in person."

Wang Xin guessed who this person was. So this was the one the boss liked. He was good-looking and had a kind personality, though he had been blind for a while—fortunately, he'd recovered later.

To avoid making the boss's partner uncomfortable, he didn't reveal his identity. Instead, he took the menu and said casually, "Wait a moment, you two. I'll bring your food right up. My kid is about to get out of school for lunch, so I need to cook for him."

Fu Yao was completely absorbed in the cats and dogs, unable to tear himself away.

All the cats here were rescues from outside, all kinds of breeds—tabbies, Chinese wildcats, orange cats, calicos, cows, and black cats. They were all plump and healthy, though a few were missing a leg and wobbled as they walked, but they were very affectionate.

The dogs were all stray dogs that weren't much to look at, but every one of them was well-behaved. They didn't fight with the cats and even huddled together for warmth.

When Wang Xin brought out the coffee, he introduced, "These were all picked up from outside. Some I found, and some the kid found. They're not much to look at, but none of them bite. You can pick them up."

Fu Yao had been waiting for that. He scooped up a cat in one arm and a dog in the other, hugging them all close.

Su Xingze wasn't to be outdone either. He held several big cats in his arms, so happy he wanted to take them all home.

Wang Xin hadn't finished cooking when the kid came home, a bag slung over one shoulder and a few books in his hand.

As soon as he walked in, he was surrounded by cats and dogs. Several tried to climb up on him, and he pulled them off one by one.

Ying Yue saw the people in the courtyard, put down his bag and books, and said in surprise, "I didn't expect you to come so soon."

Su Xingze showed him Xiaobei: "Thanks for the other day."

"No need to be polite. Actually, I recognized you, which is why I helped." Ying Yue pointed to the kitchen: "My dad is Chairman Xingze's assistant."

He remembered that Assistant Yin and Assistant Xu had mentioned that Lu Xingwen had three assistants, but one of them was often away on business trips, so in all this time, he'd never met him.

Ying Yue went in to help cook. He had approached on purpose back then, just to make his presence known.

Wang Xin, who was chopping vegetables off to the side, asked, "How did you end up rescuing a cat all the way in the villa area?"

Ying Yue called out a sweet "Dad" and hugged him from behind. "Because they're so cute. Your birthday's in a couple days. I don't have money or the means to give you anything, so all I could do was catch you your favorite long-haired calico."

Wang Xin ruffled the kid's hair. "I don't need any of that. As long as you're all here with me, that's enough."

Ying Yue nodded.

But he wanted more than that. He wanted to give Wang Xin a good life, to reclaim everything that belonged to him, so Wang Xin would never have to risk his life out there again.

Every time Wang Xin went out and left him behind, Ying Yue was alone in the darkness.

He hated that feeling of being by himself.

After lunch that afternoon, the driver came to get them. Su Xingze noticed Lu Xingwen was there too. Lu Xingwen got out of the car after seeing Wang Xin, and caught a sidelong glance at the young man from the other day.

Wang Xin caught the look and introduced him. "This is my boy."

Lu Xingwen looked puzzled. "I thought you were only twenty-eight. When did you have a kid?"

Wang Xin said calmly, "I took him in."

"You've got so many mouths to feed. I'll give you a raise next month." Lu Xingwen pulled Su Xingze into the car, the jealousy from that day fading away. Although the kid wasn't old, his eyes were full of experience, and especially when he looked at Wang Xin, it was different from the way he looked at them.

Lu Xingwen knew that expression all too well—it was exactly like his own.

Wang Xin thanked him. Ying Yue followed with a thank you as well.

It had been dark that day, so he couldn't see clearly, but now in the daylight, Lu Xingwen suddenly noticed that Ying Yue bore some resemblance to Ying Ying, especially around the eyes and nose.

Worried that someone with ulterior motives might be using Wang Xin, he asked an extra question. "When did you take him in?"

Wang Xin recalled, "It must have been about five years ago. He was only thirteen then, half a head shorter than me. I never expected him to grow this fast—now he's half a head taller than me."

Su Xingze also caught the implication in Lu Xingwen's words, especially since this Ying Yue really did look somewhat like Ying Ying, and he happened to have been taken in exactly five years ago.

This all seemed a little too coincidental, didn't it?