Chapter 455: The Beast Husbands’ Quarrel, the Brothers’ Battlefield

"Cat Teacher!"

Jiang Qingli was pleasantly surprised. She slipped into the car and sat down next to Yuan Shimo.

With practiced ease, she grabbed his hand, giving it a couple of tugs in mock complaint. "When did you get here? Why didn’t you tell me? That’s so unfair!"

Lately, although Jiang Qingli had been busy, the two of them still chatted for a little while every day.

After the incident with Yuan Shiyao’s confession, Yuan Shimo had apparently been quite shaken. Normally afraid of bothering her and hesitant to send too many messages, he had thrown caution to the wind these past few days and started sharing his daily life with Jiang Qingli.

He used to think his daily routine was dull and boring, so he rarely told Jiang Qingli about it.

But after he started, he slowly began to discover the joy of sharing his day through Jiang Qingli’s amusing replies.

And so, in the days that followed, Yuan Shimo learned to report in, share his daily life, and even, under the coaxing of his mischievous female master, take a few selfies. (Although Yuan Shimo didn’t dare look at them a second time and deleted them immediately after sending, Jiang Qingli had saved them all.)

Jiang Qingli had thought she had Yuan Shimo’s every move completely figured out, but he had managed to come here without letting a single word slip.

She was just about to use this as leverage to threaten Yuan Shimo into sending her more selfies in the future when a friendly laugh suddenly came from the front seat. "HAHAHA, Miss Jiang, you should give Shimo a break! The kid’s ears are all red!"

Only when she heard the voice did Jiang Qingli notice a middle-aged male with silver-gray hair sitting in the front seat.

It was Yuan Shimo’s mentor.

"My apologies, I should call you Advisor Jiang." The male smiled at her and extended a hand from the front seat. "Do you remember me, Advisor Jiang? I’m Shimo’s mentor."

"Of course!" Jiang Qingli calmly shook his hand and smiled politely. "Professor Meng Xian. You’re the most knowledgeable scholar in the Empire. How could I possibly forget you?"

"You’re too kind, Advisor Jiang." Meng Xian exchanged a few pleasantries with her before explaining, "When Shimo heard about this, he asked to come along. He even stayed up all night to finish his report just to give you a surprise."

Yuan Liang, who had just poked his head in, happened to overhear this and burst out laughing. "See? Isn’t it a surprise!"

As soon as he said that, Jiang Qingli clearly felt the fingers she was holding curl up.

Glancing to her side, she saw Yuan Shimo with his eyes lowered, his thin lips pressed together. Beneath his hair, the tips of his ears were faintly visible, tinged with red.

Out of sight of the others, Jiang Qingli gently tickled Yuan Shimo’s palm with her fingertips, raising an eyebrow with a smile.

Yuan Liang had to go on patrol later and wouldn’t be accompanying them to the orphanage.

There was still some time before they had to leave, and Baili Jing was still getting his makeup and styling done, so he hadn’t arrived yet. Since Yuan Liang and Meng Xian hadn’t seen each other in a long time, they chatted through the car window, catching up. Yuan Liang also mentioned the recent emergency situation.

The two were deep in conversation.

In the back seat, however, it was very quiet.

The girl was looking down at her phone, texting Baili Jing and urging him to hurry up.

Yuan Shimo sat beside her, observing her expression, his lips pursed slightly.

Yuan Shiyao had already been in the Lower District for almost a month.

The two brothers were not in contact at all, so Yuan Shimo had no idea how Yuan Shiyao was pursuing Jiang Qingli.

So he had simply taken this opportunity to come to the Lower District himself.

But just now, when Yuan Liang asked if she was surprised, she hadn’t agreed or disagreed...

’Is she unhappy?’

’Does she not like me acting on my own?’

Yuan Shimo had a tendency to overthink. After worrying for a moment, he remembered he had promised Jiang Qingli to always be direct.

He glanced at his mentor and Yuan Liang, who were still catching up, then gently hooked Jiang Qingli’s finger, pulling her a little closer. Leaning in toward her ear, he asked in a low voice, "Are you unhappy?"

"What if I said I was a little?" Jiang Qingli looked up, imitating him by speaking in a whisper. "Cat Teacher, how are you going to make it up to me?"

There was a smile in the girl’s eyes, and the emotion in her voice was deliberately suppressed. Seeing this, Yuan Shimo knew that Jiang Qingli wasn’t angry at all.

His female master.

She always had a bit of a mischievous streak, fond of digging little traps for him to fall into.

But Yuan Shimo quite liked the little traps she set for him.

The white-cat-like boy’s eyes curved into a smile. He laced his fingers through hers with one hand and asked gently, "My Qingli, what kind of compensation would you like?"

"Let me think..." Jiang Qingli thought for a moment, then leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Tonight, how about Cat Teacher comes to my room and recreates the pose from that selfie you sent me?"

Yuan Shimo’s ears instantly burned hot.

The selfie pose...

In the past few days, Yuan Shimo had sent Jiang Qingli three selfies.

One was when he was petting Xiao Xue, and Xiao Xue bit his hair. He thought it was funny, so he sent it.

Another was when he was taking a bath. Thinking of the lessons he had learned before, he sent a photo, hands trembling, that was shrouded in steam and showed his shoulders.

And the last time...

The last time was...

Yuan Shimo barely dared to think about it.

But Jiang Qingli was staring right at him. Probably knowing what he was thinking, she hummed like a child, "What’s wrong? You don’t want to?"

Yuan Shimo’s thin lips pressed together, and he seemed to be caught in a dilemma.

The boy’s porcelain-white skin was flushed pink, and his eyelashes trembled. He didn’t dare to look at her at all.

Seeing that he was so shy he was practically steaming, Jiang Qingli stopped teasing and gently squeezed his fingertips. "Alright, I was just kidding..."

Just as Yuan Shimo was about to speak, the car door was suddenly pulled open from the outside.

SWISH—

A handsome young man’s face appeared before them. He smiled and said, "Sorry, I’m late."

Yuan Liang looked over at the sound of the voice and chuckled. "Mr. Baili, you’re not late. Besides, with a look like that, it would’ve been worth the wait even if you were."

Baili Jing spoke as he sat down beside Jiang Qingli. "You’re too kind," he said gently. "I only hope that today can bring more public attention to the children of the Twelve Cities, and that I don’t fail to live up to Advisor Jiang’s good intentions."

"Great, then I can rest easy!" Yuan Liang took a few steps back to make way for them. "Good luck in there."

The car window rolled up, and the vehicle started, heading toward the orphanage.

Meng Xian was on a call, so he raised the partition first.

The back seat instantly grew quiet, the sound of their breathing audible in the silence.

Baili Jing leaned against the back of his seat, raised a hand to stroke Jiang Qingli’s face, and asked in a soft voice, "Have you been waiting long?"

"I just came down myself." Jiang Qingli rubbed her cheek against his palm, not stingy with her praise. "You look so handsome today!"

Yuan Liang really wasn’t exaggerating. Although Baili Jing was only wearing casual clothes today, his gentle, jade-like temperament was enough to make people stare.

Baili Jing smiled. "They say ’a husband’s appearance is a wife’s glory.’ Today is a public event, how could I let my baby lose face?"

At this, Baili Jing lifted his gaze as if just noticing Yuan Shimo and raised an eyebrow.

"Shimo, what brings you to the military district? Why didn’t you tell me beforehand? I could have had someone prepare clothes and styling for you too."

Yuan Shimo glanced down at his own white shirt and gray trousers and replied gently, "Thank you for the kind offer, Mr. Baili, but since I don’t need to be in the spotlight, it’s better to be low-key."

Jiang Qingli: "..."

’How did these two get so passive-aggressive?’

The female master, caught in the middle, could only pretend to be busy and look down at her documents.

...

Once they arrived, the two Beast Husbands called a truce.

After getting out of the car, they presented a perfectly harmonious front to outsiders.

But upon arrival, Jiang Qingli noticed that quite a few members of the media were already there.

They went around through the back.

In the backyard, a car was parked nearby.

A black-haired young man’s eyes lit up.

"Qingli, long time no see."