Chapter 460 - 459: IF Storyline: Did the Big Shot Vie for Favor Today? 28

Chapter 460: Chapter 459: IF Storyline: Did the Big Shot Vie for Favor Today? 28

Joys and sorrows are not shared by all.

Zhang Chen was overjoyed, but Yan Huoshui sighed to himself. The incident had blown up far more than he’d expected. ’There’s no way I can hide this from the old man now.’

Sure enough, his dad contacted him not long after. Yan Huoshui was a late-in-life child of the Yan Family. He had an older brother, and as the youngest, the family had always been rather indulgent with him. As long as he didn’t endanger national security or break the law, there was always someone to clean up his messes.

However, his decision to enter the entertainment industry had been met with opposition from the entire family.

The Yan Family was influential in both politics and business. His older brother had gone into politics, and his father had planned for Yan Huoshui to go into business. They never imagined he would end up in the entertainment industry.

Yan Huoshui had a huge fight with his father over it. In a fit of anger, his father had threatened to sever their ties and forbade Yan Huoshui from ever using the family name.

That was why Yan Huoshui had never spoken about his family background in the entertainment industry. He had become famous so quickly that the Yan Family, who had originally expected him to suffer a little before coming home, was caught off guard. They watched as their son’s career soared. While Mr. and Mrs. Yan might curse him out loud, they secretly scoured the TV every day for a glimpse of him.

His family could tolerate all that. But when the story of him saving the cat blew up online and they learned he had nearly been stabbed, Mr. and Mrs. Yan couldn’t hold back any longer. They had to call and check on him.

Yan Huoshui had inherited his sharp tongue from his father. In the political sphere, his father’s words were famously incisive, always striking a fatal blow. The two of them were like a father-son duo in the top lane of a MOBA. The moment Yan Huoshui picked up, Mr. Yan opened fire like a machine gun. "You brat! You’ve been out on your own for one year and you think you’re hot stuff, huh? Have you got any brains in that head of yours? You think you’re so tough, rushing in to face a criminal by yourself? Why didn’t you call the police immediately..."

Yan Huoshui didn’t back down an inch, retorting and cutting him off. "Old man, my wings might be grown, but they’re no match for that foul mouth of yours. Tsk. I’m very confident in my own skills. Do you think I took all those Sanda and Taekwondo classes for nothing? Lest you forget, neither you nor my brother can win a fight against me."

"Oh, and I’m not like you. You’re the one who went to save someone bare-handed and ended up snatching the knife away from them. I’m different. I brought a stun baton..."

At the mention of this old story, Mr. Yan subconsciously glanced at a scar on his hand. He tried to save face. "That was different. I was confident in my own abilities."

"Right. And I’m even more confident in mine."

Yan Huoshui praised himself without blushing or missing a beat.

Meanwhile, Shi Lan was eating off to the side. Times had changed. Yan Huoshui couldn’t stand the smell of cat food, and she herself had wrinkled her nose at it in his presence. Now, she was eating high-end cuisine fit for human consumption, just with less seasoning.

She contentedly savored her grand meal. Hearing Yan Huoshui on the phone, she glanced at him curiously a few times with her round, aquamarine eyes. ’Perhaps I’ve never seen someone so self-confident,’ she mused. But on second thought, ’he does have a point.’

By the end of the call, Mr. Yan finally couldn’t hold back a laugh. For all his scolding, what he felt most in his heart was pride for his son.

The Yan Family had always seen the entertainment industry as a cesspool, full of unsavory characters. A giant arena of fame and fortune, it held too many temptations, and they worried it would negatively influence their son.

As the saying goes, "You are the company you keep." That was precisely why they had tried to stop him.

But Yan Huoshui had always marched to the beat of his own drum and had his own ideas; the Yan Family couldn’t stop him. Now, seeing that his son had been in the entertainment industry for so long yet remained a person of integrity, Mr. Yan breathed a small sigh of relief.

Mr. Yan was too proud to ask his son over for dinner at the family home, but Mrs. Yan, who missed her son dearly, snatched the phone. She asked when he had time to come home for a visit. It had been so long, and just like his fans, they could only see him on television.

Yan Huoshui still had to finish filming his remaining scenes in Z City that month, so he was temporarily unavailable and had to decline his mother’s invitation.

Disappointment flickered in Mrs. Yan’s eyes, but she quickly asked, "What about after this month? You should have time then, right?"

"Yeah. Okay."

Yan Huoshui couldn’t refuse his mother. He didn’t have any major conflicts with his family; he hadn’t seen them in a year simply because he was too busy with work, constantly traveling between different provinces and cities. Moreover, with his explosive rise to fame, the paparazzi were relentless. He hadn’t gone home precisely because he didn’t want his family to be targeted.

But after his work in Z City was done, he planned to take a month off. He should be able to set aside some time to see them then.

Mrs. Yan finally hung up, happy. Mr. Yan, however, grumbled unhappily from the sidelines, "Hmph. It’s fine if he doesn’t come back. At his age, he doesn’t even have a girlfriend. He should be too ashamed to show his face at home."

Mrs. Yan shot him a glare. "What are you talking about? He said he’ll be back in a month."

"Oh. Whatever. He can come back or not, I don’t care."

Proudly, Mr. Yan suppressed the smile that threatened to form on his lips.

「Meanwhile, at Capital First Middle School.」

Jiang Xia and Mu Tangfeng were picking at their lunch, the food tasteless in their mouths. As they scrolled through the news on their phones, they couldn’t help but grumble indignantly, "Damn those cat snatchers! They must be the ones who scared Onyx away."

Wang Xiaotao, who was sitting in the corner, looked completely bewildered. ’Isn’t Onyx at one of the young masters’ houses? How could he have been scared away?’

It was true. Onyx was currently staying at the Mu Family’s residence, cared for by a dedicated servant.

But the two boys, who had long suspected Onyx was a Cat Demon, noticed an immediate change in the cat after Shi Lan left.

Onyx no longer seemed to understand human speech. He became more irritable and possessive of his food, his eyes filled with a wild, bestial ferocity. His personality was not the least bit docile.

Most importantly, Jiang Xia’s cat allergy had returned. It wasn’t too severe—perhaps because of his prolonged exposure to Onyx before, his body had begun to desensitize—but it was enough to trigger his rhinitis.

After that, the cat was sent over to the Mu Family’s house.

Mu Tangfeng couldn’t stop himself from poking his rice with his chopsticks. A thought seemed to strike him, and his eyes filled with disappointment. "Maybe Onyx left because he thinks we’re idiots."

They hated studying. They figured the Cat Demon possessing Onyx must have thought they were too stupid and lacked ambition, and had finally decided it didn’t want to be around them anymore. After all, the change in Onyx had started right around the time they’d completely given up on school.

Hearing this, Jiang Xia wanted to argue, but he ultimately kept his mouth shut.

A moment later, his eyes lit up. "If that’s the case, does that mean Onyx will come back if our grades get better?"

"If he left because he was disgusted with us, then he’ll definitely notice when we improve and come back, right?"

Hearing this, Mu Tangfeng’s eyes brightened as well. "Maybe," he said, uncertain.

Uncertain or not, at least it gave them a goal.

With that, the two of them pushed the food they didn’t want to eat onto Wang Xiaotao’s tray, their eyes shining with renewed purpose. "Hurry up and eat. When you’re done, you’re tutoring us. We’ll pay you."

"Huh?"

Urged on by the pair, a dazed Wang Xiaotao quickly finished his meal. The moment he was done, they dragged him off to study.