Chapter 461 - 460: What-If: Did the Big Shot Vie for Favor Today? 29

Chapter 461: Chapter 460: What-If: Did the Big Shot Vie for Favor Today? 29

Wang Xiaotao felt like the sun had risen from the west. The two school tyrants, who never studied, had actually asked him to tutor them. They only needed his help during lunch, and they would even pay him.

Wang Xiaotao was too embarrassed to accept the money. He’d already received nearly a thousand yuan from them for helping take care of Onyx, which was enough to cover his living expenses for half a year. It allowed him to study for his college entrance exams without any financial worries.

He volunteered to tutor the two of them for free and even shared all his study notes.

But Jiang Xia and Mu Tangfeng had plenty of money and didn’t like freeloading. When Wang Xiaotao refused payment, they each stuffed a thousand yuan into his backpack anyway, promising to give him more later if needed.

They had actually wanted to give him five thousand, but Wang Xiaotao only had a basic flip phone and couldn’t use mobile payments. This was all the cash they had on them.

Thinking about the two thousand yuan already in his backpack, Wang Xiaotao absolutely refused to accept any more. ’If these two young masters are just acting on a whim and give up on studying later,’ he thought, ’I’ll return the money to them.’

For Wang Xiaotao, the luckiest thing to happen this year was getting to know Onyx and the two school tyrants.

That afternoon, Wang Xiaotao tutored them in earnest. He had initially assumed they were just acting on a whim, but to his surprise, they listened intently for the entire hour-long lunch session. They even took notes on concepts they didn’t understand so they could ask him later.

Wang Xiaotao looked at their neat, elegant handwriting. ’Maybe they’re serious about this,’ he thought.

After school, Jiang Xia and Mu Tangfeng decided to take further action. They had seen the news reports about cat traffickers and felt that simply waiting at home for Onyx to return wasn’t nearly enough.

They recalled the first time they met Onyx. Even though it was a Cat Demon, its powers must have been very weak. It had looked like it was having a tough life, filthy and nothing but skin and bones.

So, the two of them had their bodyguards and Wang Xiaotao round up all the stray cats within a several-kilometer radius of the school and established a private cat shelter.

This way, if the Cat Demon reincarnated as another stray, the shelter would ensure it wouldn’t have to suffer the same miserable fate as before.

Not only that, they also put Wang Xiaotao in charge of feeding the cats in the evening, essentially giving him a part-time job.

They made this decision because back when they first got Onyx, it had run off, and Wang Xiaotao was the one who found it. They figured Onyx must have approved of him, not to mention his grades were excellent.

Although both felt a pang of jealousy, they swallowed their pride in the hopes of bringing Onyx back sooner.

Wang Xiaotao, however, just saw it as an act of kindness. He figured they knew his family was poor and were trying to create opportunities for him to earn money.

He was very grateful to them, so that night, he stayed home and prepared even more detailed study notes to make it easier for them to understand.

Over the next few days, Jiang Xia and Mu Tangfeng split their time between studying and their tutoring sessions, trying to catch up. After school, they always made sure to visit the cat shelter, hoping to find a cat that the Cat Demon might have possessed. But unfortunately, they came up empty-handed.

They had lost the Onyx they loved so much...

「Meanwhile, in the He family’s home.」

He Hanshi continued to persevere with his physical therapy. Though most people believed his leg would never recover, the thought of Pumpkin kept him going. He wanted to be in his best possible shape to welcome Pumpkin home, so he diligently followed his doctor’s instructions.

After several months, he finally regained some feeling in his leg. Mr. and Mrs. He were so overjoyed they nearly wept. They hugged Pumpkin, exclaiming that the cat was their lucky star.

After several months in their care, this Pumpkin had grown accustomed to being a house cat. Its temperament had become docile again; it no longer scratched or bit people and was, on the contrary, quite affectionate.

However, it was friendly with everyone in the family except for He Hanshi, whom it never dared to approach.

He Hanshi always immediately looked into the cat’s eyes, only to look away a moment later, a flicker of disappointment in his gaze that only he understood.

’It still wasn’t his Pumpkin.’

A news report about cat traffickers on TV broke his train of thought. Cradling the cat, Mrs. He said with disgust, "I can’t believe people like that exist in this world, being so cruel to these little animals."

"Oh my, and so many of them are house cats. If a cat owner lost their beloved pet, how heartbroken they must be."

Perhaps because they now had Pumpkin, Mrs. He could, for once, empathize with the feelings of a cat owner.

He Hanshi glanced at the TV and made a call, instructing Assistant Chen to make a large donation to the stray animal shelter in Z City. The staff at the shelter were incredibly grateful. After receiving the funds the next day, they called him personally to ask if he’d like to visit and see the animals. They added that if he found one he liked, he was welcome to take it home.

With his injured leg, He Hanshi was usually reluctant to travel far. But when he thought of the new batch of stray cats at the shelter, an idea sparked, and he agreed to go.

’When I first found Pumpkin, it was a stray. Could it be among them?’

...

Shi Lan had to admit, her initial opinion of Yan Huoshui had been quite poor. But one by one, his actions had caused her to see him in a completely different light.

He was actually a pretty decent guy. After accepting her as his cat, his temper had mellowed considerably. He gave her delicious treats every day and never scolded her. The only thing was, he would occasionally pinch the scruff of her neck to gauge her weight, then laugh and say, "Hmm, you seem a bit chubbier. Heavier, too."

Most girls are sensitive about their weight, and Shi Lan, even as a cat, hated being called fat. But Yan Huoshui never pressed the issue, barely mentioning it before stopping. He didn’t seem to mind her gaining weight; in fact, he seemed quite pleased.

"You’re softer to the touch this way."

After saying this, he would stroke her back and give her chubby little cheeks a squeeze.

As a cat with an owner, Shi Lan believed in the principle of not biting the hand that feeds you. She was obedient and cooperative, and as long as he didn’t annoy her, she was willing to play the part of a good little cat.

However, Yan Huoshui was a little *too* fond of pinching her. Shi Lan sometimes found him incredibly annoying, like someone suffering from severe cat deprivation. The moment he picked her up, his hands would start to wander restlessly.

One moment he’d be rubbing her ears, the next stroking her back, then pinching her tail or pressing her paws. He was even still curious about whether she was a male or a female.

At the end of her patience, Shi Lan finally leaped out of his arms and escaped to a nearby chair to sunbathe, ignoring him completely.

Yan Huoshui let out a delighted laugh and shook his head in mock helplessness. "You’re a cat, yet you’re shy. How strange."

"I won’t look, alright?"

He was just looking for an excuse to tease the little creature. She was just so fun to tease.

Because of his filming schedule, Yan Huoshui brought Shi Lan to the set. By now, the cat was practically his personal accessory; he took her everywhere. Except for the occasional inconvenient moment when he’d have Xiao Li or Zhang Chen hold her, the cat was never out of his arms.

The film crew had grown accustomed to how attached he was to his cat. It was still surprising, though—the man who had seemed so cold and aloof was actually a complete cat slave in private.

For some reason, the crew’s fear of him began to fade. That, combined with the story of him outsmarting the cat traffickers, had unknowingly transformed his private reputation on set from "cold and unfeeling" to "a great guy who’s just cold on the outside."

Of course, after the incident with the male newcomer, everyone knew he didn’t like being disturbed, and no one was foolish enough to test that. But whenever they saw the beautiful white cat sunbathing, they couldn’t help but gaze at it, fighting the urge to reach out for a pet.

It was no wonder Yan Huoshui had become such a cat slave. Who could resist such an adorable and beautiful little kitty, after all?~