Chapter 524 - 523: What If: Did the Big Shot Compete for Favor Today? 92

Chapter 524: Chapter 523: What If: Did the Big Shot Compete for Favor Today? 92

Shi Lan found the whole thing bizarre. She was his fan, at most. Why was he being so nosy?

However, the most important thing now was to get him to take back the gifts. She stopped dwelling on Yan Huoshui’s tone and brought up the matter of the gifts again.

Yan Huoshui was in no mood to talk any more with Shi Lan. He sneered, "Just consider it a memorial for my dead fan. Do whatever you want with them. In any case, I don’t want them."

With that, he hung up.

Shi Lan stared at the "Call Ended" notification on WeChat. When she recalled his comment about a "memorial for a dead fan," the anger and frustration she’d felt during the call instantly gave way to exasperated amusement.

After staring at her phone for a long moment, she walked to the door. "Alright, I’ll sign for them."

She knew that after what Yan Huoshui had said, he wasn’t going to take the items back. But this was tens of millions worth of goods; unlike him, she wasn’t so wealthy and profligate that she could just cast it all aside.

The two men at the door both breathed a sigh of relief, their faces lighting up. This was a huge order, a major boost to their performance metrics. After overhearing the conversation between Shi Lan and Yan Huoshui, they had thought the order was going to fall through. What a relief.

Shi Lan signed her name. The two men placed all the bags, large and small, in her entryway before leaving in excitement, even forgetting to take the elevator.

After they left, Shi Lan opened one of the bags for a look. The contents matched the logo on the outside—it was indeed a luxury handbag. She looked it up on the brand’s official website; the bag cost 890,000.

She drew in a sharp breath. ’Utterly terrifying.’

"Such a spendthrift."

Shi Lan muttered helplessly, not bothering to look at the rest.

Ye Ming padded over, his gaze turning complicated as he stared at the pile of luxury shopping bags.

He’d thought Yan Huoshui wouldn’t have much contact with Shi Lan. ’So they already knew each other?’

His expression dimmed slightly. Seeing Ping’an approach, Shi Lan subconsciously reached out to stroke the cat’s head. But the moment her hand touched his fur, she froze and stiffly pulled it back.

’I almost forgot again. Right now, it’s Ye Ming inside Ping’an.’

She wasn’t too worried about Ping’an himself. Based on her own past experiences of possessing cats, she figured Ping’an would return as soon as Ye Ming’s soul departed. She just needed to be more careful about her habit of petting cats from now on. Things were different now.

Sensing Shi Lan’s movement, Ye Ming snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at her.

Shi Lan gave an awkward laugh. "Sorry about that. It’s a habit."

Ye Ming shook his head, not minding at all.

On the contrary, he found Shi Lan’s hand very warm. When she touched him, his heart couldn’t help but start racing.

’But Shi Lan is a girl, and we’re practically strangers. I shouldn’t be having inappropriate thoughts or taking advantage of her. Otherwise, wouldn’t everything I’ve learned about honor and integrity be for naught?’

Shi Lan temporarily moved the pile of gifts from Yan Huoshui into the storage room. She didn’t dare to use any of it, afraid that he would get angry about her no longer being his fan and demand everything back.

’Still, this is the first time I’m realizing how childish Yan Huoshui is,’ she thought. ’A top-tier superstar, and he’s actually comparing himself to a rookie who just debuted. That Li Wenyi can’t compare to him in acting, status, or looks.’

’I have no idea what he has to be so petty about.’

Shi Lan shook her head, pushing the matter from her mind. She walked out of the storage room and saw Ye Ming, who was back on the sofa, staring blankly at the television. Her headache returned.

Shi Lan didn’t have much experience interacting with guys. Dealing with a cat was one thing—she could just pretend not to understand if she didn’t know what to do. But this was a person, and a person needed to be answered.

Besides, Ye Ming wasn’t just some random guy. He had been very kind to her when she was a cat, so she couldn’t just ignore him.

Shi Lan sat back down on the sofa. After a moment’s thought, she asked, "Is there anything you need? I can prepare it for you. I don’t know how long you’ll be stuck as a cat, so it would be more convenient."

Ye Ming’s unfocused eyes sharpened. He turned his head to look at Shi Lan, then jumped in front of the laptop and typed: [Thank you]

[If it’s okay, could I borrow your computer?]

’He didn’t really care about anything else. Now that he was a cat, he could make do with the supplies in Shi Lan’s pet room. He wasn’t picky.’

Shi Lan nodded. "Sure. Use it whenever you want. There’s no password on it right now, and it’s connected to the home Wi-Fi."

Ye Ming looked at her, his emerald-green eyes full of amusement as he gave a little nod.

He wasn’t aware, however, that his tail had begun to sway unconsciously, held high in the air—his whole body was radiating happiness.

Shi Lan couldn’t help but stare at his tail for a few moments before forcing herself to look away.

She moved the laptop onto the sofa where Ye Ming could easily use it. Then, as she watched him slowly start to type with his paws, she couldn’t resist secretly snapping a few photos.

In the photo, a black cat was sitting up, moving its one good forepaw back and forth across the keyboard.

Even though the black cat’s fur was so dark you couldn’t make out its expression, it somehow gave off a very serious and diligent impression.

Shi Lan was tempted to get him a pair of glasses. ’That would be hilarious.’

The scene looked like something an AI would generate. She secretly sent a picture of Ping’an typing to her best friend.

Chen Xinyi sent back several question marks, followed by a burst of laughter. [HAHAHAHAHA, Lanlan, where did you get this AI image? You’re really making poor three-legged Ping’an work for it.]

[But this AI is so heartless! It didn’t even generate his other leg for him.]

’Yeah, it is pretty funny,’ Shi Lan thought.

The thought of Ye Ming, normally a top student, now painstakingly typing with a single cat paw—so driven he wouldn’t stop working even as a cat—made Shi Lan feel a surge of fond pity for him.

She didn’t tell her best friend about the whole cat-possession business. For one, it sounded too absurd to say out loud. For another, she didn’t want to cause unnecessary trouble. Something this unscientific was inherently dangerous; the fewer people who knew, the better.

Besides, possessing a cat was very risky. There had been several times before when she’d worried she was going to lose one of her nine lives. Thankfully, she was lucky and had met a few good owners.

She and her best friend chatted for a while longer. Chen Xinyi even used an AI to edit the picture and restore Ping’an’s missing leg. Seeing this, Shi Lan did her own edit, adding a pair of glasses to the image.

And you know what? It looked just about how she’d imagined.

The top scholar of the feline world.

Shi Lan paid no more attention to Ye Ming, busy with her AI creations with her best friend. Meanwhile, Ye Ming had just opened the laptop. He was about to search for some academic papers when his vision went black. In the blink of an eye, he was back in his own bedroom.

Ye Ming checked the time and realized he had already missed one of his classes.

He rubbed his brow in resignation. Thinking about what had just happened, he decided to skip his second class as well.

As an auditing student, the requirements for him weren’t as strict as for the full-time students. L City University of Technology didn’t require him to graduate, so he had a fair amount of freedom.

Right now, Ye Ming was more concerned with other matters than class. Wanting to confirm that becoming a cat hadn’t been a dream, he immediately opened WeChat.

When he saw the friend request from Shi Lan in his WeChat, his brow instantly relaxed, and the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but curve into a slight smile.

’Thank goodness. It wasn’t a dream.’