CH 16

He Yanlu placed the black cat on his lap and covered it with a piece of clothing, making it look like a gray bundle, except for the strange movement of the package. He gently slapped the black cat’s butt and whispered, “Don’t move!”

If this had happened before, Ye Yixing would have definitely been angry. But now, he felt extremely happy as he lay on He Yanlu’s lap, held by the latter’s hand, and lightly patted. It wasn’t that he enjoyed being abused, but he felt that He Yanlu’s tone was filled with a smile.

Ye Yixing found a comfortable position and obediently lay still, revealing only a pair of green, shining eyes, playfully shaking his whiskers as he gazed at He Yanlu. He Yanlu looked at him tenderly, his eyes filled with sweet indulgence.

“What do you usually feed him?” Yang Qu asked as he sat down next to He Yanlu, blocking the gap in people’s sight of the “gray bundle.”

“Anything, really,” the usually silent He Meiren seemed very willing to talk about her black cat, “I feed him whatever I eat.”

He Yanlu always tried to stuff him with whatever he was eating, and although Ye Yixing couldn’t say he disliked it, he sometimes couldn’t stand the overly sweet food.

Speaking of which, before this, He Yanlu rarely ate seafood except for seaweed.

Since he started raising the cat, He Yanlu’s diet has also changed, occasionally sharing the cat’s fish fillets, squid strips, seaweed, and other foods.

After all, when there is someone to eat with, the food tastes much better.

Once, He Yanlu bought fresh salmon for him, and seeing how he enjoyed eating it so much, as if it was the ultimate delicacy, he came over enviously and snatched it from the cat, childishly shouting, “You eat so deliciously, I want some too”…

Clearly, he had only bought it for him!!

With some time left before the class began, He Yanlu quietly reached out to touch the black cat hidden in his shirt. When he touched Xiao Hei’s ears, he smiled like a fox who had stolen meat…

To outsiders, the silly actions seemed ridiculous, but in Ye Yixing’s eyes, they were extremely cute. He stuck out his tongue and quickly licked He Yanlu’s retreating fingers. He Yanlu glared at him and whispered, “Stay still and don’t misbehave!”

(= dish =) Nima! It was mischievous of you! You allow yourself to touch me, but don’t allow me to lick you! You villain!

Yang Qu observed the interaction between the person and the cat with great interest, feeling that they were getting along particularly well.

Obviously, both He Yanlu and Ye Yixing were undergoing changes without realizing it. If Ye Yixing were human, he would never let anyone touch him without losing face, nor would he tolerate being commanded by someone else, let alone look at them with such loving eyes.

In Yang Qu’s memory, this good friend who had secretly paid attention to He Yanlu had never faced his own feelings.

Now that he was a cat, did he feel like it didn’t matter?

Well, don’t indulge in your love and emotions too much, otherwise, when you turn back into a human, you will completely lose control of your inflated desires…

“You’re not cooking for him to eat? How about steamed carp or something?”

“I don’t know how.” Feeling a little guilty after being reminded by Yang Qu, He Yanlu bit his lip and thought for a moment, then smiled again. “Maybe I can find a chance to try…”

Ye Yixing’s eye twitched: it’s going in that direction again. Although I have a great fantasy about it, to be honest, I don’t expect it… With your stupid and silly appearance, can the food you make be edible? If I’m forced to eat something that “isn’t edible,” then I’ll be in trouble! Although I can guarantee that I will be willing to eat it in front of you…

Yang Qu turned his head… it had nothing to do with him. His original intention was kind when he brought up the topic. (= =)

After a while, more students came to class. Computer fundamentals were a big class for the whole year, with nearly seventy people in the two classes of the Chinese Department in their third year. He Yanlu and the black cat were in the corner, with Yang Qu’s cover-up, so they didn’t attract attention.

After a while, both of them settled down. They listened to the lecture and operated the computer along with the teacher, while continuing to chat in a low voice.

In fact, He Yanlu wanted to ask Yang Qu about Chu Wenxing. Although he didn’t have the habit of meddling in other people’s affairs, Chu Wenxing was his only friend. In any case, he was a little worried about him because Chu Wenxing seemed to be afraid of getting along with Yang Qu.

In the end, he couldn’t help but blurt out, “Why does Chu Wenxing hide from you when he sees you?”

[…Did you do something to him?] Suddenly feeling that the second half of the sentence was a bit abrupt and impolite, He Yanlu swallowed it in time.

Yang Qu hesitated and didn’t answer immediately. He pondered for a while and said with a smile before the atmosphere became awkward, “Is he afraid of me…?”

He Yanlu remained silent and didn’t know how to continue the topic.

“Continue,” Yang Qu said. “I met him in third grade of elementary school…”

“Mmm,” He Yanlu responded. “He was in Japan before the age of ten.”

Ye Yixing took advantage of He Yanlu’s distraction and leaned forward curiously to listen to Yang Qu’s first love story.

“Hehe, that’s right. When I first saw him, my first impression was that he had a baby face, big round eyes, and was delicate and pretty like a girl, like a exquisite doll… Because he came from Japan, the classmates in our class didn’t like him and called him a little devil. He had trouble communicating with anyone… Because his Chinese wasn’t good and he was somewhat introverted…”

He Yanlu listened carefully with a hint of interest. He had never heard of these things before.

Ye Yixing imagined what Chu Wenxing looked like as a child and couldn’t connect that fragile and delicate little boy with the rebellious Chu Wenxing he saw now…

Did Yang Qu add emotional color to the story? (= =)

“As the class monitor, I naturally became his desk mate to help him integrate into the group…”

He Yanlu said, “It seems like it didn’t work. Before I met him, he was also a person who kept to himself. Now, he often seems to be alone.”

Yang Qu smiled wryly. “That’s right. He has a strong aversion to the care and attention of people around him. I even hated him at one point. I was just mechanically playing the role of class monitor. To be honest, I’ve never had such a hot face and cold butt experience before.”

Indeed, it has always been others surrounding him, the class monitor, the student union president, the club leader… Ye Yixing thought.

“Can you imagine what happened later?”

Yang Qu laughed suddenly, as if remembering something funny. “It may be hard to believe, but I didn’t find out until fifth grade that his name was Chu Wenxing, not Chu Wenxin.”

“Chu Wenxin?”

“Yes, his name on his homework was always written as Chu Wenxin. He only took a Chinese name when he returned to China at the age of ten. He couldn’t distinguish between the characters ‘xing’ and ‘xin’, so later I found out that he wrote ‘jinxing’ for happiness and ‘jianxing’ for hardship.”

Ye Yixing couldn’t help but almost burst out laughing.

“At that time, I pointed out this problem to him and said, ‘You can’t even write your own name correctly!’ He even argued with me until I looked it up in the dictionary to show him… He was very stubborn. After I proved him wrong, he felt instantly embarrassed because he had done a very stupid thing, and the stupid thing had lasted for two years… At that time, all the teachers and students thought his name was Chu Wenxin.”

He Yanlu couldn’t help but laugh. “I can’t believe something like that happened…”

“What are you still calling him for?” asked He Yanlu.

“It’s a beautiful childhood memory, isn’t it? I just want to remind him to remember me…” replied Yang Qu.

“… ” He Yanlu remained silent, thinking to himself that this man cannot be provoked.

Meanwhile, Ye Yixing silently criticized Yang Qu for being too devious. Even though he knew that He Yanlu would be scared or angry, he still called him that! He’s courageous, perverse, and cult-like!

Okay… I need to learn from him quickly…

Yang Qu glanced at the silent He Yanlu, only to see him staring blankly at the computer screen.

“Huh, why…” He Yanlu was surprised but couldn’t continue his sentence.

Ye Yixing looked up and thought, “Hey, half the class is over, and He Daisi still hasn’t done his homework! Is he just listening to Yang Qu’s stories?! Minister Yang has already finished his and uploaded it to the server!”

He Yanlu felt embarrassed and shrunk his neck. If he told Yang Qu that he didn’t know how to do it, he would lose face…

“Do you want me to help you?” Yang Qu offered, but received a dark look from He Yanlu.

“… it’s okay,” He Yanlu blinked and said, pretending to be brave. “I can do it…”

No way, you’re an idiot who can’t understand the basic structure of programming languages after three hours of studying! Ye Yixing quietly extended his paw and pointed to the computer in Yang Qu’s line of sight.

Yang Qu understood and opened his own email, saying casually, “It seems that new homework has been sent to my inbox.”

He Yanlu reluctantly opened his email and remained silent for a while…

Ye Yixing buried his head, pretending not to see what happened next.

“Classmates, because liberal arts students have a more basic foundation, your course for this semester will end in a week… I know that there are many subjects that you need to review and memorize for the Chinese final exam, so I plan to let you take the test early… The exam will be held next Monday, and I have already prepared the test papers…”

The teacher in front of the podium held up a sample test paper, and He Yanlu turned pale. He was in trouble.

Ye Yixing didn’t know when he had already left He Yanlu’s legs and squatted by the chair, looking through the gap between the table: He Bencan is dead for sure! (=皿=)

Yang Qu sympathetically glanced at He Yanlu: “Good luck to him…”

The teacher at the mainframe computer in the computer room excitedly waved the test paper in his hand and began to explain the key points of the exam. It was actually quite simple. As long as you can do the homework, you can get a high score. But the problem is that He Yanlu can’t even understand the homework questions TAT!!

Ye Yixing looked at He Yanlu worriedly. His father was staring at the computer screen dumbly and had completely lost his reaction.

Damn it, if I help you take the test, you can definitely get a perfect score… Feeling deeply the despair and sorrow of He Yanlu at this moment, Ye Yixing vented his anger towards the computer teacher. He saw the teacher casually putting the sample paper aside…

An evil idea suddenly arose in Ye Yixing’s mind…

Action speaks louder than words…

It should be quite easy for his current physique to pass through the tables and chairs. The tables and chairs in the computer room were arranged very tightly, and the students’ attention was all focused on the podium. They would not notice any creatures scurrying under their feet.

Soon, the black cat came to the back of the podium. The difficulty was how to carry the paper back without making any sound…

The first person to notice the black cat missing was Yang Qu. He seemed to have spotted a furry black shadow flashing past the podium. His heart immediately jumped to his throat— who borrowed his courage and dared to steal the test paper for He Yanlu!

He touched He Yanlu’s arm and stiffly lifted his chin towards the podium direction.

He Yanlu’s face turned even paler, and his fingers began to tremble.