On the highway, a domineering red Pagani raced recklessly forward.
Inside the car, Xia Lening, with a head of red hair, sneered as he shouted into his phone with extreme disdain.
“Are you asking why I’m not there? Did you drink fake liquor, Gu Yucheng? Even if I die, I will never attend your damn birthday party!”
What a joke. He and Gu Yucheng had been at each other’s throats for over a decade—was it all just so he could attend the other’s birthday party and hypocritically raise a wine glass to offer blessings?
Gu Yucheng calling this was clearly just to disgust him.
Without waiting for the reply from the other side, Xia Lening hung up the phone.
He placed both hands back on the steering wheel, but something felt off for no reason—
Why was that truck beside him getting closer and closer?
Xia Lening glanced over. Oh no—this was bad. Brother, your truck was about to fall onto him.
Xia Lening stepped on the accelerator, trying to speed away, but with a thunderous crash, the truck collided intimately with his sports car.
The two vehicles, along with sparks kicked up by the tires, skidded several meters away.
Xia Lening: “……”
So it really was “even if he died, he wouldn’t attend his birthday party.” Gu Yucheng better not get too pleased about this, Xia Lening thought in the last moment before losing consciousness.
He did not know how long he had slept before his consciousness gradually returned.
He was… not dead?
Surviving a great disaster meant future blessings. That fortune-telling old man from back then wasn’t a fraud after all.
The sensation beneath him was soft and cushiony. He hadn’t slept in such a comfortable “bed” in a long time.
Xia Lening thought to himself that he really had a strong life. Getting hit like that wasn’t a big deal—at least for now, his brain seemed fine, and he hadn’t lost any limbs. He had even obtained baby-like sleep quality.
“He only has these things in his house.”
His sister, Xia Xiaoyao’s voice sounded, slightly distorted.
Xia Lening tried hard to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt as heavy as lead.
Darkness wrapped around him like thick ink.
Until—
“Alright, thank you.”
Xia Lening suddenly opened his eyes. That bastard Gu Yucheng’s voice was still as pretentious as ever.
His vision gradually cleared, and he immediately felt something was wrong.
Why could he only see their feet?
Also—this was his house near the school, wasn’t it? Had he been sent home right after being hit by a car? Had his status in the household already dropped to this level?
Who would place a patient on the floor?!
“Meow!”
The moment he heard his own voice, all of Xia Lening’s words were instantly strangled by an invisible hand.
What sound had he just made?!
Xia Lening lowered his head helplessly and saw two small paw-like “mountain chestnut” hands.
He felt the urge to look up and confirm whether the sky had collapsed.
He tried to tilt his head up at a 45-degree angle.
Ha. Even with his neck stretched to the limit, he still couldn’t see the ceiling.
Instead, he met eyes with the now-giant Gu Yucheng.
Xia Lening froze. Why did he look like someone whose wife had just died?
“That kid stole something from you and didn’t return it?” Xia Xiaoyao asked helplessly, her tone exhausted as she scanned the room. “Such a troublesome brat, still speeding in heavy rain.”
Xia Lening immediately exploded.
“I stole something from Gu Yucheng? That’s slander! That’s defamation!”
“Besides, I didn’t speed at all! I’m the victim! The culprit is that truck! It has full responsibility! And you—you studied law, right? Aren’t you going to refute this?!”
Xia Lening’s loud protesting attracted both of their attention.
Then he watched, wide-eyed, as Gu Yucheng raised his hand and pointed at him, speaking with a firm yet hoarse voice.
“That cat—Xia Lening stole my cat.”
Xia Lening didn’t know whether to be shocked at Gu Yucheng’s shamelessness or to collapse at the fact that he had become a tiny “meow-meow” cat.
If Gu Yucheng disliked him, he could probably crush him just by sitting down.
“Fine, then take it back with you,” Xia Xiaoyao nodded indifferently, her cold attitude shattering Xia Lening’s heart into pieces.
Xia Lening meowed in dissatisfaction, trying to attract her attention.
However, the two of them seemed wrapped in a gloomy, strange atmosphere. After arranging his fate, they no longer looked at him.
Xia Lening jumped out of the comfortable cat bed and awkwardly used his short fluffy limbs to push himself forward.
He stumbled over to Xia Xiaoyao’s feet and grabbed her pant leg.
Sis! Sister Xia! Look at me! I’m your dearest little brother!
Although becoming a cat was absurd, it was still better than falling into Gu Yucheng’s hands.
More importantly, he didn’t know what had happened to his body—he needed to stay by someone he trusted.
Otherwise, he might end up on some evil scientist’s operating table in Gu Yucheng’s hands.
“Are you attending Xia Lening’s funeral?”
It was like a thunderclap on a clear day.
Xia Lening’s movements froze. He finally understood where this oppressive atmosphere came from.
A funeral… so his body was already cold?
Maybe it had already turned into ashes.
He couldn’t help but perk up his ears, listening to Gu Yucheng’s response.
Gu Yucheng was silent for a long time, then suddenly laughed.
“If I say at his funeral that his paper data is wrong, do you think he’d flip the coffin open and argue back?”
“Not likely. He’s being cremated. The ashes might end up in your face instead.”
Your paper data is the one that’s wrong! Yours is the one that’s fake!
That was all data he had painstakingly collected!
Xia Lening released Xia Xiaoyao’s pant leg and jumped onto Gu Yucheng’s leather shoe, biting hard at his ankle.
Before he could leave even a mark, he was lifted up by the scruff of his neck.
“Indeed, a cat raised for three days by Xia Lening. Its temper is just as foul as his.”
When Xia Lening was brought to Gu Yucheng’s house, he was still in a daze.
Xia Xiaoyao seemed extremely busy and did not pay attention to his cries at all.
When he had been lifted up in his own home earlier, he had seen deep exhaustion in Xia Xiaoyao’s eyes.
Suddenly, he didn’t want her to recognize him anymore.
Two years ago, their mother had just passed away, and their father had brought home another woman—and along with her, an older son four years his senior.
That son even had inheritance rights.
When Xia Lening learned about it, he flipped the table on the spot.
An illegitimate child—this was outrageous!
Only one year younger than his sister.
That scumbag father had been cheating for over twenty years!
Recently, Xia Xiaoyao had been fighting that illegitimate son in a struggle for control of the Xia family.
Xia Lening wasn’t interested in the company. After learning about the existence of the illegitimate son, he had directly made a will—his shares would go to Xia Xiaoyao after his death.
He sighed. Good thing he had foresight.
If Xia Xiaoyao found out he had somehow soul-transmigrated into a cat, she would only have to split her attention to find a way to turn him back.
And if that illegitimate son found out, they might even try kidnapping him.
He would become the first cat in history to be kidnapped over a succession war.
Xia Lening sighed again.
Sis, I won’t bother you for now. Focus on reclaiming what belongs to us.
For now… I’ll bother Gu Yucheng instead.
Although Gu Yucheng was pretentious, sharp-tongued, and annoying, he probably wasn’t insane enough to abuse small animals… probably.
As long as Gu Yucheng didn’t discover his true identity, everything would be fine.
Xia Lening thought optimistically as he was carried into Gu Yucheng’s home.
The sky had already darkened, and Gu Yucheng didn’t even turn on the lights.
This was the first time Xia Lening had seen the place Gu Yucheng bought near school.
The walls were empty, the furnishings sparse.
Everything was minimalistic—no extra colors, clean like a model showroom, yet cold and lifeless, as if it were merely a temporary resting place someone could leave at any time.
Xia Lening started worrying about himself.
As far as he knew, Gu Yucheng had severe obsessive cleanliness.
Cats… shed fur, right?
He was probably going to be thrown out the window sooner or later.
While he was still overthinking, Gu Yucheng suddenly spoke.
His voice was hoarse, emotions unreadable.
“Xia Lening.”
Xia Lening jolted and turned around in shock.
Had he been recognized?
No wonder he had gone through all the trouble to bring him here—so he could lock him up and humiliate him in a dark room.
Was there still time to go find his sister?
“Xia Lening.”
In the darkness, Gu Yucheng called out again.
Xia Lening looked up, but Gu Yucheng wasn’t even looking at him.
He seemed to be staring at a point in empty space, lost and helpless.
Then—something wet dropped onto Xia Lening’s cat head.
Xia Lening froze slightly, his brain completely blanking out at that moment.
He looked as confused as the first spark of fire ever struck by ancient humans.
Gu Yucheng… was crying?