Ming Shu didn’t know what was going on with Su Chuiyun’s reaction. “Are you really drunk and stupid?”
Su Chuiyun clung to her. “The Lucky Cat’s ears are so cute. Let me touch them.”
Ming Shu’s expression froze for a moment, suspecting that Su Chuiyun’s brain had truly malfunctioned. In the ballroom’s restroom, the noise of people shouting could be heard, while Su Chuiyun kept nibbling at the corner of Ming Shu’s mouth, trying to hear a “meow” come out of her.
Su Chuiyun looked at Ming Shu’s shoulders. Dazed, she felt that Ming Shu was now a tsundere Lucky Cat wagging a big tail holding her firmly in her arms but refusing to let her kiss, and unwilling to make those high-pitched, soft kitten sounds like other cats.
Such a hard to serve kitten. But the kitten is so cute.
Su Chuiyun reached out into the air to pinch Ming Shu’s imaginary cat ears. “Pink ears, so soft and bouncy.”
Ming Shu: “…”
Outside the door, Song Xi, who had been waiting for a result, grew increasingly anxious. She was surrounded by several of Ming Shu’s subordinates, who were closing in as if they were about to throw her out.
“Su Chuiyun wants to see me! Let go of me!” Song Xi gritted her teeth and ordered. “After she drinks, she only wants to see me.”
Mrs. Qiao’s youngest daughter glanced at Song Xi. “Which family are you from? Do you even have an invitation?”
Song Xi’s expression stiffened. She had entered with another person she was flirting with; she stammered, unable to give a straight answer.
The daughter gave her a dismissive look. “Since you don’t have an invitation, please leave, honored guest.”
Song Xi’s face twisted for a second. She wouldn’t give up, she wanted to see Su Chuiyun. In the past, whenever Su Chuiyun accidentally touched alcohol, she always wanted to hug her. Before, Song Xi was only busy despising Su Chuiyun for being “blind” and only thought about squeezing money out of her, so she kept a distant relationship.
Looking back now, she felt like she had lost a fortune. A drunk Su Chuiyun had a face like a peach blossom, with smoky gray eyes hiding an indescribable deep affection. That face was too much of a violation of the rules. Song Xi’s heart throbbed uncontrollably.
If given another chance, Song Xi was sure she could seize it.
A moment later, under everyone’s watchful eyes, Ming Shu picked Su Chuiyun up in a princess carry.
“Don’t move,” Ming Shu scolded softly. “Don’t break your other leg.”
Su Chuiyun leaned against Ming Shu’s shoulder in surprise. “The Lucky Cat can actually carry me?”
Ming Shu: “…” Lucky Cat??
Su Chuiyun’s hand was still hanging in the air, trying to catch the pair of ears Ming Shu was “shaking.” She emitted a faint scent of alcohol that brushed against Ming Shu’s collarbone. Every breath made Ming Shu’s grip tighten. If it weren’t necessary to bring her out, she really wouldn’t want the guests to see Su Chuiyun in this “stupid” state.
“Chuiyun!” Song Xi shouted loudly.
Hearing someone vaguely call her name, Su Chuiyun looked back at Song Xi. “Ah!” she gasped softly. “Why is a gray-skinned rat talking to me? QAQ”
Song Xi: “?” Was she talking about me?
Ming Shu didn’t laugh easily unless she really couldn’t help it.
“Don’t look if you’re scared.” Ming Shu held her tighter and instructed the person behind her, “Take the wine Miss Su just drank for testing.”
“Yes, President Ming.”
Ming Shu asked, “How much did Miss Su drink?”
The little secretary held up the glass, looking at the nearly full cup. She made a tiny gesture with her fingers. “A lick?”
Ming Shu: “…” Truly a one hit wonder. Tsk, so weak.
In her arms, Su Chuiyun tried to break free from Ming Shu’s hold, letting out a broken whimper. “Kitty, let go of the tail. It hurts.”
Su Chuiyun turned into a “Ying Ying” monster (a whimperer), looking as weak and innocent as a bride kidnapped by a demon into a mountain cave. The tail… it’s wrapped around her leg…!
Mrs. Qiao was attracted by the commotion. “Ming Shu is here. I wanted to invite you to play when you returned to the country, but I was delayed by some matters.” Mrs. Qiao looked at Ming Shu kindly, she was essentially an elder who had watched Ming Shu grow up.
Ming Shu nodded in greeting. Mrs. Qiao’s gaze slowly shifted to Su Chuiyun in Ming Shu’s arms, and her well-maintained forty-year-old face stiffened slightly.
Mrs. Qiao said, “You two just came out of the restroom?”
Ming Shu said, “Yes, she’s drunk.”
Mrs. Qiao clearly didn’t believe Su Chuiyun was drunk, she had clearly seen Su Chuiyun only drinking a glass of ice water. The noblewoman looked at Ming Shu with a hint of reproach and the awkwardness of an elder.
“You young couple… tsk tsk. Ming Shu, really, Su Chuiyun is in poor health. You don’t know how to take better care of her; you only know how to bully her.”
Ming Shu: “…” Do you even hear what you’re saying?
Su Chuiyun’s brain, steamed by alcohol, became blurred. To her, everyone was meowing. Her “Sugar Mommy Sister’s” voice sounded especially good. “Lucky Kitty, I want to nuzzle the kitty’s belly, okay? Mmm.”
Ming Shu: “…Shut up. We’ll talk when we get home.”
Mrs. Qiao’s face said: I knew it, you young people really know how to play.
Ming Shu: “…” She was beyond defense.
Ming Shu carried her “little sister” into the car, where Bai Li was already waiting in the driver’s seat. Bai Li looked through the rearview mirror. “President Ming, our Little President Su…”
Su Chuiyun was currently buried in Ming Shu’s arms, gnawing on the buttons of the “cat’s” clothes. Her breathing was rapid, and her heart was pounding. It felt as if a fire was burning inside her, and only by being close to Ming Shu could the heat subside.
Ming Shu pinched the bridge of her nose. “Drive.”
Bai Li stepped on the gas. “President Ming, Little President Su isn’t usually like this.”
After blowing in the cool wind for a bit, Su Chuiyun’s drunkenness faded slightly, but she still saw Ming Shu with cat ears and a cat tail. It seemed like gold coins were floating behind Ming Shu. She reached out to grab one and bit it. Oh ho, it’s real gold?
At least the words in her ears were human voices now instead of meows.
Ming Shu raised an eyebrow. “What is Su Chuiyun usually like?”
Without thinking, Bai Li blurted out, “Usually, she just calls Song Xi’s name and cries while holding that silicone doll. Little President Su said that since she went blind, only Song Xi would come to see her.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, Bai Li immediately covered it, realizing she had said the wrong thing. The air pressure in the car dropped.
Su Chuiyun: ? Are you backstabbing me?
Su Chuiyun looked up to see the expression on the “Lucky Cat” wearing glasses. Ming Shu pursed her thin lips. Her movements stroking Su Chuiyun’s back remained gentle, but there was a haze in her eyes, hiding her true thoughts.
In the quiet carriage, Ming Shu was wearing a cream-colored linen shirt and brown trousers. She was tall and elegant, her skin as white as flawless jade. The light and shadows from the window hit her face, making her already sharp features even more defined.
Su Chuiyun’s face flushed. Ming Shu gently stroked her “little drunkard” and, upon arriving at the garden, carried her directly into the bedroom.
“I’m sorry.”
Ming Shu sat at the bedside, using ice water to wipe Su Chuiyun’s feverish face, leaning over to unbutton her clothes one by one. Su Chuiyun reached out to touch her cat’s big tail. “Sister, your tail is so thick and long.”
Su Chuiyun stretched out her arms to hug her cat. “Sister, it would have been great if I could have known you earlier.”
Su Chuiyun was a bit confused whether this was the world in the book or her real world, but she felt that when she hugged Ming Shu, a missing piece of her heart was filled.
“You smell so good.”
Ming Shu paused. “You must have been very scared when you couldn’t see.” That’s why she clung to a money grubber like Song Xi.
Ming Shu indulged her little sister as she sniffed and clung to her, tearing open all her buttons and burying her face against her vest line (abs).
“What do I smell like?” The freesia scent from the office? Or the gardenia in my hair? Could it be… body fragrance?
When Ming Shu thought of the term “body fragrance,” her expression became uncharacteristically shy.
Su Chuiyun said, “The scent of money. If Sister could have stayed with me earlier, I could have worked twenty years less.” Some are born in Rome; some are born to be beasts of burden.
Ming Shu: “…”
Su Chuiyun’s tongue brushed against Ming Shu’s vest line. Before she could even get a taste, she was suddenly tossed onto the bed by her cat. “Drunkard.”
The night was deep, and Ming Shu couldn’t really leave Su Chuiyun alone. She carried the girl to the bathroom, scrubbed her clean, and tucked her into the bedding that smelled like sunshine.
Su Chuiyun was now mostly sober. Disappointed, she said, “Ming Shu, you don’t have ears or a tail, and the gold coins behind you are gone.”
Ming Shu took off her glasses and wiped them carefully with a flannel cloth. “If I hadn’t arrived today, what would you have done?”
Su Chuiyun: “I guess I would have been startled by that gray-skinned rat.”
Ming Shu weirdly understood who the “gray-skinned rat” was. Both fell into silence.
Just as Ming Shu was about to speak, she suddenly heard the sound of long, steady breathing. Her little sister had already fallen asleep in the pillow, her body curled into a perfect “kitten ball.” It was hard to imagine a person curling into such a perfect shape.
Ming Shu rubbed her temples and sat alone in the corridor, lighting a cigarette. Under the cold autumn moonlight, she didn’t feel the chill. The gardenias in the garden were withering, signaling the end of summer. The bamboo forest rustled in the wind, and a koi in the pond flicked its tail, leaving a ripple on the water.
the secretary entered through the side door with documents. “President Ming, the lab results are out.”
Ming Shu held the lady’s cigarette between her index and middle fingers. She took a puff before opening the file.
Secretary: “Upon inspection, the glass only contained drinkable alcohol.”
Ming Shu glanced at the report. At the end, the brand of “Jiang fragrance” white liquor was written. Ming Shu didn’t actually like the smell of smoke because her adoptive father smoked frequently, forcing her to breathe second hand smoke at home. When the pressure was high abroad, she somehow learned to smoke, drawing nicotine’s comfort from her own disgust.
“Do you think it’s true that ‘truth comes out after drinking’?”
It wasn’t that Ming Shu hadn’t investigated the past between Su Chuiyun and Song Xi, she knew her little sister was hiding something from her. Su Chuiyun’s personality used to be completely different bitter, arrogant, and selfish. None of these were positive terms, yet Ming Shu had fallen in love with such a flawed woman as if grasping for a final saving straw.
After Ming Shu returned to the country, Su Chuiyun had washed away all those flaws and become a brand new person. Ming Shu’s heart was moved, the heartbeat of a mature professional was a thousand times more intense than that of a youth. This fire of affection was enough to burn her whole being to ashes.
The secretary didn’t hear clearly and asked, “What did you say?”
Ming Shu: “Su Chuiyun said I’m a Lucky Cat.”
Secretary: ?
The secretary thought she misheard and asked again, “President Lin, what did you just say?” What on earth? A Lucky Cat?
The secretary had seen many people tell the truth after drinking, some slurring about how their boss was a dummy, some screaming about wanting a divorce, some crying while hugging a utility pole. But calling your boss a “Lucky Cat” while drunk was just ridiculous. Ridiculous, yet fitting. To many people, isn’t their boss exactly a Lucky Cat?
Ming Shu: “Are you holding back a laugh?”
Ming Shu took a puff of the cigarette, slowly exhaling the mist, which almost merged with the hazy moonlight in the sky.
Secretary: “I’m not laughing, you saw wrong.”
Ming Shu thought: I’m not like my little sister; I’m not blind.
Ming Shu skillfully flicked the ash. “Do I look like a cat?”
The secretary grew bold and carefully observed the boss’s looks. “No.”
Ming Shu: “…Su Chuiyun said I have cat ears and a cat tail.”
The secretary showed a hesitant, “I think I get it” kind of fantastical expression. “Are you guys playing that wildly?” In the community, what do they call it? Cat-ear complex? Or furry complex?
The secretary’s face turned red, thinking: I’m just a lowly worker, why are you making things difficult for me?
Sensing the silence, Ming Shu took another sharp puff. She felt something was wrong. Her little sister was too obedient, so different from before that if the appearance and voice weren’t identical, she would suspect her sister had been swapped.
On the Huanghuali wood bed in the bedroom.
Su Chuiyun woke up with a hangover. As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw Bai Li dozing by the bed. “Little President Su, you’re awake.”
Su Chuiyun clutched her head with a groan. “Ugh”
The dull pain from the alcohol made her mentally fragile. The sunlight outside hit her pupils, causing sharp pain. Su Chuiyun slumped on the bed like a dead fish. “How much did I drink last night?”
Bai Li held up one finger.
Su Chuiyun wasn’t fully awake yet. Dazed, she said, “A dozen?”
Bai Li: “.”
Su Chuiyun saw her silence. “A bottle?”
Hearing the movement in the bedroom, Chen Yue leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed, looking at Su Chuiyun with a “do you want to die?” expression. Bai Li remained silent.
Su Chuiyun thought, I can’t be that weak. “A glass?”
Bai Li sighed deeply. “One sip.”
Su Chuiyun thought: You must be lying to me. She wrapped herself in the blanket like a poor little thing and muttered, “You’re definitely lying. I used to handle smoke and alcohol just fine.”
“Who used to handle smoke and alcohol just fine?” Ming Shu walked in with an unfriendly face, carrying a bowl of hot millet porridge.
Su Chuiyun stammered, “The Lucky Cat… No, good morning, Sister Ming Shu.” Last night, after drinking, she saw Ming Shu turn into a Lucky Cat with a thick white tail and gold coins raining behind her.
Ming Shu: “Still not sober?”
Su Chuiyun looked at Ming Shu pleadingly. Her clear eyes were unfocused due to her blindness, making one’s heart tremble. Even though Ming Shu had suspicions, she couldn’t bring herself to say them to those eyes.
“I’m sober.” Su Chuiyun keenly sensed Ming Shu was in a bad mood. Did I say something wrong last night?
The girl on the bed holding the porridge let out a fragile yet captivating smile. “If you weren’t by my side, I really wouldn’t know what to do. With a constitution that loses consciousness after one sip of alcohol, if some ill-intentioned person took advantage of me and dirtied my body, I wouldn’t even know.”
Ming Shu gave a light snort, not clear if she was mollified.
Su Chuiyun finished half the porridge in small sips. “I thought you wouldn’t come last night.” The “little white flower” lowered her head pitifully. “Your work is always so busy. I didn’t dare to push you, fearing I’d delay a multi-billion dollar deal. I would be a sinner then.”
The cold-faced Ming Shu pushed up her glasses. “You did indeed delay a big deal. But you’re wrong, you wouldn’t be ‘dirtied’ by someone else, you’d only be carried off by a gray-skinned rat.”
Gray-skinned rat… Su Chuiyun: “…” That description is quite vivid.
Ming Shu felt Su Chuiyun’s stomach to confirm she was full, then knelt on one knee on the floor. Putting on rubber gloves, she warmed the ointment in her palm and applied it to the bruise on Su Chuiyun’s right leg.
A beautiful woman kneeling on one knee from Su Chuiyun’s perspective, she could see the view inside the shirt collar. It was a white style with a bow, very cute and youthful, though a bit “flat.”
“I used my connections to help you sell five antiques. The money is in a bank card; the password is your birthday.” After rubbing the oil, Ming Shu pressed her lips against Su Chuiyun’s knee.
Ming Shu left a red lip mark on the bruised knee. She looked up at Su Chuiyun, rubbing her cheek against her leg. The image of a beautiful woman leaning against one’s knee would move anyone.
Su Chuiyun’s heart tightened. “Bank card?”
Ming Shu said, “It’s under your pillow. I’m going to work, you rest well at home.” Before leaving, Ming Shu gave her a deep look as if wanting to say something, but ultimately mentioned nothing.
After Ming Shu left, Su Chuiyun pulled a bank card from under her pillow. She checked and found nearly seven figures inside.
Lucky Cat Sister!
Seeing her laughing wildly, Bai Li gave her a strange look.
Su Chuiyun: “The money in the company’s account can be paid back now.”
Bai Li said it had been paid back long ago. Su Chuiyun was shocked. “Where did the money come from?”
Bai Li explained that Ming Shu had covered it in passing; that amount of money was just “sprinkled water” to Ming Shu.
Su Chuiyun: “Then this money… couldn’t it buy several wedding dresses?”
Bai Li: “You can say that in front of Ming Shu.”