Shi Xinyu was always very serious about her work. Once immersed in it, she had a style of being oblivious to everything else.
Ying Miaomiao expressed her reverence for this.
When she worked, she always felt like ants were crawling on her. Things she usually had no interest in could easily distract her. Only occasionally, when inspiration struck, would she have the perseverance to remain completely still.
Staying in the office was truly boring, so Ying Miaomiao decided to use her old trick again, timing her move precisely for the lunch break to use the computer.
However, the moment Ying Miaomiao made up her mind, Lü Jiaoyang opened the door. Only after opening the door did she knock, with a completely rogue attitude: “CEO Shi, I have something for you.”
Shi Xinyu looked up and motioned for Lü Jiaoyang to come in.
“What is it?”
Lü Jiaoyang held up a stack of documents in her hand and complained, “I’m really your free labor. The task you gave me is complete.”
Shi Xinyu took the documents and quickly scanned them. She rarely showed Lü Jiaoyang a good expression, “Not bad. I’ll check it later. You’ve improved.”
Lü Jiaoyang deliberately winked and covered her mouth exaggeratedly, “It’s truly my honor to receive a compliment from CEO Shi.”
She suddenly turned her head, her gaze falling on Ying Miaomiao.
After a moment of hesitation, she tentatively said, “Your cat’s fur is shaved off. It looks a bit ugly.”
Ugly?
Ying Miaomiao immediately felt self-conscious. She didn’t believe it. Shi Xinyu always praised her as the world’s cutest kitten, not an ugly cat.
But then she was suddenly reminded: she had forgotten that she had to have her fur shaved for the stitches on her back. In a person’s eyes, a kitten with a bare back could indeed be called ‘ugly.’
Shi Xinyu abruptly interrupted. She stood up and walked to the sofa, glaring at Lü Jiaoyang: “Shut up.”
She quickly covered the kitten’s ears before whispering, “She is very smart and can understand human speech.”
Lü Jiaoyang looked at the cat, scrutinizing it for a long time but couldn’t find anything particularly special. However, she was tactful, gave an awkward laugh, and then left the office.
Seeing the kitten visibly deflate, Shi Xinyu quickly comforted her: “Miaomiao is the cutest kitten. Her eyes must be bad to mistake you.”
“Meow.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Miaomiao, be good. Don’t listen to bad people. Listen to your older sister. You are the best, the bravest, the most amazing, and the cutest kitten.”
Ying Miaomiao let out a cry of accusation: “Meowao!”
“You’re lying!”
She wasn’t a three-year-old child anymore. She wouldn’t believe such coaxing words for a kitten.
Shi Xinyu noticed the kitten’s protest. She affectionately pinched the soft flesh growing on the kitten’s cheek, her voice gentle and her eyes sincere: “In older sister’s eyes, Miaomiao is the cutest kitten. What others think doesn’t matter.”
“Meow?”
“Is that true?”
Ying Miaomiao was a little suspicious, but Shi Xinyu spoke so earnestly that she reluctantly believed her.
Time slowly flowed by. Ying Miaomiao stayed in the office for a long time. Even as the lunch break approached, she couldn’t find a suitable opportunity to approach her computer.
But Shi Xinyu noticed her yearning for the outside.
“Do you want to go out and play?”
“…”
Why would she ask a cat that question? But Ying Miaomiao didn’t care about the reason; as long as she achieved her goal and got out, it was fine.
“Do you want to play on the cat tree? Or eat canned food?”
“Meowao.”
“Either is fine. I want to go outside.”
Shi Xinyu opened the door but followed closely behind Ying Miaomiao every step of the way.
Under Shi Xinyu’s watchful eye, Ying Miaomiao dared not reveal that she was a human. She had to follow her previous plan, stopping and starting along the way, occasionally turning back to look at Shi Xinyu, moving forward very slowly.
But the office area wasn’t large in total. No matter how slowly she walked, she soon reached her destination.
This giant cat tree was much larger than the one Shi Xinyu bought for the living room, but climbing it now was truly beyond Ying Miaomiao’s physical capacity.
Fortunately, Shi Xinyu had also considered the kitten’s need for recovery, and she proactively lifted the kitten onto the cat tree.
On the cat tree, Ying Miaomiao finally regained a perspective similar to when she was human. The office area was unobstructed. Only a few workers were at their desks eating takeout, still fighting through their work.
She felt a little regretful. The goal of restoring her communication tool could now be crossed off the list. It was too busy right now; there was someone in the office area almost all the time.
After staying in the company for another afternoon, Ying Miaomiao felt uncomfortable everywhere. She used to long for the day she could openly slack off, but now that it had come, she found it boring.
She thought this while lying on Shi Xinyu’s desk.
She poked the small wooden tag that Xi Qingyi and Ding Qiwen had brought last time, watching it spin around, and felt even more bored.
Shi Xinyu’s typing sounds were still intermittent. Sunlight streamed through the window, landing on her slender, pale fingertips and then on her eyelashes.
Ying Miaomiao only now realized that Shi Xinyu’s eyelashes were very curled, but she had always avoided Shi Xinyu’s gaze when looking at her.
Her eyelashes were also very long, appearing somewhat fragile when she slightly lowered her gaze. The color of her eyes was a pure amber, like clear glass beads in the sunlight.
The paw that was poking the wooden tag paused, and she stared fixedly at Shi Xinyu for a long time.
…
It wasn’t until they went home after work that Ying Miaomiao’s keen eyes spotted someone standing outside Shi Xinyu’s door. She was dressed simply and appropriately, wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses that concealed some of her sharp gaze.
She seemed to be on the phone, but they were too far away to hear clearly.
Ying Miaomiao distinctly noticed Shi Xinyu’s footsteps falter, then continue forward.
Upon seeing Shi Xinyu, the person had an expected silence. She said goodbye to the person on the phone and hung up. The two stood in silence.
“Aren’t you going to invite me in to sit?”
Ying Miaomiao was in the pet carrier, and her view was limited. She wanted to turn her head to see Shi Xinyu’s expression but was completely blocked. She could only see a corner of the other person’s clothes.
The door opened.
“Seeing your mother, why don’t you greet her?”
Ying Miaomiao’s eyes widened. She tried hard to recall the facial features she had seen from a distance earlier. Shi Xinyu’s mother’s eyes seemed sharper, but their noses and mouths were very similar—both thin.
After silently changing her shoes, Shi Xinyu finally said, “Mom.”
“Why did you come?”
The other person followed suit, changed her shoes, and entered the living room.
“Do I need another reason to come and see my daughter?”
Her gaze swept across the living room, stopping at the cat tree: “I heard you adopted a fiercely protective cat? This cat isn’t bad.”
Shi Xinyu was tense all over: “Did Lü Jiaoyang tell you?”
The person neither confirmed nor denied it. She chuckled softly and sat directly on a chair: “Xinyu, don’t be so impolite to your mother. How did your grandmother teach you?”
Shi Xinyu pursed her lips tightly. She didn’t immediately let the kitten out as she usually did. She tightly gripped the pet carrier, stubbornly refusing to answer.
“You have indeed achieved some success. I came here just to see how you were doing. But Xinyu, you disappoint me.”
The pinecone wind chime rustled. The afterglow was fiery red, and the shadows of the two gradually lengthened.
Shi Xinyu’s hand gripping the pet carrier suddenly loosened a little. She looked up and met her mother’s gaze. The intersecting looks and the words just spoken seemed to have failed to shake her emotions.
“I don’t need to prove anything to you.”
She gave a small laugh, sizing up her daughter who was just beginning to show her brilliance, “But your company needs an opportunity, and I am the person who gives you that opportunity.”
“Shi Xinyu, what you need to do is prove it to me.”
As the words fell, another phone call came in.
She pursed her lips, feeling somewhat annoyed, but before answering the call, she hurriedly said, “I’m leaving. You… take care of yourself.”
After letting Ying Miaomiao out of the pet carrier, Shi Xinyu sat there blankly for a long time. She looked down at the kitten, her voice sounding unusually helpless.
“Miaomiao, do you think I should act on impulse, or weigh the pros and cons?”
Ying Miaomiao gently rubbed against her but was unable to respond.