Bai Xiaonian found the smell of the pill utterly unbearable, he’d never been one to eat anything unpleasant. But hearing Chong Yin’s words, his resolve began to waver.
Having just been reborn, Bai Xiaonian had no intention of dying so soon. He still hadn’t figured out who had tried to poison him. With that thought, the kitten lifted its head again and leaned toward Liu Huan’s hand.
The bitter scent of the medicine flooded his nose. A cat’s sense of smell was dozens of times sharper than a human’s, and the kitten stuck out its tongue, nearly gagging from the stench.
Seeing the kitten in such distress, Liu Huan had no idea what to do. After a long moment of hesitation, she could only cast a questioning glance toward the handsome man reclining on the couch.
Seeing Liu Huan’s difficulty, and glancing again at the little white ball of fur on the table, Chong Yin had no choice but to rise, saying coldly, “Useless.”
Although it was meant as a scold, Chong Yin still reached out and, setting aside their earlier grievances, gathered the kitten from the table into his arms. The uncomfortable kitten instinctively nuzzled into Chong Yin’s embrace, finding a comfortable position on its own and exposing its soft, fur-covered little belly.
Thinking back on it, ever since his rebirth, Chong Yin had really been the only one by Bai Xiaonian’s side. It was only natural that in his weakest moments, he’d find himself relying more on someone familiar.
Chong Yin glanced down at the kitten, his deep, dark eyes unreadable, giving nothing away. A moment later, he looked away, took the detoxifying pill from Liu Huan with his other hand, and held it up to the kitten.
Naturally, such a spoiled, willful little cat had no intention of eating it, but Chong Yin was even more overbearing than the kitten. He reached out and forced the kitten’s mouth open, quickly pushing the pill inside, then pinched its mouth shut with his fingers.
The kitten’s eyes welled with tears from the bitterness, letting out muffled, whimpering protests, but with its mouth held shut, it couldn’t make a sound, and couldn’t spit out the vile-tasting pill either.
After a struggle, the kitten finally swallowed the pill down. Chong Yin then looked over at Liu Huan. “Go find some candied fruit.”
Liu Huan nodded and hurried off to fetch it, while Chong Yin gestured for a nearby servant to bring water.
His cold, slender fingers pinched a cup filled with water, and Chong Yin brought it to the mouth of the kitten in his arms.
The moment the kitten spotted the water, it immediately leaned forward and gulped it down eagerly, right now, it desperately needed the water to wash away the bitter taste lingering in its mouth.
Across two lifetimes, Bai Xiaonian had never eaten anything so utterly disgusting.
Just then, Liu Huan returned with a small plate of candied fruit. Chong Yin fed the kitten one piece, and afterward the kitten curled up in his arms and drifted off to sleep in a daze.
Seeing the kitten asleep, no one dared make a sound, and the hall fell so silent one could have heard a pin drop.
Chong Yin had intended to set the sleeping kitten down, but the moment he moved, the little creature’s paws clamped down on his robe, refusing to let go no matter how he tried. With no other option, Chong Yin resigned himself to holding the white ball of fur, his expression stony.
The servants cleared everything from the table. Chong Yin leaned back lazily against the couch, the kitten in his arms, and suddenly asked, “Xiao Niangao went to the kitchen for food today?”
Liu Huan nodded in confirmation.
Chong Yin lowered his eyes, his handsome hand gently stroking the kitten’s belly, and said in a low voice, “Look into it.”
Liu Huan’s expression sharpened. She nodded and withdrew.
…
By the time Bai Xiaonian woke, it was already night. He yawned and opened his eyes to find several strands of ink-black hair right beside his head. Unable to resist the itch in his paws, the kitten reached out and swatted at the strands, tumbling about happily as he played with them for quite a while, tangling them into a hopeless mess before finally, reluctantly, letting go.
He lifted a paw to rub at his eyes, and the fluffy white ball of fur crawled up, only to look up and find, right in front of him, an enlarged, handsome face.
The man’s beautiful phoenix eyes were lightly closed. This man, who normally seemed so cold and aloof, wore, for once, an unusually soft and gentle expression.
After a moment of watching, Bai Xiaonian realized he was nestled right against Chong Yin’s chest. He hadn’t eaten all day, and what little he had eaten earlier, he’d thrown up, so now his stomach was growling loudly with hunger. He wobbled to his feet, intending to go find something to eat.
But he hadn’t taken more than a couple of steps before a large hand caught him by the scruff of his neck.
The kitten kept marching in place for a while before realizing something was wrong. He turned to look and found that Chong Yin had somehow woken up without his noticing.
The man sat up, his long, cascading hair spilling loosely down, the few tangled strands on his chest looking oddly conspicuous. Chong Yin lifted the kitten into the air, his narrow, striking phoenix eyes fixed on it with an expression halfway between amusement and something else.
Bai Xiaonian shivered slightly, feeling a flicker of guilt at having messed up the man’s hair.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Chong Yin asked, raising an eyebrow, his voice light.
The kitten patted its own hollowed-out little belly with a stubby paw, gazing up at Chong Yin with tearful eyes.
Chong Yin caught his meaning. “Hungry?”
The kitten nodded rapidly, without hesitation.
Watching the kitten’s gesture, Chong Yin let out a small laugh. “You really do understand what I’m saying.”
Bai Xiaonian no longer bothered hiding himself in front of Chong Yin, so he let the man look him over and speculate as he pleased.
Who could have guessed Chong Yin would suddenly flip the kitten over to examine its soft belly, then bring it right up close to his face to inspect it more carefully.
Bai Xiaonian was still puzzled over this when he heard Chong Yin murmur under his breath, “I still can’t tell if it’s male or female…”
The kitten froze, then quickly twisted its body, trying to cover its lower half with its paws, but its paws were far too short to manage it.
Chong Yin pried apart the kitten’s short hind legs and examined it carefully for a long moment before laughing. “Still a male, then…”
By this point, Bai Xiaonian’s cat face had gone bright red with fury. He yowled furiously, cursing Chong Yin as a pervert and shameless.
Unfortunately, Chong Yin couldn’t understand a word the kitten was saying, and even though he could tell the cat was cursing him, he didn’t care in the least.
After teasing the kitten a bit longer, provoking Bai Xiaonian to the point of fury, the little tyrant finally raised a paw and smacked the back of Chong Yin’s hand. Only then did Chong Yin’s expression darken, and he finally stopped tormenting the difficult little cat.
Afterward, Chong Yin summoned someone to bring the kitten’s food, casually threw on an outer robe, and carried the cat out to the antechamber.
The moment they stepped outside, the kitten caught the scent of fish and poked his fuzzy head out of Chong Yin’s arms, meowing urgently, desperate to get at the food.
Chong Yin pressed a hand against the kitten’s head. “What’s the rush?”
But the little tyrant refused to listen, wriggling free from Chong Yin’s arms and leaping out impatiently.
Only, the kitten had forgotten his own age and size, there was no way such a small, young cat could clear that distance.
Sure enough, the kitten landed flat on the ground with a thud, yowling in pain.
Chong Yin glanced down at the kitten with displeasure, making no move to pick it up. Instead, he simply stepped around it, sat down in a chair, and looked down at the kitten from above. “Serves you right.”
Bai Xiaonian was already thoroughly regretful. Enduring the pain, he crawled up from the floor, made his way to Chong Yin’s leg, straightened up, wrapped his front paws around it, and lifted his head, gazing up at Chong Yin urgently, his little tail swaying behind him.
“Meow…”
The kitten’s cries came out pitifully weak.