Another day’s livestream had ended. Su Yi had just collapsed onto the sofa for a brief rest when her phone rang.
Thinking it was her takeout delivery, she answered without checking the caller ID, only to be met with a barrage of sharp accusations.
“Miss Su, what is wrong with you? The peacock guppy that the Old Madam loves most in the pond is dying! Tell me, what are we supposed to do now?”
It turned out someone was looking for a scapegoat.
Su Yi smiled, her tone relaxed: “Isn’t this Master Chen, the one in charge of the fish pond? What’s the occasion? Why did you suddenly think of calling me?”
Chen Shi froze. Had he made a mistake in his haste and called the wrong person?
He pulled the phone away from his ear. The screen clearly displayed the words “The Drag-along.” He hadn’t called the wrong number. The voice was definitely hers, too, but could those words and that tone really have come from that timid, shrinking girl? He must have misheard.
“Did you not hear what I said? I said that peacock guppy is dying. The Old Madam is going to be furious when she finds out. You were the one who volunteered to look after them, yet you’ve been neglecting your duties these past few days. You haven’t even shown your face. This is your fault, you understand?” Chen Shi cast aside his confusing doubts; he was currently in the hot seat.
Su Yi didn’t panic as he expected. Instead, she let out a couple of chuckles. “Then you’re in trouble, Master Chen. You’re the one in charge, so you’re the one about to face the storm from the Old Madam. You must stay strong, Master Chen. I support you in spirit!”
Beep. The call was disconnected.
Chen Shi stared blankly at his phone, confirming that Su Yi had actually hung up on him… and she had mocked him?!
Was this really the “drag-along” they all knew?
His hand moved faster than his brain as he immediately redialed. It rang for two seconds before being cut off. Fuming, he tried again, only to be told the line was busy. He had been blacklisted!
Chen Shi stood rooted to the spot. Had this girl taken the wrong medicine?
He paced a few steps before slapping his forehead. If the drag-along wasn’t there, who was going to take the blame!
“Want me to be your scapegoat? Not even in your dreams,” Su Yi hummed.
Previously, she had been following the “plot,” so it was true she had volunteered to feed the fish and change the water. But for them to take it for granted and outsource all the labor and blame to her was going too far. And it was unpaid outsourcing at that.
Was she supposed to believe that because she hadn’t been to the Cheng house for a few days, no one was looking after those precious fish? To think they could shove the blame onto her when she wasn’t even there—was there no justice in the world?
Su Yi decisively blocked the number. Her finger paused for a moment. This call seemed to be the first one she had received from the Cheng or Mo families since she had “run away” from home.
She opened WeChat and QQ. Aside from push notifications from official accounts she followed, the number of other messages was…
Zero. It was actually zero.
So, after being gone for so long, no one took it seriously? Or perhaps, no one had even noticed she was missing, including her own biological parents.
Su Yi wore a “smirking dragon king” grin. Times had changed. The current her was not the same as before.
The old her: Dad is the Cheng family’s live-in son-in-law, Mom is the Mo family’s full-time housewife, and I am the shared “drag-along” burden of both families. Everyone has it hard; I must be considerate of my parents. Although they don’t love me as much as my younger siblings, they have their reasons…
The current her: I am a one-person household on my own registration booklet, thank you very much.
Su Yi tossed the matter of the dying guppy to the back of her mind. After finishing her takeout, she went to a nearby park for a stroll.
The summer sun set late. It was already 6:30 PM, but the sky was still bright, with burning clouds stretching across the horizon, casting a red glow on people’s faces.
The atmosphere was quite nice, perfect for young couples to be affectionate.
Su Yi gazed “lovingly” at a young couple sitting and lying on a bench that could easily have accommodated four people.
Half a minute later, the girl couldn’t take it anymore. She gently pushed the boy, who was half-lying in her lap while she tenderly stroked his hair. “Get up, someone’s watching.”
The boy rolled up, his tone aggressive: “Lady, are you sick? This park is huge, why are you just standing there in front of us?”
Once he got a clear look at Su Yi’s face, he froze for a moment. A second later, a smile bloomed on his face. “Sorry, we didn’t realize we were taking up extra space. By the way, classmate, are you from C University too?”
There was a university not far from the park. Su Yi had walked here a few times and often saw many young people who looked like students.
Su Yi’s eyebrows twitched. Before she could speak, the girl stood up, linked her arm through his, bit her lip, and said softly, “I want to take pictures by the water. Come help me.”
“Huh? Oh, okay.”
The two walked away arm-in-arm. After they had gone a few meters, the boy looked back at Su Yi, only to be honored with her middle finger.
Seeing his expression change drastically, Su Yi laughed out loud.
She had originally intended to sit on the bench, but the thought of that man lying there just now made her feel disgusted.
Forget it. A walk after a meal keeps you living until ninety-nine.
Su Yi walked a few steps when she noticed something unusual. She looked around but saw neither person nor animal. Had her daily work of chatting with animals become so intense that she was hallucinating? Should she switch to a five-day work week?
As her thoughts wandered, that tiny voice reached her ears again.
“Squeak! Not that way! Here, here! Look down!”
Su Yi looked down and searched carefully. Finally, she found the source of the sound in the grass about ten centimeters from the bench.
“A mouse!” she cried out, wanting to turn and run.
All creatures are equal—except for mice.
She could tolerate cockroaches, but she had zero tolerance for mice!
“Wait! I’m not a mouse! I’m a hamster, ahhhh!”
The other party’s scream was even more frantic than Su Yi’s.
She stopped in her tracks, her tone firm: “A hamster is still a rodent.”
Hamster: “…Don’t insult me, thank you. What do you mean ‘a hamster is still a rodent’? I am a completely different species from those foul-smelling mice, okay? Are you a college student? Don’t tell me this is what you learned in university.”
The little thing was actually looking down on her.
Su Yi stepped closer and saw a dark brown hamster lying on its back in the grass. Its body was a bit flat, not nearly as round and chubby as the ones she had seen others raise.
She leaned down, plucked a blade of grass, and poked its belly. “Why are you so thin?”
The hamster sighed gloomily. “I’m not thin. I was squashed flat by that hateful scumbag… College student, please find my owner and tell her that I was, I was…”
Su Yi listened intently to its words, only to realize it had stopped.
The two tiny black eyes had closed. The entire hamster looked very peaceful.
“There’s no hope. Notify the family,” Su Yi muttered to herself.
The next second, those bead-like eyes snapped open.
The hamster was shocked and disappointed: “Are you really a pure and kind-hearted college student? You aren’t even going to try and save me before declaring there’s no hope??”
This was basically mouse-slaughter!
It regretted its choice. It shouldn’t have pinned its hopes on this college student who looked kind but seemed to be a deception… However, besides her, there were no other humans who could understand its words.
Su Yi suppressed a laugh and corrected it: “I am not a ‘clear and foolish’ college student. I am a graduate student who has survived two years of the grueling life of research.”
The hamster froze. “Huh? A grad student? Oh, then that’s fine.”
Its “Mommy” was a grad student too. She was on the verge of a breakdown every day, holding the hamster and wailing every other day. It was worried she would actually lose her mind one day. In such a terrifying environment, it seemed normal for people to become a bit cold-hearted.
“How do you feel? Do you want me to take you to a hospital? How can I contact your owner?” Su Yi carefully moved it into her hand.
The hamster’s body shuddered. It had been so focused on testing if this human would help that it almost forgot the main point. “I’m fine. I’m very strong. I was just sat on by that scumbag’s butt. It’s not a big problem,” the hamster squeaked urgently. “Quickly, go find my Mommy so she can catch him in the act!”
Su Yi: “Wait, what?”
As Su Yi listened to the hamster’s squeaky explanation of the whole story while it cursed the scumbag, she looked into the distance and located the young couple who were intimately taking photos.
People without manners really have no manners in anything they do.
The man who had hogged the bench and dared to look at her suggestively was actually the scumbag the hamster was talking about. He was cheating on his girlfriend with a junior student, and he had even secretly brought the hamster out, pretending he was the one raising it to win the girl’s favor.
He had discarded the hamster after using it, focusng on being lovey-dovey with the junior, completely forgetting about the poor “tool hamster.”
“College student—oh, no, grad student—have you been following the gossip these past few days? That celebrity used his dog to seduce pretty girls,” the hamster said, both angry and distressed. “My Mommy is a fan of his. When she found out the truth, she cried and cursed, turning from a fan to a hater.”
“She was so relieved back then, thinking her boyfriend wasn’t like that—that he truly loved her, was devoted and faithful, and was especially good to me. Who would have thought that today, this scumbag would reveal his true colors as a cheater and use me as a tool!”
Su Yi was pretending to take photos of the sky while actually filming the couple, gathering ironclad evidence without them knowing. Hearing this, she comforted it: “Don’t worry. I’ve recorded all the evidence. He won’t be able to deny it.”
She put away her phone and took the hamster to find its owner.
After asking for directions, she found the dormitory of the hamster’s owner half an hour later. She asked a passing student to help call someone out.
“Fatty! Why were you running around? You even made it outside! Do you know Mommy was worried to death!” Before long, a short-haired girl rushed out anxiously. The moment she saw the hamster in Su Yi’s hand, she burst into tears.
“Squeak! I wasn’t running around! I was stolen by your scumbag boyfriend! Grad student, hurry! Hurry and tell my Mommy!” the hamster shouted.
Su Yi thought for a moment and asked, “Classmate, do you believe in the light?”
“Huh? I… I guess?”
“If you believe in the light, can you also believe that people can understand animal language and communicate with them?” Su Yi asked solemnly.
Wu Lan was originally confused and even shamefully suspected the mental state of the beautiful girl who had helped return her baby. Upon hearing this, her eyes immediately lit up. “I do! I’m a die-hard fan of Little Su! Do you know who Little Su is? I’ll show you her livestream replays—”
Su Yi: A die-hard fan? You should have said so earlier!
Wu Lan’s hand was gently pressed down. She saw the kind, beautiful girl smile. “I am Little Su.”
Holding the recovered Fatty, Wu Lan followed her favorite streamer toward the park.
She was in a bit of a trance, feeling as if her soul had split in two. Half of her was heartbroken and furious because her boyfriend had cheated, used her baby as a tool, and almost killed it. The other half was thrilled and excited because she had unexpectedly met the streamer Little Su, who, through a twist of fate, had teamed up with Fatty to reveal the scumbag’s true face.
She had desperately wanted to connect on the stream, but unfortunately, the slots were limited, and she could never snag one!
Su Yi quietly observed Wu Lan’s expression. Seeing her crying one moment and laughing the next, Su Yi couldn’t help but be worried, and her own anger began to smolder.
That damn scumbag!
Look at what he had done to her die-hard fan!
Both women, fueled by rage, arrived at the park.
It was getting dark, making it difficult to find people. They decided to move separately.
After searching around, Su Yi hadn’t found them. Just as she was about to head to the agreed-upon meeting point, she heard a series of terrified screams from a girl and angry roars from a boy nearby.
“What are you doing! I told you, I didn’t know he had a girlfriend! Help! Someone call the police! Quickly!”
“Wu Lan, are you crazy?! You’re a lunatic! Let go!”
“You two sluts! Was the affair fun? Do you think I’m dead?”
Su Yi sprinted toward the sound. Many people had the same idea. As everyone knows, wherever there is drama to be seen, there are Chinese people.
By the time Su Yi arrived, a circle of gossip-hungry onlookers had already formed.
She squeezed through, ignoring the glares from fellow “melon-eaters.” Once inside, she saw the scene of the brawl.
Wu Lan, wearing a mask, was in a 1-vs-2 fight against the scumbag and his new girlfriend. The little hamster’s head poked out of her pocket, cheering her on.
Wu Lan had the scumbag’s short hair in her left hand and the new girlfriend’s long hair in her right. She maintained a continuous verbal output punctuated by intermittent kicks. Even when her hands were clawed at, she didn’t let go despite the pain. The two she was attacking could only scream and cover their faces with their hands.
She had perfectly solved the classic question: When you catch someone in bed, who should you hit?
Her combat power was so formidable that she didn’t need any backup.
Su Yi was filled with respect and felt like giving her die-hard fan a round of applause.
Everyone around was recording videos. Someone shouted, “Well hit! Scumbags and homewreckers deserve a good beating!”
Someone expressed disagreement: “Hitting the man is fine, but that girl said she didn’t know the scumbag had a girlfriend beforehand. How can you hit her?”
Another person expressed concern: “Young people fighting in the street over this… be careful, those two might sue together. Wouldn’t it be a huge loss to have a criminal record?”
Someone immediately retorted loudly: “Bah! They have the nerve to sue after being caught cheating? They’ll be drowned in spit!”
At this point, the combat queen Wu Lan took a moment to shout: “Friends, elders, and neighbors, sorry for the scene. This dead scumbag relied on my help with tutoring to get into grad school. He also relied on my lead to do experiments and publish papers. Yet, behind my back, he was hooking up with a junior. What’s even more hateful is that he stole my hamster to win someone else’s favor and then discarded it afterward, nearly killing it. He’s a beast!”
“As for this girl, I just told her that this man is my boyfriend and she’s been made into the ‘other woman.’ Guess what she said? She said that since we aren’t married, everyone is free to compete. She even mocked me for being an ‘old woman.’ Damn it! That dead scumbag is actually eight months older than me; why doesn’t she consider him an old man?”
A chorus of boos rose from the crowd: “He deserves a beating.”
The dissenters fell silent and went back to recording videos.
After another five minutes, Wu Lan seemed to have vented enough and finally let go.
The man and woman stumbled and cried, hugging each other and hiding their faces.
It was dark now. Even with the streetlights, it was impossible to see faces clearly without being close.
Wu Lan looked around. Su Yi waved at her, and she immediately started walking over.
After taking just two steps, the scumbag, who had been severely beaten and seemed to have lost his mind, shouted unwillingly, “How on earth did you find out?! I was so careful!”
He received a basket of metaphorical rotten eggs from the crowd: “You have the nerve to ask how you were caught after cheating? Shameless!”
A question mark popped up in Su Yi’s head.
How did this man even get into university? This park was near their school, and many student couples came here to stroll and be affectionate. Even if she hadn’t accidentally stumbled upon them today, they would have been caught by an acquaintance sooner or later.
She thought Wu Lan would say a classmate had seen them and notified her, but instead, she heard—