Yan Zhao had imagined dozens of ways his meeting with Shen Yuanting might go, but he hadn’t expected that not one of them would come in handy.
When he opened the door, he found boxes of all sizes piled up in the entryway. They were the original host’s packed belongings, which he’d planned to haul away today. But now everything in those boxes had to be put back where it belonged.
The spacious house was dark except for the living room. Yan Zhao looked around but couldn’t find Shen Yuanting. Instead, the housekeeper was sitting on the sofa, head bowed, her shoulders trembling now and then as she sobbed without stopping.
Yan Zhao sat down beside her, pulled out a tissue, and handed it to her. “Aunt Chen, what’s wrong?”
She was crying this hard. Had someone bullied her, or had something happened to her family?
Aunt Chen raised her head. Her eyes were swollen from crying, and her nose was bright red. When she saw Yan Zhao, a glimmer of hope flashed in her eyes. She grabbed his hand and pleaded, “Xiao Yan, you have to help me. Please put in a good word for me with Madam. My son needs to go abroad for school. I can’t afford to lose this job!”
Yan Zhao was completely lost. Had she done something wrong and gotten fired? But Aunt Chen was a longtime employee who could keep the house in perfect order with her eyes closed, and she knew exactly what the Shen family liked and disliked. What taboo had she crossed to be told to pack up and get out?
“You have to tell me what happened first. Then I can figure out how to help.”
Aunt Chen took the tissue and wiped her tears. “I… I let Yuanting’s cat out.”
Oh, the cat… Yan Zhao nodded without thinking.
The cat?!
Yan Zhao froze.
Then he jolted. “What?!”
He couldn’t be blamed for making such a fuss. In the story, this was one of the major causes that set Shen Yuanting on the path to becoming evil!
#Shocking: Once-beloved heartthrob turns into a psychopath, all because of a cat. The truth behind it is…!#
To explain what happened, he had to start with Shen Yuanting’s family background.
Shen Yuanting’s biological parents had divorced when he was in primary school. Before little Shen had even had time to get over it, his father brought another woman home, along with a younger brother who was barely younger than him.
His father didn’t love him, and his mother had flown abroad. Shen Yuanting was just a little boy who couldn’t protect himself, and he was bullied relentlessly at home. Fortunately, his grandmother was kind and beautiful, and took on the responsibility of looking after him. For a while, Shen Yuanting was able to enjoy a carefree life. But it didn’t last long. Less than a year later, the old lady suddenly suffered a cerebral thrombosis and was hospitalized. Shen Yuanting had no choice but to return to that cold house, where Father Shen, his stepmother, and his younger brother lived together in harmony, while he felt like an outsider.
One day, a sudden downpour caught Shen Yuanting without an umbrella. He was stranded in a roadside shelter on his way home. He called Father Shen, who promised to come pick him up right away. But Shen Yuanting waited until dark and never saw his father’s car.
Rain poured down. There wasn’t a single car on the road. Tired of waiting, Shen Yuanting took off his school uniform and held it over his head, then ran out of the shelter.
He hadn’t gone far when he heard a faint mewling from the bushes. The boy pushed aside the grass, revealing a tiny creature, skin and bones and shivering with cold.
The rest of the story needs no explaining.
And why did Yan Zhao know all this so well? Because this was the beginning of Big Male Lead Ning falling in love with Shen Yuanting at first sight!!!
A cool, aloof boy finds an abandoned kitten. Such a clichéd trope, but one that never failed to work!!!
You could say Shen Yuanting had raised this cat from a helpless kitten, feeding it and cleaning up after it (…). It wasn’t just a pet anymore. It was his friend. Aunt Chen had worked for the Shen family for more than ten years. There was no way she didn’t know how much the cat meant to Shen Yuanting!
Yan Zhao frowned. “Did you do this because of Auntie Tang?”
By Auntie Tang, he meant Shen Yuanting’s stepmother, Tang Jingyan. The Shen family didn’t recognize the original host as their son’s spouse, so he didn’t even have the right to call her his mother-in-law.
Aunt Chen choked back a sob. “I had no choice. Madam told me to do it. How could I refuse?”
Tang Jingyan had resorted to all kinds of underhanded tactics to seize the family fortune. She was an experienced schemer, with plenty of practice and skill at sabotaging people. As a seasoned fan of household intrigue, she’d noticed how much Shen Yuanting adored his cat, so she’d coaxed Aunt Chen into getting rid of it. It was a fatal blow, sending Shen Yuanting’s corruption progress soaring by fifty percentage points.
Aunt Chen wiped her tears and began recounting how she’d gotten rid of the cat. The more Yan Zhao heard, the heavier his heart sank.
She’d stuffed the old cat Shen Yuanting had raised for more than ten years into a cardboard box and handed it over to an old man who collected scrap. The man didn’t want a cat, so she told him to take it somewhere remote and abandon it. In exchange, Aunt Chen’s son had received a recommendation letter for a graduate program at a school overseas.
After explaining the whole story, Aunt Chen tried to justify herself. “The cat’s sleek and well-fed. Any child would like it. Someone was bound to take it in.”
“But it’s so cold, and it’s been raining for days. Everyone’s rushing home. Who’s going to notice a cat?” Yan Zhao’s expression darkened, and his words came faster. “Did you ever consider that, instead of being adopted, it might not survive even a few days?”
“D-die? There’s nothing I can do about that. It’s an animal, after all. Even if you take good care of it, it won’t live more than a few years!” Aunt Chen murmured. “How can Yuanting be so heartless as to fire me over a cat? I’ve been with the Shen family since he was in middle school!”
And the cat had been with him since sixth grade! You betrayed Shen Yuanting, then blamed him for being heartless. Was your face made of bricks?
Yan Zhao asked coldly, “Aunt Chen, by your reasoning, a cat is just an animal, not as smart as people, bolts out the moment the door opens, and can’t even find its way home. If it dies, that’s its own fault. But no matter how stupid or foolish it is, is it your cat? What gives you the right to decide what happens to it?”
Aunt Chen protested, “But… if I didn’t do it, Madam would be angry…”
So she’d been on Tang Jingyan’s side all along. Tang Jingyan really was something. She’d managed to plant both Aunt Chen and the original host right beside Shen Yuanting.
“Even if Madam got so angry she turned into a balloon and floated into the sky, she still wouldn’t have the right to touch Shen Yuanting’s cat. Neither do you,” Yan Zhao said, displeased. “If you chose to hurt him to please Madam, then don’t use all those years of service to guilt-trip Shen Yuanting. He owes you nothing, and neither does the cat.”
You can’t do something awful and expect to keep both sides happy. Dream on.
Aunt Chen sobbed even harder. “Xiao Yan, how can you be so cold too? I know that cat was precious to him, but it’s gone. He can just buy another one!”
“You lose your job, you can find another one too,” Yan Zhao said coolly. Though the new job might not pay as well or offer such good benefits.
Aunt Chen stared at him, then burst into wails. Yan Zhao had known her for less than half an hour. Why would he fall for her sob story? He called a car and had her sent away, then took an umbrella and went outside.
The rain kept falling. Drops ran down the umbrella and gathered into a curtain of beads.
Yan Zhao breathed out. A cloud of white mist drifted away.
“Wangzai, are you there?” he called loudly. The only answer was the rain all around him.
Yan Zhao held his breath and prodded the trash can with a branch. The garbage rustled and bumped together, but there was no meowing.
In the original novel, the cat had died. If it didn’t die, how could it become one of the catalysts for Shen Yuanting’s descent into evil?
And to make sure Shen Yuanting fell even further, the author cruelly added another twist: Shen Yuanting found the cat, but it was already at death’s door and died in his arms.
And where did Shen Yuanting find it? Beside a trash can in some residential complex. Which complex? Ha. Would the author really write that much detail? Even if the author had, Yan Zhao would have forgotten it by now.
At least cats couldn’t fly, and the scrap collector wasn’t likely to have carried it halfway across the city just to abandon it. That narrowed the search area considerably.
But in a cold winter with rain that never seemed to let up, how long could it hold out?
“The number you have dialed is powered off. Please try again later…”
He didn’t know whether Shen Yuanting’s phone had run out of battery or whether he’d blocked Yan Zhao, but he couldn’t get through. With no other choice, he texted him: “A friend of mine saw a cat that looked a lot like Wangzai near a trash can in some residential complex, but he can’t remember the name.”
After sending the message, Yan Zhao looked down. The rain had soaked his jeans, darkening them several shades and making them cling to his legs, cold and damp. It was miserable.
He marked the spot on his map and continued searching for Wangzai, following the route he’d planned.
The rain grew heavier. Fewer cars and people passed on the street. The streetlights shone a deathly white, like something out of a horror movie.
After getting the location wrong yet again, he wiped his face. Rain had blown in sideways, leaving his hand soaked, icy cold.
It was already three in the morning. He was exhausted and freezing, and he hadn’t even caught a glimpse of the cat.
Normally, he might have given up looking by now. There were limits to how much compassion a person could feel. The cat wasn’t his, and the mistake wasn’t his. He’d done his best, but he’d come up empty.
But this was a golden opportunity to raise Shen Yuanting’s opinion of him. To put it bluntly, chances like this didn’t come along every day. It would be a shame to give up.
Gritting his teeth, Yan Zhao got into the car. The headlights instantly lit up the dim ground.
The tires began to roll, and he was about to leave when a tiny yellow glimmer flashed past. It wasn’t inside the trash can, but in a handcart nearby!
The cart was old and battered, covered in a thick layer of rust. A filthy piece of cloth covered the cargo bed, and rainwater ran down it in a steady stream.
“Wangzai?” Yan Zhao climbed out of the car and shone his flashlight under the cloth. The tiny glint, no bigger than a copper bell, blinked on and off.
It was a cat!
Yan Zhao hurriedly pulled back the cloth. A black cat lay inside, its fur soaked into clumps, the white hair on its belly stained a dirty gray-black.
The tuxedo cat had been dyed a solid color!
Only when he got closer did he hear a faint, almost inaudible mew. It was so weak and pitiful, coming in fits and starts, nearly drowned out by the torrential rain.
When the cat saw Yan Zhao’s face, its meow suddenly grew louder, almost a scream of desperation. But that burst of volume quickly faded, and it was back to a little breathy sound.
Thank goodness a cat’s eyes reflected light. Otherwise, the little thing would have been left behind!
Yan Zhao tossed the inconvenient umbrella aside, planted one foot on the cart’s metal bed, and leaned down to scoop up the cat.
The moment he touched it, Yan Zhao’s hand trembled.
The cat’s limbs were stiff, and it was as cold as a block of ice, almost like a corpse.
Don’t you dare die on me. Otherwise, what was the point of all that effort to find you?!!!
Unable to find a towel, Yan Zhao cranked the heater in the car to its highest setting. He used tissues to soak up the rainwater in the cat’s fur, then tucked it between his coat and sweater, like a kangaroo.
He was searching for a 24-hour veterinary hospital when an incoming call came through.
The only person who’d call at a time like this could be Shen Yuanting!
He hadn’t even managed to say “Hello” when the other man asked, “What’s your friend’s phone number?”
Shen Yuanting’s voice was hoarse, his tone full of exhaustion. Clearly, he’d been frantic with worry over the cat.
Knowing what he wanted to ask, Yan Zhao answered directly, “I found the cat. It’s with me.”
“Yan Zhao, don’t joke around with me,” Shen Yuanting said. “I’m not in the mood.”
Even through the phone, Yan Zhao could picture how anxious and worn out the man must be.
“I’m not joking.” He slowed his tone, trying to make his voice steadier. “I found Wangzai. I’m at XX Residential Complex. Believe me, okay?”
There was a brief silence on the other end. “Wait for me. I’m nearby. I’ll be there soon.”