“Zhou Che.”
“The script matter, the other party has relented.”
“Mm, thank you, Zhou Che.”
“Don’t thank me so soon. Besides money, they have one more condition.”
“I’ll do anything.”
“I haven’t even told you what it is!”
“As long as I can buy that script, I’ll do anything.”
There was a stretch of silence on the other end of the line, followed by a heavy sigh. Zhou Che softened her tone: “Zhuchen, you really don’t need to go this far. The words ‘accidental death’ are written clearly on the official determination, it truly has nothing to do with you.”
“I know.”
“You know? You know, and yet you insist on buying that race car driver’s script? Do you know how expensive the projects Fang Ye takes on are?”
“I know. It’s just that, ” Song Zhuchen lowered his head to look at the diamond ring on the middle finger of his left hand, pale golden sunlight dancing across the perfectly cut facets of the diamond. “I just can’t accept it.”
Another, even longer silence from the other side: “The money is yours; how you spend it is none of my business. But their condition is that you must take on that variety show, otherwise no amount of money will make the deal. Qiao Xi is also on that show. Think carefully about whether it’s worth it. I really don’t think it…”
“I agree.” Song Zhuchen didn’t even wait for Zhou Che to finish.
“Think it over. Once you agree, there’s no taking it back. Personally, I’m against it.” Zhou Che’s tone turned serious. It was a rural life experience variety show, and whether Song Zhuchen joined as a Best Actor winner or as the young heir of the Song family, he would be the show’s biggest selling point. How shrewd the producers were, a single jinxed script, and not only could they turn it into money, they could also send their variety show soaring. What an incredibly profitable deal.
But for Song Zhuchen, the risk was extremely high. A Best Actor descending to the countryside would certainly bring him more popularity, but if the young heir couldn’t handle rural life, the slightest hint of disgust in that environment would be magnified a thousandfold and turned against him. And there was still Qiao Xi that arrogant, domineering top-tier star had always been at odds with Song Zhuchen. Everyone in the entertainment industry was a shrewd operator; if they wanted to trip him up, they’d have no shortage of ways to do it.
“I won’t take it back.” Song Zhuchen’s hand traced the Buddhist talismans on the dark red wall of a temple, his tone resolute.
Zhou Che hung up the phone, feeling that in recent years she understood Song Zhuchen less and less. He was such a proud person, yet he insisted on locking horns with a celebrity. He clearly disliked any work outside of making films, yet now, for the sake of a script, he was willing to do anything. What on earth was he after?!
In truth, Song Zhuchen wanted nothing at all. He only wanted the moon in the sky. To earn the right to reach for that moon, Song Zhuchen had lived like an ascetic workaholic amid the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry, low-key in his conduct, laden with awards, immune to scandal.
But now the moon had fallen into eternal night, and everything had become meaningless.
Fang Ye watched Song Zhuchen on the phone in the distance. The pale golden sunlight traced his tall, well-proportioned figure with a soft golden glow. The layer of ice that never seemed to melt around Song Zhuchen dissolved in the gentle daylight, and he was so beautiful he looked like a deity stepping out of a sacred oil painting.
How beautiful!
Fang Ye was startled by his own thought and immediately launched into harsh self-criticism: Fang Ye, Fang Ye, what’s wrong with you? How could you be seduced by this man’s good looks?! Sure, Song saved your life, but he hates you! Sure, he’s just a know-it-all who loves lecturing people, but if you round things off a bit, it’s perfectly reasonable to pin the grudge of your death on him! Now that man and cat walk different paths if not now, when will you ever get your revenge?!
There’s no such thing as an impossible revenge, only brave kitties. Charge!
The Blue-Gold Cat, face smeared with kibble crumbs, wore an expression of someone marching to their death, big sapphire-blue eyes filled with a resolve that didn’t fit his soft, cute cat persona. Kitten clenching fist.jpg
But that dashing resolve lasted less than a second before the mascot Fang was once again clamped in a human girl’s hands, lifted helplessly into the air. Amid the same old chorus of “So cute!” “Kawaii!” “I’m melting from the adorableness!”, he once more resignedly narrowed his eyes, yawned, and got scooped into someone’s arms for a good long petting.
Song Zhuchen, oblivious to all this, hung up the phone only to realize he had somehow walked back to the temple entrance. This was the first time in his life he had voluntarily stepped through the doors of a temple. Dr. Song had never believed in gods or Buddhas.
But still…
“What if, though?” That casual remark from a stranger earlier, like the devil’s whisper, kept swirling in his ears.
Yes, what if, though?
That one phrase, “what if,” was like the serpent that tempted mankind in Eden, endlessly seductive. By the time Song Zhuchen came back to his senses, he was already standing in the middle of the main hall.
The Buddha statue gazed down with compassion at this pitiful soul whose spirit had withered to ash. Qi Yan stared slack-jawed as Dr. Song, the man who never prayed to gods or Buddhas, solemnly took three sticks of incense from the wooden table, then knelt naturally on the prayer cushion, closed his eyes, and kowtowed three times to the Buddha. Finally, he rose and reverently placed the incense in the burner.
Every movement flowed seamlessly, as if the materialist Dr. Song were someone else entirely.
Fang the cat, who had been coaxing a worshipper into revealing the wish they’d just made, felt his DNA stir. He could sense that Song Zhuchen had entrusted a wish to the Buddha but if Song didn’t say it, there was no way he’d ever find out.
Fang Ye lay on the ground absently, rolling over to show his belly for petting, distracted. What could his wish be? He was so curious!
Fang Ye watched Song Zhuchen carefully straighten the incense he had placed, then pull out his phone and tap out what seemed to be a reply to some message and then, without warning, suddenly look up, straight at him.
The moment their eyes met, Fang Ye let out an “aow!” and shot away from the tourist’s hands like lightning.
Zhong Jianli, who happened to be walking in, was genuinely grateful to the Buddha: “Amitabha, this silly cat has finally completed his rehabilitation. Excellent, excellent.”
Why does everyone keep running from me?! Song Zhuchen inexplicably found himself holding a grudge against a cat as if this weren’t a scruffy stray, but some person who had evaded him until it was beyond repair. Reason couldn’t keep up with the emotional impulse at all; before he even realized what he was doing, he had already strode forward to cut off the kitten’s escape route.
Those beautiful, spotless Oxford shoes appeared before Fang Ye’s eyes again. He couldn’t understand how the bully Song would even pick on a cat. Rage surged up in his heart, and with a fierce swat of his paw, he stomped hard onto Song Zhuchen’s glossy, mirror-shined leather shoe. Squish and a perfectly formed little gray plum blossom instantly appeared on the handsome dark-brown leather.
Fang Ye: Die, you neat freak! Hope this makes you furious!
Song Zhuchen looked down at the little plum blossom on his shoe, then at the provocative culprit, and surprisingly bent down, gripped the filthy little cat with both hands, and lifted him up to his face.
Fang Ye: ? Where’s your neat freak-ness now?
Qi Yan nervously shuffled over, carefully edging up beside Song Zhuchen to remind him: “Zhuchen, this is sacred Buddhist ground. Killing living things is… not really recommended, haha…”
Song Zhuchen: “…”
Fang Ye: “…”
Held up by the ribs in Song Zhuchen’s grip, Fang Ye suddenly remembered he wasn’t wearing any clothes. His entire self, no, his entire cat body was stark naked, dignity completely gone, dangling in front of his sworn enemy. Fang Ye felt like he’d lost so, so badly, and immediately protested like mad.
“Meow!” (Put me down!)
“Hey, look, he doesn’t like being held like that!” Qi Yan, devoted cat servant, offered his professional opinion as he watched the little coal ball’s four short legs flailing wildly in the air, cat food crumbs raining down nonstop.
Song Zhuchen’s hand paused, then he shifted to support the cat’s bottom with one hand. Before Fang Ye could even breathe a sigh of relief, Song Zhuchen’s other hand descended from the sky and covered his entire head.
Fang Ye: Held entirely in my rival’s grasp. Never in my life have I been this humiliated.
Fang Ye stretched out a paw to bat Song Zhuchen’s hand away, but Song Zhuchen didn’t oblige.
Seeing the little cat looking so disgusted as he tried to swat his hand away, Song Zhuchen instead doubled down on his wickedness, gripping the little cat firmly in his hand. Not only that, he even curled a finger to flick the crumbs off the cat’s whiskers.
“I heard this temple grants every wish. They say the cats in Buddhist temples can commune with the Buddha,” Song Zhuchen silently recited in his heart. “You’re so desperate to escape is it because my wish is too hard to fulfill?”
People came and went in the temple. Fang Ye pricked up his ears but couldn’t hear Song Zhuchen’s wish. Yet as the bully solemnly stroked his head, Fang Ye’s entire body felt as if electricity was coursing through it, an inexplicable force barged uninvited into his limbs and bones, and a strange, indescribable sensation flooded through him.
Even Zhong Jianli, standing far away, turned to look over.
Fortunately, Song Zhuchen didn’t go too far. Before long, he set the dusty little fur ball down on the ground.
“We should head back,” Song Zhuchen said to Qi Yan. “There’s a dinner thing tonight.”
“Oh? Your neat freak-ness is cured?” Qi Yan still hadn’t recovered from the sight of the coal ball on the ground and the cat hair on Song Zhuchen’s trousers.
“What?” Song Zhuchen frowned.
“Nothing…” Qi Yan quickly shook his head. “A dinner thing is good news. Let’s go.”
“Mm.” Song Zhuchen nodded and walked out of the main hall with Qi Yan.
Fang Ye, finally able to walk again on his own four chubby little legs, sensed that something was off. Every time Song Zhuchen took a step, he would stumble along behind him toward the bully, as if an invisible thread had been strung between Song Zhuchen and himself.
What was happening? Fang Ye turned his head toward Zhong Jianli in alarm, only to see Zhong the Fraud gazing thoughtfully at Song Zhuchen, those shrewd eyes looking unusually bright in the flickering candlelight of the great hall.
Fang Ye: ? He’s recognized me? You monks don’t chase celebrities, do you?
“Huh? Why has this little cat been following us the whole time? Could it be it’s fallen in love with me, such a gentle, approachable, dashing cat dad!” Qi Yan turned around and exclaimed in surprise when he saw the little coal ball tumbling and scrambling toward them.
Fang Ye: Holy crap, who’s in love with you? It’s not like I want to be either! What is going on with these legs?!
Song Zhuchen looked down at the little coal ball that had failed to brake in time and tumbled head over heels right to his feet, saying nothing.
But how could Qi Yan, the matchmaker of the cat world, let this opportunity slip by? He hurriedly leaned in and said, “Zhuchen, I feel like this cat has a connection with you. Look, even though it lets anyone pet it at the temple, I’ve never seen it follow anyone else around. But the moment you left, it got anxious. Plus, it’s a chatterbox and you’re a man of few words, you two are a perfect match!”
Fang Ye: “Meow meow meow?” Who’s a chatterbox? How can you badmouth someone to their face? Wait, what do you mean “lets anyone pet it”? Explain yourself! The little cat glared fiercely at Qi Yan.
“I don’t like cats.” Song Zhuchen stared at the little coal ball, which had finally managed to untangle its messy limbs, as he spoke.
Fang Ye (sneering.jpg): Heh, you think I like you?
“You will! Cats are so adorable!” As he spoke, Qi Yan scooped up the weak, helpless, and uncoordinated little cat from the ground again and thrust it in front of Song Zhuchen. “Look, it’s really affectionate with people!”
Qi Yan genuinely wanted a living creature to keep Song Zhuchen company. He was abroad most of the year and couldn’t always be by his side, and now with the Fang Ye situation, having a little companion at home would at least keep him from getting too depressed. Besides, Qi Yan knew his best friend well, he was just cold-faced with a kind heart. If there was a delicate little creature for him to care for, even if he didn’t love it, he would still take responsible, conscientious care of it.
If he took good care of a pet, he wouldn’t neglect himself nearly to death.
The scheme was well calculated. Unfortunately, Fang Ye had a different opinion, so Fang the Kitty threw back his head and let out a mighty roar: “Awoo!”
Translation: Old Zhong, come save me!
“Amitabha,” Zhong Jianli appeared at just the right moment, and Fang Ye breathed a sigh of relief. “Does the benefactor like this cat?”
“He does, he really does!” Qi Yan began vigorously promoting his best friend. “Sure, he has severe OCD about cleanliness, but look, he’s covered in cat fur right now and hasn’t said a word. That proves he absolutely loves it!”
Fang Ye: Heh, I’m not seeing it.
“Amitabha. All things have spirits. I saw that when the benefactor left earlier, this cat truly chased after him relentlessly. It seems the cat has a connection with the benefactor. It would be no harm for the benefactor to take it home and raise it.” With that, Zhong Jianli, ever the seasoned and dignified one, performed a Buddhist salute toward Song Zhuchen.
Fang Ye (pupils shaking in shock): ??? Wait, Zhong the Fraud, what about your grand plan to revive your temple?
“Then it’s settled!”
Clearly, in this arranged match, the happiest participants were the two bystanders, Qi Yan and Zhong Jianli.