7: This Man’s Back…
Ye Susu’s words left the agent at a loss.
“You’re quite humorous, Miss Ye.”
The agent, ever the smooth talker, chuckled in agreement before stepping forward to ring the doorbell.
True to its name, Haitang Compound was indeed worthy of it.
In front of the entrance to the standalone cottage hung a carved wooden plaque, its design a blooming, vibrant crabapple flower, engraved with the number ’18’.
The dim yellow streetlights around, along with the manhole covers on the ground, were either perforated or intricately carved with seasonal crabapple motifs—flourishing and splendid.
The residential buildings in the front rows were all over ten stories high.
Only this last row consisted of standalone duplex cottages.
Number 18 was close to the artificial stream within the complex, situated at the southeasternmost corner. The noise from the outside roads seemed completely shut out here, leaving only quiet serenity.
Ye Susu held onto Ye Xun’s sleeve, looking around with immense satisfaction.
“Cub, the environment seems really nice here. Even prettier than any place I’ve lived before.”
“Mm.”
Ye Xun was also tilting his little head, looking around with his dark eyes flashing a hint of amazement. But soon, curiosity and confusion surfaced.
This place was even nicer than his kindergarten and yet it was cheaper than where they currently lived?
He was too young to understand.
But remembering the rental posters and price tags they’d seen earlier in the agency, all much higher than this, his dark eyes grew slightly puzzled.
As he was deep in thought, the electronic lock on the door beeped and clicked open.
The agent, ever professional, smiled and pulled something from his bag.
“I brought disposable shoe covers. Here, put a pair on.”
Ye Susu quickly took them. She wanted to search her memory for how to put them on, but watching the agent slip them on effortlessly, she immediately mimicked his movements and carefully pulled them over her own sneakers.
Once she’d figured it out, she bent down to put them on the little one beside her.
But just as she reached out, her sleeve was tugged gently.
She looked down to see the little one’s pale finger lightly hooked around her sleeve, his grape-like phoenix eyes holding a trace of unease.
“What’s wrong? We’ll just go inside for a little bit and come right back out.”
Ye Susu thought he was shy around strangers.
But considering they’d be living with others in the future, the child would have to get used to it. Gritting her teeth, she decided to start training her little one early to overcome his timid nature.
Even baby cats weren’t this shy around strangers.
“If you’re scared, just hold onto my tail… ahem, hold onto my hand, okay?”
Ye Xun had been about to say that the rental price seemed off and that maybe it was a trap like the ones his teacher warned about but he was caught off guard by the soft, gentle tone of Ye Susu’s voice.
The logical thoughts in his little mind instantly melted into that soft sweetness.
His worried gaze fell on Ye Susu’s slender hand and dissolved layer by layer.
Mommy… wanted him to hold her hand?
He couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.
All the way here, Ye Susu had been holding his sleeve, not his hand.
He’d thought she didn’t want to hold his hand in front of others, that she didn’t want to appear too close to him—lest strangers gossip again, asking why their family didn’t have a father.
“Come on.”
Seeing him silent, Ye Susu assumed he agreed.
In one swift motion, she scooped his little body up by the waist, skillfully held him against her as she crouched down, and clumsily grabbed a shoe cover to slip onto his small foot.
“Hmm, seems a bit big.”
The shoe covers were adult-sized, not fitting a child at all. The elastic was loose and slack, impossible to secure properly on his small shoe.
If he walked, they’d definitely slip right off.
Ye Susu blinked, then simply grabbed both ends of the shoe cover and tied them into an awkward, messy knot around his ankle.
“This’ll have to do for now.”
Humans were so troublesome.
She secretly sighed in relief, wiped the faint sweat from her forehead from the effort, and set the little one back on the ground, steadying him with a hand as he found his footing.
Yet Ye Xun felt dazed.
Both his little feet were back on the ground, but it felt as if he were stepping on clouds—light and soft.
His dark, grape-like eyes stared blankly at his own small hand, now held in hers.
…
“This is the landlord, Mr. Li.”
As soon as they entered, the agent made the introduction professionally.
But Ye Susu didn’t hear a word.
The moment she stepped into the entryway, a rich, irresistible scent of catnip, enough to make any feline roll over three hundred times drifted toward her, hazy and tantalizing.
Her nose twitched, and she followed the captivating fragrance with her gaze.
In an instant, she understood.
It was him.
That strikingly familiar, handsome jawline.
The one she had just met at noon today.
Her eyes traveled upward, finally taking in the man fully.
Under the bright, daylight-like wall lights in the living room, he wore a light gray cable-knit sweater. Tall and broad-shouldered, his skin was cool and fair.
His handsome features were sharp, with a high nose bridge and eyes that held a calm indifference. Yet the slight upward tilt at the corners of his eyes somewhat similar to little Ye Xun’s, added a touch of warmth to his otherwise cold demeanor.
Ye Susu pressed her lips together, forcing her intense gaze away from the neckline of his sweater below his Adam’s apple.
“Miss Ye.”
The man nodded at her gently, his voice elegant and magnetic.
Ye Susu’s right hand tightened around little Ye Xun’s small hand.
Deep breath.
Calm down.
No matter how much she liked the sweater, she couldn’t just pounce. She had to stay calm.
“Due to certain reasons, I’m in a hurry to rent out the spare room.”
The man looked down, offering an explanation.
A place like this wouldn’t normally rent for such a low price.
“Mm.”
Ye Susu couldn’t help but nod.
Across a sea of millions of cats, they had met twice.
He needed to rent urgently; she needed a new home.
This must be fate in the vast feline world.
If she were still in her cat form, this man was destined… to be her human servant.
“Let’s go upstairs to see the room.”
The man crossed his arms, his gaze cool yet deliberately composed falling on the little boy beside her.
“You’re free to use the living room and kitchen on the first floor.”
“There’s a balcony upstairs and a backyard. If you like, you can grow flowers or plants there.”
He had followed the childcare expert’s advice to give the child more space to move around, it would help ease his mood and aid in early development.
Ye Susu quickly hummed in agreement.
As the man finished speaking, he turned to lead the way, revealing his broad back and narrow waist.
Immediately, her eyes lit up again.
This man’s back was the kind made for a cat to perch on comfortably… and maybe even roll around on.
Oh, this was prime real estate.
“Cub, I kind of like it here.”
“What do you think?”
Ye Susu finally retained a shred of reason and remembered the little one beside her, who had been silent since they entered.
She glanced ahead, saw the man heading up to the second floor, and quickly bent down to whisper beside the child.
“Do you like this uncle?”
“Can we live with him?”
She was fine with it.
But every cat has their own preferences when it comes to human servants.
The happiness of her little one mattered more than her own, big-cat desires!
As she asked this, Li Yun, who had walked a few steps ahead, paused.
He tilted his head slightly back, holding his breath and listening intently.
Every other apartment was either too far from the child’s kindergarten or too large, making the low rent hard to justify.
Only this place was suitable enough.
But did the child like it?
Li Yun strained to listen, but the sound he was hoping for never came from behind.
Ye Xun was naturally quiet, and in an unfamiliar place, he was even more cautious. He looked around the house, glanced at the man in front, but didn’t make a sound. Instead, he gave Ye Susu the tiniest of nods.
Their family didn’t have extra money to rent a more expensive place.
He knew that.
“Alright.”
Ye Susu breathed a sigh of relief.
Her little one’s tastes were still similar to hers.
Li Yun turned back and saw the mother and child, as if having settled the matter, walking hand in hand behind him.
They appeared harmonious at first glance, but a closer look revealed that the child kept his head down the whole time. When walking, his gaze stayed fixed on the floor, never looking ahead or making eye contact with anyone.
The child’s situation was even more concerning than he had known.
Following the experts’ advice, not revealing his identity as the father right away, letting the child adapt for three months, and then finding a way to take him away from his biological mother to live in a new environment should be the right approach.
Lost in thought, Li Yun couldn’t help but narrow his eyes at the woman beside the child.
The child resembled her—fair skin, rosy lips, and eyes that sparkled like stars when she smiled.
But thinking of the unsavory details about her in the investigation report, his brows furrowed with displeasure.
Meanwhile, Ye Susu had finished looking around and finally grasped the layout of this territory.
Past the entryway on the first floor was an open-plan living room.
To the left of the living room, a full wall of glass sliding doors and floor-to-ceiling windows opened directly into a small garden of about twenty square meters. It was winter, so few flowers were in bloom, but a few wintersweet shrubs stood there.
To the right of the living room were a bathroom, a storage room, a small study, and a home gym.
Further inside the living room were the kitchen, a bar counter, and a small dining table with seating for six.
All these were shared spaces.
Just the activity area on the first floor alone was easily over a hundred square meters.
Upstairs, there weren’t many rooms—only three bedrooms. The left one belonged to the owner, the middle one was rented to her and the little one, and the right one was still vacant.
Beside the staircase was a cozy little sitting area with bookshelves and a soft rug—it looked so warm and inviting, just begging to be pawed at…
Ye Susu was absolutely willing to rent this place!
This thousand-yuan rent truly made her, a little feline, not want to leave.
“I’ve brought the rental agreement. You can both sign it here.”
Unable to wait any longer to move in, Ye Susu eagerly signed her name.
Li Yun took the contract, looked at her messy, scrawled handwriting, and his eyebrow twitched slightly.
After a moment, he uncapped the silver pen and signed his name neatly next to hers.
Ye Susu was completely unfazed by her own awful handwriting.
She calmly watched him finish signing, took a deep sniff of the room’s scent, then stood up, took the little one’s hand, and prepared to leave.
“Miss Ye, if you’re moving tomorrow, would you like me to arrange some help?”
The agent unexpectedly spoke up.
“You guys offer so many services.”
Ye Susu was a bit surprised—the human world really was convenient. But she quickly waved her hand dismissively.
“No need. I don’t have much stuff.”
Anything valuable had already been sold.
Thinking of that, she slapped her forehead. “Agent, sorry to trouble you, but could you drive us back?”
She still needed to ship those items early.
The sooner she got the money on Xianyu, the better.
“No problem.”
The agent glanced at the aloof man beside him, smiling warmly.
“I’ll drive you here tomorrow too.”
“You’re such a kind person,” Ye Susu was genuinely touched. She immediately pulled the little one closer. “Cub, quickly thank the uncle.”
Li Yun’s cool, distant gaze immediately turned toward them.
From the moment they arrived until now, the child hadn’t spoken a word to him.
The agent, being quick-witted, laughed it off. “No need, no need.”
But Ye Susu insisted. “It’s important. Cub, say goodbye to the tall uncle, and thank this young uncle. We’re polite little ones, aren’t we?”
In the feline world, mother cats teach their kittens survival rules from a young age.
The human world was no different.
Human cubs needed to learn human rules—like having a sweet tongue.
“Mm… uncle… goodbye…”
The little one’s face flushed.
“Thank you… uncle.”
His head was lowered, eyes fixed on his toes.
The tender voice of the child was so soft it was barely audible.
Yet it chimed like a clear, delicate jade, falling softly into Li Yun’s ears and causing a sudden, unfamiliar surrender in his chest—his heart softening instantly.
“Goodbye.”
His thin lips curved slightly as he waved at the little one.
Even though the child’s head was lowered and he couldn’t see.
The viewing hadn’t taken long, but by the time Ye Susu was ready to leave, it was already eight o’clock.
The sky was pitch dark, but thankfully the streetlights were bright, and they had a ride.
“No need to see us out, big brother.”
Ye Susu waved at him with a cheerful smile.
Another day resisting the urge to roll in the catnip.
Li Yun’s mouth twitched, but his expression softened noticeably. He nodded at her. “Be safe on your way back.”
“Will do~ See you tomorrow.”
Ye Susu cheerfully helped little Ye Xun into the back seat of the car, then climbed in herself.
Li Yun watched the car drive out of the complex and disappear into the night before turning to go inside.
But as he entered, he couldn’t help but touch the side of his face.
Was there something on his face?
The way that woman looked at him—it was as if she were looking at some kind of food.
Li Yun shook his head, quickly picked up the documents on the table, and began reviewing them.
On the way back, Ye Susu listened to yet another demanding call from Ye Wan and couldn’t help but chuckle lightly.
“You want me to move out tomorrow? So, your aunt’s belongings can be moved in early?”
“Alright then! I just happen to need someone to help me clean up tomorrow. I’m so grateful! There’s some stuff I’m not sure how to sort—recyclable or non-recyclable… dry or wet… Well, I’ll just leave it all to you! Bye-bye!”
After hanging up, Ye Susu gave a small, satisfied hum.
Seeing the worried look in Ye Xun’s eyes, she smiled.
“We’ll just take our clothes and blankets. Nothing else is needed.”
“I checked earlier—that uncle’s place has wool blankets, wool rugs, furry toilet seat covers, even furry curtains… everything.”
Ye Xun nodded.
He had noticed that too. There were also many bookshelves with stories.
“Oh, right. Time to post something.”
To tick off that scheming Ye Wan!
Thinking this, Ye Susu took out her phone with a smile and pieced together the set of pictures the agent had sent her of Haitang Compound into a nine-square grid.
The original owner used to do this often, so even though she was slow at it now, the process went smoothly enough.
[susu: Thanks to my Persian ancestors for their blessings, allowing me to live in such a beautiful house in this lifetime (heart)(heart)]
Saccharine and smug enough to make someone furious without owing them a thing.
Heh.
**