Chapter 238

Zhou Yinhe let out a satisfied hum, but Jiang Jibai said helplessly: "It's not that serious, Xiao Wu."

"Do you know this is a curse?" Zhou Yinhe snorted coldly: "If your curse comes true, how will you compensate me?"

"Let him find you a new one," Ke Chengyu interjected.

Zhou Yinhe's fur stood on end like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, and he gritted his teeth: "You're talking nonsense!"

His reaction was too amusing, making the few people on the call laugh uncontrollably.

On the contrary, Zhao Ningyan suddenly joined the call, hearing their laughter he was a bit puzzled, but still asked: "Xiao Wu, what's going on with Jingyuan? Why can't I find him lately?"

Zhou Yinhe fell silent for a moment, then lightly laughed and said: "I offended my second uncle, he put me under confinement, I'll be let out soon."

Zhao Ningyan felt something was off, but didn't continue questioning, only asking: "When will you come back?"

"Not urgent." Zhou Yinhe didn't want them to see him make a fool of himself, casually told a lie: "I still need to spend more time with Wen Ling here."

Whether they believed it or not is unknown; all they knew was that when they ended the call, they each gave a light, airy laugh—what it meant, probably only they knew—Zhou Yinhe's mind was full of how to tease Wen Ling tonight, and he didn't care about anything else.

At noon he slept very easily, but upon waking he felt extremely lonely and lost.

He leaned against the headboard, rubbing his somewhat painful forehead, feeling awful inside, probably because during previous naps there was always someone beside him whom he could just reach out and pull into his arms.

Zhou Yinhe sighed deeply, got up, washed up, changed clothes, and waited in the first-floor living room like a farmer waiting for a rabbit.

He occasionally glanced at his watch; when the time was about right, he pocketed his phone and left the villa.

His timing was precise; just as he stepped out of the villa, a black sedan pulled up not far away at the neighboring villa's gate, and Wen Ling got out of the car expressionlessly.

Zhou Yinhe walked slowly to the car, gave a light cough, and looked straight ahead without glancing sideways.

Wen Ling heard the familiar voice, snapped her head around—Zhou Yinhe was standing not far away, not looking at her, yet her heart still raced.

Zhou Yinhe didn't hear her speak, so he pretended not to notice, turned his head toward Wen Ling, shrugged, and said: "I didn't even know Edward had arranged my lodging here."

Can you believe it? Not a word of his can be trusted; Wen Ling pressed her lips, lowered her eyes and gave an "oh", then turned to go inside.

"Hey, wait a moment." Zhou Yinhe hurriedly called out to her: "Over there, the air conditioning isn't working well, no one's come to fix it yet—could I come sit at your place for a bit? I'm feeling hot."

Wen Ling stayed silent, pushed the door open and went in; Zhou Yinhe thought she had refused, and before he could even feel upset, Wen Ling turned back to look at him: "Come in, why are you standing there? Aren't you hot?"

Zhou Yinhe quickly nodded and trotted after her; as soon as they entered, Hehe and Snort pounced over.

They hadn't seen Zhou Yinhe for months; they missed this reliable poop-scooper who had been away a while, but then not seeing him for a spell made them think he had disappeared.

Wen Ling quietly observed them, narrowing her eyes; Zhou Yinhe noticed her gaze, fumbled to pull Hehe and Snort apart, then obediently sat on the sofa and said reassuringly: "Don't worry, I'll just sit a moment, do nothing, and leave when the servant arrives."

"You'd better follow through."

His attitude made Wen Ling uncomfortable; she glared at him and went upstairs, burying herself in the study.

She didn't close the study door, prick up her ears to listen to the sounds downstairs.

Zhou Yinhe silently teased Hehe and Snort while lifting his gaze toward the top of the stairs; hearing no sound, he relaxed.

"Hey, your mom is really ruthless—saying she'd forget and then forgetting is bad enough, but she's also so cold toward me, it's heartbreaking."

Hehe let out a meow, Snort jumped straight onto his shoulder, and leisurely licked its paw.

He was amused by the two, squinting his eyes and asked: "How strange, why is it that Snort was brought home first this time?"

Wen Ling had already been standing at the side of the second-floor stairs; hearing Zhou Yinhe say that, she furrowed her brows.

"Forget and forget? Snort brought home first? What does that mean?"

She had long sensed that Zhou Yinhe was hiding something; originally she wanted to press him for answers this morning, but his reaction was too strong, so she temporarily gave up.

Could it be that she really forgot something? No, Wen Ling was already doubting herself.

She quietly returned to the study, but couldn't sit still; after barely waiting half an hour she went downstairs, so as not to seem too preoccupied with Zhou Yinhe.

But when she came downstairs, Zhou Yinhe wasn't in the living room; Wen Ling stood on the stairs, bit her lip, was about to go back up when she heard the front door open.

She turned around; Zhou Yinhe saw her, smiled softly and asked: "How come you came down?"

Wen Ling hesitated, then asked: "What were you just doing?"

"Oh, I took a call, afraid it would disturb you and you'd find me annoying, so I went to the doorway to answer." After saying that, Zhou Yinhe exhaled lightly and sighed: "It's hot outside."

Wen Ling grunted, tossed out a remark, and went back upstairs.

"You can take the call here; I won't mind the noise."

Zhou Yinhe froze—was Wen Ling feeling sorry for him? He realized what to say, but Wen Ling had already gone upstairs; he didn't even see her back, showing how quickly she left.

Zhou Yinhe stood there a moment, then let out a puffed laugh.

He must have been shy, also afraid of losing face, which is why he ran off so fast; but regardless, Wen Ling's sentence made him unable to contain his inner excitement.

Zhou Yinhe bent over, directly lifted Hehe and Snort, who were stretched out like a long strip, and held them in his arms; sitting on the sofa humming a little tune, with his legs crossed and swaying, he looked rather pleased with himself.

He thought for a moment, took out his phone, snapped a photo of Hehe and Snort, and sent it to the family group.

After sending it, he realized that at this hour everyone at home was still asleep; feeling like a peacock with nowhere to display its tail, he grew impatient and simply called Qi Zhan, who was always a night owl.

Qi Zhan had just returned home, had drunk quite a bit, and was now feeling a bit dizzy.

He hadn't had time to set his phone to silent when the sudden ring startled him; he glanced at the caller ID, sat up sharply and answered, thinking Zhou Yinhe must have something.

Who would have thought that as soon as he answered, Zhou Yinhe hung up; before he could react, WeChat started chiming, message after message popping up on the screen, making his already dizzy head hurt even more.

Qi Zhan had no choice but to open it and take a look— the screen was full of cat heads, in various poses, cats licking their fur in various ways.

He replied speechlessly: 【…】

Zhou Yinhe replied with a grinning emoticon, then sent: 【Handsome or not, my son.】

【Handsome, then what? Who did you have him with?】