Chapter 26

026.

A simple question nearly fried Lu Yuan's brain.

He looked at the cat in his arms, then at Bai Yu. The man stood with his arms crossed in front of the freshly unboxed cat tree parts. His stance was casual, but with one person standing and the other sitting, it made his legs look especially long—especially with those long legs hidden in tailored trousers, the whole forbidden vibe dialed up to max.

Unfortunately, compared to his legs, the faint smirk on the man's thin lips and the obvious amusement in his eyes waiting to see someone make a fool of themselves instantly killed Lu Yuan's desire to appreciate a handsome man's figure, and he internally roasted the guy for being such a jerk.

He muttered, "I'd call you Dad, but you probably wouldn't even dare to answer—"

Though his voice was soft, at this close distance it was perfectly audible. Bai Yu glanced at him without saying anything, but the meaning on his face was clear enough: You sure about that?

Lu Yuan slowly straightened his back, his voice growing more confident: "If I call you Dad, then tomorrow Lu Ke, Lu Zhuo, and Lu Yan will have to call you that too. Congratulations, Mr. Bai, on instantly gaining one, two, three, four big strapping sons."

Lu Yuan imagined his three older brothers standing in front of Bai Yu, bending down one after another to call him Dad... The image was too glorious to dwell on—he was afraid he'd laugh himself into a coma.

He glanced at Bai Yu and asked in a teasing tone, "You wanna hear me say it? If you can handle it, I guess I could force myself to say it."

Bai Yu: "..."

He asked expressionlessly, "You want to build the cat tree yourself?"

Lu Yuan: "..."

Why does this guy have to go straight to threats when he can't win an argument? The smug look on his face from roasting Chairman Bai vanished real quick. He rubbed his pretty face against the Maine Coon's furry cheek and let out two little meows: "How could that be? Daddy will definitely forgive Brother Lu Yuan and personally build the cat tree for our good kid, right?"

His voice was all syrupy sweet on purpose, and it was obvious he was trying to suck up. Even so, Bai Yu could feel his heartbeat go all out of whack.

He lowered his eyes and said, "Doesn't sound like you're forcing yourself."

Huh?

Lu Yuan's hand holding the cat's paw froze. He blinked. What's he talking about, reluctant or not... His thoughts paused for a few seconds before he suddenly understood what Bai Yu meant. He stared wide-eyed: "That 'daddy' was for the cat!"

He didn't mean to call the guy Dad!

Bai Yu didn't say yes or no. His attitude was all vague, but the look on his face clearly said he didn't give a damn, obviously not taking Lu Yuan's protest seriously.

Lu Yuan was about to blow his top, but just before he could spring up, Bai Yu had already pulled out the Young Master Lu playbook. He glanced at him and ordered, "Go get me a glass of water. I gotta build the cat tree for my son."

Lu Yuan, who had a whole mouthful of things to say stuck in his throat, could only say: "...Oh."

But what he was thinking was—

This guy's ruthless. One sentence right to the weak spot, using the cat tree to hold it over him.

He put the cat down like a good boy and shuffled out the door in his hideous duck slippers. Bai Yu pulled his eyes away from Lu Yuan's not-so-eager back, letting his eyes wander around the bedroom.

The villa at Songlan Mansion had always been just Bai Yu's place, so the guest room had always been empty—basically the definition of cold and bare.

Not anymore.

A soft comforter was spread on the bed with clear indentations, pillows piled up all messy, a phone charger dangling off the nightstand. A few sets of pajamas were still sitting out, not put away yet, their bright colors lighting up the whole room. A faint, familiar smell hit his nose—it was Lu Yuan.

"Meow."

The cat's meow snapped Bai Yu out of his thoughts. He lowered his eyes.

This cat Lu Yan sent seemed to really like people. The moment Lu Yuan left, it bounced right over to Bai Yu, all excited. It was bold enough to hook its not-quite-sharp kitten claws into his pants and try to climb up. It barely lasted two seconds before running out of steam, sliding down Bai Yu's leg and flopping onto the fuzzy slippers.

It was dizzy from the fall, but it got right back up, stuck out its front paws and licked them a couple times, then went right back to hooking onto Bai Yu's pants.

Bai Yu watched it from under his lashes, the little thing never stopping, wondering where such a tiny cat got all that energy. Then again, it made sense—just like the guy who said he wanted to be a salted fish but was actually full of energy. At least since the actual cat showed up, there hadn't been a single still moment.

"Meow."

Another squeaky kitten meow finally woke up the last bit of kindness hiding under Chairman Bai's cold, ruthless shell. He bent down, scooped the cat up with one hand, and set it in the transparent space pod lying around. Then the corner of his mouth twitched: "A cat this small, and he got you a cat tree that huge."

Can you even climb that thing.

Who knows if it could climb it, but the good kid loved that space pod. The second it lay down in there, it forgot all about how fun Daddy's pants were.

Bai Yu didn't bother with it anymore. He followed the manual and put the cat tree together layer by layer.

He was pretty handy—in about twenty minutes the cat tree was already starting to look like something. But when he glanced down at his watch, Bai Yu frowned. He put down the hanging hammock and was about to head for the door when a knock that didn't sound quite normal came thumping through.

Bai Yu paused, then went to answer the door.

There stood Lu Yuan, holding a tray. Seeing Bai Yu open the door so fast, he quickly pulled back the foot he'd been using to kick it, then showed it off to the guy all proud: "Ta-da! What do you think? Doesn't this good kid latte art look just like him?"

Bai Yu: "..."

When Bai Yu didn't say anything, Lu Yuan blinked: "Not a match?"

Bai Yu: "Lu Yuan, are you trying to write a thesis on caffeine overdose, or are you trying to kill me so you can steal my son?"

Forget that it was already night—Bai Yu had already had two cups of coffee today. If he downed another one, Chairman Bai's precious sleep schedule would be totally wrecked.

Lu Yuan: "..."

He'd been so busy showing off to please Chairman Bai that he totally forgot about that.

He rubbed his nose awkwardly and set the tray on the table: "Hold on, I'll go get you some water right now."

This time, it only took him two minutes to get the water.

Lu Yuan was genuinely scared Bai Yu might get mad and make him memorize a paper as punishment.

So when he saw the half-built cat tree, he laid the praise on thick: "Wow, you already got the cat tree looking this good in such a short time. Mr. Bai's a total pro!"

Bai Yu smirked: "Not calling me daddy anymore?"

Lu Yuan: "...I told you, I'm not calling you that!"

Bai Yu ignored his outburst: "Go put the little ladder on."

Lu Yuan: "Oh."

The cat tree was huge, but Lu Yuan wasn't actually that dumb. He'd specifically told the seller when buying it that the cat was still a kitten, so they'd swapped in a ladder with tighter steps and a gentler slope.

Putting the ladder on was easy too. Lu Yuan sat on the floor, lined up the screws with the holes in the ladder and the main board, and screwed them in.

All in all, it took about an hour to put the cat tree together and add some simple decorations.

Lu Yuan got up off the floor, took two steps back, and nodded to himself with his arms crossed: "Phew—we make a pretty great team!"

Yeah, pretty amazing.

Throughout the entire process, he only tightened two screws before excitedly wanting to call Master Cat over for inspection. But the tiny cat had barely climbed up when it discovered this was a piss-poor construction job—as the ladder tilted, it nearly slipped off. The cat immediately voiced its displeasure with a series of indignant meows.

Bai Yu glanced at him twice, his gaze so direct and unabashed that Lu Yuan noticed it immediately.

He turned his head and asked, "What's wrong?"

Bai Yu: "Just checking how thick your skin is."

Lu Yuan: "...You really know how to hurt a guy's feelings."

Bai Yu said casually, "Oh, really? Well, sorry then."

Lu Yuan: "!"

There wasn't a hint of apology in that—it sounded more like a sarcastic jab!

He let out a silent huff, thinking that Bai Yu was completely different from the image Lu Yan had described. Compared to the Bai Yu Lu Yan had talked about, this guy was way worse!

Worse by a mile!

Ignoring Bai Yu, he turned around and pulled out his phone, once again raising his voice to a high pitch and calling out to the Maine Coon kitten, "Good kid, come over and take some photos."

The kitten was clever—the moment it saw Lu Yuan pull out his phone, it faced the camera directly, licking its paws on the spacious terrace one moment, sitting upright on the small balcony the next, and even lying in the space pod with its soft belly exposed. Lu Yuan's eyes were practically turning into hearts, the shutter button clicking away nonstop.

When he was really into it, he caught a glimpse of Bai Yu sitting idle in his peripheral vision and managed to ask in passing, "With such an adorable kid here, aren't you going to take some photos for your Moments?"

Having a son who was both handsome and cute—not showing him off would be a crime, plain and simple!

Bai Yu: "I'll just use yours."

Lu Yuan shot him a look.

Bai Yu: "What, not allowed?"

"No, it's just—I'm shocked you actually trust my photography skills. Don't worry, I'm great at taking photos." Lu Yuan twisted his hips and stuck his butt out, about to press the shutter when he saw Bai Yu frown. "Is your back feeling better?"

"No, but this is the only way I can get a good shot." After a moment's thought, he asked, "Want a father-son photo together?"

Bai Yu said flatly, "No need."

Tsk.

Fine, whatever.

It was getting late, so Bai Yu went to the master bathroom to wash up. Lu Yuan finished taking photos of the kitten, then cuddled the cat for several selfies. He carefully selected nine photos and posted them to his Moments, which had been gathering dust for ages.

Then he forwarded all the solo cat photos to Bai Yu all at once.

Counting them, there were 103 photos.

Lu Yuan: "..."

He thought, Boss Bai probably hadn't experienced a WeChat 99+ notification in his life—might as well give him a taste of it.

By the time Bai Yu came out of the bathroom, his WeChat had been buzzing nonstop for a while. He bent down to pick up his phone from the nightstand, opened the chat with Lu Yuan, and HD originals came flooding in like a swarm of locusts, cluttering up the screen.

He watched the photos scroll up one by one in silence, glancing at the time at the top of the screen.

He was curious to see how long it would take for them all to come through.

A little over a minute, and all the photos were received.

Bai Yu glanced at them, then opened his Moments. The first thing he spotted was a familiar cat avatar with a new update.

A nine-grid layout—all eight surrounding photos were solo shots of the kitten, and the center spot was a photo of the person and cat together. Both were lying on the carpet, leaning toward the camera—one deliberately turning half their face, the other nuzzling in with its little head to sniff and kiss. The intimacy was so palpable that Bai Yu, the kitten's biological father, felt like a third wheel.

He stared at it quietly for a moment, then saved the photo.

From the other eight, he picked one of the kitten sitting upright and set it as his profile picture.

At Lingjing Club, Qi Shuyang, who was deep in a scrolling session, had just liked Lu Yuan's post and admired the kitten's beauty. When he returned to his chat list, he noticed that the contact named "Brother Yu" now had a familiar cat photo next to it.

Qi Shuyang: "?"