Chapter 33

033.

Ke Yuanfei genuinely liked Lu Yuan.

He'd felt a connection with him from the start—someone who'd put up with a stranger's late-night ranting about his boss, and even offered advice. Now that they'd met in person, Lu Yuan was good-looking and shared similar interests—it was like finding a soulmate, why hadn't they met sooner?

He'd wanted to keep building their friendship, since after today they might go their separate ways and never see each other again... His hometown was a real trek from the capital—a five-hour flight, a two-hour bus ride, and then an hour and a half on a three-wheeled cart. Just hearing about it was exhausting.

Anyone with half a brain could figure Lu Yuan wouldn't travel that far for no reason.

But Ke Yuanfei hadn't expected that just as he was smiling and trying to get closer, a car pulled up, and the person's gaze seemed to zero in on his hand the second the window rolled down.

The feeling was like being pricked by needles—almost physical. He instinctively released Lu Yuan's shoulder and pretended to glance over casually at the face half-hidden in the darkness behind the car window.

He couldn't quite make out the features, but it inexplicably made his heart sink.

Ke Yuanfei was about to ask Lu Yuan if he knew the person in the car when he saw surprise flicker across Lu Yuan's fair face. Lu Yuan stepped forward, placed both hands on the window sill, and leaned in to ask, "Mr. Bai, what are you doing here?"

Bai Yu's left hand rested on the wheel, his voice flat: "Just passing by."

Lu Yuan: "...You're passing through this godforsaken corner?"

The barbecue place Ke Yuanfei had chosen was nothing like the restaurants Bai Yu and Lu Ke frequented. There were no wide roads or parking spaces—just narrow one-way streets, with electric scooters parked haphazardly on both sides. A car could barely squeeze through.

And the driver had to be skilled enough to manage it.

Bai Yu: "Is that not allowed?"

Lu Yuan: "..."

Some people just had that kind of presence—when they spouted nonsense and you called them out on it, they'd respond with an unreasonable "Is that not allowed?" and you couldn't argue back at all.

Lu Yuan touched the tip of his nose and played along with the "passing by" story: "Well then, may I catch a ride home?"

Bai Yu neither agreed nor refused, instead asking, "What about your friend?"

The conversation happened right in front of him, so Ke Yuanfei heard every word. Seeing Lu Yuan turn to look at him, he quickly raised his hand and said, "I'll just walk back—my place is rented nearby."

Lu Yuan did recall Ke Yuanfei mentioning during dinner that he lived in the area, so he didn't press further. He just nodded and said, "Alright, stay safe on your way back."

The words had barely left his mouth when Lu Yuan caught the sound of a cat meowing.

He whipped his head back around and saw Stinky Treasure sitting in the passenger seat, stretching up and pawing at the window. Its front paws tapped against the back of his hand, its cat eyes looking up at him with anticipation.

Lu Yuan: "!"

Ke Yuanfei: "!"

Ke Yuanfei was even more shocked than Lu Yuan. He'd been fascinated by Stinky Treasure when Lu Yuan showed him the short video account earlier, and now—less than an hour later—he was seeing the future number-one cat influencer, Stinky Treasure, in person!

So cute!

Ke Yuanfei took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, attempting to project the image of a mature, steady uncle.

Too bad Stinky Treasure only had eyes for Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan bent down to try to pull the cat out, and the little Maine Coon immediately meowed as it climbed up his puffer jacket toward his head. Before long, it had naturally burrowed into his hood.

The hood sagged under the weight, and the collar suddenly choked Lu Yuan. "..."

Silently pulling the collar back up, Lu Yuan turned to say goodbye to Ke Yuanfei once more before getting into the car.

The warm air inside hit him immediately, chasing away the chill that clung to him. He took off his jacket and dug the cat out of the hood, but Stinky Treasure seemed to love its new hiding spot—it burrowed its head right back in, leaving only its butt and a swishing tail facing Lu Yuan's face.

Lu Yuan took the opportunity to give it a pat, then waved at Ke Yuanfei with a smile. "Let's keep in touch on WeChat!"

Ke Yuanfei nodded. "Alright, you two drive safe."

The Cullinan crept along the narrow lane. Lu Yuan held his jacket, occasionally glancing at Bai Yu's face. Gotta hand it to Chairman Bai—he's got nerves of steel, driving a road like this so calmly. Any other driver would've been cussing up a storm by now.

Lu Yuan cleared his throat and asked, "Why did you bring Stinky Treasure out?"

Bai Yu turned the steering wheel, smoothly guiding the Cullinan out of the one-way street onto the main road.

Lu Yuan could clearly tell the car had picked up speed.

Bai Yu explained casually, "It clung to me when I was heading out. I figured I might as well give it some socialization training, so I brought it along."

His gaze shifted slightly, landing on Lu Yuan.

Once he'd shed that plain black puffer jacket, Lu Yuan wore only a loose dark turtleneck sweater underneath. He looked down, messing around with Stinky Treasure, his chin tucked into the collar, which made his face look especially small. The streetlights flashing by cast faint shadows over his brows and eyes—looking quiet and well-behaved.

—Yeah, right.

And indeed, that was exactly the case. Lu Yuan heard the response, first drawing the words out: "Oh... I see."

Then his voice took a turn: "So what are you doing out this late?"

Bai Yu's hand, about to honk the horn, paused on the wheel. He hit the brake, coasting to a stop at the red light, and turned his head.

He remembered how stiff Lu Yuan had been the last time he was in his car. It'd only been a few days, and now he'd gotten a lot bolder.

Catching Lu Yuan's innocent eyes, Bai Yu said in a calm voice, "What, you're bossing me around now?"

Lu Yuan: "..."

Yeah, not that bold.

Not getting the answer he was after, Lu Yuan didn't press further. Bai Yu clearly didn't want to say, so Lu Yuan could only pout and let out a silent huff—

He couldn't be bothered.

Passing through, whatever—he got a free ride out of it anyway.

About half an hour later, the Cullinan smoothly turned into Songlan Estate, pulling into the basement garage of Villa No. 1. Lu Yuan was sleepy, yawning and groggily getting out with the cat in his arms. He then naturally shoved the cat into Bai Yu's arms. "I'm not coming up—I'll head home."

Bai Yu stood still, looked down at the cat, which meowed twice, and asked, "You're not staying over tonight?"

Lu Yuan waved a hand. "I want a good night's sleep. If I sleep with it, I'll end up texting you in the middle of the night again."

It was a solid excuse—no way to argue with that.

Once he reached the living room, Lu Yuan pushed the door open and walked out, then took a couple steps, and looked back. The man stood in the light with the cat, his gaze quietly resting on him—there was somehow a lonely air about him. Lu Yuan was startled by his own thought and quickly shook his foggy head. "You free tomorrow morning? I'll take your measurements and get that robe made."

Bai Yu nodded. "Yeah."

"Mm, okay then." He stood at the door, gave a little wave, and said hesitantly, "Night?"

Bai Yu: "Goodnight."

The cat in his arms let out two meows, almost as if it were saying goodnight too.

The scene was so cozy that Lu Yuan could hardly tell if it was a dream or real life.

Standing at the villa entrance, Bai Yu watched Lu Yuan head down the path. Before long, the lights in Villa No. 2 came on. Only then did Bai Yu look back down at the cat and say flatly, "Pathetic."

If it had just slept through the night, maybe he wouldn't have scared the guy off.

Stinky Treasure: "Meow meow meow!"

Bai Yu couldn't understand it and didn't care to: "That's another week of canned food gone."

After losing two weeks' worth of canned food in a single day, Stinky Treasure got banished to the guest room. Bai Yu stood at the door, scanning the room, and decided it was definitely time to give Stinky Treasure his own space.

*

After washing up, Lu Yuan climbed into bed in his thin pajamas and pulled out his phone to reply to messages.

Ke Yuanfei had texted him after getting home, and Lu Yuan texted back to let him know he was safe.

They exchanged a few quick messages before Ke Yuanfei turned in for the night. Lu Yuan lay there lazily hugging his pillow, the sleepiness from earlier completely washed away by his shower. Now he was wide awake. He stared at the ceiling for a bit, half-convinced he could see Stinky Treasure's reflection up there.

Lu Yuan: "..."

He was seriously down bad.

Stinky Treasure had kept him up two nights in a row, and here he was, actually missing having the little guy curled up next to him.

With nothing better to do, Lu Yuan opened a short-video app and started replying to comments one by one. Then he spotted a bunch of brand accounts in his DMs, all asking if he took sponsorships and even offering to send free products for him to try before deciding.

Lu Yuan was pretty interested in one of the robot vacuums, so he replied and gave them his home address.

The person on the other end was clearly a night owl—and a total workaholic. The second they got Lu Yuan's reply, they fired off a heart emoji. But when they saw the address, they froze.

Song... Songlan Mansion?

Was it *the* Songlan Mansion?

Still in disbelief, they asked: "You live in Songlan Mansion—the villa complex on Songlan Mountain developed by Bai Group in Jing City?"

Good kid: Yeah, the courier can deliver here.

The person in charge: "..."

Obviously they knew the courier could deliver there. They were just in shock.

After a beat, they noped out of the DM chat and reopened a few of Lu Yuan's videos. The video of Good kid riding the little dinosaur didn't show much of the background, but the one that first made Good kid blow up—the red camellia on its head—was a whole different story.

The person stared at it for a long time, then it hit them—it was winter! How were there still this many flowers blooming in the video?

What really blew their mind was a top comment: "Whoa, am I seeing this right? That Eighteen Scholars is a variegated variety? That's gotta be seven figures at auction, right?"

Clicking into the replies, an expert chimed in: "Those two old-stump Kaffir lilies? Probably not going for under seven figures either _(:з」∠)_"

The person in charge: "..."

Wait, let them take a moment to process this.

They pressed a hand to their pounding heart, then immediately called their boss. Didn't care if the guy was old, needed his sleep, or couldn't get back to sleep after being woken up—they just shouted excitedly: "Director Zhang, I think I just latched onto a big shot!"