Chapter 36: We Meet Again, Linlin

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Chapter 36: We Meet Again, Linlin

Wang Xiao’s fingers trembled, his face contorted with utter fury as he roared at Mu Yanxiao, “Mu Yanxiao!”

“Have you lost your mind?! You had that idiot Mu Two drag me here with more than a dozen people like a bunch of thugs, and I thought something serious had happened! Damn it, you actually dragged me here to treat a rat?!”

Mu Yanxiao didn’t even flinch at Wang Xiao’s roar, but his expression changed when he felt the little creature beside him twitch his ears restlessly.

“Don’t be so loud. Don’t you know animals have much more sensitive hearing than humans? Especially rats.”

“No, wait. Mu Five said before that he’s not a rat. He’s a pet guinea pig.”

Earlier, when he had been nervous, Boss Mu hadn’t paid much attention to what people called Linlin. The proof was that he himself had called him a rat. But now, upon hearing someone other than himself refer to his Linlin as that kind of dirty and ugly rat, Boss Mu was very unhappy.

Wang Xiao was nearly driven mad by Mu Yanxiao’s reaction. How had he never known that Young Master Mu Yanxiao could be this gentle with a pet? At least that parrot named Linlin could talk and was somewhat useful. But what about the guinea pig on the soft pillow? What could he do besides being cute?!

“…A pet guinea pig… heh.” In the end, all of Wang Xiao’s sarcasm boiled down to those few words. But after that, he still reluctantly stepped forward to examine this new little creature that had won the favor of Young Master Mu. He wanted to see just how serious his condition was that Mu Yanxiao had gone so far as to have him dragged here.

“Tsk, you’re making me look like your personal vet. I bet you’re the only one in all of City A with this much nerve, Young Master Mu.” Wang Xiao curled his lips and held out his hand. “Let me see him. By the way, what’s his name?”

Mu Yanxiao paused at that, then finally answered with absolute certainty, “Linlin.”

Wang Xiao, “…”

Mu One and Mu Two, who were listening in, “…”

Wang Xiao’s lips twitched violently. After a long moment, he finally couldn’t help asking, “You’re not planning to name every pet you like ‘Linlin,’ are you? Do you know Linlin will cry?”

Mu Yanxiao calmly stroked his Linlin’s little ears, then opened his palm.

[That idiot doctor! This lord never cries! And! Can you stop talking nonsense? I’m about to die from the pain here!!]

Wang Xiao watched in bafflement as Mu Yanxiao reached out and teased the coffee-spotted guinea pig for quite a while. When Mu Yanxiao finally withdrew his hand, he heard Boss Mu’s murderous voice.

“Linlin never cries. Why are you talking so much? Treat him! If you can’t cure him…”

Wang Xiao was thoroughly riled up by now. “What are you going to do if I can’t cure him?”

Mu Yanxiao fell silent. After thinking for a moment, he finally sighed. “I hope you can do your best to cure him. He’s really suffering.”

Wang Xiao, “…” The heck, why the sudden change of heart? Showing weakness isn’t going to make this lord soften up!

“…Fine. Consider this repayment for taking care of my brother before.”

With that, Wang Xiao bent down and began examining Lin You, the guinea pig. But the moment he touched his back and abdomen, he heard a slightly sharp cry, and his brows immediately furrowed.

“What happened? How did this guinea pig get injured this badly?” He had initially thought it might be something minor, like a digestive problem. But now he found that several of his ribs were broken and his internal organs were damaged. In this condition, the little thing wouldn’t survive for more than three days.

When Mu Yanxiao heard Wang Xiao’s words, he had already had a premonition, but he still couldn’t help revealing a ferocious expression. At that moment, he was furious with Lu Yuan. If Lu Yuan hadn’t been trying to inject him with glucose, Linlin wouldn’t have thought Lu Yuan was trying to hurt him and rushed out to protect him. And if Linlin hadn’t done that, Lu Yuan wouldn’t have thrown him against the wall and injured his internal organs.

Mu Yanxiao, his face grim, asked Wang Xiao, “Can he be treated?”

Although Wang Xiao felt that Mu Yanxiao was rather unlucky, he wasn’t the softhearted type and immediately gave him a negative answer.

“To be honest, I think you have good taste. If this were an ordinary guinea pig, he would probably be screaming and biting from the pain by now. But yours is just lying there without moving. Even so, his body is too fragile, and the impact was too severe. He won’t survive more than three days.”

For a moment, the atmosphere in the entire ward froze. Mu One and Mu Two watched their boss nervously, afraid that he might do something particularly terrifying now that the pet he’d just taken a liking to wouldn’t survive three days. But contrary to everyone’s expectations, although Mu Yanxiao’s expression became frighteningly grim and his right hand clenched so tightly that the veins bulged visibly, his left hand still trembled slightly as he gently stroked the guinea pig lying there as though he were asleep.

After a long silence, Mu Yanxiao finally said, “I understand. Then, for the next three days, get me some painkillers that he can take. I want him to spend his remaining three days well, without pain.”

Although Wang Xiao thought Mu Yanxiao’s actions were somewhat unnecessary, he ultimately nodded. After all, a person having a rough time needed some consolation, and Mu Yanxiao’s request wasn’t unreasonable.

“All right. Just send someone over to get them from me. Also, now that I’ve finished examining your Linlin, I have to ask… do you need me to check your brain?”

Mu Yanxiao ignored the teasing remark, but Young Master Lin You, who was resting with his eyes closed, was thoroughly displeased by it!

In front of everyone who could see, he turned his head particularly fiercely. Uh, he accidentally moved his body a little too. Tsk, never mind. He didn’t have a neck anymore, so it couldn’t be helped! He turned toward Wang Xiao and let out a furious barrage of squeaks.

Wang Xiao couldn’t help laughing at the guinea pig’s incredibly silly and adorable appearance. After laughing twice, he said to Mu Yanxiao, “Young Master, look at your little guinea pig. He’s not happy that I said your brain isn’t right!”

Mu Yanxiao’s response was to hold out his palm and remain silent for a moment. Then, in an especially cold voice, he said, “That’s right. Linlin says my brain is perfectly normal. Your brain is the one that’s not normal. Both brothers in the Wang Family have something wrong with their heads.”

He deliberately left Elder Wang out of it.

Wang Xiao’s laughter caught in his throat.

Mu Yanxiao calmly twisted the knife a little further. “I heard that kid Wang Yao is still looking for a parrot as clever, sensible, beautiful, and intelligent as my Linlin?”

Wang Xiao, “…” Could you please stop praising your parrot like that?

Mu Yanxiao sneered. “With that brain of his? You think just anyone can find a parrot comparable to my Linlin? Forget it.”

Wang Xiao nearly exploded with rage. But in the end, because he genuinely couldn’t find anything to refute him with, he gritted his teeth, slammed the door, and stormed out.

The way he had opened his eyes and gotten out of bed today must have been wrong! Otherwise, how could he have ended up getting bullied by this Mu Yanxiao?!

Only after Mu Yanxiao had calmly driven Wang Xiao away did Mu Two and Mu One finally look up and carefully observe their boss.

Something was wrong, very wrong!

Even if Boss had found another adorable pet to distract himself from his grief over Linlin, there was no way he could be this calm and composed, acting as though Linlin had never died! And listen to what he was calling this guinea pig. Linlin! Still Linlin!

Could it be that their boss had gone a little mad from missing Linlin too much?!

And why did he put his palm beneath the guinea pig’s paw before speaking? Heh, was he communicating with him through telepathy? Mu Two wiped his face heavily, feeling that his thought process had become more imaginative.

Mu One stared at Lin You for a long time before narrowing his eyes and suddenly asking, “Boss, it’s already past dinner time, and you haven’t eaten much all day. Would you like something to eat? Also, what does Linlin want to eat?”

Mu Yanxiao glanced in Mu One’s direction without changing his expression. “Steak, braised pork ribs, boiled shrimp, mushroom-stewed chicken, one strawberry, and one red grape.”

Mu Two’s mouth dropped open, and the way he looked at Mu Yanxiao changed completely!

Everything Boss had just listed was food that Linlin the parrot had loved!

Mu One merely glanced at Linlin the guinea pig in surprise before, for once, the corners of his lips twitched into the faintest smile.

“I’ll have it prepared immediately… Would you like some Häagen-Dazs ice cream as well?”

Before Mu Yanxiao could answer, Lin You immediately turned his head and squeaked twice, sounding especially cheerful.

Thirty-two likes for the incredibly considerate Mu One!!

Hearing Lin You’s reaction, Mu Yanxiao couldn’t help chuckling as well. Then he fell silent for a moment before saying softly, “For the next three days, order whatever you want to eat. Whatever you want to do, I’ll accompany you.”

At those words, Young Master Lin You wanted nothing more than to throw his head back and howl at the heavens!

Damn it, this lord had suffered so much for his blind master, and it was finally over! At least this guy had some sense and knew to repay him properly!

At that thought, Lin You suddenly paused, then stretched out his little paw and vigorously scratched at Mu Yanxiao’s palm.

The warmth in Mu Yanxiao’s eyes gradually faded as Lin You’s little paw scratched across his palm, replaced little by little with an icy coldness. Finally, under Mu Two’s absent-minded gaze, Mu Yanxiao slowly spoke.

“Mu Two. Thoroughly investigate Lu Yuan.”

“Boss?” Mu Two was somewhat surprised. Although he felt that Lu Yuan had ill intentions toward their boss, he had only thought that Lu Yuan wanted to get into Mu Yanxiao’s bed.

“Linlin smelled something unpleasant. It was in the ‘glucose’ he was preparing to inject me with.”

Mu Yanxiao’s voice was now as cold as ice in the dead of winter, frighteningly cold.

……

Just as Young Master Mu was instructing his men to thoroughly investigate Lu Yuan and resolving to take good care of his Linlin over the next three days, Elder Mu was sitting in a sandalwood chair at the Mu Family’s old residence. Three jade antiques lay on the tea table before him, while sitting opposite him was Old Master Lin, the Lin Family’s venerable patriarch, who carried an air of otherworldly wisdom.

“Brother Lin!”

Elder Mu was preparing to unleash all his grief and use both personal connections and money to persuade this venerable old brother of his to give him some advice once again. But before he could even let out his particularly sorrowful cry, Old Master Lin stopped him.

“Little Mu! Stop wailing like a ghost! I know what you’re going to say!”

Old Master Lin was utterly exasperated. Elder Mu’s methods of finding people were incredibly annoying, yet somehow, he always managed to find him. And with the karmic entanglement between his great-grandson and Elder Mu’s grandson, he couldn’t very well just throw up his sleeves and leave.

Honestly! If it weren’t for the antiques, he really would have turned him away!

“Three days from now, I’ll have my disciple’s disciple get you a cat. Just give it to your grandson. You have to trust me. Although your grandson has a death tribulation, he’ll definitely turn danger into safety in the end. Don’t cry and scream over one little setback!”

Old Master Lin pursed his lips, then muttered under his breath, “Who knows how many times my little oddball will cause trouble, given his personality.”

Elder Mu looked at him in confusion. “Brother, what did you say at the end?”

Old Master Lin immediately flicked his sleeve, swept the antiques off the tea table and into his possession, then floated several meters away in a single motion.

Yes, he actually floated several meters away.

“I didn’t say anything! Just wait for the cat!”

……

The Lin Family’s old residence. Main house.

“Why is Linlin’s fate changing again? It hasn’t even been that long since the last change!”

Lin Xuandi stared at his elder brother’s divination with an expression of utter disbelief. “Linlin is so smart! Is it really all right for him to die twice this quickly?!”

What Lin Xuandi really wanted to ask was whether that guy called Mu Yanxiao was simply too stupid, and had therefore dragged his Linlin down with him and made him stupid too?!

Lin Xuantian immediately saw through the thoughts of his second younger brother, who was built like a bandit and had the intelligence of a simpleton. The corner of his mouth twitched.

“How many times have I told you? This is Linlin’s fate. Fate is something you can never predict, and it has nothing to do with intelligence!”

“Also, don’t talk about ‘science’ in the old residence! Didn’t Linlin always get beaten by you whenever he said that?”

Lin Xuandi awkwardly scratched his head. Then, after thinking for a moment, he quickly changed the subject.

“Let’s talk about something serious! When it’s time to deliver the cat to Mu Yanxiao, I’ll go! I want to see what kind of guy he is. If he’s not good enough for my Linlin, I’ll beat him up three times a day!”

Bang.

Lin Xuandi was immediately smacked by his wife.

“Wife?!” Why did you hit me in front of so many people?! Especially in front of my big brother!

“The serious matter is, what kind of cat should we give Linlin this time? I personally like Persian cats. What do you guys think?”

Lin Xuantian looked at his younger brother and sister-in-law, who were enthusiastically discussing the matter and nearly getting into a fight, along with several cousins from the other branches who had joined in the fun. He couldn’t help rubbing his forehead.

Couldn’t the Lin Family have one more normal person?! It was hard enough for him, a normal person, to support this entire family.

Besides, did they really need to discuss what kind of cat to get?

Obviously, the best choice was a majestic tabby cat!

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