Chapter 51

Chapter 51

At eight o’clock that evening, Xia Yongqing asked, “Where’s Xia Wanzhi?”

Ms. Ross was absorbed in her drama. “Across the hall.”

At eight-thirty, Xia Yongqing couldn’t sit still. “Xia Wanzhi still isn’t back?”

Ms. Ross didn’t think much of it. “How long has it even been?”

At nine o’clock, Xia Yongqing was on pins and needles. “What did Xia Wanzhi go to Xie Qiyan’s place for?”

Ms. Ross was getting ready to put on a face mask. “How would I know? Stop meddling in young people’s business.”

Xia Yongqing stood up and started pacing back and forth. “It’s the middle of the night. What could a single man and woman possibly be doing for an entire hour?”

The next second, his entire expression froze.

As if his own words had reminded him of something, his face darkened at once. “That shameless, rebellious daughter. I’m going over there to call her back.”

Ms. Ross couldn’t understand why a fifty-year-old man had suddenly become so suspicious. With her sheet mask smoothly fitted over her face, she lay back on the sofa and continued watching her drama.

At Xie Qiyan’s place, Xia Wanzhi was sitting on the sofa, petting a purring cat, her face full of bliss as if she had no intention of ever leaving.

“Changsheng is so good. Changsheng is so cute. Changsheng…”

Changsheng, Changsheng…

Right now, every other word out of Xia Wanzhi’s mouth was Changsheng.

Xie Tan crossed her arms and huffed, complaining to Xie Qiyan, who was working beside her, “Where did you adopt this cat from? I’m about to lose my place with Sister Wanzi.”

Changsheng had his own cat room. In the Xie Family residence, Xie Qiyan’s bedroom was connected to the cat room. Xie Tan had never been inside Xie Qiyan’s room, and Changsheng had never left the cat room, which was why she had never known he kept a cat.

Xie Qiyan had already finished his work. He closed his laptop, lifted his eyes to glance at the harmonious scene of girl and cat, and said lazily, “Have some manners. Changsheng is older than you. You should call him big brother.”

Xie Tan turned to stone. “???”

What the heck?

Xia Wanzhi’s shoulders shook with laughter when she heard that. “Xie Tan’s big brother, hahaha…”

“Changsheng, Changsheng. Xie Changsheng.” Xia Wanzhi stroked the elderly, motionless, exceptionally docile Changsheng, her tone light. “You really gave him a good name.”

Xie Qiyan lifted his eyes slightly and corrected her. “His surname isn’t Xie.”

Xia Wanzhi instinctively turned her head. “Then what is it?”

Xie Qiyan seemed to hesitate. After a long while, he finally spoke. “Xia. Xia Changsheng.”

Time seemed to freeze at that moment. Even the air seemed to thin. Xia Wanzhi’s breath caught, and her mouth moved faster than her brain. “He has my surname?”

Xie Tan cried out in shock, “Don’t tell me you and Sister Wanzi raised him together!”

“Your imagination could stand to be a little bolder,” Xie Qiyan said, casting Xie Tan an icy glance.

Xie Tan covered her mouth in astonishment. “Don’t tell me he’s the son you and Sister Wanzi had together!”

Xia Wanzhi: “…”

Of all times, Changsheng happened to meow right then, as if responding to Xie Tan.

Even Xie Qiyan, calm as he was, couldn’t help glancing sideways at Changsheng. Then he pressed his fingers helplessly to his brow. “Then your Sister Wanzi must be pretty impressive, giving birth to a fourteen-year-old cat.”

The corner of Xia Wanzhi’s mouth twitched. She widened her eyes at Xie Tan. “Children shouldn’t let their imaginations run wild. Stop thinking.”

Then her gaze shifted to Xie Qiyan, and she said fiercely, “And you. Stop talking.”

Xie Qiyan seemed to let out a very soft laugh.

The awkward topic quickly passed. Holding Changsheng, Xia Wanzhi kept sighing in amazement. “He’s actually fourteen.”

The average lifespan of a cat was only a little over a decade.

Feeling the fluffy warmth beneath her palm, Xia Wanzhi seemed to think of something and looked up at Xie Qiyan.

She couldn’t see through Xie Qiyan.

Raising a cat required patience.

Changsheng had clearly been raised very well by him.

But she truly couldn’t imagine what Xie Qiyan looked like petting a cat, playing with a cat, or acting as a cat’s personal litter-box servant.

“Why is his surname Xia?” Xia Wanzhi asked without looking at Xie Qiyan.
Xie Tan was curious too. “Yeah, yeah. Does it have something to do with Sister Wanzi?”

Now that she mentioned it, Xia Wanzhi cupped Changsheng’s face and studied it carefully, trying to search her memory for anything related to cats.

“I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before,” Xia Wanzhi murmured.

Xie Tan was shocked. “Really?”

Xia Wanzhi frowned. “Orange cats all look pretty similar. Maybe I’m mistaken.”

Xie Tan pressed, “Where did you see it? Maybe…”

“Butler Qi’s WeChat profile picture looks a little like Changsheng.” As Xia Wanzhi spoke, she even took out her phone to compare.

Xie Qiyan glanced sideways at her. “…”

Xie Tan went on full alert. “…”

“When I adopted Changsheng, it was summer,” Xie Qiyan said, completely unruffled, smoothly steering the topic away. “That’s why its surname is Xia.”

He had bestowed the surname Xia upon it to commemorate that first meeting in summer.

Xia Wanzhi’s eyes lit up. “So that’s why.”

She smiled, holding Changsheng’s paw, her voice softening slightly. “Too bad I didn’t meet you in summer, Xia Changsheng.”

Xie Qiyan looked at her without a change in expression and said nothing.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Xia Wanzhi had no awareness whatsoever of Old Xia’s surprise raid and was still enthusiastically petting the cat.

Xie Qiyan sent Xie Tan to open the door, then stood up himself a second later.

Changsheng was very clingy with Xie Qiyan. Seeing him get up, it tried to follow, struggling a little in Xia Wanzhi’s arms.

Seeing this, Xie Qiyan reached out. “Give it to me. We have a guest. It’s shy around strangers, so I’ll take it into the room.”

Xia Wanzhi nodded as she handed Changsheng over into Xie Qiyan’s arms.

She held the cat as if she were holding a child. When she passed it over, she ended up very close to Xie Qiyan, accidentally brushing against his chest and the back of his hand midway, one hand caught between Changsheng and Xie Qiyan’s chest.

For some reason, Xie Qiyan felt as if he’d been scratched.

He had been forced into holding Changsheng this way.

He hadn’t expected Xia Wanzhi to hand him the cat like that.

So carefully, as if she were passing him a child, tucking it straight into his arms. He could only instinctively reach out and catch it.

“What are you two doing?!” Xia Yongqing was so provoked by the sight before him that his dragon-like roar came crashing over them.

Xie Qiyan soothed the startled cat, then turned and met Xia Yongqing’s gaze with perfect composure.

Xia Wanzhi was very honest. “Petting the cat.”

After seeing the orange cat in Xie Qiyan’s arms clearly, Xia Yongqing’s hurried steps came to a halt. Seeming a little awkward, he gave a light cough. “Your mommy has something to discuss with you. Come back.”

Xia Wanzhi answered with a few obedient “ohs,” then reluctantly petted Changsheng’s head. Before leaving, she patted Xie Tan on the head too. “I’ll come play with you tomorrow, or you can come play with me.”

Perhaps Xie Tan had been frightened by Xia Yongqing’s angry roar just now. She nodded in a daze, and when she thought that Xia Wanzhi might not be able to defy such a fierce father and would be taken abroad with him in a couple of days, her eyes instantly stung.

The door closed, and Xia Wanzhi followed Xia Yongqing back.

Ms. Ross lifted her head. When she saw the father and daughter wearing almost identical lifeless expressions, she was startled. “Are you two about to perform a face-changing act together?”

Xia Wanzhi whined as she tattled, “Dad was mean to me just now.”

Xia Yongqing cried foul. “Who was mean to you? I was being mean to that brat Xie Qiyan!”

“You don’t like him,” Xia Wanzhi said calmly.

It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.

Xia Yongqing clasped his hands behind his back. “I don’t.”

“When I was little, you even told me to get along with him,” Xia Wanzhi said, pouting.

Xia Yongqing snorted. “Didn’t you hate him when you were little? Why are you defending him so much now? Tell me the truth. Have you been bewitched by his looks and fallen for him?”

Xia Wanzhi’s eyes widened in disbelief. “…”