Lu Sicheng shoved the shopping bag into Tong Yao's arms, took off his shoes, and went to check on his son.
Tong Yao opened the bag and peeked inside—there was nothing much, just a pack of chips and a box of band-aids, as if it were labeled "Tong Yao Special Edition." This made her feel even guiltier. Clutching the bag, she hurried after Lu Sicheng, watching as he lifted the fish tank with one hand. She let out a startled "Hey—"
Lu Sicheng turned around.
Tong Yao took a big step back—honestly, she was still a little afraid he might smash the fish tank over her head in a fit of anger.
Tense, she stared at him and squeezed out an "I'm sorry" through gritted teeth. At this point, Little Fatty, finally realizing what had happened, came to her rescue with some teammate solidarity: "Look on the bright side, maybe your fish grew wings and flew away—There is a fish in the Northern Darkness, and its name is Kun..."
Lu Sicheng lifted his eyelids and gave him a look. Little Fatty immediately shut his mouth, cowed. Lu Sicheng set the fish tank back down, put on his headphones, and reconnected his equipment to the main console—his movements were swift, every gesture radiating displeasure.
Tong Yao spent the whole time with her tail between her legs, not daring to make a sound.
Only after Lu Sicheng sat down and started a game did she finally take her own seat, scooting her chair slightly to the side. Then, she heard three words from his direction: "The band-aids."
Tong Yao: "..."
She glanced up at the man beside her—his eyes were fixed on the screen, never straying. She muttered an "Oh, oh," fished the band-aids out of the shopping bag, and slapped them onto her bloodied heel. Then she turned on her stream—
The stream chat quickly came alive. The viewers noticed that Smiling was sitting so far to the side she was almost out of frame and asked what was going on.
Tong Yao: "There's murderous intent coming from the seat next to me. The aura is so sharp it's practically cutting me."
[...F*cking idiot.]
[How can someone this dumb be so fierce that she beats all those little b*tches into submission? I love it.]
[LMAOOOO what's up, wifey?]
[You still not back from Frozen Hell yet?]
[Fans said you guys made up this afternoon, in the parking lot—your team captain was shielding you like crazy.]
Tong Yao: "Yeah, yeah, for a moment, I did escape Frozen Hell. But now I'm back—and this time, it's not my fault. It's that little furball You Bing—yeah, that damn cat. While the team headquarters was empty, it ganked my captain's fish..."
Tong Yao glanced at Lu Sicheng, who was wearing headphones and playing a ranked match, swallowed hard, then skimmed the live comments—
Tong Yao: "I apologized. An apology was definitely necessary—what else could I do?"
Tong Yao: "But if apologies solved everything, we wouldn’t need the police."
Tong Yao: "So You Bing is in jail now. Yeah, I locked it in a cage—reflecting on its mistakes, ordered to reform. Next time, it's getting shipped back to the countryside... Not that I'm heartless, but the goldfish was here first, swimming peacefully for centuries. What gives you the right to just eat it on a whim, huh?"Tong Yao spoke while glancing at Lu Sicheng's fish tank, where a few cat hairs still floated on the water's surface. Feeling guilty, she reached out to pull the tank closer—Lu Sicheng removed his headphones: "What are you doing?"
Tong Yao swirled her fingers in the water, then withdrew them: "Cat hair... I'll change the water for you."
Lu Sicheng said expressionlessly, "Put it down."
Tong Yao obediently placed the tank back in its original position.
Before bed that night, she announced loudly enough for even Lu Sicheng to hear through his headphones that Da Bing was grounded—no freedom, no canned food—until it learned its lesson. Passing the cat cage, Da Bing's squished face pressed against the bars, his chubby cheeks jiggling as he meowed pitifully. Tong Yao clenched her teeth and resolutely walked past him. If she coddled him now, tomorrow's sunrise might not be visible to more than just Da Bing.
After showering upstairs, Tong Yao checked her phone and saw a message from Jin Yang:
[A Mao's Mom: ……………Did Da Bing screw up?]
[A Mao's Mom: Your team captain is searching for live piranha fry on Taobao… so seriously that I laughed so hard I dropped my phone on my face.]
Tong Yao: "..."
...
That night was sleepless for Tong Yao.
Not only did she have to adjust to the loneliness of "no cat sleeping beside her," but she also had to constantly worry whether her cat and her captain, left alone downstairs, would end up in some bloody incident—
Nightmares plagued her, so she woke up early the next morning.
Heading downstairs, she found Da Bing's cage empty—the cat meant to be reflecting on its misdeeds had vanished. Her heart sank, fearing she might find half-flushed cat remains in the toilet. Frantically searching the team headquarters, she finally spotted her cat on the common sofa: intact and unharmed, quietly perched on someone's body, baring its teeth at Tong Yao—the very person who had locked it up the day before.
The ungrateful little brat.
Daring to glare after escaping confinement.
Da Bing's audacity might have stemmed from the prestigious footrest beneath him—beneath his fluffy rear lay the captain of the China Telecom Team, sprawled on the sofa. His eyes were closed, faint dark circles beneath them, his stomach rising and falling steadily with each breath, his eyelashes fluttering slightly with every exhale.
He must have been sleeping soundly…
Unaware that a ten-plus-pound cat was using his stomach as a cushion.
Tong Yao noticed his computer was still on, his game account idle on the Ranked match screen—likely from failing to confirm queue pops multiple times, his account had dropped out of the matchmaking pool.
Probably pulled an all-nighter grinding ranked, collapsed wherever once dawn broke.
...Gaming-addicted old man.
Tong Yao tiptoed to the computer, logged out of the game, and shut it down. Turning back, she grabbed a small blanket from another sofa and shooed Da Bing away. The cat let out a "meow" before leaping off the man's stomach onto the floor. As Tong Yao bent down to drape the blanket over him—
A large hand suddenly reached up, tangled in her hair, and clamped onto the back of her head, forcefully shoving her face into his firm abdomen. At the same time, his groggy voice sounded from nearby: "If you're gonna lie down, do it properly. Move again and get lost."After speaking, he ruffled Tong Yao's hair as if petting a cat.
Tong Yao froze completely, her hands gripping the edge of the sofa, her face buried against the man's abdomen. Through the blanket and a thin layer of clothing—two utterly useless barriers—she inhaled, and her nose was instantly filled with his scent.
—If someone walked in right now, I might as well jump into the Ganges...
Before Tong Yao could figure out what came after "might as well,"
A door suddenly creaked open upstairs. Little Fatty, bleary-eyed, wearing a white tank top and Ultraman boxers, had one hand stuffed inside his shorts, scratching his butt cheek: "Cheng Ge, why the hell aren’t you asleep yet? I already woke up from a nap—"
Little Fatty's voice abruptly cut off.
With the large hand still firmly pressing against the back of her head, Tong Yao didn’t even get a chance to lift her face and explain. The next second, Little Fatty muttered, "I must still be asleep, sleepwalking," and turned back into his room.
A few seconds later, Lu Sicheng’s phone buzzed.
Tong Yao struggled to reach out, grabbed his phone from the couch, and glanced at the screen—
[Round and Plump Fatty: Never thought you were that kind of captain. Guess I was too naive.]
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