It was a dawn of a new era for Zhao Yao. Life was so simple, so relaxing. Every day, he would stare at his computer screen while monitoring Sphynx Cat"s progress from time to time. Meanwhile, Dust Ball and Ares would slug their guts out to earn more experience points.
Coupling his relentless training with the ideal living conditions provided by Zhao Yao, Sphynx Cat had acquired strength which would put Butcher"s power to shame. Currently, even six times the ordinary gravitational field strength could not slow him down.
On the other hand, Ares and Dust Ball would leave the house at the crack of dawn before returning late at night, in pursuit of more experience points. However, they couldn"t find a target as easy as Sato, despite their best efforts. A few days ago, they even made a ruckus along j.a.panese street when they tried their luck there.
On this particular day, Zhao Yao reported to the café in the morning as usual. He had some time to spare before the café officially opened for the day and decided to sit down with s.h.i.+ Yu for a talk.
s.h.i.+ Yu noticed Zhao Yao sitting next to her and surprised him with an unexpected question, "Zhao Yao, now that you have gotten so rich, have you ever thought of getting a girlfriend?"
"Hmph, how can I possibly find a girlfriend?" Zhao Yao retorted as his lips curled into a frown, "I have so many cats to attend to! I"ll never have enough time to spend on a relations.h.i.+p."
s.h.i.+ Yu rolled her eyes and muttered, "… isn"t Baiquan the one responsible for all the cats?"
"That"s what you see inside the café. Once we return home, I"m responsible to entertain all of them, cook for them and even train them!" Suddenly, Zhao Yao slid s.h.i.+ Yu a weird gaze before asking her an equally random question, "Actually, why don"t you adopt a cat yourself?"
Zhao Yao had always found it rather puzzling. Theoretically, s.h.i.+ Yu embodied all the qualities required of an apostle. Even if Inspector Ho didn"t provide a supercat for her, she was more than capable of finding a supercat partner on her own.
"I find it so troublesome. Also, I don"t really like having cats in my house. I"m happy with feeding the stray cats in my neighborhood." s.h.i.+ Yu"s forehead furrowed slightly as she continued, "Furthermore, cats have such short lifespans. I don"t think I"ll be able to take it when they leave me."
Zhao Yao shook his head furiously when s.h.i.+ Yu"s voice rang in his head, "That is the wrong mentality. Do you know how much joy a cat brings to a household? Furthermore, if you choose to adopt a supercat, you can even use it to earn some extra cash."
s.h.i.+ Yu was completely unmoved by Zhao Yao"s words, but he wasn"t about to give up just yet, "When I was your age, I"ve already trained Matcha to eat and go to bed on his own. Just look at the situation in our country. It"s only a matter of time before you adopt a supercat yourself."
Zhao Yao let out a sigh of despair before continuing, "Since it"s only a matter of time, why not start when you are still young and full of energy? If not, you will be too old, too busy, too tired to take care of your cats. You might even have to depend on your parents for help."
Zhao Yao"s incessant pestering had exasperated s.h.i.+ Yu considerably. Her lips drew back into a snarl as she sneered, "How about I just leave my cat here with you. That way, you can help me take care of it as well!"
"Nah." Zhao Yao threw his arm in the air before giving a dismissive wave of his hand, "I"ve already told you that cats are affectionate creatures. Hence, you must devote all your time to them from the day they were born. If not, they"ll never be close to you. Just look at me and Matcha. We are the perfect examples of ideal cat and owner relations.h.i.+p."
With that, Zhao Yao exclaimed, "Matcha!"
Matcha, which was resting in the corner, simply responded with an impatient swung of his tail. Obviously, he had no intention to come over.
Cats were totally different from dogs. Out of 10 times, they would at most respond to your call once. The success rate would drop further when they were full or tired.
Zhao Yao"s temple throbbed with rage when he witnessed this blatant disobedience to instruction. A red glimmer flashed across his eyes following the activation of his power. With Matcha under his control, he sprinted over to Zhao Yao before rubbing his body affectionately against Zhao Yao"s hairy calf.
"Just look, look at how close he is to me. Every night, he wouldn"t even sleep until I tuck him into his bed. If you allow someone else to raise the cat on your behalf, your cat wouldn"t even recognize you as his owner."
Actually, she wasn"t even listening to what Zhao Yao had to say and simply responded with a nonchalant reply, "I don"t care. I"m just happy to play with them."
Somehow, her nonchalance caused flames of anger to shoot through Zhao Yao as he continued rambling, "Do you have a favorite cat species?" He intended to convince her with some concrete examples.
"Someone else"s cat."
Realising that his efforts were futile, Zhao Yao let out a long sigh before mumbling, "This generation of teens are so lazy that they don"t even bother to take care of a cute little cat. You will know the true meaning of despair when you spend your remaining years as a lonely old woman."
Suddenly, Zhao Yao"s blaring ringtone put a stop to their meaningless discussion. He glanced at his screen and saw two giant words printed on it - Xiao Yu. Instantly, he chose to reject the call.
A few seconds later, his phone began to vibrate again with the same blaring ringtone erupting in his ears. Once again, he chose to hang up.
A few minutes later, his phone rang again. However, it was no longer from Xiao Yu. It was his mom!
"Hey, Zhao Yao, I heard from Xiao Yu that you"ve been purposely avoiding her calls. Is it true?"
Zhao Yao literally choked on anger to hear that she would actually resort to such unscrupulous means to get to him. With his voice trembling with anger, he replied, "No, why would I even do that? I was driving just now. That"s why I couldn"t answer her calls."
"Oh, that makes sense. It always pays to be careful while you"re on the road. I don"t want you to ever touch your phone when you are driving, understood? Just remember to give Xiao Yu a call when you"re done driving …"
His hands tightened into fists as he ended that call, "That piece of s.h.i.+t. The only thing she knows is to tell on me."
Soon enough, his phone began vibrating again as it sung to the tune of that dreadful ringtone. He let out a deep breath before answering the call helplessly, "h.e.l.lo?"
"This is important. I need you to be at x.x.xX road by 6 pm today. It is the road next to the middle school."
"Huh?" Before Zhao Yao could even clarify the situation, Xiao Yu had already ended the call on her side. Zhao Yao stared at his phone in disbelief before uttering, "What"s wrong with her? Why is she acting all fl.u.s.tered?"
Even though Zhao Yao had no clue what was going on, he remained true to his words and appeared at the designated location by 6 pm sharp. Anyway, he had already decided to come out to complete his patrol missions, so it was rather convenient.
Before he even reached the school gate, he could already make out Xiao Yu standing by the door and waving her hands frantically at him.
Zhao Yao immediately hurried over and asked, "What happened?"
"I have no time to explain. Just follow me. I"ll tell you more on the way there." Before she even explained the situation, Xiao Yu had already grabbed onto Zhao Yao"s wrist as she dragged him into the school compound.
Zhao Yao did not like the air of uncertainty at all and continued pelting the same question at her, "Tell me, what is going on here?"
Finally, Xiao Yu relented, "My teacher saw what I wrote in my journal. I didn"t even know that teachers actually gave a s.h.i.+t about what we wrote. Now, she wants my parents here in school. However, because I"m new to the school, no one knows who my parents are. Hence, you"ll be my dad for the day."
Suddenly, Zhao Yao wrenched her hand from his wrist and shook his head, "How can I disguise as your father with my looks? One look and they"ll know that we are not blood related."
Xiao Yu turned her head around before sliding him a condescending glare. However, she did not speak a single word. Instead, a sheepish smile crept up her face.
"Why are you smiling? What"s so funny? Tell me!"
"It"s nothing." Suddenly, Xiao Yu began to tug at his arms as she explained, "Actually it makes sense. I skipped a few grades and you became a dad at an early age. Furthermore, you take such good care of your body which explains your youthful looks. Everything makes sense! At most, I can just say that you"re my step-dad."
"I"m not even married. What are you even talking about?" However, Zhao Yao was more interested in what mistake she committed, "Tell me, what exactly did you write in your journal? Why does your teacher even want to meet your parents?"
Xiao Yu let out a sigh of despair before explaining, "It was just a weekly journal. I didn"t know that she didn"t understand the meaning of hyperbole. I don"t understand why she"s getting so worked up over this tiny matter."
"… my parents brought me to the most famous noodle house in Jiangmen City. They were known for their extraordinarily large bowls. It was even bigger than my face! I immediately gobbled down the entire bowl of soup the moment it was served. However, I suddenly realize that my phone was missing! I had no idea what to do."
I immediately approached the waiter and told him the situation. He then responded with a wide grin as he stretched his hand beneath my 36D b.o.o.bs and retrieved my phone."
Bam!
Zhao Yao immediately slapped the journal into Xiao Yu"s face as he roared, "Preposterous! How dare you lie at such a young age! You do not have 36D b.o.o.bs! This kid is getting out of hands. Teacher, I"m giving you all the rights to punish her with whatever method you deem fit."
Xiao Yu death-glared Zhao Yao as her body locked up with rage.
The teacher immediately squatted down to pick up the journal. She then knelt next to Xiao Yu before patting gently against her bruised face, "Xiao Yu, are you okay?" The teacher then swept her eyes towards Zhao Yao and reasoned, "Do not get so worked up. You cannot teach a kid with punches and kicks. Furthermore, the crux of the problem isn"t her penchant for lying. Kids are ignorant. Everything they do or say is heavily influenced by their parents" behavior."
She continued, "I need you to be more conscientious of your behavior when your kid is around. I have never seen a 12-year-old write something like this. I dare not imagine what she hears or sees at home."