Chapter 31

Chapter 31 First Release on Jinjiang Literature City

The company had a private elevator for Xie Chen. One person and one cat quickly went up to the floor where the office was located.

Most of the people they met on the way, besides greeting Xie Chen, also kindly complimented Bai Li.

Originally a bit scared, Bai Li became less afraid after receiving the praise.

“I told you, right? Everyone will like you,”

Seeing the little guy no longer scared, Xie Chen patted his head leisurely.

Bai Li hugged Xie Chen’s big hand, feeling braver, and began to explore.

“Master, do you come here to work every day?” he asked.

“Yes.”

Xie Chen pushed open the office door and added, “If there’s nothing else, I just come to work.”

Bai Li tilted his head curiously: “Then is master’s salary high?”

Xie Chen paused.

How should he answer this? Anyway, the entire net profit from the Xie family’s business was his.

After a few seconds, Xie Chen gave a vague answer: “High.”

Bai Li was satisfied with this answer and didn’t ask further. He happily shared with Xie Chen: “My salary is pretty high too.”

The seafood shop owner gave him a basic wage, and when delivering orders every day, he often got tips. Added up, he would earn quite a lot this month!

The office floor was wood, cleaned very well.

Bai Li jumped down from Xie Chen’s arms and was about to explore every corner of the office when Xie Chen’s secretary knocked and came out.

“Boss, this is today’s—”

The secretary Anna paused briefly but quickly continued, “These are the documents that need to be handled this morning, and you have a meeting at 10:30. The meeting materials have already been prepared for you.”

Anna reported the work to Xie Chen in an organized manner.

Xie Chen glanced at the documents: “Put them down.”

“Okay.”

As she was about to leave, Anna noticed the little kitten peeking around the corner of the desk. She was so charmed that she lost focus during her earlier report.

“Ahem, Boss, do you want me to get some food for your cat?” Anna tentatively asked.“No need.”

Xie Chen didn’t even lift his head, refusing in a calm voice: “There’s food in his snack box.”

Only then did Anna notice that on Xie Chen’s desk there was indeed a box with compartments holding dried fish, dried meat, and other snacks.

Besides food, there were also several boxes of goat milk nearby.

Not only that, but soon someone also delivered cat litter.

“Meow meow.”

Seeing the cat litter, Bai Li ran to hug Xie Chen’s leg, begging him to put the cat litter in the bathroom.

He was a picky cat—when at Xie Chen’s place, the litter had to be put somewhere hidden from view.

Xie Chen raised an eyebrow, teasing him intentionally.

“What’s wrong? Can’t I put the litter here?”

“No, no.”

Bai Li rarely acted stubborn, but now he sat his chubby little butt on Xie Chen’s foot, clawing at his pant leg, tilting his head up, persistently meowing and begging: “Master, please put the litter in the bathroom. Just put it there, please, Master.”

He didn’t want Master to watch him using the litter.

Seeing the little kitten begging until his eyes were almost wet, Xie Chen realized he might have teased too much.

“Alright.”

He bent down, scooped the little kitten into his arms, and gently coaxed: “I’ll put the litter in the bathroom for you right now.”

Bai Li watched the litter being placed properly and felt happier again.

“Thank you, Master.”

He held no grudges and even rubbed against Xie Chen’s face, grateful that he helped put the litter away.

“Li Li, go play by yourself. I have to work now.”

Xie Chen opened his snack box, placed it on the coffee table, and on the coffee table also opened a video website on a tablet for him to freely choose any video he wanted to watch.

Bai Li sat on the sofa and picked an old cartoon—

Tom and Jerry.

He kept the volume low, afraid of disturbing Xie Chen.

One person and one cat quickly started doing their own things.

Bai Li ate dried fish while watching Tom and Jerry. Xie Chen was in front of the computer screen, occasionally typing on the keyboard or signing reviewed documents.

The office was peaceful.

Meanwhile, downstairs in a certain department, the team leader was banging on a woman’s desk, scolding: “Huang Fang, what’s wrong with you today? Why are you making so many mistakes?”Huang Fang was scolded by the team leader in front of everyone, and her face looked a bit embarrassed.

“Team leader, I’m sorry. I will work properly from now on,” Huang Fang said, blushing as she apologized to the team leader.

The team leader snorted coldly, “We have to do a summary soon. No one can make mistakes anymore.”

Huang Fang nodded. After the team leader walked past her, the redness on her face lingered for a long time.

“Huang Jie.”

A colleague who was close to her quietly advised, “Don’t take the team leader’s words to heart just now.”

Knowing Huang Fang’s tendency to overthink, the colleague kindly reminded her, “The team leader just fears mistakes. Our summary will be sent to the boss. You don’t know the boss well—he’s very strict. I feel scared just seeing him.”

Huang Fang only heard a few words from her colleague.

For example, she heard the word “boss”…

That’s right, Huang Fang silently clenched her fists and thought in her heart that maybe the team leader’s scolding was because of the boss.

She had offended the boss’s cat, and the cat had just appeared that morning. Right after that, she got scolded.

How could that be such a coincidence?

Huang Fang blamed others for the reason she was scolded but didn’t reflect on her own work attitude at all.

She looked resentfully at the team leader again. The team leader had just been appointed, but in terms of qualifications in the company, Huang Fang clearly thought she was more suitable. Yet, in the end, the one appointed was someone who worked even shorter hours than her.

All these grudges threw Huang Fang’s mindset off balance. Later, she made several small mistakes in her work, which made the team leader angry enough to scold her harshly again.

“I really don’t know what’s wrong with you. You’re an old employee now, and even new hires don’t make such basic mistakes.”

The team leader was so angry her head was buzzing. She pressed her temples and finally left in anger.

Huang Fang bit her lip tightly, feeling humiliated as she watched the team leader’s back.

Upstairs.

Xie Chen had been working for a while before he noticed something was off.

Li Li was curled up on the sofa, seeming overly obedient. At first, he still heard the sound of him eating little dried fish, but now there was nothing but the sound from the cartoon.

The more Xie Chen thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. He looked up at the sofa and called out, “Li Li.”

Bai Li didn’t respond.

The back of the sofa completely hid the small white kitten.

Xie Chen couldn’t see what he was doing, so he got up and walked over to check personally.

When he got closer, he found the little kitten curled into a ball, his beautiful amber eyes filled with tears.Xie Chen: "?"

Xie Chen was startled, crouched down, and softly asked, "Li Li, what’s wrong?"

Bai Li held back and didn’t say a word.

Not only did he stay silent, he also buried his head and avoided looking at Xie Chen.

Xie Chen was confused, not knowing what was wrong with the little guy.

“Li Li, be good, tell me, why are you crying?”

Bai Li buried his head for a moment, then spoke gloomily, with a slight sobbing tone in his voice.

“Meow meow.”

“I’m not crying.”

Bai Li refused to admit that he was crying because he was upset watching Tom and Jerry.

He stubbornly said, “These are physiological tears.”

The knowledge point Third Brother just taught him: physiological tears aren’t crying.

Xie Chen picked up the little kitten, who was shedding physiological tears, and sat him on his lap, patiently soothing him: “Okay, Li Li, if you’re not crying, then tell me, why do you have physiological tears?”

Bai Li sniffled and complained aggrievedly, “The cartoon is acting randomly.”

“Cats aren’t that dumb.”

He pointed to the still-playing Tom and Jerry on the tablet. Tom the cat was in a terrible state.

As a fellow cat, Bai Li watching Tom being tortured in various ways by a tiny mouse didn’t find it funny at all. He just felt it was bullying cats and tarnishing the image of cats.

After understanding the reason, Xie Chen found it funny but also pitied how wronged the little guy looked.

“Let’s watch a different video.”

Xie Chen gently patted his head and decisively switched the cartoon from Tom and Jerry to something else.

“Li Li, do you want to watch Ultraman?”

Xie Chen remembered many boys loved watching that. Li Li, this little kitten, with his crisp young voice under his meows, probably would like it too.

Bai Li, who had never seen Ultraman, nodded, so Xie Chen played the classic Diga Ultraman.

This time, Bai Li got completely absorbed.

Seeing that he wasn’t crying from being upset this time, Xie Chen finally felt settled.

At 10:30, Xie Chen took his materials and went to the meeting room.

Bai Li was focused on watching TV and only heard Xie Chen say he was going to the meeting room. He didn’t remember anything else.

Xie Chen’s meeting lasted a long time.It was now autumn, and they had quite a few projects to handle.

The meeting had been going on for over an hour and still hadn’t ended.

Bai Li rubbed his eyes and stopped looking at the tablet—the tablet had run out of battery, and the screen that had been lit just now went dark.

“Meow?”

Sir.

Unable to watch the tablet, Bai Li began turning his head to look for Sir.

The office was empty, with only Bai Li the cat left.

He jumped down from the sofa in confusion and wandered around the office but didn’t find Sir.

“Meeting room…”

Bai Li recalled the words he seemed to have heard and hurriedly squeezed out through the office door.

He was still unfamiliar with the company, so not seeing Sir in his sight made him uneasy.

The meeting room wasn’t on this floor.

Bai Li didn’t find him on this floor, so he went downstairs alone to search floor by floor.

Coincidentally, when he accidentally went down too many stairs and was in an unknown stairwell, he bumped into Huang Fang, who was on the phone.

Huang Fang’s voice was low: “Can you really get me double salary?”

“I certainly have experience. What kind of place is Xie’s? I’ve worked here long enough, doesn’t that prove something?”

“No, I can’t do what you said. I only worked up to finance, so I can’t promise you much…”

“Triple, triple salary?”

“Alright… I’ll help you.”

Huang Fang was talking, and passing by, Bai Li couldn’t understand, so he turned to leave.

But the stairs were high, and Bai Li accidentally hit his head on a step.

“Meow.”

He instinctively covered his head and let out a cry.

“Who’s there?!”

Huang Fang suddenly hung up the phone and walked over in high heels.

“Again, it’s you.”

Huang Fang looked at the little kitten with unfriendly eyes. Her colleagues had praised the cat as cute today, but she didn’t think so; instead, she felt this was a troublemaking cat who always brought her bad luck.The troublemaking cat looked at her with innocent eyes: "Meow."

Y-you, don’t stare at me like that.

Feeling uncomfortable being stared at, Bai Li backed away meowing, clearly on guard against Huang Fang.

This place was a blind spot for surveillance. Huang Fang stared at the cat without blinking, thinking in her mind whether kicking this cat a few times here would get her caught.

After weighing the pros and cons, she restrained the impulse.

Cats make noise.

If it attracted people, it wouldn’t be worth the risk.

“You little beast.”

She muttered softly and turned to leave.

As for the phone call just now being overheard, she wasn’t worried. What she said—how could a cat understand it? Even if he did, he wouldn’t go report anything to Xie Chen later.

That phone call helped Huang Fang’s mood improve somewhat in the afternoon.

A colleague laughed and asked her, “Sister Huang, why do you seem so much better? Did something good happen?”

Huang Fang smiled: “My son did well on his exam. He’ll probably bring home an award at the end of the term. I’m thinking about whether to reward him with a computer.”

The colleague congratulated her at once: “I’m so jealous. Your son’s doing pretty well. By the way, I heard your daughter’s always been in the top three in her grade. How do you reward her?”

Sister Huang’s smile stiffened and she didn’t answer directly. She just said a few other things and returned to her desk.

As she left, someone whispered to the colleague who asked:

“Don’t mention her daughter in front of Sister Huang. She’s old-fashioned, favoring boys over girls, thinks daughters are a loss, and basically doesn’t care about her daughter.”

“She doesn’t even want to spend money on her daughter’s schooling.”

“So it’s like that... sigh, such a pity for such an outstanding girl.”

While Sister Huang was being talked about, Bai Li—the one who had been called a little beast—pulled at his cat face, unhappy, and went to find Xie Chen to be comforted.

“Little beast” is an insult, and Bai Li understood that woman was cursing him.

After searching for about ten more minutes, Bai Li found the meeting room.

The meeting room door was closed and well soundproofed, no sound came through.

Bai Li didn’t go inside directly; he sat at the meeting room door, his chubby little body like a door guardian, watching at the entrance.

The meeting finally ended at 12:36.

The first person out wasn’t careful and bumped into Bai Li.

“Plop—”

Bai Li, who had been waiting for Sir at the door until he nearly fell asleep, tumbled and rolled into the meeting room.The person who accidentally bumped into the cat was startled on the spot.

He had already heard early on that the boss brought a cat to the company today!

Moreover, the boss was especially fond of that cat.

“No way, is my foot really this unlucky?!”

The man hurriedly approached, nervously checking on the cat’s condition.

Before he could bend down, a pair of hands beat him to it and picked up the dazed little kitten from the floor.

“Meow.”

The kitten, still half-awake, had beautiful amber eyes filled with confusion.

“Boss, sorry, I didn’t see the cat at the door just now.”

The young man who bumped into Bai Li apologized to Xie Chen anxiously.

Xie Chen frowned as he heard the man’s words.

“It’s not your fault.”

He said, “You can go now.”

The little one was sitting by the door on his own; being bumped into wasn’t anyone’s fault he could blame.

“Li Li.”

After everyone left, Xie Chen lowered his eyes and reminded the careless little kitten, “Don’t sit by the door next time. You’re so small, it’s hard for others to see you.”

If he got kicked again someday, the little guy would probably cry.

This time, the still-drowsy Bai Li slowly nodded to show he remembered.

He still wasn’t well-rested. Although he rolled on the floor a few times, he was still sleepy.

“Meow, meow meow.”

Sir, I want to sleep.

Around noon was the normal nap time for a kitten.

Xie Chen carried him back to the office and didn’t go out to eat, instead asking Anna to order food.

Hearing that Xie Chen had ordered food, Bai Li fought off his sleepiness and decided to wait for the meal.

Human food is delicious. Later, he wanted to eat the food Sir ordered.

While waiting for the food, Xie Chen watched the little guy sitting on the table, his head drooping sleepily bit by bit, but his eyes still trying hard to stay open. It looked amusing.

“Li Li.”Xie Chen absentmindedly grabbed Bai Li’s tail to tease him, intending to cheer up the little kitten, but unexpectedly—

He overdid it.

Having never raised a cat before, Xie Chen didn’t know that the tail is an irresistible temptation for cats.

Simply put, cats treat a moving tail like a toy, similar to a cat teaser wand.

Especially now, Bai Li’s tail was in Xie Chen’s hand, waving back and forth in front of him.

The sleepy little kitten stared fixedly at the moving “cat teaser.”

After watching for over ten seconds, when Xie Chen was completely unprepared, the little kitten suddenly bit down hard.

Xie Chen: “...”

Seeing how hard the little bite was, Xie Chen’s heart skipped a beat.

This was bad, the situation was not good.

He was right—Bai Li bit down hard on his own tail, his expression frozen.

A sharp pain came from the tail, and the kitten’s dazed look slowly turned into shock.

Tail, tail really hurts!

“Wuu.”

The kitten, awakened by the pain, spat out the tail, tilted his head back, and meowed at Xie Chen, his beautiful eyes now genuinely tearful.

Author’s note: Big boss Xie, this calls for chopping off the hand.