Tenth Meow

He Yunzhou didn’t prepare much yogurt, there were only a few mouthfuls of yogurt in the small glass bowl — Yet these turned out to be extremely delicious under the sight of a cat with its bared fangs and brandished claws. 

This kind of thing was completely unexpected to Huo Zheng before.

Of course, what made Huo Zheng even harder to imagine was probably He Yunzhou’s complicated mood when he saw this scene.

The orange fat cat was so angry that its fur blew up and the big silver cat has a calm and proud face; not so long ago, the scene of two cats constantly fighting was the daily scene in He Yunzhou’s house.

After Guaji left, He Yunzhou thought he would never see that scene again.

For a moment, He Yunzhou even wanted to grab Huo Zheng’s hand regardless and ask him if he was his little cat.

Fortunately, the rational disconnection caused by the scene that evoked mixed feelings^[1]which means to be touched by the scene in front of you and caused sadnesswas only for a short moment, and He Yunzhou quickly reacted. Huo Zheng was probably just trying to evilly tease the cat.

He picked up Nangua from the dining table, threw the exasperated cat onto the cat climbing tower in the living room, then opened a small bag of chicken jerky for it. Nangua, who was devastated before, instantly calmed down and scurried under the sofa with a piece of chicken jerky in its mouth.

Not long after, Nangua’s “chewing” sound of jerky came from under the sofa.

“It’s quite gluttonous.” Huo Zheng carried the yogurt bowl, walked to He Yunzhou’s side, stared at the sofa with him, and said quietly.

He Yunzhou was so embarrassed that he wanted to cover his face.

“Sorry, I didn’t expect it to be so excited…” As he said so, He Yunzhou caught another glimpse of the small glass bowl in Huo Zheng’s hands, and that feeling of guilt once again enveloped him.

“It’s ok, it’s cute,” Huo Zheng said. Whether it’s dinner, yogurt, or the cat that suddenly jumped on the table, it’s ok.

Everything around Huo Zheng made him feel very happy and relaxed. He obviously didn’t drink alcohol, but his whole person fell into a state that seemed to be slightly drunk.

“It wasn’t like this before,” He Yunzhou was still explaining dryly, “but recently I was putting it on a diet, so whenever it sees food, it gets excited.”

“So it was trying to rob my yogurt before?” Huo Zheng couldn’t help but laugh, feeling a little smug in his heart.

“En…” He Yunzhou couldn’t help but hold his forehead.

This kind of cat robbing food is nothing or even a little cute for pet owners, but for others, it’s a bit rude.

Not to mention, not long ago, Nangua also kicked over the soup bowl and stained Huo Zheng’s shirt.

This made He Yunzhou even more embarrassed. “I’m really sorry, I’ll separate it in the room next time…”

He Yunzhou didn’t notice that when Huo Zheng heard the words “next time”, his eyes drifted a little.

“That’s not necessary… More than that, the next time you eat, if you have any ideas, you can send me a WeChat,” Huo Zheng said softly with a hint.

He Yunzhou has reminded Huo Zheng twice in a row of the “next” dinner, so how could Huo Zhen miss the other party’s obvious invitation hint?

“Oh, of course.” He Yunzhou naturally agreed very readily.

After all, he really liked the feeling of spending time with Huo Zheng, and the details of the relationship between Huo Zheng and Nangua even more so made He Yunzhou sentimental, happy, and find it hard to extricate himself once again. 

Huo Zheng couldn’t help looking at He Yunzhou more. The corner of the latter’s mouth was full of joy and with a faint forbearing smile as if he smiled in Huo Zheng’s heart all of a sudden.

……

…

A few months later, at Huo Group building, CALO Project Department.

“… My current thoughts on the candidates of the fourth assessment are like this, and they are all written in the project plan. The board of directors’ current attitude is a bit ambiguous. I think there are probably some people behind it who are going to make small moves. If you have time, you’d better talk to the old man. Don’t start a fire in the backyard,^[2]conflict arising close to home. idiomespecially Madam Huo. She has a weak mouth. I know you treat her a bit like that, but in any case, you still have to find someone to watch… Hey, Huo Zheng? Are you listening to me?”

In Huo Zheng’s office, Li Yu suddenly stopped talking to him and looked suspiciously at Huo Zheng, whose face was as cold as ice behind his desk.

“Well? I’m listening…. Someone on my mother’s side has been monitoring, but there’s nothing to worry about.” Huo Zheng slowed down half a beat before pulling his gaze out of his phone screen. He looked at Li Yu and said calmly.

Although his answer proved that he wasn’t completely lost in thought just now, Li Yu still choked for half a day before barely regaining his state,

“You’ve just wandered off again just now, Boss Huo…” Li Yu said coldly.

“Your current state isn’t right…” He couldn’t help but add.

In fact, it wasn’t just a day or two for Huo Zheng to be wrong with this kind of thing.

However, Huo Zheng’s work ability and coping ability are indeed quite unnatural that there is no flaw in his state of trance just now, and no one discovered that their Boss Huo is now a person who is now going on a daze from time to time, holding his mobile phone, and looking at it incessantly.

But Li Yu is after all the only friend around Huo Zheng and is also an unfortunate person who is struggling^[3]lit. badly burned about the head (from trying to put out the fire) (idiom). Fig. hard-pressed, under pressurefor the CALO project, only to find Huo Zheng’s serious abnormality during this period of time. 

Yet it doesn’t seem right to say that Huo Zheng has this kind of problem because the CALO project didn’t go well. 

Li Yu’s gaze swept slowly from Huo Zheng’s body and secretly curled the corners of his mouth.

Huo Zheng’s mental state during this time is indeed very strange, but his physical condition was very good to the naked eye.

Although it’s impossible to say exactly where it’s specifically good, anyone with discerning eyes can tell that Huo Zheng’s face can be said to be full of red light,^[4]his face flushedhis pace is awe-inspiring, his skin is radiant and elastic, his eyes are bright and clear, and even his hair seems to be smoother than before. 

With Huo Zheng’s near-perfect foundation before, he now seems to be able to brighten the dim space around him even if he is alone now.

That is to say, a straight man with a titanium alloy steel-like Li Yu, who can be unwavering in his mind the moment he sees Huo Zheng, doesn’t sink into Huo Zheng’s current beauty.

“I said, haven’t you stopped drinking ba?” 

Li Yu frowned and sized up Huo Zheng. He couldn’t help but deviate the topic from work.

“Otherwise, how come you are in such good health during this time that the whole person is bewildered?”

Li Yu is aware of his good friend. He has always had serious problems with heavy drinking and insomnia. The two broken problems can be said to complement each other, a vicious cycle that can be regarded as Huo Zheng’s old problems.

Huo Zheng himself has also suffered from these two problems for a long time.

But now looking at Huo Zheng’s appearance, these two problems seemed to be healed.

But Huo Zheng didn’t answer Li Yu’s question. On the contrary, he returned a bizarre question from Li Yu, “If you have an ambiguous target, you got their contact information and you also got some kind of hint from them, what message will you send them?”

“I have no ambiguous target,” Li Yu replied coldly. 

But immediately afterwards, he suddenly looked at Huo Zheng suspiciously, “Wait a minute, you have an ambiguous target now?! A serious target?!” Li Yu almost jumped up.

In this instant, everything seemed to have been explained.

“You’re not in love, are you…”

“Your imagination is too rich.” Huo Zheng subconsciously shook his head and denied it.

“Didn’t you just have a headache about what message to send to that love interest of yours ba?” Li Yu completely ignored Huo Zheng’s explanation and asked directly.

“As I said, that’s not a love interest—”

However, without waiting for Huo Zheng to finish, Li Yu has already taken it upon himself to go around his desk, leaned behind Huo Zheng, and looked at the mobile phone in Huo Zheng’s hand. 

He should know that since just now, Huo Zheng has been holding his phone and looking at it non-stop.

As Li Yu expected, the information in Huo Zheng’s phone screen is indeed quite rich. 

Although Huo Zheng stopped the screen the moment he realized Li Yu’s movement, the latter still caught a glimpse of the WeChat interface on the screen and the messages sent to Huo Zheng by some unknown person.

[… What do you want to eat tonight?]

[I saw very good shrimps in the market today. It just so happens that Nangua’s dried shrimp are almost out and roasted some for it. Do you want to eat shrimp tonight ah?]

[Can you eat drunken shrimp?]

[Forget it. I don’t think you’re used to eating them. Let’s have fisherman’s style^[5]style of frying with garlic and chilishrimp with salted egg yolk flavor tonight ba?]

[Alive and kicking shrimps.jpg]

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T/N: Happy Holidays to everyone! I wish you all more blessings and happiness in life!