“It even made the trending search list. Didn’t you see it, Boss?”

As he spoke, Assistant Zuo glanced at Shen Zhixing and picked up the tablet on the table.

Yun Mian was also curious. What kind of photo was it that it even got her on the trending search?

Once the assistant logged into Weibo, she immediately poked her little head over.

At a glance, it was just a candid shot of “her” curled up on Shen Zhixing’s knee.

Just that… was enough to get on trending?

Was Shen Zhixing really that popular?

The assistant seemed to answer her confusion deliberately and directly opened the comment section.

The comments were all:

[Ahhh, little darling, mommy’s dying from your cuteness, mwah mwah 2333]

[I also have a Norwegian Forest Cat just like this, which basically means my idol and I are on the same family register!!]

[Wuwu hubby, our long-lost baby has finally been found by you, love you love you.]

[Hubby, I miss the kitty, post more photos, I love seeing them [flying kiss]]

Yun Mian: “…”

Are fans nowadays all so bold and direct?

Assistant Zuo scrolled through the comments for a while. Seeing that Xiaobai was peeking over curiously, and noticing her clever demeanor, he laughed: “Hey, no kidding, our Xiaobai really has a high face value, and she looks smart at a glance.” As he spoke, he reached out to pet her.

Unexpectedly, the little cat instantly dodged back, her round eyes glaring straight at him.

If he wasn’t mistaken, that expression, that gaze, even carried a trace of… disdain?

“Hey, you heartless little thing, have you forgotten who bought you cat food in the middle of the night?”

Who wants to eat the cat food you bought!

Yun Mian gave him a glance and jumped off the sofa.

Seeing the cat run away, Zuo Yao suddenly remembered his main purpose for coming today was to take pictures of her, so he quickly pulled out his phone.

But Yun Mian wouldn’t let him take pictures.

She dodged around the living room, baring her teeth and hissing at the assistant, strongly expressing her displeasure.

Seeing this from the dining area while setting up breakfast, Shen Zhixing stopped his assistant: “Don’t provoke her. Xiaobai reacts strongly to things she doesn’t like. Be careful or she’ll scratch you.” He had almost gotten scratched himself when bathing her last night.

When Yun Mian heard Shen Zhixing say this, she got upset.

What the hell!

He made it sound like she was some unreasonable shrew.

She just hadn’t accepted the fact that she had turned into a cat and didn’t want to be photographed.

Instead of managing his assistant, he came to criticize her.

Yun Mian puffed up her cheeks and glared at Shen Zhixing.

Shen Zhixing finished setting out breakfast and was about to call Xiaobai over to eat. When he looked up, he saw her staring at him with an unhappy face.

Shen Zhixing: …?

“Xiaobai, come eat.”

Not eating.

Getting mad early in the morning because of you stupid straight men!

Yun Mian suddenly felt sulky.

She turned around and went back into the cat house, shutting herself in.

…

Seeing that Xiaobai was ignoring everyone and had walked away, Shen Zhixing gave the assistant a flat glance.

Zuo Yao looked very innocent: “I just wanted to take a few photos.”

The photo of the boss holding the cat that he posted the day before had gotten an especially good response. Not only did it squash the rumors about the boss being in an accident, but all the comments were focused on admiring the cat. He Guang also felt this style of posting matched the fans’ impression of Shen Zhixing’s calm and scholarly image.

Zuo Yao was quite happy, too. Although the boss didn’t care about online popularity, the entertainment industry nowadays values marketing over skill. The boss had been in the industry for seven years and had only acted in three projects. It had been almost a year since his last film. If he didn’t post online during this time, audiences would soon forget about him.

The entertainment industry was just that realistic. If you didn’t show your face, no one thought you were indifferent to fame and fortune; they just thought you weren’t popular anymore and couldn’t get roles.

They had no idea how many scripts had come in over the past year that Shen Zhixing didn’t accept simply because he wasn’t satisfied with them.

“Brother Guang asked me to post more of your daily life. If you’re not comfortable with that, then we can just post more cat photos.”

“Alright, I’ll post when I get a chance.”

After saying that, Shen Zhixing went to the cat house to find Xiaobai.

“You say that nicely. Brother Guang has mentioned it so many times, telling you to be more attentive, but every time you still…” Zuo Yao muttered behind him in a low voice.

…

Yun Mian lay by the windowsill, reflecting on life.

What she saw when she went home yesterday was not good.

Mom looked seriously ill, and her parents had started fighting. Everything had become a mess because of her.

Yun Mian was very upset. At the beginning, she only didn’t want her parents to arrange her life.

Whether it was marrying Xu Yizheng or going abroad to study in business school, none of it was what she wanted.

But she never expected that because of a single choice she made, things would turn out like this.

How could she make up for the harm she brought to her family…

“Xiaobai.”

At this moment, the door was pushed open, and a tall man walked in.

Shen Zhixing saw Xiaobai listlessly lying on the bay window, staring out the window, not knowing what she was looking at, her tail swaying back and forth.

“Come on, I’ll take you to buy cat food.”

He picked up Yun Mian, turned around, and walked out.

Yun Mian sighed in her heart.

Now she couldn’t go home, nor could she return to her human form. The most familiar and reliable person by her side was only Shen Zhixing.

He took care of her so seriously, prepared food, clothing, and daily necessities for her. Yun Mian didn’t want to cause him any more trouble.

Forget it, just let him think she really was a cat.

She would think of other ways.

Yun Mian cooperatively curled up in Shen Zhixing’s arms and followed him out the door.

The assistant was responsible for driving, and the group set off to the pet store.

They arrived at the pet store.

Although Yun Mian had mentally prepared herself, the moment she saw so many cats and dogs suddenly turn their heads in unison to stare at her and howl at this “newcomer”, she couldn’t help the chill that ran down her scalp.

“……”

She instinctively shrank back into Shen Zhixing’s arms.

Shen Zhixing raised his hand and rubbed her head: “Xiaobai, be good, don’t be afraid.”

“Mr. Shen, you’re here.” A young man in a white long coat walked over, holding a Teddy dog in his arms, and said apologetically to Shen Zhixing, “Please wait a few minutes, I’ll come over after I treat this dog’s injury.”

Shen Zhixing nodded: “No problem, you go ahead. I’ll take Xiaobai to look at some cat food.”

Shen Zhixing brought Yun Mian to the cat food section. A round-faced female shop assistant came over to introduce: “Mr. Shen, what brand of cat food would you like to buy? I’ll get it for you.”

Lying in Shen Zhixing’s arms, Yun Mian looked up and just happened to see the young girl secretly peeking at Shen Zhixing with shy eyes and a face full of excited blush.

Shen Zhixing didn’t seem to notice. His gaze swept across the shelves filled with various types of cat food, then he lowered his head to look at Xiaobai: “I don’t know what flavor Xiaobai likes. She didn’t like the one I bought before.”

The shop assistant picked up a beautifully packaged bag: “How about trying this one? It sells very well in our store. You can let the cat try it first.”

When Yun Mian heard this, she was shocked that she would have to try it.

This concerned her dietary health—it was a big deal, and she couldn’t pretend anymore.

She quickly sat up straight, reached out her paw, and tapped the package on the shelf labeled in English with “Deep Sea Salmon.” Afraid Shen Zhixing wouldn’t understand what she meant, Yun Mian even set aside her shame and meowed several times at the bag of fish jerky.

Shen Zhixing saw this and said to the shop assistant: “Take a few bags of each kind of fish jerky.”

Having found a way to make Shen Zhixing understand her meaning, Yun Mian repeated the method, meowing at the bags labeled with beef jerky and chicken strips.

Shen Zhixing chuckled and tapped her head: “So our Xiaobai is a little glutton; she likes meat.”

Yun Mian: “……”

It wasn’t that she had to eat meat—it was just that she really couldn’t bring herself to eat that cat food.

After picking out the cat food, the doctor over there had also finished, and came over to Shen Zhixing: “Mr. Shen, let’s give your cat a check-up first.”

Yun Mian was then handed over to the doctor by Shen Zhixing.

The doctor placed Yun Mian on a soft cushion and began examining her fur and skin, not even missing her ears and mouth. Then he took her temperature, weighed her, drew blood, and trimmed her nails.

“All done. Give her a bath first, then a shot.”

After the doctor finished speaking, Yun Mian was carried to the bath area by the same round-faced girl.

After a series of operations, Yun Mian was already numb.

Lying there, she wore an expression of utter despair.

Forget it, forget it. Letting the shop assistant bathe her was still better than Shen Zhixing doing it himself.

Just as Yun Mian was drenched like a wet kitten in the sink, enduring the shop assistant’s “scrubbing service”, another customer walked into the pet store.

The store clerk quickly went over to greet: “Hello, do you have an appointment?”

Before the words finished, the clerk saw the face under the sunglasses and froze: “You are…”

The female customer was holding a fashionably dressed Pomeranian dog in her arms. She lowered her sunglasses and glanced at the clerk, smiling: “What, even buying dog food needs an appointment?”

“Uh… no.”

This was a pet store and hospital in one. The owner was the doctor from earlier. It was privately owned, with a quiet environment and good service. Usually, appointments were required, and most customers were members or regulars. But the pet product area was always open to the public, although being a high-end pet store, no one normally came just to buy a bag of pet food.

The store clerk quietly looked over at the female customer and was about to take her to the shopping area when she saw the woman turn and spot Shen Zhixing sitting on the sofa in the rest area.

She immediately lit up.

“Eh! Zhixing, what a coincidence?!”

Shen Zhixing had just instructed his assistant to carry the purchased cat food to the car and was sitting nearby waiting for Xiaobai to finish her bath when he heard someone call his name.

He looked up, his brows subconsciously furrowing.

However, his expression still remained calm and composed. He nodded slightly at the other party: “Mm. You’re here too.”

The female customer walked over in delight, took off her large sunglasses, revealing a delicate, fair, oval-shaped face. She smiled and said: “Yes, I came to buy some dog food for Henry. I didn’t expect to run into you here! Oh right, I saw your news a few days ago. Are you okay? Was it those unscrupulous media outlets making things up again? I was worried for quite a while.”

Seeing the two of them chatting, the clerk sensibly turned and walked away.

The round-faced girl washing Yun Mian immediately waved to her, her face full of gossip: “Hey, is that Fang Shuyu? She really looks like her.”

“That’s Fang Shuyu,” the shop assistant whispered, “She looks even prettier in real life than on TV. She and Shen Zhixing kind of match.”

“Are they dating or not?” The round-faced girl turned her head to sneak a curious glance.

“Shhh… don’t look, you’ll be caught.” The shop assistant lowered her voice. The two whispered in front of Yun Mian, “I mean, how could it be such a coincidence? Shen Zhixing just arrived, and Fang Shuyu came right after. I even heard Fang Shuyu say she was worried about him—maybe they’re using their pets as an excuse for a date…”

“Hmph, that Fang Shuyu has so many scandals and her acting isn’t great either. They just worked on a movie together. How could she be worthy of Shen Zhixing?”

The round-faced girl was probably a fan of Shen Zhixing. She was so focused on digging into gossip that she got foam all over Yun Mian’s face.

Yun Mian couldn’t help but meow to remind her.

The girl came back to her senses. Looking at the cat with a face full of resentment in the sink, she quickly rinsed her clean and carefully picked her up.

Finally freed from the “evil hands”, Yun Mian was placed in a drying box.

She sat in the box, and through the transparent glass, she could see across to the rest area where Shen Zhixing and a tall girl with long hair were talking.

It was too far, and the dryer was humming, so she couldn’t hear what they were saying.

She only saw that the girl was indeed quite pretty and had a good temperament. The two didn’t know what they were talking about—she was smiling the whole time.

Thinking of the gossip between the two clerks just now, Yun Mian suddenly felt a little dazed.

In her memory, Shen Zhixing, who used to feel awkward even saying a word to her, actually had a girlfriend now…