Lu Huai looked at him calmly without speaking.

The little cat fiddled with his clothes, hesitating before whispering, “I just wanted to see if the phone was broken.”

“…”

Unable to continue bullying the little cat, Lu Huai sighed. “Are you still going to take me to school today?”

The little cat’s eyes lit up, nodding repeatedly. “Yes, yes!”

.

As soon as Chen Fei arrived, he noticed Lu Huai was a little absent-minded. He went over after class. “What’s wrong with you?”

Lu Huai looked at him for a moment, hesitating before asking, “What should I do if the kid at home gets addicted to the internet?”

Chen Fei immediately understood. “Your brother? Doesn’t he have a phone?”

“I just bought him one yesterday, and he seems a little too addicted.”

Chen Fei was shocked and speechless.

He knew Lu Huai’s family situation; someone who rarely even bought a bottle of cola was so good to this brother, pampering and raising him, buying him a phone just like that.

He hesitantly said, “Don’t you think you’re too good to him? And last time I saw him, he was a little too clingy to you.”

Lu Huai frowned. “It’s natural for him to be clingy to me, and it’s natural for me to be good to him.”

“…”

Chen Fei paused. “Then what should you do? Confiscate his phone?”

Lu Huai clearly didn’t agree, still making excuses for the little cat. “But he’s a little younger, it’s normal for him to be curious about new things. I can’t be too harsh on him.”

“Little? What little?” Chen Fei rolled his eyes. “I think he’s about our age. Who is he, anyway?”

Lu Huai glanced at him, raising his lips slightly.

“If you knew who he was, you’d think I was lucky.”

“…”

Crazy.

On the other hand, the internet-addicted little cat secretly went out. Before leaving, afraid of being discovered by his brother, he even put on little bear socks over the surveillance camera using a stool.

It was his first time going out to look for a job, and the little cat was very nervous. He used a comb to neatly comb every strand of hair, then carried a small bag containing two bags of sucking candies Lu Huai had bought him two days ago.

He opened his phone’s navigation, showing that Starfall Bar was a half-hour walk away. The little cat meticulously calculated that it would take an hour round-trip, so he could still play with his phone for four hours today.

He set off with great fanfare. But when the little cat finally reached the bar, he found the door tightly closed.

Niannian was stunned.

He walked around the bar twice, finally sitting dejectedly on the steps, putting a tissue under his bottom to prevent soiling his new pants.

Perhaps because the boy had been sitting at the door for too long, a man in a black jacket approached and whispered, “Little brother, is something wrong?”

Niannian was bewildered. “Mm?”

“Did your girlfriend sleep with someone else at the bar? Or did you have a fight here?” The man acted like he understood everything. “You’re too early. This bar doesn’t open this early.”

Niannian then remembered that Qiuqiu had said it opened at night. He was so stupid; he’d forgotten.

The little cat got up dejectedly, putting away the tissue, preparing to go home with his bag.

The man quickly chased after him. “Tell me about it. Maybe I can help you solve it. Little brother, you look young. Are you still in school?”

Niannian stopped, saying seriously, “I’m a police officer.”

Author’s Note:

Niannian: When you’re out and about, your identity is what you make it. [Sunglasses]

The man was clearly stunned, looking suspiciously at Niannian. “You’re a police officer? You don’t look like one.”

Niannian snorted. “I’m going to be a police officer soon.”

The man understood, sneering. “Kid, daydreaming?”

He pointed to the sign behind him. “See? When I was young, I wanted to be a police officer too, but unfortunately, I didn’t have the luck. But now I’ve opened a detective agency, which is almost the same as a police officer.”

Niannian looked back, softly reading, “Xu Mingbai Detective Agency.”

The man pointed at himself. “That’s me!”

“Detectives and police officers are almost the same?”

“Of course! Haven’t you seen Detective Conan?”

Niannian lowered his head, kicking a small stone on the ground, hesitating for a while before looking up and asking, “Do you still hire people?”

…

Pushing open the glass door, Xu Mingbai waved his hand. “Have a seat.”

He went to the cabinet and took out two cans of cola, opening one himself and handing the other to Niannian.

“No need, I brought some.”

Niannian, holding his bag, took out a bag of sucking candies, opened it, and took a big bite.

Looking at the dumbfounded Xu Mingbai, he whispered, “Do you want some?”

Xu Mingbai quickly shook his head. “No, you eat.”

Niannian sucked on the candy while looking around until he saw the shelves opposite him. He stood up and leaned closer to look carefully.

The man said behind him, “See? These are all cases I’ve solved.”

Niannian read them out. “Valentine’s Day white cat missing case, April 14th girlfriend cheating case, the missing gold bracelet…”

Finding cats, catching cheaters, finding lost items.

Anyone could see through them, but the little cat exclaimed exaggeratedly, “You’re so amazing.”

The man was stunned by the praise, even thinking he was being sarcastic. But seeing Niannian’s sincere expression, he looked genuinely earnest.

The man scratched his head. “You really think so?”

He had a heart full of second-hand 热血 (passion), but was defeated by reality, only doing these cat-finding and dog-finding jobs; his family scolded him for being useless.

This was the first time he’d been praised like this.

The little cat’s eyes shone brightly. “Really! You can help cats get home; you must be a good person.”

Xu Mingbai was at a loss for words, quickly bringing out a box of snacks. “Eat whatever you want!”

Niannian sat back down properly. “I’ve decided to work here. Interview me.”

“Ah??”

Xu Mingbai hesitated. “My business isn’t very good lately; I’m barely making enough to support myself.”

Niannian’s face fell. “You don’t have money.”

“…” That was really hurtful.

The man quickly said, “But if you’re willing, we can partner up. I don’t have a base salary to pay you, but we’ll solve cases together, and I’ll give you a share of the profits.”

Niannian didn’t quite understand what a share of the profits meant, but he’d learned in his workplace skills training yesterday that you should pretend to understand things you don’t understand.

So the little cat put on a mysterious look. “Oh.”

Xu Mingbai pressed on, opening his computer to show Niannian. “This is a job I just took yesterday. The supermarket owner next door lost his blue cat. This job pays five hundred yuan.”

He took out a collar from the side. “This is the blue cat’s collar. But I don’t think it’s useful. Let’s take two flashlights and go find the cat.”

The little cat thought for a moment, picking up the collar and taking a sausage from the snack box. “I can find it myself.”

“No, two people will be faster.”

The little cat raised his chin. “I’ll find it myself, faster.”

Xu Mingbai watched the boy leave with the collar, scratching his head belatedly. He’d wanted to pick up a job, but he’d somehow ended up with an employee.

Niannian went out and looked around, taking the sausage to find the tabby cat sunbathing by the wall.

The tabby cat lifted an eyelid. “What? You mean that Brit? Fat as a truck, only speaks foreign languages, so arrogant…”

The tabby cat complained for half an hour before telling Niannian that the blue cat might have gone to East Street to find the orange cat.

Niannian nodded, quickly picking up the remaining half of the sausage on the ground and walking away under the tabby cat’s angry gaze.

The orange cat licked its paw. “What do you want? He did come looking for me, asking me to style his hair, but he’s already gone. Go ask Xiaobai.”

After a busy morning, Niannian finally brought back the fat blue cat, the blue cat twisting and yelling, “Shit!”

Xu Mingbai was dumbfounded. “You found it just like that?”

Niannian patted the blue cat’s head. “He’s too fat, an obvious target, easy to find.”

“…”

The two of them took the cat to the supermarket to get the money.

The owner only gave them three hundred yuan, saying they found it too quickly. “It must have been nearby; otherwise, how could it be so fast? I didn’t have time to look for it, so you took advantage of me.”

The little cat angrily wanted to argue, but Xu Mingbai pulled him back. “Forget it, forget it.”

He lowered his voice. “Her husband is a boxer. He can take both of us with one punch.”

Xu Mingbai gave Niannian two of the three hundred yuan bills.

“After all, you found it, so you take more.”

Niannian thought for a moment, but only took one. “Call me next time we cooperate.”

The little cat was quite good at playing the long game.

Xu Mingbai happily rubbed his hands. “Of course, of course. From today on, we’re partners. Let’s add WeChat; I’ll call you next time I have a job.”

They scanned each other’s QR codes and added each other as friends. Looking at Niannian’s profile picture, he casually praised, “Is that your cat? So cute.”

The little cat immediately smiled. “He’s not only good-looking, he’s also very obedient, and he can recite multiplication tables.”

“…” Crazy.

.

Lu Huai was busy today.

He originally wanted to go home to see the cat at noon, but the head teacher called him to the office.

“There’s a math competition next month, nationwide, with high gold content. I want you to try.”

Lu Huai looked at the brochure, frowning. “Is there training?”