30th Meow

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This five-star hotel’s affiliated Western restaurant was just as luxurious and extravagant as He Yunzhou had imagined, and the numbers on the menu handed over by the courteous waiter were quite eye-watering.

However, despite this, due to the restaurant’s famous French pastries, there were quite a few diners who came to eat. He Yunzhou ordered a pot of tea and the simplest afternoon tea set for Xiao Xi and himself, then sat uncomfortably, exchanging glances.

He Yunzhou sighed, feeling uneasy from start to finish.

What made He Yunzhou feel so out of place wasn’t the price of the tea and afternoon tea here, but the inexplicable atmosphere of the entire Western restaurant.

Melodious and soothing music flowed through the deliberately designed spacious French-style space, where elegantly dressed men and women dined slowly and gracefully under the white marble and crystal decorations. The murmurs of people conversing with each other were faintly compressed into ambiguous background noise. Although the food on the table tasted good, it seemed like no one was truly paying attention to it.

However, speaking of which, even He Yunzhou and Xiao Xi were here to discuss business rather than to eat—He Yunzhou sighed, chuckling self-deprecatingly in his heart.

Actually, if it were an ordinary person, they might think it wouldn’t be bad to occasionally come here for a meal.

He Yunzhou drifted off a little, unable to help but think.

But he seemed to never be able to adapt to such excessively refined and luxurious places, where the atmosphere of alienation always stirred up some unpleasant memories for He Yunzhou.

“Your complexion doesn’t look too good, is everything okay?” Even Xiao Xi seemed to sense something, she looked at He Yunzhou and couldn’t help but ask.

“Ah, no, I’m fine.” He Yunzhou snapped back to reality, shaking his head dryly. “… Has Editor Ding not arrived yet?”

He Yunzhou really didn’t like the atmosphere here, eagerly anticipating Editor Ding’s arrival to quickly handle this hair-pulling task and then retreat back to his own little nest to catch his breath. But the agreed-upon time had passed almost an hour ago, and the person who should have appeared still hadn’t shown up.

As time passed, even Xiao Xi became increasingly restless. “It’s really strange, we agreed to meet here…”

She occasionally checked her phone, and after sending several messages without receiving any response, she could only glance frequently towards the entrance of the Western restaurant.

To be honest, Editor Ding’s “lateness” and loss of contact, along with his ambiguous and indifferent attitude displayed in the character draft for “Divine Cat” before… considering all these signs, Xiao Xi and He Yunzhou both had a somewhat ominous feeling.

“It’s okay, some people just have a habit of being extremely late. And maybe Editor Ding has something going on…” Seeing Xiao Xi’s growing anxiety, He Yunzhou could only muster up some mental strength to comfort her.

“But…” Xiao Xi bit her lip, visibly upset. “We had everything planned…”

He Yunzhou looked at his little editor’s distressed expression, feeling numb on his sculp.

He was afraid that Xiao Xi might burst into tears right in front of him. He quickly shifted his position, leaning closer to Xiao Xi, then gently patted her hand. “Don’t overthink it. We still don’t know what’s going on…”

At that moment, He Yunzhou suddenly felt a chill run down his spine involuntarily.

It felt as if something very light had touched the back of his neck… He instinctively jerked his body upright and glanced behind him.

The hall remained unchanged.

The music, the tall indoor foliage, the chatter of the bright and glamorous urban men and women, the crystal chandeliers…

He Yunzhou furrowed his brow, squinting slightly as he carefully scanned the figures of those people.

“What’s wrong?” Xiao Xi noticed He Yunzhou’s movement and also peeked behind her, then asked.

After a moment of confusion, He Yunzhou turned back, feeling somewhat embarrassed as he scratched his neck.

There was still a lingering, indescribable sensation there.

“It’s nothing… It just felt like someone was watching me from behind earlier.” He Yunzhou hesitated in his response.

“You shouldn’t have any acquaintances here.” Xiao Xi muttered nonchalantly.

He Yunzhou couldn’t help but smile wryly. “That’s true.”

But what He Yunzhou didn’t tell Xiao Xi was that for someone like him, discerning others’ gazes and being alert to covert scrutiny had become a physiological instinct.

[Hey, look at that bumpkin…]

[Hehehe, look quickly… Shh… He’s looking at us…]

[Oh my god, look at him…]

………..

“Xiao Chuan?^[1]HYZ’s Zhou’s name [舟] means boat, similar to the Chuan [船] she used. Are you okay?” Xiao Xi waved her hand in front of He Yunzhou, who then snapped out of it.

“Uh, I’m fine.” He collected himself and then smiled gently.

It was probably just nerves acting up from not going out for so long, he thought. After calming down, he realized Xiao Xi was right. In such an upscale Western restaurant, it was highly unlikely that anyone would be spying on him, a lifelong die-hard otaku.

“Shall I treat you to another small dessert? If Editor Ding still hasn’t arrived after we finish dessert, we can call it a day.” He Yunzhou said to Xiao Xi.

During this period of time, Xiao Xi had been very proactive in her work on <Divine Cat>, and He Yunzhou was actually quite grateful for her as a working partner.

Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, a smile appeared on Xiao Xi’s face.

………..

“Mr. Huo?”

“Sorry, Mr. Huo?”

“Mr. Huo, could you please come this way…”

At the other end of the Western restaurant, Huo Zheng completely ignored the nervous voice beside him.

He stood quietly under the circular arch constructed of mirrors and brass, silently clenching his fists as he watched a young couple in the distance, their intimate gestures and smiling faces.

An invisible aura of darkness continuously emanated from him, causing even the lobby manager who attempted to draw his attention to break out in goosebumps, with beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

The position where Huo Zheng stood was the entrance to the VIP lounge of this upscale Western restaurant. Perhaps considering that the individuals who could use the VIP lounge were usually of high status, the entrance to the lounge was deliberately located away from where ordinary people lingered. Moreover, the abundant reflective materials made this area elegant and discreet.

That’s right, what He Yunzhou felt as a sense of being watched was not a figment of his imagination or a result of hypersensitivity. The reason he hadn’t noticed Huo Zheng was simply because, in that instant when he turned around, Huo Zheng subconsciously stepped aside…

He avoided that person’s gaze.

Actually, Huo Zheng shouldn’t have known that He Yunzhou was in the same place as him in the first place.

Even though it was the same Western restaurant, Huo Zheng took a special passage leading to the VIP area—A considerable distance from the main hall where ordinary people could freely dine.

But sometimes, things in life are just difficult to explain.

Just like how Huo Zheng didn’t know why he suddenly felt something and then found himself at a place where he could see the hall, lifting his eyes only to accurately capture the slender figure of that young man.

Moreover, beside that person… was a young woman who looked young, small, and had a foolish appearance.

“Hehe.”

After confirming that He Yunzhou had turned his head, Huo Zheng cautiously peered out from behind the corridor, gritting his teeth as he continued to observe the other party. Upon seeing the interaction between the two individuals, a cold and sharp smirk crept onto his lips.

“…”

The lobby manager standing next to him heard this cold smirk, silently swallowed a dry mouthful of saliva, carefully took a few steps aside, and dared not make a sound.

The lobby manager had to admit that Huo Zheng was handsome—In fact, Huo Zheng was probably one of the most beautiful people he had encountered in all his years of working here.

However, as Huo Zheng suddenly stopped in his tracks, staring blankly at a certain spot in the lobby, his beauty was enveloped by a profound darkness. He gave off an aura of sinister and horror, reminiscent of a demonic figure one would only encounter in movies or novels.

Alarm bells rang in the lobby manager’s mind; having worked on the frontlines for so long, he had a very bad feeling about this.

The lobby manager watched Huo Zheng carefully, even suspecting that his eyes might suddenly shoot out deadly laser beams, incinerating the person he was staring at into ashes.

He suspected that Huo Zheng might rush out and attack someone.

This wasn’t the lobby manager’s baseless speculation. After all, it wasn’t the first time he had encountered Huo Zheng, but it was the first time he had felt such intense and sharp emotions emanating from him.

He involuntarily wiped his sweat and casually followed Huo Zheng’s gaze towards the lobby…

But he found nothing.

The customers all appeared ordinary, just like the countless others this Western restaurant had served in the past.

The lobby manager found it hard to imagine who among this ordinary crowd could elicit such a terrifying reaction from Huo Zheng.

It was as if someone had not only deceived him financially, tricked him to do it with him, and deceived him romantically but also had him wear a green hat on his leg…^[2]The third leg XD that leg.

Under pressure, the lobby manager’s mind began to wander.

And just when he was puzzled beyond measure, Huo Zheng, who had previously ignored him, suddenly turned his head and, with a sinister tone, ordered, “I’ll take care of the bill for that table.”

“Um… Sorry, Mr. Huo, are you referring to…”

“The table where the man with a smug smile,” Huo Zheng said icily.

As he spoke, Huo Zheng could faintly taste a hint of rust on his tongue.

Perhaps it was because he had bitten down too hard in an effort to control his emotions, causing bleeding.

Although Huo Zheng could barely maintain his basic sanity on the surface, he was acutely aware that he was only a hair’s breadth away from completely losing control.

Huo Zheng had thought that after being away from He Yunzhou for so many days, he would finally be able to forget about him a little bit.

He even felt relieved by this prospect, perhaps he wasn’t as attached to that person as he thought.

He just needed a little bit of time to digest that… unfamiliar feeling.

However, when he unexpectedly saw He Yunzhou being intimate with another woman here, he realized that everything was just his own self-deception.

The emotions piled up in his chest became especially heavy and viscous. Huo Zheng felt like he wanted to scream, but all his cries were silently trapped in the deepest recesses of his soul.

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The author has something to say:

Many years later, Mr. Huo and Mr. He reminisce about their relationship.

Mr. Huo: We did go through a lot of dramatic breakups and makeups back then…

(Lights a cigarette, looking into the distance.)

Mr. He (puzzled): It all seems quite ordinary ah. We just naturally ended up together.