I Really Am a Scumbag Bottom [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 5

Regardless of what the future held, the kitten had at least managed to stay for now.

After just two days of feeding, the little thing had filled out significantly. It had gone from the skin-and-bones wreck it was upon arrival to having a healthy, even layer of flesh. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before it upgraded to “stout and sturdy.”

Lately, Li Yihan had been acting out of character, returning home almost every single day. Chi Zhao had gradually grown accustomed to a life where he’d see the man the moment he stepped out of his room. This evening, Chi Zhao was crouched on the kitchen floor, staring unblinkingly as the kitten lapped up its milk.

Li Yihan entered the kitchen to grab some water. He had heard from Uncle Zhang that the Young Master hadn’t gone anywhere at night recently, instead staying home to study diligently. Li Yihan felt this was entirely due to his own excellent educational methods.

In truth, Chi Zhao was naturally a studious kid. Even without Li Yihan’s ultimatum, he was the type to stay cooped up at home, reading books or scrolling through his phone. However, with the threat to the kitten hanging over his head, his dedication had reached a whole new level.

Picking up a bottle of room-temperature mineral water, Li Yihan walked over to Chi Zhao, gazing down at the crown of the boy’s head. “What’s the cat’s name?”

Chi Zhao was currently harboring a massive grudge against Li Yihan. In his past life, he was a Liberal Arts student in Early Childhood Education; Qi Yuan, however, was a Science student. Chi Zhao could barely understand the textbooks, yet he was forced to study them and achieve the top rank in the year, no less!

The mere thought of it made him gloomy, and in his gloom, he naturally wasn’t going to give the culprit a warm welcome.

Smoothing the fur on the kitten’s head, Chi Zhao looked up morosely and spoke with bold audacity: “Xiao Li-zi.” (Note: A common name for eunuchs in the imperial palace, playing on Li Yihan’s surname).

Li Yihan didn’t get angry. He simply curled his lips slightly and repeated Chi Zhao’s words.

“Xiao Li-zi?”

The final syllable rose in a questioning lilt. Chi Zhao looked into Li Yihan’s eyes and clearly read a sentence within them:

Heh. I suppose you don’t want this month’s allowance.

Chi Zhao: “Actually, let’s just call him Fatty.”

After his cowardly name change, Chi Zhao lowered his head again. Li Yihan didn’t leave, but he didn’t say anything else either. Chi Zhao muttered an explanation to himself: “He’s too thin, just like me. You told me to eat more, so I’m making him eat more too. He’s a ginger cat; being fat is supposed to be the norm.”

Li Yihan was surprised that Qi Yuan remembered a casual remark he had made days ago. Mimicking the boy, he crouched down to look at “Fatty.”

The kitten’s movements looked leisurely, but it was devouring the milk like a whirlwind; the goat milk in the dish was disappearing at a visible rate.

Li Yihan watched for a moment before asking, “Male or female?”

“Male,” Chi Zhao answered readily this time, foregoing the chance to mock Li Yihan. “I reckon he’s not even two months old. In another six months to a year, once he hits puberty, I’ll take him to the hospital and have him turned into a eunuch.”

As a male, Li Yihan felt a reflexive phantom pain at the word “neuter,” as if his lower half were protesting in advance.

After a silence, Li Yihan turned to look at Chi Zhao. “You know a lot. Have you raised cats before?”

Chi Zhao lied through his teeth. “Of course. I used to pick up strays off the street all the time. I’d clean them up, give them baths, treat their illnesses, and train them to use the litter box before finding them adoptive homes. If they were old enough, I’d help get them fixed, too.”

Li Yihan’s expression remained unchanged. “You lived in an orphanage before, and then in the dorms. Your roommates didn’t mind you keeping cats in the room?”

Oh, crap.

Forgetting his persona for a second, Chi Zhao had blurted out his actual past experiences. He averted his gaze, frantically searching for an excuse. Less than a second later, he looked back with a neutral expression. “I didn’t keep them in the dorms. There was a very hidden spot in the school stairwell where I kept them. A few girls worked with me; they provided the funding and found the homes, and I did the manual labor.”

It had to be said—the brain of a scholarship winner worked fast. This explanation plugged all the holes. If Li Yihan asked why he used the word “home,” he could say the school was his home; if he wanted to know who the girls were, he could say they were from different classes and just part of a loose volunteer group he couldn’t quite remember.

Chi Zhao looked calm, but he was holding his breath, nervously awaiting the next question. However, Li Yihan asked nothing. Since Chi Zhao was too guilty to look up, he missed the slight, amused curve of Li Yihan’s lips.

The next day, Li Yihan sat in his office reviewing a list of new hires. Assistant Zhao hesitated for a moment before speaking. “Boss, the frequency of you going home has increased lately.”

Li Yihan lifted his eyes to look at him. “And?”

“Nothing. I’m just worried you’re placing too much trust in Qi Yuan. Don’t forget what kind of person he is.”

Li Yihan returned his gaze to the employee files. He said indifferently, “I prefer to believe what I see with my own eyes.”

In other words, Li Yihan no longer trusted the investigation results?

Assistant Zhao grew frantic. “Boss, I visited so many places and spoke to so many people. The consensus is that the kid is trouble. I still don’t understand why you let him stay in your house. What if he has an ulterior motive?”

“Letting him stay in my house is to make the act more convincing,” Li Yihan set the folder down and looked at Assistant Zhao coldly. “I don’t need you to second-guess my decisions.”

Realizing he had overstepped, Assistant Zhao lowered his head in silence.

Knowing the man meant well, Li Yihan didn’t push it too far. After a pause, he added, “You’ve been with me for years; you should know my character. Don’t worry, I know exactly what I’m doing.”

While Assistant Zhao didn’t understand what that “measure” was, Chi Zhao—on the other side of town—had just found out.

“He put a tracker on me?”

【It’s in your watch. I detected it the moment Uncle Zhang handed it to you this morning.】

Li Yihan had left early that morning. When Chi Zhao woke up, Uncle Zhang gave him the watch, calling it a gift from Li Yihan. Li Yihan had even left a message: Remember to check the time often, because the time you have left with Fatty is running short.

Hearing that this morning, Chi Zhao had nearly laughed in annoyance. He actually found Li Yihan quite amusing—older, sure, but witty.

Now he realized the man was just installing a GPS.

Tsk, how sinister!

【It’s just a tracker, not a time bomb. Maybe he’s just afraid you’ll get lost and wants to be able to find you.】

Chi Zhao was silent for a moment. “Do you actually believe that?”

Of course not.

Chi Zhao packed his things to leave, and the System hurriedly asked him:

【What about the watch? You’re just going to wear it?】

“Yeah. If he wants to track me, let him. I just go between school and home; I’m not afraid of him checking,” Chi Zhao paused suddenly. “Wait. When I read the data, it never mentioned Qi Yuan being tracked.”

【That’s because he originally wasn’t tracked. Roleplaying is a fluid process; a tiny detail can change the whole board. This tracker was triggered by some unknown detail. You must pay attention to the nuances from now on and avoid breaking the plot.】

Chi Zhao agreed. School was over, and it was time to go home. Just as he stepped out of the teaching building, the System spoke up.

【Duan Bo’s men are outside the school gates. They’re planning to ambush you and take you to the Dragon Pearl Club.】

Chi Zhao’s footsteps faltered. After a moment of thought, he resumed his pace and walked toward the exit. The System was surprised by his composure; given Chi Zhao’s personality, he should have been desperate to hide.

The System voiced its confusion. Chi Zhao pulled his phone out of his pocket and navigated to Li Yihan’s contact screen. As he walked, he replied: “What’s there to be afraid of? Am I not being tracked? This is the perfect chance to deal with Duan Bo, otherwise he’ll just keep tripping me up. Besides, haven’t you been pushing me to seduce Li Yihan? I didn’t act before because there was no opportunity. Well, here it is, delivered right to my door.”

With that, Chi Zhao hit the call button and dropped the phone into his jacket pocket. He reached the school gates just then. The moment his left foot stepped out, his right arm was seized by a man. They forcibly dragged Chi Zhao into a car. Chi Zhao shouted at the top of his lungs, “Who are you? Let go! Where are you taking me?! Help! He—”

The next second, his mouth was covered. Chi Zhao’s expression was one of pure terror—looking exactly like a small sprout being ravaged by a storm. Meanwhile, in his head, he was chatting with the System.

“The hero saves the hero? What a great opportunity, don’t you think, System?”

The System was too stunned to speak. It simply sent a file over to his mind.

The file format looked exactly like the world data. Chi Zhao opened it, confused, only to find a single string of ellipses.

Chi Zhao: =_=