The Popular/Charismatic Beta Always Thinks They Are Universally Disliked - Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Prize Quiz – Friday Is The Day Zhuangzhuang Says Goodbye To His Little Pants…

Friday was the day Zhuangzhuang said goodbye to his little pants (euphemism for neutering).

Wen Zhijie, who had been busy negotiating investment with the Alpha party these past few days, specifically took time to video call Wen Zhiyi, seriously stating that he needed to formally bid farewell to the cat’s “bells.”

Big Wen watched the cat virtually through the screen, lamenting that Zhuangzhuang was about to transition from a tomcat to a eunuch cat.

He sat casually on his executive chair with one leg crossed, reaching out to pat his smoothly pressed trousers, and half-heartedly advised his brother: “Are you really not considering letting him sire once? The continuation of a creature like a cat, in a sense, can be achieved by passing on its genes.”

“…Why bother with the effort?” Wen Zhiyi replied briefly. The sound that reached Wen Zhijie’s ears immediately became distant, as a veterinary nurse seemed to be confirming whether the pre-operative fasting had been properly observed. Big Wen on his end waited quietly for his brother to return to the conversation.

During this not-so-long wait, he naturally recalled how Wen Zhiyi treated such short lives in his childhood.

Little Wen once raised a leopard gecko.

More accurately, he adopted a gecko that was already entering its old age.

When Wen Zhiyi was in the third grade, the science teacher brought a mature gecko from home to the class’s terrarium so the children could observe the cute and magical little animal up close. The children, full of curiosity about the world, often gathered around the terrarium, vying to feed it live insects.

Wen Zhiyi was no exception.

He curiously watched the gecko shed its skin, finding that this dark-eyed, bright-eyed lizard looked like it was wearing a hoodie during the process, making him so anxious he wanted to help it with his own hands.

The children were all well-behaved; the gecko kept in the classroom received no negative treatment. On the contrary, it slowly grew old under the children’s care and play, reaching the end of its short life.

The average lifespan of a gecko is only eight years. By the time Wen Zhiyi was in the sixth grade, this gecko was visibly becoming old and pale. Its skin gradually lost its soft elasticity and glossy sheen. When the children carefully placed it on their palms, it no longer responded quickly or sensitively, only slowly rubbing against their palms.

It couldn’t chew its favorite insect prey anymore, only accepting food that some brave children would place in their palms and feed to it bit by bit.

The science teacher solemnly announced that it would be difficult for it to survive the winter unless a child was willing to take it home, sacrificing their playtime to care for it more patiently. But even so, it was very likely to die suddenly in the near future.

She emphasized that this was not an easy job. An elderly gecko would become listless, unable to offer much response to its owner. Its eyes would gradually be unable to open, requiring regular washing with eye drops, and its mouth would be unable to chew food. The process of caring for it was watching it suffer, watching it age, and watching it gradually cease to recognize its caregiver.

Many children started sobbing just hearing the teacher’s description.

For young children, this was a cruel first lesson about parting.

In fact, among all the children who cared for the gecko, little Wen was not the one most intimately attached to it, but he was the first to say he would take it home. The reason was simple: he wanted it to live a little longer and to be more comfortable during the last period before its death.

Little Wen’s thinking was very simple. He hadn’t considered maxims like “love is not only enjoying the joy of companionship but also the responsibility and courage to face decline and death.” He simply thought—

If no one regularly rinsed its eyes with medication, if no one crushed its food and fed it bit by bit, and if no one ensured the temperature of the terrarium at night, it would be very uncomfortable.

So, even if it meant watching the gecko die with his own eyes, little Wen insisted on bringing it home. He would not, under any circumstances, let it die alone in some corner.

Even if the outcome was visibly cruel, Wen Zhiyi insisted on persisting until he was powerless to do more.

This was the reason he repeatedly hit the wall, and the reason he eventually stopped hitting the wall.

Later, the gecko did die. At that time, it was resting in Wen Zhiyi’s palm, laboriously nudging little Wen’s thumb. Little Wen, sensing something, stared intently at it, watching it slowly become duller and duller, until it gradually stopped moving, becoming the quietest gecko in the world.

Little Wen buried it in a flowerpot and placed it on the sunny side of the balcony. Wen Changming coaxed him, saying that after planting one gecko this year, they could harvest another next year.

But that was not true.

Wen Zhiyi knew it wasn’t true.

He didn’t want a substitute for it, nor did he want any new gecko that looked like it. He only wanted the one he had personally cared for and personally bid farewell to.

On the other end of the phone, Wen Zhiyi quickly returned to the conversation with Wen Zhijie. His voice, slightly distorted by the electromagnetic wave transmission, carried a hint of sweet amusement as Wen Zhijie heard his brother say:

“One stinky cat is enough. Wouldn’t another one bankrupt me?”

“…When did Jack become a child with a single parent? Do you treat me like air? Never mind one, even a hundred more… as long as you like them…”

A young voice with obvious dissatisfaction abruptly cut into the conversation. Wen Zhijie didn’t quite catch what the voice said afterward because his brother clearly moved the phone away. Big Wen was equally displeased.

He waited for a moment, but little Wen had already hung up decisively, sending a text message saying that Zhuangzhuang’s surgery was about to begin.

Big Wen snorted sharply through his nose, accustomed to little Wen’s behavior of rejecting his suggestions. He was certainly aware that his brother had always been opinionated. After letting out a self-deprecating snort, he thought that since the Wen family didn’t have a throne for Zhuangzhuang to inherit, neutering the little stinky cat wasn’t a big deal.

Thinking this, Wen Zhijie pondered for a moment, then opened a shopping app to select an Elizabethan collar.

Wei Xingjiang had originally planned to move the doctor and surgical equipment directly to the Wei family’s villa to perform the surgery in Zhuangzhuang’s familiar environment, but considering Mr. Wei’s attitude towards Zhuangzhuang, Wen Zhiyi thought it over and refused.

The little cat being wheeled into the operating room had a delicate and cute little tag hanging on its hind leg. Wen Zhiyi looked closely and realized it was an ankle band with its name written on it. Young Master Wei had painstakingly handwritten the tag and tied it to the fat cat’s hind leg.

Is he afraid of taking the wrong cat home after the surgery?

Little Wen chuckled to himself.

It turned out that the full name Wei Xingjiang had given the cat was Jack Sparrow.

Full name and surname, a genuine Caribbean pirate.

The flourishing English handwriting was somewhat difficult to decipher, but the script alone confirmed it was a custom tag. Wei Xingjiang’s handwriting was very similar to Wen Zhiyi’s, looking as if he couldn’t be bothered to write properly.

While the cat was having its surgery, little Wen and Wei Xingjiang waited in the VIP lounge.

Wen Zhiyi was outwardly calm but couldn’t sit still. He picked up a pet manual in the lounge to read, but after reading a few lines, he inevitably thought of the cat in surgery. He sighed and stood by the window, idly gazing outside.

Two hands, clenched into fists, suddenly extended in front of him. Following the lines of the prominent tendons and distinct knuckles, he looked up and saw Wei Xingjiang’s casual smile with upturned lips.

The tall, long-legged young Alpha leaned against the window wall with one leg bent. His expression looked relaxed and easygoing, yet his core, which supported all his movements, was secretly tightened, and his back was held straight as a steel pen sketch.

Wei Xingjiang tilted his head toward Wen Zhiyi, lowering his eyelashes to look at the Beta who was a few centimeters shorter than him. From his angle, he could clearly see the other’s slightly trembling long eyelashes, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, the straight lines of his shoulders and back, and a line running down his neck to his waist.

“If you’re bored, let’s play a guessing game. Guess which hand I’m hiding something in?”

The Alpha who said this was clearly enjoying the game. Both fists looked tightly closed, giving away no clues.

Wen Zhiyi raised an eyebrow and casually pointed to the left fist.

Little Wen had never won this type of game that relied on luck. He simply pointed randomly, not relying on his judgment or observational skills, and chose the left side.

The male high school student standing in front of him raised an eyebrow, mimicking his gesture. His thick, dark eyebrows were full of feigned surprise, and with a slight smile, he opened his left hand in front of little Wen:

“Little Wen Gege is so amazing, you guessed it right away.”

Resting quietly in Wei Xingjiang’s open left hand was a bracelet. Bright, dazzling round diamonds were densely clustered and embedded on the chain. It was impressive that his palm could completely hold the bracelet without revealing any hints.

He actually guessed correctly?

Wen Zhiyi lamented his luck, a rare hint of self-satisfaction showing on his face.

However, Wei Xingjiang quickly opened his other hand. This hand also held a bracelet, one with a symmetrical floral pattern. Unlike the one in his left hand, the gemstones on this bracelet clustered around a central sapphire, making it look more colorful, rich, and deep.

Wei Xingjiang bit his lip to suppress a laugh: “It’s a prize quiz. The left is the answer to the riddle, and the right is the prize.”

Heaven knows how hard he was struggling to maintain a straight face.

The moment he finished speaking and opened his right hand, young Master Wei couldn’t help but burst into laughter. He affectionately and clingily moved closer to Wen Zhiyi, tilting his head to gauge his expression, wanting to place the little trinket into the other’s hand.

Will it make him a little happier? Will he be happier because of me?

He looked at Wen Zhiyi’s eyes with this subtle, anxious anticipation, yet his outward expression was only a raised eyebrow and a smile, bending his waist slightly to get a clearer look at little Wen’s expression.

Wen Zhiyi looked at the two hands opened before him and had to admit that he truly hadn’t expected it.

His gaze shifted from the bracelets to Wei Xingjiang’s face, where he saw his clear and complete reflection in those smiling eyes.

He seemed to be smiling.

He hadn’t realized he was smiling, but he saw his own smile reflected in Wei Xingjiang’s eyes.