After Ding He left, Nan Xian felt even more troubled looking at the little black cat with its belly exposed, begging to be petted.

She couldn't possibly keep a cat; she rescued it today purely out of kindness. Kittens like this, whose blue membranes haven't even faded yet, simply cannot survive in the city.

It seemed like a well-behaved cat at first, and I thought it would be easy to adopt, but now look at the situation...

She sighed in frustration and tried to reason with it by tapping its nose.

“I know you want to stay at my house, but I really can’t take care of you. Your discharge makes me sneeze and get rashes, and if it gets serious, I could die, you know that?”

The kitten froze in its rolling motion, slowly retracting its paws that had been trying to pry at Nan Xian's fingers, and lowered its head in shame.

Nan Xian had just turned around and didn't notice its human-like action.

She asked around in the residents' group chat, but no one had lost their cat, so it was very likely a stray cat that had wandered into the community and stumbled into her home by mistake.

So she contacted an animal shelter and decided to take the little black cat there the next day to seek professional help.

After feeding it goat milk in the evening, Nanxian packed up the milk powder and milk cakes she had prepared for it and placed them next to the cardboard box. Seeing it curled up in the corner looking depressed, as if it knew it was going to be sent away, she couldn't bear it, so she brushed its fur again until it fell asleep before getting up to wash.

As night deepened, the room fell silent.

The little black cat in the cardboard box slowly opened its eyes.

The surging heat within his body told He Mingxiao that he was about to transform back into human form. He stood up, placed his front paws on the cardboard box wall, and tried to push forward with his hind legs.

With a "bang," the cardboard box finally tipped over, and he stumbled out.

Moonlight filtered through the thin gauze curtains into the room, casting a hazy shadow on the wall. The shadow grew rapidly from a small ball into a tall, slender figure.

He Mingxiao rubbed his throbbing temples, grabbed a sofa blanket to cover his lower body, and walked barefoot and silently toward the master bedroom.

Nan Xian was fast asleep, her sleeping posture was very good, her head was gently turned towards the door, and her breathing was shallow and long.

He Mingxiao leaned against the door frame and stared for a long time, his eyes flickering, as if he had made up his mind.

Downstairs, Assistant Jiang had been waiting for a long time. Hearing footsteps, he glanced at He Mingxiao, who looked like he had just come out of the bathhouse, his lips twitched slightly, and he silently opened the car door for him.

The ways rich men pursue their wives are truly...unique.

**

The next day, Nan Xian woke up to find that her little black cat was missing. She searched the entire neighborhood and even checked the security camera footage at the property management office.

Strangely, all the security cameras near their building suddenly malfunctioned that night and failed to capture what happened.

A few days later, the temperature in the capital suddenly dropped. She was worried about the little black cat and went out to look for it for several more days. Under the worry and anxiety, she looked a little haggard.

That morning, as she passed by a breakfast stall outside her apartment complex, the owner looked up and saw her. Suddenly remembering something, she exclaimed, "Oh dear, beautiful lady, I think I saw the black cat you asked me to keep an eye out for yesterday!"

Nan Xian's face immediately lit up with joy. "Really?"

"Yes, it seems to have been yesterday afternoon. It was just strolling around on the other side of the street!" The proprietress put her hands together to show the distance between them. "It was this small, all black fur, with only a tuft of white at the tip of its tail."

Upon hearing this, Nan Xian's joyful mood instantly plummeted again.

Seeing this, the proprietress was a little puzzled, "What's wrong? Wasn't this the one you were looking for?"

She nodded and told her that the kitten she was looking for was entirely black.

"All black? I've never seen that before." The proprietress shook her head with some regret, offered a few words of comfort, and then went to attend to other customers.

This entire scene was witnessed by the people in a black sedan parked on the side of the road.

He Mingxiao withdrew his gaze, lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment, then gently curved his lips into a smile.

"Go to the nearest pet store."

**

Nan Xian was awakened by the sound of scratching at the door.

The variety show on TV was still playing. She groggily picked up her phone and glanced at the time; it was exactly 3:30 in the afternoon.

She got up and put on her slippers, but didn't see anyone in the peephole camera. Puzzled, she opened the door and looked around.

"Meow—"

She subconsciously looked down, then stared incredulously at the small figure crouching by the door, all sleepiness vanishing from her mind.

Those big, round eyes and those messy fur—isn't that her little black cat?

"Did you come back to find me?" she exclaimed in surprise.

The little black cat meowed softly, shook its head, and revealed the collar around its neck.

“This is…” She put on gloves, picked up the little black cat, and flipped over the brass tag hanging under its collar.

The plaque had a phone number and address engraved on it, and it turned out to be in the building next door!

"So you're a cat with an owner!" she said with a hint of relief, chuckling as she tapped its nose. "I thought you'd run away and become a stray. I was worried about you for days, you naughty cat!"

"Why haven't you learned to groom yourself yet? Doesn't your owner groom you?" Nan Xian took out the small comb and smoothed out its messy fur, half-jokingly.

The little black cat lay on its side at her feet, blinked at her words, and meowed sweetly.

After brushing its fur, it ran to scratch at the door. Knowing that it had an owner, Nanxian didn't keep it. She watched it walk into the unit door of the next building with ease before turning around and going home.

A huge weight was lifted from her heart, and she felt relieved. Her thin cheeks quickly regained their shape.

A few days passed, and after meeting with Director Zheng, the filming schedule for "Unveiling the Ghost Stories" officially began.