Chapter 117: Shocking! There is not even a cat in such a huge university.
The two of them sat quietly on the bench for a long time. When the clamor around them finally died down, Chang Xile turned to look at Anping, suddenly raised an eyebrow, and asked him, "What are you thinking about?"
Anping: "Hmm?"
Chang Xile raised her hand and pinched his left cheek: "Are you hiding something from me?"
Seeing Anping's pupils dizzy, Chang Xile couldn't help but laugh: "Has anyone ever told you that you're really not good at lying?"
Anping touched his face and shook his head. When he was a cat, there was no need to lie; he always had a blank expression. As a human, he mostly observed others and rarely considered his own appearance. When it came to managing micro-expressions, Anping still had a long way to go.
Anping smiled slightly, and turned back into a white cat the next second.
"Hey." Chang Xile looked down into his eyes and rubbed Anping's head fiercely. "It's shameful to run away!"
"But it worked." The white cat meowed a few times before lying down and burying its face in its arms, preventing Chang Xile from seeing its expression. He muttered a few times, "I'll tell you tomorrow."
He has his persistence.
The kitten clenched its paw silently.
When Chang Xile returned to the dormitory, his roommates were sitting together watching an online replay of a certain station's New Year's Eve party.
Fang Xinai heard the door open and turned around to greet him, "Why are you back so late? Hurry up, we ordered some barbecue, and if you don't eat it now, it will get cold!"
Yang Guisi sat to the left to make room for Chang Xile.
"You guys haven't slept yet so late?" Chang Xile said this, but she picked up the roasted pork belly in front of her that was still steaming with oil and took a bite. She squinted her eyes happily.
"Tomorrow's a day off anyway." Ren Qing cupped her cheeks and took a sip of milk tea. She was quite sensitive to tea drinks, and one cup would keep her awake all night. This meant she was planning to stay up late with them.
"You're right!" Chang Xile opened a bottle of Coke and raised his glass to toast the three of them.
The four of them laughed and joked for a long time. By the time the barbecue on the table was almost finished, they were all a little tired. Fang Xinai took out her phone and played with it for a while. She didn't know what she saw, but her eyes suddenly widened.
"Is the mountain behind our school going to be developed?"
"Changle Mountain? How do you say it?" Ren Qing asked.
"Eh... the tourism industry, right? The details weren't mentioned in the news." Fang Xinai's index finger slid across the screen, reading out the bold text. "The bidding has concluded... The Chen Group pulled off a surprise victory... and won the bid."
"Eh?! Whose company does this Chen Group belong to..." The name Fang Xinai wanted to say was stuck in his throat and he couldn't remember it at all.
"Chen Moxin." Chang Xile replied calmly. She took Fang Xinai's phone and browsed it for a while, and had a general understanding of the matter.
The development plan of Changle Mountain was announced a long time ago, and although the issue of who would contract the project had remained unresolved, the Dai Group had always intended to take it over. Therefore, all parties tacitly agreed that the Dai family would be responsible for this project.
In the mountainous city, if there's a project the Dai Group wants, other companies, big and small, will be more or less courteous. This isn't because the Chinese people inherently value humility, but simply because—when you can't win anyway, why not just give them a bit of face?
But now, the flower has fallen into the Chen family.
What happened in the meantime? Chang Xile discovered that during the time she relaxed her vigilance, something seemed to be quietly changing.
"Hey... I saw in the flyers distributed by Senior Sister Zhong Timeng that the Chen family's development approach is quite rough and they don't care about the ecological balance at all. Yanshan was already in a mess because of them before, so how could they hand it over to their family this time?" Fang Xinai was puzzled.
Chang Xile didn't answer her. She looked down at the chat interface of her last conversation with Daisy Gang. His tone seemed calm and natural, without any trace of the shadow of failed bidding.
She couldn't help but wonder - on the day of the auction, Chen Moxin acted uncharacteristically and competed with Daisy Gang for the auction item. Was this related to the fact?
The next morning, when the other three people in the dormitory had just closed their eyes and were sleeping soundly after staying up late, Chang Xile had already got up and left quietly.
There were few pedestrians on the road. Chang Xile glanced at the faint light emitted by the "Ping'an" in his hand, and took the bottle to test the four directions of east, south, west and north. Finally, he went to the direction with the brightest light - the west side, towards the back mountain of the school.
Lin Huan Lake, the studio, the cat cafe, the bench in the woods...all the places Anping used to go to were nowhere to be seen. What was even stranger was that Chang Xile didn't see any passing cats along the way.
We can’t all stay up all night and then lie in bed!
Chang Xile looked across the river flowing eastward at Changle Mountain, which was across the river from Shancheng University. He looked at the "Ping An" in his hand with a complicated expression. The faint light all gathered at the mouth of the bottle, pointing to the other side of the river.
Anping went to Changle Mountain.
Chang Xile didn't really mind Anping acting alone, but she was still thinking about what he didn't say last night.
"It's hard to doubt whether he is deliberately avoiding me..." Chang Xile put the "Ping An" into his bag and decided to do other things first.
On the first day of the new year, Chang Xile not only didn't see anyone, he didn't even encounter a cat.
"This is weird..." It's impossible that she'd wake up to find the world ending and everyone except her transported to an infinite stream world? Chang Xile dismissed the plot of Fang Xinai's recent novel, which had been playing on repeat in her mind. She didn't believe in superstition and headed straight for the cafeteria.
It’s still half an hour before breakfast time, but the aunties and uncles in the cafeteria are always ready early.
Chang Xile walked to the cafeteria and could see the warm lights on the first floor from a distance. The cafeteria staff were busy preparing to open. Chang Xile was the first student to arrive that day. She bought a steamed bun and received an egg as a gift from the cafeteria staff. She ate and strolled around the cafeteria.
The tabby cat that often begged for food in the cafeteria was also absent for the first time. But since there weren't many students eating there right now, even if the cat came, it wouldn't be able to ask the bipeds for food, right? Chang Xile scratched his head, thought of a plausible excuse, and turned to walk out again.
Until the streets were bustling with people, Chang Xile had not encountered a single cat at Shancheng University.
This is Yamashiro University.
She suddenly had a bad feeling in her heart - the last time the number of kittens in Shancheng University dropped sharply, it was because of the pervert Chen Moxin.
"Hello."
When Chang Xile was about to leave the school, he heard a familiar voice behind him.
She turned around and raised her eyebrows in surprise: "Weasel?"
"You've been wandering around here all morning, what are you looking for?" He crossed his arms and spat out the foxtail grass in his mouth.
Chang Xile didn't answer him immediately. She tilted her head to look at him, then raised her hand to take off Wessel's hood.
Wessel blinked, his lips curved into a smile, and asked her, "What are you looking at?"
"...your ears." Chang Xile paused mid-sentence and described them uncertainly, "They look like human ears."
Previously, Wessel's ears were pointed, making them unusual, so he always hid them under his hood. Now, his progress towards becoming a human seemed to have taken another big step forward.
Wessel admired Chang Xile's surprised expression and chuckled smugly. He bent down slightly, tilted his head and asked, "Do you want to touch it?"
"...No, thank you." Chang Xile refused and asked him, "Since you can already do it like an ordinary person, why do you still want to cover it up?"
With a look of regret on his face, Wessel stood up straight. He walked past Chang Xile and said, "It's hard to explain in a few words. Why don't you have breakfast with me?"
In the breakfast shop, Chang Xile looked at the pile of snacks in front of Wessel - fried chicken legs, fried chicken wings, and fried chicken nuggets for takeout. When the waiter brought the braised chicken with rice, there was almost no room to put the plate.
"You really like eating chicken," Chang Xile commented. Then, thinking of something, she leaned closer to Wessel and whispered, "But if you want to truly cultivate into a human being, don't you have to try to be more like an ordinary person when it comes to eating?"
"That's pretty close." Weatherall took a bite of the chicken leg and narrowed his eyes in satisfaction. "I've done some research, and the college students in this area really like eating chicken." His level is nothing.
Chang Xile recalled for a moment and then fell silent.
"So what were you looking for this morning?" Weatherall asked.
While Chang Xile was searching, he kept his eyes low, paying special attention to places like bushes and under trees. Wessel touched his chin and guessed, "Lost something? Jewelry, money? I can help you find it."
"No." Chang Xile shook her head. She didn't intend to explain the reason for looking for the cat to Wessel too clearly. She held her face up and asked him, "Have you been observing me all morning?"
"Yeah, I've been waiting for you to ring the bell for the last time." Wessel's expression froze for a moment, but he quickly started joking. Compared to staring at a girl for no reason, this kind of self-interested purpose was more in line with his image.
Chang Xile suddenly realized, "Would it cause you much trouble if I kept the bell unused?"
She frantically searched her bag for the bell: "Actually, it could be used, but I just haven't had the chance yet."
She remembered that Wessel had said before that the bell was made from one of his finger bones. If she didn't return it to him, it would probably cause great trouble to Wessel's life, right?
In that case, why not just ask Wessel to help find the cat? Chang Xile's eyes lit up, and she found the bell. She picked it up and was about to speak when Wessel pinched her hand with one hand.
He lowered his head and asked through gritted teeth, "Three chances, are you going to use them all for something so insignificant?"
Chang Xile was a little confused by his inconsistent attitude. Didn't he say he wanted to use it up sooner?
"You can ask me directly for help with this request." Wessel quickly calmed down and said with a smile, "After all, you are my benefactor."
"Okay, let go first." Chang Xile chose to respect.
"Xi Le? What a coincidence." A head popped in from the door of the breakfast shop.
"Senior Sister Zhong Timeng?" Chang Xile blinked, and when she was distracted, Wessel also retracted his hand.
Familiar scene, familiar people, the familiar Zhong Timeng walked in with a stack of flyers. She handed the flyers to Chang Xile and Wessel and asked, "Have you heard the news?"
Chang Xile looked down at the flyer and nodded, "I know."
The Chen family contracted the development of Changle Mountain.
"My personal power is limited, but I still want to do something." Zhong Timeng sighed, "According to the Chen family's past style, the animals and plants on Changle Mountain will suffer."
Chang Xile pursed her lips and looked at the flyer for a while, and only came to her senses after Weatherill waved in front of her.
"Your senior has already left." Weatherall held up his face and shoved the flyer aside. "This is my sincere advice. I urge you not to meddle in this matter."
"Why?" Chang Xile asked back. She hadn't actually thought about how to change the current situation, but when she heard Weisel say that, she subconsciously didn't want to listen.
"Ah, there's a kid in their family who has a very powerful spirit working for him," said Weatherall.
"Is he more powerful than you?" Chang Xile probably knew that he was talking about a flatterer.
"How is that possible?" Wessel retorted with a cold snort, but soon he regretted his hasty words.
"How do you know about the existence of the fox?" Chang Xile suddenly reacted, and at the same time, Weatherill also put on his hood.
"You have things you don't want to say, and so do I. Why don't we respect each other?" Weatherall stood up with a smile and didn't mention helping Chang Xile find things.
"But..." Before leaving, he winked at Chang Xile and said, "If you insist on going against them, remember to tell me."
"You going to help?"
"I'm planning to go to the theater."
It was not until Wessel left that Chang Xile remembered it, but she had not yet asked him why he still insisted on wearing a hood.
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