Chapter 17 Feeding the Cat "Good boy/girl."
The meeting started and lasted until nearly noon.
The people in charge filed out, not wanting to stay there for even a minute longer.
Zhang Minglang, on the other hand, sat as still as a mountain in his chair. He crossed his arms and meditated.
Last weekend, while reviewing the information compiled by Assistant Zhou, Zhang Minglang happened to glimpse an inconspicuous post on a sparsely populated anonymous forum.
The poster used obscure language, but between the lines, both within and outside the drama, they implied that there was a high-ranking executive within Junmao Group who "wielded real power but was hypocritical" and was accustomed to using his position to "take care" of his young and good-looking subordinates.
The post contained a mix of truth and fiction, and did not name names, yet it cast a huge wave of doubt in Zhang Minglang's mind.
Almost instantly, Zhao Linrui's face, which always wore a gentle smile but revealed subtle emotions at certain moments, and Liu Zhang's words suddenly appeared before his eyes.
Once suspicion arises, the charge is already established.
Zhang Minglang quickly instructed his assistant Zhou to begin collecting reviews of Zhao Linrui and Junmao Group from various online forums.
Surprisingly, there is very little information about Zhao Linrui. The few scattered pieces are all identical, describing him as a "gentleman" and "mentor of younger generations," as neat as a uniformly written press release.
This only deepened Zhang Minglang's doubts.
It's impossible for a person to have a universally positive reputation, and it's impossible for everyone to like them.
Unless, he secretly controlled public opinion.
Because of that anonymous discovery, the vague doubts about Zhao Linrui in Zhang Minglang's mind, along with a series of strange reactions from those around him, suddenly connected and formed a concrete outline.
Therefore, when Zhao Linrui once again put on that impeccable yet utterly insincere smile and began to speak eloquently at the meeting, Zhang Minglang felt a sudden, chilling annoyance.
Almost everyone in the conference room had left, leaving only him and Tang Yi.
Tang Yi then got up from the chair next to him and walked over to his side.
"President Zhang, regarding Vice President Zhao's situation, next time if you have any differing opinions, could you perhaps raise them in a... slightly gentler way?"
Tang Yi racked her brains to make her tone and wording less didactic, but Zhang Minglang was still angered by her words.
He snapped out of his reverie, gave a cold laugh, turned to stare at her, and said in a harsh tone, "No."
here we go again.
Tang Yi sighed silently in her heart.
She pulled out a chair and prepared to sit down, looking ready to have a serious argument with him.
To everyone's surprise, Zhang Minglang had no intention of listening anymore and reacted extremely quickly.
The moment she touched the back of the chair, he sprang to his feet as if springs had sprung from his legs, and walked quickly toward the conference room door without looking to the side.
Tang Yi: "......"
She had a lot to say but couldn't get it out of her mouth. She could only accept her bad luck, tidy up the documents and pen he had left on the desk, and get up to leave.
Despite the sulking, work still needs to continue.
She received a message on her phone, opened it to check, and found that a project in City D had run into some problems.
After a quick assessment, she hurriedly stepped out of the elevator and pushed open the door to the president's office.
"Mr. Zhang, there's been a sudden problem with the project in City D. You might need to go there in person, which should take about three days."
Zhang Minglang raised his head, then deliberately lowered his eyelashes and looked at the document in his hand again. He was clearly still angry, as if the words on the paper were more important than the urgent matter at hand and her.
He casually tossed a page between his fingers, his tone nonchalant, almost defiant: "Fine. You don't need to come with me, just book your ticket."
"OK."
Unexpectedly, Tang Yi didn't ask why at all, but gave a decisive answer and turned to leave.
A few minutes later, Zhang Minglang received a notification on his phone that the ticket had been successfully booked; there was indeed only one ticket available.
He stared at the messages on his phone, a feeling of even more stifling unease rising within him.
If you tell her not to follow you, she really won't ask?
A thought suddenly flashed into his mind. His eyes flickered slightly, and a faint smile involuntarily appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Mr. Zhang, is there any other question?"
Tang Yi received a WeChat message from Zhang Minglang, knocked on the door, and came in.
"Please feed my cat while I'm away on a business trip."
Zhang Minglang paused deliberately for a few seconds, leaned back, and looked at her slightly surprised expression with a provocative air.
“Mr. Zhang, isn’t this beyond my scope of responsibility?” Tang Yi clearly defined the boundaries while observing the other party’s expression. “Besides, I’ve never owned a cat before, so I’m afraid I’m not qualified for this task.”
However, Zhang Minglang raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, but did not respond to her reasoning. He simply crossed his arms and stared at her leisurely without saying a word.
The two locked eyes, silently battling it out for eight hundred rounds, until Tang Yi finally succumbed.
"......OK."
"Also, remember to play with it for at least half an hour every day. It has a bad temper and won't eat unless you coax it."
Is this never going to end?
Tang Yi silently complained in her heart, but on the surface she appeared to be submissive.
"Okay." She nodded again.
"Alright, you can go now. I'll send you the pet store's location on WeChat later."
Zhang Minglang felt a surge of satisfaction. He leaned down to meet her gaze and said provocatively, "Thank you for your hard work."
The flight was booked for 3 PM. Tang Yi had arranged a driver in advance, prepared the medicine box meticulously, and saw the big shot off at the company gate.
Zhang Minglang sat in the back seat of the car heading to the airport, idly scrolling through his phone.
The exhilarating feeling of "winning against her" was gradually dissipating as the vehicle moved smoothly, leaving behind an inexplicable emptiness.
Just then, the phone screen lit up.
It was a WeChat message from Tang Yi. Opening it, I saw several well-organized messages:
[Tang Yi: The medicine box has been placed in the outer compartment of your briefcase. It contains ibuprofen, stomach medicine, headache medicine, and a band-aid.]
[Tang Yi: A screenshot of the three-day weather forecast for City D has been attached.]
[Tang Yi: The documents required for the meeting are categorized by project and placed in separate black folders. You can check them again after you arrive.]
Zhang Minglang's lips unconsciously curved into a smile. He glanced at the screen, tapped a few times, and sent her the location of the pet store.
[Chapter: A cat's head looks like this.]
Tang Yi saw this message and clicked on his profile picture.
A cat that is entirely black, with fur as smooth as if it had been coated with oil, and bright blue eyes.
[Tang Yi: What's its name?]
[Chapter: Xiaobai.]
Tang Yi found it so absurd she wanted to laugh, and she didn't hesitate to type out her praise.
[Tang Yi: You have a great eye for naming things.]
[Zhang: Of course.]
The other end replied instantly, and you could feel his confidence in his talent for naming things even through the screen.
After getting off work, Tang Yi drove to the entrance of the pet store.
I pushed open the door and went inside; a tinkling sound came from the door.
Tang Yi has never owned a pet before, let alone been to a pet store.
Suddenly surrounded by the sounds of many cats and dogs, she felt incredibly curious, but also a little itchy in her nose.
The female employee who was bathing her pet saw her come in, freed her hand, and asked with a smile.
"Hello, are you here to pick up your child?"
"baby?"
Tang Yi didn't react for a moment.
"What's your pet's name?" the employee asked in a different way.
"Ah, its name is Xiaobai, and it's a black cat."
"Huh?" the female employee asked, puzzled. "If I remember correctly, Xiaobai is Mr. Zhang's cat, and Mr. Zhou usually picks him up. You are...?"
Tang Yi guessed that she was referring to Assistant Zhou.
Just as she was about to explain, the employee suddenly seemed to realize something: "I understand! I'll go get Xiaobai now."
After saying that, she looked like she'd been hooked, and turned away with a smile.
Tang Yi stared blankly as she quickly accepted the fact, then turned and left just as quickly, leaving her no time or opportunity to think.
"Hey, Xiaobai."
The female employee handed her the cat and its carrier, smiling and saying, "Just go to the front desk and sign something."
Tang Yi nodded, glanced cautiously at the kitten in the cat carrier, and moved stiffly toward the front desk, not daring to move an inch.
The shop assistant, noticing she didn't seem to have owned cats before, sensed something was amiss and followed her, asking, "Are you Mr. Zhang's girlfriend? You seem to be..."
"I'm not." Tang Yi was shocked by this, her eyes widened, and she quickly denied it.
"Oh? Excuse me! So you're Mr. Zhang's..."
"Hey, Secretary Tang! You used to have a cat? I've never heard you mention it before!"
Just as Tang Yi was about to reply, a familiar voice rang out.
She turned her head, and Tang Jiaxin jogged over, her face full of surprise.
"This cat looks familiar. What breed do you have? Wow, it's so cute!"
She squatted down and reached out her finger through a small transparent part of the bag to tease it.
Tang Yifei quickly considered the matter in her mind for a while.
Helping your boss raise and feed their cat sounds a bit odd.
To avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, she decided to simply admit it.
"Yes, it's my pet... a pure black Devon. It looks familiar because... it has a generic face."
Seeing that Tang Jiaxin was already happily playing with the cat, Tang Yi secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, I had brushed up on my cat-raising knowledge on the way here, so at least I know the breeds of cats.
"Can I take him out? He's so cute!"
As Tang Jiaxin asked the question, she had already unzipped the cat carrier, so Tang Yi had no choice but to place it on the table.
"Ouch, it's so heavy!"
Tang Jiaxin laboriously reached out and picked up Xiaobai, placing it in her arms. Xiaobai, however, seemed very unwilling and kept trying to escape.
"Ms. Tang, your dog is all washed."
"Hey, here it comes."
She raised her head and responded, then pouted at Tang Yi across from her, saying defiantly, "Why does it keep running away? Here, you hold it, I'm going to get the dog."
"Why......"
Before Tang Yi could even refuse, six or seven pounds of weight had already pressed down on her legs.
She instinctively raised her hands, her whole body stiffening so much she dared not move.
Unexpectedly, Xiaobai suddenly stopped moving on her body, even curling up into a big black ball and lying comfortably on her lap.
Tang Yi mustered up her courage and reached out to stroke its fur. Instead of protesting, Xiao Bai squinted its eyes and seemed even more comfortable.
After taking out her phone and snapping a few photos, she took a minute to mentally prepare herself before reaching out and putting the cat into its carrier.
Tang Jiaxin had already picked up the dog and was walking out when she saw that Tang Yi hadn't left yet, so she went around to greet her.
Suddenly she saw something and pointed to Tang Yi's neck: "Hey, what happened to your neck?"
Tang Yi lowered her head in surprise.
"Wow, this is such a big red patch! Doesn't it itch?" She took out a small mirror from her bag and handed it to the other person.
"I don't feel anything, it should be fine."
Tang looked in the mirror and didn't take it to heart.
The two greeted each other, and then she picked up the cat, got into the car, and drove to the apartment.
As soon as the door opened, she squatted down and placed the cat carrier steadily on the ground, then unzipped it.
Little White walked out with graceful steps, tilting its head back as if observing its surroundings.
"You go ahead and play, I'll get you some food."
Tang Yi mustered her courage and patted Xiaobai's head. After confirming that it was not stressed, she took the cat carrier and found the cat tag according to Zhang Minglang's instructions.
"Come here, Little White." She awkwardly waved to it, and to her surprise, it seemed to know her name, turned around and sat down next to her lap.
Tang Yi fed it cat treats with one hand, and took out her phone from her pocket with the other to film Zhang Minglang.
Zhang Minglang, who had already landed in D City, was sitting in a car on his way to the hotel. His phone rang, and when he took it out, he saw it was a message from Secretary Tang.
He didn't even have time to think about his headache; he quickly unlocked his phone.
Tang Yi sent me several photos and a video.
The photo shows a large black blob lying on a beige satin dress, while the video shows a clean white hand holding a cat treat, with the cat quietly eating it.
At the end of the video, he vaguely heard something, but before he could hear it clearly, the progress bar reached the end.
As if possessed, he clicked to replay the video and slowly brought the phone's volume port to his ear.
This time he heard it.
He guiltily lowered his hand and put down his phone, the side of his ear that had been touching the phone feeling slightly hot.
Zhang Minglang glanced forward, trying to cover his tracks, but the driver was focused on driving and didn't notice the movements or noises from the back seat.
He leaned back abruptly, resting his head on the seat cushion, and reached out a hand to his forehead, feeling the temperature rising on his forehead due to some unknown emotion with the cold back of his hand.
All these reactions stemmed from Tang Yi's extremely subtle, almost praising Xiaobai for being obedient, muttered softly at the end of the video:
"Good girl."
A note from the author:
* “Once suspicion arises, the guilt is already established.” (From Gong Yuangan's *The Cicada Woman*)
Pre-order "Dating Someone Like Me"
Chili pepper x Loyal dog: Male secretly in love with female [droopy-eared rabbit head]
Feel free to add it to your favorites if you like!
The text is as follows:
[Chili blogger × Loyal cake artist]
Zou Jinyue orchestrated a grand "secret crush".
Li Shiqian, the dessert shop owner who became embroiled in controversy because of a video she posted to avoid being targeted.
She proposed a collaboration, and he nodded silently.
She designed the script, and he cooperated perfectly.
His restrained yet gentle gaze was so realistic that she almost believed it to be true.
Just when their cooperation was on the verge of collapse and Zou Jinyue began to consider withdrawing,
The silent man, however, grabbed her sleeve late at night, his eyes slightly red and his voice hoarse:
"Please don't break up the relationship... okay?"
"Even if it's just an act, as long as I can be of use to you, that's enough."
-
For a long time after they started dating, Zou Jinyue couldn't understand why he was always so cautious and insecure.
Until one day, she accidentally knocked the high school magazine off his bookshelf.
A yellowed cake design sketch drifted down.
That was the strawberry cake she didn't get to eat on her seventeenth birthday because it was sold out.
Beside the drawing was his youthful yet determined handwriting:
"She said she wanted to eat this, but it was sold out. She was unhappy."
The cake she carelessly tossed away represented the youth he never gave her.
Her self-perceived perfect script was actually a premeditated reunion that he had meticulously planned throughout his youth.
-
The first cake Li Shiqian ever made was for her.
She lost it.
Later, he made cakes for her for the rest of his life.
Reading Guide
1. SC, 1V1, HE
2. The male lead harbors a long-standing unrequited love, while the female lead is slow to realize it.
3. There's a reason why the female lead threw away the cake.
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