Chapter 75

【There are spare LED lights and batteries in the TV cabinet drawer. You can use it once you install them.】

After Bai Kou read the two messages from Bai Yuqiao, she typed this line and sent it back.

“Bai Kou, Bai Kou.” Lu Tongtong, who stood at the bedroom door holding a pile of clothes, suddenly waved at her. “Come help me.”

Bai Kou let out an “oh,” put down her phone, glanced at Pei Yue, who crouched by the coffee table helping Lu Tongtong write “Cat Rearing Precautions,” then stood up and walked toward Lu Tongtong.

As soon as she entered, Lu Tongtong grabbed her and whooshed her into the room, shut the door,

and casually tossed the clothes she had held in front as a disguise onto the foot of the bed. “How about it? How was my assist?”

Bai Kou frowned and looked Lu Tongtong up and down twice. “What assist?”

“Pretending.” Lu Tongtong pointed at the tip of Bai Kou’s nose and lowered her voice. “Don’t think I didn’t notice. You go on walks with Pei Yue every afternoon.”

Bai Kou swatted Lu Tongtong’s finger away, thought for a moment, then suddenly realized. “So you don’t actually have a cat at all? You borrowed one from someone else?”

“What kind of logic is that?” Lu Tongtong cupped Bai Kou’s face and rubbed it. “The cat is of course mine. Picking up the cat was real too, but I’d already figured out how to raise it long ago. Today was just for you.”

Bai Kou’s face obediently swayed left and right with the motion, helpless. “Pei Yue’s really working hard out there handwriting educational info for you.”

“At least it’s easier than writing essays back in the day.” Lu Tongtong pulled Bai Kou to the wardrobe. “Anyway, I feel like Pei Yue’s gaze on you is still a bit different. You have to make good use of this bridge I’m building for you two.”

Bai Kou said, “I’m really not looking to date right now—”

Knock knock knock.

“Shh!” Lu Tongtong hurriedly signaled Bai Kou to be quiet, turned her head, and called out, “It’s not locked! Come on in!”

Click—

Pei Yue opened the door from outside, holding a ringing phone. “Bai Kou, Sister Yuqiao is looking for you.”

“Huh? Is she calling me?”

Bai Kou paused, hurried over to Pei Yue, took the phone, and saw “Bai Yuqiao” on the screen.

Half an hour later, Bai Kou pulled into the parking lot, slammed the door with a bang, and rushed toward the elevator.

She dialed property management again. The other side replied warmly, “Don’t worry, Miss Bai. Our staff just checked your place. Only the outer glass of the light fixture is broken. Voltage lines and everything else are fine.”

“Okay, thanks!”

Bai Kou hung up and kept poking the close button.

When she got home, the living room was very dark. Only the spare LED light on the central coffee table that Bai Kou had mentioned earlier glowed.

She didn’t change shoes upon entering, quickly glanced at Bai Yuqiao, who rose from the sofa toward her, called out “Sis” in a heavy voice, then immediately fetched the power tool box and household ladder from the study.

From stepping onto the ladder to craning her neck bit by bit to inspect, Bai Kou didn’t say a single unnecessary word. Only after confirming all the wiring was truly fine did she look down at Bai Yuqiao.

“Trouble you to go turn the power back on.”

Then, borrowing light from the adjacent dining room, Bai Kou gripped the voltage tester and checked each wire one by one.

“Phew—” She finally relaxed, turned, and descended the ladder. “It’s fine. Luckily just a small issue. I’ll buy a light this weekend and install it.”

As she stepped down the second-to-last rung, a hand extended before her, palm up, as if to catch her.

Bai Kou hesitated, turned her head, and saw Bai Yuqiao standing quietly in the darkness.

After a thought—though unnecessary—Bai Kou still took that hand and said softly, “Thanks.”

Bai Yuqiao waited for Bai Kou to leave the ladder, folded it up, picked up the tool box with her other hand, and silently returned both items to the study first.

Only then did Bai Kou have time to reply to Lu Tongtong on WeChat: 【All good, all good. Was checking just now, didn’t get to reply.】

Lu Tongtong: 【Oh oh, you didn’t reply for so long. Your ceiling must be pitch black now, right?】

Pitch black?

Bai Kou froze, lifted her chin, her gaze complicated.

There were no scorch marks at all on the wall around the light wires. No wonder she had felt something off earlier.

Bai Yuqiao’s footsteps sounded as she emerged, pulling Bai Kou from her thoughts.

She turned to look, pursed her lips, and figured it couldn’t possibly be Bai Yuqiao lying on purpose.

Probably just the urgent situation; she hadn’t described it clearly in WeChat?

“Bai Yuqiao.” Ignoring that unconscious “Sis” from earlier, Bai Kou called her name with a calm smile and pointed at the ceiling. “It shouldn’t have exploded, right?”

After she spoke—and since the light was dim—Bai Kou actually couldn’t see Bai Yuqiao’s expression clearly. She only saw the person about to approach her stop in place, pause quietly for two seconds, then look up where she pointed.

In the shadows, Bai Yuqiao’s brow twitched lightly. She lowered her eyes, a hint of annoyance in them, but soon adjusted herself and continued toward Bai Kou.

【I don’t know either.】 Bai Yuqiao said lightly. 【I was in the kitchen.】

Oh. Sure enough. Bai Kou nodded inwardly.

“Right.” She asked, “Where’s the broken glass?”

Bai Yuqiao led Bai Kou to the kitchen, turned on the light. On the floor sat a paper box the size of a microwave, wrapped in layers of tape. On top, a paper read in black marker: 【Danger! Broken Glass! Careful, it might cut you!】

Bai Kou looked at the paper and inexplicably scratched her ear, apologetic for thinking a second ago that Bai Yuqiao wouldn’t handle it.

After showering and tidying up very late, Bai Kou yawned and was about to turn off the light when she heard a knock at the door.

Bai Yuqiao: 【What time this weekend?】

“What time what?” Bai Kou didn’t understand.

Bai Yuqiao looked down, touched her nose, then raised her gaze again. She overlapped her hands in front of her: 【Buy.】 She made her fingers sparkle “bling bling” with one hand. 【Light.】

Bai Kou couldn’t help laughing at the sparkling gesture. “Ha… ah, buying the light? No worries, I’ll drive and get it sometime.”

Bai Kou meant she planned to go alone. So Bai Yuqiao’s spread fingers slowly closed, her arm drooping like a wilting flower stem.

She nodded: 【Okay, good night.】 She turned to leave.

Bai Kou watched Bai Yuqiao’s somewhat dejected back, and her heartstrings tugged. “Um—”

Bai Yuqiao turned her head, probably looking at her.

Bai Kou didn’t know why she felt nervous. She touched the door handle, paused two seconds, then said the rest: “…Actually, I’m not great at picking them out.

“Are you free this weekend to go together?”

…

Over the next two days, the factory that Bai Kou had connected with Jingshan Zoo for the first production samples truly began.

She went with the relevant person from the scenic area to the suburbs of Xinrong City. On the road, Lu Tongtong messaged her: 【Look, One-Eyebrow Hero is beating up its roommate again!】

One-Eyebrow Hero was the most combative red panda at Jingshan Zoo—other red pandas had two white streaks above their eyes, but One-Eyebrow had only one. Oh, of course it wasn’t called One-Eyebrow; that was the affectionate nickname Bai Kou and Lu Tongtong gave it.

In the video, One-Eyebrow climbed up from a pile of bamboo shoots, bared its teeth, and pounced like a toppling Mount Tai onto another red panda that was scratching itself in front.

The two brown-black furballs instantly rolled into a ball. A third opportunistic red panda slipped over from the side and stole the bamboo shoot One-Eyebrow had been gnawing.

【Hahaha, our One-Eyebrow is too cute!】 Bai Kou had probably bonded with One-Eyebrow last time; she praised it every time she saw it.

Conveniently not driving today, Bai Kou exited WeChat, thought a bit, then pulled out her tablet from her bag. Using the earlier video, she drew a chibi version of One-Eyebrow with arms spread wide, captioned “I surrender hard!”

That wasn’t enough.

She opened her long-unused Weibo with only about ten fans, changed the name from “UIO” straight to “Did One-Eyebrow Win Today?”, uploaded the image, and saved it.

During the time Bai Kou locked her screen to sleep, loyal fans left comments:

【Cute! UIO, you resurrected!】

【Is this a red panda?】

【Yousi’ou-sensei draws so adorably=3=】

…

Yang Wanxi opened her phone and refreshed Weibo. Among her actor friends appeared a comic of a red panda.

She frowned. “Did One-Eyebrow Win Today?” She thought, Who’s this? and tapped in.

UIO?

Oh, it’s you.

Yang Wanxi liked and saved the image, switched to WeChat to ask Bai Kou: 【Did you draw this for Jingshan Zoo?】

Bai Kou replied quickly: 【No, just drew for fun.】

【Oh.】 Yang Wanxi asked again, 【Who’s One-Eyebrow?】

Bai Kou forwarded the earlier video to Yang Wanxi: 【This is One-Eyebrow.】

Yang Wanxi leaned against the car window, clicked play, and laughed within seconds. She immediately got who One-Eyebrow was.

She screenshotted the moment the red panda stood up and sent it to Bai Kou: 【Who came up with such a spot-on nickname?】

Bai Kou sent a voice message.

Wind noise, a “bang” of a door closing, and a very cheerful—

“Me.”

The first sample run had major issues.

Minutes ago, Bai Kou had still smiled while replying to Yang Wanxi. Now she stood stone-faced before a group of elders who looked a decade older, pinching a blue badge, frowning, turning it left and right repeatedly.

Two people in the crowd exchanged uneasy glances and made eye signals.

“Sorry.” Bai Kou raised her gaze. “I can’t accept this sample. The color difference is too big. In this state, I can’t pass the first review, so we need to discuss adjustments immediately.”

“No, wait a sec—” The person who came with Bai Kou smiled at the group first. “Uh, Bai Kou, let’s talk alone?”

Bai Kou glanced at them. From the tone, she instantly knew why the sample quality had plummeted.

The two stepped out of the workshop to an open area. The other chuckled. “Little Kou, we can’t be so rigid about some things. Can’t we pass this round first and adjust in the bulk production later?”

After a pause, Bai Kou smiled. “Of course—”

They relaxed. “Right? See, you’re still—”

“No.”

Bai Kou crossed her arms, voice steady and unhurried. “Manager Zheng, you know my job is to review this first sample. If I pass it and issues arise later, how do I explain?”

“Oh… yes, yes.” They nodded busily. “But look, we came all this way to push the schedule forward. I’m not happy with the factory skimping either, but—”

“So you’re not satisfied either!” Bai Kou laughed, interrupting. “Great! Manager Zheng, I was worried I couldn’t speak up to the factory about the plan later. With your support, I’m relieved!”

Manager Zheng’s temple twitched. “What? My support? Hey, Little Kou, that’s not—”

“Like this: You speak later, I’ll fill in. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to cover every issue thoroughly this time.”

With that, Bai Kou smiled cheerfully, then turned, schooled her expression to blank, and walked back to the workshop.

Manager Zheng ate this loss and felt annoyed with Bai Kou by evening. Before she boarded the car, they pressed the door down from her hand.

“It’s like this.” Manager Zheng smiled. “I happen to have friends nearby. Tomorrow’s not the weekend anymore anyway. No need to go back. You take the trouble to get a ride yourself. Xinrong to Heyan isn’t far anyway.”

“Sure.” Bai Kou smiled indifferently. “Thanks for your hard work today. See you next week.”

A recent rain had left the factory road potholed and pooled with water. Bai Kou kept her head down, flipping her phone while sticking to the edge.

Vroom!

A dark red car deliberately hugged the wide road’s right side, sped past the pedestrian, and splashed mud everywhere.

“…”

Bai Kou’s typing paused. Calmly, she looked down—from her thigh on the pants leg to the side of her shoe, all splattered with mud spots.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Just then, Lu Tongtong replied: 【Can take a voice call!】

Bai Kou called immediately, her mature image crumbling. “Tongtong, I’m so done today! Your Manager Zheng has bubbles in their brain! Now they’re saying they’re eating with friends and leaving me in this wilderness alone! No rides for ten minutes! I really should’ve slapped them—”

Hm?

Bai Kou brought the phone to her face: 【Hello? Why’d you hang up?】

Thump Thump Thump Baby: 【Bad signal.】

Thump Thump Thump Baby: 【Send your location. Wait somewhere safe.】

Thump Thump Thump Baby: 【I’m coming to pick you up now.】

Bai Kou blinked, then burst out laughing. She felt a warmth in her heart and thought, ‘Lu Tongtong, what are you up to, suddenly talking so cool like that?’

She tapped to share her location and sent it over, then turned around to head back. She pressed the voice message button and said, “Then I’ll head back to the office at Factory 2 and wait. Give me a call when you get here. The entry procedures here are such a hassle, so I’ll just come out to meet you then.”

Whoosh— The voice message sent off. After a moment’s thought, Bai Kou pressed the button again. “Woo, having you around is so great. Today’s turned happy again. When you get here, I’ll treat you to a big meal, muah muah muah!”