Tong Yuwu carried the Little White Cat to visit the sick guest in the castle. In the corridor, the Little White Cat grew restless, pacing in circles one moment and nibbling at Tong Yuwu’s sleeve cuff the next. Tong Yuwu raised her hand to rescue her clothing and leaned down to examine the kitten’s tender teeth. Meng Yiran dodged the fingers reaching toward her mouth and flicked out her tongue to lightly lick the tip of one.
“Don’t want to go?” Tong Yuwu guessed at the Little White Cat’s thoughts.
The Little White Cat nodded in a very human-like manner and opened her mouth to let out a soft “mew mew.”
Tong Yuwu chuckled lightly and tapped the kitten’s nose with her fingertip. “That’s not polite.”
Meng Yiran huffed in frustration and flopped limply onto Tong Yuwu’s lap, looking utterly despondent.
Despite her extreme reluctance, they still arrived at the guest room on schedule.
It was broad daylight outside, yet the room was shrouded in deep gloom. The curtains on the east window were drawn tight, blocking out even the faintest breeze or ray of sunlight. On the ornate grand bed sat two figures—one lying down, one seated—the very Tong father and son that Meng Yiran least wanted to see. When Tong Rencheng spotted their arrival, he snorted rudely from his nostrils, too lazy even to rise and greet them.
Tong Yuwu held the Little White Cat and gazed at the little boy lying on the bed with his eyes tightly shut. “Is the child alright?”
Tong Rencheng held back his anger and ignored Tong Yuwu’s question, launching straight into a barrage of accusations. “The child was injured yesterday, and only now does his so-called sister bother to visit?
“Poor thing—my sister who died so young. If she were still alive, who knows how heartbroken she’d be!”
When he spat out the word “sister,” Meng Yiran felt Tong Yuwu freeze for an instant. She turned her head and gently licked the pad of Tong Yuwu’s finger.
Tong Yuwu came back to herself and pinched the kitten’s ear in response. “If Mother were alive, none of this would have happened.”
“You know that too?!” Tong Rencheng gnashed his teeth. “There are no signs of outsiders breaking into the castle. Whoever hurt my son must be someone from inside. Last night, I told you to round up everyone who was in the garden yesterday afternoon and interrogate them under torture. Why did you refuse?”
Tong Yuwu’s purple eyes gleamed with a cold, eerie light in the darkness, her expression somewhere between a smile and a sneer. “I was in the garden yesterday afternoon too.”
Tong Rencheng faltered for a moment. “Of course that doesn’t include you. I know you wouldn’t hurt your little brother.”
He jabbed a finger at Jenny standing behind the wheelchair. “I’m talking about these lowly slaves. They’re like rats in the gutters, jealous of heaven-blessed nobleborn prodigies. They’d do anything!”
He had forgotten to keep his voice down, and the little boy sleeping on the bed stirred. Tong Rencheng noticed and hurriedly bent down to check on him. “Good boy, did we wake you?”
The boy opened his eyes and glanced around in a daze. When his gaze landed on Tong Yuwu, his whole body went rigid. Then, as if he’d seen something terrifying, he curled up tight, kicking his legs frantically as he scrambled toward the far side of the bed, mumbling incoherent pleas like “spare me” through his lips.
Tong Rencheng reached out helplessly with both hands. “What’s wrong with him?”
Meng Yiran craned her neck to peer at the boy as well, but soon a faint yet unmistakable whiff of urine assaulted her nostrils. Caught off guard, the Little White Cat sneezed and buried her head in Tong Yuwu’s embrace. Even that wasn’t enough; she lifted her front paws to hug her own little head.
Tong Yuwu called out, “Jenny.” Jenny understood at once and pushed her wheelchair out of the room. The doctor was quickly summoned and entered the bedroom to treat the boy. The maids came to change the bedding, carting away the sheets soaked with the boy’s accident for washing. Tong Rencheng found everything about them irritating and trailed after them, muttering curses and berating them for their slowness and carelessness.
Seeing this, Jenny’s face hardened as she scolded them indirectly. “Hurry it up, will you? Mr. Tong is already being generous by not treating you lot as suspects. And now you’re half-assing the work? You expect Mr. Tong to clean up the Little Young Master’s messes himself?”
Tong Rencheng’s face flushed crimson. He swallowed a bellyful of rage, about to snap back, when the boy’s wailing screams from inside the room called him away.
Meng Yiran nearly burst out laughing. Taking advantage of being a cat, she swung her tail wildly back and forth in the air. They’d fulfilled the courtesies of a visit, so she turned and tugged at Tong Yuwu’s sleeve cuff again, bodily urging her to leave.
To put it bluntly, Tong Yuwu was the sort of pure, beauty-obsessed female side character from a stallion novel who lacked any sense of basic right and wrong. Having grown up in the castle, she’d been swayed by the boy’s words into doing something so outrageous just yesterday. As the saying went, one became like those they kept company with. Meng Yiran wanted nothing to do with letting her Doll Lady anywhere near that family now—she was terrified Tong Yuwu might catch some perverse mental affliction from them.
Fortunately, this time Tong Yuwu didn’t refuse and instructed Jenny to see them out.
Two days later, with the boy’s condition showing no improvement, Tong Rencheng took his son and left the castle to seek medical help elsewhere.
Meng Yiran let out a sigh of relief, thinking the plot had finally been altered and that Tong Yuwu could escape her scheming relatives at last. But it wasn’t long before Tong Rencheng returned to the castle. This time, he wasn’t alone—he’d brought several accomplices with him, boasting that they would help organize the grandest Coming-of-Age Banquet for Tong Yuwu.
Meng Yiran’s mind immediately flashed to the desperado assassins Tong Rencheng had sent after Tong Yuwu in the novel. She meowed frantically in warning, desperate for Tong Yuwu to chase them all away, but as a mere pet cat, she couldn’t convey her meaning clearly. All she could do was watch helplessly as Tong Rencheng, citing the need to safeguard the castle, settled in with his men.
After Tong Rencheng left, she vented her frustration by nipping at Tong Yuwu’s finger—but she couldn’t bring herself to bite hard. She didn’t even leave a mark, just slobbered all over Tong Yuwu’s hand.
Tong Yuwu deliberately raised her hand to stroke her, smearing the saliva back into the little white cat’s thick, silky fur.
Meng Yiran leaped from her lap onto the large desk in front of them. With no fingers left to bite, she opened her mouth and let loose a string of “Meow! Meow!” curses.
Tong Yuwu scooped her back onto her lap and squeezed her paw pads, her expression stern. “Don’t be such a spoiled brat. I won’t indulge you forever.”
Before Meng Yiran could react, Tong Yuwu leaned over to grab a dried fish snack from nearby and held it to the little white cat’s mouth. “My hand’s dirty now. Bite this instead.”
Meng Yiran’s eyes stung with the threat of tears.
Ignoring the fish snack, she pressed close to Tong Yuwu instead, nuzzling affectionately against her neck.
Tong Yuwu sighed helplessly and stroked her, ever so gently repeating, “I told you, don’t be such a spoiled brat…”
But her touch was tender, with no hint of pushing Meng Yiran away.
~~~
Outside the castle, in an inconspicuous corner.
Tong Rencheng removed the hat that shadowed most of his face and pulled a hefty little pouch from his bosom. “The deposit.”
The mysterious man took it and weighed it in his hand. “That’s it?” He glanced at the opulent castle. “My dear employer, we’re not running a charity here.”
“As long as you get the job done, the final payment won’t disappoint you.” Tong Rencheng’s face darkened. “On the day of the Coming-of-Age Banquet, I’ll draw off the guards so you can slip up to the third floor undetected. Once her body’s found and the party’s in chaos, you can make your escape in the confusion.”
“It’s not as tricky as you think.”
The mysterious man weighed the pouch again, reluctantly tucking it away. “You wouldn’t dare try to cheat us.”
He twisted his facial muscles into a sinister grin. “If the final payment falls short… well, esteemed lord, you wouldn’t want the sheriff digging into your dirty little secrets, would you?”
Tong Rencheng snorted coldly and pulled his hat low over his eyes again. “Don’t worry. I value my reputation far more than you desperados do.”
They skipped even a farewell, exchanging a glance before parting ways in perfect sync, heading off in opposite directions.
A sudden gust of wind swept past Tong Rencheng’s low-brimmed hat, racing all the way to the study on the castle’s third floor. The deep purple curtains billowed in the breeze, swaying to conceal a tiny gap above the window frame.
