In an instant, a half-meter-tall Dobin charged into the room full of energy, opening its jaws to snap at Daju.
Frightened, Bai Yu and Daju scampered wildly around the room, finally curling up trembling at the head of Lin Du’s bed.
"Woof! Woof woof! Woof woof woof!"
Pulled back by Assistant Liu, Bai Yujiao was stunned.
Watching Bai Yu and that fat cat leap onto Lin Du's bed, she was so furious she pointed right at them. "You people... you're just going to let her run wild like this? Can Young Master Lin's condition take this kind of disruption?!"
Assistant Liu could no longer care that Bai Yu had saved Young Master Lin earlier; his face darkened as he stepped closer.
"Miss Bai Yu, please leave Young Master Lin's room."
"Woof! Woof woof woof!" The Dobin barked incessantly, yet it didn't dare jump onto Lin Du's bed, as if it were a forbidden zone.
Bai Yu wasn't stupid. "You... y-y-you pull this dog away, and I'll leave."
"Woof! Woof woof woof!"
Lin Du was jolted awake by the ceaseless barking at his ear, feeling only a heavy pressure on his head. When he opened his eyes, it was pitch black. Could it be nighttime already?
The man reached out to touch his forehead. This furry sensation...
At that moment, the orange cat sitting right on Lin Du's face was beside itself with joy: *The big boss is awake! The big boss is awake! Meow lick lick lick lick...*
As Daju's plump rump shifted away, the blinding light made Lin Du wonder what year and month it was.
"You're awake?" Bai Yu's concerned face magnified in the man's vision, the air fragrant with the scent of fresh fruit radiating from her.
Before Lin Du could push her away, a giant fat cat's face blocked his line of sight, letting out a grievance-laden "meow-meow."
By the bed, the Dobin was grinding its teeth in anger, barking frantically.
*Dobin:* "You fat cat actually used this trick to grab my dad's attention! Despicable! Absolutely despicable!"
Daju gave the infuriated Dobin by the bed a haughty sideways glance, deliberately swishing its tail rapidly right past the dog's snout, as if to say: *Hehe~ can't bite me~ you just can't bite me~*
Lin Du slowly sat up, the calm already returning to his dark eyes.
He merely cast a light glance at the barking Dobin by the bed, and the latter let out a whimpering, aggrieved sound, closed its mouth, and drooped its head as it slunk out the door.
Seeing that Young Master Lin had woken up, Assistant Liu's expression cleared up from cloudy to sunny as he adjusted his glasses. "Young Master Lin, is anything hurting? Dr. Bai is here, should I have her examine you?"
Lin Du frowned deeply and glanced at Assistant Liu.
Understanding immediately, Assistant Liu walked around to the doorway and said to Bai Yujiao, "Dr. Bai, Young Master Lin is already awake. A consultation isn't necessary now. I'm sorry to have troubled you to make this trip for nothing."
Bai Yujiao watched as that wild girl Bai Yu sat right on the bed, actually locking gazes with Young Master Lin. Fire flared in her heart. "And her? A wild girl sitting on Young Master Lin's bed, not to mention that bacteria-ridden fat cat! You take care of Young Master Lin like this, Madam Fang..."
Before she could finish, Assistant Liu stepped completely out the doorway so as not to disturb Young Master Lin.
"Dr. Bai, as you can see, Young Master Lin does not repel Miss Bai Yu. As you yourself said before, whenever Young Master Lin is willing to interact with people, the day he speaks is not far off."
Bai Yujiao was left speechless, feeling as though she had picked up a rock only to drop it on her own feet.
"Does Assistant Liu mean to say that this wild girl is going to stay here at the Lin Residence?"
"Yes."
"You dare let a vagrant of unknown origins stay here? If I remember correctly, Madam Fang hates it the most when people with ulterior motives get close to Young Master Lin, doesn't she?"
After all, as the wealthiest family in Jing City, countless people dreamed of climbing into Young Master Lin's bed just like Bai Yu.
Countless.
"How Madam views Miss Bai Yu is Madam's affair." Assistant Liu's subtext was that Bai Yujiao was sticking her nose where it didn't belong.
As a man who had served Old Master Lin, Assistant Liu delivered everything with a polite yet official smile that made it impossible for anyone to direct their anger at him.
Bai Yujiao clenched her fists at her sides, shot Bai Yu a glare through the half-closed door, and turned away in a huff.
Inside the room, Bai Yu shrank her neck slightly, not quite understanding why Lin Du was staring at her.
The sunlight outside streamed across the bed, tracing a golden rim around Daju, who was busy flipping over a seashell.
This was the girl's first time seeing Lin Du clearly at close range.
Beneath his superior brow ridge, his dark eyes, stripped of their gloomy menace, radiated strength.
His high-nosed bridge and facial contours carried a somewhat Eurasian feel.
"W-why are you looking at me like that?" Bai Yu's ears grew hot under his gaze.
Lin Du's jawline tightened, his dark eyes dropping downward.
Following his line of sight, the man's bandaged hand had been stained with blood where Bai Yu's knee had pressed against it.
"Ah! S-s-sorry... I didn't pay attention..."
Lin Du pulled back his hand, flipped open the quilt, scooped up the soft, squishy orange cat, and sat down on the sofa.
Seeing that he seemed about to pour tea, Bai Yu suddenly remembered that the tea in the pot had apparently been used to water the incense burner.
"The tea's gone, I'll go fetch some." The girl figured that since she was living in his house, showing a little diligence by pouring tea was the least she could do.
Before heading out, she glanced at the blood-stained bandage on the man's hand and quickened her pace.
When she appeared in the hallway again, she was holding a pot of hot tea in one hand and a medical kit in the other.
With a *bang*, she bumped the half-open door open with her shoulder, the noise drawing Lin Du from his spot by the window.
He covered the incense burner, which had been soaked by tea water, and as he caught sight of the fine sweat beads of heat on the girl's forehead, the chill in his gaze abated just a fraction.
"Here, have a cup of hot tea."
Knowing his hand was injured, Bai Yu poured a cup of hot tea and brought it right to his lips.
Whereupon, quite logically, she managed to scald a blister onto Lin Du's lip and drench Daju's head with tea.
Daju executed a fat-cat carp leap that failed entirely, bouncing far away.
The girl withdrew her hand, looking at Lin Du with eyes full of apology.
Daju sat there with water-flattened fur on its head, glaring resentfully at Bai Yu.
The phone in the girl's back pocket buzzed twice.
*Daju:* "Human, my head isn't made of dough! You go pouring piping-hot tea like this—if you fry my cat brains, the big boss will be heartbroken to pieces."
Bai Yu sent back a kneeling kowtow emoji for mercy.
Under Lin Du's speechless dark glare, Bai Yu silently opened the medical kit and unwrapped the bloody bandage still bound around the man's hand.
The joints were almost visible to the bone, a mangled mess of flesh and blood that looked painful just to look at.
When the iodine touched that bloody raw flesh, Lin Du still flinched instinctively.
Thinking it hurt him, Bai Yu gently blew on it to lessen the pain.
In truth, Lin Du wasn't afraid of pain; occurrences like today had happened upwards of a hundred times in his past.
He simply wasn't quite accustomed to strangers getting close.
As for why he didn't react strongly to Bai Yu's proximity—it was because the fresh fruit fragrance on her body managed to soothe the irritation in his heart.
And besides, this girl had a rather poor temper and bit quite hard.
After bandaging Lin Du's hand, Daju shoved its furry head right in front of Bai Yu.
*Daju:* "Quick, check me over and see if my skin got scalded off!"
Unable to hold it in, Bai Yu let out a snort of laughter. "Alright, alright, let me see if Daju's head is okay? Oh no, it's cracked wide open! Someone quick, fire up the wok and get the oil hot, if we don't eat it today it won't be fresh anymore!"
Daju slapped Bai Yu's head a couple of times with its paw pad.
It didn't hurt, but it made a loud smack.
Bathed in sunlight, the scene of the girl squatting beside the sofa teasing the cat registered frame by frame in Lin Du's deep eyes.
Bai Yu's phone buzzed twice.
[Animal Chat Group]
*Dobin:* "The hot water in the kitchen is ready. That fat cat needs its fur stripped off before going into the deep fryer, it tastes better that way."