Yanzhu sat quietly in her dining chair, slowly spooning up her rice porridge.
The world was peaceful and safe, a bowl of rice porridge brimming with warmth, and she hoped no one would ever have to starve again.
Because that feeling was truly too agonizing, bit by bit crushing your nerves, even watching the people around you turn into demons.
Xingluo walked down the stairs wearing sharp, practical jeans, her expression cold, a trace of annoyance flickering between her brows.
What on earth? Tici'an got wiped out, so why come looking for her to settle accounts? It wasn't even her doing! Idiots. Wiped out, so what? Good riddance anyway, it wasn't like they were anything decent.
First thing in the morning, Xing Yi had hit Xingluo with a triple-tap phone call, followed by Bai Weiyi asking if she had anything to do with it, and immediately after that, the Special Operations Team called to inquire.
As if the moment that trash got wiped out, she was the primary suspect! Even though she couldn't stand Tici'an, did her position as the young sect master of the Xing Sect make her look that idle? Did she have nobody under her command? Did they take her for an idiot?
Xingluo muttered to herself: *All day long, I'm sick of this.*
Suddenly, Xingluo felt a tug at the cuff of her trousers, very light, almost floating. Something was rubbing against her?
Xingluo looked down and saw a ball of white fluff, a bit dusty as if it had just been running wild outside. Was this a tiny round animal?
Xingluo couldn't help feeling curious. Did they keep a cat? It was so tiny, it looked genuinely cute.
Bai Yin hurried over. "So you ran over here. Baibai, come here." Baibai slowly strolled over to Bai Yin, who picked up the cat, gently brushed the dust off its coat, and asked Xingluo, "Luoluo, you aren't allergic to animals, are you?"
Just now Luoluo hadn't petted the cat; surely she didn't hate cats, or worse, have an animal allergy? Oh no, oh no, what should she do! What if Luoluo got mad?
There were still—
Xingluo snapped back to her senses. "No, it's quite cute, I like it. Mom, is this one yours?"
Xingluo's answer interrupted Bai Yin's frantic overthinking.
Whether it was her imagination or not, Xingluo felt Bai Yin let out a sigh of relief.
Bai Yin was sent floating on air by Xingluo calling her "Mom," instantly forgetting her previous tension.
Her precious daughter had called her Mom! And she'd initiated it herself since coming back!
"Well... we keep quite a few small animals here. Back then, Yanzhu felt sorry for those stray animals, so she brought them home to raise. Over the years, it's added up to quite a few." Bai Yin tripped over her own words in her joy, excitement surging and sending her adrenaline skyrocketing.
Xingluo was quite surprised by this news, though she had no idea just how many little creatures there were.
She was also quite curious about the sheer quantity. Since Bai Yin said there were a lot, there must be quite a few of these little cuties.
Yanzhu was wearing a light blue skirt, her long black hair hanging down naturally. She reached her hands out toward Baibai, and the cat broke free from Bai Yin, wagging its tail and running over happily.
Yanzhu scooped Baibai up into her arms and greeted them, "Mom, Sister."
Watching Baibai meow incessantly in Yanzhu's arms and bat playfully at Yanzhu's hair with its little paws, Xingluo smiled unconsciously and gave a soft "Mn."
Seeing the two girls getting along harmoniously, the heavy stone blocking Bai Yin's heart finally dropped, and she felt instantly refreshed.
As long as they could get along well, nothing else mattered.
"Luoluo, later on, let Zhuzi take you to see those cute little animals. Go eat your breakfast first. They are the cutest!" With that, she pulled Xingluo's hand toward the dining table.
Yanzhu was fiddling with Baibai's paws—the soft, pink little pads—while a tiny, pale pink tongue continuously licked the back of Yanzhu's hand.
They said felines licked other animals to assert dominance and show they were the boss. Who knew what was going on in this little creature's head?
Yanzhu couldn't wait to bring Xingluo to a three-story duplex villa, which housed the fruits of her labor over many years.
People always couldn't wait to show off what they were proud of, displaying it to the public, hoping to see the expected expressions and reactions in other people's eyes to achieve their goal.
Yanzhu was no exception.
Standing at the door, Xingluo began to doubt reality. She could already hear a chaotic chorus of animal noises, and what really made her curious was: do animals live in places this big now? Exactly how many animals were in there?
Xingluo tentatively asked Yanzhu, "Are these all animals in here?"
"Yep." Yanzhu nodded and led Xingluo inside. "You might want to brace yourself mentally. They're a bit enthusiastic."
The moment the two of them stepped inside, a flurry of cats and dogs swarmed them, rubbing against their legs and barking and meowing nonstop while wagging their tails.
Xingluo couldn't help swallowing hard. She truly hadn't expected there to be so many; she could barely take a step now, surrounded by cats and dogs of every variety, and even birds.
There really were a lot.
Inside Yanzhu's Consciousness Sea, Yaojiu shrieked in excitement. "So many little cuties! This lord loves them! Can't you switch me to a different host body, Yanzhu?!" Yaojiu stared unblinkingly, starting to pick and choose. "Zhuzi, I want that one." Yaojiu whined and whimpered endlessly.
"Get lost, stop wrecking other people's lives, no way!" Yanzhu's words instantly extinguished Yaojiu's leaping hopes.
Yaojiu was currently a spirit with consciousness. If it directly entered a living creature, two consciousnesses would exist simultaneously and repel each other. In a human, that was called schizophrenia. But given a Nine-Tailed Spirit-Absorbing Cat's cultivation, it would probably forcefully erase the animal's consciousness to occupy its body. Still, at the end of the day, it was just an ordinary animal that couldn't sustain Yaojiu for long, and it would end up bursting apart from the excess power.
Before Yaojiu had time to grieve, it heard Yanzhu explaining to Xingluo in a gentle voice, "I just picked them up over the years, and then they reproduced, so there got to be quite a lot. We've given some away, but there are still a lot left. They're very cute and well-behaved, though."
"Some of them are free-roaming; no help for it, they just love the wandering life."
There had been a brown tabby cat once that they brought home for a while before it started disappearing from sight. After mobilizing the entire household to hunt it down, they found this newly crowned feline tyrant living in an alley dozens of miles away.
The whole family: "..."
Yet it would always come back—just to beat up the newly arrived cats.
Basically, it was establishing its dominance: In this household, on this turf, I am the boss!
"Recently we've been working on getting some of the animals adopted; there really are a bit too many." Yanzhu continuously reached out to pet the small animals crowding around her.
Sometimes they could be a huge help—helping out with chores.
Yaojiu: *Heh, woman, you have two faces.*
Yaojiu desperately wanted to belt out the line: *Never try to guess a woman's mind.*
Xingluo smiled, bent down, and picked up a tabby cat with amber eyes. You could tell the Yan family took very good care of them. "Mn, it's very nice." Unwittingly, the look Xingluo cast toward Yanzhu was laced with gentleness. "Let me know if you need any help with anything."
"Does Sister like small animals too?"
"Mn, they're very cute."
Listening to the exchange between Yanzhu and Xingluo, Yaojiu resentfully added, "I'm an animal too, and I've never seen you like me." It got bullied by her every single day.
The crucial part was that Yaojiu couldn't beat Yanzhu.
At the very least, those little animals had met a kind person when they were lonely and helpless, and found a home.
Small animals were worthy of being warmed by our love, because we share this world together.