"ow~ ow~"
"Hm?"
Su Chen was sitting by the fishpond, admiring the koi, when a faint ow reached his ears. He looked in the direction of the sound but saw nothing.
"Old Jiang, did you just hear a cat ow?"
Standing outside the pavilion with his hands behind his back, Jiang Hui nodded in agreent. "Sir, it sounded like a kitten..."
"Find it," Su Chen said, casually grabbing a handful of fish food and sprinkling it into the pond, instantly attracting a school of koi.
"Yes, Sir!"
Jiang Hui headed in the direction the sound had co from.
Su Chen watched as Jiang Hui began searching among the stones of the rockery.
Soon, he pulled a small, orange creature from a crevice. Its four legs kicked wildly in the air as it owed nonstop, clearly frightened by Jiang Hui.
"Sir, it looks like a little stray, probably abandoned by its mother. But the little guy is pretty cute!"
"Hm, it really is cute." A smile touched Su Chen’s lips as he watched the little orange cat kicking its legs in the air.
Seeing the smile on Su Chen’s face, Jiang Hui bit the bullet and asked tentatively, "Sir, why don’t we adopt it? Having a small pet around would liven up the place a bit."
Su Chen gave Jiang Hui a slightly surprised look, not expecting him to be the one to make the request...
’Perhaps when people reach a certain age, they start to feel compassion for these little creatures.’
"Sure. I was thinking of getting a cat anyway." As he spoke, he reached out and patted the kitten’s head a couple of tis.
The little orange cat tried to fight back with its paws, but its tiny, frail body was no match. After a couple of wiggles, it gave up the struggle.
"First, give it so milk. Then take it to the vet for a check-up. Get all the necessary vaccines, and while you’re at it, buy the little guy so supplies...
"Also, this little one’s still a bit wild. Rember to train it well."
Hearing this, Jiang Hui quickly said, "Thank you, Sir!"
Su Chen gave a calm wave, gesturing for him to go feed the kitten.
-----------------
"What are you doing here?"
Su Chen was a little surprised to see the visitor when he opened the main gate to the courtyard house.
"Now that my business is done, I ca to find you for a drink! I even sent soone to let you know ahead of ti." The visitor was none other than the previous owner of the house, Xiao Chen.
The re ntion of drinking gave Su Chen a headache. He was well aware of his own alcohol tolerance, which was leagues below Xiao Chen’s.
"Ahem. We’ll talk about drinking later. Co in first."
"Hey, where’s that butler of yours? Where’d he go? Why are you personally opening the door for ? Don’t tell you ca out specially to welco !" Xiao Chen teased.
Su Chen shot him a look. ’I’ve never t anyone so narcissistic.’
"In your dreams! We found a kitten in the central courtyard this morning. No idea if a stray from the neighborhood brought it over. We’re planning to adopt it, so Old Jiang took the little one for a check-up."
"Oh, a kitten? That’s pretty normal. A lot of families in the surrounding hutongs keep cats to catch mice. It’s not strange for there to be strays."
Xiao Chen didn’t find it strange either. After all, he’d had cats wander into his house before, but they were always adult cats. He’d never seen a kitten.
"Yeah, it’s pretty cute. All orange," Su Chen said casually.
As soon as he walked into the central courtyard, Xiao Chen made himself right at ho, plopping down on Su Chen’s recliner and crossing his legs, looking utterly content.
"Hey, Old Su! Go brew that tea I gave you. That’s from my grandfather’s private stash! I have no idea what he was thinking, giving you three taels of it!"
The words "Old Su" made Su Chen’s lips twitch. But when he heard the tea was a treasure from Xiao Chen’s grandfather’s collection, a flicker of confusion crossed his eyes.
’What is this old gentleman after?’ Su Chen didn’t think there was anything about him worth scheming over.
"Old Su, why are you still just standing there? You’re not going to make your guest do it himself, are you?"
Xiao Chen’s words snapped Su Chen back to reality. "Hmph. You really know how to order people around, Uncle Xiao."
Although Su Chen was complaining, he still went inside and brought out a tea set, taking two trips to get everything.
He didn’t forget to bring out a recliner for himself, either.
The autumn breeze on their faces, tea brewing over a stove, watching the koi in the pond... Life was good.
"You didn’t really call over just for drinks, did you? Spit it out. What’s up?" Su Chen asked, picking up his freshly brewed tea and taking a small sip.
Xiao Chen, however, ignored him. He just kept drinking from his cup as if he’d never had tea before.
He only stopped after downing two or three cups in a row.
"Tsk, tsk. The old man’s tea really is the best. He’s usually so stingy with it. I’m going to drink my fill today!"
After sighing with satisfaction, Xiao Chen finally rembered Su Chen had been talking to him. "Right, what were you saying?"
Su Chen felt thoroughly exasperated.
"I asked, what did you really co to find for today?" Su Chen said, enunciating each word through gritted teeth.
Xiao Chen put down his cup, looking a bit awkward. "Ahem... How about I take you to do sothing exciting? You in?"
"Exciting? Is it... legit? I’m not into anything shady!" Su Chen’s eyes were full of suspicion. He wondered if Xiao Chen was about to drag him into so kind of group sport.
Seeing Su Chen’s "you’re acting weird" look, Xiao Chen was speechless. "Holy shit, what’s with that look? It’s totally legit! The kind that’ll get your adrenaline pumping, I guarantee it!"
Su Chen was tempted. After a mont of thought, he said, "Fine. But if it’s not legit, I’m out."
"You’ll know whether it’s legit or not when we get there!"
Su Chen knew Xiao Chen wanted to surprise him, so he wisely didn’t press the matter.
He was just about to get up when Xiao Chen pulled him back down. "What’s the rush? It’s still early. Let finish this tea first so it doesn’t go to waste!"
This "finishing the tea" took a full hour. In the anti, Jiang Hui returned with the kitten, along with a good deal of cat supplies.
Things like a cat bed, cat litter, and so on.
When Xiao Chen saw the kitten, he tried to pet it, but the little creature completely ignored him and just ran off...
Annoyed, Xiao Chen chased the kitten for a good while but couldn’t catch it, and even took a tumble in the process.
Su Chen roared with laughter.
......
"When did you buy these?" Xiao Chen asked, surprised, as they entered the garage and he saw two Rolls-Royces parked there.
Then again... it made sense.
His initial investigation had revealed that Su Chen had spent nearly five hundred million in less than ten days since arriving in the Imperial Capital!
Five hundred million! Just to invest in a small company and buy a house!
Xiao Chen couldn’t help but sigh. ’Rich and willful!’
Although he, Xiao Chen, was considered one of the top figures in the Imperial Capital’s circle of rich second-generation kids, even he wasn’t that extravagant. Every cent he spent was carefully calculated.
Things weren’t like they were a decade or so ago, when all you had to do was say the word...
"I just bought them a few days ago. It’s inconvenient to get around the Imperial Capital without a ride," Su Chen said nonchalantly.
Hearing this... Xiao Chen really wanted to go and give Su Chen a couple of good whacks. Who the hell uses a Rolls-Royce just for "a ride"?!
Xiao Chen held out his right hand in front of Su Chen...
"What’s this?" Su Chen asked, feigning confusion, though inwardly he was laughing his head off. ’Serves you right for showing off to !’
"The keys!" Xiao Chen said with a pout.
Su Chen suppressed a laugh and handed him the keys to the Rolls-Royce Cullinan.
Xiao Chen took them and eagerly got into the driver’s seat.
"What are you waiting for? Let’s go!" Xiao Chen said, poking his head out of the window.
Su Chen opened the passenger door and got in.
"VROOOM—"
"Hold on tight, we’re off!"
Su Chen thought Xiao Chen was about to reenact Fast & Furious on the streets of the Imperial Capital, and he nervously tightened his seatbelt.
But after leaving the garage, he just maintained a steady 60 kph.
"This is what you ant by ’hold on tight’?" Su Chen asked, looking at him speechlessly.
"Hey, it’s a new car. I’ve got to be gentle with it..."
.......
After driving for over an hour, Su Chen noticed they had left the Imperial Capital. They were now surrounded by rolling hills, and the mountains were getting more nurous.
"Are we heading into the mountains?"
"Yeah, sothing like that. You’ll see when we get there."
Soon, Xiao Chen turned onto a rather hidden side road. After another five or six minutes of driving, the car stopped in front of a boom gate.
A young man in camouflage walked toward them. "Sorry, this area is not open to the pub—"
Before he could finish, he saw Xiao Chen leaning out of the window.
"Xiaofeng, it’s !"
"Brother Cheen, what brings you here? And since when are you driving a Rolls-Royce? What happened to your Hongqi?" the young man asked, grinning as he approached. His eyes, however, keenly swept over the car’s interior, noting there was only one person in the passenger seat.
"It’s my friend’s car. I’m showing him around. By the way, is anyone else here?"
"Young Master Jiang and Young Master Chen got here early this morning!"
Xiao Chen nodded. "Alright, I’m gonna take my friend inside."
Xiaofeng glanced at Su Chen but didn’t say anything more, simply opening the gate.
Xiao Chen waved to him with a smile and drove inside.
Su Chen was a little puzzled. ’Why is Xiao Chen so friendly with a security guard? From their conversation, it seems like they have a pretty good relationship.’
Xiao Chen seed to notice Su Chen’s confusion and said with a smile, "Xiaofeng, like Li Fei, used to be one of my n. After they retired from service, I had them assigned here."
Hearing this, Su Chen’s curiosity about the place grew even stronger. What kind of place was this, to make Xiao Chen invest so much of himself in it?
Soon, the outlines of buildings appeared in Su Chen’s view, along with large areas covered by camouflage netting. He couldn’t make out what they were exactly.
"We’re here!" Xiao Chen said, parking the car steadily in front of a small, two-story villa.
"Tsk, tsk, a villa deep in the mountains and old woods. You must have put a lot of thought into this."
"It’s alright. Most of this was already here. Only the house was built later."
After getting out of the car, Su Chen surveyed the surroundings. Besides the villa and the areas under the camouflage nets he’d seen earlier, there seed to be other structures built into the mountainside in the distance.
"Co on, let’s go et my friends first. I’ll show you around the base later. I guarantee it’ll blow your mind."
"Base?" Su Chen glanced at Xiao Chen, surprised.
Xiao Chen gave a very smug nod before leading Su Chen toward the villa.
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