As a general rule, those who cooked did not wash the dishes.

Mu Nanqiao pushed Lu Qi out of the kitchen, cleaned the bowls himself, and tidied the sink. When he finished arranging the sink and came out, Lu Qi was standing on the balcony video chatting with someone. The other party’s voice was full of excitement, and the person’s delight and happiness could be felt through the phone screen.

“Ge! I heard from my friend’s boyfriend’s cousin that that dog Lin Yuan is in the hospital!”

“The news source is quite reliable. He said that he missed a step and broke his leg while going down the stairs. I originally wanted to stay with you after this busy period, but now it seems he is in no place to harass you.”

“But it’s rather strange. I thought someone like him would take an elevator upstairs or downstairs, but he walked by himself? It’s true that heaven has eyes! How come it wasn’t his third leg that broke…..fuck!”

Lu Qi jumped in shock, then found that Mu Nanqiao had entered the camera’s range, slowly wiping the water on his fingers with a paper towel. He turned the phone slightly and moved this person out of Li Yimiao’s sight.

But Li Yimiao had already seen, and approached the screen excitedly: “Ge, Ge, Ge, Ge…..”

With the way he was winking, Lu Qi knew that nothing good was about to come out when he opened his mouth, so he explained first: “This is my friend who lives next door to me. He came to help me today, and I kept him for a simple meal.”

“Aiyo~” Li Yimiao hehe’d. “So handsome, ah. Ge, he’s so handsome! Let me take another look, let me…..”

Lu Qi had no doubt that if Li Yimiao could crawl out like Miss Sadako in The Ring, he would have squeezed through the frame of his mobile phone.

Thus, regardless of Li Yimiao’s wailing, he decisively hung up the phone.

When he turned around, he found that Mu Nanqiao was already sitting on the sofa, typing on his phone. He was in a good mood, the corners of his lips raised. There was not a single flaw in his profile. His brow was deep and his nose was straight. He was indeed a rare handsome man.

It turned out that he was indeed of mixed race, but his appearance should be inherited more from his father, with black hair and black eyes. Only a few details revealed European characteristics.

As if aware of his gaze, Mu Nanqiao raised his eyes and asked with a chuckle: “What do you think? Aren’t my words very effective?”

His eyebrows stretched when he smiled, and the small red mole at the tip of his eye was dazzling.

Suddenly feeling that his throat was a little dry, Lu Qi coughed and looked away uncomfortably. But the news that Lin Yuan had broken his leg was truly good news. He soon forgot his inexplicable feeling at that moment and nodded with his eyes in crescents. “He really broke his leg! It seems he won’t come to me again in this period of time, but you still need to be careful. I think he is very abnormal.”

After speaking, he gave Mu Nanqiao a hesitant look.

Mu Nanqiao raised his eyebrows: “What?”

“How could there be such a coincidence?” Lu Qi leaned over. There were only the two of them in this room, but as if he feared being overheard, he carefully approached Mu Nanqiao and whispered: “You said he would break his leg, and he broke his leg. That…..you didn’t put him in a sack and beat him, right?”

Soft breath fell on Mu Nanqiao’s ear. Lu Qi was obviously not very close, but Mu Nanqiao’s ear still moved sensitively.

Hearing Lu Qi’s words clearly, he didn’t say yes or no, and only asked with a half-smile: “If I put him in a sack and beat him, will you report it?”

Lu Qi took a small breath of cold air and looked at him with his hands raised to cover his ears. “Don’t admit it, ah! Never mind, just pretend I didn’t hear anything.”

He looked like a little ostrich with its head buried. Amused, Mu Nanqiao took off the strawberry hairpin and clamped it on Lu Qi’s head.

“I’m a law-abiding citizen.” He casually reclined on the sofa and looked sideways at Lu Qi. “Don’t worry, I really didn’t do it.”

It was only an understated interpretation, but the little neighbor believed it at once. He nodded obediently and apologized for his doubts.

Mu Nanjiao deserved this apology. He did not put Lin Yuan in a sack and beat him. He simply made an appointment with Lin Yuan in the old city, and then revealed his whereabouts to another second generation ancestor.

This genuine dandy had a conflict with Lin Yuan. They had both wanted a little star some time ago, and the conflict was very ugly. In the end, the little star followed Lin Yuan, and enmity was formed just like this.

Lin Yuan was tricked. He felt embarrassed, and couldn’t express his bitter suffering, so he said that he had missed a step.

Judging from the timeline of the investigation, Lin Yuan was still with the little star when he was “pursuing” Lu Qi. After getting together with Lu Qi, he occasionally went to stay with the little star.

But he didn’t intend to let Lu Qi know about these messy and dirty things, so he simply denied it outright. Turning around, he saw his little neighbor angrily hold a pillow and hit it twice, with the words “it’s a pity” written on his face.

“I’m still not satisfied, I want to beat him with my own hands!” Lu Qi harrumphed. “Why did you think I was going to report you just now? If you go to beat him up without me to help pass you the sack, I’ll be very disappointed, okay?”

Him saying this was unexpected. Mu Nanqiao was stunned at first, but seeing him so serious about handing over the sack, he couldn’t help but laugh. There was a quota for his good moods, and Lu Qi had already completed this month’s genuine smile KPI.

He finally couldn’t hold back, and acted too intimately.

Raising his hand, he rubbed Lu Qi’s soft hair and nodded in agreement. “If I put him in a sack and beat him, I’ll definitely call you.”

The temperature of Mu Nanqiao’s fingertips always seemed to be on the low side. The slight coolness brushed through his hair and touched his ear.

“Don’t touch my head, ah.” Lu Qi’s ears reddened, and he pressed Mu Nanqiao’s hand down. “I’m not a child anymore. Besides, I won’t grow taller if my head is touched.”

Mu Nanqiao laughed in spite of himself.

He still believed in this kind of rhetoric. It seemed that although he was no longer a child, he also wasn’t much older.

. . . . . .

The impact of the cyberbullying gradually subsided, and life slowly got back on track. Lu Qi, however, was not in a hurry to accept commissions, and seriously thought about whether he should move again.

Before, he thought Lin Yuan wouldn’t pester him. After all, what kind of person hadn’t Mr. Lin seen? There was no reason to pester him, an ordinary person. Now it seemed that wasn’t necessarily the case. This person’s brain circuits were obviously different from normal peoples’.

Lin Yuan’s leg was currently broken, but it wouldn’t be broken forever. He might come back again after being discharged from the hospital, and Lu Qi couldn’t actually pry off the top of his head with a crowbar.

Only…..

Lu Qi looked around the small living room. The newly added green plants had bloomed with little white flowers. The soft rug bought on Pinduoduo felt warm and soft when stepped on, and the small table on the balcony was also equipped with his painting equipment.

The late summer breeze squeezed in through the window, making the beige curtains float. The small apartment had just begun to look like a home. Did he want to move again?

After much deliberation, he decided to forget it.

He wanted to get his Master’s degree in Shanghai. If he left Shanghai this year and had to come back later, there was not much point in moving. As long as he stayed in Shanghai, Lin Yuan would always have ways and means to find him.

Holding a pillow and sighing, Lu Qi stood up and took out a financial magazine. He tore off Lin Yuan’s page, pasted it on the dart target, and threw the darts, leaving holes in his dog face.

This was what he had wanted to do when he passed by the magazine stand while running the previous night.

It was only that he didn’t turn the next two pages, or he would have seen the photo of Mu Chuanbai, the president of Mu Group. It was a very familiar face.

Just as he was getting enthusiastic, the phone suddenly vibrated. The caller ID was Hengxing.

After expressing a few words of concern, he asked straight to the point: “Xiao Qi, do you live in the Garden Community? We just received a call for help, saying that there is a pregnant calico stray cat near building 5 of that community, but it hasn’t appeared for several days. Can you take a look if you have time today?”

Lu Qi considered the approximate location of Building 5. It should be on the side near the alley. With no effort at all, he found canned cat food, put on the rescue center’s bracelet identification, and went out holding an umbrella.

. . . . . . .

It was raining today, and there was a lot of water on the ground. Although the rain was much lighter now, it was still coming down. The sky was cloudy, and a downpour was brewing at any moment.

Mu Nanqiao parked the car at the entrance of the alley and pulled the tie from around his neck.

He had just attended a meeting. Afterward, his dad clearly had something to say, so he excused himself a step ahead and drove away without changing his clothes.

He could probably guess what his dad was going to say.

He would ask him to live like a normal person. It wasn’t like he was required to go home every day and live there, he just wanted him to leave this community. He had been trapped in that apartment for too long.

Mu Nanqiao pinched his brow.

Thinking about it calmly, maybe his dad was right and it was time to get everything back on track, but there was always some hidden reluctance in his heart.

Before he had time to think about what he was reluctant to part with, a flash of bright yellow suddenly broke into his sight. Mu Nanqiao sat up a little straighter, and upon looking closer, it was his cute little neighbor.

Lu Qi also had a pet carrier in his hand. It should be something he had bought new, as the tag on it was still swaying in the wind. He was holding a bright yellow umbrella. His pace was initially rather leisurely, but then a gust of wind blew and the bright yellow umbrella was blown over and turned into a “trumpet flower.”

In a moment, the rain became even heavier. Lu Qi was in a big hurry, and was about to take the umbrella back when the rain above his head suddenly stopped.

A black umbrella with a luxury car logo covered his head.

“Thank you, thank you…..” Lu Qi gave his thanks and raised his head to see which kind-hearted person was holding the umbrella for him. As a result, he came face to face with his tall and handsome neighbor.

Probably because he had a dress code as a driver, he was wearing a white shirt today with the hem neatly tucked into his trousers. His waist was narrow, slender and straight, and his hair was pulled up to expose his forehead. His boneless indolence had finally gained a bit of proficiency.

Hmm, the work clothes actually looked expensive.

Lu Qi switched the heavy cat carrier to the other hand and raised his head to greet Mu Nanqiao with a smile: “Did you just get off work? I haven’t seen you much in the past two days. Is work keeping you very busy?”

He was indeed very busy. He had been staying at the property in the city center for the past two days, which made it convenient for him to commute to and from work. It seemed he would need to tell his little neighbor in advance next time, otherwise Lu Qi might be worried.

“Were you worried I might be kidnapped by Lin Yuan?” He joked, reaching out to take the heavy carrier in Lu Qi’s hand.

No wonder the carrier was heavy. A ferocious female cat and four kittens were inside, and several pairs of wary eyes stared out at the twolegs beside the carrier.

“Be careful while carrying it, she’s very fierce!” Lu Qi raised his hand to show Mu Nanqiao the back of it. “She clawed me just now, but luckily the skin wasn’t broken.”

Mu Nanqiao looked down at his hand, and was about to say something when he suddenly saw the bracelet tied around Lu Qi’s wrist from the corner of his eye.

It was a bracelet from the “Meow Woof Rescue Center,” white and blue in color, with the rescue center’s logo on it. There was also a small pattern to represent the identity of the holder. Lu Qi’s pattern was the silhouette of a deer.

Mu Nanqiao’s right hand that had taken the carrier froze, holding it halfway up as his eyes remained on the bracelet.

He stared at it for a long time, so long that Lu Qi frowned at the strangeness and also looked at his hand.

“Mu Nanqiao? What’s wrong? Is there something wrong with my hand?” 

Mu Nanqiao’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and he pulled himself away from that vague memory with difficulty, looked at Lu Qi with his beautiful fox eyes.

Lu Qi felt a little embarrassed under his gaze.

Why was he looking at him like this? It was like he was just meeting him for the first time!

He raised his hand and waved it in front of Mu Nanqiao’s eyes. “You’re a little strange today…..”

Mu Nanqiao’s voice was a little hoarse. “It’s nothing, I just remembered something. Let’s go home first.”