Before he could finish speaking, a white cat suddenly appeared out of nowhere, leaped onto Shen Wuqiu's shoulder, and slashed at Shen Yan's hand with its claws.
"..." The incident happened so suddenly that both Shen Wuqiu and Shen Yan were stunned.
Several seconds passed before Shen Wuqiu reacted, "Are you alright?"
Shen Yan glanced at the scratch mark on her arm, shook his head, and pointed to her shoulder. Only then did Shen Wuqiu belatedly realize that something was pressing on her left shoulder, and she cautiously turned her head to look...
The fierce and menacing meow was very familiar.
Shen Wuqiu stared at the white cat so close to her, then blinked after a moment, "You..."
As soon as she opened her mouth, she saw the white cat's pink tongue lick her cheek.
"..." Shen Wuqiu's mind went blank on the spot from the shock.
A note from the author:
Gu Lingyu: "Meow~~" "I was only gone for a short while, and you actually went and had a secret rendezvous with another man behind my back!" I'm so angry, so angry! I'm going to scratch him to death with one paw!
Yesterday's chapter wasn't anything special, right? It was nothing special, right? It was nothing special, right? But it locked my account four times!!!
Chapter 6 Bet
The air froze for a few seconds before Shen Yan, equally startled, was the first to recover: "Is this your cat?"
Shen Wuqiu was still somewhat dazed, all her senses seemed to be focused on her cheek. The feeling was not like being licked by a warm, wet tongue, but rather like being scratched by tiny thorns. It wasn't painful, but it was itchy and uncomfortable.
It was probably too unbelievable, so she forgot her aversion and even thought, quite inappropriately, that a cat's tongue was so small and cute...
After a moment, as if reacting slowly, she shook her head at Shen Yan, "No."
"no?"
Shen Yan was taken aback. He reached out to lift the white cat, which was still sitting arrogantly on her shoulder, but as soon as he reached out, the white cat seemed to sense his presence and stretched out its claws at him.
"..." The scratches he had just made were still a little painful, so Shen Yan had no choice but to awkwardly withdraw his hand. "I've never seen this cat in the village before. I don't know where this wild cat came from."
Meow~~~
Before Shen Wuqiu could reply, the white cat perched on her shoulder started cursing again, its voice even fiercer than before, the drawn-out tones seeming to emanate from its chest. In short, it was clear that the cat was angry and not to be trifled with.
Shen Wuqiu was quite puzzled. She looked at Shen Yan, then turned her head to look at the white cat on her shoulder: "Why does she seem so hostile towards you?"
Afraid of being licked by the little perverted cat again, she deliberately tilted her head to her right shoulder when she turned her head, intentionally creating distance.
"Meow~" The white cat obviously noticed her little actions, and its meows at her were much more resentful.
This situation made Shen Yan wonder, "Are you sure this isn't your cat?"
Shen Wuqiu nodded, "No, it's not."
"That's really strange. Does this cat know how to choose its food based on its appearance?"
Seeing his puzzled look, Shen Wuqiu deliberately said, "Maybe cats like thin ones."
"...You really know how to hit a nerve." Shen Yan knew she was joking and didn't take it to heart, so he teased her back, "Isn't spring here? It's the mating season for all these cats and dogs. I think this cat is a lecherous scoundrel and has his eye on you."
"Get lost." Shen Wuqiu reacted with a kind of reactive aversion to this kind of color joke. After cursing, she relaxed. "What are you thinking? This is a female cat."
How do you know it's a female cat?
Before she could finish speaking, Shen Wuqiu paused, then added, "It's just a guess. How about we make a bet?"
"What are we betting on?"
"I haven't decided what to bet on yet, so are you in or not?"
"Let's gamble."
Seeing him nod, Shen Wuqiu reached out to secretly lift the cat off the ground.
Of course, the white cat didn't give her any face. The moment Shen Wuqiu's hand touched it, the white cat jumped off her shoulder and stood five meters away, looking at her: "Meow~~"
Whether it was a misperception or not, Shen Wuqiu felt that the white cat's blue eyes were filled with anger.
"Meow~" Shen Wuqiu squatted down, trying to coax her over.
As expected, the white cat ran away in a huff.
"..." Shen Wuqiu stared at the direction where the white cat disappeared for a while before standing up and saying to Shen Yan, "That really was a female cat."
Shen Yan smiled and said, "Now that they've all run away, there's no way to tell whether they're male or female, is there?"
"I've verified it, it really is a female cat."
Shen Yan asked with a knowing look, "How did you get your certification?"
Shen Wuqiu told the truth, "She called outside my room last night, so I let her in. She slept in my room last night."
Shen Yan looked her over and said, "So that's how it is. No wonder you were so confident in making that bet with me."
Shen Wuqiu said confidently, "I'm willing to accept the consequences of my bet."
"A gentleman's word is as good as his bond." Shen Yan didn't want to spoil her mood. He glanced at his watch and changed the subject, "It's been a long time. How about we have lunch together?"
"No need to be so polite." The countryside isn't like the city, where there are places to eat, drink, and have fun everywhere. If she went to his house for a meal, as an older, unmarried woman, it would inevitably cause gossip among the neighbors. Thinking of this, Shen Wuqiu blurted out, "By the way, are you married?"
"That's it. Look at me now, who would want me?" Shen Yan joked to himself, but his eyes were fixed on her. "And you? Didn't you bring a boyfriend home?"
"That's all." Shen Wuqiu lowered her eyes and said vaguely. After so many years of friendship, Shen Wuqiu knew a little about Shen Yan's intentions, but she really had no other feelings for him besides friendship. Since Shen Yan didn't point it out, she had no room to refuse and could only pretend to be confused.
Shen Yan probably noticed her awkwardness and didn't dwell on the topic any longer. "Your family matters have been discussed with the village by Grandpa Le, so you don't need to worry too much."
Grandpa Le is Shen's father. Shen Wuqiu's branch is the most senior clan in Jingrong Village. According to seniority, most of Shen Wuqiu's peers in the village would have to call Shen's father "Grandpa" or "Great-Grandpa".
"公公" is the dialect for grandfather in Jingrong Village.
"Yes, I'm not worried."
Shen Wuqiu never coveted the family fortune; she was capable of earning her own money and never expected her father's charity.
How is your father?
"That's fine." Birth, aging, illness, and death are never happy topics, and Shen Wuqiu doesn't particularly like talking about them. "I just heard you mention 'the village,' so you're contributing to the village now?"
"Don't flatter me. It's not a contribution, just making a living." In front of Shen Wuqiu, Shen Yan didn't think that his hard-earned civil service job was anything to brag about. "And you? Are you going back to work this time? Judging from what Grandpa Le said, he's probably going to give you these forests and fields he contracted. And you're a girl, so you're probably planning to sublet them, right?"
"Don't go out anymore, go home and farm."
"Are you serious?"
"I look like I'm joking."
"It looks like it."
"I'm not kidding you." Shen Wuqiu looked around. "I came out for a stroll to see the empire my father built for me."
Shen Yan was amused by her. "Your father initially only contracted a few thousand acres of land in the village. Later, more and more land in the village became barren, and your father contracted it all. Roughly estimated, including reservoirs, forests, paddy fields, and other land, it's probably close to 20,000 acres."
As Shen Yan spoke, he led him around to the back of the office building, pointing to the paddy fields planted with rapeseed all around, "Look, all these fields planted with rapeseed are the land your father built for you."
Shen Wuqiu followed his finger and looked over. As far as the eye could see, it was almost all rapeseed fields. "If it's 20,000 mu, doesn't that mean all the land in our village has been contracted out?"
"It's not just that; you own the paddy fields and hills of several neighboring villages."
"So much?" Shen Wuqiu was quite surprised. She wasn't sensitive to the number 20,000 mu, but when Shen Yan explained it to her in detail, she became sensitive to it.
Shen Yan remarked with admiration, "Your dad is quite capable."
Shen Wuqiu nodded, then noticed a strange middle-aged man looking in their direction out of the corner of her eye. She looked at Shen Yan, "Looking for you?"
Upon hearing this, Shen Yan glanced back and immediately walked over to greet the person, "Secretary Cao." After greeting him, he took the initiative to introduce him, "This is Shen Xiangle's daughter, Shen Wuqiu. Wuqiu, this is our new secretary, Secretary Cao."
Shen Wuqiu quickly went up to greet him, "Secretary Cao."
Secretary Cao looked her up and down and nodded. "You and your father do look quite alike."
Shen Wuqiu smiled. She wasn't a talkative person, but she knew that she would be farming at home from now on and would inevitably have to deal with these village and town committee people, so she could only bite the bullet and start a conversation, "That's what everyone says."
After exchanging a few words, Secretary Cao looked at Shen Yan again, clearly having something to say. Shen Wuqiu, being perceptive, took the initiative to say, "Secretary Cao, you all go ahead with your business. I'll take another look around."
Secretary Cao nodded.
Shen Wuqiu greeted Shen Yan again before continuing to walk along the road.
This road was built by cutting through a lot of farmland. After passing the village committee, there is a stretch of green on both sides of the road, which is quite charming in this late spring month of March.
Shen Wuqiu walked along the road for less than an hour before her legs started to ache. There were no benches to sit on on the country road, but she didn't mind the dirt and just found a stone by the roadside to sit down.
There was hardly anyone on the street. Bored, she took out her phone. The signal was probably bad in this bend, so there was no network and the phone was just for show. After fiddling with it for a while, she was about to put it away when she remembered something and turned on the phone's camera.
The natural scenery of the countryside is captured in beautiful photos even without beauty filters.
After taking a few pictures, she saw that there was still no one around, so she turned on the selfie camera and was about to take a picture with a peace sign when she spotted a white shadow on a tree behind her. She held her breath and quietly zoomed in, and sure enough, it was the white cat.
Could this little thing have been following me the whole time?
After finishing her phone call, Shen Wuqiu turned around and looked at a camphor tree three meters behind her, calling out to the first branch of the trunk, "Meow~"
At first, the white cat ignored her.
Shen Wuqiu meowed three times in a row before the white cat reluctantly looked at her, meowing.
This little thing has quite a temper, and the more it does, the more Chen Wuqiu felt like teasing it: "Get down."
The white cat ignored it.
Shen Wuqiu coaxed patiently, "I'll give you some small fish."
The white cat still ignored it.
Shen Wuqiu had never owned a cat before and didn't know how to coax it. She meowed twice and then blurted out, "If you don't come down, I won't let you into my room tonight."
Upon hearing this, the white cat leaped down from under the tree.
"..." So, this cat has become a spirit?
A note from the author:
Gu Lingyu: "Meow~~~" You're the stray cat, your whole family are stray cats, ptooey, wild men!
Gu Lingyu: "Meow~~" So angry, so angry! My partner actually wants to share my naked body in front of some other man! I want to scratch her to death with one paw! What should I do? Oh well, I chose this partner myself, I'll have to live with her whether I cry or not. I'm leaving~ Meow meow meow…