“What are you looking at?”

Monica (1) poked her head over from behind and stared at my phone screen with a curious look on her face.

I exited my email in silence and tucked my phone back into my pocket before returning the glance at her.

“That’s very rude of you.”

Monica did not take it seriously at all: “It’s a super handsome cutie, I already saw it. Did your sexual orientation undergo a transition?”

Monica is twenty-four this year with an impressive height of 178cm, and she can nearly be on par with me if she steps on a pair of seven-centimetre heels.

She is a mixed-race Italian and Danish, as well as one of the most beloved female models in my aunt’s company. Her rare red hair and sporadic freckles made her highly sought after by sports brands, and she would be fully booked as soon as she’s available.

Her Chinese speaking skills are very exceptional although she grew up abroad, and she even once gave herself the name “Yang Yuhuan” (2). If it wasn't for the fact that she was afraid of becoming contaminated with an ill fortune because this beauty passed away in her thirties, she might still be urging others to call her Yang Yuhuan nowadays.

“The men you are attracted to aren’t my type.” I impassively spoke.

What Monica caught a glimpse of just now was a report about Ji Chenfeng's current situation from a private investigator. There was a casual photo of the other party attached inside, taken like a model card, which led to her misunderstanding.

Although Yan Shanhua and I are blood-related, we are considered to be complete strangers. For 25 years, she has never appeared in my life, so how can I easily trust her and bet my promising future all on her words?

Since three years ago, I have hired a professional private investigator to monitor her and Ji Chenfeng. Every week, the detective agency will collect the track record of the two people's whereabouts, interactions, etc. into a booklet and send it to me by mail.

Yan Shanhua may have thought that I am unaware of the matter regarding Ji Chenfeng’s graduation internship, but in fact, I knew all about it, including the day when Ji Chenfeng received his internship salary and bought a small-sized cake to celebrate with her.

“That may not necessarily be true.” Monica turned around and walked to my side before taking a seat, “You won’t last long with these women, perhaps it’s because you have yet to encounter your ideal ‘type’.”

My aunt can no longer stand the thought of me being idle all day long, so she arranged a spare job for me as a manager in her modeling company “Alia” in order to make me appear presentable in front of Sang Zhengbai and receive less scolding.

There’s no need for me to do daily shifts or be involved in any decision-making and operations of the company. Xu Xi would occasionally ask me to sit in front of the computer and skim through the magazines of models and choose one to make a deal with. She would often say that although I have no outstanding qualities, my eye for beauties is unparalleled and one-of-a-kind.

“Don’t you feel disgusted when you are doing it with somebody who has the same body type as your own?” I said with slight repulsion.

Although this is a part-time job, everyone from Alia would either keep me at a distance or flatter me.

Only Monica has the guts to tease me and crack all sorts of jokes.

Even though her innate nature was part of the reason, the main reason was because she is Xu Xi’s lesbian partner.

An actual sort of partner who would exchange kisses and share the same bed with each other.

If I had been more filial, I could have called her "sister-in-law" with respect.

“It’s not the same.” Monica gripped the two clumps of meat in front of her chest with both of her hands and said in a proud tone that I don’t want to understand the hidden implication of, “Lisa’s (2) breasts are much larger and softer than mine!”

At this very moment, I deeply feel like she’s just an annoying cockroach from America —--- No creature can be so frightening by flapping its wings alone.

Before I could respond to her statement, a thick folder knocked on the side of her head. And the “bang” is accompanied by a vibration.

Xu Xi is standing behind us at some unknown point in time with her red lips pursed, and an expression of anger on her face.

"The photographer has been waiting for you for ages, but you’re having a good time chatting here? Is it because the work I arranged for you is too little?”

Monica covered her head with a painful expression on her face and stood up without daring to stay here for another moment: “Aiya, I thought it wasn’t time yet. I’ll go there right now, this instant, don’t be angry!” After that, she slipped away as if escaping.

Helplessly shaking her head at the girl who disappeared around the corner, Xu Shi retracted his gaze and turned toward me.

Just as I thought she was about to settle scores with me, I was going to remind her that the one who took the initiative to chat about R-18 stuff earlier was her young lover, but ended up hearing the other party say: “I heard that you fired the psychiatrist again?”

Xu Xi's appearance was gorgeous, and her whole body exhibited the charm of a mature woman, which was a complete contrast to the sunshine girl Monica.

In fact, she is only ten years older than me although I call her my “aunty”, and she’s also my mother in name as well as Mrs. Sang’s youngest sister.

She nearly cut off all contact with the family because of her sexual orientation except for Sang Zhengbai and me.

“I am not mentally ill, there’s no need for me to see a psychiatrist.” I glanced at her and tapped open the movie on my phone that I had just finished watching halfway through.

“Your father has to agree with us even if you and I believe that it isn’t necessary. If you can get rid of your unpredictable temper tantrums and stop getting into trouble, he may not urge you to see a doctor again.”

“It’s not a son that he is in need of.” I laughed and hit the bullseye, “All he wants is an exact replica of him, a perfect one at that. This replica must not have any mood swings, be composed and wise at all times, and possess a fake smile like a robot."

I have never satisfied him ever since I was a kid.

My past self once thought that he was being too harsh, but I am actually the root cause now that I think about it.

.

I am not his seed, so there’s no way that I could reach his expectations. Perhaps it would turn out differently if it were Ji Chenfeng.

“Alright, let’s not mention him. It’s rare for you to visit the company, why don’t you go and have lunch with us at noon?” Xu Xi changed the topic of the conversation.

“No need, I have an appointment this afternoon.”

“Got another girlfriend?”

In her opinion, I would only be occupied when I have a companion by my side.

I am indeed willing to fulfil the desires of these women, but unfortunately not this time.

“Nope, I am going to accompany my pet tortoise to see a vet.”

She walked toward the office desk but her footsteps abruptly came to a halt as if they were glued to the floor, and her expression was full of indescribable oddity.

“Your pet…… tortoise?”

That’s right, my pet tortoise.

I placed the palm-sized Chinese grass turtle in a courier box and brought it to the pet clinic where Ji Chenfeng was.

There were several males and females sitting in the waiting area with their own pets like me. Perhaps the queue was overly long and dull, two young girls who were across from each other gradually started chatting.

“Did you came across it on the internet as well? Me too. I heard that this doctor is extremely capable, and can also do check-ups on foreign pets, so I brought my little fox here to let him have a look.” The girl in white patted the cage on her knees and said.

There’s actually an official blog for such a small pet clinic? It’s truly an era of network data, everything needs to be done online.

A few days ago, Xu Xi was muttering about whether we should create a public blog to film daily videos of the modelling industry and post them online. First, to gain some popularity and secondly, to engage in modern technology for the sake of preventing the ignorant elderlies from assuming that entering the modelling industry is the same as entering the Cave of Silken Web (3), where there are goblins everywhere.

Not long after, the queue number of these two girls was called and they left one after another.

I fetched out my mobile phone and typed in several keywords on the search bar and soon discovered the official blog of “White Acorn Pet Clinic” on various platforms.

I put on my wireless headset and clicked onto the video with the most views —-- The central figures were Ji Chenfeng and a white cat with heterochromia.

The white cat is well-proportioned, without a trace of miscellaneous hair throughout its body. The intact eye is pure blue, while the orbit of the other eye is slightly sunken, with a hideous scar.

The eyeball was probably damaged and underwent removal surgery.

In the video, Ji Chenfeng was lying on a recliner with his head tilted to the other side of the screen and it seems that he is taking a nap as his chest slowly rose and fell.

The white cat, which appears to be a part of the Persian race gracefully walked towards him before raising its gaze to observe and easily leaped into the arms of the man above with a stomp of its hind feet.

Ji Chenfeng was awakened by the weight of it, and his face without a mask appeared inside the video out of the blue.

The mesmerizing eyebrows, thin lips that bring a sense of coolness, and a clean, sharp jawline formed a visually striking appearance of a male.

He furrowed his eyebrows with drowsiness.

I assumed that he would be piss-off because I would too if it were me.

Yet he didn’t even complain and merely lowered his eyes before embracing the white cat on his lap with familiarity. He gently pressed his lips on its head and rubbed his chin against its ear, doing actions that completely did not match his appearance.

The long tail of the white cat gently swept over the man's arm and buried its head on the other party's neck. Based on its posture, it was not difficult to discern that the cat particularly wanted to stick its entire body onto the other party—- It was satisfied to the extreme.

Ji Chenfeng kissed the white cat for a moment, and perhaps he was too drowsy, he fell back to his original position while embracing it in his arms. The white cat curled up gently on his chest, and closed its eyes comfortably without putting up a fight.

The two of them are like a pair of entwined lovers, snuggling up to each other and falling asleep.

【Mommy, I'm in love!】

【I can’t believe I shipped beyond the norm (5), help!】

【Humans shouldn’t, at least they aren’t able to……】

【Dr. Ji's face is too beatable, I would like to use ten pounds of flesh from my body in exchange for being held in his arms and receive a kiss on the forehead!】

【I let out a chicken coop!!! And the 70 year old grandmother next door thought the sun was about to raise!】

【Who can refuse the favor of a cool handsome? Who? Even our cold captain has fallen under the enemy! Sure enough, even little kittens attach great importance on beauty!】

It's not even an academic video, what's so great about Ji Chenfeng sleeping with a cat in his arms?

I am unable to comprehend this, therefore I rewind back and watched it again without the pop-ups this time. After the pop-ups that were blocking the screen disappeared, even the slightly upward curve of Ji Chen Feng's lips became visible.

At first, I thought that cold looks are not suitable for smiling, but I did not expect his smile to slightly resemble “the sun in winter”.

If he submits a resume to Xu Xi, I will probably ask her to sign him and send him to shoot the advertisement for men's windbreaker in the autumn winter series.

Why would someone who was raised by a nanny, grew up in poverty, was bullied as a child, and called ugly nicknames, have such a smile?

No money, no power, can't even get 300,000 yuan for surgery, what is there to be happy about?

I paused the video and fixed it on the scene where Ji Chenfeng picked up that cat and revealed a faint smile.

It’s possible that this was deliberately acted out for the sake of views.

“May I ask if you are Mr.Sang?”

Noticing the hand swinging in front of me, I remove my headphones.

“That’s me, is it my turn already?" I put away my phone and got up carrying the cardboard box.

“Yes, please follow me." The nurse directed me to the other end of the hallway, "You have an appointment with Dr. Ji, right? The pet being inspected is a Chinese grass turtle, right?"

“Correct.”

"Dr. Ji is our internet celeb, many people have booked him recently." The nurse said with a smile.

I followed the nurse's instructions and entered the consultation room numbered "3".

"Dr. Ji, the turtle belongs to the Chinese pond species, eight years old, gender male, having the symptoms of food refusal and lack of energy." The nurse left the clinic after giving the information sheet I had registered earlier to the young man in the room.

The other party glanced at the board, and peeked out from behind the computer with a face mask and recited my name: “Sang…… Nian?”

That voice was deep and pleasant, much in line with his appearance, but the pitch was very strange: Just like Monica, it was not completely out of tune, yet sounded not so standard at the same time.

“That’s me.”

He rested his eyes on my face for a moment, then nodded before putting down the board, and turned his body toward the computer: "What's the pet's name?”

I placed the delivery box on the table: "Xiao Cao (6).”

This is the first time in years that this turtle has such a formal name. Only Tang Bian will call it "Xiao-Gui" affectionately, and I will call it "Xiao-Wangba" during the times when I'm in a good mood.

After confirming its name, Ji Chenfeng got up and leaned his hand into the box.

His proximity allowed me to easily smell his faint scent; it was not perfume, not even shower gel, it was more like the smell of ......... laundry detergent where it was common in hospitals.

Cheap, and slightly astringent. It was a scent that I detest.

Ji Chenfeng gently picked up the turtle in the box and carefully examined it in front of me. His slender fingers stroked over each piece of the turtle's back armor and carapace, not letting go of any suspicious focal infections.

It seems that he did not fake his reaction, Yan Shanhua did not tell him my identity. He may know that someone lent 300,000 yuan to them, but he wasn’t aware of who it was.

Even until now, he must have been thinking about the "good-hearted benefactor" who lent him a hand, and wanted to return the money to the other party as soon as possible. However, that "good-hearted benefactor" only wanted him to go to hell and did not care about this 300,000 yuan.

Having said that, for three years, Ji Chenfeng has been paying off that 300,00 yuan and he was ready to pay it back in another additional two years. The job of a vet does not seem to be very profitable, he’d be better off working as a model and it’s possible that he could pay it off in a month by accepting a few more advertisements.

Why don’t I simply give Yan Shanhua a sum of money, and ask her to send Ji Chenfeng to continue his studies abroad, so that he will not give me anxiety by staying in the country……

“Can you ...... not keep staring at me? "Ji Chen Feng turned the turtle over and continued to examine its belly armor. As he spoke, he only swept a glance my way and gently retracted it back to its former position.

I froze, and realized that he was talking to me.

"Sorry about that, I'm a little out of the state when I saw you for real the first time." With a smile, I stepped back a little and increased the distance between us to reduce my sense of oppression.

He didn't respond. It was unknown whether he didn't care or simply wasn’t paying attention.

Seeing that the other party directed all his attention on the turtle, the corner of my lips dripped down little by little.

Maybe he was in a bad mood or he was just not used to being stared at, but at this moment, whatever he says sounds unpleasant to me.

Not to mention…… Why does he put on the pretense of a saint when he is obviously a pervert that’s attracted to men?

Translator's Notes:

1. The pronounciation of 莫妮卡 sounded similar to Monica in English

2. Yang Yunuan, known as the one of the four beauties of ancient china died in her thirties after hanging herself (Source)

3. The English name of Sang Nian's aunty

4. A fictional cave that appeared in the classic Chinese folklore: Journey to the West

5. The netizen basically meant that they ship Ji Chenfeng and the white cat together

6. Xiao Cao = Little Grass, Xiao Gui = Little Turtle, Xiao Wangba = Little Bastard

Addition Remark:

In case anyone is interested in picking up this project as well, you are welcome to do so by all means, just reach out to me at @Piggybankashley on Twitter and I’ll respond to you. Besides the point, please know that I am merely a small fan-TL who’s doing translating for fun so I cannot ensure consistency in my uploading schedule ^^;