Chapter 16: The Working Cat
The question mark above Shen Shuyi’s head didn’t just stay there—it was immediately sent to Li Sijia.
[?]
Li Sijia didn’t expect that Shen Shuyi had actually been looking at WeChat just now, replying somewhat off-topic:
[Baby, you finally decided to pay attention to me (cry-laugh emoji)]
Sometimes, Shen Shuyi really couldn’t stand Li Sijia’s constant use of emojis.
But thinking that he was, after all, his boyfriend, he endured it.
[Why did you recall the photo you just sent?]
Li Sijia: [Sent it by mistake (laugh-cry)]
Li Sijia: [Baby, where are you now? Should I come find you?]
Shen Shuyi was annoyed at the moment.
He had no mood for romance, and when he saw that Li Sijia wanted to come over, he immediately said: [I’m busy today.]
Li Sijia had expected this.
Their intermittent relationship had lasted just over a month, and their exchanges were few and far between.
Not to mention being intimate—he hadn’t even properly held Shen Shuyi’s hand.
Shen Shuyi was always busy: attending fashion shows and auctions, traveling the world with his friends.
He simply had no time to have a relationship.
Seeing Shen Shuyi’s reply, Li Sijia was a little angry, but then thinking of Shen Shuyi’s mischievously handsome face, he held back his anger and replied: [Okay.]
[But why do you always have so much to do (facepalm emoji)]
[Next Wednesday is my birthday. You’re not going to skip my birthday party, right?]
Next Wednesday, Shen Shuyi really didn’t have any plans.
But that didn’t mean he had to attend Li Sijia’s birthday party.
Everyone in Hong Kong knew how hard it was to get Shen Shuyi to agree to anything.
He wanted to refuse immediately, but Lu Zhiwei’s words kept echoing in his mind.
Shen Shuyi hesitated for a moment. Since Li Sijia was his boyfriend, he decided to give him a special place.
Plus, Li Sijia rarely spent his birthday in China.
After a moment of contemplation, Shen Shuyi reluctantly replied: [Alright.]
A week passed quickly.
This week, Shen Shuyi didn’t cause any trouble at home, much to the astonishment of the usually obedient Shen Lu.
After making several concerned calls, Shen Shuyi got annoyed and decisively blocked his brother.
Why was he staying obediently at home? Could Shen Lu, the instigator, claim no responsibility?
If it weren’t for him freezing Shen Shuyi’s card, he would have long gone flying around the world with his friends.
Did he really have to idle away in the villa at Shallow Bay?
Every day, besides swimming a few laps in the heated pool or riding in the garden, there was nothing else to do—it was excruciatingly boring!
The first few days, he had exhausted all ways to entertain himself at home.
The last two days, Shen Shuyi started “helping” Uncle Lin and others.
Actually, it couldn’t really be called helping.
On Monday afternoon, Shen Shuyi suddenly started worrying about the two million he owed Zhao Yuheng.
Recently, though Shen Lu hadn’t forced the marriage, that didn’t mean Shen Lu had forgotten the matter.
He had to stay vigilant at all times—he needed to settle Zhao Yuheng’s marriage before Shen Lu forced him to register the marriage!
With no other way to earn money, and going out to work would surely be ridiculed by the plastic rich kids,
Shen Shuyi could only earn a little pocket money at home by helping Uncle Lin.
Here’s how he did it:
March 21, Monday, sunny. Shen Shuyi helped Uncle Lin prune garden branches, earning 800 yuan.
March 22, Tuesday, cloudy. He washed five dishes for Mrs. Li, earning 200 yuan.
March 23, Wednesday, sunny. He drove to the supermarket at the foot of Shallow Bay Mountain himself, taking over Xiao Liu the driver’s job, earning 780 yuan.
March 24, Thursday, light rain. He wiped an already clean table again, earning 120 yuan.
…
Shen Shuyi worked hard every day, saved a bit of money, and quickly transferred it to Zhao Yuheng via WeChat.
For several days, their chat was filled only with Shen Shuyi’s transfer records:
[You transferred 800 yuan to Zhao Yuheng]
[You transferred 780 yuan to Zhao Yuheng]
[You transferred 240 yuan to Zhao Yuheng]
…
At first, Zhao Yuheng sent: [?]
Shen Shuyi quickly explained: [Oh, I still owe you two million. This is my installment transfer, remember to deduct it on time.]
Zhao Yuheng: [……]
These installments were ridiculously random.
He even suspected that if Shen Shuyi found 50 cents on the street, he’d transfer it to him via WeChat.
Zhao Yuheng calmly asked: [Last time you said your money was frozen by your brother. Where did this come from?]
Shen Shuyi: [….]
Shen Shuyi: [Don’t worry. I found some part-time jobs myself (smile emoji)]
For the next two days, the chat was again a series of transfer records.
The frequency increased from once a day to every 2–3 hours:
[Shen Shuyi transferred 300 yuan to Zhao Yuheng]
[Transferred 270 yuan]
[Transferred 150 yuan]
[Transferred 90 yuan]
[Transferred 10 yuan]
[Transferred 5 yuan]
When it reached 5 yuan, Zhao Yuheng couldn’t help but ask: [What kind of part-time job earns only 5 yuan a day?]
Could it be that this rich young master had no idea about contracts and labor rules, and got scammed outside?
Shen Shuyi replied: [Don’t worry.]
Because today he only washed one dish for Mrs. Li. 🙂
Soon, another message arrived:
[The other party transferred 0.5 yuan to you.]
Zhao Yuheng: ……
He must have even transferred the interest earned in the WeChat wallet over the past few days.
After a week of hard work at home, Shen Shuyi had transferred roughly two to three thousand yuan to Zhao Yuheng.
His anxiety eased considerably.
On Wednesday morning, Li Sijia messaged him not to forget the evening’s birthday party, also sending the address of the bar where it would be held.
Shen Shuyi clicked the bar’s address. It was a privately operated bar, run by a Hong Kong rich kid, serving only a very small circle of people.
Not open to the public, relying solely on reputation within the circle.
The bar was downtown, not far from Shallow Bay.
Shen Shuyi saw it was still early, so he napped in the villa before heading there.
But he woke up late and was twenty minutes late to the private bar.
Still, it didn’t matter.
Shen Shuyi always attended parties casually and without real interest. His behavior in Hong Kong was that of a spoiled, willful rich kid.
Sure enough, the second-generation attendees weren’t surprised by his tardiness.
Seeing him arrive, Lu Zhiwei jokingly called out: “Whoa! What wind blew Young Master Shen here? Quick, Alex, make some room for your ancestor!”
Li Sijia sat in the center of the crowd. Shen Shuyi glanced at the private room.
It was large, with areas for drinking and games, plus chess sofas nearby. The decor was low-key yet lavish.
The central marble coffee table was smooth and heavy—clearly expensive—but littered with full ashtrays and spilled whiskey, ruining its value.
Smoke filled the room.
The decadent scene made Shen Shuyi frown with slight disgust.
His germophobia flared; he even wanted to leave, but remembered it was his boyfriend’s birthday and held back.
Shen Shuyi tossed the prepared gift to Li Sijia. Seeing Shen Shuyi’s face after a long absence made him forget all past grievances and annoyances.
“Baby, what did you give me? Can I open it now?”
Shen Shuyi, always generous, casually said: “Whatever you want.”
Li Sijia actually wanted to kiss Shen Shuyi first.
For some reason, having Shen Shuyi in front of everyone and expressing his special claim was more thrilling than earning a billion on NASDAQ.
But Shen Shuyi, oblivious to romance, pushed him away.
Li Sijia smelled of smoke. If he weren’t his boyfriend, Shen Shuyi would have rather sat ten meters away than beside him.
Li Sijia slightly embarrassed, pressed his lips: “Why no kissing again?”
Shen Shuyi, puzzled: “I don’t like the smell of smoke. Didn’t you know?”
Li Sijia: ……
Fine. Wait… but even when I hadn’t smoked, you didn’t let me kiss?
Lu Zhiwei noticed the awkward tension and quickly intervened: “Alright, alright. It’s Alex’s birthday. You two can be grumpy and romantic in private—we don’t want to see this PDA!”
One sentence instantly turned Shen Shuyi’s disdain into playful flirting.
Li Sijia realized he had overreacted. Shen Shuyi was handsome; a little bad temper didn’t matter.
Besides, it was his birthday, and he intended to invite Shen Shuyi for a special night.
Thinking of Shen Shuyi wrapped in a high-end suit, Li Sijia felt warm inside.
Lu Zhiwei teased: “Alex, open it! Show us what your boyfriend gave you!”
This made Li Sijia smile and open the gift: “I like whatever Little Shu gives me.”
Inside the heavy box was a Breguet classic tourbillon watch, valued at 1.25 million yuan.
Seeing the watch, Li Sijia froze in surprise.
Shen Shuyi thought he was stunned with joy, but it was shock instead.
Shen Shuyi asked: “What’s wrong?”
Dislike it? Dare to question my taste? 🙂
Unexpectedly, the room fell eerily quiet.
Shen Shuyi noticed something odd: someone had already given the exact same watch before he presented the Breguet.
The boy sitting to Li Sijia’s right awkwardly said in a soft, timid voice: “I didn’t know Young Master Shen would give the same watch. I didn’t mean to.”
…
Of course you didn’t mean it.
You gave a counterfeit, Shen Shuyi thought expressionlessly.
Author’s note:
Cats don’t care about men.
But cats care that their own must be authentic! (This is the cat’s way!)
Because he’s a cat, working part-time only earns him 5 yuan.
