Chapter 200: A Peaceful Day

On March 20th, Lin Dongxue came home from work, using the spare key Chen Shi had given her. She was greeted by the sound of Tao Yueyue crying.

Lin Dongxue quickly changed her shoes and clothes, calling out towards the bedroom, “Yueyue, what’s wrong? Did something happen to Uncle Chen?”

“Even worse, the kitten is sick!” Tao Yueyue sobbed.

Lin Dongxue couldn’t help but smile. When she walked into the room, she saw Tao Yueyue holding the kitten, Maomao, who was convulsing and drooling. Tao Yueyue looked up and asked, “Sister Lin, what should we do? Is it going to die?”

Lin Dongxue had no idea what to do either. “Let’s get it to the vet right away!”

They quickly packed the cat into its carrier and rushed to the pet hospital. After an examination, they found out it was just a calcium deficiency caused by an imbalanced diet. After a nutritional injection, Maomao was back to its lively self.

After all the fuss, it was already past seven when they got home. Chen Shi had already returned and prepared dinner. “Is the cat okay?” he asked.

“How did you know?” Lin Dongxue replied. “Oh, you saw we weren’t here, right?”

Tao Yueyue squatted on the floor, letting the kitten out of its carrier. Once back in familiar surroundings, Maomao began to run around energetically, parkouring off the furniture. Chen Shi smiled as he watched, but grumbled, “Having a pet is such a hassle.”

“Having a home is a hassle,” Tao Yueyue said.

“This family is quite peculiar, isn’t it? A stray cat, a stray kid, and then…” Chen Shi gestured towards Lin Dongxue but left the sentence unfinished.

“I’ll move out tomorrow! I got off early today and planned to check with some real estate agents,” Lin Dongxue declared.

“You’ve been saying that for half a month now. Let’s eat.”

“Sister Lin, why do you want to move out? It’s nice living here,” Tao Yueyue said.

“Because it’s not my own home.”

“Even a rented house isn’t really your own home.”

Lin Dongxue had no rebuttal. Chen Shi added, “Then find a place and I’ll help you move… or you could just pay me rent, and we’ll call it a win-win.”

“Dream on!” Lin Dongxue said seriously, not for the first time. “Tomorrow, I’ll definitely move out. I can’t keep staying here!”

“Good luck!”

Honestly, Lin Dongxue did find it quite comfortable living at Chen Shi’s place. He was neat and kept the place clean, and their schedules didn’t clash. But thinking about moving to a new place, cleaning, organizing, and paying various bills made her head spin.

In her heart, she vowed, no matter what, she had to move out tomorrow. She couldn’t keep freeloading.

Sure enough, her efforts paid off. She soon found a suitable rental, and with Chen Shi’s help, moved out smoothly.

As she left, Tao Yueyue was reluctant to see her go. Lin Dongxue patted her head, “I’ll come to see you often.”

The new place was comfortable. On her first night there, Lin Dongxue slept soundly. She woke up feeling refreshed, stretched, and headed to the bathroom. Opening the door, she was shocked to see Chen Shi sitting at the table in the living room, playing on his phone.

“Why are you in my house!?” she exclaimed.

“Your house? Since when did Duke Zhou start working for the housing department?”

Looking around, Lin Dongxue realized she was still in Chen Shi’s house. The entire moving experience had been a dream. No wonder it felt so smooth, like a movie montage.

She shivered, realizing she was dressed in just a T-shirt with a cartoon character on it, which barely covered her chest, leaving a bit of her belly exposed. Her lower half was clad only in pink panties, exposing her bare legs.

She let out a scream and darted back to her room to change. Chen Shi, not taking his eyes off his phone, said, “Was that necessary? If I wanted to peep, I’d have installed cameras in your room.”

“You didn’t, right?” Lin Dongxue called out from behind the door.

“I did, and I’m selling the recordings!” he teased.

“Stupid jerk!” Lin Dongxue knew he was joking.

“Come have breakfast. Why did you wake up so late today? Yueyue has already gone to school.”

Lin Dongxue came out, now properly dressed. Two bowls of delicious noodles were on the table. The noodles were chewy Guanmiao noodles in a bone broth topped with soft-boiled eggs, sea, scallions, cilantro, and slices of meat.

Chen Shi’s breakfasts were always lavish. Initially, Lin Dongxue felt overwhelmed by the care and asked, “Did you make this for me?” Because of her busy work schedule, she often missed dinner, but she never skipped breakfast.

Chen Shi’s response always made her laugh, “The kid’s not here, so we get to eat well!”

After washing up, Lin Dongxue took a bite of the noodles and said, “Delicious! As always.”

“Eat more if you like it.”

“You’re good at cooking and living well. You’re also good-looking. Why are you still single?”

“Take a guess!”

After living together for a while, Lin Dongxue found that Chen Shi’s only vice was smoking. Financially, he was well off with a car and a house. Maybe there was some other reason… But that wasn’t something she should ask.

“I don’t know,” Lin Dongxue said.

“You’re always curious about others’ private lives. Don’t you have a boyfriend either?”

“I’d never settle with you!”

Chen Shi laughed so hard he nearly spat out his soup. He wiped his mouth with a napkin, “Miss Lin, your logic is a bit hard to follow. Don’t worry, I’m not that kind of person.”

Lin Dongxue twirled her noodles, “I really need to move out. Tomorrow, for sure!”

“Okay, okay, good luck.”

The sun shone warmly outside. Lin Dongxue looked at the angle of the sunlight and felt something was off. She hurried to her bedroom to get her phone and saw it was already nine o’clock!

“I’m late!?”

“Yeah, I called you at eight. You said you’d get up, but then it was nine.”

Lin Dongxue sighed. She had overslept due to exhaustion. Indeed, Chen Shi’s bed was too comfortable… She sadly continued eating her noodles, lamenting the loss of her perfect attendance bonus for the month.

After finishing, Chen Shi offered, “I’ll drive you.”

As usual, Lin Dongxue rode with Chen Shi to work. She often used an app to pay him extra for the ride since freeloading made her uncomfortable.

Today, she was undoubtedly late, but Lin Qiupu didn’t call to scold her. After the Gan Ping case ended, Lin Qiupu had been rather quiet.

Additionally, her promotion to First Class Police Inspector last year, thanks to her contributions, made her third in command after Lin Qiupu and Officer Zhang. Since then, Lin Qiupu rarely criticized her.

“Today should be another peaceful day, right?” Lin Dongxue murmured, watching the bustling city outside the window.

“Peaceful like right before a big case,” Chen Shi replied.

“Jinx!”