Chapter Thirty-Eight: The War Behind Them (1/2)

For a human being, the teacup was light. But for a hamster, it was excessively heavy.

The teacup did not fly off from the kick – the white ceramic cup tilted over the serving tray as the aromatic fragrance bloomed like flowers.

Yan Jin reached out to save his hamster, but it was a tad too late. The boiling hot tea instantly spilled over as the excess liquid overflowed from the serving tray, dripping onto the coffee table. Xiao Yu could not dodge in time as his hind feet got splattered on.

“SQUEAK!”

Xiao Yu screeched in horror as he laid back on Yan Jin’s palm the next moment. He hugged his hind feet and desperately blew on them.

The moment Yan Jin saw Xiao Yu get injured, he didn’t care anymore. The man turned toward the second level and shouted, “Chu Ge!”

When Fan Xiaoge heard that name, her face immediately paled like a sheet. She comforted herself while she slowly turned backwards, saying that it could be a coincidence, that it must be a case of people having identical names.

The man with the gold-framed spectacles instantly ran down the stairs as he panickily instructed: “Get a cold towel and press on the wound. The weather today is humid, so there shouldn’t be much of a problem.”

All of Chu Ge’s attention was focused onto Yan Jin’s precious hamster, completely treating Fan Xiaoge like she was invisible. That naturally meant that he did not notice how Fan Xiaoge’s complexion paled even further.

“C-Chu Ge? Why are you here, you guys…” Fan Xiaoge said in a soft tone as if she were talking for herself to listen.

In fact, the doctor did not hear her – he had to calm Yan Jin down while taking over Xiao Yu for a closer examination.

“Thank goodness, it’s just slightly scalded. There’s no blister.”

Yan Jin came back with an ice cube and a towel. Chu Ge looked at the towel that was larger than the hamster. For a moment, he was not sure how to make use of them. In the end, he wrapped the ice cube with the edge of the towel and pressed it onto Xiao Yu’s lower half.

Xiao Yu screamed as the makeshift ice compress touched him. The hamster struggled off Chu Ge’s hand, spreading his paws out as he ran with his life towards the other end of the coffee table and looked cautiously at Chu Ge.

Chu Ge crinkled his nose and mumbled, “I don’t think there’s a need for an ice compress. There seems to be no problem.”

When Yan Jin saw his hamster quickly scurrying away as if he were flying, his expression softened as he reached out his hand and called, “Fishy”.

Xiao Yu smugly ran onto Yan Jin’s palm. He obediently laid back and stretched his paws out.

“Squeak.” I’m not in pain anymore.

When the hot tea splattered onto him, compared to the pain, the shock was more overwhelming. A normal hamster wouldn’t have much of an idea about getting scalded on as they would only scream tragically when it was incredibly painful. But Xiao Yu was high-class – that scream he made earlier actually meant –

HELP, I’M GONNA GET SCALDED!

And thus, he ended up safe and sound because of his quick reflexes at that moment.

Yan Jin watched Xiao Yu roll on his palm, acting cute. He reckoned that the hamster was indeed unharmed and finally felt relieved.

Fishy’s status had already been promoted to Yan Jin’s precious treasure. Even the slightest thing would throw him into a panic attack. Knowing that hamsters were small and fragile, the man really feared that the smallest accident would not spare its life.

While he was thankful that nothing major happened this time, appropriate punishment must still be given.

“The snacks for this week will be halved. If you dare to be naughty again, then I’ll take away a month’s worth of snacks. You hear me?”

“Squeak?!”

Xiao Yu was stunned. Obviously, he was almost injured because he wanted to save Yan Jin from danger. Even if he wasn’t given a reward, why did he have to be punished?

As if understanding what Xiao Yu was thinking, Yan Jin replied sternly, “It’s too early for you to be protecting me – I won’t drink that cup of tea no matter what.”

Chu Ge broke into laughter as he watched the conversation.

“You know, this hamster you’re keeping is so worth it. He can even smell that the tea was abnormal. If I didn’t know beforehand, I would have thought that you were keeping a police dog instead.”

With that, the two men turned their gazes towards Fan Xiaoge, who was ignored all this while.

Fan Xiaoge was not that stupid. The moment she saw Chu Ge appear, she had guessed that her lies had been exposed long ago.

Even so, despite almost flying into rage from the humiliation, she dared not flare up in front of Yan Jin.

“M-Mr. Yan, I didn’t know you still had guests.”

Yan Jin snorted: “He’s my private doctor. Plus, you two should know each other quite well.”

Fan Xiaoge started swaying a little, as if she had received a heavy blow. She had her hands in front of her chest as she explained in a pitiful tone, “It’s true that I dated Mr. Chu before, but we’ve already broken up. I-I really didn’t know that you two knew each another…”

“You’re speaking too highly of me, Miss Fan. I wouldn’t dare to date the future mistress of the Yan family. Miss Fan and I are just acquaintances.”

Fan Xiaoge did not expect Chu Ge to speak up for her. Although there was mockery behind the sentences, seeing that Chu Ge was willing to disassociate himself from her, it was nevertheless better than being entangled in a past relationship.

She immediately caught on: “Sorry, I was just babbling. Mr. Chu and I were indeed just friends.”

Chu Ge was utterly impressed by Fan Xiaoge’s nonsensical shamelessness. He did not plan to expose his real relationship with Yan Jin. At this point, he was just Yan Jin’s private doctor. The doctor pushed his spectacles and replied sternly, “I just happened to drop by to give Yan Jin a routine health checkup. I do not wish that there would be problems right after the checks were done. Miss Fan, if you dare do anything that would harm my employer, then I’m afraid I’ll have to call the police.”

Fan Xiaoge’s eyes widened as she replied in disbelief: “W-what are you saying? I did not, why would I do such a thing?”

“Whether or not there is, Miss Fan, you should know it yourself.” Chu Ge wasn’t planning on arguing with her. Whether Fan Xiaoge left or not, he did not plan to get involved in this ridiculous matter – Yan Jin could do whatever he liked.

The doctor glanced at his watch as he bid goodbye: “It’s about time I leave. I still have a surgery to perform later tonight.”

“Go ahead.” Yan Jin nodded and then turned towards Fan Xiaoge: “The audience is leaving, so I guess Miss Fan should be leaving too?”

Fan Xiaoge clenched her teeth in frustration as she wished that she could have persevered a little more, but she had no idea about what else she could do.