Chapter Twenty: Hamster and Butterfly
(T/N: This chapter have not been QC’ed yet because of some minor miscommunication and difference in time zone issues, so I apologize in advance for the mistakes! The tomato team will get the QC’ed chapter out asap! -iamfeiii)
Yan Jin stood near the miniature church as he waited for Xiao Yu. The moment the round hamster peeped his head out from one of the buildings, Yan Jin immediately picked him up.
“You’ve played for almost half an hour, do you want some melon seeds?”
The melon seeds that were brought up from the first level took effect as it made Xiao Yu, who was playing, awfully obedient as he was squatted on Yan Jin’s palm.
After agitatedly moving around for half an hour, Xiao Yu, who only had a small bite of the cake (more like just the cake’s crust) for dinner, he was indeed really famished. His mouth continuously moved as he absent-mindedly laid on Yan Jin’s palm to eat his melon seeds. His gaze was still on the mini town as he was reluctant to part from it.
That mini town was simply too awesome – it was more fascinating than those collectibles that he initially had expected.
If Yan Jin were to give him all these birthday presents when he was a human, he wouldn’t have any methods to repay him back. Even a powerless “thank you” would remain stuck in his throat.
Of course, in his previous life, the two of them were not on present-giving relationship – in fact, he did want to send sharp blades to Yan Jin – but sadly he did not have the guts to do so.
In fact, now that he had become a hamster that was stuck within this soft and cute exterior, Xiao Yu gained things that most rich and powerful ladies would not dared to dream of having.
Xiao Yu was in the designing business, but he had never done such a large-scaled artefact before. Every item in that mini town were made to look realistic, just like that miniature plate that was filled with corn kernels. All of those were things that could be seen in a person’s daily life, and yet everything was incredibly beautiful.
It was not a uniquely skillful design nor was it made with precious materials. Yet it completely touched Xiao Yu’s heart as a professional designer.
All these things could not have been done within a month. Yan Jin probably started preparing all these within a few days after he had picked him up. Although Xiao Yu knew that all this was not handmade by Yan Jin, his heart was touched beyond words.
So, this surprise existed one month ago.
Xiao Yu put down the melon seed in his paws and expressed his gratitude with a serious and determined look: “Squeak.”
Yan Jin obviously did not understand it. He poked Xiao Yu’s little head and asked, “You like it very much?”
“Squeak.” Very, very much.
“Then don’t lose that walnut, okay?”
Xiao Yu: ……
Was there any meaning to discuss anything with a hamster? Was there really any meaning?
Although Xiao Yu mentally ridiculed Yan Jin, he still squeaked a few times to show his agreement to the promise.
“Squeak!” I’ll be sure to guard it well!
Chu Ge, who was at the side this entire time couldn’t stand it anymore. So, while Yan Jin was distracted for a moment, Chu Ge immediately grabbed Xiao Yu and jumped a few steps away. As Chu Ge watched the not-so-obvious frustration between Yan Jin’s eyebrows, he teased,
“What are you saying to him? Can he understand?”
“Return him.”
“Nope.”
Chu Ge then conveniently released Xiao Yu back into the mini town. Xiao Yu, whose entire mind filled with going back in to play, immediately disappeared into the miniature church without a trace. Although Xiao Yu did not want to play along with Chu Ge’s actions, when there was a chance to piss Yan Jin off, he would not let that opportunity go.
CEO Yan squinted his eyes dangerously at the human and hamster who were cahooting together. ”
“Stop being so serious. You made such big efforts to get this thing back from overseas just to let him play, isn’t that right?”
“Entertainment should be done in moderation. It is important to strike a balance between work and rest.”
Chu Ge was amused by Yan Jin’s reply. As he stopped laughing, he bent forward and watched Xiao Yu who was running around the mini town, then his amusement gradually ceased.
“Wanna head out for a drink?”
Yan Jin knew Chu Ge’s intention; although he had always avoided getting Chu Ge involved in certain matters, it was not like he would always chose to ignore the genuine concerns that he had received.
Plus, it was a fact that he needed an opportunity.
The Yan family was a colossal enemy – it would not be easy to deal with them alone.
“Fine.”
Chu Ge who was well prepared to be rejected, did not expect Yan Jin to agree to his request. That made Chu Ge unsure of how to react for a moment.
Half an hour later, Xiao Yu was once again picked up from the mini town and sent back to the bedroom by Yan Jin.
Chu Ge who was following behind, helped closed Xiao Yu’s cage.
Previously, Xiao Yu did worry on how he would spend few hours a day doing nothing. But now that he had gotten over the crisis of having his identity exposed and had learnt the new technique to open the cage, he already had nothing to be afraid of.
After the two humans left the villa, Xiao Yu opened the cage and climbed out right after them.
He felt very, very happy today. Back when he was still a human, he never had been this happy before. He would always remember this day and remember that mini town that was filled with kind intentions.
During the weekends, Xiao Yu thoroughly visited every corner of the mini town. After checking out everything in detail, Xiao Yu realized there were edible snacks in every corner, but he would need to search for them carefully. For example, the hangers had melon seeds and dried fruits instead of clothes. The refrigerator would be empty, but the small cabinet beside it would be filled with corn kernels. Some fixtures could not be used, like the bathroom in the apartment. But if Xiao Yu wanted to play in the waters he could simply head to the fountain by the garden and roll in it
Yan Jin could see Xiao Yu’s love for the mini town, and hence he moved his work station to the second floor that weekend. While Xiao Yu played to his heart’s content, Yan Jin would be using his computer on the next table beside the mini town.
Xiao Yu would occasionally notice Yan Jin working through the chink between the bar and the church, or through the water droplets that splashed out of the fountain.
The pink, extremely childish background and the slightly dimmed lights made Yan Jin seemed homelier. Even his mature image that did not fit his age had disappeared. Yan Jin looked more like the prince charming in those fairy tales, waiting for the princess that was meant for him to walk through the gardens of flowers to meet him.
Yan Jin secretly snapped numerous photos of Xiao Yu these few days and that made Xiao Yu a little phobic towards the camera flash. But now, Xiao Yu suddenly wanted to take a picture of Yan Jin to commemorate the moment.
If he was still a human, he would have conveniently picked up his phone and recorded down this rare moment; but if he was still a human, he never would have had such a chance to see such a scene.
Fate was such a fair thing.
No, maybe God had his biases, but only a few could enjoy the favoritism.
Xiao Yu did not know if his rebirth could be considered as God playing favoritism on him, but as he watched Yan Jin who was not too far away from him, he felt that this person had indeed received too much favoritism, so much that it was overflowing.
Just like how he had become Yan Jin’s hamster and ended up making himself feel that he had received some of that blessing as well.
When the working days arrived, that would mean that Xiao Yu would not have the ability to be at the second level to play as Yan Jin had to be at his company. Naturally, that would mean that Xiao Yu had to stay inside the bedroom.
However, even when Xiao Yu was confined within the bedroom, he could also use the iPad to surf the net. Xiao Yu investigated the mini town while using the internet. Very quickly, the search led to an overseas company that produced products specially for pets. The latest item that the company released was the custom-made mini town that was targeted at small animals. The quantity was limited, and they only accepted pre-orders.
Xiao Yu read through the entire website, and yet he could not find any way to register to become a member. Obviously, it seemed like a rich person’s hobby to spread it through word-of-mouth, and hence newer members could only join if they had received invitation or were recommended by the older members first.
The mini town model from the website was basically identical to the one on the second level, but the difference in the details was vastly different. For example, the tomato crayon drawings on the walls. Xiao Yu also saw some posts shared on certain forums that introduced the website. The moment the mini town model was released on the website, a lot of netizens expressed their amazement and envy for the rich person’s hobby. Some even commented that money wasn’t the biggest problem; they really wanted to buy the mini town for their hamsters. But on second thought, they were worried that their hamsters would gnaw down the whole thing in just few days.
Seeing that comment, Xiao Yu felt immensely proud of himself.
Occasionally, Xiao Yu’s teeth did feel unbearable as the urge to grind his teeth would occur. Previously, he would always be able to find something suitable to gnaw on. Later, the cage that Chu Ge had given him had some items specially made for teeth grinding activities. That meant that he had never destroyed any of Yan Jin’s important properties, much less use that beautiful mini town to grind his teeth.
Not just teeth grinding, but even when Xiao Yu was playing inside the mini town, he was very careful not to break anything, fearing that it would be a pity to destroy it. There would not be another present as wonderful as this.
Because Xiao Yu did not pay any attention to how those rich people usually kept their pets, at this moment, Xiao Yu did not make connections about what Yan Jin said regarding celebrating his birthday every month and those multiple guest rooms on the second level.
That was partly Yan Jin’s fault; CEO Yan had the mindset that Xiao Yu would not lived for long, and hence he did not put that much passion into keeping the hamster. But now that Xiao Yu had successfully broken the “one-month curse”, Yan Jin was not too far away from becoming an idiotic pet slave.
Not too long later, when the guest rooms on the entire second level were connected to be Xiao Yu’s “play room”, the hamster was successfully worn out from appreciating the arts of different types of mini towns that had appeared one after another.
Of course, that was all something to be taken up later in the story.
The Xiao Yu at this moment was still naively thinking that he would never be bored from hanging out in that mini town every day.
That Wednesday, Yan Jin went to his company as usual. Xiao Yu had long woken up as he waited for Yan Jin to open his cage.
Xiao Yu rarely woke up before Yan Jin left for work. Yan Jin thought that it might be because he had finished work earlier than usual last night, and hence Xiao Yu had also gotten enough rest and woke up early. Yan Jin quietly brought forward his plans on getting a silent keyboard.
Before Yan Jin left, he took some snacks from the living room and gave them to Xiao Yu.
The original thought was that Yan Jin was worried that Xiao Yu had woken up earlier than usual and might get hungry earlier, so the food in his food dish might not be enough. But in fact, Xiao Yu had insomnia for the entire night. Not only did he did not sleep at all, Xiao Yu did not even have an appetite right now.
This was the second time that Xiao Yu had insomnia after he had become a hamster. The first time was the first day he had become a hamster, thinking that he had to be dreaming. So he stared at the sunset into the horizon, until the night without any stars arrived, and then until the first ray of sunlight rose once again.
This was the second time. Xiao Yu watched Yan Jin closing his QQ account after checking that there was nothing concerning, then he switched off his computer, saying goodnight to him before he slept.
That was a night without any sleep as Xiao Yu made an important decision.
An extremely, extremely important decision.
Ever since Yan Jin had celebrated his birthday, Xiao Yu had been counting down the days. Using his experience as a designer, he estimated the shortest amount of time needed to submit an edited design draft for that order.
Starting from today until the official evaluation date, there was about fifteen days left at most. This period of time could not be shortened any further no matter what.
Xiao Yu did not know why that mysterious designer had not appeared until this date. But he could not wait any longer.
Xiao Yu once heard about the incident where the butterfly who batted its wings in the Amazon could end up causing a storm in Florida.
A small change would cause unimaginable effects to the future based on the logic called chain effect.
What was predetermined to happen in the future did not mean that there would not be changes. It only needed a variable to appear within the time frame.
And now, that variable was him, Xiao Yu.
In his previous life, Yan Jin could never had kept a hamster named Fishy. Yet Xiao Yu had already been freeloading over at Yan Jin’s place for one whole month.
It might seem like a small incident, but there was a possibility that this small incident would change the future.
If a butterfly could cause a storm to happen, then similarly, a hamster could also take over the identity of a mystery designer.
Xiao Yu himself felt that his explanation was absurd, but he was left with no other choice. The fact that the mystery designer had not contacted Yan Jin till this day was the best evidence.
If Xiao Yu continued waiting, then he would only become even more passive.
