Chapter 60 — Jealous Again
The seafood was very fresh, and Qin Jiran served up a variety that he boiled and barbequed. Su Yanyi happily finished everything and was in an especially beautiful mood.
After the meal, he led her out through the back door of the restaurant. He acted with some secrecy, but Su Yanyi didn’t mind. They walked through a small garden, still completely alone, and continued on for two more minutes until an entrance came into view. There was a man sitting there, most likely a security guard.
When he saw them approach, he immediately stood up and greeted them, “Mr. Qin, Mrs. Qin, everything is ready. Please come in.”
Su Yanyi was completely unfamiliar with being called “Mrs. Qin.” Even though her relationship with Qin Jiran had been disclosed already, this was the first time. But… it wasn’t a bad feeling.
Qin Jiran stole a glance at her. Seeing that she had no intention of refuting, he felt very pleased with himself, and a smile spread across his face. He nodded at the security guard and said, “We’ll be going in then.”
The two entered. Qin Jiran was evidently familiar with the place, but Su Yanyi was not. A casual sweep of the vicinity revealed that there was nothing special about the place, as it seemed no different from an ordinary house. They passed through a small living room and entered a bedroom, and what she saw inside surprised her.
“A tiger cub?” To be precise, it was a white tiger cub with its eyes closed in slumber. As it laid inside a wooden cage, she could tell that it was very small, almost like a cat; however, she wouldn’t mistake it for a cat because it was undoubtedly a white tiger cub.
“From a friend. It was smuggled in. If you like it, you can keep it. If not, you can send it to the zoo.” The reason he had to take her to this little house was that taking the tiger cub out could result in bad consequences, and more importantly, he wasn’t sure if she would agree to raise it.
Su Yanyi’s eye twitched. Raise a tiger? She’d never thought about doing that before. The tortoise was already troublesome enough, why would she want to raise a tiger? And it was a smuggled one at that. Was he kidding her?
“Send it to the zoo then.” She knew that the man was fond of small animals, but that didn’t mean she was going to accept such a strange gift. A tiger? Wasn’t he afraid it would eat the tortoise at home?
Qin Jiran’s disappointment couldn’t be more obvious. He didn’t speak, but he had turned into a giant dog with a pitifully drooping head and a sad whine, as though he had been abandoned by his owner—or at least, that was what Su Yanyi saw.
He thought for a moment before saying weakly, “It was expensive, and smuggling it in wasn’t easy either.”
He’d also encountered it by coincidence. The man he bought it from sold all kinds of exotic pets from around the world—even an elephant wouldn’t be impossible to get. Qin Jiran had wanted to get a dog but it just so happened that the man had a tiger cub with him. After listening to the man’s introduction of the tiger, Qin Jiran had decided that Su Yanyi would probably like a more domineering pet and thus bought it.
“If you’re short of money, I can give you money.” Money had always been nothing but a string of numbers to her.
Speechless, he could only turn and look at the little white tiger helplessly. The little thing looked so cute while it was sleeping, but why didn’t Yanyi like it? Wasn’t it said that all girls liked cute animals? Was the tiger not cute enough?
“Then I’ll take it to the zoo.” He gave in.
Su Yanyi took in Qin Jiran’s disappointed expression and hesitated a little. She turned her attention to the tiger cub again. It wasn’t that she didn’t think it was cute, she just thought that taking care of it would be too much work. She never liked troublesome things; Qin Jiran wouldn’t be the little golden tortoise’s caretaker if she did.
But the problem was that Qin Jiran liked small animals…
The man squatted down and reluctantly patted the tiger on its head, as though he was saying goodbye. The gentle look of his face was the complete opposite of his usual cold expression. It was easy to tell how much this man loved small animals, but that thought made Su Yanyi feel a bit… unhappy?
Qin Jiran’s gentle gaze could only belong to her! How could he give it to an animal? Ugh.
She immediately dispelled any thoughts of giving in and although she was a bit miffed, she wasn’t one to throw tantrums. Therefore, she simply turned around and left without saying a word.
When he saw her leave, Qin Jiran intuitively thought that she was angry and immediately stood up to follow her. He wanted to say something but didn’t know what to say. As he stared at her, his eyes slowly filled with tension and unease.
The two silently walked back to the parking lot. Qin Jiran unlocked the car and opened the door for her, and she got in without sparing him a glance. Once he was seated, he looked at her anxiously and asked tentatively, “Are you angry? Don’t be angry. If you don’t like the tiger, I’ll take it away and you won’t ever see it again.”
She finally looked at him, but he couldn’t tell what she was thinking, and that only worried him more.
“My home is your home too. If you like it, take it back and keep it. I have no objection.” Su Yanyi’s voice sounded a bit cold, but she didn’t seem to be mad.
She’d actually taken the time from the little house to the car to think over some things and reflect on herself. Although she didn’t really like small animals, what she liked even less was Qin Jiran’s love for them. This emotion was obviously wrong. Even if she was inexperienced, Su Yanyi could tell that the emotion was… jealousy? Yes, jealousy.
That annoyed her. How could she be so lame? Being jealous of a tiger… But obviously, she couldn’t let him know that, so she’d kept quiet and sulked instead.
