Chapter Fifty-Six: New Account
“Squeak?” Xiao Yu was still confused about the situation.
“You’re up in the middle of the night playing games. Don’t you think you have something to explain?” Yan Jin reminded: “It’s already three in the morning now.”
“Squeak……” Xiao Yu blinked his eyes as he attempted to act innocent.
“Stop squeaking. Type it out.”
Without a choice, Xiao Yu could only listlessly type out the words.
“If I win another match, I will gain another rank.”
Yan Jin snorted in response – obviously, that was the signal before he got angry: “Can’t you play in the morning? Do you even remember that you’re still sick?”
Xiao Yu reluctantly typed: “I remember.”
The hamster paused for a moment before he continued to type another sentence: “I’m sorry, I know that I was wrong.”
Yan Jin nodded his head and gently tapped on Xiao Yu’s little head as he softened his tone: “It’s good that you understand your wrongs. Stop crying now.”
Xiao Yu blinked his eyes again and stretched out his paws to rub his face.
The tears were still falling as he could not stop them.
Xiao Yu typed hesitantly: “Eyes hurt.”
Yan Jin frowned as he brought Xiao Yu closer to have a look. He realized that the areas surrounding Xiao Yu’s eyes were obviously red and swollen. Tear droplets were still overflowing from those eyes. The more he rubbed, the worse it got.
Yan Jin got up and placed Xiao Yu in his arms as he took big steps back to his bedroom.
The bedroom was in pitch-black darkness. Yan Jin did not even have time to switch on the lights before he settled Xiao Yu on the table and grabbed his phone to call for help.
“Hello, there’s something wrong with Fishy. I need to trouble you to come over as fast as you can.”
An hour later, the veterinarian arrived. He stood in Yan Jin’s bedroom as he listened to how the incident occured: “Mr. Yan, I hope that you’ll have more common sense. Hamsters should not be exposed to strong lighting. May I ask why you would brighten up your house in the middle of the night?”
With that, the veterinarian switched off the chandelier in the bedroom, leaving only the desk lamp on.
Yan Jin: “… I apologize.”
Chairman Yan gave a sidelong glance at Xiao Yu, who was pretending to be innocent. The hamster took a step back subconsciously.
“The problem wasn’t too bad this time. You have to remember not to use strong lighting in the future. I’ll leave the medicine with you and the instructions are written on it. During this interim, don’t feed him mealworms. Add some green beans…” the veterinarian continued speaking as he noted some things on a piece of paper.
Yan Jin coughed as he asked: “Hamsters eat mealworms?”
The veterinarian gave Yan Jin a doubtful look. He replied: “Most hamsters love to eat them. If you haven’t tried feeding it mealworms, buy some and try it out. But take note not to feed it for the next few days. Foods that cause the body to heat up should be stopped for a while.”
Yan Jin used a complicated gaze to look at his hamster. Xiao Yu immediately shook his head like a rattle-drum upon receiving Yan Jin’s gaze.
After all, he was a human before. Things like mealworms were just heresy. Regardless of whether a hamster could eat those or not, Xiao Yu was sure that he definitely could not swallow them.
“Mr. Yan,” the veterinarian tactfully mentioned before he left: “Actually, the life force of these small animals can be quite tenacious. I hope that you will wait until morning before you settle such types of ‘small matters’.”
Yan Jin, who called the veterinarian at three in the morning, nodded his head and admitted that he was in the wrong in this rare occasion.
If Chu Ge witnessed that scene, he would surely beat his chest, stomp his feet, and yell about how idiotic his friend was. Due to the number of times Yan Jin forcefully called him for such unimportant ‘small matters’, Chu Ge was the most experienced person.
What made it more hateful was how Chu Ge did not dare to raise any objections in front of Yan Jin. Instead, he would only ridicule Yan Jin behind his back.
It was 4:30 a.m. when the human and hamster finally fell asleep.
Xiao Yu laid in his little house as he closed his eyes and quietly thought about the following questions.
Why didn’t Yan Jin ask anything?
Why wasn’t Yan Jin shocked at all?
Why was Yan Jin still so concerned about him?
That night was not a sleepless night.
Although Xiao Yu’s brain had a lot of questions that he could not figure out, he easily fell asleep due to exhaustion.
After all, the anxious and frightened feelings were all erased by Yan Jin’s earlier actions.
The next day, Xiao Yu had successfully overslept.
When he opened his eyes, it did not feel painful anymore. Xiao Yu ran out of his cage and looked at his reflection on the iPad. The areas surrounding his eyes were no longer swollen.
It was worth mentioning that the iPad was not playing any animations, just quietly lying on the desk.
Xiao Yu unlocked the iPad and took a glance at the time. Dammit, it’s five minutes before noon.
After becoming a hamster, this was the first time that Xiao Yu had slept in that late (not including the times when he went back to sleep after he woke up).
He turned to look at the empty bed and felt guilty about it.
They had stayed up quite late earlier this morning. He was sure that Yan Jin did not rest properly.
But unlike him, Yan Jin couldn’t sleep until whenever he liked. Now that the long holiday had come to an end, and with the Autumn Release Conference just around the corner, he couldn’t possibly take any leave from work at this point in time, even if he was the chairman.
I wonder what Yan Jin is doing now. Is he feeling okay…?
Xiao Yu blamed himself for a while. Then, he suddenly thought of a very good way to compensate.
Didn’t he add Yan Jin as his friend? He could simply ask him, right?
YL’s chairman’s office.
It was lunch break when Yan Jin set aside his work and logged into his side account. He was uploading a picture that he secretly took when Xiao Yu was tearing up.
It was attached with the caption – A weeping Fishy.
No less than fifty seconds after Yan Jin had uploaded that status, he received a new message.
The bouncing icon belonged to Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both. Yan Jin thought that it must have something to do with the Autumn Release Conference. He didn’t expect that when he opened the message –
[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: Yan Jin, Yan Jin, your hamster misses you. longinghamster.jpg
Yan Jin: “……”
The moment that message was sent out, Xiao Yu immediately regretted his actions. He couldn’t understand how stupid he was to use that account to send such a message to Yan Jin.
It was too late to delete the message, because Yan Jin had replied.
[Grey-white SS]: …… Fishy?
At that moment, Xiao Yu could feel all his blood rushing to his brain. His remaining rationality was almost screaming out loud.
Calm down, quick, think of a way. No matter what you do, you must not reveal anything about the mystery designer!
For a moment, Xiao Yu simply could not think of a way to explain himself. But hesitating too long would surely raise suspicions. So, the hamster could only reply.
[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: It’s me.
[Grey-white SS]: Why are you using your previous owner’s QQ account?
Hm?
Hm? Hold on.
Oh right! How could he forget about that! Aside from being the account holder of the mystery designer, Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both had another identity – his ‘ex-owner’!
Gosh, I had actually forgotten about that. Thank god Yan Jin made me remember it…
Hmm…
A weird emotion suddenly emerged in Xiao Yu’s heart.
As a matter of fact, Xiao Yu could only maintain his fake hamster identity that was full of loopholes for such a long time because Yan Jin had contributed plausible explanations with his seemingly logical reasoning every single time.
Just like how at this moment, Yan Jin found yet another logical explanation that even Xiao Yu had not thought of. Once again, he successfully wrapped another thin layer around the truth despite it being full of holes.
Xiao Yu did not want to call too much attention to it, so he immediately went along with Yan Jin’s words.
[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: I only know this QQ account. I can only contact you this way.
[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: upsethamster.jpg
[Grey-white SS]: Don’t do that next time. I’ll register another account for you.
[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: ……Oh.
Five minutes later, Grey-white SS sent a new account ID and password.
Xiao Yu logged out from his Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both account and logged in to the new account. The friends list only had Grey-white SS as his friend, which was no big deal. In fact, the problem was this account’s ID – Likes Grey-white SS Most.
Xiao Yu: … You’ve got some nerve, Yan Jin.
The speechless Xiao Yu tried to communicate with Yan Jin.
[Likes Mr Chairman Most]: This nickname doesn’t sound good. I want to change it.
[Grey-white SS]: No objection. It’s your account after all.
For some reason, Xiao Yu could actually smell the disappointment from that simple reply.
However, such level of disappointment was not enough to touch the hard-hearted Xiao Yu. He tapped with his little paws and changed the nickname to [Fishy].
[Fishy]: Done~
[Grey-white SS]: Oh.
That indifferent ‘oh’ ended the conversation.
A moment later, just when Xiao Yu was planning to ask if Yan Jin was feeling unwell, the chairman made the first move.
[Grey-white SS]: Does your ex owner know about your situation as well?
[Fishy]: Nope, he does not know. I’ve only told you.
[Grey-white SS]: You were the one who told me?
[Fishy]: ……
Well it was true, Yan Jin found out about it himself.
Xiao Yu gritted his teeth in frustration. Why had he not realized how irritating Yan Jin was before this?
[Fishy]: cryinghamster.jpg
[Grey-white SS]: You still dare to cry? Have you forgotten how your eyes hurt last night?
[Fishy]: It’s not painful anymore.
[Grey-white SS]: You shouldn’t cry even if it’s not painful. Remember to delete that conversation log, don’t let your original owner find out about it.
[Fishy]: ……Oh.
Xiao Yu didn’t know if he was reading into it too much, but why did he feel that Yan Jin seemed more experienced than him in such matters?
[Grey-white SS]: Even if it’s not painful, you shouldn’t treat it lightly. Go catch some rest, and no gaming.
[Grey-white SS]: If there’s nothing else, I have some work matters to attend to in the afternoon. I’ll be back early today.
[Fishy]: Oh.
Xiao Yu obediently let go off the iPad. Then, he felt that something was amiss.
Wait, hold on?
What was he planning to do in the first place?
[Fishy]: Wait, did you get enough sleep last night…?
However, Xiao Yu did not receive a reply no matter how long he waited because Grey-white SS’s icon had already turned grey.
Xiao Yu dejectedly withdrew his message since Yan Jin could not see it anyway. After the lunch break, there was no way that Yan Jin would log into his QQ side account.
Sigh, so frustrating.
That afternoon, Xiao Yu did not play his game. It was not because his eyes were feeling uncomfortable, but because Nannan had returned. Xiao Yu expressed some interest in his counterpart’s vacation, then immediately requested for him to quickly present the participating drawing.
Nan Wei looked at the pile of orders that the customer service side was unable to handle in time over the national vacation. He had no choice but to call his childhood sweetheart over again and attempt to impress Xiao Yu by feigning more than his own abilities once again.
[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: Could you settle it before the 10th? The overseas voting will start tomorrow. It’ll be good to submit them early to gain some popularity.
[Nannan]: No problem, leave it to me.
That night, Yan Jin arrived home at 6:30 p.m.
SPECIAL MENTION!
Hi everyone! The voting post for the fan art contest will be published right after this chapter. Before I do that, I would like to do a special mention to this awesome artist, Ayra, who submitted a comic strip of RIAH to us! To our dearest Ayra, you will be automatically included to the access of additional chapters once the final list of winners are up! -iamfeiii
