Chapter Thirty-One

  Jiang Chuan seems to be quite puzzled as to why he was scolded so much when he didn't do anything. Fang Yu gave him a standard answer: "No reason, those people scold you just because they want to scold someone, and you happened to be in the way, so you got blocked once... although others won't thank you either."

  "I didn't say anything about Xu Wenjie," Jiang Chuan said. "That reporter asked me something that I didn't hear clearly at all."

  "You're still making excuses... but that's not the point anymore. When we were in elementary school, we could still read out a strong and resilient spirit from 'Wildfire cannot burn it all, spring breeze blows and it grows again' to praise life - maybe Bai Juyi just wanted to write about that grass, who knows? Bai Juyi didn't mind either... Now everyone thinks your Chinese is pretty good, using the hamster to mock Xu Wenjie... isn't that what you hoped for?"

  “……”

  "Look at your expression, you're still quite sympathetic to this fat mouse of yours?"

  "No."

  "Don't worry, it's not pitiful at all. Look at that little melon head and those chubby legs shaking, living a carefree life," Fang Yu patted Jiang Chuan's shoulder with a sigh, "You should worry about yourself instead. Xu Wenjie may be low, but he still has some dignity. What if he comes over and bites you, sending you to the hospital? Jiang Luocheng will go crazy again after changing male leads."

  Jiang Chuan thought for a moment and decided to listen to Fang Yu's explanation after all - anyway, he had already explained what needed to be explained, and there was nothing that could be done if those people didn't believe him... He then borrowed Fang Yu's phone and casually scrolled through Weibo, only to discover that some people were actually dissecting his every sentence, carefully analyzing the emotions contained within, and even managed to come up with all sorts of profound meanings. They even imagined Jiang Chuan's facial expression when he asked the author a question, complete with a mocking look - it was as if they had really been there at the scene... The most ridiculous thing was that countless people were seriously echoing and expressing their belief in this absurd tale.

  Jiang Chuan decided to no longer care about this matter.

  He asked Fang Yu for a leave of absence, saying that he wanted to properly resolve the class contradictions between himself and his own hamsters.

  Although the reason for this leave makes people want to say "no", but thinking that it's almost New Year's, there are no activities on the crew side, and Jiang Chuan is still a newcomer without any commercial appointments. Originally, there were several companies interested in finding him as a spokesperson due to his recent popularity and good looks - however, because they took advantage of Jiang Chuan being a newcomer, the pay was particularly low, so Fang Yu didn't hesitate and directly rejected them.

  So after hesitating for a moment, Mr. Agent magnanimously approved Jiang Chuan's request.

  Jiang Chuan solemnly thanked him, then carried a small stool and sat down in front of the hamster cage - at this time, the hamsters in the cage, who had never been afraid of humans, were lying on their backs with their paws on the edge of the food bowl, with several melon seeds scattered on their white bellies. When they saw Jiang Chuan's handsome face approaching, they shook their legs and turned their heads to the other side.

  Avoid eye contact and interaction.

  Jiang Chuan stared at it for a while, and after failing to communicate with brain waves, he opened the hamster cage and grabbed the hamsters inside - usually at this time, the hamsters would come up to hug his fingers and rub against them, but today they were lying listlessly in the palm of his hand, looking spiritless.

  Just patted the melon skin on his belly with his hand.

  "A Fei, you've been quite busy lately and haven't had time to go out for a walk, are you unhappy about it?"

  “……”

  He solemnly declared that he had never seen anyone who could talk nonsense with such a serious face as Jiang Chuan. No matter how busy, at least every night, he would return home. And in these days, he lived regularly between work, eating, sleeping, and watching TV - He was dizzy from watching Jiang Chuan swaying back and forth in front of the hamster cage in various poses, from fully dressed Jiang Chuan to shirtless Jiang Chuan, to pants-less Jiang Chuan wearing a shirt, and to Jiang Chuan without pants or shirts. The just-woken-up, sleepy, energetic, and all sorts of Jiang Chuan made him almost tired of watching.

  However, neither of them has had a good interaction with each other in any form.

  The only reminder that Jian Chuan is still alive and so is Vigilant is the daily routine of Jian Chuan adding food or changing the bath sand for Vigilant - while in most cases, when Jian Chuan does these things, Vigilant is either still sleeping soundly in his cotton ball hut or has just woken up and hasn't figured out what's going on yet.

  This man gets up earlier than a hamster every day, thus creating a perfect time difference between him and his hamster.

  It suddenly dawned on him that the last time he saw Jiang Chuan's smiling face was when he was facing the TV camera with a fake smile, and he finally reacted slowly: He was actually being cold-shouldered.

  A big old man who is about 1.8 meters tall, actually gave the cold shoulder to a hamster that was smaller than his palm!

  Simply beastly!

  The various stars who had been pampered and spoiled expressed their extreme shock and dissatisfaction at being neglected, so when Jiang Chuan stretched out his hand with a hint of flattery to scratch its chin, it would raise its paw in annoyance and push his fingers away. When Jiang Chuan tried to touch its round and plump belly, it became even more vicious and directly flipped over, crawling around the palm of the man's large hand before landing elegantly on the table with a four-legged stance, successfully touching down on its belly.

  The hamster rolled over on the desktop and then crawled into its cage with a stuffy snort.

  On that swaying back, it seemed as if four big characters "滚你大爷" (Get out of my sight) were written squarely.

  Starting a cold war is easy, anyone can do it.

  “……”

  Hmph.

  It slowly crawled back into its cage, its short legs and arms moving exceptionally slow - especially when it crossed the cage door to climb inside. Gone was the lively spirit that used to jump up and down in the three-story villa. The hamster seemed as if it had been cast with a freezing spell. As it climbed over the cage door threshold, which it made look like a high mountain, its round body suddenly stopped moving after its four paws finally landed on the ground.

  He could feel Kagawa's gaze on his back.

  But

  But...

  What's wrong with this guy, why hasn't he come to persuade me to stay?

  Where is love?!!!!

  The hamster waited for half a day, but there was no tearful farewell or apology from its owner. The hamster felt extremely lonely - in its fantasy, Jiang Chuan would hold its fluffy and handsome face, promise not to force it to lose weight again, buy it cherry, strawberry, apple, blueberry, banana pie, let it take a bite and then throw it away while smiling and saying "it's okay as long as you're not mad at me". However, this scenario did not occur, and the silence from behind made Jian Ran feel like he had silently died.

  He resolutely walked onto the rooftop.

  But now looking around, he couldn't find the stairs coming down from the rooftop.

  With a determined heart, the hamster finally stopped dawdling and quickly climbed up to its three-story wooden villa, scurrying into a hole, busily wrapping itself in cotton balls, and putting on a sleep hat made of fluffy cotton. Just as it was about to settle down, it suddenly felt an eerie silence behind it - could it be that Jiang Chuan had seen the hamster's dismissive attitude and had walked away with a flick of his sleeve?

  No, I shouldn't be so pessimistic, comforting myself, thinking that it might be better, what if he just suddenly died?

  He carefully pulled down the cotton wadding bit by bit.

  Now that he's dead, someone with a good heart should collect his body, right?

  It seemed to have made up its mind, and with a sudden movement, the cotton-padded sleeping cap on its head was pulled down. The hamster in the small wooden house turned around, first stretching its tiny nose out to sniff, then realizing it wasn't a dog (...), this fact dawned on it quickly. Its pink nose, mouth, half of its face, and eventually its entire head gradually emerged from the fluffy cotton balls.

  He cautiously poked his head out of the small wooden house, looked around for a while, and finally reluctantly straightened his head with a mental self-persuasion of "since I've come all this way, it's not good to close the door and thank the guest, after all, I'm a very polite person". Then he raised his head and bravely faced that beautiful and hateful azure gaze - at this moment, Jiang Chuan was sitting in front of his villa, propping up his chin with one hand, lazily and unapologetically staring back at the hamster.

  Jiang Chuan: “......”

  Jian Ran: "......"

  The hamster first left without looking back, and now it slowly poked its head out to look around - the man slightly curled up his lips and just let out an "ah" sound, but didn't expect that this one "ah" sound would startle the hamster that had just poked its head out. It was seen that it swiftly covered its eyes with its paws - after a moment, it seemed to have finally reacted and realized that half of its body was still outside the house, so it put down its paws and fiercely retreated back into the house.

  Seeing the hamster's agile movements, Jiang Chuan slightly narrowed his eyes and said: "Ah Fei, you've lost weight recently. Before, your butt was almost too big to fit through the door, but now it fits again... Is it because you're unhappy, so you can't eat?"

  “……”

  It has been a long time, and there is no news.

  Just as Jiang Chuan couldn't help but want to reach out and touch the hamster in the small wooden house, he saw a ball of cotton balls being pushed out from the hole of the wooden house - among the cotton balls, there were also melon seeds.

  It's as if a hamster is responding to his question about "not being happy and losing appetite" ——

  I'm in a great mood, not only eating and drinking well, but also lying down to eat, munching on melon seeds in bed.

  A hamster, who was quietly staring at the wall of its wooden hut with a hint of disdain, suddenly kicked out a ball of cotton that had been stuffed into the room. The room, which had been packed to the brim with cotton, suddenly became empty and spacious. A cool breeze blew in from both sides of the hut, making the hamster feel even more annoyed. After pacing back and forth in the empty room for a while, it finally discovered an astonishing fact...

  It seems like it really slimmed down!

  He quietly stretched out his claws, pulled at the elastic skin on his face that might sag to his toes after he got older - and found that its laxity seemed to have weakened compared to before.

  That sentence goes like this...... Indeed, one can become worn out for a beauty.

  What a pity.

  Jiang River doesn't know the hamster's hatred, across the river still singing **.

  He thought resentfully, and then secretly crawled out of the small wooden house, very embarrassingly picking up the cotton wool that he had thrown away - it couldn't be any colder than to freeze himself... At the same time, the hamster was regretful while re-stuffing the cotton wool into the wooden house, wondering why he hadn't thought of not mixing so many melon seeds in earlier, and now he had to pick them out one by one.

  Kneeling in the house, carefully sorting out the cotton wool that had been messed up by herself.

  "Hey Ah Fei, are you unhappy?" said Jiang Chuan from outside.

  If he could speak human language now, he would go ask Jiang Chuan if he had been watching TVB too much lately and was planning to carve the phrase "being a hamster is all about being happy" onto his forehead. The hamster was picking out melon seeds from its "little blanket" with its orchid fingers, looking disgusted and self-loathing, when it suddenly heard Jiang Chuan finally finish reciting the TVB lines outside. Before he could even feel relieved that the noise had stopped, he heard the sound of a door opening and closing in the distance.

  A loud "squeak" pierced the air.

  It went "bang" and echoed loudly.

  The hamster was taken aback.

  This time, without hesitation, it threw open the "little quilt" in its hand, stretched out its neckless neck to explore - as expected, there was no one outside the cage. The original owner who was still sitting in front of the cage, facing the wall and thinking, had disappeared. At this moment, the entire apartment was empty, with only a hamster left as the only living creature that could breathe.

  Jian Ran: "......"

  What's going on?

  Where is he?

  Where's the owner?

  Where is the janitor?

  Was it his overacting that really scared him away?

  “……”

  Once he had this idea, Jian Ran suddenly became somewhat uneasy from his previous "righteous and majestic" demeanor. He stretched out his paws, hesitated for a moment, and then touched his round and plump belly again and again - until it almost shaved off all the fur on his abdomen before stopping. By the time he came to his senses, he found himself standing in the center of the cage, posing like a statue making "belly rubbing" movements for over ten minutes...

  “…………”

  It turns out that losing weight is actually possible.

  After all, with a belly so big, it lowers its head and can't see its own toes, which will also make him feel very annoyed.

  He wandered around the room like a restless soul, his mind struggling with whether or not to wait for Jiang Chuan's return and then reluctantly apologize to him. Just as he was thinking this, it suddenly occurred to him - what if Jiang Chuan didn't come back?

  Because of a quarrel with a hamster, the rebellious teenager went out for a drive, determined to be the fastest down the mountain in G City. The car lost control, failed to turn, and crashed through the guardrail.

  Half an hour later.

  When Jiang Chuan's brain was already muddled and his brains were splattered all over, suddenly, Jin Ran heard the sound of footsteps coming from outside the door.

  “！”

  The hamster, which had been running wildly in its cage, suddenly stopped and jumped down from the second layer to the first, landing on the wood shavings and rolling around before scrambling up to the edge of the cage - when the hamster held its breath and pressed its face against the cage, making a pancake face, those beady eyes, which were bigger than green beans, finally saw that the apartment door had been opened from the outside.

  Behind the door, there appeared a familiar figure.

  Jiang Chuan opened the door and walked in, still wearing his bright red helmet that was just as flashy as his motorcycle.

  I had already imagined Jiang Chuan falling off the cliff, with not a single intact piece of flesh larger than a fingernail. Now, seeing him completely unscathed, I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief - for a moment, a strange thought popped into my head: from now on, I'll never argue with him again.

  When Jiang Chuan took off his helmet, the hamsters in the cage were lying on the edge of the cage with an excited face.

  It wasn't until he saw the man turn around, holding in his other hand, without a helmet, a box that was all too familiar to him - small, cheap, the kind used for Brazilian turtles.

  Jian Ran: "……………………"

  Jin Ran watched intently as Jiang Chuan carried the box over and placed it in front of him. As he looked through the cage, he saw a brown-black-backed hamster crouching in the corner of the Brazilian turtle's box, and Jin Ran's heart almost collapsed.

  When he heard Jiang Chuan say "Ah Fei, I've bought you a wife, her name is Xiao Hei", Jian Ran completely collapsed - if one day he could wake up from his vegetative state, the first thing he would do is to beat Fang Yu, but that's not important now. What he would definitely do is buy the newspaper company where that big-mouthed reporter works, then wait quietly, and finally, cruelly fire the reporter on the eve of the annual bonus distribution.

  Let him struggle and roll around as much as he wants, but I will resolutely expel him.

  ……

  I never thought Jiang Chuan would buy a female hamster for him.

  This really shocked the mouse.

  He carefully picked up a melon seed and put it in his mouth, trying to calm himself down with food.

  At this time, he didn't think that something even more shocking was yet to come.

  When Jiang Chuan proudly introduced the female hamster to him and told him that the hamster's name was Xiao Hei, the little black hamster turned its head around from inside the plastic box of Brazilian turtle, looking at Jian Ran with a calm and expressionless face in a hamster-like manner.

  At this time, Jian Ran felt like something was off.

  Then Xiao Hei stood up.

  Then he saw his "wife" little chirp again.

  Jian Ran: "……………………………………?"