Yun Manman had a strange and bizarre dream.
She dreamed of her past life.
As a child, she grew up in an orphanage. Due to lack of nutrition, she was as skinny as a monkey, and often bullied by the mischievous boys in the orphanage who would pull her braids.
What she envied most back then were the little girls passing by the orphanage gate holding their mothers' hands, always carrying all sorts of delicious treats.
Little Manman would ambitiously tell the orphanage director: "Mama Director! I'm going to earn lots and lots of money when I grow up, and buy tons of strawberry cakes!"
In reality, Manman had never even tasted strawberry cake at that time; she had only seen it on TV.
She never pinned her hopes on being adopted, only believing that she must earn a lot of money in the future.
To buy and taste all the delicious foods she liked.
As an adult, Yun Manman still hoped to make big money, praying sincerely every year before the statue of the God of Wealth.
Only now she didn't set such high expectations for herself, occasionally placing her hopes on the lottery.
The dream scene shifted, and Yun Manman bought a grilled sausage and walked into the neighboring lottery shop, buying a ten-dollar scratch card as usual.
Unsurprisingly, she didn't win. Yun Manman's luck had always been ordinary.
But wait! The person sitting next to her won!
Three million!
Yun Manman remembered that the scratch card in this person's hand was the one right after hers.
Her own failure was certainly disappointing, but the success of the person next to her was even more painful.
Yun Manman felt utterly heartbroken, feeling she had just missed out on three million by a hair's breadth.
So close, wuwuwuwu...
She channeled her grief into appetite, taking a big bite of her grilled sausage.
"Tss."
Lu Qi, who was sitting by the hospital bed listening to Lu Xi's report, felt a pain at the tip of his tail.
He turned his head to look and found that the little orange cat, who had been lying still just moments ago, was now crying "meow meow" for some reason and writhing on the bed like a maggot.
The snake tail behind Lu Qi was also tightly hugged by her, with sharp teeth gnawing on it, making crunching noises.
Lu Xi also peeked over and chuckled: "Is Miss Yun hungry?"
It was somewhat cute.
Tch.
Lu Qi looked helplessly at the little cat obviously immersed in her dream, not knowing how to extract his tail.
His scales were very hard, so of course, there would be no problem with her biting like this.
He was just worried she might hurt her teeth.
Lu Qi leaned over, his left hand supporting himself at the cat's side, his right hand gripping his own tail, trying to gently pull it out.
But as soon as he moved slightly, the cat on the bed opened her eyes, a pair of misty cat eyes still filled with remnants of sleep.
"Three million..."
Lu Qi: ...
Looks like the three million I prepared for her was very timely.
Five minutes later, the little orange cat sat nervously on the hospital bed, carefully stealing glances at the man talking to Lu Xi by the wall.
Short black hair with a hint of red in the light, cold white delicate skin, a high straight nose, slightly upturned phoenix eyes of vermilion, thinly pressed sexy lips.
The well-fitted military uniform outlined his perfect figure, with a long white jade-colored tail hanging down to the ground behind him, its tip unconsciously swaying left and right.
Come to think of it, this was Yun Manman's first time seeing Lu Qi in person.
She had only seen his photos online before.
And then she had only seen his beast form.
Indeed, the beast form and human form gave different feelings!
Yun Manman still couldn't quite connect the little snake Qiqi with Lu Qi himself, always feeling a strange sense of disconnect.
This human form of Qiqi had a cold and depressing aura, looking not easy to get along with at first glance.
Yun Manman didn't even dare to speak much now, only daring to lie on the bed playing with her communication device, but her ears on top of her head were perked up high, secretly listening to their conversation.
Lu Xi: "...Qiao You has been arrested, but he refuses to reveal who his accomplices are no matter what."
Lu Qi, sensing Yun Manman's furtive glances at him, lowered his eyes: "The other vampires have been caught, right? Go interrogate them and see if there are any other clues."
Lu Xi nodded and added, "We've sent people to search the Yali'ou Mountain Range. If there's any entrance or exit, I'll report it immediately."
What lay on the other side of the Yali'ou Mountain Range was still unclear, yet the vampires had been constantly flying towards that direction with Yun Manman and Alice.
It was hard not to suspect that their lair might be on the other side of the mountain.
Mr. Chameleon looked hesitantly at the cat secretly observing from the bed, then at Lu Qi.
"General, there's also the matter of guidance..."
The tip of Lu Qi's tail behind him stopped moving: "I understand. I'll talk to her about it."
"I'll go prepare some food for Miss Yun." Lu Xi smiled at Yun Manman, then left the hospital room.
With Lu Xi gone, only Lu Qi and Yun Manman were left in the room.
Yun Manman inexplicably felt nervous, staring straight at her communication device, yet not taking in a single word.
The hospital room remained quiet for a long time, so long that Yun Manman was about to doze off, when she finally heard Lu Qi's cool voice.
"Do you... have any discomfort anywhere?"
General Lu really didn't know how to interact with females, and at the same time, he was afraid Yun Manman would bring up past events. After thinking for a long time, he could only squeeze out this sentence.
The little orange cat sat upright on the bed, her left front paw pitifully wrapped in bandages, and medication applied to the wounds on her body.
The doctor said that her left front paw wasn't just sprained, but had a slight fracture as well.
While Yun Manman was unconscious, the nurse had already helped clean her, so her fur was very clean, just not groomed, with disheveled long hair making her look like a light orange dandelion.
She looked adorably silly.
The cat had no mirror, so naturally didn't know what she looked like now.
Looking at her, Lu Qi felt his hand itch, wanting to pat down all those unruly hairs.
Of course, that was just a thought; petting a cat was absolutely out of the question.
Yun Manman assessed herself, wiggled her injured front paw, and hesitantly said, "I'm a bit thirsty..."
General Lu Qi seemed even more nervous than her.
The tail behind him had gone rigid. In the past, when Qiqi was nervous, he would stiffen like a snake stick.
Moreover, General Lu Qi seemed to have something he wanted to say to her?
Lu Qi strode over, got a glass of water for Yun Manman, and held it to the cat's mouth.
Yun Manman was a bit stunned.
Lu Qi looked at the frozen cat in confusion: "Didn't you want water?"
He saw that her paws were inconvenienced and wanted to help her hold the cup.
Yun Manman hesitated for a moment, then raised her paw to point at the folding table on the hospital bed: "Just help me put it on the table, thank you..."
Being fed water like that was a bit awkward.
So Lu Qi wordlessly set up the small table and put the water glass on it, watching as the cat took small sips of water.
Lu Qi took the opportunity to sit by the hospital bed and, after some consideration, said, "Thank you very much for saving me and helping me with the guidance despite our past issues. I will transfer a sum of money to you as a thank-you gift."
"Additionally, I hope you can forget about the previous events..."
Yun Manman had expected him to ask her to keep it a secret.
After all, no one wants others to know about their embarrassing moments! Understandable!
Moreover, as an important figure in Kashida, she naturally wouldn't disclose his affairs.
She was very cooperative: "Alright! I'll keep it a secret. I only remember that my pet snake unfortunately fell ill and passed away."
Lu Qi: Although it's a good excuse, it somehow doesn't sound quite right.
Yun Manman's calm demeanor surprised Lu Qi.
It gave him a strange feeling that he wasn't important to her at all.
Lu Qi opened his communication device and pulled up a pre-drafted agreement. The three million Cloth Currency clearly written on it dazzled Yun Manman's eyes.
Scratch card! Had her scratch card come back to her?
Yun Manman felt a bit embarrassed and said somewhat shyly, "Isn't this too much..."
She felt guilty accepting such a large sum for keeping quiet.
Lu 'Rich Man' Qi didn't mind at all: "It's not too much. You deserve it all."
Well, if you put it that way, I won't be polite!
The orange cat's emerald green eyes sparkled like a sun-lit lake, her tail swishing rapidly behind her, clearly showing how happy she was.
Lu Qi noticed this and inwardly snorted, feeling somewhat smug.
He knew it, this three million was given at just the right time.
Signing the agreement required both parties' fingerprints and iris scans.
It wasn't until Yun Manman saw the cat in the camera that she realized how silly she looked with her messy appearance.
The cat girl's ears turned red as she glanced around, trying to find a comb.
Lu Qi noticed and smoothly took out a grooming brush from the bottom drawer of the desk.
Yun Manman dodged Lu Qi's outstretched hand and said with pleading eyes, "Can I do it myself?"
She had heard that General Lu Qi disliked feline beastmen the most. Before, she had been so close to him without hesitation, and he didn't hold grudges or get angry with her.
Now, to trouble someone who didn't like cats to help her groom would be too inconsiderate of her.
Lu Qi stood in place, watching as the cat girl took the brush and struggled to groom herself.
A myriad of emotions flashed across his handsome face.