Chapter 176

Page Thirty-Three Punishment for the偷腥猫

— “Why would Qiǎnxià say ‘again’? Did I come here just now?” —

Cherry Sauce sent a telepathic message, and it was only natural for her to be confused.

Despite the current situation being somewhat overwhelming, I still sorted out what had happened in my mind and made Cherry Sauce understand as well.

— “Tsk, you mean… our mother came in just now?” —

On the surface, she was still playing around with Qiǎnxià and even dressed the little girl in a pretty plaid skirt, but her telepathic message showed no ease at all.

— “You told her about my plan to find her hideout?” —

I originally intended to tell Lǐn Huā. We couldn’t solve the problem on our own; we definitely needed a strategist to help!

But I never imagined that our mother would sneak into the team.

— “She took advantage of me being away today, but it’s impossible she didn’t notice anything, right? Spilling information, do you still feel innocent?” —

Okay, looking back, the fake Lǐn Huā impersonated by our mother did show some flaws.

For example, she called me “Xiǎo Kǎi” instead of “Kǎi-Chan,” which Lǐn Huā usually calls me.

I didn’t think much of it at the time, nor did I find it strange…

Cherry Sauce sighed in her telepathic message.

— “Sigh, this makes finding the hideout even harder. She won’t eat that elixir of immortality, and time is running out…” —

Don’t call it that so disgustingly. Although it doesn’t look good, it’s the Elixir of Immortality!

— “What should we do now?” —

The difficulty increased, but the plan remained unchanged.

We still need to find our mother’s hideout and feed her the medicine.

— “You’re just shouting slogans!” —

It’s not exactly shouting slogans. She has already interacted with us twice. If there’s a second time, there will be a third. She will definitely come again… Have your investigations turned up anything?

— “I swept the entire village with my line of sight, and there are indeed traces left by her, but there isn’t enough evidence to prove that her hideout is here. It might just be the scent she left when she came to find you.” —

Maybe like the new research institute of Senior Sister, the hideout is hidden underground a hundred meters deep.

— “That’s certainly possible… But investigating underground would be even more difficult. Could you narrow down the search area a bit more?” —

She went out but found no usable clues.

There are still two days until Qiǎnxià returns, but here we have no leads or progress. Our mother doesn’t take her life seriously and casually says she’s prepared to disappear at any moment. I don’t know whether to call her optimistic or pessimistic.

Mother noticed my worried expression and said, “Xiǎo Kǎi, if you have any worries, you can talk to me.”

— “Let’s not mention Mother’s matter first. You shouldn’t let Mother worry.” —

This kind of thing, even if Cherry Sauce hadn’t reminded me, I would know.

“No, it’s nothing serious.”

I forced a stiff smile, trying to hold my face together.

Xiǎo Lěi criticized, “But Chairman, your face doesn’t look like everything’s fine!”

“Doesn’t look like everything’s fine!”

Even Qiǎnxià repeated it.

So Mother was still worried. She cupped my face and rubbed it with her warm palm.

She asked, “Child, are you worried about having too little pocket money? I see you’re always outside… Do you want more?”

Although I wanted money, Father hadn’t been working lately. He wasn’t unemployed, but he didn’t have much salary either. Her source of funds could be guessed, asking for more pocket money would mean owing a favor to Sister Qínglán…

I shook my head and said, “It’s really okay. Father, don’t worry about me. After all, I’m a deity, the future sole deity!”

Although I am the sole deity, in essence, I’m just a lowly worker under the Heavenly Path.

Without a salary.

Mother wanted to ask more, but after my insistence, she finally stopped and focused on interacting with Qiǎnxià.

To prolong the time spent in the dream, I didn’t bring Lǐn Huā in, and then…

— Time Magazine! —

— November 21st, Thursday, 5:45 AM —

“Kǎi-Chan! You actually left me outside last night!”

Drowsily, I was woken up by Lǐn Huā’s noisy presence. Because I had slept well, she was full of energy, while I looked like I was about to collapse from lack of divine power.

Outside the window was still pitch black. I glanced at the electronic clock, it was five minutes to six.

It was very early. Lǐn Huā probably woke up and realized she hadn’t entered the dream, so she angrily shook me awake to question me… This time, she was quite angry.

By the way, Xiǎo Lěi had already finished washing up and was preparing to go for a morning run.

I wiped the drool off my mouth and explained, “Well, because I pulled Mother into the dream too, with too many people, the time spent with that child had to be shortened…”

“Why didn’t you just throw Xiǎo Lěi out then? I’m the cousin, right?”

Originally staying out of it, Xiǎo Lěi joined the conversation, “What? I’m closer to Qiànxià! Besides, it was Chairman who said you were offline, right?”

Lǐn Huā retorted, “I haven’t been online, how could I drop out?”

A question mark appeared above the idiot’s head.

“Huh? Didn’t we enter together?”

Explaining would be endless. Just as I hesitated on how to skip this topic, a scream came from the next room…

“Ahh!!!”

…a girl’s scream.

Cherry Sauce reacted, pulling out a black substance from me and smashing it against the white wall next to the television, instantly opening a circular portal.

On the other side of the door, in Mother’s “bedroom,” a strange ** was sitting dazed on the bed, her back facing us, head down, staring blankly at her hands.

She looked about ten years old.

“What’s going on?” I was a bit confused.

Mother only shook her head. The way she rubbed her eyes suggested she had just woken up. She and Júzi stood by the bed, looking bewildered and lost, clearly they didn’t know what had happened either.

“Heave-ho!”

Xiǎo Lěi somersaulted through the portal, landing on the bed and rolling over before standing in front of the strange **, squinting to examine her closely.

Then her eyes widened.

“Are you Little Wū Tuanzhang?!”

With Xiǎo Lěi’s words, Júzi also leaned in to sniff and confirmed, “This is definitely the smell of Sister Qínglán.”

“Huh? Sister Qínglán? Really or fake?”

In disbelief, she crossed through the broken wall to see the **’s face clearly. Although she had changed significantly, that face was indeed nine-tenths similar to Sister Qínglán’s, though it lacked the sharpness between the brows.

Lǐn Huā: “Is this caused by some kind of technique?”

Considering the current situation, I held my forehead and thought.

I asked, “Uh, this little girl, could you be the future child of Mother and Sister Qínglán, traveling through time?”

Mother knocked the back of my head and complained, “Don’t talk nonsense, there’s no such possibility! How could Mother and Little Wū possibly have a child!”

Mother’s denial… hurt Sister Qínglán’s self-esteem.

“I, I am Wū Qínglán!”

The ** came to her senses and finally introduced herself, speaking with a muddled voice, “I don’t know what happened, I woke up as a child.”

Her speech was childish and slurred, like someone scratching your ear, very comfortable. Is this what they call cute voice?

Mother picked up the ** from the bed and smiled, “So small, so cute! But why is this happening?”

I turned around and asked, “Did Cherry Sauce notice anything?”

“Isn’t it obvious? It must be the work of Mysterious Girl A.”

I asked, “Uh, reason?”

Finally crossing through the portal, Cherry Sauce shrugged and asked, “What do you think?”

… I can guess the reason.

This is a form of retaliation, or punishment?

For the cat looking to take advantage and dig holes, our mother also imposed the “heavenly punishment” of the main wife.

— “Transformed back into a ten-year-old **, regardless of how loving Father and Sister Qínglán are later, they won’t be able to get married in the short term.” —

Not only is it illegal, but they also can’t make it public, otherwise Father would end up in jail…

— “Our mother smiles on the surface, but behind the scenes, she’s a ruthless person.” —

This punishment is too harsh.

If she can’t turn back, at least for seven or eight years, Sister Qínglán won’t be able to achieve her ambitions…

— “Although the technique is complex, it’s not permanent. There might be some conditions… Send her to the research institute for an MRI scan, maybe something can be discovered.” —

Perhaps she also realized something, Qínglán’s… expression was very anxious, and she kept asking, “Why?”

Her originally narrow fox-like eyes became round and lively, adding to her cuteness.

Held in Mother’s arms, her slightly brown-black baby hair fluttered, emitting a soft, delicate fragrance.

By the way, her pink pajamas had also shrunk proportionally.

I suggested, “Today, let’s take you to Senior Sister’s research institute to check. They have specialized equipment… Or go further, to Master Hālìlùyà’s temple to ask her to take a look.”

Little Qínglán clung to Mother’s neck and shouted in opposition.

“No! I don’t want to go to the temple!”

Sister Qínglán was still resistant to being associated with Master Hālìlùyà.

I scratched my head and said, “Then after breakfast, let’s go to the research institute… Or, Mother, why don’t you take a day off today and come along?”

Mother held Little Qínglán and smiled with her eyes narrowed, “That’s exactly what I planned. After all, Little Wū is hard to let go of~”

It’s better with Mother accompanying. After all, I still need to talk to Lín Zǐyè today about meeting with Líng Shàojié, and she needs to bring Little Qínglán home…

Thinking the plan was settled, Cherry Sauce frowned and placed her hands on her hips.

She said, “Hey hey! Are you planning to have me replace you at school again today?”

“Well, wasn’t that the arrangement yesterday?”

“Yesterday was because you couldn’t change back! Since you’ve changed back, shouldn’t the arrangement be changed?”

I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead.

“…So what do you mean?”

Cherry Sauce snapped her fingers, and my sleeping clothes turned into winter school uniform.

She said, “I’ll handle Wū Qínglán and Lín Zǐyè. You and Lǐn Huā, go to school and deal with the senior students!”

… Going to school?