Welcome to the Misogyny Game

Three people and a cat gaze at each other across the coffee shop.

They found a coffee shop to start a conversation. The girl broke the silence first: "Little cat, is this your owner?"

She was referring to Mu Li, who was sitting on the sofa with her arms crossed, tilting her head back and nodding at Mo Yun: "Tell her about our relationship."

Mo Yun: "Meow? (What's our relationship? It's not like you're just staying at our house, is it?)"

Mu Li was very dissatisfied with his words and turned to Liu Chaoque, hoping she could give her a satisfactory answer. Liu Chaoque looked at him with disbelief.

He said speechlessly, "Daddy, the sugar daddy."

"puff!"

"puff!"

Mu Li and the girl both sprayed coffee. Mu Li coughed and said, "Cough cough, no, that's not nice of you. Why are you calling me 'sugar daddy'? Aren't we distant relatives?"

"You two..." The girl pointed at Liu Chaoque and then at Mu Li. They were a handsome man and a beautiful woman, but she didn't feel they had anything in common. She had already accepted Liu Chaoque's words in her heart: "What exactly is your relationship?"

No, wasn't the question about Mo Yun and Mu Li? How did it get to them? She could only say, "He's a distant relative, but he's staying with me now. His mother's family is very wealthy and gave us a lot of money for lodging, asking us to take good care of him. So I call him 'sugar daddy' in private, but the kid is shy, so I won't say it."

Her explanation is barely acceptable.

"So, your ability to understand Mo Yun's speech, is it just understanding his or understanding other animals?" Liu Chaoque got straight to the point. She had been having so much fun these past few days that she had almost forgotten about this. She didn't know how to test anyone; if there were any schemes or tricks, she would just confront them directly.

"Well," the girl sighed heavily, "I guess that's all. Ever since I understood what Xiao Moyun said that time, when I came home, it felt like a marketplace. My hamsters kept chattering like they had hyperthyroidism, and my bird was gossiping about the couple next door, asking her how she knew all this without leaving the house. He even told me that his friend told him, and he wanted her to set him free."

"So did you set him free?" Liu Chaoque asked.

"Uh, we didn't let him out." The girl said with heartache, "This guy is just a weakling with a big addiction, so he stays at home. He gets sick every few days and we have to take him to the vet. If we let him out, he'd be lucky to survive three days."

"Alright," the girl grabbed Liu Chaoque's hand. "Can you turn this function off? I don't want to be in the market every day. Besides, I don't really care what the animals are saying. I feel awkward having a pet now. I guess... ignorance is bliss."

"Oh, and one more thing... I don't dare to eat meat anymore, for fear that the fish or shrimp will scream for help and make me look like a ruthless killer."

Liu Chaoque: I really didn't expect that.

"Calm down first." She pulled her hand away from his grasp, which had been gripped quite tightly and hurt. "First of all, I have to tell you seriously: this ability of yours wasn't given to you by Xiao Moyun. If he really had this ability, how come I, who have been in contact with him all along, don't have such severe cases as you? He was at most the first animal you encountered when you gained this ability. Secondly, I have a question for you."

"Go ahead and ask." The girl sat up straight.

“Exactly.” Liu Chaoque scratched his face: “What’s your name? I can’t keep calling you ‘you’ all the time.”

“My name is Zhao Yuhan. Yu is the character for gold, and Han is the character for cultivation. You can call me Xiaohan or Xiaoyu,” Zhao Yuhan said.

"Okay, Xiaoyu, let me ask you, did you encounter anything strange before you met Moyun?" Liu Chaoque couldn't help but think of the fire-breathing sword. Could it be that both of them had been given abilities by someone else?

“Speaking of strange things… it’s the cup I gave to Mo Yun. I bought it in a shop that had lots of cute animal-shaped items: cups, teacups, small lamps, and even a cat-shaped standing fan,” Zhao Yuhan recalled. “I got separated from my friend and tried to call her, but the call wouldn’t go through. I was going to wait where I was, but then I looked up and saw that shop. I went in without thinking and took a liking to that cup.”

"Later I found my friend, who said that I disappeared while she was buying milk tea, but I clearly remember that they got separated." Zhao Yuhan scratched her head: "At the time, I thought I remembered wrong. My friend also liked what I bought very much and asked me to take them to see it. They also found the store, but they didn't have the same cup as me. The shopkeeper said that each one is unique."

"But now that I think about it, something does seem a bit off," Zhao Yuhan said with a smile.

“The cup…” Liu Chaoque looked at Mo Yun: “Was it the night you arrived so late?”

Mo Yun nodded: "Yes, it's a pink cat cup. I felt you would like it, so I asked this lady where I could buy it. She said there was only one..." He became a little embarrassed as he spoke: "I didn't want it. It was a gift from the lady."

Oh, it was a gift from my sister. Liu Chaoque has dead fish eyes. He looks so awkward, I can't bear to look at him.

"Mo Yun is so cute, we had a lot of fun." Zhao Yuhan smiled and said, "It's just a cup, I'd be happy to give it to Mo Yun."

I'd be happy to...

Liu Chaoque didn't know why, but she felt a little uncomfortable. She quickly steered the conversation back on track: "So we can make a bold guess that you held a cat cup and encountered a cat. It's like a switch, and you learned animal language. Now let's guess whether your friends have this symptom. What kind of animals do your friends choose?"

"Um, let me think..." How come she didn't remember taking a picture at the time... When asked to think, she really couldn't remember for a moment.

“It should be a living animal. Girls might like cute things... hamsters, rabbits, dogs, birds, goldfish, Kapibala…” But Zhao Yuhan kept shaking her head.

"Could it be a large animal? An elephant, a tiger, or a crocodile, or maybe a panda? Pandas are quite cute, aren't they?"

The result was still a shake of the head.

Liu Chaoque couldn't think of anything else for a moment.

"Madam, your coffee is here." The waiter brought two cups of coffee, one for Mu Li and one for Zhao Yuhan. Zhao Yuhan looked up and stared intently at the waiter's chest.

That was... a turtle.

"Ah, a turtle." Liu Chaoque twitched the corner of his mouth. He really didn't expect that, although you could say he was cute, she would completely ignore the turtle part.

“Yes, and there’s also a great white shark.” Zhao Yuhan nodded firmly: “Yes, that’s him.”

"Your friend has quite unique tastes," Liu Chaoque could only comment. "However, if they keep turtles at home, they might hear animals talking when they get home, but if they like great white sharks, they'll have to go out to sea or to an aquarium. Has your friend shown any similar differences?"

“The guy with the turtle doesn’t keep a turtle at home,” Zhao Yuhan said. “And another friend of mine is like Lord Ye, only interested in looking at things. If I actually took her to an aquarium to see the great white shark, she’d probably be scared to death.”

Liu Chaoque's headache started again.

To verify if it was a problem with that store, according to Zhao Yuhan, this was such an interesting thing, why didn't her good friend participate together?

Is this what it means to share both good times and bad? Liu Chaoque was unsure.

Zhao Yuhan's friend's house is 4 or 5 kilometers away. Before taking a taxi to her house, the group went to the flower and bird market and bought a Brazilian tortoise.

Seeing her excitedly knocking on her friend's door with the tortoise box in hand, Liu Chaoque quietly shifted his feet.

"Who is it..." Footsteps sounded from inside the door, followed by the sound of the door opening. A well-dressed girl opened the door: "Xiaohan, what brings you here now?"

"Where are you going to go tonight?" Zhao Yuhan asked warily.

"My friend met a really handsome guy, and now that we've finally made a date, of course I have to dress up beautifully and leave him with a great first impression." The woman's name is Xiaomei... Zhang Xiaomei is Zhao Yuhan's college roommate and best friend. Her biggest interests are admiring handsome guys and shopping.

"Handsome, we can make plans later. Let me show you something first," Zhao Yuhan said mysteriously.

When Zhang Xiaomei saw the two people who came with her, her eyes were completely drawn to them. "Ah, so handsome!"

She instantly forgot about the handsome guy who was nowhere to be found, her eyes darting wildly around Mu Li, and she even asked Zhao Yuhan with feigned modesty, "Why don't you introduce me to the people you know?" She touched her hair one minute, straightened her clothes the next, a hundred fake movements in a minute.

"Ah." Zhao Yuhan's expression turned speechless. She reached out and tapped Zhao Xiaomei's forehead, but introduced, "This is Mu Li, this is Si Man, these two are friends I just met, I only know their names. This is Mo Yun!" She squatted down and patted Mo Yun's little head, smiling as she said, "They are Mo Yun's older brother and sister."

No, I asked you to pay attention to people, but you turned your attention to watching the cat for your friend.

Zhao Xiaomei was exasperated. With such an outstanding person in front of you, you're less attractive than a cat. No wonder you're single.

"Hehe, nice to meet you. My name is Zhao Xiaomei. You can call me Xiaoxiao or Xiaomei." Zhao Xiaomei's eyes revealed exploration and excitement, but she still maintained a reserved demeanor.

"Hello, Xiaoxiao." Liu Chaoque greeted her politely, then saw Mu Li standing there like a big shot, with a sour face. Liu Chaoque elbowed her: "Speak."

"Hmm," he replied reluctantly.

Zhao Xiaomei: Got it, handsome guys are all aloof.

She didn't feel at all that he disliked her.

"Would you like to come in and have a seat?" Zhao Xiaomei invited.

"Won't this be too much of a bother for you?" Liu Chaoque said, especially since she had just mentioned having a date or something.

"No, no, come in." Zhao Xiaomei's smile stretched almost to her ears, and she kept stealing glances at Mu Li.

Even Liu Chaoque couldn't help but wonder, was Mu Li really that good-looking? He encountered Mu Li and Xu Wangchuan, characters who could be the male lead in some novels, every day. Even Potter looked like a prince in a foreign movie. Plus, Liu Chaoque was a bit face-blind, so he always thought they were just average-looking.

Mu Li was already immune to such gazes. As the youngest and most handsome son in the family, he had grown up amidst praise from everyone. Now, he had met Liu Chaoque, a classical beauty who was exceptionally good at both male and female impersonation. In addition, he was somewhat obsessed with looks. He was not only impressed by Liu Chaoque's abilities but also by her beauty.

And now, what kind of makeup is this Xiao Mei wearing? It looks so heavy. Even so, she's only of average looks. Mu Li, who's a sucker for pretty faces, can't accept it.

If Liu Chaoque knew, he would probably say, "Then goodbye."

"Aren't you going on a date?" Zhao Yuhan whispered to her.

"Hey, there's only one guy here. It's more important to entertain your friend." Zhao Xiaomei glanced at Mu Li and smiled shyly.

Mu Li shuddered, then decided to look at Liu Chaoque instead.

"No, sis, you're really not going on the date?" What Zhao Yuhan really wanted to say was, if you can't handle this one, you should find the one who agreed to go on the date. What if you lose both of them? You'll have no one to cry to.

"Girl, what are you doing here?" I apologize for interrupting her sightseeing with the handsome guy, but since she brought him along, I'll forgive her.

"Hey, what am I here for?" Zhao Yuhan was almost driven astray by this love-struck mind. She looked at the turtle in her hand. Although she said she wanted her friend to experience the charm of animals talking, she ultimately didn't let her try it directly.

"Girl, would you like the ability to communicate with animals?"

"What? What did you say? You've been reading too many novels, talking about animal communication skills?"

"Just tell me if you want it or not..."

"This..." Mu Li glanced at the two people busy in the kitchen. Zhao Xiaomei seemed to sense something and smiled in his direction: "Is it something you can just take whenever you want?"

"So you've thought about it?"

"Ah."

Then she took out the turtle box.

Zhao Xiaomei felt that she was being mysterious by holding that square thing and not showing it to her. When she found out it was a turtle, she was startled: "Girl, you're not going to give me a turtle, are you? I like it, but I can't keep it alive."

The matching mechanism is truly amazing: one animal thrives no matter what it's raised, while another dies no matter what it's raised.

"I won't let you raise it, I'll raise it myself." Zhao Yuhan knew she couldn't keep anything alive; let alone a turtle, she could even kill a single saxaul plant. It's practically the eighth wonder of the world.

"Oh, then why are you showing this to me? Take it home, it scared me so much I thought I was going to raise a turtle." She patted her chest, remembering the frustrating experience of raising a turtle that ended up with only its skeleton.

"How do you feel about him?"

"What does it feel like? What does a turtle feel...?"

"Why is this woman so loud? I want to go home..." the tortoise said slowly, crawling around as it spoke.

1

"Ah, sister!" Zhao Xiaomei grabbed Zhao Yuhan's sleeve and pointed at the turtle, saying, "Turtle, turtle, it's talking..."