Chapter 409: Is It on a Diet?
Chapter 409: Chapter 409: Is It on a Diet?
Renee Jennings and Michelle Fuller didn’t actually make Sean Fuller’s friend deliver the purses.
The group met in a tea room. On a long, single-piece wooden table sat an exquisite ceramic tea set. Grand, powerful calligraphy and paintings hung on the walls, and vast swaths of brilliant sunlight shone in from the window, illuminating the wooden floor.
Sean Fuller’s friend was a very trendy young man with dyed pink hair. He wore a loose-fitting black graphic T-shirt paired with pink cargo pants that matched his hair.
Seeing the two older women, he bowed reservedly and greeted them, "Hello, you two! I’m Yuri Sullivan. You can call me Chad."
Michelle Fuller put on the air of a mature older sister and smiled. "Alright, Chad. Have a seat."
Sean Fuller was used to his sister’s theatrics, so he didn’t call her out on it.
"Thanks!" Yuri Sullivan said, sitting down next to Sean Fuller.
They were about to discuss private matters, so after a few cups of tea, Renee Jennings looked at the tea master and smiled slightly. "Why don’t you take a break? We can handle it from here."
The tea master was a middle-aged woman wearing Hanfu-inspired clothing. She nodded at her and said, "Of course. Just call me if you need anything."
After the tea room door was closed, Renee’s gaze fell upon Yuri Sullivan. She began softly, "Chad, Hank mentioned you need some help. Can you tell me about it?"
"Yes!" Yuri Sullivan met her gaze and scratched his head nervously. "I’ve actually been following your livestream. I try really hard to get connected every time, but for some reason, it never picks me. I had no choice but to ask Sean for help."
"There are just too many people in the stream," Michelle Fuller chimed in. "I actually try really hard to get connected every time, too, but I can never get through either."
Hearing this, Yuri Sullivan felt no sense of camaraderie with her. After all, Michelle Fuller and Renee Jennings were good friends. If she couldn’t get through, she could just send a text, call, or meet up in person.
"It’s alright. It’s more convenient to talk in person now anyway." Renee raised an eyebrow slightly. "Tell me what’s going on."
As she finished speaking, the System’s notification sound suddenly rang out in her mind.
[System 009: New Lv. 4 Mission Triggered: Find the True Culprit. Mission Reward: 300 points, 3 million cash. Mission Penalty: Random plot insertion. Time Limit: 72 hours.]
’What true culprit?’
Yuri Sullivan had already begun to tell the story of him and his girlfriend, so Renee had to push her thoughts aside and listen intently.
"Flora and I have been together for half a year, but we still have a very pure relationship. The most physical we’ve gotten is kissing, hugging, and a little touching." Yuri Sullivan blushed a little as he said this. "It’s the first relationship for both of us."
"That pure?" Michelle Fuller asked. "Then what’s the point of even dating?"
Sean Fuller was speechless.
’Sis, you’ve been single since birth. How are you so... impure?’
But he didn’t dare say this out loud in front of others.
Renee, however, said calmly, "It sounds very sweet and innocent."
"Right." Yuri Sullivan nodded. "It’s our first love, after all. We both thought it would be better to take things slow."
Renee smiled. "Please, continue."
"For the first three months of our relationship, everything was normal." Yuri Sullivan’s once-shy expression grew a bit more serious. "But after that, it was like Flora became a completely different person..."
"In what ways did she seem different?" Renee asked.
Yuri Sullivan pursed his lips, seeming to find it difficult to speak. "Well... you know how I said we were very pure at the beginning? Later, she started touching my body, intentionally or not... and she would hint that we should get a room... Sometimes I felt like she was seducing me."
Michelle Fuller’s eyes lit up with excitement as she stared at him. "How did she seduce you? Can you give us the details?"
Sean Fuller raised a hand to his forehead, speechless.
Yuri Sullivan’s face was flushed red as he stammered, "H-How detailed... do you want?"
Seeing that he was taking her seriously, Sean Fuller, afraid Yuri Sullivan would actually recount the details, quickly intervened, "Don’t listen to her."
"Okay." Yuri Sullivan nodded.
Renee mused, "Besides that, was there anything else you found strange?"
Yuri Sullivan looked at her and shook his head. "I don’t think so."
"Nothing?" Renee raised an eyebrow. "Think carefully."
Yuri Sullivan frowned slightly and thought again. "Well, you know how she hinted about getting a room? After I turned her down, she mentioned that a family member was sick and she needed to earn money for their treatment, so she might not have time to go on dates with me anymore."
"When she said a family member was sick and she needed money, did you offer to lend her any?" Renee asked.
Yuri replied, "I did, but she said no."
"And after that?"
"After that, she’d still ask to meet up and would keep flirting with me. That’s why I think it’s so weird. It’s such a huge difference from three months ago, it’s like she’s not the same person at all."
"That is strange," Renee said, her eyebrow raised. "So, what kind of animal does she have?"
"She has an orange cat," Yuri Sullivan explained. "The cat was originally a stray. We actually met while feeding strays."
Renee nodded. "So when can we see this orange cat?"
"Soon." Yuri Sullivan glanced down at his phone. "I had a courier go pick up the cat for me. I told her I was taking it for a check-up. They should be here in about ten minutes."
Ten minutes later, his phone rang.
Yuri Sullivan left the tea room and returned a moment later, holding a scrawny orange cat.
"Why is it so skinny?" Michelle Fuller stared at the orange cat in his arms, frowning. "Hasn’t it been fed?"
Sean Fuller stroked his chin. "It really is skinny. Are you sure she’s been taking care of it?"
Yuri Sullivan studied the orange cat and couldn’t help but frown as well. "It is a little thin."
"And it stinks," Michelle Fuller chimed in.
She leaned in, staring at the orange cat with a serious expression. "It has a smell on it. It doesn’t seem like a cat that has an owner."
"That’s weird. It definitely wasn’t this skinny before." Yuri Sullivan took out his phone, opened his chat history with Flora, and found a photo of the orange cat. "Look, it was clearly quite chubby before."
"You’re right." Sean Fuller looked from the photo to the cat in front of them. "Is it on a diet or something?"
The orange cat’s fluffy face was scrunched up. Its round pupils swept over the humans before it as it cursed, "You Sixes are unbelievable! Take a good look. Am I the same cat as the one in the photo?"
Hearing this, Renee’s long, slender brows rose slightly in surprise. "Aren’t you the stray cat that Flora adopted?"
"Like hell I’d let those humans keep me!" the orange cat snorted.
"Why wouldn’t you let a human keep you?"
"Humans are disgusting! I wouldn’t stoop so low!" the orange cat declared. The next second, its eyes widened as it stared at Renee. "You... What’s wrong with you, human? You can actually understand me? This is terrifying!"
Having said its piece, the terrified cat found a corner and hid.