I Was Scammed By A Snow Leopard cub - Chapter 27

Chapter 27 -【Want to Play Chess?】

The thick, dry touch engulfed Luo Yu, but it was fleeting. The adult snow leopard disappeared from the spot, replaced by the figure of Xie Yingcheng.

He grabbed Luo Yu’s arm and lifted him up from the ground, then grabbed the cub by the scruff of the neck and lifted him to the side.

“Are you injured anywhere?”

The soft touch of the snow leopard’s tail was still on Luo Yu’s fingertips, and he shook his head in a daze.

Xie Yingcheng frowned and said in a dissatisfied voice, “You don’t have to go pick him up.”

The cub’s climbing height was no more than two meters, and the ground beneath the tree was soft and turfy. Snow leopards have thick fur, so the cub wouldn’t be in any trouble. Luo Yu, on the other hand, would have likely dislocated a joint and injured himself if he had tried to forcefully retrieve the cub.

The cub realized that he seemed to have accidentally gotten into trouble, and tremblingly turned back into human form, pounced over and hugged Luo Yu’s legs.

“Luo, Luo Luo! I’m sorry! Tuan Tuan shouldn’t have climbed so high! Are you okay?” The cub was so anxious that he shed tears.

Luo Yu quickly comforted the cub softly: “Tuan Tuan, I’m fine.” When he looked up at Xie Yingcheng again, he was speechless.

As soon as he saw Xie Yingcheng, he couldn’t help but think of the big snow leopard that had just saved him, making Luo Yu at a loss for a moment.

Xie Yingcheng glanced at the cub with a sullen face and said in a serious voice, “Xie Anxing, come with me.”

The cub trembled when his name was called, and he tremblingly let go of the little hand that was holding Luo Yu, and followed Xie Yingcheng with his head down.

Luo Yu immediately felt something was wrong: “Admiral…?” What was he doing? Was he going to criticize and teach the cub a lesson?

He raised his foot and was about to follow, but Xie Yingcheng gave him a warning glance, and his steps stopped abruptly.

His thoughts, which had become vague and soft because of the appearance of the big snow leopard, were abruptly interrupted, as if Xie Yingcheng’s rescue and concern for him just now was just a momentary illusion.

Xie Yingcheng hadn’t changed at all, still as cold and distant as when they first met.

Luo Yu pursed his lips and followed him upstairs. He watched the man and the cub enter the study. A few minutes later, the cub came out alone with red eyes.

“Woo…Luo Luo…” When the cub saw Luo Yu, the tears in his eyes suddenly fell down.

Luo Yu felt extremely distressed. He was just climbing a tree, why did he scold the little guy and make him cry?!

In a fit of rage, he pushed open the study door and directed his dissatisfaction at someone: “Xie Yingcheng! Even if I fell and got hurt, it’s my problem. Why did you scold Tuan Tuan?!”

Xie Yingcheng was stunned and looked at him with an ambiguous look.

This was the first time that Luo Yu did not call him by his title but directly by his name.

The human’s eyes widened in anger, which was completely different from usual.

It turned out that even someone as gentle as him could get angry, but this time, he was destined to get angry at the wrong place.

Xie Yingcheng retracted his gaze and glanced at the cub behind Luo Yu. The cub was frightened at this time and quickly grabbed Luo Yu’s fingers.

“Luo, Luo Luo! Father didn’t scold Tuan Tuan!”

Luo Yu froze.

He looked down at the cub in surprise. The little guy wiped away his tears embarrassedly and whispered, “Father didn’t scold Tuan Tuan! Father was just trying to reason with Tuan Tuan. My father told me that I shouldn’t climb such thin branches. If they break, I will easily get hurt and it will hurt.”

He also described what it would be like to fall and get hurt, and that the little paws would break like twigs and he would be unable to move for a very long time.

He also described how his father said that if cubs like him fell on hard ground instead of grass, his claws would be scratched and leave red marks. The key point is that he would not grow hair again until the wound healed.

The little guy imagined what he would look like with a bald head and was very scared, so he started crying when he saw Luo Yu.

After Tuan Tuan finished his stammering explanation, Luo Yu realized that he had misunderstood.

He was speechless for a moment, not daring to look up to see Xie Yingcheng’s reaction. After a long while, he coughed awkwardly and said, “I’m sorry, Admiral, I…”

He heard Xie Yingcheng chuckle and said jokingly, “Didn’t you just call me by my name? Why did it suddenly go back to Admiral?”

Luo Yu’s cheeks flushed and he was speechless.

Seeing his wandering gaze not daring to meet his own, Xie Yingcheng suddenly wanted to clarify for himself: “I’m not as simple and crude as you think, Luo Yu.”

Luo Yu didn’t expect him to say that: “Oh, okay, okay.” Then he fled with the little cub.

Xie Yingcheng looked at the closed door and slowly let out a breath.

Under normal circumstances, he would not have made any unnecessary explanations, but he subconsciously did not want Luo Yu’s misunderstanding of him to deepen further.

It seemed that he had left a bad impression on Luo Yu since their first meeting.

He wants to change that.

•|•

On the other side, Luo Yu ran with the little cub all the way to the living room before stopping.

He sat down on the sofa, his heart beating rapidly as he finally realized what he had just done.

How dare he do that just now?

‘He’s an Admiral! If he wants to, he can easily get rid of me.’

Luo Yu felt deeply regretful – he shouldn’t have been so impulsive.

At this moment, a small hand reached out and touched his hair.

“Luo Luo, are you afraid of your father? Don’t be afraid, father is very good!”

Luo Yu was stunned: “Why does Tuan Tuan think I’m afraid of him?”

The cub said as a matter of course: “Because Luo Luo didn’t dare to look at father just now.”

Luo Yu couldn’t find any reason to refute for a moment.

But the cub also reminded him of something else, so Luo Yu asked the cub, “Where’s Tuan Tuan? Is Tuan Tuan also afraid of father?”

The cub was stunned by the question and stammered for a long time before answering, “Yes, a little bit.”

Yes.

There must be a reason why the cub has always called Xie Yingcheng “Father”.

“So you’re calling him ‘Father’ instead of ‘Dad’ because you’re scared?

Unexpectedly, these words were opposed by the cub.

“No, no! Tuan Tuan calls him Father because Father is Father.”

To the cub, his father is like a spaceship, always standing in front and making him feel extremely at ease.

His father took him through the stars time and time again, commanding countless battles and defeating countless villains.

Everyone around him respected and admired him, including the cub.

Going on a mission with his father is the happiest thing for the cub. It feels like he is fighting together alongside his father.

However, his father is always busy and has no time to accompany the cub.

The little boy is very sensible. He knows that his father cannot be with him because he has to take care of more people, so he always keeps a distance from him and silently watches his father’s busy back.

Gradually, this distance became fixed permanently, and the cub always kept himself low when interacting with his father.

He would not act like a spoiled child with his father like he did with Luo Yu, nor would he dare to stick to his father, because his father had more important things to do than taking care of the little cub.

However, he was still a little scared because when his father was indifferent, he was really scared and made him want to tuck his tail between his legs.

Luo Yu was silent for a long time, then suddenly asked, “Have you ever thought about calling him ‘Dad’ instead of ‘Father’?”

The cub was stunned and looked at him puzzledly: “‘Dad’?”

Luo Yu nodded: “For example, besides calling me ‘Luo Luo’, Tuan Tuan can also call me ‘Dad Luo’, ‘Father’, and can of course be called ‘Dad Cheng’.”

The cub hesitated for a long time before calling out softly, “Dad Luo?”

Luo Yu agreed with him vigorously: “Yes! Yes! That’s right, Tuan Tuan is awesome.”

His powerful response gave the cub courage, and the cub decided to give it a try. So, at the dinner table that night, under Luo Yu’s encouraging gaze, the cub quietly clenched his fists and whispered in a soft, childish voice, “Daddy Cheng, can you help Tuan Tuan get a tissue? Tuan Tuan can’t reach it.”

Xie Yingcheng paused.

Luo Yu and the cub were both nervous and looked at him nervously.

After a brief pause, Xie Yingcheng said “hmm” lightly and handed the tissue to the cub.

Luo Yu breathed a sigh of relief, and the cub’s eyes lit up instantly, saying something he hadn’t dared to say before: “Tuan Tuan didn’t understand a few things in the previous lecture. Can Daddy Cheng explain it to Tuan Tuan again?”

Xie Yingcheng put down his knife and stood up: “Okay, let’s talk in the study.”

The cub laughed happily after hearing this, wiped his mouth with a tissue, and quickly jumped off the chair to keep up with him.

A long-standing gap seemed to have been narrowed a little because of this small change.

When passing by Luo Yu, Xie Yingcheng stopped.

Luo Yu subconsciously became nervous again: “What’s wrong?”

Xie Yingcheng opened his lips but said nothing.

•|•

At night, while waiting for the cub to fall asleep, Luo Yu was reading a book in the room when he suddenly received a message from Li Yingcheng.

【Want to play chess?】

Luo Yu’s first reaction was that he had misunderstood him in the afternoon, and Xie Yingcheng wanted to take revenge on the chessboard.

He gritted his teeth and went anyway.

Xie Yingcheng had already set up the chess game in the living room and was waiting for him. The man sitting on the sofa was not as fierce as he was in the study. The night light softened his aura, giving Luo Yu the courage to face him again.

“Admiral.” After nodding, Luo Yu began to play chess seriously.

Gradually, he immersed himself in it.

Xie Yingcheng’s skills are much better than his, so Luo Yu has to be very careful with every move and think carefully before moving the chess piece.

On the contrary, Xie Yingcheng took every step very casually, and even had the time to talk to him.

“You asked Tuan Tuan to change his way of calling me?”

Luo Yu’s train of thought was disturbed by him. He dared not speak out in anger and could only reply honestly: “Yeah, yes.”

Xie Yingcheng responded without saying anything else. He took a few more steps, and when it was Luo Yu’s turn, he suddenly said, “I agree to send Xie Anxing to kindergarten.”

This time, Luo Yu’s train of thought was completely interrupted by him: “Ah? Really?!”

He raised his head blankly, with a look of disbelief and a hint of surprise on his face.

When he realized what was happening, a smile spread across his lips, as bright as the moonlight.

The tip of his nose seemed to smell the faint scent of iris again. Xie Yingcheng calmly lowered his eyes and tapped lightly on the chessboard, “Play chess.”

“Oh, okay.” Luo Yu quickly collected his thoughts back, but unfortunately his train of thought was interrupted and he could never continue. Luo Yu was thinking about going to the kindergarten for inspection, and then thinking about how to tell the cubs the good news tomorrow. In the end, it was no surprise that he lost to Li Yingcheng.

But he vaguely felt that this loss was worth it.