Morning Longing for Warmth – Chapter 27

Veterinarian

Who Stole My Sisi

On the weekend, Shiyi didn’t go out. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be friends with Du Yueming, but rather because she was currently living under someone else’s roof, everything depending on Wei Hui. If one day she left the Wei family and Du Yueming still wanted to be friends with her, she wouldn’t resist, but now it wasn’t possible – she didn’t have the ability to be friends with someone like Du Yueming.

            

When she didn’t come out, Du Yueming unhappily tagged her repeatedly in the group chat: 【@Shiyi, come out! Is that person watching you so closely? Are you making us jealous on purpose?】

The girls in the group immediately agreed: 【Yes, exactly!】

【Little sister, come out and play!】

            

【It’s Shiyi, right? Is Huihui gentle usually? Especially during that time? Ahh, just thinking about Huihui being one of us makes me can’t help but think!】

【She’s not gentle at all, that person is as cold as ice.】

【Stop! If I think anymore, I’ll get a nosebleed!】

            

【Maybe she’s as gentle as water in bed, you all clearly don’t understand.】

In just a few days, they had clearly shifted from seeing Shiyi as a love rival to seeing her as a source of gossip. It was simple – even without Shiyi, they couldn’t sleep with Wei Hui anyway. Daily they just talked big [talking without action], getting satisfaction just from talking. If they really had to volunteer themselves and climb into her bed, they’d be scared. So now their attitude toward Shiyi was curiosity, especially curious.

On the weekend, hearing that Du Yueming had invited Shiyi out, this group all gathered at the bar without exception. Du Yueming was scrolling through her phone while her friend wearing a sexy camisole nudged her arm: “Is she coming or not?”

            

Du Yueming shook her head: “Probably not.”

“What kind of background does she have, putting on such airs?” The speaking girl was slightly unhappy. The woman in red clothes next to her glanced over and said: “I know what her background is.”

“I heard she used to be a servant in the Wang family.”

            

“Are you crazy?”

“What the ghost!”

“How could Wei Hui possibly with a servant…”

            

Various noises of commotion came through, and Du Yueming was somewhat unhappy. She scolded: “Stop arguing, all of you.”

Shiyi was invited to the group by her, which counted as having her approval. Their current discussion was undoubtedly making Du Yueming lose face. On the surface, everyone had similar family backgrounds, but in reality, the Du family’s influence far exceeded their families’. So they liked being with Du Yueming daily, besides liking her as a friend, more importantly they wanted to curry favor with [suck up to] Du Yueming. Now seeing her unhappy, everyone sheepishly said: “What nonsense, how could she be a servant!”

“Even if she was a servant, so what? Do people still care about matching social status these days?”

            

The criticized woman pursed her lips and snorted coldly.

Everyone saw Du Yueming was still unhappy and gathered around her to inquire: “Yueming, I heard from someone who went to the Shen family that this Shiyi is especially good-looking, is that true?”

How could it be false? Everyone in Jiang City knows Du Yueming is a devoted looks-worshipper, anyone good-looking couldn’t escape her grasp. She had praised this Shiyi multiple times in the group chat already, so she must be beautiful.

            

Du Yueming saw everyone still looking at her, thought for a moment and said: “She’s not extremely beautiful.”

Especially that skinny figure, not busty or curvy, barely two ounces of meat on her body, feels bony when grabbed, but— “She just has very good temperament.”

Hearing her say this, everyone became interested. Originally, they’d seen plenty of beautiful people, those celebrities and models they saw daily, which one wasn’t beautiful? But for someone to be praised by Du Yueming for having good temperament – everyone thought about it – the last time they heard her praise someone like this was when she talked about Wei Hui in school.

            

“What kind of good?” Someone asked this question, and Du Yueming thought deeply for a few seconds: “I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s just very good.”

Simply beautiful [pure/innocent kind of beauty], especially those eyes, clean and pure, clear and moving. Du Yueming suddenly felt that Shiyi not coming here was right – these fox and dog friends of hers [questionable friends] would really give Shiyi bad influences, so she didn’t hesitate to send Shiyi a private message: 【Never mind, it’s fine if you don’t come.】

Shiyi received Du Yueming’s message just as she was preparing to go to the backyard. When the message popped up on her phone, she looked at it silently, and after a while replied: 【I’m sorry, are you angry?】

            

Seeing this message, Du Yueming could imagine Shiyi standing timidly in front of her speaking. She felt like teasing her, with a deepening smile at the corner of her lips: 【If I say yes, will you come?】

Shiyi was very honest: 【Thank you, Miss Du, but I don’t have the ability to be your friend right now.】

So honest, Du Yueming had never thought about status when making friends. Everyone around her was trying to curry favor with her, whether small-time celebrities or models, they would all intentionally or unintentionally gather around her. The more humble their status, the more they wanted a good future, and thus they were even more flattering toward her. Someone like Shiyi was really a first, and she became interested: 【Since when does making friends require ability? Are you looking for a marriage partner?】

            

Shiyi saw the topic becoming increasingly unrestrained and furrowed her brows, too embarrassed to reply.

Du Yueming looked at her own message and thought about Shiyi’s demeanor, realizing she couldn’t take teasing. After a few minutes, she sent another message: 【Not angry, I was just joking earlier. Feel really guilty now, invite me out next time.】

Shiyi received her message and slowly let out a breath of relief, smiling.

            

A voice came from behind: “Young Miss, Assistant Pei is here.”

She turned to look. Pei Tian stood behind her in a formal suit, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, quite handsome, with a smile at the corner of his lips, very polite. Shiyi felt strange about herself – although Pei Tian always greeted everyone with a smile and was especially polite to everyone, she felt he was the type of person who was cold-hearted. Yet Third Miss, who everyone considered ice-cold, appeared particularly warm to her. For example today, Third Miss, who said she wouldn’t get involved with her and Shi’er, still made time to send Pei Tian to take her and Shi’er for shots.

“Miss Shiyi, are you ready to go?” Pei Tian looked at Shiyi and the clean large dog, which was wagging its tail and wiggling its body.

            

Shiyi unfastened Shi’er’s leash and said to Pei Tian: “Ready.”

Pei Tian reached out: “Let me hold the leash for you.”

Shiyi immediately shook her head: “No need, I can hold it myself.”

            

Pei Tian didn’t insist, he just smiled and turned to walk toward the main entrance. Today’s car wasn’t Wei Hui’s usual car, but instead was changed to a gray sedan. Shiyi didn’t really understand car models and styles, she just felt this car had a bit more space.

After getting in the car, Shi’er obediently lay at her feet. It actually wasn’t fat, but because its fur was long and thick, it appeared bulky. At this moment, lying at her feet, curled up in a ball, it was indescribably lovable and cute. Shiyi rubbed its head, her eyes full of smiles.

They quickly arrived at the pet shop. Pei Tian followed behind Shiyi as they entered. The receptionist looked at Pei Tian, paused for a few seconds and called out: “Assistant Pei?”

            

Shiyi hadn’t expected they knew each other. She saw Pei Tian slightly nod and ask: “Is Dr. Zhao here?”

The receptionist shook her head: “Dr. Zhao is off today, it’s Dr. Chen today.”

She finished speaking and looked at Shiyi and the dog, asking: “Has President Wei gotten another dog?”

            

Pei Tian gave her a sideways glance [looking with slight disdain], didn’t reply. The receptionist tactfully changed the subject: “Let’s handle the payment first, what’s wrong with the dog?”

“Nothing wrong, just need a detailed examination.”

Pei Tian finished speaking and looked at Shiyi: “I’ll go pay first, you wait here.”

            

Shiyi nodded: “Okay.”

She watched Pei Tian follow the receptionist out of the lobby. Shi’er, who she was holding, suddenly stood up and walked straight ahead. Shiyi wasn’t paying attention and almost fell, only managing to steady herself after taking two quick steps, then called out: “Shi’er?”

Shi’er, who was extremely well-behaved at home, became disobedient here and kept walking forward. Shiyi wasn’t very strong, and after being dragged several steps, she scolded: “Shi’er!”

            

Seeming to sense her unhappiness, Shi’er stopped walking and obediently came back, but when it lifted its head to look at Shiyi, its expression was indescribably pitiful. Just as Shiyi was about to speak, she heard a voice from behind: “Sisi?”

Shiyi turned around and saw a man wearing a white coat behind her, with a crew cut, not very old, with a sunny smile. Seeing Shiyi turn around, he spoke first: “Hello.”

“He-hello.” Shiyi shook his extended hand.

            

The man crouched down: “This is Sisi, right? Haven’t seen her in so long. Where’s Miss Du?”

Shiyi heard his words with a moment of confusion, blinking: “What Miss Du?”

The man saw her confusion and also froze: “Isn’t this Miss Du’s dog?”

            

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Because Shiyi didn’t come, Du Yueming was having fun with her girlfriends at the bar. After just having a few drinks, her phone rang. Her friend nudged her arm: “Yueming, answer the phone.”

Du Yueming put down her glass, looked at the screen, and answered the phone with slurred speech: “Ah, Dr. Chen.”

The other end of the phone babbled a lot [meaningless chatter], her brain automatically filtered it out, leaving only one sentence, which she repeated: “Is it Sisi?”

            

The other end gave her a confirmatory response. Du Yueming became somewhat sober: “I’m coming right away!”

The girlfriends around her saw she was leaving after the phone call and called out: “Where are you going, Yueming?”

Du Yueming gritted her teeth: “To catch the dog thief!”

            

“Dog thief?”

“Sisi has been found?”

Du Yueming’s dog disappeared three months ago. Her household servants didn’t dare tell her the truth, they just bought a similar dog and put it at home. At that time, Du Yueming was still vacationing abroad. After returning, she noticed something wasn’t right, and the servants finally gathered the courage to tell her Sisi had been stolen. She was furious and immediately had people search, but after searching for two months they couldn’t find her. The one she’s keeping now was given to her by her girlfriends together.

            

Du Yueming thought of the news from the phone call and didn’t want to dawdle, saying: “You all continue, I’m going out for a bit.”

“Do you want us to come with you?”

Du Yueming waved her hand: “Never mind, no need.”

            

After leaving, she called for a driver. After giving an address, she leaned back against the seat. Her head was still a bit dizzy, having had a few drinks, feeling slightly tipsy. She pressed her temples while watching the scenery rush past outside the window, her mind full of thoughts about her Sisi. It had been three months, who knew if she had gotten fat or thin. Just as she was thinking of calling Dr. Chen, the driver said: “Miss, we’re here.”

Du Yueming walked in her high heels, angrily entering the pet shop, and got straight to the point: “Who stole my Sisi!”

The slightly raised voice came from the doorway. Shiyi looked up and indeed saw Du Yueming standing at the door, just as she had guessed.

            

Du Yueming looked inside, met Shiyi’s clear eyes and was somewhat dazed, stammering: “Shiyi?”

“Why are you here?”

Dr. Chen smiled and chimed in: “This young lady is the one who stole your Sisi.”

            

Du Yueming instinctively objected: “Impossible.”

She couldn’t explain why she trusted her so much, she just felt Shiyi wasn’t that kind of person. Shiyi heard her spontaneous words and felt touched. Before, when anything went missing in her former master’s house, they would all say Shiyi must have taken it. Over time, she became known as a habitual thief in everyone’s eyes. Actually, many things were secretly sold by them, but when mentioned, it was always her fault. After all this time, besides Third Miss who didn’t treat her as a thief, Du Yueming was the second person to trust her like this.

Shiyi suddenly felt that this friend, she wanted to make.

            

She smiled at Du Yueming: “Miss Du, Shi’er… Sisi was found by me.”

Du Yueming heard her words and had sobered up quite a bit, nodding: “What exactly happened?”

Shiyi briefly explained the previous events, and Pei Tian, who had been sitting beside Shiyi the whole time, suddenly stood up, saying: “Third Miss is here.”

            

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