After hanging up the call, Zero felt much more relaxed.
He had actually thought that he'd killed the Chief Strategist.
Zero began carefully recalling what Hua had said.
He understood that a long-lasting relationship, whether it was love or friendship, could never be sustained by one person's effort alone.
As for what Hua said about money and lies…
As the elder, with far greater life experience, he was, in truth, taking advantage of Jingliu.
If not for being reborn in Luofu, suddenly becoming a twenty-year-old again, the Chief Strategist probably would have already dragged him off to the Abyssal Prison.
He thought long and hard about it and decided, aside from money, there wasn't much else he could give her to make up for things.
Zero already had plenty saved up; that ten million he'd just spent was barely a rounding error.
Spending a small fraction of that to get a fortune read, pretty cost-effective.
Even if he'd run into a bunch of frauds, it wasn't really a loss.
And once Hua gradually finished transferring his past-life assets over to him, he'd hardly have to worry about money at all.
As for the "lies" Hua mentioned, and her advice that he should confess everything early,
Zero felt that was totally unnecessary.
It was the former Marshal everyone wanted dead, not him, the lazy diviner of the Divination Commission.
He was confident he could keep those two identities perfectly separate, without her ever realizing it.
And if she did find out… well, he could always kill Aha and Fuli while he was at it.
Thinking that, Zero stood up to refill the food bowl for that fat, well-fed pig of a cat.
Ever since the cat had officially moved in, he'd cleared out one of his reception rooms just for it.
That room was the farthest from his bedroom, furnished with tea sets and wooden tables and chairs.
Zero had even moved the cat bed, climbing frame, and litter box inside from the courtyard, and put all the fragile items up high.
Yet on the cat's very first day living there, it managed to break three tea sets and a porcelain vase, scattering shards all over the floor.
When Zero returned home and saw the mess, his heart nearly stopped, and then, to his own surprise, he felt relief.
Thank goodness it had only smashed the tea sets, not the wine cabinet he'd worked so long to fill.
He immediately had someone install a lock on the door of the room where the cabinet was kept.
Worried that his own cleaning wouldn't be thorough enough, he hired professional cleaners and temporarily moved all the cat's belongings into another reception room.
That second reception room was also far from his bedroom, with a leather sofa that was just perfect for claw sharpening.
Zero thought that at last he could sleep peacefully, but no. The cat was a gifted escape artist, long and lean enough to open doors easily, and would start bouncing around near his room at midnight like it was throwing a party.
How strange. Normally that cat would be meowing like a broken gong, demanding attention. Why was it so quiet tonight?
He first searched the bedroom, then moved into the walk-in closet, and finally opened the bathroom door.
He searched thoroughly, room after room, bathtub after bathtub, even checked under the toilet's water tank, yet there was still no sign of the cat.
Oh right, it shouldn't be called "Piggy" anymore. Jingliu had given her a proper name, "Jade."
Could Jade really be quietly sitting in the reception room? Impossible.
He entered that room to find the leather sofa shredded beyond recognition, the aged décor now sporting an oddly avant-garde look. Through the dangling leather tassels, he could clearly see the sofa's inner stuffing.
After searching for a while without finding the cat, Zero frowned in thought. Where could it have gone?
He concentrated, trying to recall, and finally pieced together a clue.
Right, he'd taken the cat with him to Sacred Realm…
Then, after he and Jingliu left, he'd been drunk, but the cat?
He'd searched everywhere, but the cat wasn't home.
Why hadn't it come back with him?
With no other choice, Zero returned to his bedroom and picked up his jade terminal.
Only Jingliu would know where Jade was.
He ignored unread messages from Yingxing and the bearded executive and opened his chat with Jingliu.
She had just sent him a photo. In it, a red-eyed beauty with silver hair was pressing her cheek against that plump cat, both of them looking at the camera.
Zero tapped the screen to save the photo.
[Jingliu: Yesterday, Jade was with Jing Yuan. When should I send her back to you?]
[Zero: If Jing Yuan likes her, let her stay there a few more days.]
Zero didn't mind either way. The cat only ever ate kibble; during the day, while he was at work, she'd sleep at home.
Then as soon as he got back and tried to rest, she'd start her midnight dance party and destroy his sleep.
Jingliu didn't reply immediately, probably went to ask Jing Yuan.
While waiting, Zero opened Yingxing's messages and saw that Baiye had returned the credits he'd transferred earlier.
[Yingxing: Zero, the credits you sent before are already more than enough. You don't need to send any more.]
Zero stared at the refunded money, briefly understanding why that short-lived species could count among the close friends of long-lived ones like the Dragonlord and Jingliu.
He thought about it for a while and concluded, he hadn't paid Yingxing enough.
After all, his "pocket change" these days wasn't limited to just eight digits anymore.
A fortune teller just typed a few words and got paid handsomely; how could that compare to Yingxing's physical labor, handcrafting ornaments? At the very least, he should add another zero!
But how could he get Yingxing to accept it without feeling guilty? Maybe he could toy with his mentality a bit…
The tiny scrap of conscience he had left made him abandon that idea.
He opened the messages from the bearded executive next. The man sounded very cautious, asking for Zero's height and weight, saying that a famous luxury brand in another universe was about to release a new collection.
When Zero didn't reply, the executive added that he wouldn't need to show up in person, they'd hire a model with the same height and weight to try on the clothes for him.
After the fitting, the executive would send Zero a video to let him choose.
Zero hesitated for a moment.
[Please don't worry. The clothes for you will be brand new, never worn. They'll be specially shipped in from another galaxy.]
Reading that, Zero cooperatively sent over his height and weight.
The bearded executive took advantage of his compliance and immediately asked whether he wanted to custom-order shoes too, promising he wouldn't have to travel, they'd bring the whole team to Luofu.
Before Zero could refuse, the man began apologizing profusely for wasting his time and then asked for his shoe size.
Zero, "..."
He was speechless. He couldn't bear watching the man grovel so hard, so he gave in and sent his shoe size.
Why did it feel like he'd been scammed again? No wonder the guy was a corporate executive.
Just then, Jingliu returned after asking Jing Yuan and sent him a message.
[Jingliu: Jing Yuan said he wants to keep her for a few more days.]
[Zero: Are you free tonight? I'll bring you some cat food and litter, can you give them to Jing Yuan?]
[Jingliu: Okay.]
They agreed on the time and place and quickly ended the chat.
Zero prepared Jade's food and litter ahead of time, then added a few cans of cat treats just in case.
When he arrived at the restaurant they'd agreed on, he not only saw Jingliu but also Dan Feng, and the little kid tugging on Dan Feng's sleeve looked very familiar.
It was Aha.
Holding the bag full of cat supplies, Zero first smiled politely at Jingliu, greeted Dan Feng, and then turned his gaze onto that irritatingly familiar face.
He raised an eyebrow and softly asked Jingliu, "And who's this girl?"
Kid-version Aha, "..."
'My dear friend, how can you lie so shamelessly?!'
'This version of me is clearly a boy!'
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