"Meow ~~~Meeeoooww~~~
~~Meeeeooow~~~"
Thud!Crash!
His cat, a British short hair with plush gray fur, was back to her morning antics.
She had a habit of breaking things to wake up Yibai when she fails to do so herself first.
" I'm up, I'm up. Okay, ancestor, I'm up," Yibai muttered.
"Stop rubbing against me." Yibai groaned as he sat up, swinging legs out of the bed.
" Stop it with the puppy eyes! you broke the Snow Lotus's pot again! I was cultivating it for an experiment."
The cat ignored him, stepping onto the pristine white sheets with her paws caked in soil— clear proof of the mischief she had gotten upto—to create yet another mess.
" Nuan Nuan stop it! you're dirtying the sheets. "
"No afternoon treats for you today" Yibai spoke as he got up to get another empty pot from the adjacent room.
"Meow!" Nuan Nuan chirped, completely unbothered by the threat of losing afternoon treats.
She gave her tail a sassy flick, leaving a fresh streak of potting soil right across Yibai's crisp pillow before trotting over to inspect the crime scene.
The poor Snow Lotus lay sideways on the floor, its delicate, glowing roots exposed to the open air and covered in shards of clay. It looked less like a legendary alchemical ingredient and more like a victim of a miniature hurricane.
Yibai returned from the adjacent room, carrying a plain, unadorned ceramic pot and a small trowel. He sighed, rubbing his temples as he looked from the ruined sheets to the smug feline who was now dynamic-stretching against the leg of his worktable.
"You're lucky that I know how to cultivate the Snow Lotus, " Yibai muttered,
kneeling down to carefully brush the debris away from the lotus roots.
"If I didn't know how to cultivate it even a billion of you couldn't compensate for it.
It's a good thing that my mental fortitude is stronger than ordinary people.
Most would've fainted if the Snow Lotus they cultivated— which was just about to mature —was ruined all of a sudden like this.
Some might even develop a heart demon ,"Yibai muttered.
He gave her a stern look "If this experiment fails because of your morning acrobatics, I'm replacing your premium cat grass with bitter melon."
Nuan Nuan let out a soft, pathetic mew, instantly switching back to her masterclass "puppy eyes" routine.
Now stop with the puppy eyes and come out for breakfast. Hmm, on a second thought there's no breakfast for you as well," Yibai added standing up to dust off his clothes.
"Hurry Up!
I have a lecture to attend at jing university."
Leaving the bedroom behind, the duo walked out into the spacious living room and transitioned into the modern, open-concept kitchen.
Despite his stern words from earlier, Yibai's hands moved with practiced, lightning efficiency as he gathered the ingredients for a quick meal 2 eggs, 2 tomatoes, salt, black pepper, chicken stock, a few garlic cloves and some plain noodles.
He got straight to work as he blanched the tomatoes to easily remove the skin, peeling and mincing the garlic and whisking the eggs.
After frying the omelette until it was soft and fluffy , he broke it into peices, placing the cooked egg into a bowl safely away from Nuan Nuan's destructive paws.
Next he fried the garlic until it released a soft fragrance, and then quickly added the blanched minced tomatoes mixing everything well until the tomatoes softened completely.
while the noodles boiled in a separate pot.
He added salt, black pepper, a hint of sugar, a splash of soya sauce and a cup of chicken stock to the tomatoes leaving the sauce to simmer for five minutes.
Finally he returned the egg back to the pan to mix well with the rich sauce, drained the noodles, rinsed them with cold water, and tossed them in the wok.
After stir–frying everthing together for another minute, he served it with a garnish of chopped scallions.
A fragrant bowl of egg and tomato noodles awas ready.
Anyone would be surprised to know that, despite being fed with the best premium cat food everyday.
Nuan Nuan simply couldn't resist stealing a bite of Yibai's meal.
Inevitably, her heartbreaking puppy eyes won the morning round, and Yibai ended up serving her breakfast too— even if her afternoon treats were still technically canceled.
Once he finished eating, Yibai swiftly cleaned the dishes and filled up the automated pet food and drink dispensers to ensure she was provided for throughout the day.
He then stepped into his walk-in closet to change into an outfit fit for the day—something sharp yet easy on the eyes, ensuring his students wouldn't get visual fatigue from staring at him during a long lecture.
Yibai stepped out of the walk-in closet, the smooth fabric of his beige suit pants draping flawlessly over his dark brown leather boots.
The rich burgundy turtleneck offered a sharp, striking contrast against the warm neutrals of his ensemble, immediately commanding a sense of intellectual authority.
Draping the classic beige trench coat over his shoulders, he left it unbuttoned to let the layers breathe, creating a fluid, elongated silhouette as he walked.
With a final adjustment to his collar, he felt entirely prepared to face his auditorium of students.
Before heading out, he carefully carried the endangered Snow Lotus into the adjacent plant nursery.
He set it down securely and locked the glass door tight, finally placing his precious future experimental subject completely out of reach of the chaos spirit, destruction sprite, catastrophe reincarnated—aka Nuan Nuan's destructive paws.
Grabbing his keys, Yibai cast one final, warning look at the plush gray feline.
"Do not destroy anything else while I am gone," he ordered sternly.
With that final warning, he stepped out of the apartment, leaving the chaotic ancestor behind as he headed toward Jing University.