In front of Yuhua Academy, students were arriving one after another with their beast pets.
Bai Luxin, dressed in a light blue tracksuit and carrying a backpack with Nuobai riding along, followed the crowd through the school gates.
“Consort! Consort Bai!”
A vibrant young girl greeted Bai Luxin from a distance, jumping and waving as she ran quickly toward her.
The surrounding crowd moved aside, everyone turning to look.
Seeing this, Bai Luxin had no choice but to meet her, reaching out to cover the girl’s mouth. “You’re going to be the death of me. Hurry up and shut up.”
“Hehe.”
Zhou Huimin gave a mischievous smile, her eyes fixed on Nuobai. She had noticed from far away that her best friend had actually contracted a beast pet — a first for her!
Heaven have mercy; she thought she would never see this day in her entire life.
Pushing Luxin’s hand away, Zhou Huimin asked impatiently, “Consort, hurry up and let the Emperor see!”
“As expected of my Consort Bai. You’re beautiful, and the beast pet you contracted is beautiful too.”
“Can I pet her?”
Bai Luxin irritably blocked the reaching hand, grabbing her friend and hurrying to escape the area.
If she stayed any longer, she was going to cringe so hard she could dig a three-bedroom apartment into the ground with her toes.
Nuobai had originally thought Bai Luxin would let her friend touch her, and she had even opened her eyes slightly, prepared to refuse.
“No, Nuobai doesn’t like other people touching her.”
Although they hadn’t been contracted for long, Bai Luxin keenly sensed that Nuobai did not enjoy contact with people, especially being held or petted.
Perhaps she had been hurt before. She absolutely could not let this reckless girl scare Nuobai now.
“Oh, she’s awake!”
Bai Luxin turned her head and saw that Nuobai was awake. She asked softly, “Do you want to sleep a little longer?”
“No need, Master.”
Hearing the kitten on her shoulder speak with a soft yet cold voice and seeing her gold and red heterochromatic eyes, Zhou Huimin became even more excited.
She grabbed Bai Luxin’s clothes and shook them vigorously.
“Wow, Bai Luxin, look! A cat with different colored eyes!”
“What species is this? She’s too beautiful! I really want to pet her!”
Bai Luxin decisively ignored the second half of the sentence and introduced them to each other.
“Nuobai, this is my best friend, Zhou Huimin. You can just call her Huimin.”
Then, she gently stroked Nuobai’s head. “This is Nuobai. Her species is a Snow Joy Cat, and she is my contract partner.”
“Hello there! So it’s a Snow Joy Cat… Wait!”
Zhou Huimin suddenly froze. What kind of cat? A Snow Joy Cat!
“A Snow… Joy… Cat!”
Her pupils dilated suddenly as she pointed at Nuobai, stuttering so much she almost bit her tongue.
Bai Luxin was startled and shielded Nuobai with one hand, looking somewhat reproachful.
“What’s wrong? Why are you shouting so loud?”
“Xin-xin, you must have remembered wrong. How could it be a Snow Joy Cat?”
“Ever since Dr. Qin rediscovered the Snow Joy Cat ten years ago, not a single one has ever been left out in the wild. They all stay within the Longmian Mountain Beast Breeding Center.”
“Besides, Snow Joy Cats all have sky-blue eyes and snowy-white fur. Your beast pet is snowy white, too, but her eye colors are different.”
As Zhou Huimin spoke, she fell silent.
That wasn’t right. Looking at her now, this beast pet really did look like a Snow Joy Cat.
Wait, last year it seemed a Snow Joy Cat had been contracted and taken out. It reportedly had heterochromia.
Seeing how knowledgeable her friend sounded, Bai Luxin began to doubt if she had actually remembered correctly.
“Nuobai, did I get it wrong? Aren’t you a Snow Joy Cat?”
Before Nuobai could answer, Zhou Huimin’s breathing suddenly became rapid.
Her eyes were round and wide, as if she wanted to imprint Nuobai’s image into them forever.
“It… It really is a Snow Joy Cat!”
“Lord Snow Joy Cat! Please, give this lowly one an autograph!”
As she spoke, she quickly snapped a photo of Nuobai. Then, she pulled out an ink pad and respectfully held it out in front of the cat.
Seeing such an eccentric human, Nuobai leaned closer to Bai Luxin. Luckily, her Master wasn’t like this.
“Huimin, what are you doing?”
“Fangirling! This is a Snow Joy Cat! It’s ranked in the top ten of both the Ornamental Species and Endangered Species. It’s a super rare beast pet.”
She looked at Bai Luxin pitifully. “Good sister, I beg you. Let her give me a paw print.”
“This…”
Bai Luxin looked at Nuobai, her eyes filled with inquiry.
“It is no trouble, Master.”
Since she was her Master’s best friend, Nuobai was willing to help maintain the relationship. It was just a paw print, after all.
The small paw print was left on the bottom right corner of the photo.
It was a good shot; it showed Nuobai leaning on Bai Luxin’s shoulder and looking up, her lazy demeanor exuding a transcendent aura.
“Ahhh! This is amazing!”
Slap.
Seeing Zhou Huimin shouting as she tried to press her face against her, Nuobai decisively gave her a swat.
Bai Luxin pulled out a tissue and wiped Nuobai’s small paw, lecturing her.
“Nuobai, hitting people is wrong. You can’t just hit people whenever you want from now on.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine! It was my own fault for being so forward.”
Zhou Huimin looked at the small paw print on her face and decided she wouldn’t wash her face for the entire day.
She skillfully took a ten-shot burst of selfies.
She posted them to her social circle with the caption: ‘The day I was stamped by Lord Snow Joy Cat.’
After her satisfaction passed, she finally thought to ask Bai Luxin.
“Xin-xin, how did you manage to contract a Snow Joy Cat?”
She remembered that Bai Luxin wasn’t considering contracting a beast pet.
How could she contract such a rare Snow Joy Cat? This had to be the only one in the outside world.
As they walked, Bai Luxin briefly explained the situation at the time.
“That is so lucky! Xin-xin, your luck is incredible!”
“No, my luck was the best.”
Nuobai stood up and corrected her. “Being able to meet Master was my good fortune.”
“Careful, don’t fall off.”
Watching her friend’s concerned look and the loving interaction between the person and the beast, Zhou Huimin felt like she was witnessing a perfect pair.
“Woof! Woof!”
Suddenly, the sound of a dog barking echoed. The sound was clearly directed at Nuobai. The two girls stopped in their tracks.
A sharp, shrill voice mocked them.
“Isn’t this the bottom-ranker? Didn’t you claim you wouldn’t contract a pet? In the end, you couldn’t help yourself, could you?”
Zhao Weiwei stood in front of them with her beast pet, a Flame Dog, intentionally raising her voice.
“Bai Luxin, you little green tea bitch. You kept saying you wouldn’t contract a pet, dragging everyone else down while trying to get attention. Today, I, Zhao Weiwei, will expose your hypocritical face.”
Bai Luxin held back Zhou Huimin, who was ready to stand up for her. In the past, she had been unwilling to have conflicts with classmates, and it had always been Huimin who helped her.
But now, she had Nuobai. She had to set an example for Nuobai. She couldn’t bully others, but she also absolutely could not let others bully her.
“Zhao Weiwei, whether I contract a beast pet or not has nothing to do with you. If you want to manage things so badly, why don’t you go be a shoelace?”
Zhao Weiwei hadn’t expected the usually quiet girl who let people push her around to counter-attack so sharply.
For a moment, she didn’t know how to respond. Her face turned bright red as she felt immensely insulted. She stopped pretending altogether.
“You… you bitch!”
Upon hearing those words, Bai Luxin felt her shoulder lighten, and then a scream followed.
Zhao Weiwei’s right cheek swelled up instantly as a red mark appeared on her face.
Nuobai walked back with elegant cat steps.
“Ah! You damn cat! I’m going to skin you alive!”
Nuobai turned her head, revealing her razor-sharp claws.