BAOZI PET SHOP 36

Chapter 36: Midnight Terror

Uncle Wang stopped by in the afternoon. As soon as he walked in, he started handing out red envelopes. He had dyed his hair black, which made him look quite a bit younger.

“Good news, Uncle Wang?” Lin Xia asked with a smile.

“That’s right. My wife is pregnant; she told me the good news as soon as she got home today.” Uncle Wang was beaming. His wife had a constitution that made conception difficult; even Yaya had only come along after they had been married for many years. To receive news of a pregnancy on this specific day… Uncle Wang believed his daughter had returned.

Whether the child was a boy or a girl, they would be their precious treasure. The love they hadn’t been able to give their daughter in time would be poured into this child as compensation. However, they were also clear-headed enough to know that every child is an independent individual, not a replacement for anyone else. They wouldn’t treat him or her as Yaya.

“Congratulations, Uncle Wang!” Seeing the genuine joy on Uncle Wang’s face, Lin Xia felt truly happy for him.

“Thank you!” Uncle Wang left after distributing the red envelopes; he still had to visit a close friend’s house to deliver more.

The shop wasn’t very busy today. Bored, Lin Xia sat by the counter, scrolling through his social media feed while waiting for news from Tang Yinlang. Based on the time, Tang Yinlang should be getting off the plane soon.

“What are you up to, Xiao Xia-xia?” Chen Mingjie sent him a voice message.

“Nothing much, just at the shop. You?” Lin Xia replied.

“I’m picking out wine. Tonight, I’m getting Jing Ran wasted and having my way with him!” Chen Mingjie followed up with a flirty, seductive emoji.

“Are you that desperate?” Lin Xia’s voice carried a hint of laughter.

“What do you mean desperate? It’s Jing Ran who’s too much of a coward, okay? We’ve been living together for a week, and he hasn’t touched me once. If I touch him, he blushes. And it’s not like he doesn’t watch plenty of adult movies, so how is he still this innocent?” Chen Mingjie complained.

Chen Mingjie and Jing Ran were childhood sweethearts who knew everything about each other, so no one had objected when they moved in together.

“You know what his personality is like. Besides, isn’t it kind of romantic this way?” Lin Xia said with a laugh.

“I suppose.” Chen Mingjie chatted with Lin Xia for a while longer before ending the conversation, satisfied.

Just after he finished chatting with Chen Mingjie, Tang Yinlang called.

“Lin Xia.” The deep, melodious male voice sounded as rich as a cello. It flowed like an electric current through the bottom of Lin Xia’s heart, leaving a crisp, tingling sensation.

“You’ve arrived?” Lin Xia asked the obvious, his mind momentarily blanking on what else to say.

“Mn, just arrived,” Tang Yinlang said.

“Have you had lunch yet?” Lin Xia looked at the takeout box in the trash can, wondering if Tang Yinlang had eaten.

“I ate. Plane food,” Tang Yinlang replied plainly.

“That’s good.” Lin Xia nodded. Even though Tang Yinlang couldn’t see him, he could guess Lin Xia’s small habits while on the phone. The way his head would bob up and down was very cute.

“Not as good as what you make.” Remembering Lin Xia’s cooking, Tang Yinlang suddenly found everything else tasteless. He definitely wouldn’t eat well in the days without Lin Xia by his side.

“Really? Should I mail some to you then?” Lin Xia joked.

“Okay.” Even knowing it was a joke, Tang Yinlang agreed without hesitation.

They spoke for a while longer, and not wanting to delay Tang Yinlang, Lin Xia took the initiative to hang up.

“Brother Lin!” Wang Ziyu saw Lin Xia hugging his phone and grinning like an idiot. Thinking something had happened, he called out to snap him out of it.

“Hmm?” Lin Xia came back to his senses, reining in his goofy expression and returning to his usual demeanor.

“Where’s Li Hao?” Lin Xia didn’t see Li Hao, so he asked.

“Asleep in the break room.” Wang Ziyu hadn’t expected Li Hao to look so cute when sleeping; he had even sneakily taken a few photos.

…

At closing time, He Chen came over to pick up “Poached Egg,” who had turned back into human form, and take him home. The home of one human and one tiger was cold and quiet. Switching suddenly to ‘lonely mode’ after getting used to the liveliness was inevitably a bit difficult.

After dinner and getting into bed, Lin Xia kissed the sleeping white fur ball, then drew a circle on his calendar.

Fourteen days left, Lin Xia thought, looking at the circled red number.

At three in the morning, his phone rang and vibrated frantically, jarring Lin Xia awake.

“Hello?” Lin Xia answered, still groggy.

“Xiao Xia-xia… come save me… quick! There’s a monster! Sob…” Chen Mingjie was incoherent, his voice thick with tears.

“Hide first! Don’t make a sound, I’ll be right there!” Lin Xia woke up instantly. He immediately jumped out of bed, threw on a coat, grabbed his car keys, and for good measure, snatched up a can of bug spray and a rolling pin before sprinting out. “Where are you?”

“I’m at home… Jing Ran is gone, he must have been eaten…” Chen Mingjie cried.

The “home” Chen Mingjie referred to was the place he had moved into—the one that had welcomed a second male host a week ago.

“Ah!” Lin Xia heard Chen Mingjie scream, followed by the sound of the phone dropping. After that, no matter how much Lin Xia shouted, Chen Mingjie didn’t respond.

Earlier that day, Chen Mingjie had bought a lot of wine and meticulously prepared a candlelight dinner. When Jing Ran came home and saw the scene, he was surprised, touched, and shy, though the excitement in his eyes behind his glasses was hard to hide.

The two enjoyed a beautiful dinner, during which Chen Mingjie poured a significant amount of wine into Jing Ran. Jing Ran got completely plastered, a blush floating on his pale cheeks making him look like a ripe red apple that begged to be bitten.

Chen Mingjie dragged the drunken Jing Ran into the bathroom for a couple’s bath, then hauled him to the bedroom, pinned him onto the large bed, and prepared to have his way with him!

He thought he would be the one on top, but he hadn’t anticipated that Jing Ran—that weakling—was stronger than him. With one flip, Jing Ran pressed him underneath. Fortunately, even drunk, Jing Ran was gentle and didn’t hurt him too much. They played around until midnight, and eventually, Chen Mingjie, physically exhausted, drifted into a dizzy sleep.

In the middle of the night, half-awake and half-asleep, Chen Mingjie felt a draft. He tried to pull the covers up. He missed the blanket but instead touched something distinct—jointed, hairy, and about as thick as a human thigh. Chen Mingjie assumed it was Jing Ran’s leg and mumbled for Jing Ran to scoot closer so he could warm up.

The owner of the leg, upon being touched, immediately snuggled closer to provide warmth. Chen Mingjie felt warmer and contentedly started to drift back to sleep. But before he could fully go under, he realized something was wrong.

Why were there eight hairy legs clinging to him?

Chen Mingjie startled awake. He opened his eyes to see a giant monster wrapped around his naked body, sleeping soundly.

“Ah!” Chen Mingjie screamed in terror, waking the sweet-dreaming monster.

“Hiss!” The awakened monster lifted its head and opened its mouth ferociously, as if trying to eat him. Terrified, Chen Mingjie exploded with adrenaline to save his own life, breaking free from the monster. He scrambled off the bed, tumbling and crawling, but didn’t forget to swipe his phone from the nightstand to call for help.

Chen Mingjie unlocked his phone and hit the dialer; the first entry in his call log was Lin Xia. Disregarding everything else, he called Lin Xia directly.

The giant monster stared blankly at Chen Mingjie, looking utterly confused. It didn’t understand why Chen Mingjie had pushed it away. Was he disgusted by its appearance?

The monster made a sad sound, but it quickly pulled itself together, climbing off the bed to go find Chen Mingjie.

Chen Mingjie hadn’t run far; he had only made it to the living room before the monster caught up. Seeing that he still wanted to run, the monster used one of its long legs to knock the phone out of Chen Mingjie’s hand and spat out some white, stringy substance to trap him…

Lin Xia knew Chen Mingjie’s address and arrived at the apartment complex quickly.

Between being half-asleep and panicked, neither of them had their wits about them. No one thought to call the police or shout for neighbors; Lin Xia just charged in alone.

Arriving at Chen Mingjie’s door, Lin Xia tried to push it open but found it locked. He hurriedly used the spare key Chen Mingjie had given him.

As soon as he entered, Lin Xia saw the monster with its back to him. Brown, eight legs… wasn’t this just a magnified spider?

Lin Xia was dumbstruck. He was certain the giant monster before him was a mutated spider. It was about 1.9 meters long; both its body and legs were incredibly elongated. Faced with such a massive arachnid, Lin Xia silently tightened his grip on the rolling pin.

The giant spider noticed Lin Xia as he entered. It slowly turned around, looking down at Lin Xia from across the living room, assessing whether he was a threat.

When the giant spider moved, Lin Xia saw Chen Mingjie behind it. Chen Mingjie looked beyond miserable—he looked catastrophic. He was wrapped in silk and stuck to the wall by a hastily woven web. Forced against the wall, Chen Mingjie was sobbing convulsively, looking like he had lost the will to live. It was a pitiful sight.

“Hiss!” The giant spider noticed Lin Xia looking at Chen Mingjie and got unhappy. It adopted an attack stance, issuing a warning sound at Lin Xia.

“Misunderstanding, misunderstanding…” Lin Xia quickly averted his gaze, cold sweat breaking out on his back. Now was not the time to pick a fight.

“Hiss!” Seeing Lin Xia’s attempt to make peace, the spider didn’t lower its guard. Instead, it intensified its efforts to drive him away.

“Xiao Xia-xia, run! Don’t worry about me! Jing Ran has already been eaten by him, I can’t let you die because of me too, sob…” Chen Mingjie had decided he wasn’t escaping tonight. Since Jing Ran had already been eaten, he didn’t want to live alone anyway.

“Hiss~” Seeing Chen Mingjie so agitated, the giant spider lifted a long leg to comfort him with visible distress. Lin Xia stopped worrying.

For some reason, watching the giant spider’s behavior toward Chen Mingjie reminded him of Jing Ran. It was just the two of them in the house, so how could a giant spider just run in? And the spider didn’t seem to have any intention of hurting Chen Mingjie. The spider looked a bit dopey, very similar to how Jing Ran usually looked. Also, Jing Ran was a hacker god—and among animals, isn’t the one who surfs the “web” a spider?

Don’t ask him how he saw a “dopey” expression on a spider’s face; he couldn’t explain it either.

“Mingjie, the big spider is Jing Ran!” Lin Xia shouted at Chen Mingjie.

If Lin Xia guessed correctly, after the drunk Jing Ran and Chen Mingjie had… done the deed, the exhausted or perhaps overly satiated Jing Ran had unconsciously reverted to his original beast form. For shifters, their beast form was their most relaxed state.

“What?” Chen Mingjie stopped crying, his face a mask of shock. “He wasn’t eaten? He turned into a spider?”

“Yes, he is a shifter too, and he’s a spider!” Lin Xia gave him a definitive answer.

“I’m going to die of anger!” Chen Mingjie didn’t doubt Lin Xia’s words for a second. To think he had been terrified and humiliated by this monster for so long, fearing for his life, grieving for Jing Ran, and even contemplating suicide… only for the monster to be Jing Ran! And how did he not know Jing Ran was a shifter?

“Let me down!” Chen Mingjie yelled furiously while struggling. The giant spider, scolded by Chen Mingjie’s shout, lowered its head in grievance. Under Chen Mingjie’s glare, the spider lifted a claw and sliced through the silk on Chen Mingjie’s body with a few swipes.

As the silk fell away, it revealed a pale body covered in purple and red love bites—Chen Mingjie wasn’t wearing any clothes!

“Hiss!” The giant spider annoyedly used its own body to shield Chen Mingjie’s naked form, its eyes warning Lin Xia not to look.

“I’ll go get clothes.” Lin Xia rolled his eyes at the spider. He had already seen everything when they went to the hot springs; what was there to hide?

Lin Xia quickly brought Chen Mingjie’s clothes. The giant spider took them with a long leg and passed them to Chen Mingjie, using its massive body as a changing screen while he dressed.

Once dressed, a rage-filled Chen Mingjie made the giant spider kneel on the floor and proceeded to lecture him relentlessly.

“…” (Here we omit N number of words).

After the scolding, Lin Xia timely poured him a glass of water. Chen Mingjie drank it and continued the scolding. The giant spider lay pitifully on the floor, not daring to lift its head.

Seeing that the two of them were fine, and exhausted from the ordeal, Lin Xia told Chen Mingjie he was heading back.

Chen Mingjie was tired too. His stamina wasn’t great to begin with, and after being tormented for so long—crying and raging—he was wiped out. After Lin Xia left, he dropped a sentence: “Reflect on your actions properly. You are not allowed down until I say so,” and went to take a shower.

The giant spider could only obey, lying obediently on the floor, motionless.

Author’s Note: Poor Chen Mingjie… snicker.

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