Chapter 456: Battle of Wits
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Sophie covered her mouth and giggled. Her eyes looked like crescent moons.
Li Du was displeased and said, "Quick! Get me some paper towels, you're still laughing!"
Sophie chuckled, "Don't worry, I know the reason now."
"What reason?"
"The reason why Ah Ow always pees on you," said Sophie seriously. "She must smell Ah Meow on you, so she wants to cover Ah Meow's smell with her own!"
Li Du also laughed, but with a helpless smile. Looks like I'm the only normal one in this car, he thought. "Is that reason more important than getting the paper towels to hold Ah Ow's poop?"
Sophie waved her hands in disagreement. "Peace of mind, young man. Ah Ow's a puppy. She won't poop in such a short time when she just finished pooping earlier. Her stomach's empty."
Sophie was right. Ah Ow's eyes were wide open, her tail straight, and was trying her best to poop. Although she squeezed out two drops of urine just now, she could not do the same for pooping. Her stomach was clear.
Ah Meow gave Ah Ow a condescending look. He swayed his tail, wanting to come over to Li Du again to give Ah Ow a demo on how it should be done.
Li Du felt like bashing up the ocelot!
Back at Sophie's house, his pants were now sticky. The ocelot had released a lot of urine, which had a terrible stench. He had been feeling nauseous throughout the drive.
Sophie grabbed a pair of men's beach shorts for Li Du. "Wear these, and let me have the pants. I'll wash them now."
"How can I trouble you like this?" Li Du asked. "Erm, by the way, whose beach shorts are these?"
Sophie rolled her eyes and said, "Of course they're Thomas's. Besides my dad, why would I have men's clothing in my house?"
Li Du explained, "I'm not suspecting you or anything, I'm asking because the style of these beach shorts doesn't seem to suit me."
The beach shorts were bright red and green, with pictures of beautiful women with big chests and long legs. He was embarrassed just looking at them.
Sophie giggled again, covering her mouth with her hand. "It doesn't matter. You can wait in the living room. Your pants will be ready very soon."
Before Li Du went to get changed, he got Ah Ow, Ah Meow, and Crispy Noodles on the carpet, and pointed at Ah Meow. "I'm leaving for a while, you're not allowed to hurt Ah Ow! That's forbidden! Understand?"
Ah Meow blinked his big eyes. His plump face looked innocent and adorable.
Li Du did not succumb to Ah Meow's innocent look. He tapped on Ah Meow's head with his finger. "I'm not kidding. You're not allowed to hurt her, or I won't like you ever again! No more tuna for you ever again!"
Ah Meow's eyebrows creased; he eventually gave in with a sigh through the nose, and reluctantly walked away from Ah Ow, swaying his tail.
Sophie was looking on and marveled at that sight. "Wow, he understands you? Why are your pets so smart? Ah Ow's very clever as well."
"Maybe I'm a druid," Li Du laughed, "born to tame these mischievous children."
Sophie was relieved that she could wash the pants without worry later, and Li Du went to get changed.
Li Du hurriedly changed out of the soiled pants and cleaned himself up when suddenly Sophie's scream was heard. "Oh, oh my god, Ah Ow!"
Li Du was alarmed, he quickly ran out of the room. "What happened?"
Sophie was aghast at the sudden disappearance of the puppy. "Ah Ow, where's Ah Ow?"
Li Du looked around him. Ah Ow, who should be on the carpet, had disappeared. Ah Meow was still on the sofa, smacking his mouth, he seemed to have a smirk on his face.
Seeing this, Sophie's tears immediately burst out. "No! Ah Meow you can't do this! Did you eat Ah Ow? You ate Ah Ow?"
Li Du was confused. That can't be true, Ah Meow actually did that? he thought.
He quickly brushed off that thought and knew that it was absolutely impossible!
He had owned Ah Meow for more than six months now and knew Ah Meow's character very well. Ah Meow might have been overbearing most of the time but he was not that brutal. Even if he didn't like Ah Ow, even if he could kill the puppy, he would never eat the puppy up.
Alright... Ah Meow wouldn't kill Ah Ow either—at most hurt the puppy badly.
With that, he regained his composure. When he saw that Sophie was crying, he hugged her and lightly patted her on the back. "Don't cry, Ah Ow will be fine. Ah Meow wouldn't do that to her."
Sophie pushed him away and reprimanded, "Why are you hugging me? Quick! Go find Ah Ow!"
Li Du picked up Ah Meow. Both man and ocelot stared at each other. Li said sternly, "Where's the little one?"
Ah Meow looked confused and innocent. "Meooww!"
"I'm asking you where's the little one? Didn't I f*cking tell you not to touch her? Ah Ow, the little one!"
Ah Meow blinked pitifully at Li Du; as if to say he had wronged him, a tear flowed down from his eye. "Meooww!"
Suddenly, Crispy Noodles raised his butt uncomfortably. Ah Ow's little head appeared from underneath—there was some fur in her mouth and she cried as loud as she could, "Owww Owww!"
Woosh! Sophie dashed to Ah Ow with lightning speed—Crispy Noodles was shoved aside and Ah Ow was in Sophie's arms.
Ah Ow was panting heavily, her little face was as confused and innocent as Ah Meow's. I nearly died under the butt! she thought.
Li Du put down Ah Meow and looked at Crispy Noodles with a grim face. He had mistaken Ah Meow for the culprit again—it was actually Crispy Noodles.
Crispy Noodles innocently blinked his eyes and looked bewildered at what was happening before him. He looked at Ah Ow and kept shaking his head tirelessly as if to prove his innocence.
Li Du thought of the time he barbecued some fish fillet and thought that Ah Meow was the one who had stolen the fish. However, the truth was, Crispy Noodles had done it.
As the Chinese saying went, "A thief in the family is difficult to detect." He came to a conclusion that Ah Meow was just a cranky ocelot that behaved the same with or without him around. Crispy Noodles, however, was two-faced: he was well-behaved when Li Du was around and projected a totally different behavior when he wasn't!
Sophie took a piece of dried tuna to the ocelot and said, "We've wronged Ah Meow. I'm so sorry, Ah Meow."
Ah Meow held the dried tuna close to him and chewed it happily.
The victim, Ah Ow, seemed to be angry with Ah Meow rather than Crispy Noodles. She howled at Ah Meow continuously. "Owww Owww!"
Li Du had wanted to punish Crispy Noodles, but he acutely sensed something not quite right when he saw Ah Ow's attitude towards Ah Meow.
Ah Ow was maybe a puppy, but she was a really bright one. If she were bullied by Crispy Noodles, she wouldn't have howled at Ah Meow.
Li Du decided to delay doling out punishment for Crispy Noodles. The three mischievous pets wanted to pit their wits against him? Fine, he would take on the challenge and play detective to solve the case.
He gave it some thought, placed his new mobile phone on the table with the video recording function turned on, and made the phone camera face Ah Ow. Then he dragged Sophie away.
Sophie was puzzled and struggled. "What's up?"
Li Du took her waist and explained. "We're going to solve the mystery!"
"Huh?"
Li Du increased the strength of his hands around Sophie's waist, holding her close. The lady doctor stopped struggling. Her cheeks were crimson and her eyes misty.
They entered a room and Sophie suddenly "regained consciousness," quickly pushing Li Du away. She scowled at him. "What are you doing? How can you do this to me?"
Li Du quickly explained his actions. "Don't get me wrong, we have to stay here for a while so we can find the real culprit who bullied Ah Ow!"
Sophie was baffled. "Isn't Crispy Noodles the culprit? What real culprit are you talking about?"
Li Du sighed as he thought, You don't know how sly the two can be, you're too naive.
He didn't know how to explain that to Sophie. If he could get ahold of video evidence, that would make things easier. After around two minutes later, the two of them left the room. Sophie's eyes were wide open. "Oh my god, Ah Ow has disappeared again?"
She quickly went up to Crispy Noodles and found Ah Ow underneath his butt again.
Li Du's eyes were wide open too—holy cow, the mobile phone was facing flat on the table!