Returning to Infancy with my Nemesis - Chapter 54

Tang Mian’s small tablet was broken, unable to turn on, and had been sent for repairs by his dad. It would likely take a few days to fix. This was his only tablet, and everything was stored inside. If it couldn’t be fixed, it would be very troublesome.

The mischievous cat had its weekly cat food ration deducted by Tang Mian for causing the tablet’s demise.

These days happened to be weekdays, and his brother had to attend additional classes, his dad went to work, and his mom, having finished the summer flower shoot, was busy with post-production.

Even though they had spent the entire night with Tang Mian yesterday, during the day, he had to stay home alone, which wasn’t very interesting. So, he decided to move to Fu Shizhao’s place for a few days, bringing along some flowers his mom had recently trimmed.

Tang Mian decided not to bother with the troublesome cat that had broken his tablet for the next few days and left it at home for the maid to take care of.

He had brought the cat to Fu Shizhao’s place before. The cat was quite fearless, unafraid of going outdoors, and didn’t get stressed. It had even patrolled around Great-Grandma’s house for a while, jumping onto the table to steal a strawberry that Great-Grandma had prepared for Tang Mian.

Now, with the addition of a little dog at Fu Shizhao’s place, Tang Mian had the intention of letting the two animals meet and hoped for a miracle of getting along well. However, it wasn’t the right time now. The Samoyed had just adjusted to its new environment, and if the cat beat it up, it wouldn’t be good. After all, his own cat was a combat cat that could even break a tablet.

Upon seeing Tang Mian, the little white dumpling, which was originally curled up in its nest, suddenly stood up and rushed towards him, wagging its tail vigorously.

Tang Mian quickly bent down to pick it up into his arms.

Fu Shizhao was sitting at the table, looking pleasantly surprised at Tang Mian entering, and beside him was a teacher. Tang Mian hadn’t notified Fu Shizhao in advance this time, planning to give him a surprise, but he hadn’t expected that Fu Shizhao would be secretly taking a test!

They had been home for just a day, and he had already started having teachers come to the house for lessons.

Tang Mian walked straight to Fu Shizhao with the little Samoyed dumpling in his arms. After glancing at the competition questions on top of the table, he directly leaned on Fu Shizhao’s bed, focusing on petting the dog.

Fu Shizhao observed his reactions and gave a slight smirk, “Wait for me to finish the lesson, then I’ll play with my little brother.”

Tang Mian responded with a soft “Mm” and used his fingers to lift the ears of the little Samoyed in his arms, making them resemble the ears of a small rabbit. Why didn’t he notice in the previous life that Fu Shizhao was so into studying?

However, it made sense. This time, Fu Shizhao was raised under Grandma Fu’s care, and The old lady must have high expectations for him. It was normal for children from truly upper-class families to learn many things from an early age.

Although the Tang family couldn’t compare to the Fu family, Tang Mian’s younger brother learned a lot when he was young. Due to some ear problems, his family pampered him and didn’t put much pressure on him.

In Tang Mian’s heart, Fu Shizhao was destined to take over the family business like in the previous life.

If cultivated from a young age, the path ahead would undoubtedly be smoother.

In the previous life, after Fu Shizhao took over the family business, Tang Mian heard some rumors.

There were stories about CEO Fu being in the company all day, with the lights on his floor still burning late into the night. Many young masters and misses who wanted to show affection couldn’t find an opportunity to meet him.

Fu Shizhao didn’t accept any non-work-related appointments during working hours.

There were tales about CEO Fu finally being dragged to a bar by a few friends to relax, only to receive a call and return to work after having a glass of cold water with ice.

There were anecdotes about CEO Fu giving a speech at a school, leaving immediately after finishing, presumably to go back to work.

****

Anyway, the workaholic image of Fu Shizhao in the previous life was almost universally known. Otherwise, Tang Mian wouldn’t have been “forced” to listen to an earful.

Tang Mian speculated that it must be because the Fu family’s business was extensive, and Fu Shizhao was a bit overwhelmed, leading to excessive work pressure. After all, Fu Shizhao was only brought back to be cultivated by Grandpa Fu during high school.

He spent the first eighteen years in an environment similar to Tang Mian’s, so taking over the Fu family at such a young age was undoubtedly challenging.

He believed that this time, with Fu Shizhao being nurtured by Grandma Fu from a young age, he wouldn’t be forced into workaholism like in the previous life.

Lying on the bed, cradling the soft Samoyed dumpling, and listening to the sound of Fu Shizhao’s class with the air conditioning blowing, Tang Mian unintentionally drifted into a doze.

The little Samoyed obediently curled up next to Tang Mian, forming itself into a ball, and soon fell asleep as well.

After completing a math problem, Fu Shizhao suddenly put down his pen, got up, and picked up an air-conditioning blanket from the side.

He gently covered Tang Mian, who was sleeping, much to the teacher’s puzzled gaze. Without lingering, he turned back to the table, raised the temperature on the air conditioner by two degrees using the remote control, and continued solving the next problem.

Throughout the process, he moved so lightly that even his footsteps were barely audible.

The teacher looked at him approvingly.

Young Master Fu not only had extraordinary talent in academics but also had excellent manners and consideration for others. He had been invited to teach other young masters and misses from prominent families before but had never encountered one with manners as refined as his.

Fu Shizhao casually explained the solution to the problem, his mind drifting back to memories of the previous life.

In the previous life, before Fu Shizhao was brought back to the Fu family, Tang Mian occasionally fell asleep while studying. Tang Mian focused on studying humanities in high school. When he entered the first year and the classes weren’t divided yet, he didn’t pay much attention to the science courses, concentrating solely on humanities.

Science problems were endless to solve, and humanities books were too numerous to memorize entirely. However, the difference was that solving science problems was easy to get distracted, while memorizing humanities books was prone to dozing off.

Several times, tired from solving problems, he would look up to see Tang Mian holding a book, leaning slightly against the bed, already asleep.

The hem of his clothes would have crept up, revealing a fair narrow waist, one foot touching the ground, and the slipper of the other foot falling off, exposing round toes.

His gaze would be hard to shift away each time.

“Finished writing?” Tang Mian asked.

Fu Shizhao seemed to snap out of his thoughts, shaking his head, and continued writing the next problem.

The teacher smiled slightly, not getting angry due to his distraction. This was how a child should be.

For Fu Shizhao, this level of competition problems was simply child’s play.

In the previous life, his favorite subject was mathematics, and he had planned to participate in math competitions during high school.

However, various circumstances, including being claimed by the Fu family, caused delays, and he missed the registration that year. Later on, with one thing after another piling up, he lost interest in participating.

In this life, Fu Shizhao wanted to make up for the regrets of the past life by participating in math competitions from elementary school to high school and college. He didn’t want to miss out on this opportunity.

The arrangement with the teacher was also to make everything proceed more smoothly, avoiding raising suspicions. He didn’t want to become a child prodigy who could achieve success through self-study. He understood the necessity of tempering his brilliance.

The teachers brought here were all under confidentiality agreements and wouldn’t disclose anything to outsiders. The old lady intentionally kept the hiring of these teachers to teach Fu Shizhao a secret, fearing that the Fu family might direct their suspicions towards the still young Fu Shizhao.

Over the past two years, the Fu family knew very little about Fu Shizhao. They only knew that he had a very good relationship with a childhood friend whom he referred to as “big brother.” Besides that, he rarely played with other children from influential families. He even refused to call anyone else “brother” from the same generation in the Fu family, claiming that he only had one big brother from the Tang family.

Since the incident two years ago when Fu Zhong brought his son, Fu Ruoyang, to bully Fu Shizhao into the hospital, Fu Shizhao had become unwilling to be close to other children from the Fu family. He even resisted speaking with them, distancing himself from any interactions.

As for the Tang family where Fu Shizhao’s childhood friend was located—although they had flourished over the past two years and gained favor with Fu’s old lady by pleasing her youngest son, compared to the Fu family, they were still far behind.

You see, for these children of wealthy families, building connections from an early age is crucial. But Fu Shizhao’s personality was such that he couldn’t fit in with their social circles. It seemed like either Fu’s old lady had made a mistake in her strategic moves, or she genuinely just wanted to have an independent child to care for and enjoy the pleasures of family life.

Regardless of the reason, it turned out to be a good thing for them. Thanks to Fu’s old lady’s care, Tang family didn’t face any repercussions. Everything was going well.

After spending several days at Fu Shizhao’s place, every time Tang Mian returned home, the mischievous cat would spend a long time sniffing around him. Initially, Tang Mian used to feel guilty, afraid that the cat might misunderstand something.

Now, Tang Mian didn’t care anymore and allowed the cat to sniff freely. After all, punishing the cat for breaking his precious tablet was necessary as well.

To let it know that if it’s not obedient or does something naughty, he can go play with the little obedient dogs outside. The cat was not the only option for me.

The good news is that after a few days of sniffing, the kitten seems to have adapted to the scent of Tang Mian’s little Samoyed and stopped sniffing.

At the same time, another piece of good news is that Tang Mian’s tablet has been fixed. There wasn’t a major issue; the screen was just broken, which is why it kept showing a black screen.

Tang Mian can now draw on the tablet again.

As it’s hot, he hasn’t been running to Fu Shizhao’s place anymore, fearing it might affect his studies. — Every time he knew Fu Shizhao was coming, Fu Shizhao would cancel his previously scheduled classes, which made Tang Mian feel guilty.

During the day, Tang Mian stays in his room drawing, and in the evening, he watches cartoons with Fu Shizhao after his classes.

In the blink of an eye, half of the summer vacation has passed.

The little Samoyed has grown quite a bit since it first came back, and it felt heavier when picked up.

It had also completely familiarized itself with its new home, running around inside every day. It even accompanied the old lady to watch the news, wagging its tail happily, bringing joy to the old lady.

After the sun completely set and the temperature dropped quite a bit, Fu Shizhao took it for a walk in the yard to expend some energy. After all, dogs still need to be walked.

Unfortunately, Grandma Fu’s house was still a bit too far from Tang Mian’s home; otherwise, Fu Shizhao really wished to walk the dog to Tang Mian’s house every day, to take a stroll with Tang Mian and the dog.

One day shortly before the start of primary school, Tang Mian had a sudden idea. He put his sleeping kitten into a travel crate and took it to Fu Shizhao’s place.

He had wanted the two fluffy creatures to meet for a long time, but due to the hot summer, he kept postponing it until today.

If he delayed it any further, school would start, and he would have to deal with homework. Just thinking about forging the innocent handwriting of an elementary school student to complete so much homework gave Tang Mian a headache.

The Samoyed puppy was now twice the size of his own cat when curled up, and its fur was thick. Even if it got into a fight… it could handle the pressure quite well.

He had already prepared a harness for his kitten that could be attached to a leash. If there were any signs of a fight, he could just pull the kitten away.

With a slightly nervous feeling like a small sparrow in his heart, Tang Mian got into the car. Fu Yu helped put the cat carrier with the kitten on the back seat.

Despite all the preparations, Tang Mian still hoped that the two fluffy creatures could get along harmoniously.

It was Uncle Fu Yu who came to pick him up. Coincidentally, he was out on business and brought Tang Mian back on his way back.

Upon learning that Tang Mian was bringing the kitten, Fu Shizhao canceled his afternoon classes. He sat on the first-floor living room sofa with the curled-up Samoyed puppy and Grandma Fu, waiting for Tang Mian.

Fu Shizhao swayed his feet lightly, feeling very good. His foster father had recently been dealing with his enrollment in elementary school.

Elementary school was about to start, and summer was coming to an end. It would soon be the cool autumn. He would be classmates with Tang Mian again.

Together, they would attend classes, finish classes, go to school, leave school, do homework together, and prepare for exams together. Elementary school, middle school, high school, college. This time, he would accompany him through the college entrance examination.

While Fu Shizhao was daydreaming, the front door suddenly swung open, and then two sets of footsteps approached. Fu Shizhao looked up with surprise, and the movement of the Samoyed puppy in his arms matched his actions perfectly.

It was indeed Tang Mian, who came back with his foster father.

Tang Mian held a travel crate in his hands, containing a familiar white, long-haired cat with its head pressed against the crate door, looking outside.

As soon as Tang Mian entered, he was shocked.

What was going on with the red banner that read “Cotton Candy and Snowball’s First Meeting”?!

When Tang Mian’s gaze fell on the banner, the maid standing nearby smiled and explained, “Madam specially prepared it for a sense of ceremony.”

Tang Mian: …

After more than two years of getting to know each other, Tang Mian probably understood Fu Grandma’s personality — a trendy old lady who, like when she was young, would never let herself be outdated by the times. Every time his mom livestreamed, she would send her a lot of gifts to cheer her on.

Seeing this banner wasn’t too surprising. After being surprised for a moment, Tang Mian silently accepted it.

Tang Mian quickly ran to Fu Shizhao and Fu Grandma, holding the travel crate. He sweetly called out, “Grandma,” and then placed the travel crate on the floor next to the sofa.

Tang Mian didn’t immediately open the door of the travel crate. Instead, he waited for Uncle Fu Yu to close the door and catch up. Together, they put a leash on Cotton Candy.

Cotton Candy was still quite familiar with the place; after all, Tang Mian used to bring it here often to play. The several little nests prepared by the old lady for it were still there, although Tang Mian had seen the Samoyed puppy curling up to sleep in them several times.

“Meowww~” came out of the travel crate, and the fluffy tail of the kitten stood tall. After a quick survey, its gaze locked onto the Samoyed puppy that Fu Shizhao had placed on the floor.

This was the scent it had smelled on its little owner before.

Whenever the little owner disappeared for a long time and came back, this was the scent it would carry. After the little owner returned, its scent would be on it every day. But the little owner was never injured. It shouldn’t be an enemy.

Could this be the little owner’s companion outside?

Why would the little owner choose this creature, which it disliked the most, as a companion?

Although the kitten narrowed its eyes and swished its tail unhappily, it did not adopt an aggressive posture. The Samoyed puppy was also observing the sudden appearance of the cat at home, sniffing quickly with its little nose.

It recognized this scent!

It smelled this scent at home every day, especially on Tang Mian.

Was this its little companion?

The Samoyed puppy, called Snowball, took the initiative, trotting towards the cat with its short legs, eager to get close. Fu Yu, noticing this, nervously tightened the leash connected to the cat, concentrating intensely.

 Tang Mian also held Fu Shizhao’s hand tightly. Contrary to expectations, there was no one-sided attack.

Snowball successfully reached the cat and willingly pressed against it. Its little tail wagged back and forth, gently rubbing against the cat’s tail. Although the cat maintained its original posture, it showed no signs of aggression.

The next moment, Snowball voluntarily lay down next to the cat, exposing its soft belly.

The cat squinted its eyes, raised a paw, and placed one paw pad on snowball’s body. Seeing no resistance, the cat placed the other paw pad on top, effectively turning itself into a furry bundle on top of Snowball.

Despite the cat being an adult, Tang Mian had kept its weight well-controlled, making her a slender little lady.

Snowball, being a medium-sized dog, was not small, even if it wasn’t an adult yet; but it didn’t seem bothered by the cat on top of it. Instead, it extended its paws, wanting to play with the cat.

Cotton Candy, the cat, wagged its tail.

It seemed like the little owner had tamed a sidekick outside. Upon their first meeting, the sidekick was already showing such submissive behavior. Reluctantly, Cotton Candy acknowledged it as its little brother.

Tang Mian stared in amazement, eyes wide open and a face of disbelief. After the shock, a deep sense of joy overwhelmed him.

Cotton Candy really didn’t attack Snowball.

Tang Mian wasn’t foolish; he faintly guessed that it might be related to the scent of Snowball he brought back with him. However, this didn’t hinder his excitement over the situation.

In no time, the cat and the dog started playing together.

Cotton Candy gracefully leaped onto the table, picked up a strawberry from a small dish the maid had placed there, took a big bite, and shared the other half with its newly recognized little brother.

The cat tilted its head slightly, as if bestowing a gift upon a subordinate.

Snowball’s little tail almost blurred as it happily ate the half strawberry.

Tang Mian was shocked, his mouth slightly open. Fu Shizhao took the opportunity to stuff a strawberry into his mouth. Tang Mian bit into it, and the sweet juice instantly flooded his taste buds.

Fu Shizhao suddenly felt that this cat and dog were somewhat similar to Tang Mian and himself.

As soon as Tang Mian was reborn, he unceremoniously pinched his face, and later, he had been “bullying” him all the time.

He, on the other hand, enjoyed Tang Mian’s “bullying.” It was called “bullying,” but in reality, it was just his way of showing affection. It really was… pets taking after their owners.