Who Says Dragon Kingdom Doesn’t Have Good Ox Plots Hamster on Guard

"Golden hair?"

Xia Tongxin was stunned for a moment, a big question mark popping up in her head. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of her own platinum-blonde hair and realized—oh, he must be talking about her.

She had already dyed her hair back now.

Well, strictly speaking, it wasn't really dyed back. It was changed back.

Xia Tongxin's pink hair wasn't the kind that came from regular dye; it could be washed out with a special chemical solution—an expensive hair dye and fading agent she'd paid a fortune for. Maximum protection for the hair... if you don't get it, no worries. One sentence sums it up: Money makes life good!

Last night, after declaring her "never surrender" battle cry, Xia Tongxin decisively chose to wash her hair back to its original color. It wasn't because she was scared of some annoying cow demon, okay? She just liked her natural hair color now.

She wasn't really into pink anymore. That's all, hmm... just that. Nothing more.

Head Maid: "..."

Faced with her young mistress, whose only stubborn part left was her mouth, the head maid let out a helpless sigh and gave a gentle smile, offering to find a way if she really didn't want to wash it off.

"No need, Xiaxia... gold is fine too." Xia Tongxin muttered softly.

The head maid froze. Was their young lady finally coming out of her rebellious phase?

Back then, it was because people around her gossiped and whispered that she'd started rebelling. The pink hair was the mark of that rebellion. And now, this incident had given her an excuse to wash it off.

Being her true self?

Hmm... that's a good thing.

Every cloud has a silver lining. The head maid suddenly didn't hate the aggressive president as much anymore—at least she'd helped their young lady in some way, even if it was completely by accident.

Splash.

The fading agent was rinsed away with the warm water, and washed away with the pink dye was Xia Tongxin's rebellious adolescence, along with the weak version of herself she used to be.

Well, of course, that didn't mean she was super strong now. She was still weak, still useless, still a little... golden-haired cockroach. But at least she could talk back now.

Whoohoo!

Huge progress!

Back then, when she got yelled at, she'd just hide somewhere alone and cry in secret. Now, she curses people out first, and then cries in secret afterward!

Inside the computer lab.

When Xia Tongxin heard Ye Cheng mention her hair color, some unpleasant memories and voices from her childhood flooded into her mind like a nightmare.

She held herself together, trying to look strong.

"What's wrong with golden hair?" Xia Tongxin demanded.

Ye Cheng blinked. "Nothing wrong with it. It looks great. Oh, by the way, there's also that little pink-haired one—is she your younger sister or your older sister?"

Xia Tongxin didn't catch much else, except that Ye Cheng said her golden hair looked nice.

Nice?

"Y-you... you're saying my hair looks good?" Xia Tongxin ventured cautiously, her eyes flickering with a mix of hesitation and hope, longing to hear the affirmation again.

Her eyes sparkled as she stared at Ye Cheng without moving. No one could bear to refuse such a pitiful little... cockroach.

"Yeah, but I still prefer green. How about you try green? Unless you have other siblings for that." Ye Cheng thought about it seriously, then said in a completely straight-faced tone.

In his head, Ye Cheng was picturing seven colors—gather a few more for a Seven Dwarves kind of thing, then go save Snow White someday and make it a legendary tale.

His thoughts were all over the place, and Xia Tongxin naturally couldn't read his mind. But she could feel the sincerity in his eyes.

What Ye Cheng had just said was the truth.

It wasn't like those people back when she was a kid, who looked at her with strange eyes. Back then, she felt like an outcast, like she could never fit in.

Even her so-called "friends" had only stuck around because they saw her as a naive rich girl...

She didn't get it when she was little. When she grew up a bit and understood, it hurt even more—meaning even the good things she'd hoped for and believed in as a child were fake. None of those people liked her. They all rejected her.

She was so lonely...

The only place she could cry was in her mother's arms. And later, it became in Xiaxia's and the cow demon's arms...

Xia Tongxin's eyes turned red, her pale blue eyes misting over. She took a small step forward and grabbed hold of Ye Cheng with both hands.

"Really? Are you willing to be my friend?"

Ye Cheng: "???"

When did I ever say I wanted to be your friend?

Dude, you're way off—this is some kind of cross-dimensional chat, isn't it?

But then he thought about how rich this pink-haired little cockroach was... her sibling, the golden-haired little cockroach, probably wasn't short on cash either, right?

With that in mind, Ye Cheng's gaze turned firm, and his expression grew noticeably more handsome. "Yeah, I'm willing to be your friend!"

"If you want, in a couple of days, I'll take you to find the other Pokémon... ahem, other friends!"

He almost let the thought slip out.

He'd automatically lumped the Xia Tongxin in front of him into the same category as the "Pokémon" at the welfare home. As far as Ye Cheng was concerned, there wasn't much difference. As the King of Pokémon, he felt it was his duty to help Pokémon get along with each other.

And afterward, he could just collect a "tiny bit" of protection fee—no, friendship fee.

If you don't renew, your friendly relationship automatically ends!

Supports monthly payments. Or daily, if that's easier...

"Miss!"

The head maid arrived a little late, pushing the door open from outside with panic in her eyes. The moment she wasn't paying attention, their young lady had run out again!

It gave her a headache, because everywhere Ye Cheng went seemed to be a disaster zone. All kinds of bizarre things happened around him.

At least ten times out of ten, even something like their young lady getting up to pee in the morning—somehow, he always ran into it. How ridiculous was that?

"Boo-hoo, Xiaxia." Xia Tongxin looked at the head maid with teary eyes and burrowed into her arms, sniffling and whimpering.

Head Maid: "..."

The head maid looked alarmed, staring at Ye Cheng: What did you do?

Ye Cheng: I dunno. Your little cockroach came in, babbled some weird stuff, and then that happened.

Head Maid: ...

They'd reached the point where they could communicate just by exchanging glances. Not a word was said, but everything was clear.

The head maid comforted her as she led their young lady out and settled her in the other room. Breakfast time came, and during the meal, the head maid got the full story of what had happened in the computer lab earlier.

"Slurp, slurp, slurp... Xiaxia, from now on, Uncle Cow is my best friend!" Xia Tongxin sucked in a runny nose, her gaze determined.

She was going to cherish this hard-won friendship!

Head Maid: "..."

Um... Miss, do you think you might have misunderstood something?

The head maid's mouth twitched, wanting to say something, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Ah...

Thinking about it from a different angle... maybe this isn't so bad. At least their young lady was truly coming out of her shell—whether it was the color of her hair or her willingness to make her first friend, she was no longer sealing off her heart like before.

It all showed that their young lady was moving in a positive direction.

"Madam, this is wonderful. The young lady has finally come out of her rebellious phase!"

At that moment, the head maid even felt tears welling up in her eyes!

An hour and a half later.

Ye Cheng successfully finished up and came out of the server room. The main hall was spotless, with no one in sight, but on the table sat a leftover "breakfast for two."

"How thoughtful—they even left a breakfast for two!" Ye Cheng felt touched, then sat down and began eating his share of the breakfast for two.

Upstairs.

"Xiaxia, isn’t this dress a little big?" Xia Tongxin looked at herself in the mirror with some awkwardness.

Everywhere else fit fine, but in the chest area... well, there was some extra fabric that no matter how she adjusted, it just didn’t feel right.

The head maid: "..."

"Hmm... it must be a manufacturing defect. Miss, let’s change into another one. I’ll pick something else for you."

"Oh, okay." Xia Tongxin didn’t overthink it and nodded dully.

Soon, the head maid and Xia Tongxin came down from the room holding hands. They saw that Ye Cheng had already come out of the server room, so the empty first floor now had one more person.

Ye Cheng sat in a chair, a toothpick dangling from his mouth, patting his belly.

"Yo, Xiaxia, you’re down. The breakfast tasted great, but it was a little cold. Next time, you might want to heat it up a bit," Ye Cheng said in a very relaxed manner.

The head maid: "???"

The breakfast left on the table—theirs and the young lady’s half-eaten portions—now had the plates licked clean.

Xia Tongxin’s eyes went wide, her little head buzzing, and her face flushed pink. She tugged at the head maid’s hand, squeezing a little harder: "Xiaxia, did Grandpa Niu just eat our... sob sob..."

"No, Miss, you’re seeing things."

The head maid quickly covered Xia Tongxin’s mouth and shook her head repeatedly.

The head maid had indeed left breakfast for Ye Cheng, but... the breakfast was in the pot.

Ye Cheng got up and headed toward the door: "Xiaxia, I’m off. I’ll come again next time, and thanks for the hospitality—mwah!"

Before he left, Ye Cheng even blew an air kiss in the head maid’s direction.

The head maid: "..."

Though strange, it wasn’t unpleasant.

The head maid sighed, watched Ye Cheng leave, and only then let go of her young lady.

"Wah... Xiaxia, you’re too much!" Xia Tongxin puffed out her cheeks, looking furious, even shaking off the hand she had been holding.

The head maid froze, seeing the tears welling up in her young lady’s eyes, and scrambled to explain.

"Why did he only call your name? Sob sob... I never want to talk to you again, sob sob..."

Xia Tongxin sobbed and ran back into her room, slamming the door shut, crying bitterly behind it.

The head maid: "???"

The greatest pain in the world is this: having both a beloved family member and a genuinely cherished friend at the same time—usually a cause for joy.

But then, that beloved family member and that cherished friend end up hanging out together, leaving her out in the cold.

Sob sob sob...

Wow, who says China doesn’t have good "NTR" storylines?

Now this is some truly great writing!

...

At the Dongfang family villa.

Ye Cheng arrived at the gate, looked around left and right, and then... expertly climbed in through the usual spot.

Like returning to his own home, he breezed through the villa’s full surveillance and alarm system without a single alert, because after what happened last time, the chairwoman had added Ye Cheng to the villa’s access permissions.

So even if Ye Cheng walked through the front door, there wouldn’t be any issue—this was truly like coming home!

He skillfully walked to the door, skillfully knocked, skillfully moved to the window, skillfully climbed in, skillfully...

"Holy crap, Hamster, are you trying to die?! What are you doing standing guard like a groundhog at this hour!" Ye Cheng jumped a foot in shock. The moment he climbed in, he saw the little secretary standing there like a meerkat, eyes wide and staring straight at him.