9:26 a.m.
Lungmen Guard Department Headquarters
"Leave request? Not feeling well? Didn't you come in with a high fever before?"
"You can't say… Fine, then the thing I asked you to handle—hello? Hello?"
Staring at the call screen after it cut off, Ch'en Hui-chieh slipped her phone away and frowned in the middle of the spacious, spotless—but noisy—open office area.
Why did that "char siu cat" sound so strange on the phone? She'd been panting like she was running.
Yesterday she'd just finished a "date" with Ch'en Hui-chieh's brother. With Swire's personality, she should've been unable to resist coming in early today just to gloat in Ch'en Hui-chieh's face.
So why now…?
For reasons she couldn't quite name, Ch'en Hui-chieh felt Swire was up to no good. She was starting to regret letting that blonde tiger spend time alone with Chen Mo.
"Yo, Old Ch'en—what're you doing standing around here?"
Thump.
Hoshiguma appeared behind her and clapped a heavy hand on her shoulder, wearing the kind of hearty grin that made people instinctively like her.
"Done with your work?"
"No. I'm about to do the work of a certain char siu cat who has crap for brains and took a day off."
As she spoke, Ch'en Hui-chieh shot a glare at several officers who were sneakily watching her. The chilling look instantly made everyone drop their eyes and bury themselves in paperwork.
Everyone except Hoshiguma, who scratched her head and tried to steer the conversation elsewhere.
"So, uh… how's your brother been lately, Old Ch'en? Has he started working again?"
"He's back today," Ch'en Hui-chieh replied. "But because he quit without authorization before, he's been docked half a year's pay."
Her words sounded severe, but the faint curve at the corner of her mouth betrayed her good mood whenever Chen Mo came up.
Hoshiguma, on the other hand, rubbed her arms as if she'd suddenly gotten goosebumps.
"Half a year's pay? Damn… who had the guts to do that? Don't tell me Chief Wei—"
"I did."
After finishing what she had in hand, Ch'en Hui-chieh tossed the neatly sorted documents onto Swire's desk with casual disdain.
"He thought he could act cute and clingy and I'd forget. I didn't."
Her voice turned colder.
"My brother escaped Lungmen right under my nose. He needs the punishment he deserves."
"And I imagine he already knows what I decided."
Behind her, a slender black dragon tail flicked twice—distinctly pleased.
If Chen Mo kept spending money like water, this would force him to rely on her more. The next time he ran into trouble in daily life, he'd think of his little sister first.
He would complain, of course. She didn't care.
Whether he understood or not, everything she did was for him. And with this, she could "discipline" that shameless Draco even more effectively.
Her smile lifted another fraction.
Hoshiguma couldn't help trying to talk her down.
"Old Ch'en… I don't know. Chen Mo isn't a kid. You don't have to go that far—"
"Don't try to persuade me, Hoshiguma. I'm the only one who truly understands my brother."
Even Talulah didn't know Chen Mo as well as she did.
Ch'en Hui-chieh turned to leave Swire's area, already eager to see the look on Chen Mo's face when he came begging for living expenses.
Then—
"Ch'en!"
A gust of wind surged through the entire office.
Everyone—including Hoshiguma—saw a blur of silver whip past. Papers exploded into the air, files fluttered everywhere, and startled cries rippled across the room.
When the chaos settled, the officers finally realized what had happened:
The feared Officer Ch'en had someone clinging to her back.
A handsome, eye-catching man who made half the women in the room instinctively swallow.
"On what grounds are you docking my pay, little sis?" Chen Mo complained, visibly annoyed. "You can't abuse your authority like this!"
He had leapt onto her from behind, arms locked around her neck, and his thick tail coiled tightly around her waist as if he feared she'd run.
"…This is a standard LGD disciplinary procedure, Brother," Ch'en Hui-chieh said flatly.
She twitched an eyebrow, then sighed under the weight of countless prying, delighted gazes.
"And didn't I tell you not to act overly familiar with me inside the LGD? You'll attract unnecessary gossip."
"I'm about to starve and you want me to worry about gossip… forget it."
Chen Mo finally climbed off her, clearly having tried—and failed—to use public embarrassment to force her to withdraw the punishment. One look at his sister's expressionless face told him that tactic was useless.
He deflated on the spot.
"Then at least give me meal money, my dear little sister. You don't want your brother begging on street corners, do you?"
The pitiful look on his face—uncannily reminiscent of Talulah—made nearby officers start whispering uncontrollably.
"Who is he? He looks familiar… Officer Ch'en's man?"
"Shh, don't talk nonsense! Didn't you hear her call him 'brother'?"
"Then—then does that mean Officer Ch'en could be my little sister someday?!"
Veins bulged at Ch'en Hui-chieh's temple.
She shot the gossiping officers another death glare, then immediately grabbed Chen Mo and dragged him toward her office.
Hoshiguma was left behind to nurse a headache and try to calm the increasingly excited crowd.
Thud.
The office door shut.
Chen Mo, unfazed, plopped down on the sofa as if he owned the place. Then he patted the seat beside him, fully reversing the power dynamic.
"Sit. And while you're at it, we can discuss your brother's future living allowance."
Ch'en Hui-chieh didn't refuse. She sat beside him and allowed his tail to wind around hers, her voice steady and impassive.
"Three thousand Lungmen dollars a month. That's enough for you, Brother."
"Not enough," Chen Mo whined. "Can't you give me more?"
Three thousand?
He'd been frequenting upscale places lately. That amount wouldn't even cover a decent meal.
Living well was easy to get used to; going back to frugality was hard. He wasn't incapable of enduring a tighter lifestyle—but if he could live comfortably, he certainly wasn't going to volunteer for a working stiff's misery.
With that thought, Chen Mo leaned closer in a blatantly ingratiating way.
Then, before Ch'en Hui-chieh could react, he eased her down—laying her back so her head rested across his thighs, brazenly offering her a "benefit" she hadn't asked for.
Before she could properly register the warmth and comfort against her cheek, Chen Mo's voice drifted down from above, putting on an earnest tone:
"People always say you should raise girls on hardship and raise boys on wealth. If you give me this little, I can't even afford hotpot more than a few times. Can't you reconsider?"
"You should learn to be thrifty, Brother," Ch'en Hui-chieh replied without changing her expression. "It'll also keep you from going out so much, and from meeting idle hooligans."
Especially Texas and Exusiai.
She still intended to settle accounts with those two.
Lying there on Chen Mo's lap, Ch'en Hui-chieh didn't reject this rare moment of being "pillowed." She breathed in the Draco's irresistible scent and then shifted, rolling onto her back to look up at her brother's refined jawline.
"If Talulah were here, she'd make the same decision I did."
"Bull," Chen Mo said immediately. "If she were here, she'd be throwing money at me like it grew on trees. She's a deranged little-brother addict—she'd never have the heart to make me suffer the way you do."
Even after that jab, Chen Mo wasn't angry. If anything, he was affectionate, smoothing a few messy strands of Ch'en Hui-chieh's hair back into place.
But in the middle of that tenderness, he took petty revenge—pinching one of her small dragon horns.
Ch'en Hui-chieh frowned and shot him a sharp look.
Chen Mo laughed, chin tipped up in smug triumph—yet his thoughts quietly began to drift.
Talulah…
He really did miss the way his sister used to take care of him. And her beautiful dragon tail, too.
He wondered how she was doing now.
....
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