Chapter 1235: All Little Animals Loved Her
Ouyang Ziyu said with respect, “Your husband is likely to be a high-position researcher. I heard that they’re way busier than the ordinary employees like us and that their scope of work has to be kept confidential.”
Xia Yingluo smiled, but deep inside, she thought—
High-post researcher? He’s just the evil and perverted Big Boss of this place, with weird fantasies and strange ideas. Did these employees know what their Big Boss is actually like?
It was such a tragedy.
She changed the topic. “Why don’t you tell me more about your work? What are you busy with every day?”
Ouyang Ziyu smiled. “Haven’t your husband mentioned to you before? We have a confidentiality policy, we can’t tell outsiders too much about our work.” Seeing how disappointed she looked, he added, “But there are some things that we can disclose. Let me tell you about the lab rat in my research laboratory. It has a really strong will and is the only one still surviving among the ten lab rats that were brought in at the same time. What a shame, though, it’ll be dying in a few days.”
Xia Yingluo asked, “How come?”
Even if it wasn’t anything important, she was interested to find out. Perhaps, there would be some information she could pick out.
“Tell me more about it.” Xia Yingluo pleaded in a tender voice. “I love animals.”
Hence Ouyang Ziyu went on, “It’s a test subject, used for testing our drugs. If the experiment is successful, then its job is done, and it has to be destroyed according to the rules.”
He used the word “destroyed” as if the little rat wasn’t a life.
Xia Yingluo frowned. This had nothing to do with her escape, she simply did not like watching a life come to its end this way. She asked Ouyang Ziyu, “Since the experiment was a success, why can’t you let it live?”
Ouyang Ziyu said, “Rules are rules. It went through so many rounds of experiments, who knows whether its body will undergo any changes? We can’t keep something with unknown risks. Destroying it is the fastest and most convenient choice.”
“That’s too cruel,” Xia Yingluo said.
Ouyang Ziyu glanced at her. “Your husband is a high-post researcher, the nature of his job might be way crueler than mine is.” He felt bad the moment those words left his mouth. “I’m sorry.”
Xia Yingluo sighed. “That’s why I don’t like to hear him talk about work.”
Of course, Wei Lingnan hadn’t been telling her about his work at all. All he shared was about the Skatana planet and those merciless killing, which she didn’t enjoy listening to either because of how depressing it was.
Ouyang Ziyu was thoughtful. “It’s normal for a sweet and gentle girl like you to dislike hearing about such things. Let’s talk about something else.”
But Xia Yingluo said, “Can you help me get that lab rat out of the laboratory?”
This time, it was Ouyang Ziyu who was stunned. “What are you thinking of doing?”
“I wish to save its life,” Xia Yingluo said. “This little rat is such a poor thing, I don’t want to watch it die. Can you help me sneak it out, so I can rear it? I’ll take good care of it.”
Ouyang Ziyu said, “No, this is against the rules.”
Xia Yingluo hung her head low and her eyes filled with tears.
With this beauty before him crying, Ouyang Ziyu was at a loss of what to do. “Don’t cry.”
But Xia Yingluo was crying even harder now. Her tears glistened in the sunlight, and his heart couldn’t help but soften for her.
“But,” Ouyang Ziyu was still caught in the middle. “The rules really don’t allow this.”
Xia Yingluo said pitifully, “It’d have been alright if you hadn’t told me the story. But since you have, I can’t possibly do nothing about it. I’ll regret it for life. Ouyang Ziyu, why did you have to tell me about it? You’re cruel.”
Pretending to appear pitiful wasn’t her forte, but her Big Brother was really good at it, and she’d picked up a few tips while growing up with him. Coupled with the acting techniques she’d learned in the training camp, she was doing a pretty good job at winning him over.
Ouyang Ziyu was just an ordinary researcher and had never been in such a situation.
He was so flustered, he was losing coherence. “Don’t… please don’t be like this. Yingluo, I’ll do it, alright?”
He might as well push through it and go against the rules for this beauty. It wasn’t a major issue anyway, there was a good chance no one would discover it. “When I get it out, you’ve got to hide it well. If anyone finds out, not only would it be destroyed, you and I would also have to bear the consequences.”
Xia Yingluo smiled through her tears. “Don’t worry, no one will find it.”
Hence, a few days later, Ouyang Ziyu—the researcher who’d been completely smitten by her—brought her the little rat. He took it out from his pocket and cupped it in his palms. “Don’t be afraid, this is the little rat.”
Xia Yingluo had seen a lot as a child when she followed her father and brothers around, this was nothing. She wouldn’t be like other ordinary girls, afraid of a little rat. She stuck her index finger out and touched it cautiously. “What’s wrong with it? Why isn’t it moving?”
“I administered anesthesia on it, so it’s in a semi-conscious state now. I had to do it this way to bring it out.” Ouyang said, “Prepare a cage for it when you get back, I’ll hand you a recipe for its meals, so you can prepare its food accordingly. When you travel out of the base during the window period, remember to bring some rat food back for it.”
The food in the laboratory was regularly tracked and accounted for, it’d be unwise to smuggle some out.
Xia Yingluo nodded, thanked him, hid the rat cautiously and brought it back to the bungalow.
The late afternoon sun was out.
Wei Lingnan usually came back at dinnertime, so Xia Yingluo had enough time now to check on the little rat. She shut the windows and door, placed the rat on the soft carpet and stroke its fur gently. A while later, the rat moved its ears and woke.
A pair of beady eyes looked straight at Xia Yingluo silently, and it let out a tentative squeak.
Xia Yingluo smiled and greeted it. “Hello, you’re safe here now.”
The little rat tilted its head sideways for a while before letting out another squeak.
Xia Yingluo put her hand out and allowed the rat to climb onto her palm. She smiled even more widely now. This was the gift of the Phoenix’s descendant, she just had the power to connect with all life in this world. In short, all little animals loved her.