"Third Sister was right." Carrying a cup of coffee in each hand, Lu Junjia set them in front of himself and Qiao Xinyue, then mocked Li Yi smugly. "You're pretty vain, little brother. It's clearly Blue Mountain, but you insist on calling it Kopi Luwak. I saw the box you left beside the coffee machine. It was just a little box of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee."
Qiao Xinyue lifted the exquisite porcelain cup like a queen and took a small sip with her pinkie raised. She nodded. "Mm, it is Blue Mountain coffee, but that suits your spending power. This low-end Blue Mountain is all you can afford."
Li Yi gave her a calm look without saying anything. Qiao Xinyue felt even better and lowered her head to take another large mouthful of coffee.
Seeing Li Yi's vanity exposed and him left speechless had vented more than half the anger she had built up over the past few days.
"Little brother, this brand of Blue Mountain you bought must be fake." Lu Junjia took a sip and put it down. "It doesn't taste quite like the Blue Mountain I've had."
"Really? Why don't you take another sip and check?" Li Yi said. "The seller guaranteed I'd get ten times my money back if it was fake. I've never had Blue Mountain before, so I really can't tell the difference. Since you're so good at this, help me compare it again."
"Of course." Lu Junjia took a large mouthful and swallowed slowly, making a proper show of it before saying, "It's definitely fake. There's a hint of a sour, foul taste. I suspect they mixed in some other coffee beans. It definitely isn't pure Blue Mountain."
"Now that you mention it, I can taste something sour and foul too, but it's very faint. I didn't notice it before." Lu Xingluo took another sip and hurriedly spat it out.
"So I really did buy a fake. I'll have to take that up with the seller." With that, he went to the bathroom, washed his hands thoroughly, then carefully disinfected them with hand soap before taking a transparent packet of Development Treasure out of his trouser pocket and tossing it into the toilet.
He took out another small packet and stuffed the little pellets into the sink's drain one by one.
Once everything was done, he clapped his hands and left the bathroom. Returning to the dining room, he smiled at them. "Oh dear, what a memory I have. What I served you today really was authentic Kopi Luwak. I forgot to tell you earlier-the cat poop was freshly produced by Sheriff.
"Did the Sheriff-brand Kopi Luwak taste good?"
The faces of everyone eating breakfast changed abruptly. Lu Xingluo actually started retching on the spot. She shoved the table away and ran for the bathroom with a hand over her mouth.
At the sound of her retching, the others could no longer hold back either. They shot Li Yi vicious glares and ran for the bathrooms.
There were two shared bathrooms on the first floor, and Li Yi had scattered Development Treasure in both.
Lu Xingluo bent over the sink and vomited up every bit of the congee she had drunk that morning. As she kept throwing up, she suddenly noticed something slowly bubbling up from the drain, pushing everything she had just vomited back out.
"Ah-what is that?!" Frightened, she immediately turned on the faucet. Not only did the water fail to drain, it overflowed from the sink and spilled onto her skirt. The sink was a complete mess. The sight disgusted her so badly that she vomited again.
This time, she vomited straight onto her own skirt.
Qiao Xinyue was in much the same situation in the other bathroom. Development Treasure expanded when it absorbed water, some pieces growing to a hundred times their size.
Lu Hongshen and Lu Junjia, who were bent over the toilets vomiting, had it even worse. They watched things bubble up out of the toilets, carrying their vomit and coming right toward them.
Both had their heads down, throwing up violently, and nearly came into intimate contact with their own vomit.
It was enough to keep them disgusted for half a year.
Listening to the overlapping sounds of vomiting, screaming, and cursing downstairs, Li Yi hummed cheerfully, put Sheriff into the cat carrier backpack, and headed out with him.
Qiao Xinyue had vomited until her legs went weak. She was helped out of the bathroom, still cursing, only to be told by the butler when she wanted to confront Li Yi that he had long since left with the cat carrier on his back.
"That ungrateful son! I'm furious! I should have realized long ago that he wasn't that obedient." Still not satisfied after saying that, she turned to Lu Xingluo, who was also pale from vomiting. "This is all because you wanted coffee!"
"How was I supposed to know he'd turn out like this? Ugh..." As she spoke, she could not help dry-heaving again.
Beside her, Lu Hongshen was set off by the sound and dry-heaved too. He seemed to still be able to smell that cat poop.
It looked as though he could no longer stay in this house, or he would end up in the hospital from vomiting.
"I'm going to the office." He stood and, before leaving, glanced at his wife and daughter in warning. "There are only a few months left. Stop provoking Li Yi. He's gone mad. If he dares feed us cat poop today, he'll dare do something else tomorrow."
"I don't want to stay in the same house as him anymore. Mom, why don't we kick him out? Look at this time-even Junjia vomited until he fainted. Who knows what he'll do next?" Lu Xingluo said.
"No. We haven't gotten the shares your grandfather left him yet. Your father won't let him leave the house," Qiao Xinyue said.
"Then what do we do? Just thinking about that cup of coffee will keep me from eating for a whole week."
"He's only just reached adulthood, with no one to rely on. I don't believe he really dares break with us completely. He can stay, but we won't let him live so comfortably. Isn't he very fond of that cat of his?
"Then we'll make that cat disappear and show him exactly what happens when he crosses us!"
"Good! I've hated that cat for ages. It's so fat, and it's always running everywhere. The whole house reeks of it."
"While he's still out, here's what you do..."
Qiao Xinyue leaned close to Lu Xingluo's ear and whispered a few words. When they finished, mother and daughter even exchanged a few giggling remarks.
Ever since Lu Xingluo came back, Li Yi had been on guard against her, which was why he had brought Sheriff out today.
He had originally planned to leave Sheriff at a pet shop and pick him up after work, but making the coffee that morning had delayed him. With no time left to take Sheriff to the pet shop, he simply went to the Wisteria Garden villa with the cat carrier on his back.
Yingjun answered the door again. Seeing the cat carrier on his back, Yingjun leaned over curiously to look, the electronic eyes on the panel curving. "Kitty, meow, meow~"
A little embarrassed about bringing a pet over without asking, Li Yi said, "Sorry, something happened at home today, and I couldn't leave Sheriff there alone, so I brought him along. If it's inconvenient, I'll take him to a pet shop right now."
"That's fine. There's a huge doghouse in the back garden. You can keep the kitty in there for now," Yingjun said.
"Is there a dog at the villa too?" Li Yi asked.
"No, but the young master had the doghouse built before the garden was even laid out." Yingjun led Li Yi into the back garden and down another little stone path. "That whole area was prepared for a dog. It's a Doggy Paradise, with air-conditioning, a swing, a slide, and various other recreational facilities."
"It's all new and hasn't been used. Will your young master be angry if Sheriff uses it?"
"Who cares about him? He never checks the back garden's surveillance cameras anyway." Yingjun led him to a little wooden room.
Before you continue