I was approached by a cat-eared girl.

Although he readily agreed, Chen Shuo felt that he didn't seem as confident and composed as before.

The phone rang for a while before being answered, and then Nie Xi's slightly hoarse voice came through the receiver.

"Hey, what's up?"

What's wrong with your throat?

Nie Xi was standing on the balcony at the moment. Upon hearing this, she turned around and glanced into the house. At the dining table, a middle-aged man with a prosperous face was pouring himself a drink. "Nothing much, just had a little wine."

"Who are you drinking with during the New Year? Your dad?"

“No, with someone else.” Nie Xi rubbed his temples and continued, “Your girlfriend’s household registration is almost done, if there are no problems.”

He sounded a little unsure of himself when he said that, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Registering a demon's household registration is easy, just a phone call away. But if you want to register a human's household registration and don't want to go through the bureau's layers of reporting, you can only pull strings and use back channels, like bringing a gift during the New Year and having a drink with the head of the household registration department.

Fortunately, they readily agreed, but who knows what a promise made at the dinner table might actually be?

However, once you accept a gift, you have to do something for it.

Hearing this, Chen Shuo was stunned for a moment, and then said with some surprise, "I was just about to ask you about this, but I didn't expect you to be so quick."

Nie Xi frowned slightly, feeling that what he said sounded awkward, but she didn't care. "At the latest, give me a set of information after the New Year, including your name, age, and a photo that can be used as an ID photo. I'll take care of the rest."

"My Director Nie is amazing, he has connections everywhere." Chen Shuo couldn't help but praise him, then sat up straight and said, "No need after the New Year, I'll send it to you as soon as it's ready."

"Okay, I'll hang up now."

Nie Xi hung up the phone, turned around and went inside. In an instant, her previously expressionless face was filled with a smile.

Seeing Chen Shuo put his phone back in his pocket, Bai Xiaoqi looked up at him and asked, "Who were you talking to just now?"

"Don't you already know?"

Chen Shuo pinched her cheek and then gently lifted her chin with his hand.

This little brat is quite the actress. She was leaning against me watching TV, and although she looked incredibly focused, her cat ears were secretly perking up the whole time.

Seeing that he had seen through her, Bai Xiaoqi simply opened her mouth and bit his finger, saying indistinctly, "Is my household registration about to be processed?"

"Okay, once you send him your information, we'll start processing it. Name, age... Hey, what age do you plan to set?"

Hearing his question, Bai Xiaoqi hesitated for some reason. If the time she spent as a cat was also included, then how old was she?

He's probably in his forties or fifties, but definitely not over a hundred.

Marriage is supposed to be at twenty, and I'm definitely old enough, but marriage requires... well, you know.

She's conflicted again now; she wants to get married quickly, but she's also afraid of having children.

After thinking it over for a long time, she released her finger from her mouth and whispered, "Eighteen years old, I guess."

"You were eighteen last year, and you're still eighteen this year? You're nineteen now."

Bai Xiaoqi thought about it and felt that it made sense, so she hesitated and said, "Then I'll be nineteen."

“There’s no difference between nineteen and twenty, so let’s go with twenty. That way, once we get our ID cards, we can get married right there,” Chen Shuo suggested.

"I do not."

Bai Xiaoqi puffed out her cheeks and glared at him. Sure enough, this bastard wanted her to have his child.

Chen Shuo continued to tease her with a smile, "You're already an old lady in your fifties or sixties, why are you still worrying about a year or two? It's completely unnecessary."

Upon hearing this, Bai Xiaoqi was so angry that she bit his cheek.

Who is the little old lady? Who is the little old lady?

That dog is a real bastard.

"Alright, alright, you're not an old lady. You're not even nineteen yet. I told my dad your birthday is in September."

Upon hearing this, Bai Xiaoqi immediately released her mouth and asked, "Then I'm from September?"

"?"

Chen Shuo was stunned for a moment, and then realized that this girl didn't know his real birthday at all.

"We can't say September, it should be August. We should start counting from the day you became human."

As he spoke, he twitched his cheek slightly. Without even asking, you could tell there was another ring of small teeth marks. The old lady had quite a temper; it really hurt.

"I remember the day you came to me was August 16th, and the day you asked for your title was August 15th. That means you became human on August 15th, so your birthday is set on August 15th. Hmm, what do you think?"

"I'll listen to you."

Bai Xiaoqi had no objections. She reached out and touched the teeth marks on his cheek. Her expression of heartache had just appeared when she felt that he deserved it. She composed herself and asked, "What did Uncle say?"

"Just give me a casual answer. Either say I remembered it wrong, or... Actually, you don't need to give me a casual answer. He might think your birthday is the 15th of the eighth lunar month."

Everything is settled, all that's left is the ID photo. These days, everything can be photoshopped, so just send a casual photo.

But Chen Shuo took out his phone and flipped through the album. Although there were hundreds of photos of Xiao A Miao, after looking through them, he found that none of them seemed suitable for editing and using as ID photos.

After all, these are candid photos, and he didn't want to post them at all. The little cat in them is so cute, either with her eyes crinkling into a silly smile, or blushing shyly, or staring blankly into space.

Therefore, it's more reliable to go out and find a photo studio to take a passport photo.

Chapter Ninety-Nine: Alcohol emboldens the timid.

Around 3 p.m., Chen Shuo held her little hand and strolled along the street, saying they were going out to take pictures, but since it was the Lunar New Year, several photo studios they passed were not open.

There weren't many people on the street at the moment, which was perfect for a stroll, so the two of them wandered around aimlessly, as if this outing was just for a walk.

As Bai Xiaoqi passed by a construction site that was fenced off, she suddenly stopped and looked at the place. Everything was changing, but this place seemed to have remained unchanged, just like it was last year.

"What are you looking at?"

Seeing this, Chen Shuo also stopped walking.

"I was here when I asked you for the title."

Upon hearing this, Chen Shuo couldn't help but look at the place seriously. His lips trembled for a moment but he didn't speak. He felt that he seemed to have some impression of this place, but he also felt that he didn't.

After a long pause, he nodded. "Yes, I remember."

Bai Xiaoqi looked doubtful. "Really?"

"Well... okay, I'm sorry, I didn't."

"I knew you didn't."

Bai Xiaoqi twitched her nose a few times. It was supposed to be a shared memory between two people, but it had become hers alone, and she felt a little lost.

“But I drank too much that day, didn’t I?” Chen Shuo explained.

"But why did you drink that day?" she countered.

“…”

Chen Shuo didn't know how to put it. After spending so much time together, he had long since realized that this little cat wasn't a cat at all; it was clearly a jealous person.

If she knew she was on a blind date with another girl that day, her little mouth would definitely pout again.

Just as he was hesitating, he suddenly heard her ask, "Is it because your blind date didn't go well that you drank it?"

"?"

Chen Shuo was stunned for a moment, "How did you know I was on a blind date that day?"

Shouldn't I know?

"Oh, yes, you really should know."

Chen Shuo finally remembered that the old man had also come to her door on the day she went to demand justice, and he had started talking about blind dates as soon as he entered. Without asking, she must have overheard those words.

......

Bai Xiaoqi stared at the construction site for a while, then said, "I want to hear about your blind date the other day."

"I think it's better if you don't want to hear it."

"I feel like I want to hear it."

"Okay, I'll tell you."

Seeing her insistence, Chen Shuo could only nod and then recounted the events of that blind date.

Bai Xiaoqi listened patiently to him finish speaking, then frowned and asked, "She asked you to drink, but you didn't. Then she got angry and left, but you drank it willingly?"

Chen Shuo thought about it and had to admit that her summary was quite accurate. He nodded and said, "Yes, that's about it."

"But why did you drink it? If you hadn't drunk that glass of wine, you would have remembered the matter of me asking you to be granted a title."

Bai Xiaoqi pursed her lips tightly, looking at him with some displeasure. If this guy hadn't drunk that glass of wine back then, he wouldn't be unable to remember anything now, and she could share memories with him.

"Theoretically, that's true, but if I had been conscious at the time and encountered a cat begging for a title, I would most likely have turned around and run away as far as possible."

After all, this kind of thing is beyond my acceptable range, but drinking too much is a different story, alcohol..."

"Is alcohol emboldening even the most timid?" Bai Xiaoqi retorted.

"Damn it..."

Chen Shuo choked for a moment, then corrected, "No, what I meant was that alcohol has a numbing effect, it can make a person's mind become confused and unclear, and it can also increase courage. Okay, it is true that alcohol emboldens cowards."

"But all things considered, I should have drunk that glass of wine. If I hadn't, we wouldn't be where we are now."

What would that look like?

"Yes, a scenario none of us want to see."

.................

Life is not easy, and everyone wishes for a "what if" when they are down, but unfortunately there is no "what if" in this world.

Therefore, people often make a hypothetical assumption and then mentally reenact a future scenario.

But nothing is absolute in this world, and some "what ifs" are things we're glad didn't happen.

For example, if I don't drink that glass of wine.

Chen Shuo roughly imagined that if he hadn't drunk that glass of wine, he would most likely have been scared away by her demand for a title.

Then she'll seek out the next person to claim the title. Their name doesn't matter, their gender doesn't matter; what matters is that she and this person will likely never cross paths again. She might even become someone else's girlfriend, someone else's...