America: I came here to study, not to show mercy.

Chapter 249 Before and After...

It was already the second day, Sunday morning.

In a mansion in the Ridgeview Estates community of New Jersey, Shawn Lee, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, was digging a hole in the backyard with a shovel.

Because it was the weekend and there were no classes at school, Li Xiaoen didn't need to "clock in" or scan his face at Professor Sedgewick's lab, and his own studio work had reached a certain stage. Tomorrow would be the start of a new stage. For the only day, Li Xiaoen felt carefree and idle.

After dropping Serafina and the other girl off at their dorm, Lee Shawn drove Suffer, who hadn't glanced at him since getting in the car, directly to his villa, finally getting to enjoy some time alone together after a long time.

This was planned in advance; when spring came, a lush tree would be planted in the backyard to provide a nesting environment for the golden eagles that came to "eat soft rice" (a euphemism for being kept by their owners).

After digging a pit of suitable depth, Li Xiaoen let out a long breath, straightened his back, and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Just then, a large bird flew out of the house with a net bag in its beak, containing a bottle of chilled cola.

Flying closer, the golden eagle flapped its wings and landed precisely on the armrest of a nearby workbench, raising its head to offer the net bag from its beak.

"Hey, why is it cola and not soda water?"

Amused, Li Xiaoen raised an eyebrow, reached out and took the net bag, then took out the bottle of cola from it.

Although he has been exercising regularly and doesn't consciously control his diet, he hasn't drunk cola in a long time.

He unscrewed the bottle cap, tilted his head back and took a big gulp. Li Xiaoen let out a long breath, feeling extremely relaxed and comfortable inside and out.

Sure enough, after working hard and sweating, having a sip of ice-cold cola is truly a heavenly experience.

Thinking to himself, even so, Li Xiaoen still lowered his eyes to look at the big bird that was standing quietly looking at him, and a smile appeared on his lips.

“Let me tell you, I don’t want to drink Coke, but you still brought it with you, so I have to punish you with your diet.”

Even when speaking to a large bird, Li Xiaoen still spoke with an air of seriousness, "I won't give you any meat for the next few days. Go outside and find your own food. Don't forget your identity as a top predator, okay?"

As he spoke, he reached out and patted the golden eagle's chest.

As if it understood, the golden eagle tilted its head and then let out a dissatisfied cry.

"What did you say? I don't understand..."

Li Xiaoen pretended for a moment, "Oh, you said you wanted to take on the challenge of not having to feed you for a week?"

Upon hearing this, the golden eagle froze for a moment, then raised its head and cried out incessantly before flapping its wings and flying back into the house.

"Ha ha……"

Seeing this, Li Xiaoen couldn't help but burst into laughter, feeling even more at ease.

He wondered if it was because of his [Command Spell] ability, but he found that not only could the golden eagle understand his commands, but it could also understand the everyday conversations he made.

It's time to let that big bird be self-reliant for a while and cultivate its former animalistic nature. At first, the golden eagle was not used to being fed, but after he gave it a piece of M7 Wagyu beef, it slowly fell in love with "living off a woman".

Amused, Li Xiaoen placed the remaining half of the cola on the workbench, picked up a large sapling standing to the side, put it in the pit, then added various fertilizers, filled in the soil, tamped it down, and watered it.

After finishing all this and tidying up his workbench, Li Xiaoen clapped his hands. Just as he was thinking of taking off his clothes, washing off the sweat in the outdoor shower pool, and going swimming, Su Feier's voice suddenly came from inside the house.

"Sean, come here..."

That being said, the voice grew closer and closer. When Li Xiaoen turned his head to look, the first thing he saw was a cart with a white tiger imprisoned in an iron cage on it.

While she was still in a daze, Suffer had already spoken to the several uniformed professionals who had come with the cart and saw them out.

"Sean, didn't you say your voice might make animals gentle and obedient?"

Sophie pursed her lips, unable to suppress the smile on her face. "I want to keep this tiger as a pet. You have to help me."

"..."

"You actually brought a tiger with you?"

Li Xiaoen shrugged, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

It was at the beginning of the school year that Suffer suspected he had the superpower to make animals obey him, and he said he would try to tame a tiger. He had thought it was just a joke and never mentioned it, but now it has finally been put into action.

"Unlike some people, I don't always keep my word."

Sophie gave a soft hum, and just then the golden eagle that had just flown into the house flew out again, landing on the handrail of the trolley. Its eyes darted back and forth between Li Xiaoen and Sophie, and it kept calling out.

"Oh, you bully the golden eagle, yet you still manage to make it reluctant to leave."

Even though she couldn't understand the birdsong, Sophie roughly understood the meaning from the golden eagle's actions. She crossed her arms meaningfully and murmured, "Then taming a tiger is just a piece of cake?"

Even if they are tamed, feeding the tiger will still be a problem.

Li Xiaoen shook his head helplessly and sighed. As he spoke, he moved to Su Feier's side and looked down with him at the white tiger lying in the iron cage, crouching and watching them warily.

Golden eagles can fly, making them very mobile. They can fly to nearby forests to hunt, but tigers cannot. Even if they are tamed, they cannot be kept at the school. If they are kept in a villa, they would have to be fed fresh food several times a day. Both of them have to balance their studies and careers, so they are quite busy and it is not very feasible.

You can't exactly order services online several times a day to "order takeout" for the tiger and have other people come over, can you?
"Don't worry, I've tamed it and moved it to Serafina's estate."

Sophie shook her head nonchalantly, "They offer a service to help keep these animals in captivity; just let her know."

Security companies offer this kind of service?
Li Xiaoen's expression turned strange, and he shook his head, not thinking about it anymore.

Sometimes, keeping and training wild animals in captivity can be more effective than training humans. The practice of wealthy individuals keeping wild animals in captivity also involves security concerns. Moreover, some wealthy people, especially European nobles, like to keep these wild animals on their estates, which also serve as a means of guarding their property. If we really look into it, it is quite normal for security companies to offer this service.

At least, it's better than a food delivery platform that also runs unrelated lending and short video reading businesses.

Li Xiaoen found it amusing and bent down to approach the tiger in the iron cage.

"Sean..."

Even though her intention was just to test the young man, when she saw him approach the tiger, Sophie still reached out and grabbed his arm. "Be careful. The professional keeper already said not to get too close, and not to make any sudden movements that might provoke the tiger..."

"Don't worry, I know."

Nodding, Li Xiaoen kept his eyes fixed on the tiger's eyes in the iron cage. He patted the girl's hand and said reassuringly, "You want this tiger to be your pet? I'll give it a try. Hopefully, it will work."

After he finished speaking, he activated the [Domination Spell]. Just as a sudden thought struck him, the white tiger in front of him, which had been baring its teeth and glaring at him, froze, and its entire broad body suddenly solidified.

The effective condition for activating the [Domination Spell] is that the target must be an animal with low intelligence. It is evident that tigers are not very intelligent. If we really want to test the limits of this restriction, we would probably have to find animals like monkeys, gorillas, or dolphins.

Relieved, Li Xiaoen blinked at the white tiger's eyes and muttered something under his breath. Then, the tiger's gaze quickly changed from gentle to wary and cautious.

Is that really possible?
Seeing the tiger's changes, Suffer looked left and right at Li Xiaoen and the tiger, filled with surprise and doubt.

Seeing the young man raise his hand, intending to reach through the gap in the iron cage, Suffer quickly stepped forward and grabbed his arm in mid-air.

"Sean, do you really believe this tiger?"

Even though she knew and trusted the young man's rationality and caution, and wasn't entirely sure he wouldn't do something so dangerous, Suffer couldn't help but stop him and anxiously asked again, "Didn't you say you wanted to keep this tiger as a pet?"

Li Xiaoen stood up, chuckled, and patted the girl's shapely buttocks, immediately drawing a disgruntled glare. "Of course I'll help you. It seems I can really make this tiger obey me."

"Sean..."

Sophie quickly advised, "Forget it, let's not try it, okay?"

He couldn't help but turn his head to look at those slightly furrowed, light blue eyes. Li Xiaoen nodded, raised his hand to smooth the girl's brows, and lowered his head to kiss those red lips.

"Okay, whatever you say."

"You're all sweaty, don't touch me..."

Liu Ye's eyebrows furrowed again. Su Feier pursed her lips and muttered a complaint, then raised her hand to push the young man leaning against her away.

"Hey……"

"He's got the same old personality," Li Xiaoen laughed in exasperation, and ignoring Su Feier's struggles, he picked her up by the waist.

"Sean, Sean..."

A sense of panic welled up inside her, and Suffer struggled to get down, crying, "What are you doing? Put me down!"

"It's definitely a punishment for someone's mouth, which is harder than steel."

Li Xiaoen laughed twice, took a few quick steps to the edge of the pool, and threw the girl he was holding into the water.

"what--"

She gasped in surprise. The pool water was still a bit chilly in early spring, and Suffer couldn't help but shiver. She quickly struggled to stand firm in the pool. Just as she brushed her now wet and messy hair behind her back and looked up, she saw the young man splash into the water, creating another wave that rushed towards her.

“Sean…”

Still incorrigible, he took it upon himself to throw her into the water. Suffer gritted her teeth and roared out each word, looking down at the underwater surface. She saw a dark shadow swimming rapidly towards her from the bottom of the water. Before she could even feel a jolt of surprise, the young man lifted her up by her legs and pulled her into his arms.

The young man stood up, and her weight immediately leaned on him. Sophie looked down at the young man's face, which was beaming with a bright smile, and grabbed his neck with both hands.

"I've told you so many times, don't make me go into the water on your own!"

"Sophie, being underwater helps to ease your stubbornness."

Li Xiaoen jokingly replied, and just as the girl's eyebrows furrowed, he leaned over and kissed her cool, red lips.

"Humph……"

With a soft hum, Suffer punched the young man's shoulders twice with her fists, but eventually wrapped her arms around his head and her legs around his slender waist.

……

"That woman, Catherine, is also promoting your app..."

It was already noon when Li Xiaoen brought out lunch for the two of them from the kitchen—a plate with several steaks and asparagus. As soon as he sat down on the sofa, Su Feier looked up from the tablet in his hand and sneered.

“I can’t control what happens to her, you shouldn’t look at me like that.”

With a helpless shrug, Li Xiaoen used his fork to pick up a piece of cut steak and handed it to Su Feier. After Su Feier took a bite, Li Xiaoen then picked up a piece and put it in his own mouth. He sat cross-legged next to Su Feier and peered over.

"It's not entirely her doing."

After chewing a few times and swallowing the steak, Sophie spoke up, "Henry promoted it at the party and even wrote an article for online and offline media. The fans you had built up online saw the leaked photos and recognized you, which made the topic even hotter..."

“Sometimes, media people just report on what’s hot right now. If you’re popular enough, even if they hate you, they’ll have to report on you and help promote you.”

"Okay, I understand. Thank you for your guidance, Professor Suffer."

Li Xiaoen knew perfectly well the purpose of the girl's words, and found it somewhat amusing. Despite this, Li Xiaoen nodded solemnly and spoke, which immediately provoked Su Feier to turn around and kick him repeatedly. He quickly raised the plate in his hand to maintain his balance.

"Come, come, Sophie..."

Using his arm to pin down Suffer's legs, Li Xiaoen quickly forked a piece of beef and offered it to her. He had to say several nice things before he finally managed to get her to open her mouth and take a bite again.

"Your app is seeing a surge in downloads across various platforms, and it's almost reached the top of the download charts on all of them."

Su Feier pursed her lips and rolled her eyes at him. "Congratulations, you've got a great start to your business."

"It's good, but getting so much attention right from the start means there will be more pressure and challenges later on."

Li Xiaoen sighed and shook his head.

"Then, should I have someone remove the trending topic from the internet?"

Sophie asked tentatively.

"Then I'd rather not."

Li Xiaoen immediately shook his head, then laughed twice under the girl's disdainful gaze. "The bigger the waves, the more expensive the fish. I like challenges."

"We now have far more users than we expected, which means our workload in data processing and machine learning will be relatively greater."

"Keep it up. You can come to me if you need anything."

The two already had a tacit understanding, and Su Feier nodded with her red lips pursed, understanding the meaning behind the young man's words.

"so……"

Li Xiaoen placed the plate on the low table in front of the sofa, then leaned over and hugged Su Feier again, causing the girl's body to tense up quickly.

"We were in the water just now, do you want to stay in the living room now?"

She quickly grabbed the young man's hand that was rubbing upwards on her thigh, and, gritting her teeth, punched his shoulder twice in frustration...

The following day, Monday morning.

The two returned to their school dormitory last night. Suffer sat in front of her computer and roughly organized the discussions and controversies about the app on the online forum. She made some coffee and left ten minutes before the start of the second class to go to the software laboratory building to find the young man.

Today, Li Xiaoen will be throwing herself back into the studio's research and development work. This is one of the few times this week, and even in recent times, she can spend close and intimate time with the other party.

Just as she was filled with anticipation, she looked up and saw two tall, burly men blocking her way. Jasper's secretary, carrying documents, strode over quickly, and Sophie's brows furrowed immediately.

“Miss Sophie…”

The secretary bowed respectfully. "Your father, Mr. Louis, wants you to go home..."

(End of this chapter)