"Um, excuse me, Miss Sakai... Egg can feed himself. He doesn’t usually need anyone to do it for him." ’How are we supposed to eat like this?’ Sylvie couldn’t help but interject.

"That won’t do," Sakai Kaori said earnestly. "As the shrine maiden of the Honjin Raccoon Shrine, it is my duty to serve Lord Raccoon Cat. I must not be negligent in any way." She then picked up a shrimp and brought it to Egg’s mouth.

’Wow, he even has someone feeding him,’ Shen Yibin thought. ’Aren’t you living the good life? Still, it looks like Egg isn’t too fond of this service. He’s used to wolfing down his food in big bites, but now Sakai Kaori is just bringing him a tiny piece at a time. How is he supposed to get used to that?’

Meanwhile, Hah’Er, who was sitting beside Egg, glanced at Sakai Kaori, then at Shen Yibin. It looked like he wanted to be fed, too. "Hah’Er, be a good boy and eat by yourself." ’Do you want me to build a Panda Shrine and start worshiping you, too?’ Shen Yibin thought.

"Hmph!" Hah’Er seemed a little hurt. He stretched his head out in front of Egg and, in one gulp, swallowed the slice of fish Sakai Kaori was offering. Then, he shot Egg a triumphant grin.

"Ah! How could you do that? That was my offering for Lord Raccoon Cat!" Hah’Er, who could usually conquer the world just by being cute, had finally met his match in Sakai Kaori. Right now, she only had eyes for Egg.

"Hmph..." Seeing this, Hah’Er felt a little dejected. He lowered his head gloomily and went back to licking the beer from his bowl. Perhaps only the delicious taste of beer could soothe his wounded heart.

Watching Hah’Er drink his beer with such relish, Egg seemed to recall the red wine he had tasted by the river. He gave Sylvie a pathetic look, as if asking her for another drink.

"The red wine I brought last time is all gone. If you like it, Egg, I can call Alfred and have him send some more over. But the earliest it could arrive is tomorrow." The red wine Sylvie had given Egg wasn’t something you could just buy in a store; it was from the Sokovian royal family’s own winery. Even for her, getting more meant requisitioning it from the Sokovian embassy in the Capital City. She would have to notify Alfred, who would then call the embassy, and they would dispatch someone to deliver it—a process that would take a full day at the very least.

"Oh, Lord Raccoon Cat wishes to drink?" Sakai Kaori’s eyes lit up. "I happen to have brought some Japanese sake from my family’s own brewery. Perhaps Lord Raccoon Cat would enjoy it?" With that, she bowed respectfully to Egg. "Lord Raccoon Cat, please wait a moment. I will go and fetch it for you right away."

Before Shen Yibin could even react, she scurried downstairs, retrieved a bottle of sake from a box, and brought it back up. She asked Shen Yibin for a bowl, placed it in front of Egg, and filled it to the brim. "Lord Raccoon Cat, please enjoy."

’One has a royal winery, the other has a private sake brewery,’ Shen Yibin lamented internally. ’And poor old me has to go to the supermarket for my booze. Why is there such a huge gap between people?’ He felt another pang of dejection.

Hmm? Egg lowered his head and curiously sniffed the sake. It smelled different from the beer Hah’Er was drinking, and also different from the red wine Sylvie had given him. ’But it smells pretty good, doesn’t it?’

Egg first imitated Hah’Er, tentatively licking the sake with his tongue. His eyes immediately lit up, and he nodded excitedly again and again. To him, the sake tasted even better than Sylvie’s red wine! Egg cupped the bowl with his paws, tilted his head back, and GLUG, GLUG, GLUG, drank it all down.

"GAH!" The empty bowl was presented to Sakai Kaori.

"Yes! I’ll refill it for you at once, Lord Raccoon Cat." This only made Sakai Kaori more certain that Egg was the Raccoon Cat she had been searching for. According to legend, the Raccoon Cat deity loved to sneak into people’s homes to drink their sake. Moreover, the statue of the deity enshrined at her family’s Honjin Raccoon Shrine even had a sake gourd tied to its waist.

"Hmm?" Hah’Er, who was sipping his beer, grew curious about the bowl in front of Egg. He tilted his head again, staring longingly at the sake inside.

Sakai Kaori immediately tensed up, afraid the panda was about to snatch Lord Raccoon Cat’s drink again. Egg also hesitated. ’On the one hand, it’s a drink I really, really love. On the other, it’s my bro... What should I do?’

In the end, it seemed brotherhood won out. Egg reluctantly pushed the bowl toward Hah’Er, then turned to look back at the sake bottle in Sakai Kaori’s hand. ’There should still be plenty left in there, right?’

Uh... Sakai Kaori saw this and was at a loss. In her heart, she didn’t want Hah’Er to taste the sake meant for Egg, but since it was Lord Raccoon Cat himself offering it to the panda, she didn’t feel she could interfere.

"PFFT!" Sakai Kaori’s dilemma was resolved a moment later. Hah’Er took a gentle sip, then immediately spat it out. Clearly, he did not like the taste of sake; its alcohol content was a bit too strong for him.

"Gah~" Egg quickly snatched the bowl back and took a long, satisfying sip. After swallowing, he squinted his eyes and shook his head from side to side, as if both savoring the sake’s exquisite flavor and lamenting Hah’Er’s lack of taste.

He didn’t even have to offer the bowl; as soon as he finished, Sakai Kaori took it and refilled it. This forced Shen Yibin to issue a warning, "Miss Sakai, please don’t let him get drunk!" ’Given the sound of Egg’s snores when he’s drunk, he’d definitely wake the guests downstairs.’

"Eh? But isn’t Lord Raccoon Cat supposed to get drunk often?" In Japanese folklore, the image of a Raccoon Cat, passed out drunk and snoring soundly on its back in a courtyard, is considered very "kawaii."

’Alright, I’m not going to argue with you superstitious types,’ Shen Yibin thought with a shrug. He shut his mouth and focused on the food in front of him. Sylvie and Sun Qian exchanged a glance, unsure of what to say either.

Sure enough, after downing more than half the bottle of sake, Egg slid off his chair, flopped onto the floor spread-eagled, and began to snore thunderously. The racket caused both Hah’Er and Cheeky to quickly cover their ears.

"Alright, Miss Sakai, you can eat now." ’Surely she doesn’t need to wait on Egg anymore, right?’

"Should Lord Raccoon Cat be sleeping on this cold floor?" Sakai Kaori still refused to eat. It wasn’t until Shen Yibin helped her move Egg to his little bed and cover him with a blanket that she finally tended to her own meal.

After the meal, Sakai Kaori helped clean the table and the kitchen. Then, she sat down across from Shen Yibin, looking like she was about to bring up the matter of buying Egg again.

"Please wait a moment." Shen Yibin pulled out his phone and opened the Affinity Test app. ’I wonder if Sakai Kaori’s affinity will meet the minimum requirement to purchase Egg?’ He keyed in her information and pressed the "Start Test" button. A moment later, the result appeared on the screen.