The Cub Comes from Planet Meow 2

Chapter 2: Meow

In early December, snow had been falling continuously in City A for a week. As far as the eye could see, everything was a vast expanse of white. Every now and then, a clump of snow that had bent a branch would fall; one had to be extra careful when walking under the trees.

“Mimi, I’m going to place you at the doorstep in a moment. Remember: you must never voluntarily tell anyone that you are the little cat Mimi. Planet Meow cannot disrupt the order of Earth.”

“Then what if Papa recognizes Mimi?”

“It doesn’t matter. As long as you don’t admit it, let them think whatever they want. They won’t find any proof; they’ll just believe it’s a destined connection.”

Jing Mimi was just about to say okay when he felt his body become light. A strange sensation spread rapidly from his head to his paws, and then to his tail.

The Cat God’s voice echoed in his mind: “Mimi, don’t forget your mission.”

Between the closing and opening of his eyes, the scene around him had been pieced together and reassembled.

Upon seeing the door in front of him clearly, his amber eyes instantly widened, bursting with a brilliance as dazzling as fireworks.

It was the door to their home!

He was back!

In the past, when his papas opened the door to get takeout or sign for packages, he had sneaked out out of curiosity, so he was quite familiar with this place.

Almost every time he sneaked out, his papas would spot him immediately and carry him right back inside. Only once did they fail to notice he had slipped out and closed the door. It scared him so much that he yowled and meowed at the door for a long time, terrified that his papas didn’t want him anymore.

Now, there was still a faint trace of his little paw print on the door.

Looking at the tightly closed door, Jing Mimi subconsciously wanted to open his mouth and let out a “Meow-woo” to alert the papas inside to open the door for him.

Meow-woo, your Mimi is back!

He tilted his little head up like a cat and opened his mouth, but a strange sound came from his throat, completely unlike the cry of the cat he used to be.

Humans and kittens did not vocalize in the same way.

He finally realized something was wrong, albeit belatedly, and looked down to examine himself.

The Cat God had told him long ago that he would be given a human body just like his papas’, and that after returning, he would no longer be a kitten.

He had been so excited that he forgot.

The two small hands of his new body were smooth and hairless, lacking soft fur. His two feet were encased in awkward shoes and socks, hiding their shape.

He was wearing thick winter clothes. Mimi knew that humans didn’t have warm fur and would freeze to death without clothes. He didn’t mind wearing them; when he was still a kitten, his papas used to buy him many pretty little outfits too.

He subconsciously wiggled his tailbone and slightly lifted his little bottom, only to discover that the fluffy tail was gone.

A look of immense disappointment appeared in his round, amber eyes.

One of the ways a kitten expressed happiness was to hold its tail high. Without a tail, he didn’t know how he would show his joy when he saw his papas.

Jing Mimi was very unaccustomed to this new body. He crawled around in a circle on all fours, feeling awkward everywhere, and even got a bit of dirt on himself.

Following his feline instincts, he really wanted to lick his fur to clean himself up, but he didn’t have fur anymore.

Just as he was about to lick his dusty palm, the Cat God’s voice suddenly rang in his head: “Mimi, humans almost never use their tongues to lick dirty spots on their bodies. They use handkerchiefs to wipe or water to wash. You have to hold back for now. Don’t lick, or you’ll get sick.”

The Cat God was able to communicate with Jing Mimi in his mind at all times.

Worried about its little believer who had just become human, the God kept a constant watch over him.

It continued to guide him, saying, “Try knocking on the door with your hand. If Papa hears the noise inside, he will open the door for you.”

Jing Mimi lifted his little head as if waking from a dream, his gaze falling back onto the tightly closed door.

That’s right. Originally, he had wanted to meow a few times to alert his papas to open the door, but he couldn’t control the voice of this new body very well and had failed.

Remembering the noise he used to make by scratching the door with his paws, Jing Mimi immediately raised his small hand and quickly scratched at the door.

He didn’t know how to knock properly, but this still created some noise.

One second, two seconds, three seconds…

Time ticked by. His small hand scratched diligently at the door, but there was no movement from inside.

Seeing this, the Cat God taught him how to make a fist and knock on the door to create a louder sound.

As a god, it could see that there was someone inside. That person was one of Mimi’s papas, the one who shared Mimi’s surname, Jing Zhi.

However, he seemed to have been drinking and had fallen asleep, so he hadn’t heard the noise at the door.

If it could, the Cat God would have loved to use a bit of power to wake the person inside directly and have him open the door for the little cub outside. But it couldn’t interfere too much with the established trajectory of Earth. There were no small insects it could command in winter, and creating a human body for Mimi had already consumed too much of its power.

Although Mimi was naive, he was very smart. Not long after the Cat God taught him, he learned how to use his small fist to bang on the door panel.

Because the door remained unopened for so long, he subconsciously used more force, banging until his little fist turned red.

Thump, thump, thump.

This new body felt pain for the first time.

Yet, the little cub who used to be the biggest crybaby kitten on Planet Meow didn’t flinch.

Compared to the pain he endured before dying in his cat form, this little bit of pain was nothing. He was a kitten who could tolerate pain very well.

As long as he could see his Papa, it didn’t matter if it hurt a little more.

Afraid that his small hand would swell if he continued knocking, the Cat God had to hastily call a stop, telling a lie: “Papa might have gone out, there’s no one home. Mimi, stop knocking for now and wait at the door for Papa to come back.”

It didn’t dare tell Mimi there was someone inside, fearing this stubborn little kitten would keep knocking. It didn’t know when the person inside would wake up, so it could only accompany him in waiting.

Fortunately, Mimi was obedient and easy to fool. He obediently lowered his small hand and stopped knocking.

The sky gradually darkened. The sensor light in the corridor was voice-activated, and the little cub couldn’t trigger the conditions to turn it on. He could only be enveloped by the darkness bit by bit, leaning against the door, curled up at the doorstep.

The Cat God had originally planned to send Mimi back on a snowy evening, thinking it would be easier for Mimi to stay overnight and bond with his Papa in his new body. If it were during the day, he might have been sent straight to the police station without a second thought.

It hadn’t expected the person inside to be drunk and asleep until now.

**

Jing Zhi had little interest in alcohol, usually only drinking a small glass when flirting with Jiang Suifeng.

The last time he had been this dead drunk was when his cheating father died in a car accident without a whole corpse left. At that time, he felt incredibly relieved. It was right after his high school graduation, and he went to a bar with his childhood friend to drink.

Later, when he got together with Jiang Suifeng, there were inevitably arguments and cold wars during their adjustment period. They even broke up for a month once, but he never drank like this again.

Back then, they hadn’t found Mimi yet. Breaking up just meant packing bags, going separate ways, no strings attached.

After finding Mimi, even if they argued or gave each other the silent treatment, they would both return home after work without fail to feed Mimi, change its water, scoop the litter, and brush its fur.

Because of Mimi, they never mentioned breaking up again.

With Mimi’s addition, they no longer seemed like a couple who only knew love and freedom, but more like responsible parents, possessing a firmer strength.

When parents fight, they always have to consider the child’s feelings. They couldn’t let Mimi lose this complete home.

It was already a frail kitten that had been abandoned once. It had finally found two papas who loved it. Occasionally, when Jiang Suifeng was busy with work and went on a business trip, Mimi would worry as if fearing he had died while hunting outside, following Jing Zhi everywhere with its little tail held high. He couldn’t imagine how sad Mimi would be if they broke up.

But now, there was no need to worry.

Mimi had gone to Planet Meow.

This family should also scatter.

Jing Zhi woke up at 8:30 in the evening. Surrounded by many bottles and cans, and with the heating on, the windows were tightly shut, making the room reek of alcohol.

The back of his head throbbed with raw pain, as if chisels were being driven into it.

His mind was blank for nearly a minute before he slowly got up. Moving sluggishly, he found his phone, which was encased in a cute beige Scottish Fold kitten case, amidst the mess.

The phone was out of battery and had shut down.

Dragging his heavy body, he plugged the phone in and turned it on.

The time displayed was 8:36 PM.

It had been a day since Mimi left.

A text message from Jiang Suifeng was displayed on the lock screen.

[Let’s both calm down properly. This business trip will take me away from City A for about a month. We’ll talk properly then.]

He was someone easily swayed by emotions. Because of some experiences with his original family, every time they argued, he couldn’t control himself from saying some heartless things.

Over time, he and Jiang Suifeng had reached an agreement—after an argument, they would each cool off for a while, and once they were no longer swayed by impulsive emotions, they would talk properly.

They had been together for seven years and one month. After so many years of adjustment, they were like two puzzle pieces of different shapes that had long been worn down to fit each other perfectly, able to piece together seamlessly.

But two people being together wasn’t just about the two of them; it inevitably involved both families.

Having been out of the closet for many years, both sets of parents were still unwilling to accept their relationship.

On his side, there was only his mother, which was manageable. Although his mother found it hard to accept, she hadn’t done anything extreme. It didn’t matter if things dragged on in a stalemate.

Jiang Suifeng was different from him. He had a happy family, loving parents, and almost every relative was someone he could chat and drink with. During the New Year, there were too many visits to make. He had grown up in an environment full of love. To be with Jing Zhi, he had already strained his relationship with his family enough over the years.

Perhaps, just like deciding on Mimi’s euthanasia, it was time to end this relationship that struggled to walk in the sunlight.

Jing Zhi typed a reply to the text message: [No need to talk. Let’s break up. You should actually try going back for the New Year to have that blind date with that person.]

Once the message was sent, Jing Zhi blocked his number as well, deleting both these messages and another one received from a strange number a few days ago.

The content of that message was: [There’s a nice girl back home who wants to have a blind date with Suifeng. She’s bisexual, has dated both guys and girls before, and plans to settle down and start a family. She doesn’t mind that Suifeng has been with guys before.]

The strange number definitely came from one of Jiang Suifeng’s relatives.

The message didn’t say much else; it merely stated this fact, yet it invisibly exerted a heavy pressure on him.

Back then, it was indeed he who “bent” Jiang Suifeng in university. Jiang Suifeng’s sexual orientation might not have been that straight, but he wasn’t naturally gay.

If he hadn’t appeared, Jiang Suifeng might not have had any romantic entanglements with other men. He could have walked freely in the sunlight, unaffected by societal pressure.

Perhaps it was precisely because he loved him too much that he should choose to let go.

This was a lesson he learned from Mimi.

Rather than painful companionship, it was better to end it ruthlessly.

Putting down his phone, Jing Zhi began to tidy up the odds and ends in the room with an expressionless face.

It was actually very painful, but his tears had run dry when Mimi left; he couldn’t cry anymore.

Opening the window, the cold but fresh air rushed in, sweeping away a bit of the stale smell.

Traces of the former family of three remained everywhere in the house, but it was no longer the same.

Jing Zhi planned to pack his luggage quickly over the next few days and move out. He would leave Jiang Suifeng’s things for him to pack when he returned. The apartment was rented, and the landlord was very easygoing; he just needed to send a WeChat message to inform him about ending the lease.

Sealing all the bottles and trash into a cardboard box, taping it shut with clear tape, and marking it as fragile, Jing Zhi strode towards the door.

A long time ago, he wasn’t a careful person. Sometimes he would throw bottles and cans directly into the public trash can, and if they broke, he would just bag them in a plastic bag, thinking the garbage truck would handle it.

But when they found Mimi, it was the dead of winter. It was eating leftover kitchen waste by a trash can, shivering, and one of its paws had been cut by glass shards next to the bin, staining a patch of its fur red with blood.

Plus, Jiang Suifeng had been raised well. Every time he threw away such things, he would seal them properly, saying it was less likely to hurt people scavenging for recyclables or stray animals eating trash. Over time, Jing Zhi developed the habit too.

Click. The door handle was pressed down.

Jing Zhi opened the door and was about to step out when he saw a small, curled-up figure fall straight inside.