Chapter 22
Mimi was the happiest when they were discharged from the hospital. Shao Sui trailed behind him slowly.
Mimi asked, “Are we going anywhere else?”
Shao Sui would have liked to go somewhere else to continue processing everything.
“Not for now.”
“Then let’s go home!”
Mimi stood in the sunlight, his skin almost translucent. Shao Sui was used to cat eyes; seeing that hazel color in human eyes felt a bit strange, but it was still beautiful, shimmering like gemstones in the sunlight.
Looking closely, one could see a hint of anxiety and fear hidden in Mimi’s eyes.
What was he afraid of?
The crowds of people? Or being left behind and becoming a stray cat again? Or rather, a homeless person now that he was human.
But who had ever seen such a clean, young homeless person?
Shao Sui sighed for the umpteenth time: “Yes, let’s go home.”
Whose home?
It used to be Shao Sui’s home, then Shao Sui and Mimi the cat’s home, now…
“Come in.”
Even knowing this was Mimi, Shao Sui still felt a sense of intrusion, as if a kiss-loving stranger had entered his personal space.
Shao Sui found a pair of slippers he rarely wore and said, “Change into these.”
Before being taken away by the ambulance, Shao Sui realized Mimi might not be a hallucination, recalling the barefoot teenager he had seen in the rain, and reminded him to wear shoes.
Mimi, completely unfamiliar with wearing shoes, stepped into two different slippers, clearly not his size.
“I don’t like hospitals, too many people, and it smells bad. Can we not go there again?”
“We’ll see.” Shao Sui replied vaguely. “And you have to wear matching shoes.”
“Okay, but they’re too big.” Mimi looked down, awkwardly lifting his foot and placing it in the oversized slipper. “When I was a cat, I could fit inside.”
Shao Sui almost lost his composure: “You’ve tried that?”
Mimi said, “No, you don’t let me play with your shoes.”
Shao Sui said sternly, “But you played with them when you turned into a human while I was at work, didn’t you?”
The slippers had been scattered everywhere.
Mimi explained, “Because I don’t have fur on my feet when I’m human, the floor is cold.”
Shao Sui glanced down. Mimi’s feet were also very fair, smooth and unblemished, having never been human before. Though not as cute as his pink paw pads, they weren’t unattractive either.
“From now on…”
Mimi waited for a moment, then asked, “What?”
Shao Sui hesitated: “Nothing.”
Mimi stood still, not moving.
“What…” Shao Sui realized something. “Now that you’re human, you don’t have to… wipe your feet when you come home, just wash your hands.”
Saying “come home” to another person felt strange.
Mimi asked, “Like you?”
“Yes.” Shao Sui led him to the bathroom and demonstrated. “Roll up your sleeves, wet your hands, this is hand soap, one pump, rub your palms together, then interlock your fingers and rub, then the back of one hand against the palm of the other…”
Mimi, overwhelmed, just rubbed his hands randomly.
Shao Sui said sternly, “No, that’s not how you wash your hands, there are still germs.”
Mimi thought they were clean enough.
Teacher Shao, after some restraint, couldn’t help but grab Mimi’s wrists and position his hands correctly: “Rub.”
Mimi obeyed.
Shao Sui repositioned his hands, “Rub again, insert the fingers of one hand between the fingers of the other.”
Mimi rubbed his hands while pursing his lips, imagining his cat whiskers were still there.
Shao Sui was so fierce.
“Arms out, time to disinfect.”
Mimi was sprayed with alcohol, closing his eyes tightly, his face tense. This expression was just like when he was a cat.
Mimi was a little unhappy: “Do you think I’m dirty?”
“We’re all dirty, we have to disinfect after coming back from the hospital.” Shao Sui also disinfected himself. “Wait for me at the entrance.”
Mimi’s voice was clear: “What’s an entrance?”
Shao Sui said, “Where we put our shoes.”
“Okay.”
Mimi understood. The entrance was the area by the door.
Shao Sui took his loungewear into the bathroom to change. When he came out, Mimi was still standing at the entrance, looking like a well-behaved and handsome young man.
Normally, at his age, he should have just started university.
“I’ll get you some clothes.”
Shao Sui went into the bedroom and found some of his old clothes, things he had found among his mother’s belongings after she passed away, including the school uniform Mimi was currently wearing.
When Shao Sui came out, Mimi was still in the same spot, his posture unchanged. Mimi in his cat form would have run off mischievously by now.
“This size is a bit smaller, change into this.”
Mimi was about to take off his clothes.
“Go to the bathroom.”
“Oh.” Mimi couldn’t help but look back. “Don’t you want to see me?”
Teacher Shao struggled to maintain a neutral expression, trying not to lose his composure.
If any other male had said that, Shao Sui would have assumed they were gay and hitting on him, but this was Mimi, his cat.
All signs indicated that even in his human form, Mimi’s thinking was still dominated by cat logic.
He was genuinely just expressing curiosity.
“You’re human now. Humans have to maintain a certain social distance, like not being naked in front of others.” Shao Sui tried to explain. “Do you know what naked means? Completely bare, no clothes, no fur.”
“But you’ve touched every part of my body.”
Shao Sui closed his eyes in agony. He hadn’t!
He had touched a cat!
Not this teenager with all the characteristics of a human!
Shao Sui pushed Mimi into the bathroom and slammed the door shut: “Hurry up and change!”
Mimi, facing the closed door, said dejectedly, “Okay.”
Shao Sui mechanically returned to the bedroom, buried his face in the pillow, and punched the bed.
Let me die.
Since bringing Mimi home, Shao Sui didn’t know how many times he had babbled nonsense to the cat, or let out strange, almost perverted laughter.
If the cat was just a cat, understanding him would be fine, as it couldn’t respond, but now the cat was human…
A wave of belated embarrassment washed over Shao Sui.
He heard a click from outside.
Shao Sui immediately sat up and walked out, his face carefully neutral: “…Is this how you wear clothes?”
Mimi had put the pants on backward and the shirt upside down, exposing a small section of his waist.
He also felt uncomfortable, but he had tried his best: “Help me!”
If Mimi was a cat, Shao Sui would happily help, even taking the opportunity to cuddle and kiss it.
But this was a human.
Shao Sui, his expression deadpan, said, “Come here.”
Mimi walked over and had his shirt roughly pulled off by Shao Sui, his hair ruffled. He shook his head vigorously.
Shao Sui chuckled, trying to maintain a neutral expression, pulled the shirt down correctly, and then deliberately messed up Mimi’s hair again.
As expected, Mimi shook his head after putting on the shirt.
The familiar action brought back a sense of normalcy. Mimi was still Mimi.
Standing close, Shao Sui couldn’t see Mimi’s expression, his fingers inadvertently brushing against Mimi’s waist. The skin felt smooth and soft, nothing like a cat.
Mimi sniffed the clothes. He didn’t particularly like them; there was almost no trace of Shao Sui’s pheromones.
But he still decided to be a polite cat spirit: “Thank you, Shao Sui.”
Another unexpected kiss.
Shao Sui took a deep breath: “Mimi, we need to talk.”
Mimi nodded: “Okay.”
Shao Sui sat down at the dining table as if about to begin a serious meeting. Mimi also straightened up.
“Are there many cat spirits like you?”
“I don’t know.” Mimi said, “I only know Fatty Tabby.”
“Who’s Fatty Tabby?”
“It has many names, because it often goes home with different people, and everyone gives it a new name.”
Shao Sui: “Such a player?”
Mimi said, “Ms. Jin from the news was its latest owner.”
Shao Sui remembered. The first time he let the cat watch TV, the news reported the theft of gold jewelry and a tabby cat, and the couple ended up getting a divorce.
He was incredulous, “That cat stole the gold?”
“Yes, I told you that day.”
“When did you…”
Shao Sui stopped, remembering Mimi was still a cat then, and he wouldn’t have understood.
“I said the thief was Fatty Tabby, and you said I wanted a gold lock!” Mimi accused. “You can’t even afford one, I wouldn’t want it.”
“…Who says I can’t afford it?”
“Fatty Tabby said a small piece of gold can buy a whole room of canned food, but you can only afford a few cans at a time.”
Shao Sui resisted the urge to prove his financial capabilities to Mimi.
He told himself it was childish and pointless.
“That’s because you’re too picky.” Shao Sui shifted the blame. “You refuse to eat this flavor, refuse to eat that flavor, and you complain if I give you the same food for breakfast and dinner. I can’t buy too much at once in case you don’t eat it, that would be a waste.”
Mimi asked, confused, “Is that my fault?”
Shao Sui: “Whose fault is it then?”
Mimi said, “Should I apologize?”
Shao Sui: “Yes.”
“I’m sorry, Shao Sui.” Mimi couldn’t help but defend himself a little. “But I used to eat different things every day for thirty days straight.”
“Weren’t you a stray?”
“That wasn’t straying… well, in your human terms, it was straying.” Mimi said, “There were many shops near the Chinese medicine clinic. I went to a different one each day, and everyone gave me delicious food.”
“Sounds nice.” Teacher Shao said sarcastically. “Since being a stray is better than living with me, do you want to go back?”
Mimi’s eyes widened: “Don’t you want me anymore?”
Shao Sui was silent for a moment.
When he asked Mimi to change shoes earlier, he almost said he would buy him properly fitting shoes, and to put them away in the shoe cabinet afterward.
Would there really be an “afterward”?
Keeping a cat was troublesome, but as long as he provided food and water and kept the doors and windows secure, he could be considered a good owner. But keeping a person was different.
Shao Jun had put so much effort into raising him, but what was the result?
–Two patients.
Raising a person involved so much more worry, so much more responsibility and obligation.
Mimi might look like an adult, but his thinking was still that of a cat, his understanding of many things not even at the level of a child.
As a cat spirit, how would he survive and thrive in human society? If his true identity was discovered, would he be taken away for some secret research?
Shao Sui felt a pang of anxiety: “You can’t suddenly transform into a cat or a human in front of others, understand?”
“I understand, Fatty Tabby also said so.” Mimi couldn’t help but ask again, “Don’t you want me anymore?”
His anxious expression was heart-wrenching.
Mimi in his cat form was never like this, always an arrogant little tyrant.
Shao Sui sighed, “That’s not what I meant. A cat turning into a human is beyond our comprehension as humans, so I need time to process it.”
Mimi’s lips trembled, as if he was about to cry: “Then… how long do you need to process it before I can go home?”
Shao Sui, after a moment of confusion, realized what Mimi meant and said with a wry smile, “I didn’t say I was sending you away. You living here doesn’t affect my processing.”
Mimi rubbed his eyes: “That’s good.”
Shao Sui felt like he was bullying a child: “Are you crying?”
“No, my eyes are just itchy.” Mimi explained earnestly, “We cats don’t cry. Our eyes sometimes look wet because we’re cleaning them.”
“Really?” Shao Sui searched online. It said cats’ tear ducts were shorter than humans’, so they couldn’t cry like humans.
But Mimi was human now, he might be able to cry.
“How do cat spirits like you usually live after transforming into humans?” Shao Sui asked. “Excluding those who steal things like Fatty Tabby.”
Mimi said, “Fatty Tabby said many cats work at cat cafes, being cats during the day and humans at night. Some also go to those… those places where people drink…”
Shao Sui: “Bars?”
“Maybe.” Mimi wasn’t sure, he had never been to one. “They stand on stage and dance, showing off their cat tails. Everyone thinks it’s fake, they find it exciting.”
“…”
Mimi didn’t quite understand. He had only heard rumors and finally had someone to ask: “Why is it exciting?”
Why else? Humans had to insert fake tails, so the people watching found it exciting.
“Because…” Shao Sui said in resignation, “That’s something you understand after you turn thirty. You just became an adult, don’t ask too many questions.”
“Okay.”
Shao Sui returned to the main topic: “Have you thought about how you want to live in the future?”
“Not with you?” Mimi asked anxiously. “I won’t run away after stealing things like Fatty Tabby.”
Shao Sui choked, saying with difficulty, “I believe you.”
“Thank you—”
“Stop.” This time, Shao Sui stopped Mimi by holding his chin. “No kissing.”
“Why? You loved kissing me before.”
Shao Sui almost had a heart attack: “Because you were a cat before, but now you’re human. Humans don’t just kiss each other.”
Mimi hesitated: “But many people kiss on TV.”
“…They’re couples, so they can kiss.”
“What are couples?”
Teacher Shao was speechless, not knowing how to explain: “That’s also something you understand after you turn thirty.”
Mimi said, “Okay, being human is so troublesome.”
Shao Sui hinted: “Right? So be a cat more often.”
Mimi changed the subject: “That day, why did you give my balls…”
Teacher Shao found this unbearable: “Don’t use baby talk.”
Mimi was shocked by the human’s shamelessness: “That’s how you talk.”
Shao Sui: “…”
Mimi, thinking he had forgotten, repeated: “You always say, ‘Mimi, bring back the ball—'”
He even perfectly imitated Shao Sui’s tone.
Teacher Shao made a “stop” gesture, covering his face with his hand, then after a while, asked, “What did you want to ask?”
Mimi said with a hint of resentment, “Why did you give my balls and my toys to that bad man?”
Mimi had been wondering about this for two days. The morning they went to see the bad man, Shao Sui had packed all his toys. Mimi naturally assumed he was going to be given away.
Although it didn’t happen, his toys weren’t brought back.
Shao Sui rubbed his temples, “I didn’t give them to him, I was too angry and forgot to bring them back, but I was planning to throw them away anyway.”
Mimi became anxious again: “Why?”
“Because of you.” Shao Sui said, exasperated but also amused. “You ate my ice cream and flushed the sticks down the toilet, watched TV until it overheated, and hid my clothes… making me think there was a thief in the apartment. Who knows how many germs they brought in? I was planning to buy new toys after we moved.”
“I’m sorry.” Mimi’s apology was sincere. “Are we still moving?”
We.
Teacher Shao sighed internally: “Not for now.”
Knowing the thief was Mimi in his human form eased Shao Sui’s anxiety. Although the Mimi in front of him was still a stranger, he was, after all, his cat transformed. His tolerance level was on a completely different scale.
Mimi was happy they weren’t moving: “Do you have any other questions?”
Shao Sui: “…Not for now.”
Mimi immediately stood up: “Then can I watch TV?”
Shao Sui: “Go ahead.”
Mimi hesitated, remembering Shao Sui had said no kissing, so he ruffled Shao Sui’s hair instead.
Shao Sui often rubbed his head when he was a cat. It felt nice.
Shao Sui rested his elbows on the table, his fingers interlocked, covering his face as he tried to compose himself. He actually had many more questions, but they were tangled in his mind, a chaotic mess.
He had impulsively agreed to let Mimi stay, but what about the future, living together indefinitely?
If Mimi was mostly in his cat form, it was manageable.
And he couldn’t just kick out a newly transformed, naive Mimi. Then he would lose the cat, and all the time, money, and emotions he had invested would be wasted.
He would take it one step at a time.
Fortunately, he had no plans to get married. Who would want to be with someone who lived with a cat spirit?
This was so frustrating. Weren’t spirits forbidden after the founding of the People’s Republic?
Shao Sui lowered his arms, glanced at the living room, and immediately said, “Sit further back! Why not just crawl inside the TV?”
Mimi asked, puzzled, “How do I do that?”
“…Just sit further back, it’s bad for your eyes.”
Mimi replied with a loud “oh.”
“You watch TV, I’ll clean up.”
“Okay.”
Saying he was going to clean, Shao Sui went back to his room, closed the door, and opened the surveillance app.
After he left, Mimi seemed a little dejected, his gaze drifting from the TV towards the bedroom.
Still a clingy little thing even in human form.
Shao Sui found the surveillance footage from last night and watched the entire thing at 8x speed.
Seeing Mimi making wishes in front of his mother’s portrait, Shao Sui chuckled.
“So silly.”
Shao Sui completely forgot how he used to constantly praise Mimi’s intelligence.
But it was normal.
The standards for cats and humans were different.
“What’s VIP…” Shao Sui scoffed. “Wanting a phone, in your dreams.”
In the footage, Mimi kept staring at the door last night, not paying much attention to the TV, as if worried about him coming home late.
Shao Sui was initially touched, until he saw Mimi go into the kitchen and come out with an ice cream.
So much for being touched.
The live surveillance feed suddenly moved. Mimi, restless, stood up, went to the door, and knocked like a human.
Mimi: “Shao Sui, are you there?”
Such a grown-up person, yet his voice was still so soft and sweet.
Shao Sui got up, opened the door, and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Can you get me VIP?” Mimi thought for a moment. “If you can’t afford it, it’s okay.”
“…”
It took Shao Sui a while to realize “VIP” meant a TV membership, something that cost 15 yuan a month. How could he not afford it?
He fiddled with his phone for a bit: “Alright, you can watch all the shows now.”
Mimi was grateful: “Thank you, Shao Sui.”
Shao Sui: “Mm-hmm.”
Mimi sat obediently on the sofa, then suddenly said, “By the way, I remembered another detail that proves I’m Mimi the cat.”
Shao Sui already believed him, but still played along: “What is it?”
Mimi said, “There’s a me on your leg.”
“…?”
Shao Sui knew he had a birthmark on his thigh, but what did it mean “there’s a Mimi”? He went back to his room, rolled up his pants, and examined it. The light-colored birthmark was indeed somewhat cat-shaped.
That night, a new post appeared on a certain app.
[A word of advice, be mindful of your cat while showering, humans and cats also need appropriate social distance.]
The first comment: What, did it mistake your dick for a cat teaser?
