Chapter 52
“Why are you still sleeping?”
A cat spirit was sprawled on top of him first thing in the morning, not straddling him, but kneeling between his legs, his butt raised, his arms on either side of Shao Sui’s body.
“Too sleepy, baby.”
“Why are you sleepy?”
Shao Sui’s mind cleared slightly, and he held Mimi’s waist.
Because he had listened to the hundreds of messages Mimi sent him over the past month and couldn’t sleep, then listened to them again while staring at Mimi’s sleeping face, occasionally removing the hand covering his eyes, kissing his eyes and lips, finally falling asleep only around 5 AM.
Even now, recalling it, his heart was filled with tenderness and a sense of comfort.
Shao Sui had once thought he would be alone forever, never imagining he would be healed by a little cat spirit at almost thirty years old.
Just the thought of coming home to Mimi’s hugs and kisses every day made the drudgery of work seem bearable.
His voice, still hoarse from lack of sleep and having just woken up, had the low timbre Mimi liked most, “Does baby want some catnip?”
Mimi couldn’t help but nuzzle Shao Sui’s stubble, “Not really, the teacher said too much isn’t good.”
Shao Sui said, “Then just a little bit?”
Mimi instinctively smiled, then quickly suppressed it, saying with a straight face, “Okay, just a little.”
Shao Sui, puzzled, “Want more?”
“Just a little.” Mimi shook his head. “If we cat spirits want to live as long as humans, we can’t transform back into cats too often.”
And sniffing catnip in human form seemed strange.
Shao Sui had learned about a cat spirit’s lifespan during his educational sessions at the base. Their aging process in cat and human forms was different. If a cat spirit wanted to live a long life, it had to maintain its human form most of the time.
So those humans who forced their cat spirits to transform for clickbait videos didn’t love their cats, they just saw them as money-making tools.
Mimi snuggled into Shao Sui’s arms, his butt still raised, “I can transform back into a cat for you to pet every day, just don’t get any other cats.”
Shao Sui said, “No need to transform, I like you whether you’re a cat or a human.”
Though his feelings for the cat might be more owner-pet-like, his feelings for the human also included romantic love.
Mimi, finally hearing the words he longed for, let out a strange yelp before he could respond, quickly covering his mouth and looking up at Shao Sui’s chin.
He mumbled, “Why did you spank my butt?”
“Because you kept sticking it up.” Shao Sui, out of habit, said calmly, “I thought you wanted me to spank you.”
Mimi was a bit annoyed, “You didn’t do your homework!”
Shao Sui didn’t understand, “What?”
Mimi didn’t hold back, “The receiving partner in a gay relationship will be sore the next day.”
Shao Sui was speechless, massaging Mimi’s waist while apologizing, “Sorry, baby, last night was… sudden, I thought I would never…”
So he hadn’t researched… aftercare for gay sex, he only vaguely knew what to do.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
“It’s okay.” Mimi, enjoying the massage, closed his eyes and said, “I just have to maintain the same position, it feels weird if I move.”
Shao Sui said, “Then let’s not go out today, rest at home.”
Mimi said firmly, “No, I have to go apply for a bank card.”
Shao Sui: “That urgent?”
Mimi said, “All humans have bank cards, I should have one too, I can’t be different.”
“Okay, then we’ll drive.” Shao Sui kissed the top of Mimi’s head, “Anywhere else sore?”
Mimi wasn’t shy, “My leg… inside, here.”
Shao Sui said, “I’ll rub it for you, are you hungry?”
Mimi wasn’t hungry. He woke Shao Sui up just to talk and interact with him, otherwise, what was the point of having a human? And experts said sleeping too much shortened your lifespan.
He wanted to live to 120 with Shao Sui.
“Then lie down for a bit longer.”
Shao Sui felt this was the happiest moment of his life. A winter morning, lying in a warm bed, sunlight streaming through the curtains, the clingy little cat spirit nestled in his arms, saying endearing things without realizing it.
Mimi pulled open Shao Sui’s collar and poked his chest, “Why is it soft now?”
Shao Sui said, “It only gets hard when I… tense it.”
Mimi said honestly, “Then you were very tense last night, I almost couldn’t bite through it.”
Shao Sui gasped, “Baby, don’t talk about these things in the morning.”
Last night, the little cat spirit had been incredibly accommodating, only biting Shao Sui’s chest when he couldn’t take it anymore, not daring to bite too hard for fear of injuring him, whimpering softly. This only made Shao Sui want to do more, to be more intense, but it was their first time, going too far might hurt Mimi, physically and emotionally, making him reluctant to do it again.
So Shao Sui had to tense every muscle in his body to suppress his desire to ravage Mimi. Making love should be pleasurable for both parties.
“Why can’t I talk about it? Shao Sui, you have so many rules.” The little cat spirit lowered his head and nibbled on the bite mark from last night. “And you don’t want me to be registered under your household.”
Shao Sui paused, “When did I not want…”
Mimi looked up, staring at Shao Sui.
Shao Sui remembered, saying with a wry smile, “I was just saying that to appease Guan Jiu, having your own household registration is, of course, a good thing, being tied to a human, what if we have a falling out later—”
Mimi became even more upset, ignoring his sore backside, and threw off the covers, exposing Shao Sui to the cold air.
Shao Sui: “…Come back and put on your thermal underwear!”
Mimi limped away without looking back.
That day, Shao Sui wrote “Shao Sui and Mimi will never have a falling out” a hundred times in his notebook before finally earning the little cat spirit’s forgiveness.
And it was only after writing it that he realized it was Mimi’s diary. Although Mimi often sent him voice messages, besides the tearful one on the first night, they were mostly about his training routine and how much he missed him.
And life at the base wasn’t always smooth sailing, there were also frustrations, which he wrote down, afraid Shao Sui would think he was a whiny cat spirit.
Like how the food at the base every Wednesday was terrible, making him miss Shao Sui terribly, then adding in parentheses, in messy handwriting: Not that I see Shao Sui as a chef, but the cafeteria food is truly awful.
Or the day he got his household registration, everyone refused to let him be registered under Shao Sui’s household, which made him incredibly angry, refusing to listen to anyone explaining the benefits of an independent household registration, until Guan Jiu used her trump card, “People registered under the same household can’t be partners, that’s incest.”
Mimi had to compromise, but he was still unhappy, filling his diary with “Stupid rules! Stupid rules!”
What bad intentions could a little cat spirit have? He just wanted to be a family with Shao Sui.
And there was an elective course at the base called “Human Expression Training.” Mimi, wanting to learn Shao Sui’s eyebrow raise, signed up, but the teacher didn’t teach that, and even said his smile was fake, not appealing to humans.
Mimi, outwardly defiant, returned to his dorm and practiced in front of the mirror, the more he looked, the faker it seemed, and gradually, he stopped smiling altogether.
Teacher Shao, seeing this, declared, “Nonsense! Our Mimi is cute no matter his expression, the cutest in the world.”
Mimi was still unhappy, “The experts online said only unattractive people are called cute.”
Shao Sui said without changing his expression, “Those are trash experts, ‘cute’ is the highest compliment.”
“Really?”
“Really, would I lie to you?”
Under Shao Sui’s positive reinforcement, even Mimi putting on socks would earn him praise. Initially, he was embarrassed, but gradually, he became incredibly confident, believing that even as a human, he was the cutest and most beautiful cat spirit in the world!
All anxieties about his appearance and his smile disappeared. He confidently flashed his eight teeth at the bank teller while applying for a bank card, making her blush.
They went to the bank two days later, as they didn’t offer card services on weekends.
Shao Sui wanted to deposit some money into the account, but Mimi firmly refused, “We still have to buy a house, I’m not spending any money.”
That day, Shao Sui took Mimi to see the apartments he liked.
Mimi wasn’t picky about housing. Although everyone wanted a thousand-square-meter villa with a garden, Shao Sui couldn’t afford it. So he agreed to the three-bedroom apartment Shao Sui liked.
The happiest person was undoubtedly the real estate agent, having spent over a month with this client, the deal was finally closed. They immediately arranged a meeting with the landlord to sign the contract, everything went smoothly.
Coincidentally, their current lease was also about to expire, so they started packing. Shao Sui didn’t have many belongings, while Mimi, having only lived with him for five months, already had a third of the total belongings.
Shao Sui sorted through the items, “You’ve never even used this cat bed, I’m throwing it away.”
Mimi said, “We shouldn’t be wasteful—”
Just as Shao Sui thought Mimi would suggest selling it online, Mimi said, “We can give it to Milk Tea.”
Shao Sui: “…Okay.”
While packing the unopened cans of cat food Mimi used to like, Mimi also said, “Give them to Milk Tea, I probably won’t be eating cat food anymore.”
Shao Sui gritted his teeth, “Fine.”
Mimi secretly picked up the carrier, “This…”
Shao Sui, exasperated, pinned Mimi down and spanked him, “Did the association teachers not teach you that you can’t give gifts to the opposite sex after you have a partner!?”
Mimi protested, “This is normal social interaction! Relationship experts said partners who forbid normal social interaction aren’t good partners, they’re controlling!”
“Yes, I’m controlling.” Shao Sui grabbed his allergy medication, swallowed a pill, and said, “Go ahead and give it to her, we’re moving soon, you won’t see her again anyway.”
Mimi, breathless from being kissed, pushed Shao Sui’s face away, “Are you trying to kiss me to death!?”
Shao Sui said coldly, “If I kiss baby to death, he won’t be able to think about other cats.”
Humans hold grudges for so long.
He was just giving Milk Tea a farewell gift, it wasn’t cheating.
When knocking on Milk Tea’s door to say goodbye, Mimi didn’t dare to speak much, afraid of angering his human.
However, Mimi was a good partner, always providing emotional support. The words, “Shao Sui, I’ll buy you a bigger house when I’m rich,” made the jealous human smile.
Because relationship experts also said that to keep a man’s heart forever, you have to make big promises, the bigger the promise, the longer the relationship.
And while making promises, he would also throw in an English word to show off his recent learning progress, so Shao Sui would praise him, and he would be motivated to learn more.
“Shao Sui, I’ll study hard and become an office worker to support you!”
“Good.” Shao Sui, while tidying up the study, silently threw Mimi’s math test paper, nineteen out of twenty questions wrong, into the trash can. “Baby is so smart, he’ll definitely become an office worker.”
