Chapter 22
As if sensing his reluctance, the calico cat considered for a moment and said grudgingly, “I can seek first.”
A cat was idle anyway, and Lu Yichuan didn’t know when he would be back. Plus, he had already agreed to play with the calico, so Jiang Heng didn’t refuse.
“I won’t hide. I’ll seek you.”
The two cats went to the woods where they had met last night. In the daylight, the woods didn’t seem as scary, but rather tranquil, a perfect playground for small animals.
Finally able to play its beloved hide-and-seek, the calico was excited and, upon reaching the woods, darted up a tree and disappeared.
Other cats relied on scent to find their companions. No matter how well hidden, following the scent would always lead to them.
But Jiang Heng, a human turned cat, was different. He couldn’t smell anything at all. When the calico disappeared from his sight, it truly disappeared.
The half-grown kitten stood on the ground, sighing deeply, his eyes narrowed as he looked up at the trees, resignedly beginning his search.
Fortunately, a cat’s tail had a mind of its own. No matter how well the cat hid, its fluffy tail would always betray its location. The calico cat’s fur was rather long, its tail like a feather duster, fluffy and conspicuous.
After searching for a while, Jiang Heng finally spotted the large tail swaying amongst the branches.
This happened a few times, and the calico cat couldn’t help but ask, “How did you find me?”
Jiang Heng pointed at its swaying tail.
The calico cat raised its paw and pressed down on its unruly tail. “I definitely won’t let you find me next time.”
But Jiang Heng was already lying on a rock, unwilling to move. “I don’t want to play anymore.”
The calico cat circled him, then settled down beside him. “You don’t seem very happy.”
“Really…” The bald kitten rested his head on his paws and sighed sadly. “Is it that obvious?”
“Can I ask you a question?” Jiang Heng looked at his only conversation partner. “What if…I mean, what if, I had a friend, and that friend also had a very good friend, and they grew up together, then one day my friend died, and then he somehow came back to life. But not only did he become a different species, but he also traveled four years into the future…”
“And…he found that his friend had become a bit strange, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but he just felt…different.”
The calico cat tilted its head, puzzled. “So, what do you want to ask?”
“I…” Jiang Heng opened his mouth. “I don’t know what I want to ask either. Maybe…perhaps…he wants to know if his friend’s change is because of him.”
“Oh.” The calico cat said. “Just ask him directly.”
Jiang Heng choked. “It’s not that simple…”
“Is your friend too embarrassed to ask? Don’t worry, for the sake of our game of hide-and-seek, this cat can help you ask. If he doesn’t answer, just give him a good beating.”
Jiang Heng: “…”
The calico cat added, “If one beating doesn’t work, give him two.”
Jiang Heng thought he had found the reason why the calico was a stray.
He tried to explain, “Fighting doesn’t solve problems. Besides, my friend has changed species, he’s a cat, and his friend is a human.”
“A two-legged creature…” the calico cat narrowed its eyes. “Just rub against his leg and act cute, he’ll tell you everything.”
Jiang Heng: “…”
He realized he probably wouldn’t get any useful advice from the calico.
Animals were much more straightforward than humans, their likes and dislikes clear, unlike humans, who were always hesitant and overthinking.
After basking in the sun for a while, the calico cat invited Jiang Heng to go fishing by the lake.
Jiang Heng thought for a moment and agreed. He wasn’t interested in catching fish, but he had never seen a cat fishing before.
The lake the calico cat was referring to was the one he had encountered yesterday after leaving the sports field. The lake was filled with koi, often fed by students, so fat they could barely swim.
The calico cat crouched by the lake, choosing its target, while Jiang Heng used the surface of the water as a mirror to examine his current appearance. His shaved fur had finally grown back a little, but the growth was so minimal that it was almost imperceptible.
So little progress after almost two weeks; Jiang Heng could already foresee his appearance for the next few months.
Too ugly, so ugly he didn’t even want to reveal his identity to Lu Yichuan.
Just imagining himself, bald and patchy, going up to Lu Yichuan and saying, “Hey! I’m Jiang Heng,” and then Lu Yichuan bursting into tears…
The image was too horrifying, and Jiang Heng shuddered.
Forget it, forget it…He would wait until his fur grew back.
As expected of a beauty in the cat world, after the calico cat played by the lake for a while, several cat heads popped out from the bushes, staring intently at it. But for some reason, they only watched from a distance, not daring to approach.
Jiang Heng looked around and only saw himself and the calico cat by the lake, but for some reason, he felt a sudden sense of unease.
A few seconds later, he felt a murderous aura behind him. He turned and saw glowing eyes in the bushes.
He didn’t know that direct eye contact was considered a challenge in the cat world. He simply thought the eyes looked familiar and couldn’t help but take a second look.
And it was this second look that made the orange cat hiding in the bushes suddenly pounce on him.
That familiar posture, that familiar movement, who else could it be but the orange cat that had chased him before?
“Meow!”
Jiang Heng shrieked and ran.
But how could a small kitten outrun the formidable orange cat? After only a few steps, he was pinned down.
Jiang Heng landed on the grass by the lake, covered in wet mud, less than half a meter from the water’s edge.
“Meow!”
Help!
The next moment, a flurry of claws knocked the orange cat to the ground. The calico cat grabbed Jiang Heng by the scruff of his neck, tossed him behind it, and hissed at the orange cat.
“Get lost!”
The orange cat scrambled to its feet, looking at the calico cat protecting Jiang Heng, its scarred face filled with disbelief.
“You’re protecting it? It’s so ugly, and you’re protecting it?”
Jiang Heng: “…”
Hey, what’s with the personal attack?
The calico cat glared at the orange cat. “This is my friend.”
The orange cat looked at Jiang Heng rolling around in the grass, trying to rub off the mud. Weak, ugly, and didn’t even know how to groom itself.
The orange cat was heartbroken. “You’re willing to be friends with it, but why not with me? What makes me worse than that ugly cat?”
The calico cat said disdainfully, “You’re too rough, not elegant at all.”
The orange cat choked.
Jiang Heng quietly stopped struggling, his eyes darting between the two cats.
The orange cat said, “I’m the strongest cat here!”
The calico cat retorted, “What good is being strong? You’re not a gentleman.”
The orange cat pleaded, “I’m the strongest. If you become my mate, I can give you anything you want.”
The calico cat remained indifferent. “I don’t need anything.”
The orange cat persisted. “I can also play games with you. Don’t you always like hiding and letting other cats find you? I’m always the first to find you, aren’t I?”
The calico cat swatted it.
Jiang Heng finally understood why the calico cat didn’t like the orange cat. But he wasn’t going to say anything. He was petty and still remembered the two times the orange cat had attacked him.
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
The orange cat was stunned by the swat. Before it could recover, the calico cat had already picked up Jiang Heng and left.
Jiang Heng was truly filthy. The calico cat looked at him for a while, unable to stand it, and lowered its head to groom him, but Jiang Heng refused.
He had allowed Big Yellow to lick him, but he couldn’t bring himself to let this young, beautiful calico cat do it.
A female cat was still female.
He wanted to jump into the lake to clean himself, but thinking of his dog-paddling skills, he wasn’t confident he could climb back out.
So he reluctantly gave up, planning to ask Lu Yichuan to wash him.
After all, he had said he would take him for a bath tonight.
So when Lu Yichuan returned, he found that his gray cat had turned yellow.
He gripped the doorknob, staring at the cat obediently waiting for him on the balcony, wondering if he had entered the wrong dormitory.
He looked up. The dormitory number was correct, the décor was correct, it was just the cat…
He had only been out for an afternoon, a few short hours, how could the cat have changed so much?
Seeing him return, Jiang Heng meowed. Feeling guilty, his meow sounded unusually soft.
It took Lu Yichuan a few seconds to process this reality.
He closed the door and walked towards the balcony.
The kitten, probably aware of its own filth, stayed on the balcony, not entering the room. Paw prints covered the balcony floor, leading to the plane tree extending onto the balcony.
Lu Yichuan had a good idea where the mud came from.
“Did you go fight?”
The kitten squatting in front of him meowed incessantly, as if complaining, but Lu Yichuan couldn’t understand a word.
Looking at the dirty cat, he felt the same exasperation as when he had first met it.
He had thrown away the original cardboard box at the pet hospital, so Lu Yichuan found a new one and put the cat inside.
“It seems I have to take you for a bath first.”
He had just entered the room with the cat in his arms when Zhao Shuo opened the door. “Lu-ge, let’s go eat!”
Lu Yichuan held up the box. “I don’t think I can.”
Zhao Shuo looked down. “Whoa! What’s this new species?”
Jiang Heng: “…”
Lu Yichuan paused. “It’s a cat.”
“Huh?” Zhao Shuo scratched his head. “Is that what a cat looks like?”
Jiang Heng bared his teeth at him.
And I thought you looked decent. So rude!
Zhao Shuo, intrigued, forgot about dinner and insisted on accompanying Lu Yichuan to bathe the cat.
There was a pet store near the university entrance. Business was slow at this hour, and as soon as they entered, Jiang Heng was taken out of the box and placed in a basin.
The shop assistant adjusted the water temperature while Jiang Heng found a spot to lie down, his expression sullen, clearly still affected by Zhao Shuo’s earlier comment.
Zhao Shuo stood beside him, staring at him. “Lu-ge, when did you get a cat? It looks so strange.”
“Strange?” Lu Yichuan raised an eyebrow. “Maybe because it was shaved?”
“No wonder…I thought it looked like a little rat.”
The shop assistant started bathing the cat, and they stepped back.
Zhao Shuo seemed to remember something. “By the way, where did you go the past two days? I couldn’t find you anywhere.”
Seeing that Lu Yichuan didn’t reply, he continued, “And, I saw your younger brother on campus yesterday. He asked me what you were doing. He seemed quite concerned about you.”
Jiang Heng, who had been bathing with his eyes closed, abruptly opened them.
