Chapter 81: Side Story 1 (3/3)
The opening of the cat café was on the horizon.
During the month-long wait for the formaldehyde to dissipate, Jiang Heng took all the prospective cat employees to be neutered, vaccinated, and dewormed. He then coordinated with the university’s stray cat rescue association and, two days before the grand opening, brought all the cats to the café.
The doors of the cat café, its sign not yet hung, were closed, and inside, over forty cats were milling about. Thankfully, the space Lu Yichuan had provided was large enough to accommodate them.
Jiang Heng stood among the cats, maintaining order. “No fighting! No biting tails! No rolling around showing your bellies! Stay on the floor, don’t climb the cat trees! You haven’t been bathed yet!”
Bathing so many cats was a major undertaking. The cat café had a dedicated bathing room, and Jiang Heng had arranged for professional groomers to come.
Many of the cats were kittens, energetic and curious, taking them outside would be a disaster.
“Someone will be here soon to give you all baths. I’ve told you before, baths are mandatory! No running away, no scratching or biting! Anyone who misbehaves will have their dried fish confiscated!”
“Meow…”
A chorus of unenthusiastic meows responded.
He had chosen relatively well-behaved kittens, mostly obedient.
The groomers from the pet store arrived soon. Jiang Heng had specifically mentioned the forty-plus cats, so two women and a man came.
They were stunned by the sheer number of furry creatures the moment they entered, the woman in charge freezing in the doorway. “S-so…so many cats.”
Little Black led them to the bathing room, and Jiang Heng stayed downstairs to organize the cats. “Dirtiest ones first! Line up, one by one! After you’re bathed and dried, I’ll take your ID photos.”
The groomers had just put down their equipment, about to start catching cats, when the door opened, and the beautiful young man they had glimpsed earlier entered with three cats.
“Wash these three first. They’re the dirtiest. The other cats are lined up outside, call them in when you’re ready.”
The two women looked at each other, every word he said made sense individually, but together…what did it even mean? Cats lining up? Calling them in?
Was he even speaking Chinese?
They looked towards the doorway, which was still open, and saw a group of cats…lined up.
Although the line was a bit disorganized, they were indeed lined up, patiently waiting in the corridor, not touching anything despite their obvious curiosity.
And the three cats that had just entered had already jumped into the bathing basins on their own.
Wait…
Were these cats…sentient?
A calico cat entered, rubbing against Jiang Heng’s leg, and meowed.
“Meow…”
Jiang Heng’s face lit up, and he picked up the calico cat.
Outside the cat café, Su Ye stood at the entrance, holding two cats.
Jiang Heng opened the door. “You’re here early! I didn’t expect you until the afternoon.”
Su Ye entered, looked around, and put down her bag. She unzipped it, and two cats emerged, a long-haired white Ragdoll and a ginger cat.
She said, “I had some free time this morning, so I came.”
She wasn’t very close to Jiang Heng, but every time she saw him, she felt a strange sense of familiarity, an inexplicable fondness despite their few encounters.
“This place is…quite impressive. Mr. Lu told me he was sending these two cats to a cat café, and I didn’t believe him at first. I couldn’t understand, he’s so busy, why would he open a cat café? So it was you who opened it.”
Jiang Heng was a little embarrassed. “He adopted a cat, and these two were his friends before, so I asked if they wanted to come here. If they did, they could…work here. If not, they could stay at the orphanage.”
Su Ye bent down and stroked the ginger cat’s head. “Big Yellow is getting old, and the children at the orphanage are too boisterous, they don’t always know how to be gentle. It’s better for him to be here, where you can take care of him.”
“As for Little White, he’s inseparable from Big Yellow. He wouldn’t have stayed at the orphanage without him, so I brought him along.”
The Ragdoll circled Jiang Heng’s feet, sniffing curiously, its eyes slightly confused.
Jiang Heng offered it his fingertip, letting it sniff his scent. “If I take them both, will the children at the orphanage be sad?”
“It’s fine,” Su Ye said. “I’ve explained it to them. And we found a tabby kitten in the courtyard a few days ago, they’re all obsessed with it now.”
Apparently forgetting about her two former companions.
Hearing this, Jiang Heng’s worries were eased.
After Su Ye handed over the cats, she was about to leave when Jiang Heng called out to her, “We might be hiring more staff at the cat café in the future. If you’re interested in a job, you can come find me.”
Su Ye paused, her damaged left hand clenching slightly. “I’ll keep that in mind, thank you.”
Jiang Heng watched her leave, then bent down and picked up the ginger cat.
“You two need baths too! Every cat in this house is getting a bath today!”
After sending the two cats to the line, Jiang Heng went to the photo wall on the first floor, pulled out a camera, and called out to the first batch of cats that had just been bathed,
“Come on, picture time!”
Three fragrant, fluffy kittens ran towards him.
The first was a three-legged cow cat, sitting timidly in front of the red backdrop.
Jiang Heng said, “Head up, chest out, imagine your favorite toy mouse is right in front of you, and you have an endless supply of cat food.”
The cow cat straightened its back, its eyes shining.
Click!
“Next!”
A one-eyed black cat.
“So cool! From now on, your stage name is Scarface! You’re the most unique cat in our café!”
Click! Click!
Forty-plus cats, it took all afternoon. While they were being bathed upstairs, Jiang Heng took their photos downstairs. It was two o’clock by the time they finished.
After sending off the three dazed groomers, Jiang Heng looked at the clean, fragrant cats filling the room, a sense of accomplishment swelling in his chest.
He announced, “Alright, everyone! You can choose your beds now! Each cat can choose a toy or a bag of treats, tell Little Black what you want, and he’ll buy them for you.”
“Meow!”
“No fighting!”
“And choose a stage name! If you can’t think of one, ask Big White. I’ll register them tomorrow morning.”
“Meow!”
“No biting butts!”
After the chaos subsided, he left Little Black and Big White in charge and left the cat café with his camera’s memory card.
The next day, Meow Meow Cat Café officially opened.
But before the grand opening, he had to assign positions to his employees.
Jiang Heng arrived early in the morning with a stack of name tags and photos. Cats were lying everywhere, some cat beds empty, some overflowing with four or five cats piled on top of each other.
The cats, smelling their boss’s scent, twitched their ears but didn’t even bother to open their eyes.
Jiang Heng: “…”
No treats! All your dried fish are confiscated!
He placed the name tags on the table. “Get up! Get up! We haven’t earned a single penny, a single kibble of cat food! How can you sleep at a time like this?!”
A few cats reluctantly got up.
Jiang Heng sat down and spread the photos on the table. “Time for registration.”
He picked up a photo and showed it to the cats. “Who is this?”
A cat stepped forward.
Jiang Heng uncapped a marker pen with his teeth. “Name?”
“Da Zhuang.”
“…”
“Who gave you that name?”
“Big White.”
Jiang Heng turned to look at the white-haired man munching on a steamed bun.
The man paused for a moment. “What’s wrong with it? That’s what they call people on TV.”
Little Jiang Heng took a deep breath. “What TV show?”
“Rebirth of a Country Bumpkin: A Love Story.”
“…”
Da Zhuang was just the beginning. After that, Jiang Heng heard names like Gou Dan, Cui Hua, Fu Gui, Lai Shun, Chun Yan, Er Ya…
So rustic it was almost fashionable.
Jiang Heng wrote down their names, ages, and hobbies on the name tags, then handed the photos to Big White, who was in charge of attaching the photos, while Little Black hung the finished name tags on the large wall in the center of the café.
Every cat’s job title was “Employee Cat.”
When it was the calico cat’s turn, Jiang Heng wrote “Security Cat” on her tag.
“You’re in charge of maintaining order in the cat café from now on.”
Since the calico cat couldn’t handle it alone, Jiang Heng decided to have Little White assist her.
So he wrote on Little White’s tag: Security Cat (Intern).
The elderly ginger cat: Fortune Cat.
Jiang Heng had chosen a special spot for him by the entrance, a comfortable bed where he could lie, a golden, fluffy ball of fur.
Photos gradually filled the wall.
Lu Yichuan arrived just as they were finishing.
Jiang Heng also put up Little Black and Big White’s employee photos, in their human forms, using the names they had chosen for themselves.
Bai Jing: Server.
Hei Yao: Server.
After everything was done, Jiang Heng, grinning, pulled out his own photo.
The cat wall wouldn’t be complete without him.
Seeing Lu Yichuan, he handed him the pen, slightly embarrassed. “Lu Yichuan, can you…write this for me?”
Jiang Heng’s photo was different from the other cats’. It was taken by Lu Yichuan in the villa’s garden, a bow tie around his neck, his posture impeccable, his fluffy tail draped gracefully over his front paws.
If there were a “Most Dignified Kitten” competition, this photo would definitely win.
All the other cats had their information filled out by their owners; he wanted the same treatment.
Lu Yichuan took the pen and, looking at the blank name tag, asked, “Name?”
Jiang Heng: “I want to be called Sang Biao!”
Lu Yichuan wrote “Rongrong.”
“Age?”
“Nineteen! Nineteen!”
Lu Yichuan wrote “Two years and one month.”
“Hobbies?”
“Reading, studying, enjoying tea and discussing philosophy in my spare time.”
Lu Yichuan wrote “Eating, sleeping, drinking Coke, and making up stories.”
“Position?”
“The Great Cat King!”
Lu Yichuan wrote “Mascot Cat.”
“Favorite thing?”
“Lu Yichuan!”
Lu Yichuan chuckled and carefully wrote his own name.
After he finished writing, he personally attached the photo to the name tag and placed it at the very top and center of the cat wall.
Mascot Cat: Rongrong.
“Ribbon-cutting ceremony! Ribbon-cutting ceremony!”
Jiang Heng called out to the cats.
As the only human in the group, CEO Lu, in his suit, had the honor of participating in the grand opening.
Jiang Heng and Lu Yichuan stood in the center, flanked by Big White and Little Black, the cats lined up on both sides, a long red ribbon encircling the cats and humans.
To accommodate the cat employees, they all squatted down. Jiang Heng, holding a pair of scissors, solemnly declared, “Meow Meow Cat Café is officially open for business!”
“Meow!”
They cut the ribbon, and the red cloth behind them was pulled away, revealing a round sign.
The words “Meow Meow Cat Café” were written in cute, playful font, surrounded by over forty paw prints of all shapes and sizes.
“Grand opening!”
“Meow!”
