Because they had to go out the next day, Jiang Xiaoyu went home that evening and said to Ye Qingxu, “No need to prepare a bento. Tomorrow we’re heading out on a case, no place to eat.”
Ye Qingxu paused his hand that had been neatly packing the dishes into the lunchbox, his expression a bit downcast. “Oh, alright then.” He looked at the abundant food on the table and said, “Can’t you bring it up the mountain to share with your colleagues? Dad bought too much. If we don’t eat it, it’ll go bad.”
Jiang Xiaoyu saw that he seemed really dejected and inexplicably felt like he’d done something wrong. Without thinking, he said, “Then let’s send it up the mountain. The Ye family has a lot of people.”
Ye Qingxu thought about it and figured that was better than wasting it, so he smiled and said, “Then Dad will find a basket to pack the stuff, and we’ll go together.”
This was the first time Jiang Xiaoyu had faced the entire Ye family after his identity was exposed. He felt a bit awkward and embarrassed. After hesitating for a while, he still followed his heart and chose the way that felt a bit more acceptable to him—he turned into a cat.
Ye Qingxu’s eyes lit up. He held up the pink cat bib in his hand and said, “Going out bare isn’t very polite. Wear this!”
Jiang Xiaoyu didn’t get it. He was covered in cat fur all over—how was that impolite? But perhaps the man’s expression was too blissful, making him reluctant to refuse. So he let the other put the bib on him.
Ye Qingxu felt that his love for Jiang Xiaoyu was beyond doubt, and it grew more with every passing second than before. He wished he could make up for the past twenty-two years in a single breath, let the kid eat well, dress well, live well, give the kid all the good things in the world, make others envious of the kid, and ensure no one dared bully the kid again.
But when Jiang Xiaoyu was in human form, he was really hard to approach. Refusing others’ goodwill seemed etched into his bones, often leaving Ye Qingxu at a loss, not knowing how to get along. He carefully tried to please him, afraid of giving the kid too much pressure and making him uncomfortable. But when he turned into cat form, their interactions were much more natural. So he really loved how Jiang Xiaoyu looked as a cat—frank and adorable.
Ye Qingxu held the cat in his arms, his steps light and cheerful all the way.
“It’s supposed to rain in a few days. After this rain, it’ll probably get cold. How about Dad buys you some clothes?”
He already had clothes to wear—why buy more? That’d waste money. Jiang Xiaoyu reflexively meowed in refusal, but Ye Qingxu didn’t understand and thought he agreed. He happily said to himself, “Great, then Dad will buy a bunch!”
Jiang Xiaoyu looked up at Ye Qingxu and saw his utterly delighted face. Somehow, he couldn’t hold back. He pressed his furry face into Ye Qingxu’s arm bend and let out a purring sound.
The mountain breeze was starting to cool, but it couldn’t mask this adorable noise. Ye Qingxu felt his heart warm immensely. He lowered his head and planted a heavy kiss on the little cat’s head, then hurried up the mountain toward the Ye Residence with the energy of someone who’d chugged ten cans of energy drinks.
At the Ye Residence gate, Ye Qingxu straightened his own clothes, then tidied the bib around the little cat’s neck before pressing the doorbell.
Yan Feilang opened the door. He happened to be walking the Husky in the front courtyard and came straight over when he heard the sound.
“Mr. Ye?” Yan Feilang asked vaguely around his cigarette. “Something up this late?”
Jiang Xiaoyu’s fur was black, so Yan Feilang only noticed the Little Black Cat in Ye Qingxu’s arms once they got closer. “Huh? Officer Jiang’s here too?”
Jiang Xiaoyu meowed a bit embarrassedly. “Sorry to bother you.” Then he lowered his head to greet the Husky. “Why are you all wet?”
Before the Husky could answer, Yan Feilang stubbed out his cigarette and chimed in. “Its brain isn’t great. It falls into water just walking. Took a lot of effort to pull it out.”
The Husky was stubborn. “Dog didn’t! Dog jumped in on purpose!”
Jiang Xiaoyu grinned with his furry mouth. After laughing a few times, he realized something was off and stared blankly at Yan Feilang. “You can understand cat speech?”
Ye Qingxu noticed the issue too and asked, “Fei Lang, can you understand the little cat?”
Yan Feilang was a bit surprised that Ye Qingxu called him Fei Lang—after all, not long ago, the man had politely addressed him as Mr. Yan. He ruffled his hair and said, “I can’t understand cat speech. It’s that Officer Jiang’s words make the dog understand, so I can hear it.”
Not only was Ye Qingxu dizzy from his explanation, even Jiang Xiaoyu was baffled. At that moment, the Husky underfoot barked disdainfully. “Little cat’s dumb! Dog Bro already said it!”
This jogged Jiang Xiaoyu’s memory. He placed his paws on Ye Qingxu’s arm and straightened up, asking incredulously, “You’re a dog?”
Yan Feilang grinned, baring his teeth. “I’m not a dog. Oh, wait—not exactly. In a sense, a wolf might count as a dog too?”
Ye Qingxu couldn’t understand Jiang Xiaoyu’s meows, but seeing Yan Feilang chat back and forth with the little cat, he felt a twinge of envy for his ability. He asked, “Is Fei Lang a shapeshifter too?”
“Yeah.” Yan Feilang answered without hiding anything. He led Ye Qingxu inside by the dog’s leash. “Not just me—several people under the Ye family’s protection are shapeshifters.”
People under the Ye family’s protection? Jiang Xiaoyu was a bit confused by the term but didn’t get a chance to ask before an enthusiastic voice rang out. “Aiya, how’d the little cat come? Quick, let Auntie Qing have a look.”
Liu Qingqing set the tray in her hand on the table, shook hands with Ye Qingxu with her fan-like big hand, then took the little cat from his arms and held it up to her face, delighted. “A bit fatter. Dad’s taking good care of you.”
Hearing this, Ye Qingxu beamed like a schoolboy praised by his teacher, an uncharacteristic childishness showing. He placed the veggie basket on the table too and smiled. “Still a bit skinny. I can’t cook, so I can only get takeout from restaurants every day to feed him.”
Liu Qingqing playfully glared at him. “Why go to such trouble? With your father-son duo’s slim builds, it’s just two mouths to feed. Come eat at Auntie Qing’s anytime!”
She was so warm and welcoming. Ye Qingxu smiled and agreed, then saw her set the little cat down and say, “Go play with the Husky. Auntie Qing will help your dad prep dinner. We’ll eat soon.”
The baffled Jiang Xiaoyu was thoroughly treated like a cub, categorized as someone who could only play with the Husky. His limbs not quite cooperating, he was nudged forward by the Husky’s nose.
“Little cat, you gotta let Dog eat some veggies later! Or Dog will get mad! Dog won’t forgive you for going out without Dog!”
Jiang Xiaoyu was shocked that the not-so-bright Husky could rattle off so much. Feeling the mighty power of a foodie, he patted the dog’s head. “Okay, Cat will sneak some to you.”
But in the end, he didn’t get to play with the dog. Yan Feilang dragged the Husky off to blow-dry, while Liu Qingqing and Ye Qingxu bustled hot and heavy in the kitchen. Jiang Xiaoyu pressed a paw on the stairs, craned his neck to stare upstairs for a good while, then finally made up his mind and dashed up.
At the study door, he slipped in through the cat flap like he knew the way. But Ye Lian wasn’t there.
He froze for a second, then thought: Makes sense. The man’s a workaholic. He usually isn’t back at this hour… Unsure if it was disappointment or what, he walked under the chair and jumped up.
The leather chair seemed to hold onto warmth well. Jiang Xiaoyu stepped on it and vaguely felt the lingering temperature from Ye Lian’s body. Of course, the material was smooth too, great underfoot, making Jiang Xiaoyu instinctively sharpen his claws on the leather.
Following instinct, he scratched several times. Seeing shallow claw marks on the leather, he guiltily rubbed at the spot, ears red as he thought: Wasn’t the cat!
He turned his head and spotted a sheet of paper draped over the desk edge, smelling of nice ink. His ears twitched. Curiosity piqued, he jumped onto the desk and discovered it was a traditional Chinese painting.
A black cat like a Little Coal Ball, curly fur, big eyes, pouncing on a butterfly dancing gracefully. The butterfly was painted so lifelike that Jiang Xiaoyu couldn’t resist pressing a paw on it, meowing randomly. “Who said you could paint that! Cats have portrait rights too!”
He couldn’t name the sour-sweet feeling in his heart. It wasn’t the pure shyness from being with Ye Qingxu. Ye Lian made him feel shy and annoyed, wanting to claw at him hard, then hug his wrist and kick a few times.
Rolling around on the man’s wide, cool desk several times finally dissipated the heat in his body. He lay there looking at the painting. After a while, he lifted his head, pawed at the nearby half-dried inkstone, then stamped a black paw print next to Ye Lian’s signature.
Unclear what he was thinking, Jiang Xiaoyu “hehe” chuckled twice after stamping. Only then did he notice his pink paw pads were completely black, and he’d left several black prints on the desk. He glanced at the tissue box nearby, grabbed a few sheets in his mouth, and rubbed hard. He wiped off the wet prints, but the desk surface was now smudged black.
Feeling guilty, he eyed the scene, tail twitching, then jumped off the desk and slipped out of the study.
What a coincidence—right as Jiang Xiaoyu was about to go downstairs, he bumped into Ye Lian coming home from work and heading up.
The man wore a properly tailored gray shirt, quite ascetic, but with the top two buttons undone, adding a casual vibe.
Seeing the sneaky Little Black Cat at the stair landing, a smile appeared in his refined eyes. “Came to find Uncle?”
Jiang Xiaoyu’s gaze darted away. Nervously licking his lips, he meowed, “Wasn’t the cat!”
Ye Lian raised an eyebrow, unsure what he was talking about, but seeing his obviously guilty look, he pondered it in his heart. As they climbed the steps, he lowered his head and said, “Dinner’s about to be served. Hurry down. Uncle will be here soon.”
Jiang Xiaoyu scampered down on all fours, and as he pounced down the last few steps, Ye Qingxu caught him in his open arms. The man smiled and ruffled his head. “You can’t jump from that far away. What if you slip and fall?”
Jiang Xiaoyu sheepishly flicked his ears, already habitually resting his head on Ye Qingxu’s arm.
At dinner, Jiang Xiaoyu was puzzled why the old butler wasn’t there. He perched on the high chair, staring at Chen Yiqu’s usual seat.
Ye Lian noticed and said, “Uncle Chen went out on business.”
Ye Qingxu hadn’t paid much attention to what Ye Lian said, his gaze fixed on the chair where Jiang Xiaoyu was squatting. “This is good. The height is perfect—just right for Baby to rest his paws on the table while eating.”
Liu Qingqing smiled and pulled a piece of candy from her apron pocket, placing it in Little Black Cat’s bowl, who had just finished eating and was about to clean his whiskers. “Right? Feilang made it specially. He was going to make one for the Husky too, but uh, that dog was too greedy. It started drooling at the table before even sitting down. Way too embarrassing, so we skipped it.”
Ye Qingxu chuckled along. “Pretty cute.” He then turned to Yan Feilang, saying with some fondness for Jiang Xiaoyu’s friend, “When we get back, I’ll draw up some chair blueprints. Could I trouble you to make one?”
Yan Feilang agreed straightforwardly with a hearty response. As he turned his head, he saw Ye Lian holding Jiang Xiaoyu and saying to Ye Qingxu, “I’m taking Little Yu upstairs to grab something. We’ll be right down.”
Ye Qingxu nodded with a smile and stroked Jiang Xiaoyu’s little feet dangling in the air.
Jiang Xiaoyu stiffened, not daring to move a muscle. He really wanted to twist around and stretch out his paw to Ye Qingxu, signaling him to take him back.
That old bastard must have found the paw prints the cat left on the table! He was going to use a little whip to spank the cat’s butt!
His furry face flushed as his mind raced chaotically. He was plotting how to bite someone when he heard the man say, “Are your paws clean?”
Jiang Xiaoyu guiltily shifted his feet on the table. “Cat paws aren’t dirty.”
Ye Lian didn’t refute him. He let out a short laugh and pinched Jiang Xiaoyu’s paw. “Then how did these pink paw pads turn black?”
Jiang Xiaoyu, with one paw lifted, saw he couldn’t quibble. Suppressing his inner shame and annoyance, he said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”
Ye Lian hummed, then smiled and said, “As punishment—”
Jiang Xiaoyu’s heart leaped into his throat. Hearing the turn in his tone, “—you have to let Uncle pinch your little belly.”
With that, he sat Jiang Xiaoyu on his lap and thoroughly kneaded Little Black Cat’s plump, well-fed belly. Just as Jiang Xiaoyu was about to scratch in protest, he let go. He took a wet wipe from the drawer and carefully cleaned Jiang Xiaoyu’s paws. “You’ve got some liveliness now. Much better than that overly cautious look from before.”
Jiang Xiaoyu endured his blushing face and asked, “You’re not mad? I stepped on your painting and dirtied the table.”
“Why would I be mad? It’s just a painting. Besides, it was meant for you anyway.” Ye Lian tossed the wipe in the trash, set the cat on the table, and pinched his ears. “Alright, go home with Mr. Ye.”
Jiang Xiaoyu hung his head, obediently placing both paws in front of him. Unable to hold back, he asked, “Why are you so good to me?”
Ye Lian pretended to think it over. After a long moment, amid Jiang Xiaoyu’s increasingly rapid heartbeat, he said, “Because Uncle likes Little Black Cat.”
Jiang Xiaoyu’s brain exploded with a boom. Blood rushed to his head, turning into countless tiny snowflake static specks dancing before his eyes. He had no time to process what this meant before Ye Lian hung something around his neck.
Ye Lian said, “The bib Mr. Ye put on you is cute too, but you can’t wear it when you transform. Luckily, the company developed a new material, so I used the jade we got from the Ji Family last time and made you a blessing token. I wish you henceforth,”
“years of leisure and joy, health and happiness.”
On the way back, Jiang Xiaoyu hung his head and mechanically followed Ye Qingxu without thinking.
Ye Qingxu had wanted to carry him but felt walking it off was good after touching the little cat’s round, stuffed belly.
The father and son walked down the mountain path. Once home, Ye Qingxu prepared a cat bed on the pillow for Jiang Xiaoyu. “Alright, time to sleep.”
The dazed Jiang Xiaoyu finally raised a paw to touch his neck. The bib had been removed by Ye Qingxu, leaving only the jade token against his body—fine-textured and slightly cool.
He mewed, shook his still-hot ears, curled into a ball on the pillow, and soon fell into a carefree sleep.
Afraid of pressuring the kid, Ye Qingxu lay flat, staring at the ceiling illuminated by faint moonlight. Only after Jiang Xiaoyu’s breathing slowed did he turn over, gaze tenderly as he leaned in to stroke the little belly, then pulled a small towel over him gently.
—
The next morning, as Jiang Xiaoyu prepared to transform, he hesitated over whether to remove the jade token from his neck, worried it might snap the cord. But remembering Ye Lian said the red string was made of a new stretchy material, he boldly transformed with it on.
Sure enough, the cord stayed snug around his neck, the small jade token resting at his collarbone, matching the color of Jiang Xiaoyu’s eyes perfectly.
“This material is amazing,” Jiang Xiaoyu muttered to himself, thinking in his heart how that man was so capable—like he could do anything.
He left the house, skipping the Case Handling Office. After greeting Zhang Pangpang’s side, he headed straight to Luo Xi’s home.
At the building downstairs, he encountered a brown Little Teddy—likely a resident’s free-range pet. It was bold and sniffed at Jiang Xiaoyu’s pant leg.
Jiang Xiaoyu carefully dodged it. After walking far enough, he circled back and beckoned to Little Teddy. “Doggy, come here. I have a question.”
Little Teddy obviously paused, unsure why it could understand this human, but it was smart and fearless. Sticking out its tongue, it asked, “What do you want to ask the dog?”
Jiang Xiaoyu said, “Do you know a beige big dog in the building?”
He then remembered dogs didn’t grasp colors well and rephrased, “Its owner is a blind person, also living in this building.”
Little Teddy got it and barked, “You mean Abu? Of course the dog knows it!”
“Do you usually play with it? Has it said anything to you?”
“No play,” Little Teddy said. “It doesn’t play with dogs. It always follows its owner and doesn’t really pay attention to dogs.”
They chatted a bit more, but nothing came of it. Jiang Xiaoyu thanked Little Teddy and turned to enter the building.
But Little Teddy suddenly followed and said, “The dog thinks it’s a bit strange.”
Unsure what it meant, Jiang Xiaoyu squatted down, stroking its curly back. “Abu? Or Abu’s owner? Strange how?”
“That big dog.” Little Teddy described its feeling. “Doesn’t act like a dog at all. The dog has never smelled its urine outside or seen it poop anywhere. Such a big dog but never marks territory. Super weird.”
Dogs read owners’ info through urine, but that big dog never urinated outside, so Little Teddy had never smelled its pheromones since they met—totally against dog habits. Little Teddy barked, “Anyway, that dog is off. The dog feels it’s kinda like you.”
Jiang Xiaoyu abruptly stopped in his tracks. “What do you mean like me?”
“The dog doesn’t know. Just feels you’re similar.” With that, Little Teddy spotted its owner, turned, tongue lolling, and ran to Granny Apo, who was carrying groceries.
Jiang Xiaoyu stood there, the doubt lingering in his mind.
