Rendong lay sprawled on his back in Tantai Tian’s arms, all four little paws sticking up in the air, his big fluffy tail hugged snugly in his own paws, pink tongue slurping noisily at the tip of his tail, for all the world like a docile, harmless little kitten.
The docile, harmless little kitten was cursing someone out.
“Why isn’t Suisui paying attention to you? Hehe, how would Rendong know, meow~”
What a mean, deliberately coy cat, tail swaggering high in triumph.
Ever since Rendong had become human, aside from dutifully playing the Study Companion during lessons, he would grab his books and scurry far away the moment a lesson ended, never lingering at the human’s side.
Not that he could hide far. At most, he stayed within the same hall.
Like a cat that refused to come close to a person, yet never strayed out of reach either.
As long as the human stayed within the cat’s line of sight, the cat was free to wander wherever he pleased.
So for these past two months, both Rendong and Suisui had kept very quiet.
Under the human’s teaching, the cat had also haltingly learned to recognize quite a few characters.
What a studious cat. A good cat. An obedient cat. A hardworking cat. The cat heaped praise on himself, sparing no effort whatsoever.
“Rendong isn’t going to tell you. You kissed so fiercely that Suisui got a little scared… Mmm, next time Suisui is ready, he’ll pay attention to you!” The good, well-behaved cat wasn’t lying. Even though Tantai Tian had only kissed him that day, he had kissed so long that the cat’s mouth went swollen. “…Mmmph. Next time Suisui is ready, he’ll pay attention to you!”
Though that preparation time was stretching a bit long. Early summer had flashed by in the blink of an eye, and now it was the tail end of the season.
But would Suisui shrink back forever?
Of course not.
The kitten was going to make BIG trouble!
Human, you just wait and see!
Tantai Tian kneaded Rendong’s cat ears thoughtfully, the gentle force pattering again and again against his palm, soft as a butterfly beating its wings.
The Imperial Carriage drew up before the Hall of Blessed Tranquility, and Tantai Tian stepped down with the cat in his arms.
He glanced toward the Side Hall, and the cat’s big tail swept right across the human’s chin.
What, what? No looking!
The cat was already in the human’s arms. Why would the human go look at Suisui?
Suisui wasn’t even there right now.
The cat was being very cautious!
If the human wanted to see both Rendong and Suisui at once, there was no way the cat could produce two of himself at the same time!
That big tail slapping his face was going too far. Expressionless, Tantai Tian plucked a single cat hair from his lips.
Rendong hugged his own big tail, the picture of innocence.
The human’s large hand gave the cat’s bottom a light pat, and with a half-smile he said, “Naughty.”
The cat’s pupils went round with outrage.
Humans are perverts! Why spank Rendong when he’s human AND spank him when he’s a cat!
One very bad cat struggled in Tantai Tian’s arms. The human carried the squirming bundle into the hall, and only then let go to let the cat tear around.
Liang Ze followed composedly behind the Emperor, listening to the loud meow-yowling all the while.
Heh. The Little Ancestor is probably cursing up a storm.
Those who had kept cats around the hall long enough knew that most of the time, a cat would mew sweetly and coaxingly in front of a person. Only when the person was out of sight, or when the cat was truly furious, would it yowl like this.
Displaying the full fury of catkind at maximum volume.
Once the cursing was done, the cat perched on top of the cabinet, looking down his nose as Tantai Tian changed clothes. The heavy Imperial Ceremonial Robes came off, replaced by something light and casual, without all the sparkle, but handsome all the same.
The cat’s tail swept back and forth behind him, rather pleased with himself.
The cat’s taste is simply excellent!
Only after Tantai Tian had changed did he look up at the cat squatting atop the cabinet.
In the early days, cats had not been allowed on the cabinets in the Hall of Blessed Tranquility. Partly for fear the cat would fall, and partly because, with no footholds to be found, once the cat got up there he could never get back down.
But Rendong remembered food and never remembered punishment. Every time he entered the hall he would scramble straight up, and when he couldn’t get down, he would curl into one pitiful, aggrieved little cat-loaf, those beautiful cat eyes fixed intently on the human.
Human, save the cat!
How did the cat even get up there? How did the cat always fail to get down? Cats truly were a wondrous species.
Later on, the Hall of Blessed Tranquility quietly acquired a number of peculiar climbing frames, some high, some low, blended seamlessly in with the Hundred Treasures Pavilion shelving and other furnishings. They looked like nothing more than exquisite decorative pieces, yet they formed pathways for the cat to rise and fall, letting him reach the cabinet tops without hindrance and climb back down just as easily.
Rendong had been overjoyed the day he discovered them. He slept happily on the cabinet top for three or four days before finally moving.
Good human, very good, the cat likes you!
And now the cat went right on perching up there.
A pair of cat eyes, their gold growing ever brighter in the shadows, round and unblinking, stared down at the person standing below, looking up at him.
“Not coming down?”
Tantai Tian opened his arms toward the cat.
Rendong crouched on the cabinet, treading on his own tail. He hesitated a good while, but in the end couldn’t bear to refuse the human’s summons, and came piteously flying down.
After all, with a cold human on one side and a soft call on the other, how could any cat hold out!
Such an obedient little cat.
Hmph. Catch the Rendong cannonball!
Landing in the human’s arms, the cat let out a sweet, babyish chirp. Tantai Tian held him tighter and gave the cat’s tail a squeeze for good measure.
The cat was very generous. Petting was permitted.
Tantai Tian sat down on the soft couch with the cat, and Liang Ze promptly handed over a small jar. The cat draped across the human’s middle watched the Chief Eunuch’s careful handling with amazement, as if the man were cradling not a little jar but mountains of gold and jewels.
The human took the jar and lifted the lid. A rich, peculiar smell escaped, and the cat couldn’t help licking his furry lips.
What a strange smell.
Rendong hooked his claws, draping himself over Tantai Tian and stretching his neck. What was that thing! Was it trying to tempt a cat?
Tantai Tian took out a pill, neither big nor small, and held it to Rendong’s mouth.
It looked about the size of a fingertip. By modern standards, roughly the size of a freeze-dried treat.
Placed right at a cat’s mouth… was it meant for the cat to eat?
Rendong tested it with his nose. It didn’t seem to be anything bad. One roll of the tongue, one slurp, and the pill was gone.
The cat ate quickly and didn’t taste much of anything.
So Rendong pawed at the human’s wrist, signaling for one more.
But Tantai Tian coldly covered the little jar, handed it back to Liang Ze, and said, with great cruelty, “One pill a day.”
The cat stared at the human in shock. “Meow.”
How dare you ration a cat’s snacks!
So mean.
The disgruntled cat stomped all over the human. A cat treading on a person felt roughly like a winter melon sprouting four chopsticks; one firm pace and it hurt. But Tantai Tian practiced martial arts, so Rendong’s stepping rarely sank deep into his flesh. The paw-feel was decent, actually.
Stepping and stepping, Rendong forgot all about the earlier grievance and instead began happily kneading on the human. One paw, two paws, three paws…
Yes, his attention was just that easy to divert.
Imperial Memorials were piled on the desk, but Tantai Tian didn’t touch them. He simply watched Rendong in silence, a gaze that was neither fierce nor uncomfortable for the cat. So the cat wasn’t frightened off, and generously let the human look.
He even chattered while being admired.
“What are you looking at Rendong for? Admiring Rendong’s pretty fur?”
Every day, the Two Qingqings got groomed several times over, very seriously at that, ensuring every strand of fur was fluffy and soft.
Tantai Tian gave a faint smile.
His smiles were always shallow and rare, which made them precious.
Sometimes the cat felt the human’s gaze on him was so heavy, as if the cat weren’t just a cat, but something terribly important.
That weighty something, the cat liked. Because the cat, too, regarded the human as very important indeed.
The cat settled down on Tantai Tian’s lower belly, one warm cat, warming the human in turn.
Rendong was pondering a very important matter.
Last time, after drawing in Essence, the cat had refined his first thread of Demonic Power. That proved Rendong’s direction was right.
Bewitching the human, making him lose control, let the cat draw in Essence.
But that method really did make him seem like a bad demon spirit. So when the human said Rendong wasn’t good, though the cat bared his teeth, he could only accept it, head hanging in dejection.
But a bad cat demon was trying to save a person, so it was fine… probably.
The cat thought, feeling guilty.
The cat gave up worrying!
The cat was only responsible for figuring out how to save the human. If anything went wrong in between, that was not the cat’s problem!
And so the cat slacked off, entirely.
Very good, very good. With the psychological burden cast off, the cat returned to pondering how to tempt the human.
The method from last time had worked well, but the System said tricks thrived on novelty. Reuse the same set and it lost its punch.
The cat felt the System had a point, so he wandered off to the Library Pavilion again.
The result: the cat discovered, in utter horror, a HUGE problem!
The corridor that should have been lined with picture books and useful books was GONE!
The cat paced that corridor back and forth three times in bewilderment, finding no trace of anything familiar. Against the Library Pavilion’s towering bookcases, one tiny cat crouched on the floor, woozily shaking his little cat head.
Terrible! Did that mean the cat had nowhere to study anymore? How were all the books gone? Had the Library Pavilion eaten them?
The cat suffered a great blow!
After the cat drifted off in a daze, two young eunuchs emerged from a turn in the depths of the Library Pavilion. By their dress, they were the ones charged with keeping it in order. Registers in hand, they were checking off the books. Since hardly anyone came to the Library Pavilion on ordinary days, their manner was rather lax.
The young eunuch on the left, holding the register, tilted his head up to match the titles and asked curiously, “Why did the Master have us move all the books from over there further in?” Working in the Library Pavilion, they naturally knew a few characters and could read the labels on those shelves.
Even being eunuchs didn’t stop them from being curious about such things.
The young eunuch on the right said carelessly, “How should I know? What the Master orders, we do. Though lately… do you suppose some little animal has gotten in?”
The day they’d received orders to tidy the shelves, they had found books toppled all down that corridor, strewn every which way across the floor. The open pages recorded all sorts of scandalous things, and even eunuchs unschooled in worldly affairs had flushed at the sight, hurriedly gathering every last one up.
Luckily, though a little worn, nothing was seriously damaged, and they had stowed it all in the innermost recesses. It was pitch dark back there. Without a lamp, one couldn’t see a thing, and fewer still would ever go looking.
“There was some fur, but no telling whose,” the first young eunuch replied. “Though now and then, I could have sworn I heard a cat.”
The two young eunuchs both paused for a beat.
In this palace, the things worth remembering almost always had to do with the Emperor. Mention of a cat inevitably brought to mind the black cat at Emperor Taichu’s side.
The eunuch on the right lowered his voice to a whisper. “Have you heard? Over at the Palace of Peaceful Longevity… it seems they’ve incurred His Majesty’s punishment.”
