Chapter 14
Shao Sui didn’t discover until the next day that Mimi had indeed injured its paw, though not seriously; it had already scabbed over.
So that’s why it wouldn’t let me touch it.
Teacher Shao, believing he had found the answer, promptly replaced the door lock with a smart lock, so Mimi couldn’t jump on the shoe cabinet and press the handle anymore.
When Shao Sui opened the door to leave for work, Little Ginger was no longer in the hallway. He had originally planned to find a cardboard box for it and ask in the group chat if anyone wanted to adopt it.
Coincidentally, a neighbor returning home saw Little Ginger and, after learning it was a stray, took it in. Shao Sui even gave them a few cans of cat food. The neighbor’s family seemed well-off, with another cat and plenty of experience, so it was a good home for Little Ginger.
Shao Sui’s cold worsened, so he took another day off, wearing a mask to class for the next few days, his voice getting increasingly hoarse.
During lunch break, Cheng Ke walked to the window for some air and chatted with Shao Sui at his workstation: “The cat is still called Mimi?”
Shao Sui responded with a noncommittal “mm-hmm.”
Cheng Ke said with a smile, “I see, Teacher Shao hasn’t sent Mimi away yet.”
Shao Sui calmly scrolled through his phone: “The owner hasn’t come forward, where would I send him?”
Cheng Ke said deliberately, “Finding someone to adopt him is also an option.”
Shao Sui didn’t take the bait: “Then who would reimburse me for the medical expenses?”
Cheng Ke expressed genuine concern: “What if the original owner refuses to pay?”
“Then the cat can go back to being a stray.”
While saying these ambiguous words, Shao Sui placed an order for a cat tree, made of solid wood, hoping they offered home delivery.
Cheng Ke asked, “Teacher Shao, after taking care of him for so many days, can you really bear to let Mimi become a stray again?”
The cat tree order page recommended some cat snacks. Shao Sui added a few bags of dried fish and freeze-dried treats to his cart. He could make chicken and duck breast jerky himself at home; additive-free and nutritious.
The canned food was also running low; he needed to make another batch…
Teacher Shao said, “Why wouldn’t I be able to?”
Cheng Ke smiled without replying: “Do you have any recent photos of Mimi? Let me see how he’s doing.”
“Yes.” Before Cheng Ke could get closer, Shao Sui quickly switched away from the order page and opened his photo album, which was filled with cat pictures. “Here, the clingy little thing.”
“Clingy is good, mine acts like a king, I have to beg it for a cuddle.”
“Its temper is indeed a bit lacking.” Shao Sui said seriously, “I usually don’t hold him, he’s the one who comes to rub against me.”
No one asked you.
Cheng Ke gave a strained smile: “He’s gained quite a bit of weight.”
Shao Sui said, “He was a little over four jin before, now he’s five point eight.”
Cheng Ke gasped: “It hasn’t even been twenty days, have you been feeding him pig feed?”
Although 5.8 jin was still thin for an adult cat, it was a rapid weight gain.
Shao Sui said, “He eats complete food cans.”
Cheng Ke was speechless. Who would feed a temporary stray cat complete food cans every day?
Was this the attitude of someone intending to give it away?
She chuckled, “His fur has also filled out a lot. Teacher Shao, you’re good at taking care of cats.”
“Just doing the bare minimum.” Teacher Shao said modestly. “By the way, Teacher Cheng, do you know of anything that can replace fish oil?”
“For you?”
“For the cat.”
So much for “bare minimum.”
Shao Sui said, “I feed it to him with a syringe, but it’s still too fishy.”
He had endured it for several days, sometimes even smelling fish when he kissed the cat, which greatly diminished his urge to shower it with affection.
“Then wait until Mimi’s fur has fully grown back before stopping the fish oil.” Cheng Ke looked at the pictures. She had been scrolling for a while, and there was still no end in sight. “Actually, feeding him well and supplementing with egg yolks is enough. A cat’s coat mainly depends on its genes. If you’re too lazy to boil eggs every day, you can buy some lecithin later.”
“Okay…”
Seeing a picture of the calico standing in front of the table, washing its paws in a disposable cup, Cheng Ke couldn’t help but laugh: “Mimi also likes stealing sips from cups?”
Speaking of this, Shao Sui felt a headache coming on: “He won’t touch the water in his own bowl.”
Initially, Shao Sui gave Mimi the cup it had used, filling it with water and leaving it on the table before leaving for work, but the cat wasn’t interested, still only drinking from his used cups.
After ruining several cups this way, Shao Sui finally realized that, just like with the canned food, Mimi had been poisoned and instinctively believed only water that a human had drunk was safe, hence its fixation on his cups.
Having no other choice, and unable to share cups with the cat, Shao Sui could only fill a disposable cup with water every morning, take a sip himself, and leave it on the table, so Mimi would drink from it.
“First time I’ve heard of someone tricking a cat into drinking water this way.” Cheng Ke found it amusing but also felt sorry for the cat. “Poor little thing, it must have been traumatized.”
But this trick also had its drawbacks. Mimi developed the habit of assuming any water Shao Sui drank from was his. For example, a few days ago, Shao Sui made a cup of cold medicine, took a sip, found it too hot, and left it aside to cook.
When he came back, he saw a pink little tongue lapping up the cold medicine as if it were some delicious nectar.
Shao Sui said, “He hasn’t been letting me pinch his paws recently.”
Cheng Ke asked, “He used to let you?”
Shao Sui responded with an “mm-hmm”: “Probably because he ran outside some time ago and injured his paw.”
Actually, he didn’t think that was the reason. The injury had healed in the past two days, but Mimi still wouldn’t let him touch its paws, pulling them away or even hissing at him.
Cheng Ke was surprised: “Ran outside? Did you not close the door properly?”
“He can open doors.” Shao Sui explained the situation. “After coming back, he stopped letting me pinch his paws.”
Cheng Ke couldn’t help but smile, imagining the always mysophobic Shao Sui begging a cat to let him pinch its paws.
Shao Sui asked for advice, “Does your cat do this?”
Cheng Ke said, “My cat has never willingly let me pinch its paws. Cats are like that, their moods change constantly. One moment they’re enjoying being petted, the next they’re kicking and biting you.”
“…”
Mimi had indeed been like that recently, as if going through a moody phase.
Cheng Ke reminded him, “Since he can open doors, you should reinforce the locks and maybe buy a surveillance camera so you can see what he’s doing.”
Shao Sui’s interest was piqued: “I’ve already changed the locks. Any recommended camera brands?”
Cheng Ke: “.”
Still claiming he’s not planning to keep it long-term, such a stubborn mouth.
She walked to her workstation to get her phone: “I’ll send you the one I use, you can compare.”
“Okay, thanks, Teacher Cheng.”
Shao Sui searched online for popular surveillance camera brands. Many people used them to monitor pets and children, and there were even cameras with tracking features that followed pets around.
That kind would probably scare Mimi.
In the end, Shao Sui ordered the same model Cheng Ke had, a few hundred yuan, cheaper than the door lock.
Just as he was about to put down his phone, a notification popped up: #Five Signs Your Cat Doesn’t Love You#
Even though it was obviously clickbait, Teacher Shao still clicked on it, confident that Mimi liked him, if not ten out of ten, then at least nine.
However—
One: Keeps a distance when being petted, doesn’t like being held, struggles, and might hiss at you if you force it.
Two: Curls up when sleeping, never exposing its belly.
Three: Doesn’t see you off when you leave for work, nor greets you at the door when you return.
Four: Never rolls around on the floor acting cute when it sees you.
Five: Never licks you.
Reading through the list, Teacher Shao’s heart sank.
All of them.
Not a single one missed.
Shao Sui angrily opened the shopping app and cancelled his latest order of cat treats.
…
Mimi sat properly on the sofa, in his human form.
He hadn’t turned on the lights; the TV screen reflected in his clear pupils.
“Recently, the number of visitors to the xx Temple in our city has reached its peak…”
Behind the reporter, a familiar tabby cat was rolling around on the ground, acting cute and exposing its belly to attract tourists, specifically targeting women wearing gold and silver jewelry.
Mimi scoffed disdainfully.
Such lowbrow tactics were an embarrassment to cat spirits!
The Great Meow King didn’t need to resort to such degrading methods.
The Great Meow King didn’t have to do anything; the human Shao Sui was already completely devoted to it, not only going out hunting every day to earn money for canned food, providing water regularly, cleaning the Great Meow King’s toilet twice a day, but also grovelling for a kiss.
Mimi wiped its mouth resolutely. Today, it would resist for a bit longer.
After several days of practice, Mimi had mastered switching between human and cat form, though frequent switching was tiring.
But in many cases, being human was more convenient than being a cat, like using the remote to change channels without accidentally pressing the wrong button, or opening the bedroom door that Shao Sui locked with a key and rolling around on his bed, or secretly eating… no, openly eating the ice cream in the freezer.
The food the human bought, the Great Meow King naturally had the right to use.
Mimi put the milk-flavored ice cream in its mouth, took a lick, then put it down.
A bit too enjoyable… that’s how the idiom went, right?
Mimi was an educated cat. Born in a school, it occasionally listened in on classes through the window, hence its knowledge of many idioms, even able to play the idiom-linking game. It was a top student among cats.
Mimi felt that if this continued, it would never leave, trapped in this small seventy-square-meter apartment by the TV, the ice cream, and the canned food made by a certain male human.
Pathetic.
Utterly pathetic.
How could the Great Meow King live in such a shabby place?
“Click… click…”
Despite the distance, Mimi still heard it – Shao Sui’s footsteps.
It quickly turned off the TV, finished the ice cream in one gulp, and flushed the stick down the toilet to destroy the evidence.
Then, turning back into a cat, it paced by the door.
One minute, two minutes…
Why was he so slow?
Mimi licked its paws impatiently. Finally, when Shao Sui’s footsteps were close, just outside the door, Mimi jumped onto the sofa, lay down with its back to the entrance, and pretended it hadn’t been waiting at all.
“Mimi?”
“Meow.”
Mimi lazily extended its paw, waiting for the human’s customary grovelling kiss.
But today, the wait was a bit long.
Mimi perked up its ears, listening to the sounds from the bathroom.
Shao Sui, as usual, washed his hands first upon returning. But when cleaning the litter box, he noticed Mimi seemed to have diarrhea. But it had been eating normally these past few days. Could it be the water in the disposable cup had gone cold after sitting out all day?
The vet’s working hours were similar to a teacher’s. If necessary, he could take the cat to the hospital during his lunch break tomorrow…
Shao Sui closed the bathroom door and used the toilet himself. When flushing, he noticed the water drained very slowly, as if the pipes were clogged.
Mimi stealthily crept to the bathroom door, pressing its body against the wall, trying to figure out what Shao Sui was doing, why wasn’t he paying attention to it!
Then it heard Shao Sui on the phone: “Yes, the toilet is clogged… roughly when can you come over? …Tomorrow? Okay, tomorrow evening at 6 PM works.”
Mimi pondered with its tiny head – the clogged toilet shouldn’t have anything to do with it, it hadn’t pooped in the human toilet.
