Chapter 19
Shao Sui hadn’t intended to bathe the cat. Mimi had just been through a stressful experience, its body temperature was too high, its heart rate too fast, and another bath might trigger a stress response.
This was all from the cat care tips Big Data had recommended to him in his idle scrolling through short videos.
Shao Sui went into the bathroom, closed the door, and then lathered up, scrubbing the spot where Mimi had peed, glancing outside from time to time.
Realizing what he was doing, Shao Sui couldn’t help but chuckle, muttering to himself, “Why am I being so self-conscious…”
Perhaps Mimi was too smart, and he was afraid it would be hurt if it sensed his disgust.
While turning off the shower and drying himself, Shao Sui noticed a small figure squatting outside the glass door. It was Mimi.
During the initial period of their burgeoning bond, Mimi would often wait outside the bathroom door while he showered or used the toilet. He didn’t know what the habit was about, but it hadn’t been doing it recently.
Shao Sui said reassuringly, “I’ll be out soon, that bad man can’t catch us, Mimi, don’t be afraid…”
He quickly got dressed and opened the sliding glass door, noticing the kitten was holding something in its mouth – the dry cleaning gloves he had bought for the cat.
He wrapped a towel around his waist, astonished: “You want to take a bath?”
Mimi, holding the gloves, meowed vaguely.
So smart.
Shao Sui placed the cat in the sink. Mimi stood up, its soft, warm paws kneading Shao Sui’s chest muscles, lifting its belly for easy scrubbing.
“So clever.” Shao Sui lowered his head and nuzzled Mimi’s nose. “Give me another kiss.”
Mimi extended its head and touched Shao Sui’s lips.
So well-behaved. The kitten’s nose was wet, its mouth, thanks to the diligent brushing, odorless. Teacher Shao’s heart fluttered from the closeness.
He decided to reorder the cat treats he had refunded earlier, to compensate Mimi for the distress it had suffered today.
Even though there were already plenty of snacks at home.
Shao Sui gave Mimi a quick scrub. The cat’s fur hadn’t actually gotten much pee on it, most of it had ended up on him.
He suddenly realized that cats groomed themselves, they didn’t like being bathed by humans. So Mimi bringing him the gloves, was it afraid he would find it dirty?
Shao Sui’s heart ached at his own realization. He immediately vowed, “I won’t talk about sending you away anymore, will you stay with me from now on?”
Mimi: “Meow~”
Shao Sui promised, “I’ll make you canned food every day, buy you any snacks you want, and any toys you desire!”
Mimi: “Mrow…”
The Great Meow King rubbed against Shao Sui’s face, licking him several times.
Teacher Shao, completely smitten, wondered what else Mimi might need.
In reality, even before admitting he would keep Mimi, Shao Sui had already bought everything necessary for raising a cat, even many unnecessary things.
Like the cat bed now abandoned on the balcony and the unopened box of dried fish on the shelf.
Several deliveries arrived today. Shao Sui unpacked them and found the surveillance camera had finally arrived. He suddenly remembered the issue of the perverted thief hadn’t been resolved.
He followed the online instructions and checked everywhere, finding no hidden cameras, then installed the camera behind the fake potted plant diagonally behind the sofa.
Mimi came over and rubbed against Shao Sui’s leg: “Meow~”
What are you doing?
Shao Sui bent down and picked up the cat: “If we can’t catch this pervert, we’ll move at the beginning of the month.”
Mimi twitched its ears: “Meow?”
What pervert?
Shao Sui went back to the unpacked deliveries, giving a non-sequitur reply, “Do you smell the mooncakes? Let’s eat one, we have to save the rest for Mid-Autumn Festival.”
The school always gave out Mid-Autumn Festival gift boxes, so there was no need to buy any. The delivery contained special mooncakes for cats. Shao Sui opened one and, not trusting outside food, tested it himself.
Hmm… not very tasty. Although the filling was meat, it was bland.
Shao Sui had previously noticed that Mimi didn’t chew its food, so he broke the mooncake into small pieces and fed it to Mimi bit by bit: “Try it, if you don’t like it, don’t eat it.”
Mimi expressed its enjoyment; junk food was the best.
It licked the pieces into its mouth and swallowed them whole.
Shao Sui petted its head, “If anyone dares to wrong our Mimi again, Teacher Shao will beat them to death.”
Mimi meowed in agreement: “Meow!”
Unable to resist, Shao Sui picked a picture of Mimi and posted it on his WeChat Moments, with the caption: Got a cat.
Teacher Cheng: Oh, finally admitted it.
Shao Sui: I was still considering it before.
Math Teacher Ren: No longer a cat-less savage.
Shao Sui: Mm-hmm.
Director Cao: I was wondering, aren’t you a germaphobe? How can you keep a cat? Cured?
Shao Sui: My cat is also a germaphobe.
Director Cao: A perfect match [thumbs up.jpg]
Before owning a cat, people always had all sorts of assumptions about how dirty they were, but in reality, whether a cat was dirty or not depended entirely on the owner.
Shao Sui held the cat down, grasping its front paws and nuzzling its chest: “Our baby is the most fragrant.”
“Meow!”
Mimi was getting annoyed again.
Who was “baby”! And who was “good boy” he kept calling it today!
His phone buzzed with new messages.
Little Wu: Are you keeping him? I saw you deleted the post.
Shao Sui: Yes, it turns out he wasn’t adopted during the two months he was missing, but abducted and abused.
Little Wu: ! So that person was responsible for his injuries?
Shao Sui: Yes.
Little Wu: [punching.jpg]
Little Wu: How could there be such a scumbag!!
Shao Sui also wanted to know.
Last semester, there had been a major animal abuse incident that made national headlines. The school took it very seriously, even organizing a “Love and Protect Animals” themed blackboard newspaper campaign.
Shao Sui told his students that it was normal to dislike certain things, but if everyone couldn’t tolerate things they disliked, then we ourselves might become something others couldn’t tolerate.
But he forgot, there were some people in this world who were simply psychopaths, taking pleasure in torturing animals, having nothing to do with like or dislike.
Mimi, nestled against Shao Sui, looked at the phone screen: “Meow?”
Shao Sui rubbed its little nose: “Can you understand this?”
Mimi: “Meow, meow!”
Although it couldn’t understand, Mimi recognized the profile picture. Shao Sui had said this person was Little Wu from the Chinese medicine clinic, the girl who always gave it sausages.
Mimi didn’t like sausages, but Little Wu would be sad if it didn’t eat them, so it always took them politely and then gave them to other, less picky cats. Then those cats would follow it around adoringly, acknowledging it as the Great Meow King!
The Great Meow King declared, the braised food from the shop next door was much tastier.
Shao Sui said, “I’ll take you back there when I have time, so they can see you’re okay.”
Mimi: “Meow!”
Don’t leave me behind!
“Since you’re my cat now, should we change your name?” Shao Sui felt the current name was a bit perfunctory. “Your surname will be Shao, as for your given name…”
Mimi: “Meow, meow!”
Don’t change it!
Shao Sui said deliberately, “Tell me, what name do you want?”
Mimi stopped meowing, remembering Shao Sui often asked it to “speak,” like, “Why are you stealing sips from my cup again? Speak.” “Was the apartment burglarized? You have to tell me if you saw anything.” “Tell me if you’re hungry, how would I know otherwise?”…
Mimi pondered, then nestled down in Shao Sui’s arms.
Shao Sui was blissfully unaware for two days, almost forgetting about the perverted thief. No more clothes went missing, and there were no signs of intrusion even when he was out. Perhaps the thief thought no one was home on weekends and didn’t dare to come.
After the weekend incident, Mimi’s temper improved significantly. It allowed itself to be petted, held, and even had its paws pinched. It followed Shao Sui everywhere, even waiting outside the bathroom door.
And recently, when kneading, Mimi would grab his pajamas, insisting on kneading directly on his skin, whimpering softly.
It was adorably lethal.
Teacher Shao was overjoyed, wanting to hold the cat in his arms all the time.
Until one morning, as he was leaving for work, he saw Mimi lying on the sofa, its hind legs crossed, revealing its little testicles.
Teacher Shao, overcome with fondness, couldn’t resist reaching out and rearranging the slightly misaligned testicles, predictably receiving a cat punch in return.
Shao Sui declared: Just right.
He offered his face: “Hit me again.”
Mimi, having never encountered such a request, hesitantly punched him.
“Too light.” Shao Sui nuzzled Mimi’s bib. “Hit harder.”
Mimi decided to oblige, delivering two powerful punches.
Shao Sui, completely satisfied, went to work.
On the way, Little Wu sent him more pictures of Mimi from before.
Little Wu: Mimi is truly a beauty of the cat world, captivating all the other cats. He loves basking in the sun and watching TV.
Little Wu: Kitten eating. [picture.jpg]
Little Wu: Super cute, right? He’s your cat now, take good care of him. Although we’ll miss him dearly, we hope he has a stable and loving home, safe from the elements.
Shao Sui would definitely take good care of him. After deciding to keep Mimi, his tolerance for the cat increased significantly.
Today, he even locked the cat in the bedroom, allowing it onto the bed. Mainly because of the potential thief, locking the bedroom door and windows seemed safer.
He checked the surveillance camera whenever he had a break, but didn’t find anything unusual.
Had the thief lost interest in his apartment?
Shao Sui put down his phone and briefly told Cheng Ke about Mimi’s past. Cheng Ke was shocked and angered by the abuse: “I thought it was some cruel kid, but it was an adult? That’s psychopathic!”
Shao Sui pushed his glasses up his nose: “I really wanted to beat him up, but if I lost my job, I wouldn’t be able to afford the cat.”
Cheng Ke was furious, but then chuckled: “You definitely can’t lose your job with the way you’re spoiling that cat. You must have bought a lot of things recently, haven’t you?”
Every time she went to get hot water and passed by Shao Sui’s workstation, she saw him browsing the online shopping app, his cart full of cat supplies. When he said he would take the cat home temporarily, she hadn’t expected him to become so invested.
Truly, no human could resist a kitten.
“It’s alright.” Shao Sui asked casually, “By the way, do you know of anything that can replace fish oil?”
Cheng Ke responded with an “uh”: “For you?”
“For the cat.”
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 he could even smell fish when he kissed the cat, which greatly dampened his enthusiasm.
“Then stop the fish oil after Mimi’s fur has fully grown back,” Cheng Ke said. “Usually, a good diet and some egg yolks are enough. A cat’s coat mainly depends on its genes. If you’re too lazy to boil eggs, you can buy some lecithin.”
“Okay…”
Shao Sui said, “By the way, do you know why cats bite clothes while kneading?”
Cheng Ke paused. “Does he hug your arm or leg and tremble while doing it?”
Shao Sui shook his head: “Doesn’t seem like it.”
Cheng Ke explained: “He might be in heat. Check if he’s… you know… showing his little red pepper.”
“Little red pepper?”
Shao Sui immediately regretted asking, and Cheng Ke burst into laughter. After a while, she finally stopped, “Ahem… you get the idea. Cats are different from humans, it’s best to neuter them early, but not during heat.”
“Okay.”
Feeling responsible for the cat, Shao Sui started researching the pros and cons of neutering. Many men thought neutering was equivalent to being castrated, a humiliating thing.
Shao Sui had seen people getting upset in the comments section of cat neutering videos, as if they were the ones being castrated.
For Mimi’s sake, he had to be cautious.
The day before Mid-Autumn Festival, the office organized a dinner gathering.
Shao Sui had previously declined many invitations, citing his OCD, but recently, his relationship with his colleagues had improved, and Cheng Ke said it was a newly opened hotpot restaurant, very clean, so Shao Sui agreed.
“I have to go home and make dinner for the cat first.”
Everyone expressed their understanding. The office had another cat slave, and an exceptionally devoted one at that.
Shao Sui rushed home and carried Mimi out of the bedroom, steaming a bowl of cat food.
“I’ll be back late today.” Shao Sui nuzzled Mimi’s head. Its fur had grown back and felt incredibly soft. “Can you stay home alone? Hmm?”
Mimi looked up warily and meowed.
The dinner was mushroom hotpot, the restaurant newly decorated and clean. The mushrooms were supposedly air-freighted from Yunnan, a small basket costing 388 yuan, probably less than a jin.
Teacher Shao thought it was ridiculously expensive. Cat food was much cheaper.
The others, however, ordered two portions without hesitation.
The waiter instructed, “Wait twenty minutes before starting, and don’t stir it with your chopsticks.”
Shu Yi asked nervously, “Will we really see little people if we get poisoned?”
The waiter joked, “Maybe. You might even see your dog talking.”
Dinner gatherings with colleagues were different from usual meals. They chatted about everything, from education and difficult parents to gossip, and it got late.
The mushrooms were indeed delicious, especially the soup, very flavorful.
Shao Sui’s first thought was whether cats could drink it, he could take some back for Mimi to try.
Before he could search online, the surveillance app on his phone sent an alert.
Shao Sui immediately opened the app and saw a stranger sitting on his sofa. The person’s back was to the camera, only a sliver of their profile visible, their thin frame naked.
It looked familiar.
Shao Sui abruptly stood up, feeling a wave of dizziness.
“What’s wrong, Teacher Shao?” The others were startled. “Are you poisoned?”
Shao Sui pressed his temples, “The surveillance camera caught the thief, I have to go home.”
Cheng Ke said, “We’ll go with you…”
Shao Sui grabbed his jacket and left: “You guys eat, I’ll call the police.”
Everyone agreed. More people would just make things more chaotic.
Shao Sui called the police and hailed a taxi, keeping an eye on the surveillance footage. The stranger first sat on the sofa watching TV, but soon became restless, constantly glancing at the door, then turned off the TV and paced back and forth.
Shao Sui had a strange feeling that this person was waiting for him to come home. Looking closely at the person’s profile, the sense of familiarity intensified, although he couldn’t place it.
Shao Sui arrived at his building almost at the same time as the police. The police officer whispered, “Unlock the door with your face, and we’ll rush in and subdue him.”
“Okay.”
Shao Sui walked to his door, his heart pounding. He rubbed his aching temples, took a deep breath, and as soon as the facial recognition unlocked the door, he pulled it open!
