Chapter 47
The school gate was bustling with students streaming out, searching for their parents, and street vendors selling snacks and drinks.
Shao Sui stopped at a cotton candy stall, a few of his students beside him, “Hello, Teacher.”
Shao Sui kept a distance, replying to their greetings while saying to the vendor, “One cotton candy, please, a little bit of every color.”
The students beside him giggled, “Teacher also likes cotton candy.”
Shao Sui glanced at them, “Is that a problem?”
“No!” The students exclaimed, “Teacher, you’ve become much gentler recently.”
Shao Sui, now allergic to compliments from his students, felt his eyelid twitch, “Seems like I’ve been too nice to you, time to change that.”
The students immediately wailed, “No!”
“Three more cotton candies, please.” Shao Sui paid the vendor, then said to his students, “One for each of you, my last act of kindness.”
Although cotton candy wasn’t expensive, receiving a gift from their teacher was something to be cherished for students of this age, especially since most didn’t.
But before they could celebrate, they heard Shao Sui say, “I’ll be checking your workbooks tomorrow.”
Shao Sui ignored their dramatic wails and headed home with the cotton candy.
Before, coming home from work hadn’t evoked much emotion, but now there was anticipation. Just thinking about the little cat spirit waiting for him made the world seem brighter.
However, what awaited Shao Sui was an empty apartment.
He couldn’t find Mimi anywhere. He quickly dialed Mimi’s number, the ringtone coming from the living room.
Shao Sui’s gaze locked onto the phone on the sofa. His heart pounded in his chest, his mind racing with alarming possibilities!
If Mimi had gone out to play or run away, he wouldn’t have left his phone behind.
Had Hu Yuan been released and come for revenge?
Unlikely, he had just confirmed with the police that morning that Hu Yuan was still in detention.
…Could it be the police? Like some ancient Taoist department, specializing in capturing cat spirits hiding among humans? Had they taken Mimi away?
Shao Sui’s mind was in turmoil. He rushed to the elevator, frantically pressing the down button, while calling the property management.
The dialing tone and the elevator’s arrival ding coincided. Just as Shao Sui was about to step inside, he was tackled by a warm body, a wronged voice calling out, “Shao Sui!”
The property management answered, “Hello, resident, how can we help you?”
Shao Sui held Mimi tightly, looking at the two men and one woman in the elevator with him, and replied to the property management, “Sorry, wrong number.”
He hung up and asked coldly, “Who are you?”
Mimi buried his face in Shao Sui’s chest, mumbling, “They tried to kidnap me!”
The bald man among them said awkwardly, “Don’t talk nonsense!”
“Who are you calling nonsense?” Shao Sui said coldly. “Dragging my… family member away and you think you’re in the right?”
Mimi, a cat spirit with a deep sense of insecurity, would never leave his phone behind and go out alone, these people must have tricked him.
Having received no response, the elevator doors were about to close. The three people quickly stepped out, the woman with short hair saying, “Our identity is related to Mimi’s background, it’s best we sit down and talk properly.”
“…”
Shao Sui’s heart sank. They even knew Mimi’s name.
Five minutes later, they were seated at Shao Sui’s dining table. Shao Sui went to the water dispenser and pressed the hot water button.
The other young man, with striking blonde hair and foreign features, took out a cup, “Don’t bother, I’ll have milk tea.”
The woman said, “Coffee for me.”
The bald man took out a thermos, “I have herbal tea.”
“That’s not for you.” Mimi felt a sense of displeasure at having his things claimed by others. He took the glass of hot water and drank it in one gulp. “It’s for me! Because I didn’t drink water this afternoon.”
The woman said perfunctorily, “Okay, okay, yours, yours.”
Shao Sui flicked Mimi’s forehead, “You even know you didn’t drink water this afternoon?”
The blonde man clicked his tongue, “Little Calico, is this the domestic violence you were talking about?”
“Me?” Shao Sui pointed at himself. “Domestic violence?”
Mimi, clutching his forehead, hid behind Shao Sui.
“Yes, otherwise, why would we forcefully take him away.” The short-haired woman said, exasperated, “Let us introduce ourselves. I’m Guan Jiu, team leader of Group 4 at the Cat Spirit Mutual Aid Association, this bald guy is Tian Miaomiao…”
The bald man said angrily, “How many times do I have to tell you, call me Tian Miao in public!”
“Whatever.” The blonde man said languidly. “Just call me James.”
Shao Sui wasn’t interested in their names, only their purpose, “Do you have any identification?”
“Yes.” Guan Jiu took out her ID. “See clearly, it has an official seal, we’re not some shady organization.”
Tian Miao added, “We’re definitely shady.”
“When will you stop talking back?” Guan Jiu said impatiently. “Anyway, we’re an officially recognized department, just like you, we have official positions, stop looking at us like we’re kidnappers.”
James, sipping his milk tea, said, “It’s like this, we followed some leads about a wild cat spirit and finally tracked it down to Mimi…”
Shao Sui pulled out a chair and sat down, “You’ve been following me these past few days?”
That’s why he had felt like he was being watched and called the police station this morning to confirm if Hu Yuan had been released.
James said, “How can you call it ‘following’? Sounds so unpleasant. It’s called observation and research, to objectively assess your suitability for adopting a cat spirit.”
Shao Sui’s fingers twitched, “And the results?”
“Initially, quite positive.” Guan Jiu handed him a document, filled with his personal information, family background, work, lifestyle habits, incredibly detailed.
“We all gave you high scores at first.”
Tian Miao pointed at the scores on the first page. The full score was one hundred, and their initial scores were 88, 93.5, and 95 respectively. However, for some unknown reason, they were crossed out, replaced by new, lower scores—
Three zeroes.
Shao Sui had never received such low scores in his life. He asked calmly, “Why?”
“Ask your cat.” James slurped his milk tea. “We deliberately came near the end of your workday, wanting to talk to him first, then you, we didn’t intend to take him away directly.”
Mimi had refused to open the door, so Guan Jiu had to conduct a survey through the door, asking about Shao Sui, his personality, how he treated the cat.
It was just a formality, nothing serious, but Mimi immediately said Shao Sui was abusive, bad-tempered, always yelled at him, and even made him eat shit.
Guan Jiu and her colleagues were horrified. They hadn’t expected Shao Sui, who looked so refined and gentle, to be such a monster!
They quickly made up an excuse about helping with the ID card and coaxed Mimi out. But before they even reached the car, Mimi, realizing he was being taken away from Shao Sui, started yelling and struggling, refusing to leave.
Only then did Guan Jiu and her colleagues realize that if Mimi was truly abused, he wouldn’t be so attached to Shao Sui.
Cats weren’t dogs; they didn’t develop Stockholm syndrome.
Shao Sui didn’t want to question Mimi in front of others, but he couldn’t help but ask about the last accusation, “I made you eat…?”
Mimi, playing with his hands, mumbled, “Luosifen.”
Shao Sui: “…”
Tian Miao said unhappily, “Why did you say luosifen is shit?”
“That’s not the point!” Mimi tried to defend himself, his voice getting quieter, “You said ‘Mutual Aid Association,’ I thought you were interested in Shao Sui and wanted me to make space for you…”
Guan Jiu gave a forced smile, “So young, yet so possessive.”
Shao Sui suddenly realized this might not be the first time Mimi had spread such rumors. The cat cafe’s He Yonggan had chased after them, meowing angrily, probably for similar reasons.
“Now that we’ve cleared up the misunderstanding, can you revise my scores?”
“No problem.” Guan Jiu readily changed the scores, then took out a stack of documents. “These are the Confidentiality Agreement, the Cat Spirit Living Agreement, the Service Agreement, and the Protection Policy – after you sign these, Mimi will officially be your adopted cat spirit, and Shao Sui will officially be your adopted… savage.”
“…”
Savage, really?
Guan Jiu added, “We’ll also help with the ID card and household registration.”
Mimi’s eyes lit up, “That’s great!”
Shao Sui carefully reviewed the agreements. Nothing unusual, just standard clauses about confidentiality, no violence, mutual support and respect, and not using the cat spirit’s abilities for profit.
Mimi said, understandingly, “I won’t steal anything.”
“Social media content creation is also not allowed.” Guan Jiu smiled, “Remember to delete those misleading short videos you made.”
“I didn’t post much…”
James leaned on the table, “Not much? Cats should eat more ice cream, cats should eat more durian, cats should eat more luosifen, all to improve the bond between owner and pet… what kind of nonsense is that? Are you going to say cats should eat more chocolate next?”
Tian Miao said, “Someone even commented jokingly, ‘This content creator is either being absurd or is a cat spirit trying to get their owner to buy them these things’.”
In a way, that netizen was right.
“Your case isn’t serious, but it’s best to delete them.” James continued sipping his milk tea. “A while ago, someone used their talking cat spirit to make clickbait videos about ‘the smartest cat in the world’ to gain followers and earn money, he was arrested.”
Shao Sui hadn’t expected Mimi to earn money. He reviewed the agreements several times, and although he didn’t find any traps, he still felt uneasy about how smoothly everything was going.
Guan Jiu said frankly, “The only sacrifice you have to make now is to be separated for a month, then you’re free.”
Both man and cat asked simultaneously, “Why!?”
Guan Jiu smiled at Mimi, “Every wild cat spirit has to return to the organization for social training, like learning about human social distance.”
Mimi, who had been clinging to Shao Sui and almost sitting on his lap, quickly sat up straight, trying to act nonchalant.
“My socialization skills are very good.” The little cat spirit, full of confidence, tried to convince them.
