The Cub Comes from Planet Meow 102

Chapter 102: Meow

There were many search results online. Excluding those only targeting the cat’s body, Jing Mi summarized one point—”Desensitization training,” gradually extending the separation time, adapting little by little.

It just so happened that Wang Qiyou was going to his grandparents’ house for a week after the college entrance examination. They couldn’t meet during this time, so it was appropriate to reduce contact.

Jing Mi put down his phone, rubbed his dark circles, and called the Cat God in his mind.

The Cat God appeared quickly.

Jing Mi told it about his separation anxiety towards Wang Qiyou.

The Cat God was silent for a moment and asked: “Do you think this is really separation anxiety?”

Jing Mi hummed: “Exactly the same as Tang Yuan’s separation anxiety.”

Tang Yuan was a pet cat he met while doing a mission before. Tang Yuan’s sister missed it and its owner too much on Planet Meow. Learning that the owner was hospitalized due to illness, Tang Yuan had separation anxiety alone at home, so she asked him to take the job of visiting and feeding the cat posted by the owner.
Tang Yuan’s owner was originally a freelancer and a homebody, almost never leaving it since bringing Tang Yuan home, so Tang Yuan’s separation anxiety was so severe.
Fortunately, the owner’s health was fine. After a series of checkups, he came back after being hospitalized for more than a week. Tang Yuan was also taken care of very well by Jing Mi at home.

The Cat God didn’t know what to say for a moment.

Both children grew up under the watch of it and the Dog God. After Wang Qiyou finally realized his feelings, it thought Jing Mi wasn’t far from realizing his, but didn’t expect him to take a crooked path, not thinking in that direction at all.

Maybe for the kitten Mimi, emotional satisfaction was too tortuous. After experiencing a body full of pain, he finally obtained a warm home and family who loved him. Family affection was the most important thing in his eyes, surpassing all other emotions, including romantic love.

And the puppy Qiuqiu was his best friend, closest brother, and one of the most important family members.

So after touching upon the stirring of his heart, he subconsciously wouldn’t let the other party’s status “downgrade,” but would find various patches to round it up.

But, silly kitten, lovers and family are not conflicting.

However, feelings are a matter between two people. The pulling, misunderstanding, and awakening during the ambiguous period are also meaningful. It and the Dog God didn’t plan to interfere too much.

“Then how do you plan to solve this problem?” The Cat God asked.

Jing Mi answered: “Give me more missions. The college entrance examination is over, and I have plenty of time to do missions.”

Because of the college entrance examination some time ago, the Cat God and the cats on Planet Meow were afraid of affecting his studies and hardly arranged any missions for him. He hadn’t helped kittens fulfill their wishes for a while.
Now that the college entrance examination was over and he was free, it was just right to enrich his life with missions.

The Cat God: “Okay.”

The Cat God picked and chose, finding a mission most suitable for the present for Jing Mi. Just as it was about to tell him, it found he had fallen asleep on the bed.

…

Wang Qiyou didn’t receive Jing Mi’s reply until he arrived at his grandparents’ house.

Mimi: [The smell of alcohol on you was too strong and uncomfortable, so I went home to sleep. Just woke up.]

High school seniors were almost always sleep-deprived. It was understandable to sleep all day after the college entrance examination.

Wang Qiyou didn’t think too much about it. After chatting with him for a while, he saw him say he was going to eat and go out for a mission.

For the next week, Wang Qiyou clearly felt that Jing Mi was “avoiding” him. He always said he had to do a mission after chatting for a while, said he had no time to do a mission when asked to play games, and said he was too tired and wanted to rest when called at night…

Although he knew the Cat God didn’t give Mimi any missions before the college entrance examination for fear of affecting his studies, and missions might increase after the exam, he just felt something was weird.

The worst scenario he could think of was: He said or did something after getting drunk that night, causing Mimi’s repulsion.

And what he could say or do was just expressing his feelings. If so… Mimi’s attitude was equivalent to rejecting him tactfully.

Wang Qiyou’s mood dropped instantly. Sitting on the swing in his grandparents’ yard, he stared blankly at an unknown spot in confusion.

It was cool under the shade of the tree, but he was anxious.

Living two lives, he learned many things and mastered many skills, but he was still blank about love.

He didn’t know what to do to be with Mimi.

He also dared not tell this feeling to others easily.

This week, he thought a lot.

Finally enduring until the day he went home, Wang Qiyou dropped his suitcase as soon as he arrived home and went out to Jing Mi’s house.

Wu Yuan and Wang Shao looked at each other, seeing similar smiles in each other’s eyes: The little couple finally reunited after a long separation, really impatient.

But when Wang Qiyou knocked on the door, he heard Uncle Jing say: “Mimi is not at home. He has been going to help a classmate recently.”

Wang Qiyou’s eyelid twitched. “Which classmate?”

If just going to play at a classmate’s place, the word “help” wouldn’t be used. A classmate Jing Mi could help…

Jing Zhi: “That classmate who sells fish. We eat fish every day at home recently. Mimi should bring fish back tonight too. Come over and eat together.”

Sure enough, it was Fu Ruan.
Wang Qiyou couldn’t hold back anymore, responded randomly, turned around, and left.

Jing Zhi guessed he went to find Mimi, closed the door with a smile, and sent a message to Jiang Suifeng who was working, recounting what just happened: [So anxious after only a week apart. When will they confess their relationship to us?]

…

Wang Qiyou knew where Fu Ruan’s fish stall was. Although he had only been there once or twice, he had a good memory.

Now only Fu Ruan’s mother was at the stall.

She came to the school for high school parent meetings and some activities, so Wang Qiyou had a slight impression of her.

Wang Qiyou didn’t dare to go forward, feeling apprehensive and moody.

According to his understanding of Mimi, knowing clearly that Fu Ruan had a crush on him and even boldly confessed her feelings, if he had no feelings and intention to date her, he wouldn’t interact with her too much.

But not only did he not keep a distance, he also kept coming to help at Fu Ruan’s house.

Could they… could they already be together?

Wang Qiyou took out his phone quickly.

Very good, Mimi’s WeChat avatar hadn’t changed. It was still the beige Scottish Fold kitten he drew, not changed to any couple avatar.

Wang Qiyou pursed his lips, fingers dancing on the virtual keyboard, sending him a message: [I’m back. Where are you?]

Jing Mi replied quite quickly: [Doing a mission.]

Wang Qiyou: [Where doing a mission? What mission?]

Jing Mi: [Sigh, I can do it alone. You just came back, rest well.]

Wang Qiyou took a deep breath. The tip of his nose was filled with the smell of fish mixed with unknown scents. The noon sun roasted people breathless.

Just as the phone screen was about to turn off due to inactivity for a long time, Wang Qiyou finally touched it and typed a new line: [Still going to City H tomorrow or the day after?]

This was their annual agreement. Go to City H for vacation in the summer, step on the beach, sunbathe, eat seafood, and visit the old grandpa.

In early June, only high school graduates were on holiday. There weren’t many people at the seaside. Before the college entrance examination, they agreed to go early.

This time Jing Mi replied after a while: [Let’s go some time later. Tasks are a bit busy recently.]

Wang Qiyou’s heart fell completely to the bottom.

…

“This part should be woven like this… right.” Although Fu Ruan was also half-baked, she had been influenced by her father for so long and was much more familiar than Jing Mi, a beginner.

Jing Mi woven clumsily for a long time before weaving a puppy with erect ears that barely looked like a shape with bamboo.

Fu Ruan’s father praised cheerfully: “Little student has talent.”

Jing Mi knew he was encouraging him insincerely. If he really had talent, he wouldn’t weave so ugly and so slowly.

Fu Ruan’s mother was a hardworking and capable woman, managing the house in an orderly manner. Fu Ruan’s clothes always smelled faintly of laundry detergent, without any fishy smell.
Although Fu Ruan’s father was disabled, he didn’t give up on himself, always relying on his craft to subsidize the family. Approaching graduation, Fu Ruan gave handmade woven gifts to close classmates, all completed by her father and her together.

Bamboo weaving is a type of intangible cultural heritage. Recently, Fu Ruan was free after the college entrance examination and planned to help Uncle Fu operate the platform account, record some bamboo weaving videos for promotion, try live streaming, hoping to sell better through the internet.

Machine production technology is very mature, but handmade products will never be eliminated. Just like AI can never create warm and vivid words, this society needs human touch.

This mission was also related to this.

Because of Fu Ruan’s confession hint on the night of the graduation dinner, Jing Mi hesitated for a long time, feeling he should keep a distance from Fu Ruan, but the mission contradicted it. Finally, he found an excuse saying Little Papa’s work recently needed to collect some information about intangible cultural heritage, and did bamboo weaving with Uncle Fu and Fu Ruan in the name of business.

Fu Ruan was a sober girl. She knew Jing Mi’s Little Papa was a powerful streamer. Compared to those romantic feelings, she hoped Jing Mi could help her father more. During this time, she also communicated with him about business and didn’t mention that night’s words again.

…

This time it was the wish of a three-legged cat named Beng Beng (Hop/Jump), hoping Mimi could help Uncle Fu with bamboo weaving.

Beng Beng used to be a stray kitten near the vegetable market. Because of hunger, it stole goods in the vegetable market and had a leg broken.

The kitten didn’t understand the rules of the human world, didn’t know to stop at red lights and go at green lights, didn’t know the fragrant food placed there wasn’t prey for it to hunt.

The kitten only knew humans were a very powerful species. It couldn’t beat them, didn’t catch prey, but got injured and broke a leg in the process of hunting.

The cat didn’t resent humans because in the cat’s world, the strong are respected. Moreover, some people saw it pitiful and gave it some leftover food. Humans are complex.

Later, it accidentally broke into an old small courtyard and saw a man who limped like it.

“Meow.”
“…Three-legged cat?”

The man took it in.

It lived here temporarily.

According to its observation, there were three people in this family: the limping man, the fish-selling woman, and the little girl in a floral dress. All three treated it gently and friendly.

The man would weave many toys for it with bamboo. The woman would give it delicious fish to fill its stomach. It would curl up at the little girl’s feet to accompany her when she did homework.

One day, the woman suddenly picked it up. The little girl stood aside watching expectantly. The man fixed something woven from bamboo onto its missing leg.

Since then, it was no longer a disabled three-legged cat.

It had a unique leg.

It adapted to the new leg for a while, then caught a fat mouse valiantly and spiritedly to give to the three humans who helped it. The little girl was scared to tears directly.

…Cough.

Time passed day by day happier and easier than before. The little girl grew taller slowly, and it grew older slowly. The woman killed fish every day, and the man wove bamboo day after day.

How it wished the man could stand up too, like it.

But until it closed its eyes, it didn’t see it.

Because the man secretly said to the woman: “Ni’er (Girl/Daughter) will have high expenses for school later, and we have to save money to buy a house for her in the future. It’s the same whether I install a prosthetic leg or not. Anyway, living by hands, let’s not spend that wasted money.”

It knew the man’s hands were skillful, but even these skillful hands couldn’t weave a leg for himself because he had too many things to weave—its toys, daughter’s books and tuition, a stable and warm house in the future… He always put himself last, and it hasn’t been his turn until now.

If possible, it naturally hoped the man could get a “new” leg, but it didn’t want to make it difficult for Mimi. Mimi had a lot of pocket money, but not that much. He still had to spend the happiest summer vacation of his life. The pocket money saved for so long could let him see more beautiful scenery.

So it thought, take this opportunity to let Mimi contact bamboo weaving and give them some ideas on self-media. After all, his Little Papa was a very powerful streamer, knowing definitely more than the Fu family.

Hope on Planet Meow, one day it can see the man also get a “new leg.”

…

Listening to the story of the kitten Beng Beng, Jing Mi’s heart was touched fiercely.

Fu Ruan said: “I was still young then, actually don’t remember clearly, but remember I cried for a long time when Beng Beng died. Later my courage suddenly grew bigger, not afraid of mice or killing fish anymore.”
Saying that, she made a hand-knife gesture of killing fish.

Jing Mi: “…”

Uncle Fu smiled and said: “This craft was taught to me by my father. I learned half-heartedly at that time. He always said I was a ‘three-legged cat’ (jack of all trades, master of none), with poor skills, doing badly. Later… I really became a ‘three-legged cat’, but weaving better and better.”

While speaking, Uncle Fu had woven a lifelike German Shepherd puppy according to the blueprint on Jing Mi’s phone.

“Here,” Uncle Fu handed the puppy to him, saying casually, “Looks like the little student likes dogs very much.”

Jing Mi took the bamboo-woven German Shepherd puppy and fell silent.

He didn’t like dogs.
He just… just liked the German Shepherd Qiuqiu.

Jing Mi’s heart suddenly became chaotic.

Just then, Wang Qiyou’s WeChat message came on the phone.

Jing Mi picked up the phone quickly to reply.

The effect of this week’s desensitization training was mediocre. He still wanted to see Wang Qiyou very much, wanted to chat with him, wanted to play with him.

Fortunately, doing handicrafts could divert attention very well. Weaving and chatting, time passed quickly. Plus he had to visit Great-Grandpa in the hospital every day, and occasionally squeeze in time to do wish missions for other kittens, so he was too busy to think about other things.

To secretly prepare a bamboo-woven puppy surprise for Wang Qiyou, he muddled through vaguely, postponing the plan to go to City H, intending to seize the time to weave a decent one himself.

…

Wang Qiyou went to City H alone.

A bit lonely, and a bit like sulking.
Anyway, the behavior was very immature.

He went to the old grandpa’s seaside shop, tore open a coconut candy and put it in his mouth, staring at the sea in a daze.

Clearly the candy was sweet, but there was no taste in his mouth.

The old grandpa sat beside him and asked with a smile: “What are you hoping for?”

Wang Qiyou was stubborn: “Hoping for the college entrance examination results.”

The old grandpa: “Where’s Mimi? Why didn’t he come with you this year?”

Wang Qiyou: “He has things to do.”

The old grandpa: “Want to read? Some travelers gave me a few books recently.”

Wang Qiyou lowered his gaze and didn’t refuse.

Only when the mind is quiet can one enter the world in the book. Wang Qiyou flipped through a few pages without remembering a single word.

He opened his phone absent-mindedly and scrolled casually.

Suddenly, he swiped to a local live stream in City A.

In the live stream were Fu Ruan and a man with disabled legs, presumably her father.

They were weaving something animal-shaped with bamboo, and the popularity of the live stream room was okay.

Wang Qiyou stopped at the live stream interface for a while and roughly understood some things.

Fu Ruan’s father was good at bamboo weaving. The things created under his hands were exquisite and vivid. For better business, he started live streaming. The theme of the live stream was weaving small animals. A row of cute small animal bamboo weavings was placed in front of the camera. One could order custom bamboo weavings of their own fur children. Just pay the deposit and send detailed photos; the price was also suitable.

Nowadays, more and more people pursue spiritual enrichment, and the number of pet owners is rising linearly. Many pet owners placed orders in the live stream room.

Although not comparable to those big internet celebrities, for Uncle Fu, having an extra channel to make money was already very satisfying.

Wang Qiyou stayed in the live stream room because Mimi had been helping at the Fu family recently. He wanted to see if he would appear in the live stream. Plus Uncle Fu was a bit constrained in front of the camera, mostly Fu Ruan chatting. He wanted to hear if Fu Ruan would say any information related to Mimi.

But he didn’t see Mimi, nor did he hear any information about Mimi.

Instead, his attention was attracted by a pair of bamboo weavings at the corner of the table in the live stream room.

It was a German Shepherd puppy and a Scottish Fold kitten.

Wang Qiyou stood up abruptly, buying the nearest flight ticket from City H to City A on his phone while saying goodbye to the old grandpa.

The wind chimes at the shop entrance jingled.