Chapter 26
“I’ll call you Xiao Xu from now on, then. I’ll give the tablet back to Xingxing, and you two can chat.” He Mi thought about it for a moment. Xiao Xu really was easier to say than Xiao Tan.
He Mi propped the tablet against the headboard. Yun Xing slowly hopped from the side of the bed toward the tablet.
Once He Mi had left the room and closed the door, Tan Xu said with a smile, “Little bunny.”
Yun Xing knew he was talking about the few little hops he had just made. “I’m not a bunny.”
“If you’re not a little bunny, then why were you hopping?”
“You mind your own business.” Yun Xing began asserting his authority over Tan Xu again.
Tan Xu looked at the little calico on the screen. “So? Are you getting used to it?”
Yun Xing licked his paw. “What’s there to get used to? I’m at home.”
Then he stretched out both paws and spread them apart to demonstrate. “Tan Xu, my house is so, so big! You have to come visit when you have time!”
Tan Xu chuckled softly. “Okay.”
Yun Xing had originally wanted to tell Tan Xu that the mountain god temple had been demolished. But even if he told him, it wouldn’t change anything. After thinking it over, he decided not to say anything.
The two of them chatted for a long time. Eventually, He Mi knocked on the door and called from outside, telling Yun Xing it was time to eat. He whispered a quick goodbye to Tan Xu, then pressed his right paw against the red hang-up button.
Yun Xing jumped off the bed. He Mi opened the door and was just about to bend down and pick him up when he dodged away.
“No need, Mom. I can walk by myself.”
He Mi didn’t insist. She glanced at the tablet on the bed and hesitated for a moment. But when she saw Yun Xing walking ahead with his tail held high, she decided not to put the tablet away.
He Mi hurried a few steps to catch up with him. “Xingxing, slow down.”
Yun Xing stopped and looked back. Only after seeing that He Mi had caught up did he continue walking.
He Mi looked down at the little calico, who was barely bigger than her hand. “What did you talk about with Xiao Xu?”
Yun Xing looked up at her as he walked. “I told him not to talk to other kittens.”
“Huh?” He Mi froze for a moment. “He can understand what other kittens say?”
She began to wonder if the reason Tan Xu could understand them wasn’t actually because of Yun Xing’s spiritual power, but because he could understand animals on his own.
“He can’t,” Yun Xing said as he hopped down the stairs one step at a time. “And he’s not allowed to meow-chat with other kittens either.”
When Tan Xu had first met him, he had fed him cat treats and even chatted with him. Now that Yun Xing wasn’t around, there was no way he could resist chatting with other kittens!
Tan Xu was such a bad guy!
At that very moment, Tan Xu, who was putting the toys Yun Xing had scattered all over the place back into a box, sneezed.
There were two cats and two people in the house, but since none of them were ordinary, they didn’t bother distinguishing whose food was whose and simply put everything on the dining table.
When Yun Xing had been staying at Tan Xu’s house, he often ate at the dining table too. He effortlessly hopped from a chair onto the table.
Yun Xing sniffed the food in his bowl. “Mom, you put seasoning in it!”
He Mi hummed in acknowledgment. “Food tastes better that way.”
“Can I eat seasoned food now?” Yun Xing excitedly raised both front paws in celebration.
Before, Grandpa had never fed him food with seasoning in it. Neither had Tan Xu. They were always saying that kittens weren’t supposed to eat it.
But Yun Xing wasn’t an ordinary kitten.
“It was actually fine for you to eat it all along.” He Mi picked up a piece of green vegetable and held it to Yun Xing’s mouth.
“I can eat by myself!” Yun Xing said before biting down on the vegetable and slowly chewing it. “But Grandpa never made it that way before.”
Tan Xu had avoided seasoning his food because he had always thought Yun Xing was an ordinary kitten. But if Yun Xing could eat seasoned food, then why hadn’t Grandpa ever added any?
Yun Liang cleared his throat twice.
He Mi smiled and gently rubbed the little cat’s head. “You can eat it now.”
Yun Hao brought a thick stack of notebooks from the study and placed them on the dining table. “Xiao Mi, here’s your script.”
He Mi shot him a glance. “Who told you to put the script on the dining table?!”
He Mi was the only educated cat at the table. Although she had learned everything later in life, she was still a highly educated cat.
Yun Hao let out an “Oh,” then hurriedly moved the book to the coffee table in the living room.
After dinner, Yun Xing actually wanted to go back to the bedroom and play with the tablet. But when he saw that none of the other cats were going back to their rooms and everyone was staying in the living room, he felt a little awkward about leaving.
So he silently curled up on the sofa instead.
Seeing this, He Mi knew he wanted to go back to his room to play with the tablet.
“Do you want to go back to the bedroom?”
Yun Xing lifted his head from his paws, his eyes lighting up.
“You can play, but not for too long.”
Yun Xing had never played with any electronic devices growing up. Once he got his paws on one, it was easy for him to become addicted. Tan Xu had simply spoiled him too much.
He Mi sighed and got up, going upstairs with Yun Xing.
Yun Xing happily saw He Mi off, then began tapping away at the tablet. Unfortunately, Tan Xu wasn’t here. Otherwise, he could have read the comments on the videos for him.
The illiterate little cat could only guess what the comments meant himself.
I could tell at a glance that this is my cat.
Yun Xing only recognized one character in that sentence. He found it rather boring. No one at home would play with him, and everyone seemed to be busy with their own things.
Feeling dejected, Yun Xing buried his head in his paws.
According to the schedule Tan Xu had set for him, he still had more than an hour of tablet time left, but he was already getting bored.
Just as he was about to take a nap on his luxurious bed, the tablet suddenly made a sound.
Yun Xing recognized the profile picture. It was a photo of him sleeping.
It was one of those embarrassing pictures of him that Tan Xu had secretly taken while he was asleep.
He tapped the green button, and sure enough, it was Tan Xu.
“Tan Xu!” Yun Xing perked up immediately.
Tan Xu seemed to have been working on his thesis just moments ago. He was still wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.
“Xingxing, what are you doing?”
“I’m so bored, Tan Xu.” Yun Xing stared at his glasses before suddenly saying, “Can you buy me a pair of glasses too?”
Tan Xu looked at him. “Why? Can’t you see clearly anymore? Have you been playing with the tablet too much?”
The moment Yun Xing heard him mention the tablet, he became afraid that Tan Xu might take it away once he came home. He was only allowed to play for three hours a day as it was. If they cut that down any further, he was doomed!
“No!” he hurriedly protested. “I just want a pair.”
“Then I’ll buy you some when you come back.” Tan Xu thought about it for a moment. He wasn’t sure whether the children’s glasses at an optical shop would fit Yun Xing, so he decided he might as well get him a pair of blue-light-blocking glasses, just in case the little cat developed poor eyesight.
Yun Xing was delighted again. He happily rubbed his paws against the blanket.
“Then when can I go back?”
“Do you want to come back?” Tan Xu asked softly.
Yun Xing had only been home for half a day. It obviously wouldn’t be appropriate for him to come back so soon, but Tan Xu had always believed that what the little cat wanted mattered most.
Yun Xing glanced toward the door.
“Then you come pick me up!”
“Okay. But it’ll have to be in a couple of days.”
Yun Xing nodded his little head.
The two of them hadn’t been talking for very long when He Mi knocked on the door.
“Xingxing, it’s time to sleep.”
“I know!” Yun Xing called loudly.
Then he secretly hid the tablet under the blanket. He waited until he heard He Mi’s footsteps disappear down the hall before crawling under the covers himself.
The faint light from the tablet illuminated Yun Xing’s face, making his glassy eyes shimmer.
“Are you going to sleep?” Tan Xu asked.
Yun Xing shook his head. “But I’m not sleepy.”
“But if you don’t sleep, Auntie will take your tablet away,” Tan Xu warned him.
Yun Xing pouted. He wasn’t a tiny kitten anymore. He could live without a tablet. He was just worried that if he didn’t have it, Tan Xu wouldn’t be able to see him and might worry.
He pushed the tablet back up with his paw and crawled out from under the blanket.
“Then can you turn off the light for me?” Yun Xing rested his head on the pillow. “This little Bu doesn’t understand what I say. Just tell him, ‘Xiao Bu, turn off the light.’”
Tan Xu let out a soft laugh through his nose.
“Xiao Bu, turn off the light.”
The bedroom fell into darkness. Only the moonlight spilling through the window gently illuminated the floor and bed.
“You laughed just now, didn’t you?” Yun Xing demanded.
“No.”
“But I heard you.”
“Go to sleep,” Tan Xu said softly, his voice so quiet it seemed as though a breeze could scatter it. Yet in the silence of the night, every word was perfectly clear. “I’ll hang up after you fall asleep.”
Yun Xing didn’t reply.
It wasn’t long before the sound of a little cat snoring came through the speaker.
A cat’s purr sounded different from a human’s snore—soft and gentle.
Tan Xu was just about to end the call when he heard Yun Xing let out a sleepy little “Miao-ow.”
He couldn’t help shaking his head with a laugh.
He was even talking in his sleep.
Yun Xing was woken by two little birds outside.
He had been feeling rather bored and irritated at first, but when he listened carefully, he realized the birds were gossiping.
He suddenly sprang up from the bed and stood beneath the window, secretly eavesdropping.
The two little birds argued back and forth, and Yun Xing listened with great interest.
By the time He Mi came in to find him, the two birds had already gone three rounds arguing over who had eaten the bug that morning.
Seeing Yun Xing standing on the back of the sofa beside the window and looking outside, He Mi misunderstood what he was doing.
“What’s wrong? Do you want to go out and play today?”
Yun Xing hadn’t actually been standing there for that reason, but the misunderstanding happened to work in his favor. He really was bored, after all, so he happily agreed.
“Where should we go to play?”
After learning that the bug had been eaten by the bird on the left—the one with the slightly shriller voice—Yun Xing jumped down from the sofa.
He Mi scooped Yun Xing into her arms and smoothed down his fur. She was planning to take him shopping for some clothes.
She also wanted to take plenty of pictures of him. Although she wasn’t some hugely famous celebrity, she did have a certain level of recognition. Posting the pictures on Weibo would at least bring Yun Xing more attention than his own account could manage. Combined with Yun Liang’s following, it should be enough to give Yun Xing the spiritual power he needed to take human form.
Yun Hao had already gone to work, while Yun Liang was still sleeping in the bedroom.
He Mi tucked the little calico into her arms and headed out, still wearing the hat Tan Xu had given her.
There were all kinds of adorable little outfits in the pet supply store. He Mi picked up a pair of little cat ears and held them against Yun Xing’s head.
Yun Xing tilted his head and blinked at her.
“Why are we buying this?”
The sales clerk heard the little calico meowing and assumed he liked them.
“See? He likes them too.”
Yun Xing glanced at the sales clerk.
“I never said I liked them. Why do I need little cat ears anyway? I already have ears.”
He Mi tapped Yun Xing lightly on the forehead.
“So cute.”
Yun Xing watched suspiciously as He Mi picked out the clothes, packed them up, and paid for everything in one smooth motion without asking his opinion even once.
If Tan Xu had been here, he definitely would have asked whether Yun Xing liked them.
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