VI

Waking up the next day, Ling Mao Er found himself sprawled on Mu Mu's chest. He clearly remembered Mu Mu lifting the sleepy and disoriented him onto the pillow the previous night before carefully and quietly laying down beside him.

Cats generally slept very lightly, and Ling Mao Er wasn't an exception, but the scent on Mu Mu's body had a soothing and sleep-inducing effect, immersing him in sweet dreams the entire night. He didn't even have any recollection of how he moved from the pillow to Mu Mu's chest.

With his movement, Mu Mu woke up. He glanced at the time, eyes still heavy with sleep, rubbing the Siamese' head in passing.

"Awake? Let me get up and prepare you some food."

He really is a competent servant, Ling Mao Er lazily stretched, being able to live with this kind of person isn't bad.

He wasn't saying that the Ke Le who slaved away and bore with his bullying wasn't good enough, but Ke Le didn't smell as fragrant as Mu Mu.

Oh, that's right! His fragrance! Ling Mao Er finally remembered, he had almost forgotten the purpose of his trip this time.

He immediately jumped off the bed, slipping into the washroom. Ever since infiltrating Mu Mu's home yesterday, he still hasn't entered this room.

The shampoo and body wash that Mu Mu used were orderly arranged on the shelf, Ling Mao Er carefully planned his path, and, with a graceful leap, he landed steadily on his target.

A strong whiff of chemically manufactured artificial scent rose to his nose, Ling Mao Er uncomfortably sneezed a few times.

Mu Mu had been brushing his teeth with his head lowered and raised his eyes when he heard the sound, looking towards the origin of the sound through the mirror. The mischievous Siamese had jumped onto the shelf for some reason, the limited space was barely enough for its paws to squeeze into, it must have worked hard to get up there.

However, getting down isn't as easy as going up. The Siamese desperately tried to find a way down while shaking his head and sneezing but because of the limited space, he couldn't find a place to land, it was quite a comical sight.

Mu Mu hurriedly rinsed his mouth, lifting the Siamese down while resisting his urge to smile, "I took my eyes off you for a moment and you become naughty, why did you go up there?"

Ling Mao Er was a bit upset. It seems that the scent on Mu Mu's body did not actually come from those chemical shampoos, it was a pure and natural scent that made caused people (or cats) to yearn for, definitely not something those man-made products could compare to.

Mu Mu thought for a moment and his thoughts unavoidably went off on a tangent.

"You wanted to use the washroom? Shoot[1], I don't have a litter box at home, what to do?"

[1]糟糕 (zāo gāo) – Mu Mu is a polite and cultured person, this actually translates to "what bad luck" or "how terrible".

Mu Mu debated over whether he should head out now to buy a litter box but worried that the Siamese cat couldn't wait.

"Do you know how to use the toilet? Could you make do for now? I'll go to the pet store to buy cat litter after."

Pervert! He dares to say in such a roundabout way that he wants to watch me use the washroom!

The Siamese hit the latter's face with its tail, loftily jumped out of his arms, landed on the ground and arrogantly stalked off.

Mu Mu, "… …"

It seems that it is necessary to prepare a cat litter box.

Mu Mu finished washing up and say the Siamese aloofly sitting atop the dining room table.

It was the very obvious kind of aloofness, the back and forth swinging of the tail was practically saying "You're too slow, hurry up and serve breakfast."

Mu Mu chuckled, pouring the remainder of the milk for it.

"Really sorry but I only have this at home. I'll buy you some delicious food for you later, okay?"

Feeding someone milk for two meals in a row, even Mu Mu felt a bit embarrassed.

How about he just cut down a stem of the hanging orchids for it to chew on.

Ling Mao Er eagerly lapped at the milk. The taste was ordinary today, it didn't have the special taste from yesterday, which was a bit disappointing.

Mu Mu brought over a cup and plate, pulled out the chair at the side to eat. Ling Mao Er took the opportunity to examine the other's breakfast: plain water, a plate of completely bland salad, he didn't even have an egg.

Mu Mu discovered the Siamese' interest in his breakfast, "You want to eat this? It doesn't have anything you can eat though."

Ling Mao Er contemptuously turned his head away, refusing to eat the leafy greens.

"Ah, I've heard that some cats like to eat corn?"

A tantalizing scent wafted up to Ling Mao Er's nose. Mu Mu had used his fork to pick out some kernels of corn to place by his mouth.

It just happened to be the type of cat that liked to eat corn, but it had just seen Mu Mu use the fork so it was a bit hesitant.

"You don't like it?" Mu Mu began to withdraw the fork.

I'm a cat and he's human. Using the same fork, he suffers more losses, Ling Mao Er thought, since Mu Mu doesn't mind, then what am I conflicted about?

Thinking until here, Ling Mao Er no longer debated over it and ate the kernels of corn on the fork.

Mu Mu saw that the cat liked it, so he picked out all the corn in the salad before using the same fork to finish the plate of disassembled salad.

Curiously, although the milk didn't have the special taste, there were some traces on the corn. Ling Mao Er finally realized that the origin of the taste was Mu Mu, not the milk or the corn.

It couldn't be that he put his saliva in my milk, right? Ling Mao Er contemplated.

The time was 8 o'clock. Oh no, Ling Mao Er suddenly remembered, there's still work today.

Having eaten and drinking its fill, it ran to the doorway, meowing repeatedly at the closed door, its intention obvious.

"You want to leave?" At this moment, Mu Mu remembered that this doesn't seem to be a homeless cat, perhaps it was being raised by someone and had come out to play by itself.

Despite having been together for just a day, he was already reluctant to part with it. However, it wasn't his cat after all, maybe the other party's owner was desperately searching everywhere for it now.

"Alright then," Mu Mu crouched down, reluctantly rubbing its head, "obediently go home, don't randomly run off okay? If you get captured by a bad person to use for breeding, you wouldn't be able to return home again."

Breeding? Ling Mao Er was appalled.

Mu Mu opened the door just a sliver and the Siamese gracefully slipped out, disappearing down the hall in the blink of an eye. No reluctance or hesitation at all, it didn't even look back at him. Mu Mu was a bit worried, could it really return home? Hopefully nothing unexpected would happen.

In a certain apartment two floors away, a black-faced Ke Le opened the door. There were fresh scratch marks left on the wall by a cat.

Ling Mao Er aimed at the small opening of the door and agilely slipped in. Ke Le expressionlessly closed the door again.

"You are becoming more and more unreasonable, Mao Er," Ke Le rolled up his sleeved to settle old scores, "in the past, when you disappeared, you would at least give me a heads up and you would never do something like not returning at night. Honestly tell me, did you go out to mix [2] with female cats last night?"

[2]厮混 (sī hùn) – phrase meaning "to hang out together with", is a derogatory term. He's suggesting that Ling Mao Er went out to took for female cats to randomly mate with.

Human form Ling Mao Er rummaged through the closet to look for clothes suitable for today, ignoring Ke Le's nagging.

"What's the plan for today?"

Responsible and diligent Ke Le reflexively reported, "Meeting with the advertising company before noon and an appointment for an interview with a magazine company in the afternoon."

"Which company's magazine?"

""Minus""

Ling Mao Er thought for a moment, it seemed to be a well-known magazine.

However, he would rather be on"Kitty Magazine", it was rumored that cats selected to be featured on the cover will be awarded a year's worth of canned food, one sponsored by his favorite brand.

"Oh right, is the new edition of"Kitty"out?" Ling Mao Er asked while changing.

What Ke Le wanted to avoid the most was asked, who knew why Ling Mao Er was so obsessed with the magazine, he could obviously afford the canned food but he still insisted on winning the reward. He really couldn't understand the thoughts of a cat.

However, the other party had already asked so he could only vaguely answer, "Ah, it as come out. I've seen it, there wasn't anything interesting."

Ling Mao Er perceptively noticed his anomaly and his movements stopped.

"Bring it over for me to see."

"You're going to be late." Ke Le kindly reminded him.

"I want to see."

Ke Le was unable to change his mind and could only dig out the magazine that was very obviously hidden away under the coffee table.

"Here."

He handed it over.

Ling Mao Er's face darkened after seeing the cover, it was that Ragdoll acting cute again. It had obviously already been on the cover four months ago, why is it hanging on and not leaving?

"Did you forget to submit my picture to the magazine?"

"How is that possible? I email them one every month!"

"Then how come I haven't been chosen? The last few months, it had been Ragdolls, Maine Coons, cream-point Himalayan, which one is better than me?"

The Ling Mao Er who couldn't even remember the sponsor's face was actually incredibly familiar [3] with the covers of every publication of the pets magazine.

[3]如数家珍 (rú shǔ jiā zhēn) – an idiom meaning "as if enumerating one's family valuables", to be very familiar with a matter.