Trailing A Yarn

Many days before Xiao Hui found Han Bingwen, and a few days before she even met Yuan-er, a black cat with white spots and bright green eyes was following the maid on her way.

He followed her and watched as she stopped by to stare at some portraits that were way too far for him to decipher. It was only when she walked away did the curious cat manage to get a closer look at them. 

The regal air of a King, though the title was now history, could be seen even in the withered parchment. 

Royal clothes better than anything ever worn by Emperors before, a holier than thou look contrasted with a gentle smile, the uncanny resemblance to the current ruler. The cat might be a demon, but he did know Han Bingwen, the King notorious for his escapade. 

Some time later, the maid stopped again in front of some portraits. Zimo was beginning to feel rather tired of this. Why couldn't she do something more interesting? The Lady would hardly be pleased with him if he brought this to her table. 

The cat was going to walk past the portraits until he realized that not all of them were of the previous King. A hideous looking woman with features exaggeratedly pointy and a crooked nose with a huge wart looked back at him. Though she looked nothing like this, Zimo figured that this was supposed to represent the maid. 

So that girl was not just an ordinary maid; she was a Royal maid, thought the cat. The Royals truly were cowards who ran away in even the tiniest of dilemmas. Even if she was not a high member, he would bet that she would turn her nose up at him. After all, was that not what the class system dictated?

Sometime during his thoughts, the maid had turned into a corner and disappeared. Zimo sniffed the air and immediately wrinkled his cat nose in distaste. The strong, putrid smell of durian made him wish to barf. He would never be able to scent her from here. 

So he walked slightly further away until he reached the crossroad where Xiao Hui had taken the turn in. He started off towards right, but quickly scrambled back to the left when he smelled more durian there. 

It was three days after that when something remotely slightly fateful happened. Unfortunately it did not involve that maid. 

He had lost trail of her since he last saw her with a young boy. They met up nearly everyday and all they did was talk. Then one day, out of the blue, the boy went somewhere and Xiao Hui followed him. Where they went, the cat did not know, for they walked amongst dark alleys until they vanished behind shadows. 

Zimo had been frantic but that lasted for less than a minute before he spotted a large string of yarn on the ground. He had stared at it with no little surprise but then simply shrug it off. Perhaps it was left by some old lady. 

Initially he had planned to ignore it and try to scent Xiao Hui, but the yarn was extremely tempting. It glistened under the sun, making it look bright yellow. 

Yellow like Lady Jia's dress. 

Zimo tugged one end of the string and gave a pleasant gasp when it moved. With his paws, he carefully pushed the yarn until it was rolling. When it stopped, he pushed it again. And again. And again. 

Oomph!

His delicate head bumped into the legs of someone. That someone was tall but not as tall as his Lady. In fact, she was definitely more than a head shorter than her. 

"What do we have here?" Her hand came closer to him. She quickly retracted it, however, when she saw who it was. "A mangy beast!" How rude. 

Subtly, he sniffed her daxiushan. Pthooy. It smelled worse than any of the durians. Completely doused with cheap skate scents, who was this woman planning to seduce? Zimo turned up his nose at her. 

He expected her to look affronted and leave him, but she seemed pleased instead. 

"Such elegance," she gushed. Elegance? Well, Zimo did not mind being called that. He was nothing short of elegant. But what was it that he had done that he earned this praise?

His sharp eyes caught the tail of a fleeting mouse. If his fur was mangy, then its was a million times worse. Its tail looked like it had been bitten and chewed and then spat out. 

Wondering what the other was thinking about the unseemly sight, he looked up at the woman in front of him. Her eyes were also on the mouse and her lips were pursed with disgust, exactly like he expected. Sensing his glance, she smiled down at him with full teeth. Because of her bright red lips, it looked hideous.

She was speaking to him. "You look a....bit rough around the edges but I believe I could make you look much, much better."

Who was she to look down on him? Oh wait, the class system dictated so. But it was not as if she knew he was a demon so what was her problem? 

The woman nudged him, not gently, and led him to a house that was so large, it rivalled that of the Royal palace. The soldiers at the entrance bowed at her when she entered the grounds. It was almost as if she was one of those Royals herself. 

As quick as a lady would with people watching her moves in every corner, she took him to her chambers and ordered her maids to prepare a bath. The maids and servants bowed at her as if she were the Empress Dowager herself. Zimo seriously began to wonder if he was demon-napped into another empire's palace. Zhong Wu [1], perhaps. 

The new Empress Dowager plopped him into a huge, huge, huge bathtub and began to scrub him all over. She was horrible at it; her hands would scrape him roughly, making his body itch. The cat demon wondered why she did not leave the work to the maids. She seemed like a spoilt young mistress and this did not seem like something she would do herself. 

When she was finally done with washing him, he was wrapped in a cloth that looked so expensive, he wanted to steal it. Who was stopping him anyways? Even that goody two shoes maid Xiao Hui had stolen a shawl (she did pay for it, but still) so he, a cat demon, had no qualms about doing so. 

A master plan began forming in his head. This woman would most certainly let him go after she inevitably gets bored of him. He would leave in the dead of night whilst she is asleep and he will take anything that catches his eyes. Anything small enough for him carry, that is. 

He will have to change into his more human-like form, but that was a minor problem. The only downside was that he would have no excuse to make if she wakes up and sees an unfamiliar man swiping things from her house. 

"You," she said as she finished wiping him. She even dressed him up and brushed his fur, making him look every part of a spoilt mistress' cat. "You belong to me now, okay." 

It had been two weeks since then. Zimo was yet to take the things and leave. Every time he tried to escape, the lady would somehow appear out of thin air and take him back. 

The cat demon wondered if his Lady had figured out that he was trapped. Most likely not otherwise he would be demon-napped back to the brothel by now. 

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[1] Zhong Wu is another fictional city which is located just nearby Bei Yi (the fictional city where the story takes place in).

Question:

Have you ever taken in a stray?