“Are you still going to Liuguang lately?”
“Don’t make it sound like I go there all the time. I’ve only been there twice—with you.”
“?”
“Add your new number, Brother Gu. Easier to stay in touch.”
“This phone doesn’t have a SIM card. No need to keep in touch.”
“?”
“Cutting yourself off from the world? What do you even use a phone without a SIM for?”
“Taking photos.”
“?”
After seeing Ouyang Xun off, Gu Yucheng glanced toward the room.
Behind the door, a cat’s tail flicked past.
Inside the room, Xia Lening hopped onto the bed and rested his chin in thought.
Gu Yucheng had quit his job?
Well, that made sense. Law firms were so busy—if he were still working, how could he spend all day revolving around a cat?
But why?
Gu Yucheng wasn’t the type to shout “love and freedom” and quit just to travel. On the contrary, to resist Gu Linli, he had chosen to study law in university and started interning as early as his sophomore year. Every holiday visit to his house had felt like watching a silent play between father and son.
“I originally wanted to take the cat with me, but at the time the cat didn’t really like me.”
Just listen to how pitiful that sounded. So Gu Yucheng knew he wasn’t exactly likable.
As for whether he’d be willing to go with him after the New Year…
Xia Lening thought that by next year, there was no guarantee he’d even still be with Gu Yucheng.
His “find a way to turn back into a human” plan had been delayed again and again.
He couldn’t keep dragging it out!
Another day, he’d help Gu Yucheng find a cat that loved traveling!
A miserable cry echoed from afar, so pitiful that Xia Lening almost didn’t recognize it.
Wasn’t that Wangcai? This cat had been all excited in the morning, saying Xiao Zhu would take him to buy New Year goods—why was he crying like this now?
Xia Lening hurried to the balcony to check.
Though he looked big and fierce, anyone who knew Wangcai understood he was actually very gentle.
Yet now, he snarled at Xiao Zhu, “Don’t touch me!”
As Xia Lening approached, he immediately understood.
Wangcai was wearing an Elizabethan collar.
Xia Lening felt both sympathy and sorrow.
Zhu Xiao comforted him, “You’re already five months old, Wangcai. All your cat friends at the pet hospital got vaccinated and neutered while they were there. You’ve already had your time showing off in front of them.”
Wangcai looked utterly dejected. The more Xia Lening listened, the more horrified he became.
Back when he wasn’t a cat, he thought neutering cats was perfectly natural.
Now that he was a cat himself, facing the risk of getting “snipped” as he grew older, he could no longer stay calm.
Thanks to Gu Yucheng’s wallet, all the stray cats had been vaccinated and neutered at the pet hospital. With Zhu Xiao promoting them as a pet blogger, every one of them had found proper adoptive homes.
Recalling the dazed expressions of those cats—eyes half-closed, tongues out—Xia Lening suddenly felt a chill below.
No way. He had to escape. He had to turn back into a human.
Suddenly, his body was lifted into the air.
“Pai Pai, time to eat—”
Still trapped in thoughts of imminent doom, Xia Lening reacted instinctively, letting out a scream and kicking free.
Caught completely off guard, Gu Yucheng, who got kicked in the face, trailed off, “…eat?”
Why wouldn’t he let him touch him again?
Was he already preparing to refuse going on the trip?
Was pretending to be pitiful useless too?
Gu Yucheng pressed his lips together, regret rising in his heart. He had been too impatient.
Xia Lening realized what he had done immediately after kicking him. Looking up at the paw print on Gu Yucheng’s face and his hurt expression, he sighed and moved closer to give a token apology.
Rubbing against his pant leg, he said, “Alright, alright, your fault, your fault. Don’t be upset. Where’s my food?”
Gu Yucheng blinked, then smiled and carried him to the table.
At first, Xia Lening hadn’t been used to being carried around. But later he discovered that with just a wave of a paw, he didn’t have to walk at all—and that felt pretty great. So he let it happen.
Since Gu Yucheng seemed fine, Xia Lening let the matter go.
After eating, they watched a movie. After the movie, Gu Yucheng even gave him a bath.
A fierce battle over a rubber duck ensued in the bathroom—Xia Lening emerged victorious.
Holding the little yellow duck, he sighed under the warm airflow of the hairdryer. “Gu Yucheng, how many more surprises are you hiding from me?”
Gu Yucheng carefully shielded his ears, blocking out most of the noise, directing the airflow around him so that only gentle warmth reached his fur.
“We still need to trim your nails.”
“I didn’t even scratch you.”
“If your claws get too long, they can break. You’ve experienced that before.”
“That time was clearly your fault!”
Gu Yucheng didn’t deny it. Once he confirmed the fur was fully dry and fluffy, he brought out the nail clippers.
Sitting cross-legged on the soft carpet in the living room, he held the little cat in his arms, back facing him, nestled between his legs in a warm and secure hold.
The tip of Xia Lening’s tail flicked uneasily.
Gu Yucheng said, “Where’s the basic trust between humans and cats?”
Xia Lening swallowed. “Hard to imagine that the word ‘trust’ would ever apply to us.”
“……”
Gu Yucheng gently lifted one of the little cat’s front paws. With a soft press of his thumb on the plush paw pad, five curved claws extended like blooming petals.
Xia Lening stared at his uncooperative claws, feeling nervous. “Gu Yucheng, have you heard that declawing a cat is like amputating the first joint of a human finger?”
“Don’t worry, Pai Pai. I looked it up. I won’t hurt you.”
“Theoretical knowledge can’t compare to practical experience.”
Gu Yucheng thought, And who exactly do you want to practice on you?
After a few snips, Xia Lening realized it didn’t hurt at all. His heart settled, and he began pestering his “servant.”
“Why aren’t you talking? Why aren’t you replying to me? Gu Yucheng? Gu Yucheng?”
“Feels like our relationship has gotten a bit cold lately. Could you talk more passionately? That might warm things back up.”
“Remember back in high school during physics competition training? One night it was really dark, and I suddenly needed to use the bathroom. You were already asleep, so I felt my way there in the dark, came back after, and climbed back into bed to sleep.”
Gu Yucheng: “……”
Liar. That night you had slept like a log.
Gu Yucheng patted the cat’s backside. “Done. Go to sleep.”
Xia Lening said, “Not sleeping.”
But once he got onto the bed, he fell asleep faster than anyone.
With the heater on, a subtle but pervasive warmth filled the entire room.
Gu Yucheng’s gaze first landed on the soft fur that rose and fell gently with each breath.
He reached out, tracing the outline of the little cat.
Xia Lening frowned slightly, letting out a soft purring sound, murmuring vaguely, “Gu Yucheng…”
Gu Yucheng held his breath, staring at the cat’s mouth, afraid to miss even a sound.
“I don’t want to be neutered…”
“……”
“Then you won’t be,” Gu Yucheng said, taking advantage of the moment to lightly touch the small bell area, smiling softly. “Feels pretty good.”
Xia Lening had always been a deep sleeper, so when he woke up groggily from thirst that night, he thoroughly cursed Gu Yucheng in his mind.
All because Gu Yucheng hadn’t given him water before bed.
He struggled to open his eyes—and met a pair of pitch-black pupils staring at him.
“!!”
A ghost?!
Xia Lening almost screamed.
Gu Yucheng asked, “Hungry?”
Xia Lening’s soul returned to his body. He shook his head.
“Need the bathroom?”
He shook his head again. “Want water.”
Gu Yucheng finally got it right. “Thirsty?”
Xia Lening nodded.
“Can you walk by yourself?”
After thinking for a moment, Xia Lening decided there was no reason not to use free labor. He shook his head.
Gu Yucheng carried him to the living room and used a syringe he had bought earlier to feed him some water.
After a few mouthfuls of warm water, Xia Lening was fully awake.
He glanced at the clock on the wall—it was already past three. He’d had two dreams already, and this guy still hadn’t slept?
“Gu Yucheng, why are you not sleeping in the middle of the night and pretending to be a ghost on the bed?”
Gu Yucheng replied, “Pai Pai and I have great tacit understanding. We always wake up at the same time in the middle of the night.”
Xia Lening was suspicious. Really? Every time he woke up, Gu Yucheng seemed to already be awake.
Something was off.
Very off.
The next day, Xia Lening sneakily carried the tablet away, shut the door, and made a post online.
“I have a friend who’s always been the ‘model child’ growing up. He got into a top university smoothly, but right before graduation, he quit his perfectly good law firm job, saying he wanted to travel. He stopped answering calls and messages, basically cutting himself off. But now he just stays at home all day revolving around a cat, and doesn’t sleep at night—just stares at the cat. What’s going on?”
He quickly received replies.
After reading through them, the entire cat froze in place.
“Try to get him to see a doctor. This might be a potential depressive tendency. Not sleeping at night, losing interest in things, and sudden changes in behavior patterns can be signs of depression or anxiety—especially abruptly giving up something he worked hard for.”
Gu Yucheng? Depressive tendencies? How could those two things possibly be connected?
“OP didn’t mention it, but I still want to ask—has anything major happened in his life recently? Sudden changes like this can sometimes stem from unspoken traumatic events.”
A major event?
Xia Lening traced his memories back.
When exactly had Gu Yucheng become like this?