“Ring-ring-ring—”
Hang Sheng was still using the alarm clock she’d set up during her working days. The relentless wake-up alarm went off with a jarring blast at exactly 7:30 a.m. As usual, she closed her eyes to brace herself for the jarring sound. Just a second before the incessant ringing was about to fade away on its own, she manually turned off the alarm.
Hang Sheng was in the habit of quickly scrolling through her phone for a few minutes before getting out of bed. She had an unread message on WeChat—a message sent by Gan Xuezhen right on time at 7:30 a.m.
AAA Xueji Mixed Nuts Supplier: [Woke up yet? I bought you something. It’s being delivered this morning. Remember to pick it up on your way home from work.]
Hang Sheng hadn’t told anyone but her sister about losing her job, so naturally she wouldn’t tell Gan Xuezhen, with whom she’d never gotten along. The package had been sent to her parents’ house, and since it wasn’t convenient for her to travel thirty kilometers to pick it up, she planned to ask the delivery driver to forward it to her later.
Hang Sheng felt unworthy of the gift and was suspicious of his motives: [Did you do something to wrong me? Why are you suddenly buying me stuff? And did your girlfriend approve? I’m not about to ruin your relationship.]
Gan Xuezhen must have been driving, because he immediately sent a voice message: “Girlfriend? How come I don’t know I have one? Hang Sheng, just wait—I’m going to sue you for defamation.”
“Besides, do you need a reason to give a gift? I buy things for your mom, your dad, your little sister, and even that damn magpie at your place that calls me an asshole. If I didn’t buy you a gift, that’d be discrimination. If people found out, they’d think I’m being petty and picking on you.”
Hang Sheng recalled her high school days, when she and Gan Xuezhen had been arguing over the answer to a math problem in the bushes of their apartment complex. They’d been spotted by a nosy neighbor, and by the end of the day, rumors had spread that the two of them had been in an early romance and had then broken up. Knowing she was in the wrong regarding the fake girlfriend story, Hang Sheng meekly apologized.
“All right, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have spread rumors about you. Next time I go back, I’ll definitely bring a gift and come over in person to apologize.”
Gan Xuezhen listened to the pitiful-sounding female voice on the speaker a few times, then chuckled softly: “Mm-hmm, I’ll remember that. You have to hand it to me in person—don’t just say it.”
“Of course. By the way, thanks for the gift.” ” After thanking her, Hang Sheng remembered what Fang Huajun had said last night about her loud voice, and it had been gnawing at her. “By the way, I want to ask you something—do you think I have a loud voice?”
Gan Xuezhen replied teasingly, “Well, I could definitely hear you cursing me in your head.”
“……” Hang Sheng slammed her phone shut.
Hang Sheng always brushed her teeth half-heartedly, but only after her dentist practically threatened her with a strict order did she timidly realize the seriousness of the situation.
She was supposed to use the Bass brushing technique and brush for at least two minutes. Worried she wouldn’t brush long enough, Hang Sheng decided to just hold the toothbrush in her mouth and head downstairs for a quick walk to check on the cats—figuring she’d have plenty of time by the time she got back upstairs.
On her way downstairs, quite a few cats greeted her, but Hang Sheng still couldn’t get used to these creatures with their bizarre appearances. When a slightly sleazy, bald cat with a thick accent slurred a greasy “Hey” at her, she choked for a long time.
Hmm… so cute—just like a ghost.
As she reached the middle of the staircase on the bottom floor, the front door suddenly swung open from the outside, and a woman in her thirties walked in.
Hang Sheng guessed she was in her thirties, not because the woman looked particularly mature, but because of the stern aura she exuded.
The woman was very tall, wearing a well-tailored business suit. Her hair was meticulously pulled back, and though her features were delicate, she was serious and reserved—the kind of person who likely held a high-ranking position in the workplace.
Since she knew the door code, even if she wasn’t a family member of Fang Huajun, she must be a close friend or something similar.
Hang Sheng couldn’t figure it out, so she asked directly, “Hello, who are you?”
“Fang Huaiyi,” the woman gave her a very polite smile. “Huai Jun’s older sister.”
“Oh, hello. I’m Hang Sheng, Fang Huai Jun’s new hire.” Wearing her pajamas and with her mouth full of foam, Hang Sheng felt a bit embarrassed by her current disheveled appearance. She forced herself to remain calm and said, “He’s downstairs right now. Should I go get him for you?”
“No need,” Fang Huaiyi said, looking straight at her. “I came here specifically to see you.”
“See me?” It felt as if the mint-flavored foam had gone down her throat. Hang Sheng coughed several times to keep herself—a fish that had taken human form and washed ashore—from blowing bubbles and revealing her true identity.
“Yes, to see you,” Fang Huaiyi nodded. “There’s no rush. Go wash up first.”
Hang Sheng finished her morning routine in a flash, changed her clothes, and then went back downstairs.
Fang Huaiyi was sitting on the living room sofa. Aside from Hang Tian, who was always looking for trouble, the other cats were all kept at a safe distance by her stern demeanor.
Hang Sheng poured her a cup of hot water, then sat across from her and asked curiously, “You said earlier that you came to see me?”
Fang Huaiyi replied, “Yes. I wanted to know if Fang Huaijun really hired someone.”
“Is that really important?” Hang Sheng didn’t understand. “To be honest, I don’t think it matters if he doesn’t hire anyone during this time—he can take good care of the kittens all by himself.”
Fang Huaiyi exchanged a glance with Hang Tian. “I have no doubt about that, but he never seems to take good care of himself.”
Hang Sheng furrowed her brow, not understanding the point of her saying this to her: “Before I started this job, Fang Huaijun specifically emphasized that he himself is not within my scope of responsibility.”
Fang Huaiyi looked at her and suddenly smiled, showing no resentment at her strict delineation of responsibilities: “That’s exactly why I’m here today. I’d like to pay you double your regular salary to ask you to provide him with some appropriate care.”
Double? That meant a daily wage of 2,000, and during the fifteen-day Spring Festival holiday, his daily wage would soar to 6,000—a sum that added up to an astronomical figure.
Hang Sheng couldn’t help but be tempted, but her conscience prevented her from accepting the offer rashly.
She admitted frankly, “I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong person. I don’t have any experience caring for others.”
Although Hang Sheng was the older sister, she’d never been as level-headed as Hang Zheng since childhood; in fact, she’d been the one who’d relied on her younger sister’s care more often than not.
Fang Huaiyi said, “It’s okay. You just need to treat him like a cat, and I won’t make any demands or evaluate your performance.”
As she spoke, she pulled out a business card: “You can think it over. Let me know if you’re interested.”
Before leaving, she set down a paper bag: “I bought you guys some cake. Make sure to eat it today. I have to head to the office now. I’ll be off.”
Take care of Fang Huaijun like she takes care of a cat? Hang Sheng thought back to how she treated her cat—feeding, watering, cleaning up after, putting it to bed, giving it kisses and hugs, and lifting it high. As a young woman, was it appropriate for her to treat a grown man this way?
Hang Sheng mulled it over for quite a while and ultimately came to a negative conclusion. Occasionally, she hated her ill-timed sense of conscience, which had caused her to miss out on a windfall for no good reason, but there was nothing she could do about it—she was just that kind of incorrigible person who pursued high moral standards.
After a quick lunch break, Hang Sheng returned downstairs to start her afternoon work: administering medication to a few cats, doing their physical therapy, and brushing their fur to keep the house from looking like a snowstorm. Plus, today’s cat menu called for some fresh meat that needed cooking, so she had to study the recipe carefully.
With these thoughts in mind, Hang Sheng headed downstairs, just in time to see Fang Huaijun sitting on the floor assembling a large cat tree. Two heavy little “piglets” were perched on his hunched back, while Hang Tian—that little rascal who refused to sleep—was treating the fuzzy hem of Fang Huaijun’s shirt like a toy, occasionally lifting and tugging at the hem, causing his slender waist to appear and disappear from view.
So Fang Huaijun wasn’t as skinny as he looked on the surface, Hang Sheng thought, letting her mind wander a bit.
Seeing her approach, Fang Huaijun casually handed her a small box with a delivery slip attached: “Your package.”
“Thanks.” Hang Sheng glanced at the shipping label. Inside the box was the same perfume she’d broken last time. Gan Xuezhen had really hit the nail on the head—no wonder everyone who knew him praised his thoughtfulness. She did feel a bit swayed.
Fang Huaijun added, “Try not to use it at home.”
Hang Sheng snapped out of her thoughts about how she should repay Gan Xuezhen, nodded, and quickly explained her professional situation: “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. This was a gift from a friend—he doesn’t know I’m currently working for little cats.”
Fang Huaijun acknowledged her with a “Mm-hmm” and went back to assembling the cat tree he was working on.
Installing the cat climbing frame was a major undertaking. Fang Huaijun must have just started; he was currently wrapping the posts with rope—clearly, the frame was also serving as a scratching post.
Hang Sheng stared at the fluorescent magenta yarn and grumbled, “This must have been a random selection, right? How could the seller have sent such a dreadful color?”
Fang Huaijun’s movements faltered slightly. He stared at the piece of yarn in his palm and said, “Yeah, the seller said it was random.”
Hang Sheng didn’t press the issue, however, and quickly adopted a more positive attitude: “But it’s actually pretty nice. Winter is the perfect time to add some bright colors—otherwise, looking out at all that withered yellow just makes me feel so gloomy. Plus, I can tell the kittens really love it; even though it’s not finished yet, they’re already lining up to climb all over it.”
Hang Sheng smiled gently, her eyes crinkling—a sight that reminded Fang Huaijun of that sparrow on the yellow-cedar tree, always moving with such lightness, singing cheerful tunes on sunny days.
After confirming that Fang Huaijun needed no help, the two of them went about their business quietly in the same room, just like ordinary coworkers. Before long, night fell.
Fang Huaijun put the freshly cleaned cat tree in place and made it ready for use. After saying a quick word to Hang Sheng—who was covered head to toe in a “coat” of cat hair—he poured a bowl of cat food and headed back downstairs.
For some reason, Hang Sheng suddenly thought of Fang Huaiyi. She plucked a clump of cat hair from her clothes, rolled it into a ball, and, feigning nonchalance, called out to Fang Huaijun: “By the way, your sister came by this morning.”
Fang Huaijun seemed to guess the purpose of his sister’s visit and said meaningfully, “She must have come specifically to see you. If she makes any demands of you, just ignore them—you’re only employed by me.”
“Mm-hmm,” Hang Sheng also thought the request from that morning was unreasonable, so she didn’t plan to bring up the matter of taking care of him. Instead, she changed the subject: “She also brought you some desserts. I put them in the fridge. Go take them downstairs and eat them—she said they won’t last until tomorrow.”
Fang Huaijun took the desserts out of the fridge, placed them on the dining table, and asked, “Didn’t she tell you to eat them with me?”
He seemed to know his sister very well, having guessed her intentions and words perfectly.
Hang Sheng nodded sheepishly. “She did say that…”
“Then come sit over here. It won’t last until tomorrow.” Fang Huaijun opened the box and slid one of the cakes toward her seat.
They were two exquisitely beautiful coconut-scented, multicolored purple rice mango layered cakes, but Fang Huaijun wasn’t impressed. He merely brought one to his nose for a quick sniff before swallowing it in a few expressionless bites.
It was a complete waste of such a delicacy. Hang Sheng added Fang Huaijun to the top of her list of people unsuitable for fancy dinners—he was far more annoying than that clueless oaf Gan Xuezhen.
Watching Fang Huajun about to head downstairs again with his plate of “cat food”—it seemed he did this at every meal—Hang Sheng couldn’t bear the thought of him silently munching on cat food in the pitch-black, gloomy basement, so she stopped him once more.
“Um, while it’s true that people can eat cat food, I don’t think it’s a good idea to make it your main source of nutrition over the long term. Think about it—cat food has such high levels of protein and minerals that eating it could cause significant damage to your kidneys and bones. Plus, the ingredients definitely don’t meet the nutritional needs of the human body, which can easily lead to malnutrition. Have you heard about the consequences of malnutrition? It’s terrifying!”
Fang Huaijun looked at the young woman standing a head shorter than him, blocking his path. As he listened to her beat around the bush—delivering a long-winded monologue that never got to the point—he asked with a half-smile, “So, Ms. Cat Expert—or should I say, nutrition expert—what professional advice are you trying to give me with all this?”
Hang Sheng lifted her head, staring into his light-colored eyes. Furrowing her brow, she urged him earnestly, “Fang Huaijun, please don’t eat cat food anymore.”
Under the warm yellow light, the cat hairs clinging to the girl’s clothes became visible; even her smooth, flawless face seemed to be covered in fine fuzz, making her look soft and gentle—like a lovely, in-season peach with a rosy blush.
Fang Huaijun seemed amused by her words and let out a soft chuckle. He gazed intently at the girl glowing in the lamplight and said, “Hang Sheng, if you’d like, you can come find me downstairs later. I’ll tell you why—but please take a shower and change into clean clothes before you come.”
Author’s Note:
Fang Huaijun: So… if I were a cat, I’d get kisses, hugs, and be picked up high in the air? (For Hang Sheng’s sake, I’ll turn into a cat-human hybrid~ For Hang Sheng’s sake, I’ll eat cat food~)
Hang Sheng: Um… Stop, stop, stop! That’s no excuse for eating cat food!