“How does it feel to you, Zhao Jin?” Lu Ran lowered his head, looking at the orange cat whose eyes were wide open.
Under the effects of the Swift Movement Technique, one person and one cat moved forward rapidly. Behind them, colorful fireworks slowly rose into the air and blossomed.
“We’re almost there.” Zhao Jin rubbed his paw against the fabric on Lu Ran’s shoulder. His ears twitched as he deliberately changed the subject.
Lu Ran’s brow stirred slightly. He thought to himself that perhaps Zhao Jin was afraid of interacting with other humans.
That made sense. After all these years, if he had wanted to integrate into human society, he would have done so long ago.
But Zhao Jin had stayed at the school all these years, which showed a genuine desire to learn. Auditing classes all the time was not a real solution either. Some courses required hands-on practice, and once they reached university, there would be even more experimental classes.
He could have Mom and Grandma try to persuade him. Just let Zhao Jin give it a try first. If it did not work out, they could handle withdrawing later.
Seeing the lights of the Shen residence in the distance, Lu Ran quietly made up his mind.
“Yeah, we’re almost there,” Lu Ran echoed, not bringing up the topic of school again for the time being.
Zhao Jin secretly let out a breath of relief. It was true that he needed to build a relationship with his son, but he could do that perfectly well by following along as a cat. There was no need to attend classes, do homework, and take exams, right?
Zhao Jin had never imagined that his son had already thought as far ahead as his university. It could only be described as extremely thorough.
The Swift Movement Technique carried one person and one cat straight into the bedroom, entering through the window.
The light was on inside the room. Lu Luoluo was sitting at the desk, staring nervously at her phone screen.
She had received Lu Ran’s message and had quietly slipped over.
When she heard the sound of the window being pushed open, she turned her head and saw Lu Ran and the orange cat on his shoulder emerge from a glow of golden light. She immediately stood up from her chair.
Zhao Jin jumped down from Lu Ran’s shoulder and transformed into human form in front of the two of them.
Acting as a cat in front of his son did not matter, but knowing that Lu Luoluo was his child’s future mother, Zhao Jin did not really want to appear before her in the form of a cat.
Lu Ran did not think much of it and simply assumed that Zhao Jin wanted to meet his mother in human form.
Lu Luoluo first looked at Lu Ran and saw that there was a smile at the corner of her son’s lips. His mental state was unexpectedly good.
“Mom, I’m fine,” Lu Ran said. He had only reported his safety through his phone earlier, and now he finally explained the situation in detail. “It was the effect of Da Ju’s spell. It’s already stabilized now, and this kind of situation won’t happen again in the future.”
Lu Luoluo nodded and let out a breath of relief. Then she looked over the young man beside her son. Hmm, things had been too rushed earlier. She had not had the chance at all to properly observe what her cat looked like in human form.
The difference between his human form and cat form was huge, yet their temperament was surprisingly similar, and both were good-looking. His hair was actually black, not orange. It looked soft and fluffy, probably very nice to touch.
Huh, Zhao Jin was actually a bit shorter than her son?
Lu Luoluo could not help opening her mouth, asking the exact same question as her son had earlier. “…How old are you this year?”
Did a divine cat grow at the same pace as humans?
“…Sixteen.” Zhao Jin realized that he could very easily read the meaning in the young woman’s eyes in front of him.
He suddenly regretted not reporting his age as a little higher earlier, and not making himself a bit taller.
Zhao Jin had always been in the form of a kitten as a cat, while his growth rate in human form was roughly the same as that of humans. Even now, he was still not as tall as his son.
But spells could be used to lengthen bones.
What if he lengthened himself by one centimeter every day? After a week, he would be taller than his son. Zhao Jin felt an eager urge to give it a try.
“Sixteen?” Lu Luoluo was somewhat astonished. She had not expected the divine cat to be the same age as herself.
That made sense. Sixteen was exactly the age to be in the first year of high school. No wonder she had seen Zhao Jin on the classroom windowsill before. He must have been there to audit classes.
Lu Luoluo thought to herself somewhat self-righteously. If even a cat was so eager to learn, then the fact that she used to sleep in class, read comics, and play games at night was really far too decadent.
Lu Luoluo could not help saying, “Since you can transform into human form, do you want to go to school with us?”
The girl’s gaze was eager, carrying obvious sympathy, and even a trace of self-reflection.
Zhao Jin: ?
No, why was there no way to escape this?
Lu Ran smiled, thinking that his mother and he were indeed in great sync. There was no need for him to bring it up himself.
Zhao Jin said, “How about asking Madam Lu Mingzhu for her opinion? After all, things like procedures and household registration would all require troubling her to help make arrangements.”
His mother-in-law probably would not agree to letting a cat attend school together with her daughter and grandson, right?
Lu Luoluo’s eyes lit up. Relying on her understanding of Madam Lu Mingzhu, she guaranteed confidently, “She will definitely agree.”
The topic was set aside for the time being. Lu Luoluo then told Lu Ran about the excuse she had used to hide things from Old Madam Shen, earning a remembered look of gratitude from her son, along with the comforting words, “Mom, you’ve worked hard.”
After a while, she said goodbye to Lu Ran and Zhao Jin and returned to her own bedroom.
That night, Lu Luoluo fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow, sleeping soundly.
Lu Ran also fell asleep very quickly.
Ever since his hearing had become more sensitive, falling asleep required a bit of effort. But tonight, before going to sleep, Zhao Jin had specially taught Lu Ran a spell to block out excess sounds.
Zhao Jin, meanwhile, transformed back into his cat form, lying motionless on a soft pillow, his amber-colored eyes wide open as he stared until dawn.
…
“Lu Ran?” Early in the morning, on the second floor, Shen Rong appeared with dark circles under his eyes. When he saw the other person walking toward the stairwell, he was immediately startled.
He was back already?
“Morning,” Lu Ran said with a smile.
Shen Rong inwardly believed that Lu Ran was a demon. Not wanting to appear jumpy in front of a demon and embarrass humanity, he immediately furrowed his brows slightly and, thinking himself calm and composed, nodded and replied, “Morning.”
“Once you’re done greeting each other, come down and eat. Don’t just linger by the stairs,” Old Master Shen called out loudly from the first floor, holding his bowl as he finished the last mouthful of porridge.
Old Master Shen was always the earliest riser in the Shen household. After finishing breakfast, he would head to the park to walk his beloved thrush bird.
Lu Ran and Shen Rong went downstairs to eat breakfast. Old Master Shen picked up the birdcage and went out, heading for the park.
After a while, when the two of them were almost done eating, Madam Lu Mingzhu, Old Madam Shen, and Lu Luoluo arrived in the living room one after another.
The orange kitten was squatting nearby, its form concealed. Only Lu Ran could see it.
Lu Luoluo knew that Zhao Jin could turn invisible, so it was not strange that she did not see the kitten.
When they had come as guests yesterday, there had been no cat. Today, a cat had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Grandpa and Grandma would definitely find it strange, so staying invisible was for the best.
Taking advantage of the moment when the ladies were eating, Shen Rong shot Lu Ran a look and went into one of the rooms on the second floor.
Lu Ran lifted his brows slightly and got up to follow.
Shen Rong said, “You’re not an ordinary person, right?”
Lu Ran nodded.
He really was not ordinary anymore. According to what Zhao Jin had said, he could even cultivate spells.
Shen Rong asked, “Then do you have certification?”
Lu Ran looked puzzled. ?
“I mean a demon certificate. Do you have an official status? And last night, that one, it was a cat demon, right?”
Lu Ran paused for a moment. “…Do you want to see it?”
Shen Rong said, “So you do have one, right? You’re not going to break the law or anything, right?”
Lu Ran replied, “No.”
Shen Rong let out a sigh of relief, not noticing that Lu Ran had actually not answered the questions about demon certification or official status at all. “That’s good.” Then he asked again, “Luoluo should know, right? Does Auntie know about it?”
Lu Ran said, “They know.”
“I’ll keep it confidential,” Shen Rong said, frowning slightly. “As long as you don’t do anything bad.”
Lu Ran replied, “…I believe you.”
Compared to him, Shen Rong looked far less like a good person, didn’t he?
Shen Rong strangely read the look in Lu Ran’s eyes. “I just dyed my hair, okay?”
“And you don’t pay attention in class, don’t do your homework, and don’t even show up for exams,” Lu Ran listed one by one, his expression flat.
Shen Rong: “…” His roommate was definitely a model good demon of the new era.
Zhao Jin, lying nearby, twitched his ears.
He had never encountered others of his kind, nor had any relevant authorities ever come looking for him. Where would a demon certificate even come from?
…
After breakfast, Old Madam Shen and Madam Lu Mingzhu planned to go out shopping.
“Spring is about to start. We need to buy the children some spring clothes,” Old Madam Shen suggested.
But the winter clothes in the wardrobe from last time had not even been worn through once yet. Recalling the fear of being dominated by trying on clothes, Shen Rong’s expression stiffened.
The corners of Lu Ran’s lips, which had been lifted, also stiffened a little.
“Then since everyone is here today, let’s go shopping together,” Madam Lu Mingzhu agreed wholeheartedly.
Once the two elder ladies had made the decision, the remaining juniors had no room to object. Even if Old Master Shen were present, he would not be able to change the outcome.
Besides, the old gentleman had been farsighted. He had slipped away early, deliberately saying that he would not be back until noon.
Lu Luoluo did not object either. This was practically an annual tradition.
Although today was the second day of the Lunar New Year, many shopping malls were already open for business.
Taking advantage of the time while changing clothes, Lu Luoluo slipped into Madam Lu Mingzhu’s room and gave a brief report about what had happened the previous night.
“This is such a big matter. You should have told me last night,” Madam Lu Mingzhu said reproachfully after learning the full sequence of events. Then she pondered for a moment. “Since Zhao Jin can transform and is only sixteen, at that age, he definitely needs to go to school.”
“I’ll take care of this matter. Before, when he was a cat studying on his own, he could only rely on auditing classes. That must not have been easy.”
“Oh right, when we go shopping later, can we have Zhao Jin come along too? He can try on clothes together with you kids.”
Lu Luoluo nodded repeatedly.
Zhao Jin and Lu Ran did not hear the exchange between Madam Lu Mingzhu and Lu Luoluo at all.
Ever since last night, Lu Ran had deliberately blocked out excess sounds from his hearing. As for Zhao Jin, when he was not prying for information, he also did not like to hear unnecessary noise.
So when they arrived at the mall and Madam Lu Mingzhu smiled and, as if casually, suggested to Lu Ran that they call over a friend they knew to try on clothes as well, Lu Ran froze. The orange kitten, invisible at his side, froze too.
“Before Ranran came home, his friend took especially good care of him,” Madam Lu Mingzhu said with a smile as she explained to Old Madam Shen. “That child’s parents aren’t around either. He even spent New Year’s Eve with us this year. He was afraid of disturbing us when he came to pay a New Year visit yesterday, so we didn’t invite him to come along then. Since we’re buying clothes for the kids today, I thought I might as well call him over…”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier? You should have let him come over yesterday too. The Shen family isn’t some outsider,” Old Madam Shen said reproachfully. Then she urged Lu Ran, “Hurry and give him a call. Ask if he’d like to come.”
Old Madam Shen took a liking to Lu Ran the moment she met him and felt that this junior was especially warm and personable.
Now that Madam Lu Mingzhu mentioned the days before Lu Ran returned home, Old Madam Shen immediately imagined a little cabbage buffeted by wind and rain in her mind.
If there was a child who had taken special care of a junior during hard times, then of course they needed to be properly thanked.
Madam Lu Mingzhu was not lying. According to Lu Ran, before he traveled through time, Da Ju had indeed taken especially good care of him.
Lu Ran was stunned for a moment. Then, at Lu Luoluo’s signaling gaze, he smiled and walked to the side, pretending to make a phone call.
Shen Rong felt puzzled and quietly followed after him.
Lu Ran held his phone and turned around, meeting the other person’s gaze with a questioning look for several seconds.
Shen Rong awkwardly turned back around, then was called over by his grandmother and Madam Lu Mingzhu to try on clothes.
After a while, Lu Ran put away his phone and walked back to Old Madam Shen, Madam Lu Mingzhu, and Lu Luoluo. With a smile, he said, “He’ll be here in a bit.”
Fifteen minutes later, a teenage boy with phoenix-shaped eyes and cool, pale skin walked into the mall and politely greeted Old Madam Shen and Madam Lu Mingzhu.
Zhao Jin had originally wanted to refuse. His clothes were all transformed from his fur. Whatever style or material he wanted, he could have it, and they were warm in winter and cool in summer.
But after thinking it over for half a minute, he still nodded his head toward Lu Ran and transformed into human form.
If he refused the very first invitation, it would probably leave a bad impression on his mother-in-law, right?
Old Madam Shen’s eyes lit up when she saw Zhao Jin. “What a spirited young man!”
Madam Lu Mingzhu had not expected the orange kitten to look so outstanding after transforming either, and she smiled and nodded at him.
Lu Luoluo walked over holding a men’s zip-up hoodie in an orange-red color, with a hood and two yarn pom-poms on the front of it. Her eyes were bright as she said to Zhao Jin, “Do you want to try this one?”
The color was close to Zhao Jin’s fur color, and it even had yarn pom-poms.
Cats were said to like yarn balls. Zhao Jin would probably like them too, right?
“It’s very festive. Luoluo really knows how to pick,” Old Madam Shen praised sincerely.
“It’s very pretty. I think it’s worth trying,” Madam Lu Mingzhu said. Most of the time, she praised her daughter without thinking twice.
“Isn’t it a bit too lively?” Lu Ran fluttered his lashes slightly, trying to stop it.
“I’ll try it,” Zhao Jin said. He glanced at Lu Luoluo, took the sweater from her hands, and walked into the fitting room.
The color of the sweater was close to that of his fur. He actually liked it quite a bit, though the two yarn balls were a little unnecessary.
Still… it was a gesture of goodwill.
Shen Rong recognized Zhao Jin as the cat who had taken Lu Ran away the night before… ah no, that young man.
He thought to himself that the concentration of demons in this mall seemed a bit over the limit.