Su Miaoyi returned to her place, washed up briefly, and lay down on the bed, falling asleep.
She had no idea how long she slept before being woken up by a phone call.
Eyes still closed, Su Miaoyi fumbled for her phone and answered.
The caller asked, “Hello, is this Su Miaoyi?”
“Yeah.” Su Miaoyi responded.
“This is Love Pet Pet Shop. Your cat, which you boarded with us a month ago—could you come by when you have a chance?”
Su Miaoyi didn’t respond. She had fallen back asleep…
“Hello? Are you listening?”
Su Miaoyi jolted awake, glanced at the phone mid-call, and said, “No need, I don’t want it. I have enough data, enough money, and I already have a membership. Not interested, not signing up for anything.”
With that, she hung up, rolled over, and went back to sleep.
Soon, the phone rang again.
Su Miaoyi rolled back, hung up.
Then the phone rang again.
Su Miaoyi finally opened her eyes, a bit more alert.
She answered.
The caller said, “Hello, this is Love Pet Pet Shop.”
Su Miaoyi snapped to attention: “Oh, hello.”
“It’s like this. Your cat caused another cat at the shop to become pregnant. You’ll need to come in to sort this out.”
That fully woke Su Miaoyi up: “What!”
…
After a hasty wash-up, Su Miaoyi headed out.
She took a cab to the pet hospital. The moment she walked in, a staff member pulled her aside.
“What’s wrong?”
“The other party is very upset,” the staff member said.
“The cat is upset?” Su Miaoyi was confused.
“The cat’s owner is upset.” The staff member’s face showed exasperation. “And they seem to be someone important. Be careful with what you say later.”
Seeing how nervous the staff member was, Su Miaoyi nodded. “Okay.”
The staff member led Su Miaoyi to the manager’s office.
Just as she reached the door, she heard a voice inside: “President Shen, I’m truly sorry. It was our oversight. This matter will definitely be resolved for you. We’ve already notified the owner of that cat—she should be here soon.”
Su Miaoyi listened from outside, hearing only one person’s voice. The other person remained silent throughout.
“I haven’t been at the shop this whole time. If I had been, this never would have happened. If I were here, I never would have let them take in that cat. A common alley cat like that, and they dared to bring it here. Its owner clearly never disciplined it—an ill-mannered little cat. Its owner didn’t even want it anymore. A whole month, and no one adopted it.”
Su Miaoyi knocked on the door and pushed it open directly.
There were only two people in the office.
She had never seen either of them before.
One was standing, the other sat holding a cat.
Su Miaoyi gave the seated man a quick glance, then looked at the standing one.
But the seated man froze for a moment the instant he saw her.
“You must be the manager.”
“That’s me,” the man said. “You’re the owner of that alley cat, right?”
“Yeah.” Su Miaoyi responded.
The manager said, “How do you normally discipline your cat? We have so many cats here, and in all these years, nothing like this has ever happened. How is it that the moment yours arrived, this happened?”
“I should be asking you how you take care of them. I paid to board my cat here. If something happened, that’s your mistake,” Su Miaoyi said. “What, when you wanted my money, I was your god and my cat was your little darling. Now that something’s gone wrong, you’re shifting the blame onto me?”
The seated man watched her.
Not just her looks—even the way she talked and her personality were alike.
“Then why is it that everyone else’s cat is fine, and only your cat did something like this?” The manager didn’t dare provoke the man, so he tried to push all the blame onto Su Miaoyi to dodge responsibility for the shop.
Su Miaoyi laughed in anger: “I’d like to ask the same thing. Why is everyone else’s cat fine, but only mine got let out? I suspect your shop treats cats differently. I want to see the surveillance footage.”
The seated man suddenly let out a light cough.
The manager immediately looked over and said with extreme sycophancy, “President Shen, you see—like owner, like cat. To avoid paying compensation, she’ll say anything. Typical petty-minded commoner.”
“You!” Su Miaoyi was furious.
She wanted to wad that manager up into a ball and toss him into the ocean to drift away.
Still fuming, she sensed the man on the sofa watching her.
She turned to look at him.
In the sweltering August heat, wearing a three-piece suit…
A pretentious poser.
The man looked at her angry expression, paused, and said, “This is indeed the pet shop’s fault. They should bear all responsibility.”
“President Shen…” The manager tried to say more.
But with one look from the man, the manager swallowed his words and instead said, “It really is our problem. It’s our mistake. Our pet shop will cover all compensation.”
“And compensate this young lady for any losses she’s incurred as well,” the man said.
Su Miaoyi: “??”
The manager glanced at Su Miaoyi: “???” What losses did she incur?
“It’s your store’s negligence—poor supervision, poor care—that let the cat escape. Shouldn’t Manager Gao offer appropriate compensation?” The man spoke lightly, with the tone of someone in a position of authority.
The manager nodded, smiling: “Yes, yes, President Shen is right.”
The man said nothing more, lowering his gaze to the cat sprawled on his lap.
Su Miaoyi looked at the man.
Her opinion did a complete one-eighty.
The suit he wore was clearly expensive at a glance—he was obviously a distinguished young gentleman of high status.
He must be busy, with many occasions to attend.
Dressing formally was only natural.
In this heat, it must be quite uncomfortable.
He was handsome too.
Cool and elegant.
And reasonable.
The man raised his eyes to look at her.
Their gazes met, and Su Miaoyi’s head suddenly throbbed with pain.
Her pupils contracted.
“What’s wrong?” the man asked.
An inquiry that betrayed no emotion whatsoever.
Su Miaoyi shook her head, then looked again at the cat in his arms.
A beautiful Devon Rex.
If it were her, she’d be angry too.
She said, “Although it’s the pet store’s negligence, the current situation was ultimately caused by my cat, so I should still apologize on behalf of my cat to you and your cat.”
The man looked at her without speaking.
At that moment, the cat in his arms suddenly jumped down.
It walked toward Su Miaoyi.
Seeing it approach, Su Miaoyi immediately stepped back two paces.
The Devon Rex stopped and looked at her.
Su Miaoyi also halted.
The Devon Rex walked toward her again, then pressed its two front paws onto her leg.
Su Miaoyi was startled.
The man looked at his cat, then at her: “You’re afraid of cats?”
“I’ve been scared by my own cat. A month ago, my cat suddenly attacked me—hissing at me, biting me, scratching me.” Su Miaoyi looked at the Devon Rex. “It wouldn’t even eat the cat food I put out. I had no choice but to bring it here.”
Su Miaoyi didn’t know what was going on either.
She’d raised it for over two years.
Her cat had always been very gentle.
She had no idea why it suddenly attacked her.
The man looked at his own cat: “It really likes you.”
“Is that so?” Su Miaoyi crouched down and stroked its head. “What’s its name?”
“An’an,” the man said.
Call it An’an—may you always return safely from every mission.
“An’an.” Su Miaoyi called its name.
An’an rubbed against her hand.
The man watched for a moment, then bent down and picked up the cat.
But An’an seemed unwilling to leave, letting out two dissatisfied meows.
Still, the man held it in his arms and carried it away.
The manager hurried over to see him off.
Su Miaoyi also went to check on her own cat…