24
“Evergrande Center, hmm.”
After receiving the address, Ye Susu spent half an hour finishing up their ingredients.
Once all the customers in the shop had finished their meals, she locked up, turned her navigation, picked up the shop’s takeout containers, and set off following the route map.
“Confess to the little one tonight… maybe make a love-themed meal?”
Ye Susu tilted her head, brow furrowed deeply.
Her owner had once made her a pink heart-shaped cake for her birthday.
The catch? She couldn’t eat it. She could only watch her owner arranged it for photos and then ate it himself.
Because of that rotten trick, she held a grudge against her owner for a full fifty-three days and shredded the blankets at home into tatters.
“Hmmm, I should probably plan this carefully.”
Ye Susu nodded with a serious expression.
But halfway there, her nose suddenly caught a faint, familiar scent, that catnip smell that made her legs go weak again.
Ye Susu blinked, and the moment that familiar figure appeared, she ducked behind the nearby lamppost.
“Don’t come looking for me again. No matter how many times you try, my answer won’t change, I don’t want to hear anything you to say! Please, just disappear from my sight!”
Across the street, a young man’s clear voice rang out loudly.
Ye Susu frowned, peeking out just a little to take a look.
She saw that familiar, broad back, a tall, straight figure, draped in a black trench coat, standing out distinctly under the sunlight.
Opposite him stood a slightly shorter, delicate-looking young man, his face now filled with disgust and resistance.
“Just go away! Take all your staff with you, I don’t want a single cent!”
The young man’s voice grew even more explosive.
Ye Susu twitched her ears, hearing every word clearly.
Was Catnip arguing with someone?
However, she sniffed the air, clenched her teeth, and fought hard to suppress the faint haze of intoxication in her eyes.
She had already decided to ignore this Catnip.
Last night, he hadn’t paid her any attention.
She wasn’t going to meddle in his business.
“Mortals really do live difficult lives…”
She turned and walked away, crossing the street, unable to help but shake her head and sigh.
“Xia Ningmeng was right. He probably has work troubles, is short on money, that’s why he rented the place to me so cheaply.”
Thinking about it, after finishing the lunch service, she was already off work. She didn’t need to stand in the cold wind on the street like Catnip. Life was pretty sweet.
……
“Huh? You actually saw that landlord of yours?”
In the underground garage of Evergrande Center.
Xia Ningmeng leaned against her car, already impatiently picking up a large piece of grilled fish.
“Around here? That’s quite a coincidence.”
Ye Susu pouted. “Mm.”
Coincidence.
Indeed, this man looked like he was born to… scoop her litter.
It’s just that he had been too annoying these past few days, so she had revoked his qualifications.
“Hey, someone said to your landlord, ‘Take all your stuff away, I don’t want anything,’ and your landlord was wearing a black trench coat.”
Xia Ningmeng stuffed the fish into her mouth and instantly made a blissful expression.
“Mmm, this fish is so good… From how it sounds, doesn’t your landlord seem like a salesperson who just happened to fail at pitching a product when you ran into him?”
“Failed at selling?”
Ye Susu tilted her head, recalling the meaning of “salesperson.”
“I think I saw him outside an internet café. Was he trying to sell something to someone?”
“Internet café? Probably computer sales then. The economy’s not great lately. He probably can’t sell his products, has cash flow problems, or is being pressured by his boss, facing the risk of being fired, so he had to become a sub-landlord.”
Xia Ningmeng swallowed the fish and pieced together a theory.
Ye Susu nodded blankly.
In her 56th life, she had been taken in by a down-and-out middle-aged woman.
This woman would always cry at home, shedding tears in front of her, complaining every time: ‘Got rejected again today,’ ‘Got hung up on so many times,’ ‘Can’t sell the product at all, bottom of the performance chart, my salary’s been docked, and I might even get fired,’ ‘Soon I won’t be able to afford to feed you, we’ll just starve together’…
Thinking of this, Ye Susu’s shoulders slumped.
Finally, she remembered that on a day when the autumn wind was at its fiercest, she became a stray cat again.
The woman lay on the bed and suddenly fell into a sleep from which she never woke up.
All morning, even when Ye Susu stepped on her face and meowed, the woman didn’t wake up as usual to feed her cat food.
She sat by the woman and waited a long time.
It wasn’t until strangers barged into the room that she learned this woman wouldn’t wake up anymore.
Originally, she had been waiting to wander with her. She knew where to find food, where to shelter from wind and rain. She could hunt; they wouldn’t starve or freeze to death.
But in the end, this woman left her behind and fell asleep by herself.
They said this was a mortal’s way of ending it all—taking an overdose of sleeping pills, so she wouldn’t wake up.
“Susu, I’m talking to you, didn’t you hear?”
Xia Ningmeng waved a hand in front of her face.
“What’s wrong? You look lost.”
“Mm,” Ye Susu shook her head. “Nothing.”
“Are you crying?”
Xia Ningmeng turned and was startled.
Ye Susu flinched at her loud voice.
Blinking, she only felt something wet at the corner of her eyes—that sticky, unpleasant feeling of being damp that she hated most.
She lowered her head and wiped the corner of her eye.
A glistening wetness.
Was this human tears?
She, a noble kitty, how could she be crying?
“No, probably the wind blew something into my eye.”
Yeah, that must be it.
Ye Susu touched her smooth little face and stood up.
“I’m going back.”
Xia Ningmeng sighed in relief but, holding the lunchbox, quickly called out to her.
“You haven’t told me yet, who are you planning to confess to?”
“Different approaches work for different types of guys.”
“The quiet, reserved kind who doesn’t talk much.”
Ye Susu scratched her head.
“Then the confession should be gentler, not too abrupt, so you don’t scare him off. Hey hey hey, who do you like? It’s not your landlord, is it?”
Xia Ningmeng’s heart leaped into her throat.
Ye Susu pouted and waved a hand behind her.
She certainly wouldn’t say she was planning to confess to her little one.
What if the little one didn’t like her and still preferred his old mommy? Wouldn’t that be embarrassing?
“I’ll try to make time to visit your shop tomorrow. Good luck!”
Xia Ningmeng quickly waved back.
But she was too busy, with chopsticks in one hand and the lunchbox in the other. After a couple of waves, she nearly dropped everything.
“I’ll eat one fish in the car first, then share the rest with everyone upstairs. Yeah, that’s the plan.”
Fully focused on the grilled fish in her hands, she didn’t notice the car pulling up beside her, nor the long-legged man in a black trench coat who stepped out of the back seat—his face cool and handsome, looking like he’d stepped out of a magazine photoshoot.
Otherwise, she’d probably jump up and shout, ‘President…!’
And this man, who looked like he’d stepped off a poster, perfectly matched Ye Susu’s earlier description.
“A low-key way to confess.”
“Ugh, headache.”
Ye Susu stood under the shade of a tree by the kindergarten entrance, still brooding.
If she directly said to the little one, ‘I really like you,’ she was afraid of being rejected—losing her noble kitty pride at the very end of her 100th life.
But if she didn’t confess directly, yet still had to complete the confession task, she couldn’t come up with a method right away.
So hard.
Ye Susu scratched her head, her delicate brows slightly furrowed, completely unaware that she was once again being isolated by the group of parents.
Compared to yesterday’s cold treatment, today not only was she excluded from the circle of parents, but many silent, judgmental glances were also directed her way.
Her fierce demeanor kept people from mocking her outright, but it couldn’t stop the disdain in their hearts.
“Duoduo, over here! Wow, you got a red sticker today? So amazing! Grandma will reward you with a toy, okay?”
“Xiaoqi, my treasure, did you get along well with your friends today?”
“Good girl, give Daddy a kiss~ Let’s go home.”
As soon as dismissal time arrived, the children in the kindergarten came out class by class.
The teacher checked each parent’s pick-up card one by one before releasing the children.
Ye Susu used to come very late; Ye Xun was always at the very back of his class.
But now, with a new soul inside, Ye Susu, accustomed to life as a stray cat didn’t want her little one to experience the bitter wait in the cold wind. For the past two days, she’d arrived early.
“Little one!”
Her dynamic vision was excellent. She spotted Ye Xun at the very back of the line and waved at him.
Ye Xun, at the rear of the queue, instantly flushed.
He clearly wasn’t used to being the center of attention. His little hands fidgeted nervously at his pant seams, growing more and more uneasy under everyone’s gaze.
Ye Susu smiled, lowered her head, pulled out her phone from her bag, and glanced at the constant stream of message notifications.
[Ye Wan: Susu, give me a call back when you have time. The company is looking for a single mother and child pair. Their parent-child interaction livestream went viral, but they haven’t been found yet. I thought of you immediately. Since you don’t have talent for being on camera, why not let Ye Xun try?]
[Ye Wan: That mother-son pair might have withdrawn from livestreaming due to some issues, but maybe this is fate? They disappeared, and now it’s your and Ye Xun’s chance! This is the second opportunity heaven’s giving you!]
[Ye Wan: Start a new livestream, let Ye Xun appear on camera. As long as the results are good, you can sign a contract with the company again. This time, I’ll negotiate with the company to get you a 20% cut. How’s that?]
Ye Susu curled her lips and deleted the messages with a flick of her thumb.
A 20% cut, and she wants my little one to perform for money?
How delusional can this mortal be!
After a moment’s thought, she narrowed her almond-shaped eyes, took a screenshot of today’s revenue [Income: ¥2,954.38], and sent it over.
[Ah, Cousin, I’m just now realizing that having too much money can also be a bother. So please, stop adding to my troubles~]
After sending the message, she smirked coldly.
Meanwhile, Ye Xun, standing at the back of the line, saw Ye Susu withdraw her gaze from him and noticed her unhappy expression. Instantly, a flicker of gloom passed through his dark grape-like eyes, and he bit his little lip tightly.
The small hand that had been fidgeting with his pant seam slowly clenched into a fist.
Ye Susu was angry.
Because he wasn’t brave enough?
Just now, he hadn’t mustered the courage to respond to her, to wave back.
He had ignored her in front of so many people. She was unhappy.
Ye Xun hung his little head low.
The small backpack on his back felt unbearably heavy.
“Mom, today’s homework is to learn three sentences in a foreign language. The teacher said we have to share them with everyone tomorrow.”
“Really? I just taught you last weekend, remember? How do you say ‘Nice to meet you’ in English?”
“Grandpa, do you know any foreign languages? Teach me!”
“Dad taught me Japanese last time, but I forgot. Can you say it again~”
Soon, more and more conversations sprang up at the kindergarten entrance.
And more and more scornful glances gradually fell upon Ye Susu.
“Oh dear, what if some parent doesn’t know any foreign languages? Isn’t the child in for a rough time?”
“Seriously? In this day and age, are there still people who don’t know at least a couple of English phrases?”
“Who knows? Nowadays, becoming an internet celebrity has zero barriers to entry. Probably didn’t study hard when they were young.”
“Hahaha, ‘hello,’ ‘goodbye’—surely they know those, right? Otherwise, they’re practically illiterate. How unfortunate for a child to have such a parent.”
The mocking comments were spoken almost as they brushed past Ye Susu.
No names were mentioned, but adults’ harsh words always find ways to wound.
Ye Xun, at the very back of the line, inched toward the school gate. Every time a parent picked up a child, another sympathetic glance landed on him.
It felt like they were hinting that the pitiful child everyone was talking about… was him.
Ye Xun was only four or five years old, but his little face rapidly paled, then flushed red.
Everyone was talking about him, about Ye Susu.
The teacher was there; his classmates were there.
He understood.
His throat felt clogged, tight.
Ye Susu really didn’t know English.
He had heard her say so.
Once, she spoke to the camera at home, probably to her livestream audience, saying her English was terrible and asking them not to reply in English.
When she was little, she went to an amusement park. The small train derailed, and she hit her head.
After that, she was always at the bottom of her class in school. Her father said she’d damaged her brain, so he didn’t expect her to excel academically.
By high school, she kept failing English, forgetting vocabulary as soon as she learned it, and nearly got held back a year.
After graduation, she returned all the English words she’d ever learned to her teacher.
Thinking about this, Ye Xun puffed out his cheeks.
“Ye Xun.”
The female teacher called his name with a smile.
“Your mom is here. Off you go.”
Ye Xun immediately looked up and saw Ye Susu standing alone in the sunlight.
Normally, she hated sunbathing because it would darken her skin.
But now, since all the shaded spots were taken by other parents, she had to stand in the fiercest corner of the sun.
Instantly, Ye Xun felt his eyes grow hot.
“Mo… my…”
It was okay if Ye Susu didn’t know English.
It was okay if she kept forgetting vocabulary.
He could learn it himself.
Ye Xun immediately spread his little legs and dashed toward Ye Susu like an arrow from a bow.
“Little one~”
Ye Susu quickly crouched down, her arms wide open, catching him in a full embrace.
She lowered her head and sniffed, then curled her lips.
The little one smelled good, like he’d just had milk.
“Let me see, you got a red sticker today, didn’t you?”
Ye Xun didn’t dare look up, but hearing this, he nodded slightly.
His little pink face secretly rubbed against her shoulder, wiping away the tiny teardrops in his dark grape-like eyes before he slowly lifted his head.
A short, fair finger pointed to his chest.
There, a little red sticker from the teacher was stuck.
“Wow, you’re amazing. I’ve lived so long and never got a sticker.”
Ye Susu examined it closely, feeling very satisfied.
This was the key to completing the task. The little one was too impressive, he definitely deserved praise.
“Mommy…” Ye Xun tilted his little head, blocking the scornful glances from the other moms and grandmas nearby, as well as the harsh sunlight shining on Ye Susu’s face. “Today’s homework… I can do it myself.”
Since there was no dad at home, Ye Susu already had it tough.
Some things, he needed to learn to do on his own, after all, he was growing up.
He could livestream, and he could study by himself too.
“Huh?”
Ye Susu blinked, bewildered.
Ye Xun’s little face froze in surprise. He looked at her, then glanced back at the parents sneaking peeks at them.
Finally, he lowered his head and whispered weakly.
“The homework to teach three sentences in a foreign language…”
Only then did Ye Susu realize. “Oh, that…”
Ye Xun held his breath nervously.
Had Mommy not even noticed the other aunties and uncles gossiping about her just now?
By bringing it up in public like this, was he accidentally hurting Ye Susu’s feelings?
His dark grape-like eyes flickered, suddenly filled with conflict and regret.
“Little one, um…”
Ye Susu touched her nose.
She felt a little embarrassed.
“Do you want to learn the language of meows?”
That was the only foreign language she knew.
Anything else even flipping through a book now wouldn’t help in time. That was asking too much of a little cat like her.
“Huh?”
Ye Xun’s eyes widened.
The nearby parents who hadn’t left yet nearly burst out laughing.
Even the teacher at the gate, who had been about to leave, paused in her tracks.
A parent teaching a child like this, they’d never heard of such a thing.
“How impressive.”
“What? Is she planning to converse with stray cats?”
“If the kid becomes a vet someday, it might come in handy. This mom is really clever even knows this!”
The parents who had been taught a lesson by Ye Susu yesterday were practically overjoyed, each taking a turn to mock her while she was down.
And the children they held by the hand were also drawn in by the conversation.
“Is there really a cat language?”
“My cat never talks to me.”
“Impossible! Xiao Ye’s mom is lying!”
Children were naturally curious.
But sometimes, modern education stifles that curiosity.
Xiao Pang, who had just been pulled by his mom toward the car nearby, turned back with a disdainful snort.
“My mom never lies to me.”
Ye Xun’s ears instantly turned red with anger as he glared at him.
Just as he was about to speak up in Ye Susu’s defense, a soft meow made him freeze.
A gentle, soft meow sounded at the kindergarten entrance, feeling somewhat out of place.
Xiao Pang, following the sound, looked over and his round face stiffened in surprise.
He saw Ye Susu curl her lips slightly and beckon him with a finger.
Xiao Pang pointed at himself skeptically, his face full of question marks.
But then, a lightning-fast orange furball zipped out from behind him.
“Meow!”
**
Susu: Oh geez, almost forgot… If I pull out my cheat skills, I might make these brats cry!