2. Chapter 2
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Little Saisei sat in the Maybach, curiously stepping on the man’s impeccably tailored suit as she poked her head toward the window, leaving a trail of gray paw prints behind.
Someone had splashed water across the road, and she had stepped in it outside, muddying her paws with filthy water. She had been unable to bring herself to lick them clean.
Then the little cat shifted her gaze to the man’s suit. While no one was paying attention, she rubbed her paws against it, wiping away the mud.
At last, they were much cleaner.
The white kitten, who had endured dirty paws for quite some time, sighed in relief. She was just about to resume gazing out the window when she looked up and met the man’s deep-set eyes.
Li Jingxing frowned tightly. He lifted the kitten by the scruff and pulled her away, glanced at his suit, then examined the cat’s paws. His frown deepened at once.
Never in his life had he been this dirty.
“Even if you were working outside, did it never occur to you to buy yourself a pair of shoes?” Li Jingxing asked coldly despite himself.
Did this cat have any sense at all? She had given every penny she earned from working to her family of cats, without sparing a thought for herself.
What an idiotic cat.
The white kitten: “...?”
What nonsense was he talking about?
Had he ever seen a cat that needed to wear shoes?
The kitten even began to wonder whether there was some obscure gap in her knowledge of human speech, which she had always studied rather well. For a moment, her furry little face seemed to freeze.
“System, does your programming really have such a huge effect on humans? He can’t even speak properly anymore,” the kitten said, troubled.
System: “...”
Sigh.
What could it say?
Its internship project had already turned a cat into the heroine of an angst novel. What more could it ask for? It would just have to make do and keep going one day at a time.
The system forced a difficult smile.
They soon arrived at the veterinary hospital. The Maybach came to a stop, and after opening the door, Li Jingxing carried the cat inside.
A nurse came forward, taking the cat from him as she asked, “Sir, what seems to be wrong with the kitten?”
Li Jingxing replied, “She was frightened by a balloon. Check whether anything is wrong.”
The nurse looked at the bright-eyed cat, whose round eyes were wide open and whose energy seemed boundless, then fell silent for a moment.
To be honest, when the cat had first been carried in, she had assumed it was seven or eight months old and had been brought in for sterilization.
With such a lively appearance, she hardly looked ill, but the nurse still carried her inside and registered her.
Li Jingxing went over to give a few more instructions. The kitten waited outside until her number was called, then the nurse carried her in.
By then, the kitten had also begun to grow secretly wary.
This was a hospital, a place where cats were given injections.
When she was little, she had been taken to a hospital and given three shots. She still remembered it vividly.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with her. They could forget about giving her an injection. The kitten had already decided that when the humans mentioned a shot, she would bare her fangs and put on a terrifying feline expression.
Who could have known that the doctor would look up and ask, as though it were routine, “What’s wrong with this cat? Is she here to be sterilized?”
The kitten: “?!”
Damn that quack!
She had known they were out to harm her!
Before the nurse could even answer, the formerly curious and wary lion cat wrinkled her tiny nose and viciously hissed at him.
“Meow! Hiss—!!!”
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The doctor froze for a moment, then burst out laughing. “What’s with her? It’s almost as if she understands us.”
“Maybe she’s frightened,” the nurse said. “This kitten was startled by a balloon bursting. Her owner wants to check whether she suffered any stress reaction. Apparently, she collapsed on the spot and her paws began twitching.”
The doctor grew serious and took the cat away for an examination. Not long afterward, he carried her back out and said to Li Jingxing, “The kitten is fine. She was probably just frightened, but she’s recovered now. The listlessness you saw may have been at least partly an act.”
Li Jingxing turned his gaze toward the white kitten. After a pause, he let out a cold laugh.
“She’s learned to put on an act at such a young age. Quite calculating, isn’t she? Is she trying to stay by my side and win my sympathy?”
The doctor hesitated. “Well... if she used to be a stray, that possibility can’t be ruled out.”
Li Jingxing gave a derisive snort and poked the kitten on the head. “You know your own identity. Don’t force me to expose you in front of everyone. Recognize your position. Don’t covet things you have no right to desire.”
The doctor was rendered completely speechless by those words.
Was this how people talked nowadays?
The man was dressed in an impeccable suit, yet he sounded as though he had been poisoned by online novels.
The white kitten flattened her ears and endured a few muffled bursts of filthy feline swearing. Then she looked up and saw the top of Li Jingxing’s head.
Goodness. His affection rating had gone up by one. And then another.
The white kitten: “...”
She turned her face away and began cursing at the system instead. “And you said he wasn’t sick in the head!”
The system was somewhat bewildered as well.
Perhaps it really was hard to say... Anyone capable of becoming the male lead in an angst novel was bound to have psychological difficulties that ordinary people did not.
The system genuinely felt that even its built-in stand-in programming, with its stand-in filter fully applied, should not have caused problems this severe.
After frantically running through its internal programs, the system began persuading the cat. “Stop cursing. Every family has its own difficulties. You can’t attack the male lead for his shortcomings. If he could hear you, how hurt would he be?”
The kitten paused, then began cursing even more viciously.
“Hurt? The doctor wanted to sterilize me the moment he walked in. He must have secretly given them some instructions just now. He’s up to no good!”
The kitten reached a firm conclusion in her heart: “From the very first moment I saw him, I knew he wasn’t a good person!”
System: “...That’s pure prejudice. You can’t throw a tantrum just because he’s the target of your mission.”
The kitten narrowed her eyes resentfully. “Just wait. I’m going to bite him to death in a moment.”
Watching the white kitten being poked on the head, looking deeply indignant as she let out threatening little growls, the doctor suppressed his laughter and took a box of freeze-dried treats from a nearby shelf. He opened it and placed two pieces on the kitten’s paw.
The kitten’s fury was interrupted. Her nose twitched delicately, and she looked toward the treats.
At that moment, Assistant Wang hurried over carrying a large bag filled with things: a cat bed, a scratching board, and plenty of cat snacks.
Li Jingxing glanced at him. “Why did it take so long? Is everything settled?”
“Rest assured, Mr. Li. It’s all taken care of. The cat café agreed to release the cat. These are your cat’s belongings, along with her wages for this period.”
Assistant Wang had not expected the cat café to calculate performance metrics for its cats. The more customers a cat attracted, the more cat treats she received. This cat had actually been the top performer.
No wonder she had managed to win over his employer. The top seller really was something else.
Seeing that all her belongings had been brought over, not a single item missing, and that even her wages had been paid in full, the kitten finally relaxed. She looked at Assistant Wang with great satisfaction.
“Meow.”
Assistant Wang stared at the little paw she extended toward him in confusion. Acting on instinct, he extended his own hand as well.
A freeze-dried treat dropped into his palm.
Assistant Wang: “Hm?”
His eyes lit up with pleasant surprise. He had not expected this newly adopted kitten to like him so much, let alone share her snacks with him. Cats were not known for having much of a sharing instinct.
Before he could praise the cat, he felt a chilly gaze fall upon him.
Sure enough, his capitalist employer was staring at him—particularly at the freeze-dried treat in his hand.
Assistant Wang suddenly found the treat prickling painfully against his palm.
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Disaster. After so many years in the workplace, he had still managed to commit one of its greatest taboos.
He had received the kitten’s approval before his employer had.
The employer had not even been given a freeze-dried treat yet.
How many employers were truly good people? What if his annual bonus got docked in retaliation?
At last, Li Jingxing shifted his gaze away. He lowered his head and studied the white kitten in his arms. She was a soft little bundle, like a ball of snow, and undeniably beautiful.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?”
Mr. Li placed a hand on the kitten’s head and stroked her once. By then, the system in the kitten’s mind was practically ringing itself hoarse.
“Quick! Charm him. Make a deep impression!”
“I told you to charm him, not bite him!”
The snowy-white kitten’s teeth, which had just been bared, slipped innocently back into her mouth.
Li Jingxing turned his head. “Did she just smile at me?”
Assistant Wang: “...Ha ha. Did she?”
Those tiny teeth looked more like a stapler. If that was what he wanted to believe, there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Mr. Li was critical. “What a pity. That smile didn’t look like hers.”
Assistant Wang: “...???”
His pupils trembled violently.
Was this idiot of a boss really insane?
The kitten was equally shocked. Once again, she confirmed with the system, “Is there truly nothing wrong with him?”
Did the programming behind this stand-in filter really not need to be corrected?
The system was frantic. The initial stage was crucial for raising his affection rating, and no opportunity could be missed.
“Don’t worry about it. Hurry and give him the piece of freeze-dried meat you’ve been hiding! Charm him, win him over, and send his affection rating through the roof!”
The kitten lowered her ears. Only after hearing the system’s string of promises did she finally extend her curled paw.
“Meow.”
Here. You can have this.
Then she turned her head and asked the system in her heart, “Can he eat it?”
Don’t let it go to waste.
If he didn’t eat it, she would pick it back up.
System: “Don’t worry about it!”
When Li Jingxing saw the paw stretched toward him, he raised an eyebrow and gave a cold laugh. Then he reached out and took the snow-white paw in his hand.
“Don’t worry. I’ll save your family, but you must listen to me. Understood?”
A piece of freeze-dried pet food fell from the kitten’s paw into his palm.
The kitten wore an expression of hesitant resignation.
“Meow...”
Whether you save them or not is really up to you.
Thinking of all the cats the system had arranged for her, the kitten decided that perhaps it would not be a serious problem if he did not save them after all.
The assistant standing nearby: “...”
His employer had been under far too much pressure lately.
Assistant Wang quietly booked him an appointment with a psychologist at a family hospital.
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