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Weekend chapter: 9/10
However, searching for the soul of a cat across such a vast area as Yuchuan, especially when the cat’s aura was nearly undetectable, made the task even more difficult.
Even with a thorough, carpet-like search, it would be impossible to find it in a short time. Though Yu Gao didn’t show it outwardly, his inner anxiety was hard to suppress. He kept wanting to drag his not-yet-fully-recovered body out to help search for Zuo Bai.
After noticing this, Pei Shiyi carried him out for a stroll and offered just one piece of advice: “Zuo Bai gave his body to you, hoping you could live on his behalf. So, I also hope you’ll take good care of yourself.”
Yu Gao obediently stayed at the cat café. By the time his injuries had fully healed, the New Year was approaching, and a heavy snowfall blanketed Yuchuan.
The cat café had closed for the holiday a few days earlier. With no customers on any of its three floors, the little troublemakers began climbing up and down, wreaking havoc everywhere. Pei Shiyi never restrained them much anyway. He opened the café’s door, letting them roam freely as long as they returned home by the designated time.
Meanwhile, the boarding shop behind the cat café had been fully booked with furry guests for several days due to the approaching Spring Festival.
Dan Huang and Miss Penny often went to help at the boarding shop, while Pei Shiyi remained at the café, keeping an eye on things.
Five days before the New Year, the landlord of the storefront Pei Shiyi had been eyeing finally contacted him. They discussed matters over the phone for a while, as the landlord wanted to finalize the lease before the holiday.
“Didn’t they say they weren’t willing to rent it out before?”
Bo Jin’s annual leave had started even earlier than the cat café’s closure. He had been helping Pei Shiyi scout locations for a new branch.
The real estate agent had shown them several places, but Pei Shiyi hadn’t been impressed with any. This ancestor had once lived in palaces and jade towers, so it was no surprise his standards were high.
The current cat café was originally a standalone villa. Otherwise, this ancestor might not have deigned to settle in such a place. As for the teahouse they had seen last, Pei Shiyi had liked it, but the owner hadn’t been willing to rent it out.
The teahouse owner was elderly and unswayed by the ways of the younger generation. Having devoted his life to the study of tea, he looked down on beverages like coffee and milk tea. When he learned that Pei Shiyi ran a cat café, he found the business model even flashier and flatly refused to rent the space.
The old man actually preferred to lease it to someone who would open a teahouse.
Pei Shiyi had no choice. He wasn’t sure why the owner had called today to discuss the lease.
Pei Shiyi: “I’m not sure. Could it be that he hasn’t found a tenant?”
The teahouse was in an excellent location. It was in Yingnan Square, a well-known spot in Yuchuan, and among tourists. Yingnan Square was quite far from Shiliu Street. While Shiliu Street was the “old guard”, Yingnan Square was the “new elite”. However, opening a teahouse here seemed somewhat out of place. The main crowd at Yingnan Square was young people, who preferred beverages like coffee and milk tea, which the teahouse owner disliked.
Pei Shiyi and Bo Jin stood at the teahouse’s entrance. Under the glow of the surrounding neon lights, the classical signboard of the teahouse stood out a bit jarringly. Pei Shiyi sent a message to the teahouse owner before entering with Bo Jin.
The teahouse owner, surnamed Zhong, was a spirited old man in his seventies. Perhaps because he had refused Pei Shiyi last time and now had specifically invited him over, he felt a bit awkward. He forced a stern expression. He exchanged a few polite words, offered them tea, and then eagerly led them on a tour.
Pei Shiyi smiled and said, “Thank you for your trouble.”
The teahouse was two stories tall, with an interior decorated in Chinese style. It was similar to the second floor of the cat café. However, its floor area was considerably smaller. With just two floors, it would likely only need about a dozen cats. Both the first and second floors featured large glass doors and windows, offering far better natural lighting than the cat café.
Pei Shiyi grew more and more satisfied as he looked around. While exploring the second floor, he heard faint meowing.
He was very familiar with that sound. It was the kind of soft, weak, milky mewling that nursing kittens made.
As Pei Shiyi listened, Old Man Zhong led him over to the cages. Inside one, a seal-point Siamese cat was drinking water. Alerted by the noise, it raised its head warily.
This was a young mother, a rare seal-point Siamese with striking blue eyes. However, she was extremely thin, almost emaciated, much like Fondant had been when she first arrived at the cat café.
Old Man Zhong feigned surprise, adopting an exaggerated tone. “Oh, this cat actually came out!”
Pei Shiyi: “…”
Boss, your acting needs work. It was obvious he’d deliberately brought him here.
Old Man Zhong walked closer. The Siamese cat watched him warily but didn’t immediately retreat into the cat bed inside the cage.
Pei Shiyi glanced at the wooden, semi-enclosed cat bed behind her, lined with thick pee pads. Inside lay three tiny kittens, likely less than a week old. Covered in fluffy, spiky fur, they were still indistinguishable in pattern. They were all scrawny little things. After all, their mother was so thin herself, she probably didn’t have much milk to feed them.
Old Man Zhong looked troubled. “This cat showed up a couple of days ago when it started snowing. Since I’m not running the teahouse anymore and it’s closed with no customers, I felt sorry for her and let her stay. But on her very first day, she gave birth to this litter. The mother doesn’t seem to have much milk, and I’ve never raised cats before. I’m worried they won’t survive.”
Pei Shiyi crouched down in front of the cage. The mother cat was drawn to his scent, but her maternal instincts urged her to warn him to keep his distance. Torn between hissing and not hissing, her fluffy little face scrunched up in indecision, making Pei Shiyi want to laugh.
Then, the unfortunate Director Bo crouched down beside the cage.
The mother cat flattened her ears in alarm, her hesitation gone. She turned and hissed at Bo Jin.
Bo Jin: “…” He just wanted to be close to his boyfriend.
Pei Shiyi teased him. “She doesn’t like you. Better step back.”
Unpopular with cats, Bo Jin had no choice but to stand with Old Man Zhong, who leaned on his cane and said awkwardly, “I’ll definitely be going to my daughter’s place before the New Year. At my age, I just can’t handle the stress of managing a teahouse and cats anymore. If I were to abandon this litter, they’d surely die. I’ve cared for them for a while now. I can’t bear to do that. If you’re serious about renting the place, we can discuss it further. You mentioned last time that you wanted to open a cat café here. Well, that works out perfectly. You’d get four cats without spending a penny.”
Pei Shiyi smiled.
The area around Yingnan Square was prime real estate. Renting out such a large space in a short time meant there was a high chance of getting lowballed if you were in a hurry. While stumbling upon the cats might have influenced Old Man Zhong’s change of heart, the main reason was likely his inability to find a satisfactory tenant in just a few days. After weighing his options, he’d decided to approach Pei Shiyi.
But as long as he could rent the place, the reason didn’t really matter.
Because Mr. Zhong was in a hurry to return home to celebrate the New Year with his children, Pei Shiyi settled the rent and other matters with the old man that same day. After discussing these affairs, Mr. Zhong shifted the topic to the cats.
“I don’t know much about cats, but a friend said it’s a Siamese, probably worth just a few hundred yuan. It seems to be pregnant. The owner didn’t want to raise so many kittens but couldn’t afford to spay them, so they abandoned them. My daughter is allergic to cat fur, so I really can’t bring them along and risk causing her trouble. I hope you won’t mind that it’s a mixed breed. I can pay to have the cats spayed. I’ll cover the expenses for raising the mother cat. I’d like to ask you to find good, reliable homes for the kittens.”
The old man added, “It’s a poor little thing. On the snowy day, it couldn’t endure the cold anymore and ran into the teahouse, giving birth to three kittens that looked like little mice. The biggest one was motionless when it came out. Even after the smaller kittens started searching for milk, it remained stiff on the mat. I thought it was dead, but thankfully, after a while, it started moving again.”
Pei Shiyi bent down to take a look. The old man pointed and said, “That’s the smallest one. It hardly moves. I’m always worried it won’t survive.”
Pei Shiyi looked over. The tiniest kitten was pinned beneath its siblings and, aside from a few faint whimpers, barely moved. Of course, it probably couldn’t move. In a litter, the weakest one often gets bullied.
The mother cat, meanwhile, stood guard outside the cat bed, wary of them and paying no attention to the commotion behind her.
Pei Shiyi. “Can I open the cage?”
Mr. Zhong quickly stopped him, saying, “Oh no. Mother cats are fiercely protective of their young and might bite.”
If someone got bitten here, who would be responsible?
Pei Shiyi chuckled lightly. “I think this lady wouldn’t have the heart to bite me.” After the lighthearted remark, he turned serious. “I run a cat café, so I know a thing or two about cats. Don’t worry. If I get bitten, it’s on me.”
Hesitantly, the old man opened the cage. The old cage creaked as the door swung open, startling the mother cat. She assumed an aggressive stance, hissing continuously, her eyes fixed on the old man’s hand.
Mr. Zhong was certain that if he reached his hand inside, he’d be scratched bloody. Just as he was about to advise Pei Shiyi against it, he saw the young cat café owner coax the cat with a few gentle words, as if soothing a child, and then simply reached his hand inside!
Just like that!
Mr. Zhong’s heart leaped into his throat. The young man wasn’t afraid of the cold. His sleeves rolled up to his elbows, exposing his forearm completely. If he got scratched without any clothing to protect him, it would surely leave bloody gashes.
In the Siamese cat’s somewhat muddled consciousness, she remembered the warmth and touch of humans and didn’t want to harm them. But her kittens were right behind her. How could a mother not protect her young?
The mother cat arched her back, emitting low growls from her throat.
Pei Shiyi wasn’t afraid at all. Not only because his skin was thick and tough—far from something a kitten without cultivation could scratch—but also because His Highness the Crown Prince believed himself to be irresistibly charming, captivating humans and animals alike, regardless of gender. So, under Mr. Zhong’s astonished gaze, he calmly reached out and gently stroked the Siamese cat’s head.
The unfriendly growls in the Siamese cat’s throat gradually softened into a contented purr.
Even those who don’t keep cats know that this gentle, rumbling purr means the cat is comfortable and willing to be petted.
Pei Shiyi casually picked up the nearby bag of cat food and added a bit to the nearly empty bowl.
The Siamese refused to leave the cat bed. The old man dared not refill the bowl inside with cat food.
The Siamese was truly hungry and buried her head in eating. This lady, who had been wandering for some time, had no habit of guarding her food and paid no mind to the hand gently stroking her back.
Or perhaps, it was the aura around Pei Shiyi that made the mother cat completely drop her guard.
Old Man Zhong was stunned. He had been feeding the cat for several days and still didn’t dare to touch her, yet this person could pet her after just one meeting. The favoritism was just too obvious.
Pei Shiyi had two goals: to add more cat food for the mother cat and to rescue the kitten from its predicament. Now that the mother cat was eating, he reached into the cat bed to separate the little troublemakers piled on top of each other.
The kittens let out dissatisfied meows.
The mother cat, who had been eating without looking up, finally raised her head and glanced back. She hesitated for a moment, then turned back to continue eating her cat food.
So, right in front of the mother cat, Pei Shiyi took out the poor little one who had been suffering from bullying.
The mother cat kept her head down, focused on eating.
Eating from this bowl, forgetting about that kitten.
Forget-the-kitten cat food.
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wannaberecluse On SRTT Chapter 98.2