For the cat cafe, trending on social media was an opportunity to break out of its usual circle, while for Happy Pets, it was an unexpected bonus for promotion. Both the client and the agency were satisfied with this campaign. The person in charge, who had been in contact with the cat cafe, subtly hinted at hoping for continued collaboration in the future.
Zhou Yan felt the person in charge meant there might be more promotions to come, such as for Happy Pets’ famous grooming brushes or something similar.
He happily took his phone to find Pei Shiyi. After studying the phone for a moment, Boss Pei thought the person in charge’s “continued collaboration” might not just refer to promotions.
However, he didn’t say it out loud. He only smiled and said, “It’s still because your videos are well-made, which is why the cats at the cat cafe have gained such high popularity.”
Pei Shiyi had always been generous with praise. Whatever he said came across as sincere. Zhou Yan blushed at his compliment.
After placating the child, Pei Shiyi was about to head upstairs to ponder the matter he hadn’t finished thinking about. As he reached the second floor, he saw Bo Jin sleeping on the recliner. His footsteps paused. He immediately pretended not to notice, turning to stroll upstairs.
Song Gao was crouched on Bo Jin’s chest. After staring at Bo Jin for a moment, Song Gao purred and lightly tapped his paws: “Meow?” Director, did you upset sir? You haven’t been talking much with him these past two days.
Bo Jin propped himself up on the armrest and sat up. “Then, Song Gao, come with me upstairs to coax him?”
Song Gao raised his head and meowed: “Meow!” Okay!
Third Floor
Pei Shiyi sat in front of a small table. Although the computer in front of him was on, the document on the screen was empty. Instead, several sheets of paper were spread out before him, each densely filled with writing.
When Bo Jin came upstairs, Pei Shiyi had already sensed it. His pen tip paused, but he pretended not to notice.
Ever since Bo Jin had hugged him once before, Pei Shiyi felt strange all over whenever he saw Bo Jin. After reading the trending comments on Weibo the past two days, he felt even more peculiar. He didn’t think he had anything to feel guilty about. But when others talked about it so much, he began to wonder if something was off.
Song Gao jumped down from Bo Jin’s shoulder and climbed onto Pei Shiyi’s shoulder in a few quick movements, leaning against him: “Sir.”
Pei Shiyi also tilted his head to lean against him: “What’s wrong?”
Song Gao whispered, “Sir, you didn’t come over to talk to me just now.”
Pei Shiyi: “Hmm…” He couldn’t exactly say he didn’t want to see Bo Jin, could he? That would make him seem too cowardly.
He replied with a straight face, “I saw you playing with Bo Jin, so I didn’t go over.”
Song Gao was young and easily placated with a few words. After snuggling on Pei Shiyi’s shoulder for a while, he reluctantly hopped down to go to work, looking back every few steps.
Sir and the director were the people he respected and loved the most. He hoped the two gentlest people in his world wouldn’t drift further apart.
Bo Jin sat down beside Pei Shiyi: “Can I take a look?”
Pei Shiyi coughed and casually pushed the stack of papers bound together in front of him toward Bo Jin, lifting his cup to cover half his face.
Bo Jin picked it up. It turned out to be a five-page plan for the cat cafe’s future development, detailing everything from short-term growth to the cafe’s ultimate direction. What surprised Bo Jin was that the final direction in Pei Shiyi’s plan wasn’t just a simple cat cafe. He envisioned using the cat cafe as the core, under the name “Xian Chan”, first establishing a pet boarding hotel, followed by a stray cat rescue station.
“The rescue station should aim to be profitable. But if it ends up as a purely charitable endeavor, that’s fine too, as long as the cat cafe and boarding hotel can sustain the profits.”
Pei Shiyi said calmly.
Bo Jin set down the paper. “Why did you think of doing this?”
Pei Shiyi gently swirled the glass in his hand, the ice cubes clinking together, producing the sound of water and cold collisions. Yet his expression remained gentle. “I’ve been thinking—these children are growing up in the human world. In the future, they’ll inevitably have to interact with humans. Most of them don’t have a large clan to rely on. Song Gao has you, but Dan Huang and the others don’t.”
Bo Jin understood. “You want them to go directly to the shelter after they successfully transform, so they don’t have to live alone?” Pei Shiyi had been in the human world for quite some time now. The customers coming and going in the cat café every day were already among the more affluent in society. Even so, life and work always brought pressures that could drive anyone mad.
Pei Shiyi didn’t want the furry kids to face such hardships after leaving. Born as a different race, they would have to hide their tails and claws in the human world while confronting the same, if not even more difficult, challenges.
Pei Shiyi corrected him. “They can go.”
Even he couldn’t force the furry kids to do anything.
Whether they were willing or not was up to them. But he wanted to give them a choice.
These few thin sheets of paper in Bo Jin’s hands not only carried the future of the cat café but also, between the lines, conveyed an unspoken affection.
Perhaps the air conditioning upstairs was set too low, but Pei Shiyi, despite being a fire-attribute bird, oddly preferred the cold. The temperature on the third floor was much lower than on the first and second floors, enough to give a human a cold in the middle of summer.
Bo Jin, probably slowed down by the chill, didn’t process the words that slipped through his mind in time. “An old doting father’s heartfelt love for his children?”
After saying it, Bo Jin lowered his eyes, subtly annoyed. What nonsense. This bird is definitely going to puff up.
Sure enough, Pei Shiyi said, “…Do you want to fight?”
Pei the Great Phoenix was truly a rather hypocritical bird. He could joke about being a “doting father” himself, but absolutely no one else (specifically Bo Jin) could call him old.
He was a single phoenix in the prime of his life, definitely a hot commodity. How could he possibly be old?
The previously warm atmosphere was instantly shattered.
Pei Shiyi picked up his glass. With the two of them like this, some people still said there was something ambiguous between them. Who flirts by arguing?
Bo Jin rubbed his forehead. He really hadn’t meant to argue. It was just that the two of them were so used to bickering. He’d slipped up without thinking.
…
Although there were expansion plans, it couldn’t be rushed. The cat café was only so big. Unless they opened a branch, the revenue would remain limited. Moreover, since the 《Major Event News》 incident, the cat café has implemented a reservation system.
There were too many customers. The reservations helped control the number of people in the shop. The current income wasn’t enough to support opening a branch.
While expanding the scale in the short term wasn’t feasible, they could grow the cat café’s account on Bishui Station.
So… before Pei Shiyi could even align his plans with reality, Fondant darted past him, followed closely by Zhou Yan, who was holding a camera. Zhou Yan muttered under his breath as he squeezed past Pei Shiyi, “Fondant, Fondant, don’t run! I just want to film a video. The big boss already scolded me earlier. Just let me film one, please.”
Fondant, biting a cat teaser, quickly hid behind Pei Shiyi, clinging to his calf. “Meow—”
Boss, I don’t want to film.
Pei Shiyi reached out to block Zhou Yan.
Zhou Yan quickly explained, “Boss, I just wanted to film Fondant…”
Pei Shiyi smiled, signaling Zhou Yan to calm down. He bent over to pick up Fondant and took the camera from Zhou Yan’s hand.
“I’ll do it.”
Pei Shiyi cradled the large fluffy ball in one arm, planting a kiss on Fondant’s ear. “Did Brother Zhou Yan make you nervous?”
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Meow meow On TPH Chapter 26.1