“Love for One” is a classic, upbeat love song that once topped the charts during its promotional period, becoming a huge hit.
This song was the breakthrough hit for the young superstar Wei Lan.
After five years in the industry, the label “popular singer” no longer does justice to Wei Lan’s status.
Fans rubbed their eyes, wondering if they were still groggy from sleep: Who was singing with the cats?
Another glance at the cover confirmed it was indeed Wei Lan!
Fans: !
Upon opening the video, a flood of “666” comments immediately filled the screen.
Bullet comments:
“My little cat café has come so far. This old mother is genuinely tearing up.”
“Go, Xian Chan!”
“Is that our Wei Lan?”
The barrage of comments was so dense it nearly obscured the video, with most simply reading “Wei Lan”. Clearly, it was from his devoted fans.
In fact, within less than twenty minutes of the video passing review, it had already garnered 120,000 views, 80% of which were contributed by Wei Lan’s fans.
Although Wei Lan himself doesn’t have an official account on Bishui Station, his popularity on the platform is far from low. Several of his songs have “dominated” Bishui Station, including “Love for One”. Many longtime Bishui Station users still remember the overwhelming presence of “Love for One”.
As soon as the video started, the familiar intro played. Many couldn’t help but hum along.
The screen gradually brightened, a faint glimmer of light slowly blossoming into brilliance, dispelling the darkness and revealing a serene little space to the viewers—
It was a sun-drenched carpet, where a handsome young man leaned against a tall cat tree. His features were softened by the glow, radiating a tenderness that seemed almost tangible.
It was Wei Lan!
Fans watching held their breath, then silently screamed into their clothes: How could he be so good-looking?!
But Wei Lan wasn’t the only star of the video. As the intro ended, the clear, melodious voice fans knew so well began singing the song that had dominated Bishui Station for half a year.
Soon, however, two kittens unfamiliar to Wei Lan’s fans jumped into the frame.
The two kittens looked identical, their fluffy, snow-white paws sinking into the carpet’s shallow fur, while the fur above their paws shimmered in luxurious black and gold.
They were two tortoiseshell cats, almost handsome enough to be described as dashing. The tips of their ears were a striking deep gold, twitching lightly with every movement.
The kittens’ voices were bright and clear, like the pleasant tinkling of flowing spring water, with a hint of sweet, milky tones. They meowed softly as they happily bounced around on the carpet.
It was incredibly cheerful. Their bouncing couldn’t quite be called dancing, but rather a simple, joyful expression of their mood.
Simple, straightforward.
And utterly infectious.
Fans who had come for Wei Lan gradually shifted their gaze to the kittens:
“So adorable! Are they singing along? That’s amazing!”
“They seem so happy, genuinely happy. I can’t help but feel happy, too.”
“It feels so relaxing. I’m even swaying along with them. Hahaha.”
Just as the fans’ attention shifted, a hoarse yet familiar voice began humming along with the music.
It was Wei Lan!
His voice sounded slightly raspier than usual, breaking away from its usual ethereal quality and adding a touch of allure. Although this allure was quickly interrupted by the kittens’ meows.
In the video, Wei Lan opened his eyes. He smiled at the two cats and began humming along with the music.
No one could have imagined that a song could be interpreted in such a way, presented on a small stage with no fans cheering or screaming, not even proper sound equipment. It was just an old phone playing music.
Perhaps there was only one audience member during the recording.
Yet this performance was so moving.
Yes, moving. The human voice and the cats’ meows blended perfectly, the hoarseness and the gentle, ethereal tones merging into one. Every beat of the sound seemed to tap against the soul gently.
As the song ended, the video also concluded.
The fans didn’t exit, nor did they rush to the comments section. Instead, they calmly waited for the video to replay.
For the first time in a long while, the comments section beneath the cat café’s video wasn’t flooded with “hahahaha”. Strangers met online, their real selves possibly separated by thousands of miles. Yet here they were, gathered under the same video, sharing their feelings about it.
How wondrous.
This four-minute video had the power to calm people down.
What surprised Wei Lan’s fans even more was that Wei Lan had actually reposted the cat café’s video on his Weibo:
Wei Lan: Dai Dai and Maomao are my soulmates. I really wish I could sing with them again.
The comments below weren’t just a one-sided outpouring of adoration for their idol. The top comments were all related to the video:
Juniper: Thank you, Wei Lan, for introducing me to this treasure. I stayed up all night watching all of the cat café’s videos and have been looping the duet one. It’s so healing. I love your voice and the cats’ meows so much. It feels like I’m listening to angels singing. You’re all so beautiful. I don’t know what else to say, so I’ll just leave it at “I love you all.”
Soon, the official account of Xian Chan replied under Wei Lan’s post on behalf of Dai Dai and Mao Mao: “On behalf of Dai Dai and Mao Mao, we’d love to collaborate with you again someday.”
Of course, Dai Dai and Mao Mao wouldn’t speak so formally. Their original words were: “One day, we’ll sing our own song with him.”
Such a human-like expression couldn’t be posted directly, so Pei Shiyi polished it a bit, making the response seem as if the cat café were playing up the “Daimao persona” for cuteness.
Not long after, an article featuring an interview with Wei Lan by an online media outlet was dug up. Below it, a swarm of fans gathered, showering their idol with praise for his natural looks before enthusiastically liking and recommending the article.
When the editor woke up the next day, he was baffled to find that the article’s metrics were better than all his previous articles combined.
The editor clicked in to check, then slapped his forehead in frustration, exclaiming, “If only I’d asked a few more questions!”
…
“So, Daimao plans to become a celebrity in the future?”
Bo Jin poured a glass of water for Pei Shiyi.
Dai Dai puffed out her chest: “Yes, that’s the plan!”
He still struggled with speaking, only able to string a few words together at a time.
Dai Dai had just learned to talk, while Mao Mao hadn’t yet started speaking.
Bo Jin looked at the two cats for a moment before saying slowly, “It’s a long and arduous road ahead.”
The illiterate Dai Dai looked confused: I don’t understand.
Pei Shiyi: “Don’t bully the little ones.” He occasionally shared insights on cultivation, and the cats naturally followed along. However, with spiritual energy so scarce in the world today, transforming into human form wasn’t easy.
In the cat café, only the exceptionally talented Yun Chao, the recently adult Tong Qian, and Miss Penny could maintain stable human forms. Dan Huang was making steady progress and would likely get there in a few more years.
Pei Shiyi took the glass of water and began adding ice cubes.
Bo Jin watched with a furrowed brow for a while. Pei Shiyi always added ice generously, stopping only when the water in the glass was nearly overflowing, then taking a sip of the ice-cold water.
Bo Jin remarked, “Drinking such cold water even in winter? Aren’t you cold?”
Yuchuan was located in the northern region, where November was already cold enough to require down jackets and padded coats. Yet, Pei Shiyi was still drinking water with ice cubes.
With Pei Shiyi’s cultivation level, he had long been impervious to heat and cold. Temperature was merely a matter of preference. Logically, those aligned with the fire element usually didn’t get along well with water, as their attributes clashed. Pei Shiyi, however, was the opposite. He preferred cold over warmth. In summer, he would even avoid the sun, wishing he could carry an umbrella like the young women on the streets.
Pei Shiyi crunched a piece of ice. He swallowed it and glanced at Bo Jin. “You’re afraid of the cold?”
Zhulong resided on Zhangwei Mountain, where snow covered the peaks year-round, and the summit was an eternal glacier and snowfield. How could he even mention feeling cold?
Perhaps due to the ice he had just eaten, Pei Shiyi’s lips were a deep red. His complexion was exceptionally fair, with dark eyebrows and eyes that seemed almost mesmerizing when he shot a glance.
But Bo Jin paid no attention to his beauty. “There’s a kind of cold that just looks cold.”
Pei Shiyi, with a piece of ice in his mouth, couldn’t speak properly. He snorted through his nose and turned away.
In truth, Bo Jin’s guess wasn’t wrong. Given his elemental affinity, he shouldn’t have such a preference for cold. But after being resurrected from death, how could there be no side effects?
Pei Shiyi crunched the ice cube and took a sip of the icy water, completely unfazed.
Bo Jin frowned behind him.
…
Xian Chan opened a new account for a pet boarding service.
Pei Shiyi hired a copywriter to write short daily anecdotes about the pets staying in the shop.
The pet boarding service could operate as a separate store, but it wasn’t necessary. It needed to rely on Xian Chan and, ideally, always remain under its reputation.
Pei Shiyi hoped the boarding service’s reputation would positively influence the cat café.
This was a stepping stone for the cat café’s development.
Pei Shiyi didn’t want to run just one cat café. He had promised Dan Huang that he would develop the cat café into something great.
Well, at the very least, it should be well-known in the industry.
Pei Shiyi had many sweet words to coax people, but he didn’t make promises lightly. Once given, he would always keep them.
The pet boarding service’s business was far less profitable than the cat café’s, but it was still profitable.
Pei Shiyi had a keen eye. As a first-tier city, Yuchuan might not be as busy as the super-first-tier cities, but there were plenty of young people everywhere struggling to make a living.
Most of them were white-collar workers with decent incomes but little time, often facing business trips. At such times, finding a place for their furry companions became a problem.
Thus, the pet boarding service emerged.
Backed by a strong foundation, the pet boarding service benefited from Xian Chan Cat Café’s good reputation, sparing it the trouble of extensive promotion from the start. Moreover, online media had even written congratulatory articles about the boarding service’s opening, including several interior photos that looked very appealing.
The boarding service’s business was quite good compared to others in the industry. It would take much longer to recoup the investment than it would at the cat café. But at least it wouldn’t incur losses.
Of course, there were also issues.
While accompanying Miss Penny with her knitting, Pei Shiyi received a call from the boarding service’s manager.
The experienced manager sounded troubled: “Boss, I just checked. One cat’s boarding period has already expired, but the owner hasn’t picked it up. We tried contacting them, but couldn’t reach them.”
Pei Shiyi held a tangled mess of yarn and hurriedly said, “Then I’ll go take a look.”
Miss Penny was sprawled over the cat bed. Two knitting needles are floating in the air with magic, and a nearly finished scarf is dangling beneath them.
It was a smoky gray scarf. It’s quite beautiful.
But right now, Pei Shiyi wished he could burn the thing.
Pei Shiyi had been learning to knit with Miss Penny for a while and could now knit a scarf smoothly. Due to his race, he didn’t have a strong sense of gender boundaries. Apart from being naturally tone-deaf, he had dabbled in all sorts of refined hobbies.
If he found something interesting, like flower arranging or tea ceremonies, which were traditionally considered feminine arts, he would learn it. Knitting seemed fun, so he picked it up for a couple of days.
To him, knitting a scarf was just like his skills in chess, calligraphy, or painting. It’s a useful ability, with no shame in learning it. The reason Pei Shiyi wanted to burn this scarf was that Miss Penny was knitting it for him.
Pei Shiyi would rather wear a single layer in the dead of winter than wrap a scarf around his neck.
But Miss Penny was so enthusiastic. Pei Shiyi simply couldn’t refuse a gentle lady. It felt as though Miss Penny had an endless well of maternal love, radiating not only to all the little kittens but also attempting to envelop Pei Shiyi, who had shed his downy fur eight hundred years ago.
Before leaving, Pei Shiyi glanced at the scarf, already planning to find an excuse to drape it around Bo Jin’s neck later.
Walking briskly into the pet boarding shop at the back, Pei Shiyi adjusted his expression slightly.
The shop owner was waiting for him at the entrance and quickly led him to the kitten in question.
This kitten, who had been left behind for so long, had a rather peculiar appearance. It was a gray domestic cat, a rare color among its kind. Its ears were different from other cats. There was an extra fold at the base of the ear, making it look as though small ears were nested inside larger ones from a distance.
This was a Jianzhou cat, also known as a four-eared cat.
Once a prized tribute breed, the Jianzhou cat. In its heyday, its reputation was no less than that of the Linqing Lion Cat. However, in today’s world dominated by foreign cat breeds, it has become as little-known as the Lion Cat.
Perhaps even less so. The most prized variety of the Lion Cat was one like Yun Chao’s—pure white without a single blemish, with heterochromatic eyes. The heterochromia alone left humans in awe, its beauty simply too extraordinary.
Author’s Note:
I finally wrote it! From the start, I intended to feature more domestic cat breeds, but unfortunately, the only ones I could find were the Jianzhou cat and the Lion Cat. I thought they’d appear much sooner, but it dragged on until now.
A little aside: White cats are more prone to heterochromia. The ones I’ve seen usually have one yellow and one blue eye, also called gold-silver eyes. Whether there are other color combinations, I’m not sure.
The earlier hints about the boss’s identity are also about to be addressed—like the red marks, his aversion to heat, why he was resurrected, why the phoenix clan disappeared, and why it’s a cat café instead of a dog café or a restaurant.
It’s still sweet, and there definitely won’t be any relationship issues between the boss and Director Bo (well, actually, there’s just a lot of dog food).
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wannaberecluse On SRTT Chapter 50.1