“Happy New Year!”
“Good morning, and a happy New Year to everyone.”
“Comrades, happy New Year!”
On the first day back at work after the holiday, Yuan Jiaming dropped his backpack onto the table, spilling out a collection of small trinkets he’d bought from various street vendors during the trip. As he did, he asked, “So, how was it spending New Year’s at home with your Maimai?”
Cheng Lin sat at his desk, his index finger lightly touching his philtrum, deep in thought. He didn’t answer right away.
He wanted to say it was wonderful, but the truth was that it hadn’t been. Not wonderful at all—
He had noticed that Maimai seemed to be growing increasingly distant from him.
Perhaps this phenomenon was normal. Ever since Maimai reached adulthood, they’d maintained a respectful distance, mostly at Cheng Lin’s insistence. Yet, Maimai had always shown signs of wanting to get closer, sometimes crossing boundaries with affectionate gestures.
But now, those signals had all but vanished.
On New Year’s Eve, they still shared a blanket while watching the Spring Festival Gala. But later, even when Cheng Lin sat beside him on the couch, Maimai remained as immovable as a mountain, not allowing anything to disturb his virtue. When they went for walks, they walked separately without making eye contact. Even when watching movies together, Maimai would sit upright, like a proper gentleman.
Maimai’s aloof and restrained behavior made Cheng Lin’s heart ache.
Cheng Lin: “I think he doesn’t care about me as much anymore.”
“Isn’t that just how cats are? They’re not like dogs.” Yuan Jiaming gave him a puzzled look, feeling goosebumps from the comment.
Cheng Lin couldn’t quite grasp what Maimai was thinking. It wasn’t clear whether he was truly indifferent. Maimai would still respond when Cheng Lin spoke to him, ate his meals without fuss, and even volunteered to do chores like washing dishes. Yet, Cheng Lin sensed something was amiss.
He tried various ways to capture more of Maimai’s attention, but nothing seemed to work.
He even played cat videos deliberately, but Maimai remained uninterested as if he no longer cared.
“Do cats get tired of people?” Cheng Lin asked, “What do you think?”
Yuan Jiaming thought Cheng Lin was sick. “Huh? No, you’re overthinking it. Isn’t your cousin still staying with you? Maimai’s been spending time with him. Of course, they’re closer now.”
Cheng Lin shook his head. “That’s not it.”
Nearby, Jin Li rolled up her sleeves and said, “Xiao Mi isn’t in the park today. I need to take the four cats back to the shelter. Who’s helping?”
Xiao Mi was a young woman from another company in the park who also volunteered with them.
Cheng Lin nodded, “I’ll help.”
The two of them left the office through the back door, circling around to the front where the break room was located.
Through the glass, they could see the four cats curled up together, resting in a corner. As they approached, the Li Hua cat and the orange-and-white cat were the first to rise, cautiously walking over.
Jin Li unlocked the door and pushed it open. “I’ll go grab the cat crates and gloves. You start gathering their things.”
The room was well-ventilated, and volunteers had cleaned it during the holidays, so it was still relatively tidy. All they needed to do was move the cats back to the outdoor warming shed, pack up the supplies, and give the room a quick clean.
Cheng Lin put on a mask and began packing the scattered cat supplies into the plastic box the volunteers had brought.
A meow came from behind him.
The orange-and-white cat approached, tail held high, rubbing against Cheng Lin’s pant leg as it continued to meow.
Jin Li brought over a crate and handed Cheng Lin a pair of scratch-resistant gloves. “These four are pretty well-behaved. They’ve been here a long time, but just to be safe, wear these.”
Seeing how friendly the orange-and-white cat was, she crouched down and affectionately called, “Yuanbao.”
Cheng Lin: “That’s its name?”
“Yeah.” Jin Li stroked the cat’s back. “Xiao Mi named it. Yuanbao is the most affectionate, so we sometimes worry that a stranger might take advantage of that.”
Cheng Lin watched the orange-and-white cat and reached out to play with him. Yuanbao meowed and immediately flopped onto its side, hoping Cheng Lin would continue petting it.
“To be honest, I wasn’t too keen on Yuan Jiaming’s idea of leaving the cats here over the New Year. I was worried they’d think they finally had a home, only to realize it wasn’t permanent,” Jin Li said.
“Are you sure you don’t want to adopt another cat?” She asked with a smile, noticing how the cat was acting. “Yuanbao has such a great personality. If it weren’t for its old age and the difficulty of finding a new home, and if Xiao Mi and I could take it in, it wouldn’t still be wandering outside.”
Cheng Lin continued to stroke Yuanbao’s fur, realizing it had been a long time since he had petted a real cat.
When Maimai was still a cat, he had been just as clingy as Yuanbao. He always wanted Cheng Lin to pet him, hold him, and ideally, kiss him too.
So, was he just like Jin Li, Yuan Jiaming, and Xiao Mi—a true cat lover?
He remembered a conversation from earlier, not long after Maimai had gone out to look for work. Out of the blue, the cat had asked, “Cheng Lin, why did you bring me home?”
Cheng Lin answered, “Because you were lying in the bushes.”
“There are lots of orange cats in the bushes,” Maimai replied. “Was there something special about me?”
“There was,” Cheng Lin said. “You were about to die.”
Maimai had accepted that answer, but now Cheng Lin wondered if there might have been a better one.
He suddenly recalled the day the cat first transformed into a human. That unfamiliar, round face had seemed so happy, clutching him and endlessly expressing his joy at becoming human.
But now Maimai just wanted to be a cat again.
Cheng Lin finally realized he might have made a grave mistake. He hadn’t truly seen Maimai as the kitten he had raised for a year, nor had he fully respected him as an individual with his own personality.
When Maimai had turned into a young man, Cheng Lin’s initial reaction was resistance. But he never really cared to understand what Maimai thought about being human.
What exactly was Maimai thinking?
There were so many things Cheng Lin hadn’t explained. Maimai had seemed forgiving, never pushing for answers.
But now, Maimai was no longer just a cat to Cheng Lin.
Did Maimai wonder why they couldn’t sleep together?
Why was Maimai so determined to find a job?
Why didn’t Cheng Lin take the picture when they went out that day?
Cheng Lin stood up. “Let’s wrap this up. I need to head home.”
Meanwhile, Maimai sat in the cat bed, took a deep breath, and focused.
He tried to recall every detail of being a cat, letting that furry feeling spread through his limbs.
When he opened his eyes, he was still human.
Maybe he couldn’t turn back into a cat.
Maimai felt troubled. He knew his time was running out. Despite his efforts to stay within his boundaries and meet Cheng Lin’s expectations at a respectful distance, he had noticed Cheng Lin browsing for other cats on his phone.
Maimai desperately wanted to ask when Cheng Lin planned to bring home a new cat, so he could figure out when he should leave.
With that thought in mind, Maimai began packing. He laid out everything he wanted to take on the bed: his teddy bear, the small blanket, Cheng Lin’s cotton jacket, a few cans of cat food, and the red envelope Cheng Lin had given him last time.
But these were all things Cheng Lin had given him.
Cheng Lin might still need the jacket, and the new cat would need the food.
Just as Maimai was trying to decide what to take, he heard a noise at the entrance.
Cheng Lin burst through the door, out of breath, tossing his helmet onto the sofa.
Maimai ran over and gawked at him, “You’re home early?”
Without a word, Cheng Lin pulled him into a tight embrace.
Maimai’s face lit up instantly at the unexpected hug. He was about to ask happily, “What is it?” when a scent from Cheng Lin’s clothes—a scent only a cat could detect—triggered his feline instincts.
Amid the fragrance of laundry detergent was the unmistakable smell of another cat.
In an instant, before Cheng Lin could react, the clothes in his arms seemed to shrink away.
He instinctively reached down to catch them but was met with a “hiss” by his ear and a sharp pain in his finger.
A furry orange blur darted past his feet and slipped through the crack in the door behind him.
The room fell silent.
Cheng Lin stood there, struggling to process what had just happened.
Two tiny, rice-sized indentations marked his finger, though no blood had been drawn. He pressed his fingertip against them, watching as the marks slowly faded.
Cheng Lin’s mind went blank.
Maimai had hissed at him and even bitten him.
…
No, it was more than that?!
—Maimai had turned back into a cat and run away!
Maimai was gone!
