Cheng Lin’s biological clock was as precise as ever. When he opened his eyes, he noticed that the gap between them had significantly closed during the night.
Within arm’s reach, Maimai lay on his side, facing Cheng Lin, with wisps of hair partially covering his eyes.
The red string around Maimai’s neck stood out starkly against his pale skin. The lock charm it held was mostly hidden by his loose pajama collar, with only a sliver of gold peeking out.
He was deeply asleep, looking carefree.
In the past, when the cat hadn’t woken up yet, Cheng Lin would tiptoe around and carefully tuck the quilt around him.
Now, Cheng Lin lingered a few seconds longer before pulling out his phone to snap a picture. Then he shook Maimai awake. “It’s getting late. Didn’t you want to meet your good friend Rongrong?” His tone sounded oddly sarcastic.
Maimai, still groggy, hadn’t yet realized he was human. Seeing Cheng Lin’s hand resting nearby, he instinctively nuzzled his face against it, hoping for a pet.
Cheng Lin pulled his hand away, only brushing Maimai’s hair to the side. “It’s too long; it might mess with your eyesight. I’ll take you to a barbershop sometime.” Then he got up to wash.
That snapped Maimai back to reality, and he realized he wasn’t a cat anymore.
He sat up and silently tried to smooth down his bangs with his hands.
Cheng Lin drove, took the elevator, and escorted Maimai all the way to the cat cafe.
They both stared at the glowing sign for “Cat Space Afternoon Tea.” Maimai turned his head first and waved his hand, “Bye-bye, see you later.” The message to leave couldn’t have been clearer.
Cheng Lin sighed internally. He had even skipped work for this. “Call me when you’re done. I’ll come to pick you up.”
The human couldn’t break into the cat’s social circle, but at least he secured the right to drop him off and pick him up.
Maybe Maimai didn’t think he was presentable.
After seeing Cheng Lin off, Maimai knocked on the door and gave his phone number. “Hello, I have a reservation. The number is…”
Jiang Lili wasn’t there, so the door was opened by the male owner, Lin Mian. Recognizing Maimai’s striking appearance, Lin Mian immediately recalled the previous incident where Maimai had supposedly used a job search as an excuse to abandon an orange cat. This left Lin Mian with a poor impression of him.
Even though he let the customer in, Lin Mian couldn’t help but ask with a hint of disdain, “What happened to that orange cat you mentioned last time? You didn’t ditch it, did you?”
Maimai responded seriously, “No, I didn’t. The master is taking good care of it.”
After sanitizing his hands and changing into slippers, Maimai walked into the room, searching for his friend from a different generation.
As he passed a group of cats of various breeds, he spotted Rongrong, a cat of humble origins and ordinary lineage, but well-connected. Rongrong was lounging in a cat bed at the back, watching TV.
On the opposite wall, several cat names were listed. Under the black-furred tuxedo cat, the name “Coal” was written in bold letters.
Since it was a weekday, there were no other customers. Rongrong noticed someone entering the room and glanced over but couldn’t recognize him from a distance.
The young person seemed unlikely to be able to afford cat food, so Rongrong turned his head back and continued lounging.
Maimai called out, “Brother Rong.”
Hearing this, Rongrong couldn’t ignore him.
He quickly flipped over, ran over to sniff Maimai, and within seconds, his tail shot up. “Little brother Maimai!”
Maimai beamed. “It’s me!”
“Little brother, you… you…” Rongrong looked him up and down for a long time before saying, “You’ve really got a presence now, like one of those mixed-race kids on TV.”
Maimai understood what he meant by mixed-race and shook his head. “I’m just a regular mixed-breed cat.”
“A cat who’s mixed with a human,” Rongrong said matter-of-factly. “It’s been a while. How come you’ve turned back into a human?”
Just as he finished speaking, Lin Mian walked in from the other room, carrying the cake and juice that came with Maimai’s order.
He set the tray down and glanced at the tuxedo cat lying on the table, looking at Maimai with affectionate eyes. “Is Coal really that fond of you?”
“I’m just acting,” Rongrong meowed. “Coal is my code name.”
“Isn’t he usually like this?” Maimai asked, noting that Rongrong often acted that way around Cheng Lin.
“Mm,” Lin Mian replied with a nod. “He doesn’t usually get this close to people unless there’s food involved.”
“I really respect him,” Maimai said. “I’ve learned a lot from him.”
Lin Mian couldn’t imagine what anyone could learn from a tuxedo cat. He left the room after setting down the tray.
Rongrong sat back up and returned to his usual posture. “I’m touched that you think so highly of me. Did you come today to chat with me?”
“I was just about to tell you. I’ve checked in at the organization.” Maimai sat down at the small table and pulled a folder and a red membership card out of his backpack. “This is my membership card. Please take a look.”
Rongrong sat on the table, making a last-minute effort to clean his face while acknowledging, “Not bad. Look, that number in the corner is your membership ID.”
Maimai then pulled out several forms from the folder, which looked like personal information sheets.
Rongrong confirmed, “Yes! Those are the forms. Once you fill them out, they’ll set up your household registration and ID card.”
Some of the fields were already filled in, including Maimai’s gender and age.
Under the section for social relationships, only Cheng Lin was listed, with the relationship marked as “Master.”
“Rongrong, how old are you this year?” Maimai asked. “Why does the form say I’m 18? Cheng Lin just celebrated my first birthday.”
“Little brother, age is a middle-aged man’s secret.” Wang Derong said, “All I can tell you is that apart from the mechanical watch from the founding of the nation on Lin Mian’s wrist, there’s nothing here older than me in this place.”
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked about your secret,” Maimai apologized.
“That’s okay, no need to apologize,” Rongrong said magnanimously. “The ID says you’re 18 because that’s how it works with kitty people. Our growth cycle is similar to regular cats—we mature in about a year, which is like reaching adulthood for humans. So, it’s easier to list 18 as the age on the ID.”
He explained further, “After that, we age like regular people, one year at a time. Kitty people are usually quite simple-minded, with no worries, so we live a long time.”
For instance, based on his ID, Rongrong was already 53 years old.
This tuxedo cat was known for being lazy and lacking ambition. He had long been listed as a key target for assistance in the Kitty People Alliance’s poverty alleviation program.
However, because he loved watching uplifting TV dramas, he remained untouched by human pettiness or societal darkness. Content with his simple life, his speech didn’t carry the weight of his age.
Maimai said, “But there’s a big age gap between me and Cheng Lin. He’s already 26.”
“That’s not much of a difference. You’re both young. I, on the other hand, could be your father,” the tuxedo cat said dismissively. “How come Section Chief Shi didn’t explain basic kitty people knowledge to you? Not doing a good job serving the people, huh?”
“I didn’t recognize some of the characters on the form at the time, so I didn’t ask questions. I looked them up on my phone when I got home,” Maimai answered honestly.
“Ah, so it’s the lack of education that got you. The organization is responsible for teaching you. You should catch up on the lessons,” Rongrong said. “What about the other parts of the form? How do you plan to fill them out? I can help you check them.”
This was the part that had been troubling Maimai the most.
“Sister Shi Jing said I should come up with a proper name for myself. Can’t I just be called Maimai?” Maimai asked, troubled. “She mentioned that I could take Cheng Lin’s surname and join his household registration. That way, the process would be simpler. Otherwise, I’d have to be registered as an orphan.”
“Cheng is a good surname. There’s even a famous mathematician named Cheng—Chen Jingrun1the mathematician’s name is Chen Jingrun, not using Cheng. It’s common to mix up Chen/Cheng as they sound similar.” Rongrong imagined Maimai’s future. “But ‘Mai’ doesn’t really sound like a human name.”
“So what should I be called?” Maimai asked.
“Back when I was dealing with Shi Jing and Shi Ting’s mom, Shi Meilin, she told me to pick a grand name. So I took Granny’s surname and kept the ‘Rong’ character, adding ‘De’ to it.”
“Wang, De, Rong,” Rongrong pronounced each character carefully. “It has a great meaning—high noble character2Wang = king/grand, De = moral/virtue, Rong = honor/glorious. It’s a name that really suits a cat of my caliber.”
“Yes, it does,” Maimai agreed, nodding.
“Why don’t you try something along those lines?” Wang Derong pondered briefly. “How about Cheng Dexing? It means ‘noble character and happiness.’”
The tuxedo cat was quite pleased with himself. But with only a middle school education, he didn’t know many other idioms.
Cheng Dexing. The name felt unfamiliar.
Maimai repeated it a couple of times, then asked, “But I’m so used to everyone calling me Maimai. Can’t I just be Cheng Maimai?”
Rongrong had already given it his all and was out of ideas, so he said, “A proper name is something to think about seriously. Why don’t you ask your family member when you get home? He’s more educated and might have some good suggestions. By the way, it’s about time. Could you switch the TV to Channel 3? There’s a show I want to watch.”
Maimai agreed, found the remote, and said, “I like watching Channel 3 too.”
“Really?” Rongrong was pleased they had something in common. “My favorite is ‘Young Master Ze’s Overbearing Love.’ Recently, Duanmu Ze has been in the middle of the ‘wife-chasing crematorium’ arc. Qin Wenwan is such a strong and dignified girl. That kind of man definitely deserves a slap in the face!”
As they waited for the TV show to start in half an hour, Maimai asked, “Do you think Cheng Lin will agree to let me take his last name and add me to his household registry?”
“Just ask him directly!” Rongrong replied dismissively. “Honestly, I think he’d even be willing to take your last name ‘Mai’.”
After a long stretch of commercials, melancholic music began to play, and the drama finally started airing.
Maimai hugged Rongrong as they watched the show, then suddenly said, “To be honest, I didn’t really want to turn back into a human.”
“What did Section Chief Shi say to convince you?”
“She told me she hadn’t turned into a cat in years.”
“Most of the registered kitty people are like that. They live and work as humans.” Rongrong said, “Why do you think I gave Shi Meilin headaches for so many years? Even up until her retirement, she never managed to resolve my tough case. It was wrong of me to suggest you become a cat last time.”
He then asked, “But how do you feel about it now?”
“I think being human is pretty great. Once, I even carried Cheng Lin all the way from the front door to the bedroom,” Maimai said. “Sister Shi Jing advised me to at least get my ID sorted. That way, if Cheng Lin ever needs help, I can do things more easily as a human with an ID.”
“But when I can turn back into a cat, I still will.”
Maimai didn’t say anything more, and Rongrong understood what he meant.
The plot of the show finally reached its climax. In the pouring rain, the once arrogant and impeccably dressed Duanmu Ze was drenched, looking like a wet otter just out of the water. He stood by the river, holding up a red box, and got down on one knee in front of Qin Wenwan. “Marry me, Wanwan.”
Without hesitation, Qin Wenwan threw the ring into the raging river and slapped Duanmu Ze.
“Nice slap!” Rongrong lifted his front paw excitedly. “That must’ve knocked the stars out of him!”
Maimai asked, “Rongrong, do you think Cheng Lin will get married and have a lover?”
“Probably, yeah. He’s good-looking, rich, and has a decent personality. If someone like Duanmu Ze can find love, it wouldn’t be surprising if Cheng Lin does too,” Rongrong replied. “Does he have a girlfriend?”
Rongrong had been completely won over by the box of canned cat food Cheng Lin had bought him. To him, Cheng Lin was like a god.
“Sister Shi Jing said the same thing,” Maimai answered. “But he already has me.”
“Come on, you’re his cat.” Rongrong’s eyes widened, his meowing growing louder as if they were having an argument. “Can a cat and a wife be the same?! And besides, you’re a guy.”
“Oh, I see.” Despite his strength and innocence, Maimai couldn’t hide the disappointment in his voice.
“It can’t be helped. Humans always have someone more important and closer to them,” Rongrong said. “When I was taking care of Granny, she didn’t recognize me and was always calling me by her youngest son’s name. Even now, I sometimes feel like I’m still Granny’s kitten. Actually, in another ten or twenty years, I’ll be the same age as when Granny found me.”
He added, “Both of Granny’s sons died too—the eldest from a heart attack, the younger from lung cancer. Speaking of which, don’t pick up smoking like the younger generation. It’s bad for your health.”
Maimai stayed silent for a long time before finally replying, “This is a bit complicated for me.”
“Just stick with him, and you won’t have to worry about food or clothing,” Rongrong said. “Think of it this way—you’re like a dowry. Women are generally kinder, and you’re so cute she’ll probably like you. But if you really want to live as a human, you can move out when the time comes. Three people in a relationship is too crowded, and the organization will find a way to take care of you.”
As Maimai was about to leave, he noticed a few cats eating and remembered something. He snuck into a corner and quietly called Rongrong over. “Have you finished your canned food?”
“I still have four left,” Rongrong replied. “I eat one a day, maybe an extra one on Sunday. I’m very disciplined.”
“That’s not much. Let me buy you another box,” Maimai offered.
“That’s not necessary.” Even though Rongrong really wanted it, as an older cat, he felt it was wrong to spend the kitten’s money. “You don’t need to buy it for me!”
Maimai pulled a red envelope out of his bag and showed him the money inside. “I have money. I’ll buy it for you.”
Rongrong leaned in to take a look and gasped softly. “Put it away quickly, don’t let anyone see… Wait, how do you have so much money?”
“It’s the New Year’s money Cheng Lin gave me,” Maimai explained. “I don’t really have anything I want to buy, so I’ll get you some canned food.”
Rongrong was tempted to ask if Maimai’s master was hiring more cats, but instead, he offered some advice.
“Contentment is happiness,” Rongrong said. “Cheng Lin likes you, even if you’re not the one he likes the most. But that’s okay. Being liked is enough. What’s the big deal if it’s not the same kind of love? After all, we’re just our master’s cats. We love our master the most, but they don’t have to love us the most.”
“I understand, Rongrong,” Maimai said earnestly. “I’ll be content and happy too.”
![There’s a Beauty [Ancient Wear Modern]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image_2023-11-22_095131618.png "There’s a Beauty [Ancient Wear Modern]")
