005: Have a Kitty Candy~
Sang Zhao opened his mouth, then closed it again, torn between speaking and staying silent.
He stared at the big fluffy white ball in front of him for a moment, face serious, then nodded.
“Alright. I won’t make noise anymore. You should go back to sleep.”
But the dog stayed where it was, wagging its tail, looking suddenly shy.
It hesitated, voice small. “But Yeye… Yeye wants to add your WeChat.”
Sang Zhao frowned, staring at it.
He really didn’t want to add a Samoyed on WeChat!
He was a cat, and cats didn’t like dogs.
Especially big, goofy white dogs like this one. Absolutely not!
The dog rubbed its front paws together, stomped a bit, and confessed, “Yeye actually just moved in two months ago. Yeye doesn’t have any friends in the building. Cat is nice, Cat isn’t a big animal, Yeye’s not scared of you. Yeye wants to be your friend.”
Sang Zhao’s ears grew hot.
See? This was exactly why cats couldn’t stand dogs that threw themselves straight at you like this! He hated it!
He cleared his throat. “Didn’t you say there’s a border collie upstairs? Why not be friends with them?”
The dog sighed long and heavy, its furry face full of misery.
“Ah… Yeye can’t fit into Teacher Bian’s circle.”
Sang Zhao: …Fair enough.
Yeah, a grade-school Samoyed fitting into a border collie professor’s social circle would’ve been real impressive.
He looked at the wagging tail again and, despite himself, felt a little smug.
He’d never had a puppy friend before!
Cats didn’t like dogs, sure but Sang Zhao kind of wanted a puppy friend.
He gave a haughty little hum, pulled out his phone, and opened WeChat while trying to change the subject. “Why do you keep calling yourself Yeye? Talk normally. Don’t act cute!”
The dog tilted its head, mouth open in a goofy grin. “Not acting cute. Everyone says Yeye is really cute.”
They added each other on WeChat.
Hearing that, Sang Zhao didn’t even get annoyed. Instead, he smiled faintly, eyes gleaming with mystery.
“Really? But I’ve never seen any dogs being worshipped. Only cats.”
He concluded proudly, “So cats are cuter.”
When he reached out to nudge the dog, it thought he wanted to play and rubbed its head against his hand instead.
“Go to sleep, puppy,” Sang Zhao scolded impatiently. “Mature cats have to get up for work, and childish puppies have to get up for school.”
Time was tight, life in the human world was tough, and this was no time for being a pet! Off to bed, off to bed!
Morning came, a new day.
Except new days were terrible.
When the alarm woke him up, Sang Zhao opened the curtains and saw it was raining.
Ah! What a beautiful rainy day. Rainy days were meant for curling up on cool tiles, napping while waiting for your human to come home with snacks.
But no, fate had flipped the script. The poor little cat now had to drag himself out into the rain for work.
Grumbling, he pulled on new clothes, clumsily put on his shoes, grabbed his phone, and dashed out right on the deadline.
At the door, he realized he didn’t have an umbrella.
He borrowed one from the apartment manager, learned quickly how to use it, and finally made it out. By 8:50, he was sitting on the stairway landing, eating a savory pancake he’d bought by the subway entrance.
At least he wasn’t late. He took a big bite and thought happily about that.
The smell was strong, so he didn’t dare eat in the office. Instead, he stayed in the stairwell. Of course, he’d already clocked in, so eating here also meant he could delay starting work. Perfect.
Since he hadn’t slept well the night before, he was tired, hungry, and craving food. So breakfast was absolutely non-negotiable.
The pancake was stuffed with crispy crackers and chicken strips, no scallions or cilantro. Ugh, he didn’t like those sharp, spicy smells. However, the sauce was seafood-flavored, deliciously savory, almost like fish.
Just like how a cat pretends to be human, even a grain pancake could pretend to be fish.
He listened to the rain tapping outside the stairwell window, half-dozing as he ate.
He thought no one would find him here. But the next second, the fire door creaked open.
Startled, Sang Zhao looked up and froze.
It was Tang Yu.
Tang Yu came in holding a cigarette, just two puffs in.
He had a mild addiction, smoking whenever he was frustrated.
Being a CEO wasn’t easy. His startup was short on cash and Tang Yu worked under constant pressure. Smoking helped him focus and unwind.
When he spotted Sang Zhao there, he raised an eyebrow.
Before he could speak, Sang Zhao sniffed the air, his nose twitching, and suddenly leapt up, clutching his pancake.
“What’s that smell?! What’s that smell?! Is something on fire?!”
Tang Yu looked around, then silently stubbed out his cigarette.
“It’s smoke,” he said. “Sorry, I didn’t know someone was here.” He straightened up. “You’re sensitive to the smell?”
The odor didn’t clear right away. Sang Zhao drooped, expression faintly miserable.
“Yeah…” he murmured, dragging out the word, staring at his pancake. He suddenly lost his appetite.
He didn’t just dislike cigarette smoke, he hated any strong smell.
Smoke, perfume, mothballs, medicated oils, spicy food… anything sharp or pungent made him sick.
Thankfully, Tang Yu had put out the cigarette in time. Otherwise, Sang Zhao might’ve started gagging.
Seeing how bothered he was, Tang Yu no longer felt like smoking at all. But once he put it out, his hands froze in midair, unsure what to do next.
If not smoking, what was he even doing in the stairwell?
It was the top floor, and everyone took the elevator. The stairwell was practically an empty chamber.
Leaving abruptly felt rude though. He stood there awkwardly, mind blank.
Then Sang Zhao dug into his pocket.
He pulled out something and held it out to Tang Yu.
Tang Yu blinked. It was a lollipop.
It was one of those from the Bureau staff had given it to Sang Zhao yesterday, and he hadn’t eaten it yet.
Now he was offering it to Tang Yu.
“Here, hold the stick in your mouth,” Sang Zhao explained, gesturing. “Looks kind of like smoking, right?”
Tang Yu’s chest shook with a quiet laugh.
…What was the point of looking like it? Honestly.
Still, he reached out and took it, meeting Sang Zhao’s eyes. His expression softened.
“Thank you.”
It was milk flavored.
A lollipop and milk-flavored on top of that. Tang Yu lowered his gaze, amused.
Just how young was this kid?
Still, he unwrapped it silently and popped it into his mouth.
The candy was from the Bureau made specifically to comfort little yāoguài, so of course it was good. Even a 25-year-old CEO couldn’t help the sparkle in his eyes when he tasted it.
The milk flavor was rich and sweet.
From the first touch of his tongue, the sweetness spread softly, like sipping a drop of cream.
Not cloying at all, just a light, fluffy kind of sweetness, like a piece of cloud.
Tang Yu lowered his eyes slightly, savoring it.
His bad mood faded. The urge to smoke vanished. Holding the lollipop and watching the pretty orange-haired young man in front of him, he suddenly felt… peaceful.
His mood lifted.
Sang Zhao, meanwhile, just hugged his pancake, watching Tang Yu with hopeful eyes.
Tang Yu understood that look perfectly but he didn’t say anything. He just smiled quietly to himself.
The air went still. In the quiet stairwell, Sang Zhao took a bite of his pancake, and Tang Yu sucked on his lollipop.
They glanced at each other and shared a small smile, hiding here together, away from the terrible world outside.
Everything was peaceful.
For about three minutes.
Then the noise started.
Sang Zhao’s sharp ears caught a flurry of flapping, clanging sounds rushing their way, loud and chaotic, like a moving crew or construction team.
He’d never heard anything like it, not as a cat or a fake human. His instincts went on high alert.
He ducked immediately, grabbing Tang Yu’s wrist and pulling him up half a flight of stairs.
This was the top floor and above them was the rooftop access, a metal door with double locks and heavy chains.
There was a small platform in front of it, just enough space for them to stand.
By the time Tang Yu realized what was happening, he was already up there with Sang Zhao.
His mind went blank.
What are we doing? Who are we hiding from?
He was about to ask when he heard it too: a mix of thumps, clangs, and strange flapping noises echoing through the stairwell.
Tang Yu was just an ordinary guy and an ordinary guy who’d read too many horror novels. Hearing weird noises in a quiet stairwell was not comforting.
He instinctively edged closer to Sang Zhao.
Sure, he was a 25-year-old, six-foot-one adult man. So what? People got scared too!
And next to him stood this tall, calm, unbothered “younger brother” built like a tank, staring fiercely downward. Of course Tang Yu was going to rely on him!
He moved closer still.
They crouched together, watching.
A few seconds later, they saw something they’d never forget.
A person was coming up the stairs, upside down.
They were walking on their hands, holding an umbrella with their feet, clattering along as they went.
…If you could even call that “walking.”
Sang Zhao blinked. He recognized the person.
Wait! That was Sister An!
Tang Yu looked too, frozen in shock. He recognized her a beat later, it was An Tihu, his secretary.
When she reached the top, An Tihu flipped herself upright in one smooth motion.
She stood before the fire door, dusted off her hands, folded the umbrella, straightened her suit, and calmly took her dress shoes out of her bag to put them on.
By the time she was done, she looked like a perfectly normal office worker. She opened the fire door and walked in elegantly.
Leaving behind two stunned bystanders on the stairs, questioning both cat-hood and humanity.
Their minds were fried.
Tang Yu trembled, voice barely a whisper. “...What the hell was that?! Performance art?!”
He mumbled to himself again. “What’s going on… did the zombie apocalypse start?”
He still couldn’t make sense of it.
More than confusion though, was a wave of inexplicable guilt washing over him.
He muttered, face complicated, “Wait… is my company that stressful?”
His confidence as a CEO took a massive hit right then.
God, he’d always thought he was a decent boss!
How had things gotten this bad? Had he really pushed his employees that far?
Sang Zhao, on the other hand, stayed calm.
He took another bite of his pancake, chewing thoughtfully.
His expression was one of sudden enlightenment.
Ah, he thought. So that’s how humans go to work. Stumbling, tumbling, upside down. So that’s what it takes to act human, huh?
Well, he could do that too. His balance as a cat was amazing!
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