008: Ye Ye: Please, I’m Begging You!
Unbelievable. Absolutely ridiculous.
What kind of racing was that supposed to be?!
No license, no registration, and yet the black leopard still dared to speed down the street with an orange cat on its back!
When Director Li saw them, she nearly exploded. Sang Zhao even had on a black motorcycle helmet—sponsored by the leopard, apparently.
Wearing a helmet while riding on a living creature’s back? Did he seriously think that made it okay?!
What kind of cat was this? And what kind of leopard allowed it?
The Bureau offered classes to teach them how to blend into human society and not how to turn their classmates into vehicles!
Director Li steadied her breathing, her voice low and sharp.
No one was escaping a lecture today. Not the cat, not the leopard.
She turned to the black leopard first.
“Well, aren’t you impressive? You just love being a mode of transportation, huh? How many times is this now that I’ve caught you giving someone a ride?”
“You said you’d changed, remember? And now, just because you’ve got a new classmate, you talk him into riding you around again?”
“I really don’t get it. What are you, a creature from Journey to the West? There aren’t even immortals anymore. Why are you out here volunteering as a mount for yaoguai?!”
After scolding the leopard, she turned with a deathly smile toward Sang Zhao.
“And you, Sang Zhao. What’s wrong with you? How long have you even been here? You think it’s polite to ride your classmate like that?!”
Sang Zhao scratched his cheek, embarrassed.
“Maybe it’s just because I’m really good at making friends?”
He even had his own reasoning prepared.
“I’m an orange cat. Orange cats are great at making friends. We have our own Orange Network, you know.”
More deets: “橘域网 / júyùwǎng” - “Orange Network” pun
It’s a play on “局域网 (júyùwǎng),” meaning local area network, like a computer LAN. “局 (jú, bureau)” and “橘 (jú, orange)” sound identical, so Sang Zhao’s version humorously swaps them:“我们橘猫有自己的橘域网！” → “We orange cats have our own Orange Network!”
In essence, he’s saying all orange cats are secretly linked by a cat-only network. This riffs on the meme “橘猫有橘运” (“orange cats have orange luck”), suggesting that orange cats naturally make friends everywhere.
Otherwise, just look around~ Orange cats always get along with everyone! So when he ran into the black leopard after getting off the subway, and the leopard invited him to go for a ride, how could he possibly refuse?
He just wanted to have fun with his classmate!
Director Li looked like she was about to pass out from anger. She raised her hand and smacked the leopard hard on the back.
“Transform. Now!”
The leopard pawed the ground twice, gave her a gentle nudge that nearly made her stumble, and said in the most pitiful tone possible, “We were only riding nearby, so no one would’ve seen us. You know I’m careful, Director. Not once in all those times has a human ever noticed. I’d never cause trouble for the Bureau.”
Director Li didn’t believe a single word of it. Not even a comma.
“I’m counting to three. Both of you, stand up straight. One… two…”
Before she could even say “three,” Sang Zhao scrambled off the leopard’s back, while the leopard flailed his paws and transformed in a rush.
He staggered twice, catching himself on Sang Zhao’s arm before standing up straight.
He was a buzz-cut young man with short, rough black stubble and sharp features, looking like a delinquent, honestly.
A delinquent… motorbike.
Head lowered, the leopard mumbled, “I’m sorry, Director. I just really wanted to play.”
Sang Zhao quietly raised his hand.
“Me too. I really wanted to play.”
“I mean, what cat could resist riding a leopard? Any other little cat would’ve done the same, right? No one could resist that kind of temptation…”
Even humans, he thought secretly, if they got the chance to ride a leopard through the streets, who wouldn’t want to try?
Director Li’s hawk-like eyes swept over both of them, sharp enough to cut glass.
“Listen carefully,” she said coldly. “You. Stop acting as a mount. And you. Stop riding your classmates!”
“Now get to class!”
They scurried off, arms slung around each other’s shoulders like brothers in crime.
Once in class, they naturally sat together.
Before this, Sang Zhao had only seen the leopard in passing, and they’d never talked much. But after an experience like that, they were officially friends now. So of course they sat side by side.
Halfway through class, the leopard leaned over and added Sang Zhao on WeChat.
“How come you don’t have any posts? Here, I’ll show you how!”
He helped him set up a background photo and a profile signature.
Once Sang Zhao got the hang of it, they took a selfie together and made it his very first post.
The caption read:
【Racing with my bro!】
Naturally, someone saw it.
That someone was Tang Yu.
He opened the post and stared at the photo.
Sang Zhao, with his bright orange hair, was grinning like sunlight itself. Beside him stood a tall, fierce-looking guy with the vibe of a street gang leader but that same guy was smiling too, bashfully, his eyes gleaming with warmth.
Tang Yu gazed at the picture.
When you work too long, it’s easy to go numb and find everything dull and meaningless.
But those two… you could just see it. They had something wild in them, something alive and bright that ordinary people didn’t.
That, he thought, was what it looked like to truly live.
And secretly, Tang Yu… felt a little envious.
By the time Sang Zhao got home that night, half of his nine lives were gone.
Please. He just wanted to be a lazy little cat who could nap in the sun all day, wake up for dinner, then go right back to sleep!
How had things gone so wrong? How had he ended up pretending to be a human at all?
Work, class… humans had it rough.
Whoever invented “being human” really owed him an apology!
Scrolling through short videos on his phone to cheer himself up, he got a WeChat message from the Samoyed downstairs.
Ye Ye asked if he was home. Said he had something important to discuss.
Sang Zhao had no idea what this could be, so he told him to come up and say it face-to-face.
The doorbell rang a few minutes later.
When he opened the door, he froze.
Gone was the fluffy white dog. Standing there now was a little schoolboy.
The boy’s face was round and soft, his eyes just as round. When he saw Sang Zhao, he smiled brightly and held up a huge snack gift pack in his arms.
“Hello, Cat! This is a gift from Ye Ye.”
“Hello, Dog,” Sang Zhao greeted politely, though he couldn’t help feeling suspicious. His guard immediately went up.
“Why are you giving me snacks all of a sudden?”
As expected, the dog wasn’t here just to share treats.
Ye Ye hesitated, scratching his cheek, and tried to dodge the question.
Sang Zhao took half a step back, narrowing his eyes.
“Out with it. If you don’t tell me the truth, you’re not coming in.”
The Samoyed boy fidgeted, looking embarrassed, before blurting out the whole story in bits and pieces.
And then Sang Zhao finally understood.
So it turned out that Ye Ye, who was in elementary school, had just finished his final exams before summer break.
After the exams came the dreaded parent-teacher meetings.
And Ye Ye wanted Sang Zhao, his newly made friend, to attend his parent meeting on Monday afternoon.
Sang Zhao poured him a glass of water and handed it over.
“Monday afternoon? But I have work. You can’t find anyone else?”
At those words, Ye Ye instantly deflated, his head drooping like a wilted flower.
He rubbed the edge of the glass pitifully.
“Ye Ye doesn’t have any other friends. Teacher Bian said he has a research seminar that day, so he can’t go. If you don’t go either, then Ye Ye will be a little dog without parents.”
Sang Zhao looked at his round, droopy face and couldn’t help feeling sorry for him.
Besides… if he went to that meeting, he’d have a perfect excuse to take the afternoon off work!
That counted as a valid “personal matter,” didn’t it?
A completely reasonable part of blending into human society!
He was tempted.
“How many points did you score then?” Sang Zhao asked. “If I go, I don’t want to embarrass myself as your… uh, guardian.”
At that, Ye Ye’s tail, if he’d had one right now, would’ve been wagging. He perked up immediately and grinned.
“Ah! Third from last!”
Sang Zhao’s face froze.
He tried to sound encouraging. “…Well, hey, at least you beat two people, right?”
“Oh, those two?” Ye Ye said honestly. “They got the flu and didn’t come.”
Sang Zhao nearly choked. “Then just say you came last! If I go, I’m going to get scolded!”
But Ye Ye’s tone was soft and gentle, just like his fluffy white fur.
“No, you won’t. Ye Ye doesn’t cause trouble. He gets along with everyone, and the teachers like him.”
He hesitated, ears drooping.
“It’s just… I’m not very good at studying. But there are so many humans and dogs in the world, right? Not every single one has to be good at school.”
Sang Zhao snorted. “That’s some twisted logic.”
Still, deep down, he agreed.
Yeah! The world already had enough smart people. So what if there were a few idiots? Couldn’t a little orange cat who couldn’t type still earn his 3,000 yuan a month?
He was going.
Decision was made.
On Monday afternoon, he’d take leave and attend the meeting for Ye Ye.
There was just one more problem.
“In what capacity am I supposed to go?” Sang Zhao asked. “You can’t just tell your teacher I’m your good friend… uh, your good cat friend… and that I came for the parent meeting, right?”
Ye Ye thought hard, then said tentatively, “Then… dad?”
Sang Zhao jumped so high his back arched, fur standing on end.
“Dad your big furry tail!”
After a long debate between one cat and one dog, they finally came to a compromise.
“Alright,” Sang Zhao said firmly. “I’ll be your uncle. That’s reasonable!”
And so, the plan was set.
Monday morning, Sang Zhao arrived at work and went straight to An Tihu.
“Sister An, I need the afternoon off. My nephew’s class is holding a parent meeting.”
The company wasn’t strict about leave requests. She nodded without fuss. No forms, no questions, just waved him off.
Sang Zhao almost skipped out of her office.
Hehehe! Perfect! No work this afternoon!
Just as he was celebrating, Tang Yu came out of his office.
Sang Zhao waved cheerfully. “Morning, ge!”
Tang Yu, seeing him in such a good mood, couldn’t help smiling too.
After some small talk, he said casually, “I saw your Moments post. Looked cool.”
Sang Zhao brightened. “Yeah! It was really fun riding a bike!”
“Bike?” Tang Yu blinked, a little concerned. “Just be careful, alright?”
He exhaled softly, his eyes softening with amusement.
“If there’s a chance, take me with you sometime. I’d like to try it too.”
Uh-oh. That was… complicated.
Sang Zhao thought for a moment, then sighed.
“Eh, he might not agree to that.”
He might not let you ride him.
Tang Yu, completely unaware that “he” referred to a literal leopard, took it to mean the guy might not want to hang out.
That’s fine, Tang Yu thought. I don’t need to hang out with that biker friend. I just want to spend time with Sang Zhao.
He smiled and waved it off. “If he’s not around, that’s fine. We can still hang out, can’t we?”
Sang Zhao answered honestly. “That won’t work. We’d have no ride.”
Tang Yu: “...?”
He frowned, confused. “No ride?”
Sang Zhao chuckled awkwardly.
Ah… this was really hard to explain, boss.
Because that friend…
……
…
…is the ride.
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