066: A Broken Car Hauling a Little Cat!
The moment Sang Zhao took a look, whoa, Tang Yu’s eyes were practically glued to Pallas’s Cat.
What was that supposed to mean?
Was Pallas’s Cat really that good-looking? Why was he staring at him non-stop?
What was so great about this scruffy cat who looked like some half-baked wild warlord, huh? Was he really better than a cat glowing all over in beautiful orange?
Not that Sang Zhao was jealous, of course. He did not care at all.
He just couldn’t stand seeing the majestic dignity of a handsome orange cat being completely crushed by Pallas’s Cat.
He said softly, “Looks good, huh?”
Tang Yu turned his head and took in Sang Zhao’s expression.
He was clearly holding back a laugh as he teased, “Yeah, he looks pretty good. Looks like a very powerful little animal.”
“What little animal, he’s a cat. He’s my silver shaded,” Sang Zhao insisted, trying his best to bluff Tang Yu.
But Tang Yu was not as easy to fool as before.
Tang Yu already knew he was an orange cat. How could he possibly be tricked by a Pallas’s Cat who suddenly appeared in Sang Zhao’s apartment?
Absolutely impossible.
“Don’t look, don’t look, he’s just a silver shaded,” Sang Zhao said, still trying to redirect Tang Yu’s attention as he grabbed the insulated lunchbox Tang Yu had brought.
He took out the soup crock inside and asked, “Uh, wanna have some soup?”
He had only been trying to change the subject, but the moment he asked, and the moment the smell hit his nose, he really did want soup.
Tang Yu had packed tomato and beef brisket soup.
Beef brisket and tomato were truly a perfect pairing. The tomato’s sweet tang was drawn out to the fullest, and the beef brisket released that distinct beefy aroma. Together, the soup in the crock looked bright and rich, gorgeous in color.
Now he really did want to drink it.
He started rummaging in the cabinets for bowls.
Behind the curtain, Pallas’s Cat thought, …Excuse me, I’m still here. What kind of soup are you drinking right now, exactly?
Tang Yu added casually, “No rush. Let it cool a bit. You’ve got a cat tongue.”
He said that while staring straight at Pallas’s Cat, very much implying something.
Pallas’s Cat’s eyes went even wider.
What. What on earth was this situation?
Tang Yu’s interest was still squarely on the Pallas’s Cat hiding behind the curtain.
He looked at him some more, then pretended like he believed the story and asked Sang Zhao, “Silver shaded, huh? Can I pet him?”
At once, Sang Zhao glared at him.
He hissed at Tang Yu, baring his teeth. “You’re not allowed to pet other kittens. You promised.”
Tang Yu straightened up, expression going properly serious.
“Okay,” he answered immediately.
Even though the promise was technically “no petting kittens,” and this one was Pallas’s Cat and a big cat at that, he had already agreed.
He had promised he would only pet his one little orange cat, so that was that.
He dropped his eyes and noticed Pallas’s Cat’s expression looked angry too.
Well, Pallas’s Cat did basically count as a predator. No surprise if he really didn’t like being petted.
Tang Yu felt guilty. He apologized to the scruffy big cat.
“Sorry, I’m not a bad guy,” he said. “I just, used to have a bit of a cat addiction…”
Then he took one look at Sang Zhao’s face and hurried to correct himself.
“But I’ve quit now.”
The thing was, Pallas’s Cat wasn’t actually angry.
He was feeling calm and terrified all at once.
Unlike Tang Yu and Sang Zhao, he was the only one in the room who had no idea what was going on.
What was he supposed to do? He was desperate too.
Tang Yu thought he looked furious, but that was only because Pallas’s Cat did not have a smiling mouth shape. His lips naturally turned down, so his resting face looked fierce.
Knowing Pallas’s Cat’s temperament, Sang Zhao started to explain for him.
“He just looks fierce, but actually…”
Actually, he was fine. He was good-tempered and usually quiet and steady.
Like that time he got abandoned at the breakfast stall and it almost turned into a “missing big cat” report, but once they found him, he hadn’t been angry at all.
But then a thought flashed through Sang Zhao’s mind.
If Corn Bean thought every cat in the world had a bad temper, then that would be perfect.
Why was he defending Pallas’s Cat?
Pallas’s Cat was “silver shaded”, and Corn Bean was his cat-loving boyfriend.
Just look at the expression on Corn Bean’s face, staring at Pallas’s Cat.
Why was he clearing that up for him?
Leaving him misunderstood was much better.
That way Corn Bean would stay far away from all other cats.
So he said, “Yeah, he just doesn’t want you to touch him. He’s very dangerous and very aloof. You have to be careful.”
Tang Yu nodded. “Silver shaded, very dangerous.”
“Exactly,” Sang Zhao said earnestly.
He might be bluffing, but Corn Bean refused to be bluffed anymore.
Tang Yu sighed and pointed at Pallas’s Cat, polite and proper like he was at some business function, as if this wasn’t Pallas’s Cat at all but a partner he was meeting with.
“Are you going to introduce us?” Tang Yu asked. “Your fluffy friend.”
Sang Zhao froze and doubled down, stubborn about not selling out his friend.
“What friend, he’s just a cat. See, he can meow.”
As soon as he said that, he started frantically making faces at Pallas’s Cat.
Pallas’s Cat hesitated, then chose to trust him and let out a meow.
“Mraaaaooow!”
Good grief, what a shocking meow that was.
It sounded like it could split the sky and swallow a flock of geese.
It was not a tiger’s full-on forest roar though. It was hoarse, but it really was a cat sound.
Pallas’s Cat was very straightforward about it.
If they said it was a cat meow, then it was a cat meow, no additives at all.
He hadn’t modified it one bit. It was pure, unfiltered big-cat meowing.
Rough enough that it sounded like he had downed three catties of baijiu and smoked a whole pack of cigarettes, that voice so shredded no amount of money could fix it.
It did not really match the fluffy silver big cat he looked like.
Tang Yu listened, dazed for a moment, and finally said, “That’s a pretty rough meow…”
Sang Zhao nodded and looked at him expectantly, waiting to see his reaction.
“See,” he said. “We can meow. We really are cats.”
Tang Yu’s gaze flickered.
He opened his mouth, then fell silent.
The two of them stared at each other.
Sang Zhao took a deep breath and thought, it was fine. Everything was still under the little cat’s control.
Look, Tang Yu probably believed it now.
From here on, he just needed to whisper a bit of pillow talk at the right time.
The little cat could handle both cats and humans.
He could protect the big cats’ secret and keep all demon business buried in his belly where nobody would find it.
Even if he could no longer keep up his “pretend to be human” act in front of Tang Yu, he could still help his friends keep theirs.
That was how he saw it, right until there was a knock at the door.
It wasn’t the delivery guy, and it wasn’t takeout.
It was the Samoyed puppy who had strayed onto the battlefield.
He had a keen nose, and having caught the smell of tomato beef brisket soup, he followed it all the way here on his own.
Ye Ye’s paws pounded frantically on the door.
“Cat, are you eating something! What are you eating! Ye Ye smelled it! What is the cat eating?!”
Inside, Sang Zhao’s heart shattered.
Unbelievable. How could this be happening.
How could there be such a useless little dog who would smash his perfect plan to pieces just because he was greedy for tomato beef brisket soup?
He watched Tang Yu’s expression grow even stranger.
Tang Yu raised his brows and gave Sang Zhao a slight, very refined nod.
He said, “Mm, that voice sounds familiar.”
Of course it did.
Ye Ye had clung to him at summer camp, playing around with water activities.
He had practiced the English introduction Tang Yu wrote for him at the restaurant, then came back all obedient to say thank you, uncle.
He had used this exact same voice the whole time.
Tang Yu knew perfectly well what he was doing, but still pretended ignorance and talked nonsense.
“Who is it?” he asked. “Why do they call themselves Ye Ye? Did you order a coconut latte?”
No, Sang Zhao thought with misery, closing his eyes.
…I ordered a fresh Ye Ye.
He really did not want to open the door.
He wanted to pretend no one was home so that Ye Ye would give up and leave.
Things were already chaotic enough in here. Ye Ye really did not need to be part of this.
But Ye Ye had skipped dinner. He was genuinely hungry.
He scrabbled at the door with his paws.
“Hurry, hurry, give Ye Ye something to eat, Ye Ye is really hungry!”
“Ye Ye isn’t a third grade kid anymore. Ye Ye is a fourth grade puppy now. Fourth grade puppy is one and a half, fourth grade human is nine. Average that out, Ye Ye is five now. Whatever you’re cooking smells so good, give Ye Ye some!”
Standing there, Sang Zhao slowly covered his face and dropped into a chair.
Whatever.
His eyes were dead calm.
At this point, all he wanted to ask was why the world wasn’t just one huge ball of yarn.
Then he could curl up with the yarn, roll away, and be round and happy instead of sitting here in pain.
Tang Yu laughed.
He could see what Sang Zhao wanted, so he quickly walked over and opened the door himself.
Ye Ye had been braced on his fluffy white front paws, banging on the door.
When it swung open, he found himself face to face with Tang Yu.
The haunting memories of summer vacation rushed back at once.
The fear of being dominated by homework was back.
The dog who had spoken Chinese in front of Tang Yu froze like he’d been turned to stone.
Tang Yu lowered his head and looked at the big ball of dog fur.
“Hi,” he said politely. “Did you finish your homework?”
He seemed very familiar.
He looked a lot like the dog he had seen downtown before.
Or did all Ye Yes look the same?
He was still thinking about it when the Samoyed drew his big fuzzy paw back.
Ye Ye went silent for a few beats, then hurriedly cocked his head and acted like a regular dog.
He barked cheerfully.
“Woof.”
Too late. It was far too late.
It was too late for meowing, and barking was even more useless.
Pallas’s Cat was still lying there very honestly.
Tang Yu grabbed the little dog that was trying to bolt and hauled him into the apartment.
“Come on,” he said. “Fresh coconut latte should get some tomato beef brisket soup as well.”
He just dragged Ye Ye straight inside.
Sang Zhao let out a long, heavy sigh and clutched his head.
He had absolutely no way out now.
His brain could not think of a solution.
His one reliable smart person, Tang Yu, was standing there with a smile, waiting for him to explain, clearly enjoying this.
Glaring at him, Sang Zhao grumbled, “Fine, fine, I’m the dumb little cat you bully, is that it?”
“You just bully me, bully me because I’m easy.”
Tang Yu came over, bent down, and pulled him into a hug.
He leaned close to his ear and murmured, “I can’t help it, baby. You don’t like studying and you’re just a little bit dumb, what can I do?”
He called him baby a few more times, and Sang Zhao’s pout softened.
He was halfway coaxed already.
Since there was no way to keep up the act anymore, Pallas’s Cat finally crawled out from under the curtain.
He turned back into human form and awkwardly held out a bag of potato chips with the hotel logo on it.
“Hello,” he said to Tang Yu. “This is for you.”
“I just stole it. It’s not expired.”
Kind-hearted explanation.
Tang Yu suddenly understood.
Oh, so it was you.
The one with the enormous backpack walking out of the couple’s hotel, that had been him. So his pack had been that big because he’d been stealing things.
Unbelievable. He had started stealing back then and still hadn’t stopped now.
Not only had he not stopped, he’d dumped everything he stole into Sang Zhao’s place.
What was this, trying to pin it on his little cat?
Seeing Tang Yu’s face starting to turn a dangerous shade of blue, Sang Zhao rushed to explain.
“No, he, ah… he has his reasons for stealing,” he said.
That only made Tang Yu’s expression look worse.
Fortunately, after listening to the whole story, President Tang clearly didn’t approve and absolutely did not endorse it, but he did not keep pushing either.
He ladled out a bowl of soup for Ye Ye, now reverted to elementary schooler mode and limp as a dead drumstick, then fixed his gaze on the only stranger in the room, Pallas’s Cat.
Pallas’s Cat sat on the other side of the table, lowering his head to blow on his bowl.
Tang Yu leaned toward Sang Zhao and whispered, “He isn’t going to hurt me, is he?”
Sang Zhao patted his chest and guaranteed, “Of course not. We’re supervised too, actually.”
He said that to reassure him.
If Pallas’s Cat really showed the slightest sign of wanting to hurt anyone, he would be dealt with.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Tang Yu showed no surprise at all.
He simply looked up at him and thought back, fishing a name out of his memory.
“Oh, Director Li, right?” he asked.
The spoon in Sang Zhao’s hand almost slipped.
“How do you know?”
“She was the one who brought you here, and besides, my charity work with resettling people and finding them jobs definitely exchanged some favors with official channels,” Tang Yu said. “Ordinary civilians can’t do that. It has to be the authorities.”
He had good reasons.
Sang Zhao nodded. “Yeah, the yao management bureau.”
The moment the name came out, it all clicked into place.
It made sense that these were not rogue, lone yaoguai wandering around. There was no way they were moving around without some organization overseeing them.
Hearing the word “bureau”, Tang Yu perked up.
What he said next was such a classic, traditional adult thing to say that it completely stunned Sang Zhao.
Tang Yu, full of interest, said, “So, have you thought about taking the civil service exam for that bureau? You’re a cat, they should have recruitment just for yaoguai, right?”
Sang Zhao held his spoon.
…How did your brain even get there?
How did one mention of the yao bureau lead straight to civil service exams?
Just how worried was he about the little cat’s future?
You already arranged for him to be a connection hire under you, did you really need to plan out a whole government career track too?
Sang Zhao ignored him.
“…Woof,” he barked at random.
Seeing that he didn’t want to talk about it, Tang Yu rubbed Ye Ye’s furry head, kept his thoughts to himself, and dropped the subject.
But not talking about it did not mean he forgot.
He still thought it was a great option.
Even if the little cat hadn’t spelled everything out, Tang Yu could guess most of it with adult logic.
There had to be civil service jobs. There had to be specialized recruitment.
A place this unusual could not possibly be staffed only with humans.
There had to be positions for little yaoguai too.
He had his own reasoning.
The little cat had poor grades and not much textbook knowledge.
If he forced him into heavy studying, he wouldn’t be happy.
So maybe going somewhere with more yaoguai would let him live more at ease.
The only problem was that the little cat’s academic level was really not high.
If it was the standard civil service exam, he would never pass.
So it came down to whether there was yao-specific recruitment.
He was half-dreaming about it already.
Sure, the little cat was bad at school.
But maybe, just maybe, that level of performance was actually pretty good among yaoguai.
Then he’d pass the entrance exam.
Then Sang Zhao could be a little feline clerk.
While Tang Yu was fantasizing about his cat becoming a civil servant, the cat himself was already busy chasing business.
He was a very busy little cat.
He and Pallas’s Cat had officially started their cat-sitting, nail-trimming, and cat-bathing service.
During the day, Pallas’s Cat went on his own and took on some dog-walking to expand their services.
Once Sang Zhao got off work, Pallas’s Cat would drive over to pick him up.
Then they would accept all the jobs located along the route home, one by one.
Soon enough, Tang Yu realized that his own car was suddenly missing a kitten.
Sang Zhao was no longer sitting in his passenger seat.
When Tang Yu went to investigate, he found that the kitten was riding in the ancient Jetta.
He watched with his own eyes as the just-off-work Sang Zhao plopped his butt right into that car.
Standing outside, he pressed his palm against a patch of peeling paint, opened his mouth, and swallowed back the words on the tip of his tongue.
“This car is really…”
He trailed off, unable to continue.
Really broken.
Even if he desperately wanted to be polite and say something socially acceptable, he just could not bring himself to say this car wasn’t a wreck.
And there was his kitten, riding in that wreck, shattering his dreams of him taking the civil service exam as he rattled around the city earning money feeding cats.
As the days of dating went on, some birds finally noticed that something was off.
An Tihu worked right there in the secretary’s office.
Across the aisle was Sang Zhao’s desk, and she could see the CEO’s office just by lifting her head.
With even a little attention, it was impossible not to see that something was wrong.
Very wrong.
An Tihu watched them get closer and closer, frowning and tying herself in knots until one day the realization finally hit her like a lightning bolt.
She grabbed Sang Zhao and dragged him to a corner, lowering her voice.
“That relationship you were talking about,” she said. “It isn’t with Tang Yu, is it?”
Sang Zhao said nothing.
His silence meant he still wanted to secretly enjoy the thrill of an office underground romance, but also that he was tacitly admitting it.
An Tihu’s brain buzzed.
She rubbed her foot against the floor beside her, thoroughly conflicted.
“I’m not saying you can’t date a human,” she said. “We’re in a modern world now, science is developing. No one’s going to show up with a monk’s staff to beat your love apart. What I mean is…”
From the day he joined the company, Director Li had asked her to take care of him, so when An Tihu looked at Sang Zhao now, she had nothing but concern.
She laid out her worries for him.
“His social circle is so complicated,” she said. “You’re just a little cat, you probably won’t be able to handle it. I’m afraid you’ll get hurt.”
She gave him an example.
“Look at him, he’s the CEO, in his twenties, with a company this big. In ten years, when it goes public, he could be the richest man in Jiangyuan. Then what happens to you, little kitten?”
She made a lot of sense.
The bigger the gap, the harder it was to predict what people’s hearts would do.
The only one who got hurt in the end would be the pure little cat.
Unfortunately, none of that landed with Sang Zhao.
He thought for a bit and said, “I’ll just keep being a little cat. I can’t turn into a little dog.”
“I’m not worried at all.” He waved it away and trotted off.
He didn’t have that kind of anxious mentality.
First, because he had never been in love before and did not understand how ugly people could be, and second, because Tang Yu really did love him.
Tang Yu liked taking care of him, liked surrounding him completely with love.
Aside from forcing the little cat to study, he had yet to see anything bad about him.
In his eyes, Tang Yu was a gentle, mom-type boyfriend who would never leave a kitten behind.
He found an excuse to head to the CEO’s office because Tang Yu had gotten him a present.
Tang Yu had just received a big payment and made good money, so he bought the little cat a gold collar.
He took it out and showed it to Sang Zhao.
A round, gold band, shining like the little cat’s hair.
Even now, the first thing that popped into Sang Zhao’s head was the dog who got a gold pendant for his birthday.
“It’s bigger than that gold pendant,” he said happily.
Tang Yu laughed and teased him on purpose.
“I’m from the cat kingdom. The cat kingdom, the great cat faith. Of course I have to give the cat something better, right?”
But after saying that, he looked at Sang Zhao and sighed.
“When people in normal relationships give gifts, they give gemstones, diamonds, that sort of thing. But for you, I thought gold was better.”
“Gege, you’re so good,” Sang Zhao cheered.
Inside his cat brain, he had no concept of gold prices and no idea how much money a collar like this was worth.
Tang Yu, however, thought he simply loved it.
“You like gold that much?” he asked with a smile. “I’ll buy you more in the future.”
“It’s because your love is like gold,” Sang Zhao said. “Gold isn’t that great. You are.”
With that pretty face of his, he leaned close to Tang Yu, eager to show off something he had learned just for him.
He recited a Spanish love poem.
It did not come out very smoothly, and he swallowed some sounds, so it didn’t have the same song-like rhythm and music as when Tang Yu read it.
But his eyes were so bright.
He looked at Tang Yu and spoke his love line by line, head down and heart full.
“Treat me as the rose in your hand and love the little thorns in my temper so I will not wither.”
He had worked so hard to memorize it.
It was a foreign tongue.
The fact that he could get it down at all came completely from brute-force memorization.
He did not know grammar or vocabulary. He had just forced it all in.
But the love he spoke, in Tang Yu’s ears, was beautiful.
“I will pour out the spring of my life to water the soil of your soul so I can grow together with you.”
“I am shy to say ‘I love you’, so I ask God for you instead.”
Tang Yu had read that poem and knew there was more.
When he heard Sang Zhao stop there, he asked, “What about the rest?”
“I couldn’t memorize the last part,” Sang Zhao muttered.
Tang Yu sighed softly and pulled him into his arms, pressing a light kiss to the corner of his lips.
Then he said that word again, the one he had used at summer camp to call him.
He had thought Sang Zhao didn’t understand what it meant, but a kid before had already told him.
“I know,” Sang Zhao said. “It means little child, little sprite.”
He kissed him back and slid his hand to the back of Tang Yu’s neck, grabbing the little ponytail there.
That bundled, curled little ponytail had always been the thing that drew Sang Zhao’s attention the most.
Now the human-shaped cat teaser toy was completely in his grasp.
His lips trailed from Tang Yu’s mouth to his neck, brushing lightly along his skin, and as Tang Yu’s gaze went unfocused, he kissed hard on his collarbone.
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