CH 14

Saying goodbye to a big sis Wang who had a full face of disappointment and that was still doing her best to get a cat training method from his own mouth, big sis Wang thought about that intelligent cat, yelling without giving up: “Comrade, I heard that the military dogs you raise have a service period, when we get a chance, let’s talk it over, to let your cat retire early, deal?”

Guo Chao Ming: “…” This cat that hooks people everywhere and doesn’t stay in one place!

He walked back while carrying the breakfast.

This cat! It carried in its mouth the paper that had the advertising of the breakfast shop printed on it and found big sis Wang to order breakfast for us.

“You’re back so fast?” Song Bei had not exchanged that much dialogue with Li Ai Guo, from beginning to end, Guo Chao Ming had returned in less than a minute.

They had even assumed that they would have to wait for about ten minutes, since they were hungry, they grabbed a bun and stuffed it into their mouths first.

Li Ai Guo ‘hulala’ drank soymilk, then heard Guo Chao Ming coldly say: “It was ordered by the cat, that fellow abandoned us and impatiently went to the hospital by itself to see old Qin!”

The way Guo Chao Ming talked was full of envy[1], Eating from me, sleeping from me, but doesn’t love me.

There was no outcome from one-sided love, Vice Captain Guo felt crushed.

This must be the rumoured ‘Simps won’t have a good ending’ …

As expected, the old saying was right, old yellow dogs second to none in loyalty, heartless and ice-cold cats.

Soymilk was stuck in Li Ai Guo’s throat, he choked and continuously coughed: Why do I hear the jealousy of a lover eloping with the neighboring old Wang[2] from Xiao Guo’s words?

Song Bei subconsciously glanced at the bedside table, there, it was empty, it was unknown since when the sitting Persian cat had disappeared.

Song Bei’s gentle smile was very similar to someone who saw a disobedient child that had ran out of the house to play, “She’ll come back.”

Guo Chao Ming, who was eating a bun, was bitter like a complaining woman in a boudoir: “What’s the use of getting her body?”

“…”

Song Bei could not keep bearing this guy’s drama: “If you really want to raise a cat, it can be done in the dormitory, at worst, let you sister-in-law[3] care for it during normal days.”

Seeing Guo Chao Ming’s grudgeful ghost appearance, Song Bei was so disgusted that his whole arm was covered in goosebumps.

“No!” Guo Chao Ming swallowed down the soymilk, gravely responding: “There are no rivers to one who has crossed the ocean, and no clouds to one who has passed Mount Wu[4], Colonel, if there’s the best, I don’t want to compromise!”

His true love[5] had long beautiful snow-white fur, emerald green and azure blue heterochromatic eyes, was smart, clever, and even scolded him.

Song Bei became silent, then thought about his subordinate’s unromantic and disturbing straight man’s workings, and suddenly was so worried that his hairline could not be guaranteed: “You bastard who doesn’t attend to his proper duties! Keep being dramatic and when I get the opportunity, I’ll tell Qin Xiao to get ahead of you.”

“Colonel,” Guo Chao Ming: “The bastard isn’t me.”

Song Bei ??

Guo Chao Ming used the tone of someone worrying about the country and people to sorrowfully lament: “It’s this world ah! Since Guo has been born, why let Qin born! Today, help me persuade him, to avoid immorality and not be the third one in a relationship.”

“I and little treasure are the perfect match!” Simping plan plus persuading plan, using two legs to walk, the plans will go through! Guo Chao Ming: I didn’t take military strategy and tactics class for nothing.

Song Bei …-fists harden- this bastard can’t be used anymore, next time, let’s change it to someone obedient, intelligent, and who’s willing to go on blind dates.

Li Ai Guo stared with his eyes wide open with confusion: I think I’ve heard big gossip about a love triangle.

He thought about it, then gave up on the idea of prying. Mulling over the matter of searching for the people once again, he pinched the big meat bun, and felt that it was very novel.

Dogs were loyal and practical, being able to do some things after going through training was very normal. But cats… them not scratching you and seeing blood was already very good.

It was his first time eating a breakfast bought by a cat, just, it was very new.

Charming[6] true love kitty sneezed; it was walking on the streets that were full of the atmosphere of the past. A keen sense of hearing and smell was a weapon, but sometimes, it was a nuisance.

Faraway and separated by more than half a street, the acidic nasty smell of trashcan overflowing with sewage made her choke and sneeze uncontrollably. The snow-white Persian cat lightly leaped to the second-floor roof, capturing the activity around it while walking.

She did not come out to play, she had serious work to do. While Song Bei and Li Ai Guo were talking, they had leaked a lot of case clues, Old Liao’s trail was not certain, and the target could only be roughly locked on the southwest area of Tong[7] City.

This area gathered a large quantity of foreign people, the houses were low and dense, and there were many illegal buildings hidden in the crisscrossing alleys. Bai Xia Xia had thought about it carefully, Old Liao saying that if he did not arrive, his companion would leave the people and escape, it was partly ridiculous.

The people that they had exhaustingly kidnapped, to have worked in vain, they would feel unreconciled for sure. When kidnappers worked, would they run away out of fear so easily? Moreover, the relationship between Old Liao and the kidnapping gang was unknown, if he did not appear, under those circumstances, Bai Xia Xia felt instead that the criminal would warily cease activities and live secluded.

If it was not because they had been left helpless, forced into a corner by the police, if it were Bai Xia Xia, she would also not give up the money close at hand.

Communication that was lagging, unformed household registration system, not having to have their identification cards investigated everywhere, it was too friendly to criminals. Pondering for a long time, what she could do was…

“Meow~”

“F*ck, don’t steal, the food that this laozi begged for after discarding my dignity! If you dare to steal food for yourself first, I’ll scratch you to death!”

“I even risked my live acting cute! Everybody worked! Don’t think about eating by yourselves!”

“Meow!”

“Meow, meow, meow!”

Bai Xia Xia sat on a wall that was surrounded by yellowing ivy, she was not familiar with Tong City, she was also a road idiot[8]. She did not dare to run around, a road idiot had a road idiot’s way, walking straight in big streets, turning right at intersections.

Only walking on big streets, avoiding small alleys that were dark and were void of presence, that would probably avoid the dangers of Cat being caught, bullied, and kidnapped to sell.

After all, she was a rare · purebred · noble · heterochromatic · Persian cat.

As Bai Xia Xia walked, she felt that the gaze of passersby on her seemed to be saying: “A foreign cat, it’s valuable!”

Most probably, her fluffy body and head had written on them – – I, very expensive!

Leaving aside those unimportant things, what Bai Xia Xia had heard just now, three quarrelling and food fighting heads stuck together, in front of paws that were pressing on the ground, there were fish bones that had been separated into almost the same size.

The meat stuck on the white fish bones was little, the orange cat that had the largest build happily licked the fish bone, its tongue was licking at flying speeds. The tabby cat had a missing cat ear, it first vigilantly picked up the fish bone and went into a corner where light could not reach, and then it lowered its head to eat with its butt facing the main street.

Bai Xia Xia thought a bit, she felt that these should be the underworld cats that she was looking for.

Animals had an instinct to protect their food, when cats ate, they subconsciously moved the food into a range where they could take control. Bai Xia Xia did not understand much about cats’ habits, after all, it was her first time being a cat, she was not very proficient.

After waiting for the three cats to finish eating, Bai Xia Xia lightly jumped down from the wall, her snow-white fur rose in the wind.

Practically at the same time as Bai Xia Xia landed, the stray cat team displayed extreme vigilance and aggression, baring their teeth, and arching their waist, then lowering their bodies while facing Bai Xia Xia to express a strong rejection and unwelcomeness.

Scaring Bai Xia Xia so much that she almost scampered and left.

No matter what, Bai Xia Xia was a human, she would not fight with stray cats on the big streets, it would affect her celestial kitty image!

Cat was anxious internally, but on the surface, it was still an elegant and old dignified noble.

F*ck! She only thought that Tong City was filled with stray cats, that it would be more convenient for them to find a person than the police.

She overlooked the fact that cats divided into communities; they were not Da Hua, who listened to whatever she said.

Looking at the three pair of cat eyes that were becoming increasingly unkind, Bai Xia Xia’s paws stepped on the ground, silently retreating. She worked hard to widely open her eyes to let the cute cats see her sincere and friendly cute eyes: Discussing three hundred tips to communicate with cats! If I say that I’ve come to recruit short-term workers, will they bite me to death on the spot? Urgent, waiting online!

Bai Xia Xia stared with her clear heterochromatic pupils, diligently thought about it, then took the initiative to raise her paws to hug her head and press it down, with her cat ears pressed under the pink meat pads, she meowed: “I give up?”

“Ka-cha!” It was the sound of a camera shutter.

Translator’s comments:

A bit of comedy in a tense situation. Who took the photo?

Translator’s notes:

[1] The author uses ‘sour’, which meant that Guo Chao Ming was envious or jealous.

[2] Wang is one of the top ten most common surnames in China, Li Ai Guo just meant to say something along the lines of someone’s partner running away with a random person next door.

[3] Song Bei is referring to his wife.

[4] This is part of the poem离思五首 (lí sī wǔ shǒu) written by Tang Dynasty poet 元稹 (yuán zhěn). It means that someone who has gone through bigger things won’t care much about smaller things.

[5] ‘White moonlight’ is a popular phrase used in China to refer to someone’s true love. 

[6] 盘靓条顺 (pán jìng tiáo shùn) means ‘beautiful face and good figure’. It can only be used between close friends to compliment others, as using it in a public occasion will make people think that the person is very frivolous. 

[7] The author wrote ‘Dong City’ here, but there has been no mention of it before, and the scene is supposed to be happening in Tong City, so it may have been a typo.

[8] As in someone that can’t navigate through places by themselves and gets lost easily even while having a map.