I Can Talk to Cats C4

Chapter 4: A Trip to Greece (Part Two)

Translated by Lime

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With the newly married couple that was on their honeymoon trip in Greece playfully flirting with each other, and now the scummy history of the gods, Lin Lan completely lost the pleasure of seeing the scenic spots according to her tourist guide. After a cursory exploration of the acropolis of Athens, she returned to the hotel after taking photos.

In the next few days, she abandoned all the tourist recommendations and just wandered around, going to the places that she wanted to go, determined to make this trip relaxing.

The weather was very good and Lin Lan watched the waves recede in peace, far away from the holy places where lovers flocked.

At the present, she sat in a seaside restaurant and ordered lunch. She ate outdoors and looked at the sea. Under the table, a few kittens rubbed around her ankles, meowing nonstop.

Even if she didn’t understand the language of cats, she instinctively knew that they were begging for food.

“-A bunch of greedy little kittens.” Lin Lan smiled as she shared the fish on her plate with them. The cats were of different colors and patterns, but their fur was very smooth and well maintained. Obviously, they were stray cats, but they lived a good life. She looked at one of the pure white cats with a nostalgic look, “You and my family’s Snowflake have the same body shape and hair color, but his eyes are golden. You have one blue and one golden eye which is even less common.”

The white cat, who was eating the fish, looked up and mewed at her. It seemed as if it was responding to her, but Lin Lan didn’t know what it was talking about.

Maybe it was saying that it’s more beautiful?

Lin Lan guessed randomly, and her heart started to feel stuffy. After only two to three days abroad, she started to feel homesick.

I miss my parents, I miss grandmother, and I miss that big, white cat, Snowflake. Every time I come back to the house on long holidays, he always gives me gifts, whether it be dead mice or dead birds. Later, after being trained by my family, he changed his gifts, including: half a ham sausage, salted fish, and stolen candy from who knows what family. Well, his habit of bringing strange things didn’t change.

As Lin Lan thought more and more, she started laughing, but her eyes became moist.

At this moment, the blue and gold eyed white cat suddenly jumped onto her knee, not doing anything else but looking up and meowing at her.

“Are you comforting me?” Lin Lan tentatively reached out to pet its head and finding that the white cat didn’t resist, touched it again. The soft and cuddly cat was beautiful and lovely. The smoothness under her fingers soothed her heart, “Thank you, you really can sense human emotion.”

The restaurant owner suddenly said, “It’s rare to see this small rascal give you so much face, and even let you touch him. You must be very popular with cats.” He spoke English a little fast, and Lin Lan only guessed what he meant.

She replied in English, “It’s okay, cats don’t hate me, at least my cat really likes me.” Every time she went home, he brought her presents. She only had one cat, so maybe he thought that he is the only one that works and wanted to express his appreciation.

The restaurant owner spoke, “Do you know about the nearby cat wishing well?” After he saw her confused face, he was eager to give her directions. “Not far from here, there is a plaza with a fountain in it, called the Moon God fountain wishing pool. But the locals prefer to call it the cat wishing well because it is more popular with cats. If a person who likes cats goes there, their wish will be more effective than others.”

“There’s really this kind of legend?” Lin Lan smiled as she asked.

“Although it’s not a famous scenic spot, it’s still very famous among the locals. At least, one of my neighbor’s children made a wish to find the toy they had lost in the park. The next day, a cat helped her get it back.”

Even though she didn’t know whether the story was true or not, there were plausible explanations. But for the day Lin Lan would be idly wandering around, and she had nothing better to do.

“Can you pack some fried fish for me? Chicken is fine as well. There must be quite a few cats there.”

The restaurant owner didn’t lie to her, indeed, there was a fountain with a statue displaying the Goddess of the Moon’s ability to hunt. The statue was wearing a short skirt with a waistband and hunting boots, holding a bow and arrow, accompanied by two deer. But at the moment, there was a cat laying on the back of the two deer and on the shoulder of the goddess. There were also many cats lazing around the fountain, basking in the sun while in the meatloaf position.

Lin Lan glanced around, and there were people feeding stray cats with cat food. The coins at the bottom of the fountain reflected the light of the sun and shone brightly.

“Miaow miaow miaow~”

A cat with a sharp nose smelled the food in her bag, and Lin Lan thought that this could be cat bait. Almost instantly, she was surrounded by cats.

Lin Lan was familiar with feeding stray cats, but she wasn’t the kind of person that went out of their way to feed cats, but rather the kind of person that gave food to cats that voluntarily came over to her feet. Everyone had to rely on themselves: she herself earns a salary, and the cats must use their own ability to extort food from her. Even if they look cute and lovable, they had to earn it!

If this wasn’t the case, her boss would let her do nothing at work because she was beautiful, and not let her work overtime, and earn more than what she currently was.

“You Greek stray cats are very lucky, even the local Chinese cats haven’t even been treated like this by me,” Lin Lan told them.

In response, she heard a bunch of incomprehensible meows and purring.

She couldn’t understand a word, but looking at these cats, Lin Lan thought that these cats probably had even less of an understanding of what she was saying.

If she was able to talk to and understand cats, that would be great. She would know what they were saying and they would be able to understand her.

The second she had this idea, Lin Lan didn’t hesitate and threw the gold and silver coins she had in her hands into the fountain.

Dusk arrived soon, so Lin Lan bought a kebab in the streets for dinner and took a bus back to the hotel. At the entrance, she fed the two cats again. Those two stray cats were already willing to let her pet them. After playing with the cats, she returned to her hotel room and after washing up, she soon fell asleep.

That night, Lin Lan had a strange dream.

In the dream, she was running in the forest, surrounded by the noisy wind. She ran wildly with no purpose, and a voice told her that she could choose to become an animal. Lin Lan, who wanted to run faster, chose the cheetah without much thought. In her dream, she immediately became a cheetah running in a changing environment.

The forest, plains, mountains, and rivers were left behind by her until she suddenly heard a cat meow next to her and woke up.

From the bed, Lin Lan saw that the sun was already high in the sky. Grabbing her hair out of frustration, she couldn’t remember anything of her dream. She only felt that her depressed spirit had become one that was refreshed.

“It was a beautiful dream, but it’s a pity that I can’t remember anything.”

Lin Lan’s regret didn’t last long, as her return flight was that afternoon, and she had to pack up to return home.

When she checked out, Lin Lan’s face was full of smiles. As soon as she left the hotel gate, she was lucky enough to get a taxi and while putting her suitcase into the trunk, she caught sight of the two cats by the door, and waved to them with a smile: “Bye~”

Right before the car door closed, Lin Lan heard the two cats meow back to her. Somehow without explanation, in her heart, she understood the meanings of the cats: “Bye, come back to play when you have time, thanks for feeding us!”

Was she starting to go crazy because she saw so many cats everywhere?

After another ten hour flight, Lin Lan dragged her luggage from the airport to the bus station. The bus ride was another two hours to her hometown, Xicheng.

It was ten o’clock in the morning. Lin Lan came down from the bus and was met with a row of shops on the street. She had just stepped forward with her bags when a man appeared from one of the cigarette and liquor shops and rushed towards her.

“Lan Lan is back!” A booming voice said, pleasantly surprised.

“Dad.” Seeing the middle-aged man running toward her, Lin Lan gave a big smile, “I’m back! I brought a lot of local specialties and souvenirs from Greece.”

“Why didn’t you call us? I would have gone over to pick you up.” Father Lin, who was wearing a grey sweater, complained and took her bags. “Look at yourself with all these bags, you should have shouted for us when you got off the bus. Your mom and I would have come over to help.”

Saying that, Cao Cao arrived. A middle aged woman, Mother Lin, ran over.

_{(T/N: 说曹操曹操到 = saying that Cao Cao arrived, is a reference to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a popular historical novel. The saying basically means that someone unexpected has come.)}

“This silly girl only comes home now! These few days have made me so anxious!” When she had seen that her daughter was alright, Mother Lin began to complain and frowned when she saw the specialty goods, “I told you to buy fewer products because the tourist goods are very expensive. It’s a waste of money!”

Father Lin secretly nudged Mother Lin, prompting Mother Lin to think of something, and a grin appeared on her face: “Lan Lan, because of your arrival, I just went to the market and bought a lot of ingredients to make all your favorite dishes.”

Lin Lan pursed her lips. Even if she didn’t mention what happened to her, Uncle Yu would already have told her family about her bringing back all her stuff from the rental house.

Her parents knew about this, so they were worried about her.

“Dad, Mom.” Lin Lan lowered her head, and her eyes turned red. As if she did something wrong, she softly said, “I resigned.” She had quit the job where she was just about to get a raise and a promotion. She abandoned everything in that big city and came back in disgrace.

With one hand on her shoulder, Father Lin said, “It’s okay, your mom and I understand. Young people will sooner or later meet a setback.”

Lin Lan raised her head, and saw her parents smiling at her gently.

“What’s more, you are not afraid of failure, and your mom and I will be here for you.” As he said this, he reached over his daughter’s shoulder and motioned to the front.

The building in front of them had six shops and above those were six more floors. Because of its proximity to the street, the external walls of the building were beautifully decorated, and the surrounding areas were prettily decorated as well.

This family of three stared at the building, and Father Lin patted his daughter’s shoulder.

“It’s not that big of a deal to quit. Your dad still has this building for you to inherit.”

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This chapter was so heartwarming, and it made me so happy to see parents that are supportive of her resignation. We will soon learn about her life and interactions in her hometown in the next few chapters. Hope you enjoyed!

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