I Can Talk to Cats C7

Chapter 7: Her Application (Part One)

Translated by Lime.

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Please keep in mind that chapters 3-8 have not been thoroughly edited or re-translated yet so there will be mistakes.

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In the bright morning, the “village in the city” had become bustling again.

The pace of daily life in Xicheng was not that fast. The breakfast stalls in the snack bar downstairs were set up for only three hours. When the dozens of steamed buns were all sold out, the Lin family were now ready to open up the buffet after eating their own breakfast.

Father Lin opened the shop’s door. Mother Lin was not in a hurry, and had just started cleaning the spring onions and leeks she brought from Grandma Lin’s place.

“Mom, these vegetables that you grew are so nice and clean.” Mother Lin was removing the yellow leaves and the old layers while praising the old lady. “I also have several vegetables on my balcony. How come mine aren’t as good as yours?”

Grandma Lin glanced at the two pots that had small vegetables planted on the balcony of her daughter-in-law’s house, and saw two rows of golden colored sprouts in foam boxes filled with mud. When the old lady was younger, she was also a good farmer. She immediately furrowed her eyebrows and held her breath. “Using your way of cultivation, you can’t eat these vegetables until the mud dries. Don’t worry about them today, just pull them out tomorrow. I’ll go home and find a bag of seeds to teach you.”

Wang Xiuzhi felt that she shouldn’t have decided to plant those two pots after seeing her mother-in-law’s balcony full of plants.

While the two were still cleaning the vegetables, Lin Lan had just changed her clothes and walked out of the bathroom.

She had her hair brushed into a ponytail, and was wearing a formal business suit. She carried a leather bag, and with one look, you could tell that she had something to do. Mother Lin and Grandma Lin both curiously stared at her.

“Yesterday you submitted your resume online, and today they called you in for an interview?” Wang Xiuzhi asked her daughter in surprise.

This time of year was not the peak recruitment time, so it was rare for the girl that had stayed home for a few days to already receive a response.

“Maybe they are coincidentally looking for people.” As soon as Lin Lan replied, something fluffy rubbed against her calf. When she looked down, it was Snowflake. “Snowflake.” Lin Lan hugged the cat and smiled, “I’m going out. When I come back home, I’ll bring you your favorite mutton kebab, okay?”

The white cat that was being raised in the air, was not afraid. His tail hung naturally and replied to Lin Lan: “Miaow.”

“I’m not going hunting, but there should be a stampede.” Lin Lan told the cat, “If it is successful, I will go there to look for food and be able to come home everyday.”

“Miaow—”

“It’s not that far, it should take around thirty minutes by riding the electric moped. The business district is quite close.”

“Miaow, miaow.”

“That’s right, if I am going to hunt there, I’ll also bring you your favorite canned salmon each week, okay?”

“Miaow!” 

Not far away, the mother and grandmother held leeks in their hands, and strangely looked at the person and the cat. The second day that Lan Lan came home, she was like this. Before when she played with the big white cat at home, she was able to somewhat understand it, but now when Lan Lan said a sentence, the cat meowed at her. This was almost like a real conversation, and to them, it was both strange and funny.

“You’re acting like you really know what the cat is saying.” Wang Xiuzhi murmured, and raised her voice at her daughter saying, “Stop playing with the cat for now, you still have an interview to go to. Don’t be late.”

“That’s not possible, I’ve planned out the time of arrival already.” Lin Lan put the cat down, and said, “Mom, Grandma, then I’ll be leaving now and won’t be back for lunch.” 

“Okay, come home earlier at night!”

“Miaow—”

Lin Lan walked to the door, and Snowflake also followed her, his long tail swinging. He sat there meowing at her.

Wang Xiuzhi heard her daughter suddenly laugh: “Mom, Snowflake said that for lunch he wants the chicken breast that I bought for him yesterday mixed with the frozen fish. Make sure to give him that.”

The door opened and then closed, leaving Mother and Grandma Lin in shock. The cat had run back to their legs and rubbed against them.

Wang Xiuzhi gradually recovered from her daughter’s request, and couldn’t help being both angry and amused, “You really are smart, you realized that Lan Lan just helped you get good food.” She gently used her calf to push the cat away.

The old lady also nodded: “This cat is intelligent. It was worthy of Lan Lan’s efforts to save her and bring her home. It really is human-like.”

Grandma Lin didn’t know that in the future, her granddaughter would bring back many ‘spiritual and human-like’ cats.

Like other quickly developing cities at the time, Xi City had built many industrial parks with the support of the government in recent years. The many companies, large and small, brought many new jobs.

Lin Lan had worked in the 3D printing department at a media company in Shanghai for two to three years, so she was familiar with the work. Since she wasn’t unfamiliar with the technology, and was able to learn quickly and do her job well, she received the opportunity to be promoted to a higher position.

But now that she returned home, she had to work from the bottom up again. The opportunities in Xi City would naturally be uncomparable to the ones in Shanghai. A few years ago, there weren’t any companies in this profession here. Lin Lan didn’t want to switch careers to work at a gaming company to make models, so working at a 3D printing company would be the best.

A small moped was wheeled out of the basement. Lin Lan put on her helmet and rode on the non-motorized vehicle lane.

The Lin family never bought a car because: firstly, they were locals and their relatives and close friends were already located in Xicheng. Secondly, there was a bus station right outside the apartment building. Thirdly… even if they were too impatient to wait for a bus, it wasn’t worth all the hassle that driving a car required. From the elders to the younger generation, the Lin family disliked the trouble that a license test required.

“I’m not buying a car, I’m not buying.” When people mentioned a car to him, Father Lin refused, “There’s not that many people that really need to have a car. Even just paying the mortgage for a house is hard for some people, not to mention car payments. You need to buy car insurance, pay for tolls, and more. Does their heart not hurt whenever they cough the money up? After all, buying a car is just to give the illusion to outsiders that they are well off financially. But does my family lack this image?”

As Father Lin said this, right behind him was the apartment building, and he stood up straight. After this, no one asked him about this matter.

The small moped was convenient and fast. As long as the driver abided by the simple traffic laws in the city, almost everywhere was accessible. They were loved by most people, and especially during rush hour, the glory of riding alone made car owners envious while stuck in traffic.

For example, like the situation now.

While waiting for the traffic lights to turn green, Lin Lan looked at the congested lane beside her, a faint trace of pride in her expression.

Her eyes accidentally caught sight of the driver of a car in front of her. To save time, they were eating their breakfast on the road, which was a Wang Zhong Wang sausage.

But instead of eating, the driver was waving it back and forth outside of their window, as if teasing something.

At first, Lin Lan was confused until she extended her neck to look forward. She then saw that the driver was dangling the sausage in front of a golden retriever.

The big dog’s tongue was drooling, but because of its prestige as a golden retriever, it didn’t move. The dog shuffled its paws awkwardly, and the sausage began moving closer and closer.

“…” Lin Lan thought, what an idle person.

Fortunately, the person didn’t tease the dog for too long. He was afraid that the red light would soon turn green and quickly ate the sausage. From Lin Lan’s position, she could only see the sleeve of the man’s silver suit. He was driving a blue Mercedes Benz, and his license plate was local to Xicheng. It was unknown what this dog teaser looked like.

When the light turned green, the tide of cars began to flow again, and the engines roared into one loud sound.

Twenty minutes later, Lin Lan reached the industrial park where the company was located. After searching for a few moments, she found the exact location.

In addition to a basic interview, companies usually needed to carry out a technical test of the interviewee’s skills, and Lin Lan was no exception. It was already noon when Lin Lan left the company, and she ran out in search of food.

Her stomach growled and Lin Lan was too lazy to search further for a restaurant, so she entered the first convenience store she saw.

Twenty minutes later, Lin Lan had finished eating, and exited the store with her leftover food.

There should have been no problem with the interview. The expert that came from Shanghai was confident in her own abilities and Lin Lan wasn’t worried. She recalled the salary and benefits that were both less than what she had received in her previous company, but it was still within an acceptable range.

Without any accidents, she would probably work here in the future.

Just as she thought this, her ears caught the sound of cat meows.

“Miaow—Miaowowo, Miaowowo—” (Food! Food! Can you give me something to eat?)

A black and white stray cat and a tri-colored cat ran out of a bush in a flower bed and started to meow.

The two cats were obviously used to being fed by people, and were not afraid at all. They were very skilled in rolling around and cutely begging. Lin Lan had no choice but to kneel down and hand over her food. The cats immediately gathered around and chewed it shamelessly.

Five minutes later.

“Miaowowo—” (Are you going to hunt here later?)

Lin Lan, who was able to understand them now, started to converse with the cats. The two local cats also had a good attitude towards her. This was the first time that they communicated with a human, so they politely stayed behind.

“That’s right, if nothing goes wrong, I’ll be hunting here later.” This was a rare opportunity, so Lin Lan continued to ask the local cats, “Are you familiar with the people in that company… um, house over there?”

The two cats replied by mewing: (We know, we know, we went over there to beg the two-legged creatures for food).

“Then what is the atmosphere of that company like? Uh… What I mean is, are there frequent arguments there?”

“Miaow!” (Yes, in the last two days, there were arguing).

Drama! Lin Lan’s eyes gleamed: “What were they arguing about?”

“Miaow, Miaowww—” (I can’t understand them, I only know that they are repeating… late … something).

“Meow meow—” (And also something about two seconds … eight thirty!).

As an animal that had been around humans for such a long time, the cats could understand some of the simpler words, such as eating and playing, but more complex terms were not understood. However, this did not prevent some adult cats from repeating the words like two or three year old children.

Like now, the two cats did not understand why the people were arguing and what they specifically said. But after the cats recalled some of the terms that were frequently used, Lin Lan pieced that the quarrel was between an ordinary office employee and a human resources employee. After adding in some details, the conversation went something like the following—

Employee: “Why is my perfect attendance award bonus gone this month? I was on time this entire month!”

Human resources (HR) employee: “You were late one day.”

Employee: “I was not! I clocked in everyday on time, I was never late!”

HR employee: “If you don’t believe me, take a look for yourself. The records of all the employees are all here!”

Employee: “Isn’t this exactly 8:30? Doesn’t the company need us to be here by 8:30?”

HR employee: “The company’s working time is indeed 8:30, but check your clock in time again, 8 o’clock, 30 minutes, 2 seconds! Did you see? You’re late!”

Employee: “I *#&￥% … two seconds is late?”

HR employee: “Two seconds counts! Anything past exactly 8:30 counts!”

Employee: “I will go XX! What kind of f***ing company is this? I won’t work here anymore!”

When both the stray cats recalled this, Lin Lan realized why this company was suddenly recruiting.

She had only one thought after listening to the story: D*mn, this kind of dog company, she will refuse to work for!

Author’s Note: If you think that this situation didn’t happen, it actually did.

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If any of you see any grammar mistakes, or other mistakes in general, please tell me. I’m spending most of my time translating, so there are probably a lot of mistakes that I haven’t caught. In the next chapter, we will meet the love interest 😉

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