I Can Talk to Cats C16

Chapter 16: Arrival of Cats (Part One)

Translated by Lime

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Recap: Lin Lan informed the cats of her decision and asks Cat Boss to find her specific cat breeds that are considered prestigious. We are introduced to Cheng Fengyang’s sister and her daughter. He is playing with Star, his border collie, in the park.

In this chapter: We meet several new kitties!

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The one time he and his dog were carefreely playing, they were actually caught red-handed by a beautiful female. This was the most embarrassing situation for Cheng Fengyang today. Half of the bubble solution had been spilled because of his sudden halt.

Lin Lan’s expression told a different story; she was the one who was startled. As soon as she stepped into the park, someone rushed in front of her and she stumbled backwards a couple of steps. 

“Cheng Fengyang?” After she recognized his identity, Lin Lan blurted out his name.

“Oh, it’s you, Lin Lan. I was just playing with Star!” The young man snuck the bubble wand behind him and the border collie saw his owner hastily closing the lid of the toy, tightening it. This was fine, but he turned around and immediately stuffed the wand in her mouth. Then, he turned back around and awkwardly spoke to the girl, “Are you carrying a cat?”

Faced with the shameless owner who forced his dog to be the scapegoat, Lin Lan blinked her eyes twice and decided to ignore the exchange. Following his lead, she changed the topic: “Yes, I just picked up stray cats that I intend to keep.”

“You are still taking in cats? I remember that you recently adopted a family of black cats.” He almost spit in shock, last time they met at the public security bureau, Cheng Fengyang had heard gossip about recent events. 

“Before raising the family of black cats, you already owned two cats. Are eight cats not enough so you went to pick up two more for a total of ten? Isn’t that tiring?”

Owning a pet brought happiness, but serving a pet was exhausting. Cheng Fengyang felt that his clever border collie was a lot of trouble to take care of, let alone cats that were more delicate than dogs.

“Well, one reason is that I like cats, another reason is that I am opening a cat cafe soon.” Lin Lan did not hide this fact from him and directly told him, “My family has two store units that will be empty next month. They probably won’t be used for a while so I will be opening my cafe there. If I don’t have enough cats, it won’t be able to operate.”

“Is a cat teahouse similar to those cat cafes?” Cheng Fengyang was aware that opening a cat cafe was pretty much useless with few cats. Thinking of the well-known shops, he wanted to say something and hesitated, “About that… If you’re opening a cat cafe, there are too many black cats.”

_{(T/N: As I have mentioned before, the text translates to ‘cat teahouse’, but I’m using ‘cat cafe’ instead because I haven’t seen many ‘cat teahouses’ outside of China. Although Lin Lan is mostly selling milk tea, I will be referring to her shop as a cat cafe. Here, Cheng Fengyang is directly comparing the two so I have used ‘cat teahouse’ which is the direct translation.)}

Some superstitious people would deem them ominous or unlucky, besides, they were common cats, which were looked down upon. Unfortunately, Lin Lan owned more black cats than other cats.

This selection of cats would deter customers. Even if the ragdoll cat sat in the window the entire day, the shop would barely attract any business.

Lin Lan understood what Cheng Fengyang left unsaid and faced him with a smile: “That’s why I’m currently searching for kitties that will appeal to customers.” She raised the cat carrier in her hands up and motioned for him to look inside.

“As long as you are willing to search for them, there are beautiful kitties that are wandering as stray cats.”

Cheng Fengyang couldn’t help and peered inside the opening of the cat carrier and exclaimed, “Damn! You have such good luck!”

Inside the carrier, the two cats were a bit dirty as they had been stray cats. However, their breed was evident. One of them was a cat that everyone could recognize, a blue cat, and the other was a famous Siamese cat.

_{(T/N: The blue cat can refer to the British Shorthair or the Russian Blue cat, and two other cats breeds.)}

Although both were popular breeds, she had picked both up at once. Wasn’t that too overpowered!?

“My luck was decent.” Lin Lan modestly said, “I stumbled across a gathering of cats and used cat food to trick them into the carrier.”

“That’s not what I mean. Your luck with cats has been off the charts these past few weeks.” Shaking his head, Cheng Fengyang sighed and thought: how long had it been before she brought home more cats?

“Wait! You were saying that you intend to open a cat cafe… um, teahouse. Surely, you are going to need to renovate and decorate the interior? If you want, I could design a teahouse setting free of charge for you.”

“Eh?” Lin Lan was shocked, not thinking that he would say this.

Cheng Fengyang misunderstood, thinking that she did not trust him: “I work as an interior designer. See, this is my business card.” While he spoke, he pulled out a card from his pocket and handed it to her.

Lin Lan automatically reached out and received it, recognizing the company’s logo. In Xi City, this company was prominent and capable. Confused, Lin Lan asked, “Why?” The architects that worked for this company were not cheap to hire. 

Cheng Fengyang pointed out, “Did you forget? Last time you sent the wallet to the public security bureau.”

Lin Lan’s face froze, these memories were ones that she was actively repressing as she had almost had to deal with criminal action. 

The person across from her had not sensed her discomfort yet and continued to explain, “Despite the countless times my brother-in-law pulled out his hair over this murder case, he was not able to find a lead. He had not slept for several days in a row, who would have thought that inside the wallet, a clue of the murderer was found. Two days ago, they finally solved the case. My brother-in-law and I have always been on good terms, so for you to do such a big favor for him, I am also thankful!”

When he finished speaking, he smiled at her, gratefully.

Maybe it was due to his sincere and carefree attitude, but the young man’s smile was blinding, making him seem younger than he really was.

Lin Lan was a bit absent-minded, she had recently graduated from university and only spent a few years in the workforce, so why did she feel so old all of a sudden?

“Cheng Fengyang.” She glanced up at him and asked a completely unrelated question, “How old are you?”

He was caught off guard at her sudden question and stuttered, “2- 26, why?”

Oh, he was older than her by one year.

“It’s nothing, I saw that you were a senior designer so I asked.” Lin Lan smiled and said, “That’s amazing.”

“It’s not much.” Cheng Fengyang blushed after being praised by such a pretty woman. After a moment, he sincerely emphasized, “My offer is genuine, I will design the interior of your cafe for free! Not only that, I will treat you as a paying customer, even though I’m doing this free of charge. I promise that I won’t half-ass it. I just gave you my business card so whenever you’re free, I can take a trip to evaluate the space. Don’t be afraid to make requests!”

“I believe you. The lease of the shops expire next month, when the time comes, I’ll be sure to invite you over to help.” Lin Lan slightly waved the card in her hand, the sun shining down on her pale pink lipstick, her face gentle and glowing. She replied, “So, let’s agree on this. I’ll rely on you later, Designer Cheng.”

“No- no problem!” Cheng Fengyang stretched his back, “Leave it to me!”

“I need to deliver these cats to the animal clinic for an examination and to groom them. Let’s end this conversation here, talk to you later.”

“That’s fine, talk to you later.”

They finished their farewells, and Lin Lan walked forward with her cat carriers. Cheng Fengyang dumbly stood still, watching her figure become smaller.

Cheng Xinyu had noticed the exchange from earlier and slowly led her daughter over, patting her younger brother’s back. He was still in a daze when she said, “Come back to Earth, the person has left.” 

The young man shivered and looked back: “Sister?”

Cheng Xingyu laughed at her brother’s foolish expression and teased him, “What, do you like her?” As she spoke, her eyes drifted in the direction of the departing Lin Lan.

“No! It’s not like that, not like that!” Cheng Fengyang rapidly shook his head and energetically tried to explain, “Sis, I was talking with her about a few things, we haven’t met that much either! Oh yeah, that woman is that kind-hearted citizen who turned in the wallet and helped brother-in-law breakthrough the case. That’s why I made some small talk with her for a while.”

Cheng Xingyu scolded her younger brother: “You didn’t clarify! Why didn’t you tell me when you met her earlier? I want to thank her for Old Li!” If the person was selfish and decided to keep the wallet for themself, who knows how long Old Li would have been stressed over this murder case.

_{(T/N: ‘Old Li’ is Li Hean even though he’s not that old, because it is a way to refer to an acquaintance, in this case, Cheng Xingyu’s husband.)}

“I- I thanked her. She’s opening a shop soon and I’m designing the interior for free!” Massaging the area where his sister hit, Cheng Fengyang grimaced in pain, feeling wronged. 

Cheng Xingyu eyed her brother: “This idiot, no wonder you’re 26 and single! How is only designing it enough? You need to find the best material suppliers and workers to introduce to her later! Go over at the most convenient time and diligently discuss the details with her, do you understand!”

Simply designing a blueprint for her would cause her to worry. Single dogs deserved to be single.

Their mother was constantly worried about her single dog son who was already so old. Cheng Xingyu thought it was proper of her to help her maternal family out by attentively monitoring her unreliable brother.

Within the shops on the first floor, Doctor Liu was the happiest out of all the shop owners. 

Before the landlord’s daughter returned home, his days could be said to have been difficult running the animal clinic. Now, his situation took a turn for the better.

_{(T/N: ‘饿不死’ = starving but not dying/dead. I changed this into ‘difficult’ because I don’t know how to word the phrase in English without sounding weird.)}

What could he say, this huge client visited his animal clinic frequently, not including the deworming or vaccinations, she would mostly ask him to bathe the cats or do simple groomings. She heavily stocked up on medication and nutritious paste for cats and so on.

He even upgraded this client’s status to the VIP level, giving her a discount and resulting in the animal clinic bringing in a profit.

Watching Lin Lan enter the animal clinic, Doctor Liu’s face unconsciously smiled widely: “What do you need? Did you run out of cat bowls or are the toys damaged and need replacing?” These random things were bought frequently as well.

“I’ll buy two more cat bowls.” Lin Lan set the cat carrier on the table and said, “Also, these two kitties are stray cats that I just picked up. You can go through the usual routine. I’ll be relying on you, Doctor Liu.”

See, this important customer was here again.

The customer is king, so Doctor Liu cheerfully started his work. With the help of an assistant that he had hired, they started the process.

Lin family.

Lin Lan brought the freshly washed cats upstairs and her family surrounded the two cats to observe them inside the cat carrier.

“How come they’re both skinny like noodles? Even if you feed them until their skeleton is covered with fat, they won’t be round.” Grandmother Lin was hugging a black kitten and was pointing at the two cats inside the cage, confused, “Also, why are the paws and face of this cat black like carbon? Didn’t you wash them? Why does it look like it rubbed against a pot?”

“Lan Lan, is this skinny grey cat a blue cat?” Wang Xiuzhi gestured to the other cat, “From what I remember, Xiao Quan’s cat is very round and its face is very chubby. Why is its face so pointy?”

After hearing what was said, Lin Lan was about to laugh and cry: “Mom, Grandma, these cats are a Russian Blue cat and a Siamese cat. The Russian Blue cat is slimmer than the British Shorthair cat and the Siamese cat is similar. The Siamese cat’s natural fur coloration is like this. If it is not taken care of properly and isn’t kept warm in winter, its fur will turn darker and darker.”

“It looks exactly like a burnt pot.” The old lady directly said with dislike.

“Pfft!” Lin Youyu laughed out loud: “A cat that will become more burnt in winter… Hahahaha!”

Lin Lan… Lin Lan had no chance to retort. 

“Sigh! In short, these breeds are very popular and valuable!” She could only summarize it in this fashion, “We’ll do it like we have been. The new cats will be separated from the old ones for a week. I will take them in my apartment and let them meet the black cats.”

These two new arrivals were not in line with the Lin family elders’ tastes so when Lin Lan brought them out, the elders did not miss them.

Without their presence, Lin Lan began to comfort the kitties in her apartment.

“Miaowow—” Inside the cat carrier, the Siamese cat was the first to meow. (Lan Lan, I feel like your family doesn’t like me very much. I understood them saying that I was burnt! When I was with my previous owner, I would often hear people saying this about me.)

It was protesting, its tone a little disgruntled. 

“My parents have little experience with cats and have never encountered your unique breed before. Please ignore them for now.” Lin Lan calmly soothed the cat, “Although I asked you at Cat Boss’ place, I want to confirm again. Will you two always live here and help me go hunt and forage?”

“Miaow—” x2

Both the cats meowed in agreement.

They were previously owned as pets but ended up wandering as stray cats. Fed up with not having food security and having to eat out of trash cans, not to mention always losing to other stray cats in fights, they immediately decided to join on their own initiative when they heard that Cat Boss was searching for cats that were previously pets.

_{(T/N: ‘屁颠屁颠’ = butts clapping/other. One of those phrases where it’s hard to find an English alternative, but it describes someone being extremely willing to do something and is sometimes used in a derogatory manner. Another meaning is being willing to follow someone around and be like a servant. I translated this into ‘immediately decided to join’ but I think the actual text is funnier.)}

The lifestyle of a stray cat did not suit them at all and they wished to live in a big house, being served by a sh*t shoveler.

The lively and outgoing Siamese cat was the first to answer and stood up straight in the carrier, its black paw raised, with its five sections like a mangosteen fruit opened up, in the “give me five” posture.

_{(T/N: “give me five” was written in English, and a mangosteen fruit has five sections – search it, describing the toe beans of a cat.)}

“Miaow!” (I will be obedient! I can play the high five game with humans! If they wish to pet me, I won’t resist!)

Not bad, this was a skilled cat that had experience with humans and was intelligent. Lin Lan nodded her head with satisfaction.

The other Russian Blue cat was barely slower in responding and seemed a bit naive. It carefully meowed: (I’m not expecting much, I heard that there was food here so I came. As long as there’s food, whatever you want me to do, I will do. Lan Lan, I will also obediently let humans pet me!)

It didn’t have a skill like the Russian Blue, but its work ethic was to be praised. Lin Lan was pleased as well.

“All you have to do is follow my instructions and hunt. If you do this well, not only will you be well-fed, you will have even tastier things to eat. When the hunting site is ready, we must work hard.” Enticing the simple and naive cats, Lin Lan was not guilty and petted the black mother cat beside her: “Before then, everyone needs to undergo united training in order to obtain more food from the humans. I hope that you will be diligent in your efforts.”

As soon as they heard about more food, the kitties surrounding Lin Lan all meowed, “Lan Lan, I want to learn” and Lin Lan’s mouth curved.

In fact, there was no need for the new cats to be separated. From what Lin Lan understood from their interactions, there was no animosity and their relationship was alright. However, she could not appear too lenient and would follow the necessary precautions.

Maybe she separated them because they were stray cats, but the British Shorthair and the Siamese cat got on well with the family of black cats. Sapphire was three months old, a time when she was curious about everything. With Lin Lan’s persuasion, she would not be averse to the new arrivals.

_{(T/N: ‘英短’ = British Shorthair, no idea why, perhaps this is a mistake by the author? Should be Russian Blue cat I think.)}

During the period of separation, Lin Lan received another cat, this time a pure white Chinchilla cat _{^{(T/N: Specific type of Persian cat)}}, and was the second long-haired cat after Sapphire and the second completely white cat after Snowflake. When it was washed and groomed by the animal clinic, it turned into a lump of snow-white fur that became clean again. It was related to the Persian cat so its long hair made it appear graceful and prestigious and its advantageous appearance was welcomed by the Lin family with open arms.

“This time you brought home a cat that is actually good, it’s pretty.” Grandmother Lin gave her evaluation, “It looks like an expensive lady cat.”

Lin Lan, who could speak to them, had feelings that were hard to explain.

Chinchilla cats valued cleanliness. If the house was not kept spotless, its fur would become dirty easily. If it was dirty, it would anxiously fret and jump around. They were picky and loved eating meat, but their stomachs were not strong enough to handle eating meat for all three meals or they would fall ill. When petting, they were number one in shedding cat hair… Despite all these shortcomings, the cat didn’t choose to be fragile and delicate either. Just by holding it, the family members all loved her, betraying the sh*t shoveler, and begged her to keep it.

This stray Chinchilla cat had suffered through a lot, but once it regained a sh*t shoveler, its pampered attitude resurfaced after being spoiled by its previous owner, along with its health.

“Miaow!” (Slave, the fur on my paws are dirty, hurry up and clean it!)

“Miaowow!” (Slave, I want to eat meat. I want to eat the food that you made for me yesterday now!)

“Miaowowaow—!” (Slave, I don’t want to sleep in this cat bed anymore, prepare a softer and more fragrant cushion for me!)

“Miaow… Miaowaoaowawoooo—!”

Today, it was raining in Xi City so Grandmother Lin didn’t go to the senior activity center and was sitting on the balcony, with her glasses on, knitting a sweater. The needles moved quickly and the ball was also rolling quickly. The ragdoll kitten was sitting there, occasionally extending its paws to grab the ball.

“What? Snowflake fought with the new cat in Lin Lan’s apartment?”

“Um… To be exact, it was Snowflake and Momo that beat the new Persian cat.” Lin Lan propped up her cheek and explained the specifics of the situation to her grandmother, “For some reason, these three cats got into a fight. After I rebuked them, they’re fine now.”

Momo was the name of the black cat mother, as for the five black kittens, they were named ‘Mo’ and, accordingly to their number, one, two, three, four, or five. Towards these five cats, Lin Lan crudely named them this way. The day that she named them, she put lightweight collars on them to be able to differentiate them. 

_{(T/N: For example, the black kittens would be: Mo One, Mo Two, etc.)}

For the reason behind the conflict between the three cats, Lin Lan was unable to tell her family.

What could she say? That the Chinchilla cat’s arrogant and pampered attitude pissed them off, so the white and black cat teamed up to teach the Persian cat a lesson?

Grandmother Lin was unaware of the details and knitted her sweater as she grumbled, “That spoiled cat is able to fight? It probably was forced into the corner by the black cat and its ears closed, its neck withdrew, and its two paws covered its eyes, am I right?”

The author has something to say: 

Lin Lan: I think that my grandmother summarized things pretty well.

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I will probably be using ‘Chinchilla cat’ and ‘Persian cat’ interchangeably. It is also a female cat. Hope you enjoyed!

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