I Can Talk to Cats C23

Chapter 23: Opening of the Cafe (Part Two)

Translated by Lime

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The first day of business was going better than expected, so the Lin family elders were both very happy.

“Originally, I thought that no one would be willing to come and spend money.” Standing behind the counter, Wang Xiuzhi was relaxing as she spoke to her husband.

She watched as some customers spent large amounts of money without blinking, from tens to hundreds of yuan just to buy cans of cat food and treats to tease the cats in the cafe, leaving her speechless.

If that were her, she would only have spent so much money to feed other’s cats if she was stupid… no, she wouldn’t even have entered this sort of place.

“Wife, the times are different.” Lin Youyu faced her, sighing, “The spending habits of young people are completely different from us back then. If we were able to eat meat for every meal, days were good. Nowadays, it’s not like that anymore.”

Just then, Cheng Fengyang walked behind the counter, carrying two boxes: “Uncle, Aunt, should I leave these two boxes of canned cat food here?”

_{(T/N: Uncle/Aunt is used to greet or refer to adults that are older than yourself.)}

“Xiao Cheng, stop working. Leave it to us!” The husband and wife hastily took one box each and began to unload them. With ease, they set the cans under the counter. “You helped us so much already, you really don’t have to do all this. Today, you need to rest in our shop and in a moment, I’ll get Lan Lan to send you some milk tea and pastries.”

“Aunt, that won’t do. I’m not tired.” Wiping away a forehead of sweat, Cheng Fengyang smiled brightly, his face full of excitement. “Although my family owns several store units and rents them out, I have never helped out in a shop before. Today is the first time I’m doing something like this, it’s quite interesting!”

The handsome young man was wearing a cat cafe apron. He was foolishly smiling, and the words he said were foolish. Seeing this, the Lin couple felt that Old Cheng’s family’s son was really foolish indeed.

He was clearly older than their daughter by a year and his job was decent as well, so how come he seemed so foolish? But his antics were rather funny.

“Mom and Dad, what are you both whispering about?” Lin Lan, who had been extremely busy, walked behind the counter, “Can you get me another three cat treats and two cans? Customer’s request!”

“Coming right up!” Wang Xiuzhi affirmed. Her hands didn’t have enough time to even move before Cheng Fengyang beat her to it, rummaging through the crate on the shelf and then handing the goods over.

“Thanks, Cheng Fengyang.” Lin Lan received the items and quickly left.

“Wait, Lan Lan, I’ll help you!” Cheng Fengyang hurried after her, “There are so many customers, you can’t handle all them alone.”

The two welcomed and served customers one after another, leaving a complicated expression on the faces of the married couple who watched them.

“This kid… looks like he really wants to become my son-in-law.” Lin Youyu surmised, “However, Lan Lan doesn’t seem to have any response.”

“These days, she has gotten used to serving all these cats. Most likely, she doesn’t have a huge impression of him, even after he helped out so much.” Wang Xiuzhi happily announced. If a woman’s family was too accommodating, the man might not treasure her. Like that previous instance with the cheating bastard, Lin Lan had just graduated from school and was still young. But now, it would never happen again.

“Mom, please get me two more cat treats!” Lin Lan returned again.

Wang Xiuzhi promptly handed over the items and automatically calculated the sales in her head. Once her daughter left, she glanced at the steady flow of customers entering the cafe and shook her head.

“I don’t understand it at all, I really don’t understand these young people.”

The interior of Lin Lan’s shop was exceptional. Any random corner was suitable for customers to take a picture to post on social media. Besides, the cafe had so many well-known and valuable breeds of cats who were cute, playful, and friendly. Their meows were pleasant and the customers who entered because they already liked cats all loitered behind. They had rarely seen smiles while they hugged and petted a cat, or played with them.

The most popular course of action was to tease the cats with a cat wand. A few customers who frequently played with cats had developed efficient ways to tease them.

“Jintan come over, give me a high five!” A female customer was kneeling on a round bean bag that had been squashed flat. The Siamese cat was sitting on the other end and on his own, extended his black mitten paw to meet her palm.

When the five black toe beans met with the human’s palm, a phone’s camera shutter was heard. The scene had been captured on the screen. Naturally, several pictures had to be taken before the human and cat separated.

“How did it turn out? Did you get it?” The female customer instantly stood up and rushed to her best friend who had been taking the picture, “Oh my, it’s so cute and adorable!”

In the picture, the high five between the Siamese cat and her was clearly seen. The lighting inside the cafe was soft and was extremely suitable for taking pictures. Not only did it help her face appear gentle, it also made the fur of the delicate and cute Siamese cat across from her appear glossy.

Before she had finished exclaiming and admiring the photo completely, two phones were shoved in her hands. One of them was her own, the other her best friend’s: “It’s my turn now, hurry up and take some for me!”

The Siamese cat, Jintan, was very patient with the two women and posed with them. Other than the “give me five” pose, he had other tricks—

While they took pictures, he sat elegantly in their lap;

When they made a peace sign with their fingers, he rubbed against her chin and tilted his head cutely;

And when they wanted him to sit on their shoulder or walk with him in their arms, kitty Jintan was completely willing to cooperate with them.

—In fact, the Siamese cat was not the only one like this. All the cats who underwent training in the cafe behaved this way. These were the results of Lan Lan teaching them how to sell meng in order to earn more cans of cat food.

They were simply showing off a few of their skills, and didn’t expect these humans to make a ruckus, kissing and hugging them, also squealing and jumping around.

“Boss, please get me another can!”

The cats inside this cafe were just too obedient and had maxed their ‘understanding humans’ skill!

The customers were planning to stay all day in this cat cafe. The picture taking absolutely must not stop and everything was shared on Moments.

_{(T/N: The social media is WeChat and specifically the Moments feature where users can share their photos and comments to their ‘friends circle’. Kind of like an Instagram feed.)}

At the other end, Tang Xiaoya was sitting on the mattress. Her wish was fulfilled. She had finally captured the big kitty and was hugging him. Well, the cat was laying there, eagerly eating the canned cat food. Seizing this opportunity, she rubbed and hugged him all over. Like the other customers, she was constantly taking pictures.

The interior decoration of the cafe was excellent, and the cats were also beautiful. After spending almost two hundred yuan to pay the prostituiton fee… Pei, cost of canned cat food, Tang Xiaoya gradually coaxed the big kitty down from the cat tower. If the shop didn’t have to close eventually, she would never have left. Today, this Maine Coon kitty was under contract, he was not allowed to escape!

Finishing five or six cans of her cat food, Mercury wanted to shirk from his debt. He wanted to finish eating everything she had and then immediately turn to flee. Just as he formed his plan and was about to escape from the human’s embrace, the cats who had been on display in the window, Sapphire and the black cat army, had been released by Lin Lan.

As soon as the new kitties appeared, the ones who had lured in the customers in in the first place, an uproar took place among the customers.

Some customers did a complete one-eighty and snatched away the halfway eaten can of cat food to lure over the new cats.

“Wow! The Ragdoll kitty has come, the Ragdoll kitty is here!”

“Her name is Sapphire, right? Her eyes are so pretty!”

“Sapphire, come over here! I’ll give you some cat food!”

“Why would she go over to you? Come come, precious treasure, come over here to older sister. Older sister has an unopened pack of cat treats over here!”

The Ragdoll cat approached them and jumped onto a cat tower. Instantly, she was surrounded by humans who wore a foolish smile and offered her canned cat food and treats.

“Hehehe, kitty, you are so beautiful…” One of the customers accidentally blurted out her inner thoughts.

Ah, humans.

The customers were falling over each other to get to the Ragdoll kitty and pushed cans towards her. Naturally, some cats were left without customers to entertain, especially a certain Persian cat who was eating large amounts of food earlier without reciprocating. Her pair of round and watery eyes glanced over there, shocked.

“Miaow—” (What happened? Where did my slaves go? Why are they offering my cans of cat food to other cats?!)

“Miaow!” (Slaves, hurry up and come back! Wasn’t I your favorite?!)

Lin Lan passed by and tenderly hugged the stupid kitty who was unaware that her customers had been snatched away. She gently patted the kitty’s head: “Foolish child, this is the love of humans. Never believe that they would be willing to stay for one little kitty.”

For example, if they had a pet cat at home, they would still be concerned with the stray cats in their neighborhood. After petting the stray cats, it was still not enough, and they would be lured inside a cat cafe by pretty cats.

For humans who liked cats, it was impossible for them to be satisfied by just one cat because they had the option of playing with multiple cats.

“Also, you ate quite a lot earlier, Silver. You should rest for a bit and let the food digest properly.” Holding the Persian cat, Lin Lan walked over to the display window and set her on top of the cabinet. “The billboard cats will switch shifts every two hours. It’s now your turn to work here.”

At first, Silver wanted to act cute to convince her and resist, but she spotted a small black kitty standing near Lin Lan’s feet. Remembering the fight where she had been beaten up, the Persian cat gave in.

The Maine Coon kitty, Mercury, had suffered the same situation. The only two cats in the entire cafe who had been beaten up and coincidentally had the same “Yin” character, Mercury and Silver, were both terrified of the black cat army.

_{(T/N: Mercury in Chinese = ‘水银’ and Silver in Chinese = ‘白银’. Notice how the last character of both names are the same, that’s the ‘Yin’ character.)}

When the death stare of Mother Momo swept over, Mercury, who was about to struggle out of Tang Xiaoya’s embrace, stiffened, and had no choice but to let her hug and pet him without resistance.

“Miaow…” Mercury meowed with sorrow. (Why is this happening, I don’t want to let the human pet me…)

Tang Xiaoya, unaware of everything, was beyond joyful as she hugged the cat. She took out yet another can of cat food: “Here, kitty, it’s for you!”

“Miaowow!” The large Maine Coon kitty who required a large amount of sustenance sunk his head and buried it in the can again. (Fine, if there is food, I’ll put up with you.)

After relocating several kitties to the display window that had more than enough to eat, Lin Lan gazed around her shop, her lips pursed.

The black cats and the Ragdoll cat had come out together, but their levels of popularity were vastly different. Sapphire had a large group of people surrounding her while only two or three of the six black cats had been chosen by customers.

It happened as expected but she was helpless. The little Momos were all very adorable and were very nice to touch.

At this moment, the bell signifying the opening of the shop door sounded. Lin Lan turned around: “Welcome… oh, Mrs. Yao?”

She was precisely the one who had sent over the Abyssinian cat. Now, Mrs. Yao’s stomach had expanded in size. She was carrying a flower bouquet and congratulated her, “I heard from Xu Xiangfei that your cat cafe was opening today, and I came here to support you. I hope that your business will become more and more prosperous.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Yao.” Lin Lan received the flower bouquet, but was glancing behind her, as if she was searching for something.

“Stop looking, I came by myself.” Mrs. Yao saw through Lin Lan and directly told her, “They didn’t even allow me to raise a cat and would never allow me to come here. I left by myself without telling them where I was headed.”

After the incident with forcefully sending away her cat, evident cracks appeared in their relationship.

Lin Lan did not have the habit of commenting on situations in other households and only smiled, changing the subject, “You probably came here to see Pudding. I’ll assist you to find a seat and then deliver her over.”

It was imperative to be careful with pregnant women.

Lin Lan helped Mrs. Yao to a soft couch that was near the wall and quickly brought over the Abyssinian cat.

“Pudding!” As soon as Mrs. Yao saw her beloved pet, the sensitivity of pregnant women took effect and her eyes reddened. She hugged the furry child that she had not seen in around a month and couldn’t help crying, “Pudding…”

The Abyssinian cat meekly laid in her arms and licked at the tears on her face: “Miaowow…” (Mom, I’ve been doing fine. Don’t cry.)

“Miaow—” (Everyday, Lan Lan gives me a lot of yummy food and brushes my fur. I also have a lot of new friends to play with, I’m not lonely at all.)

“Miaowow…” (Mom, Lan Lan has taught me how to hunt and earn cans. Today, I earned some cans from other humans. I will be able to hunt for myself soon. Mom, you don’t have to worry about me having a hard time after leaving home.)

Pudding softly meowed, comforting her previous owner. Having spent two years together, Mrs. Yao was able to discern the kitty’s intention and her tears only increased. Lin Lan, who was able to understand the meows, lowered her eyes and tightly pressed together her lips.

“Then, Mrs. Yao, continue playing with Pudding. I’ll go bring some drinks over.” Finding an excuse, Lin Lan swiftly turned and left.

This scene made her feel sour.

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Sorry for ending on a sad note. Nevertheless, hope you enjoyed the chapter.

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