I Can Talk to Cats C29

Chapter 29: American Shorthair Weiwei

Translated by Lime

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The weather outside was dreary and gloomy.

In the overly air-conditioned living room of a lavish villa, Cao Yuze hugged a photo album on the couch and mournfully stared out the window. His mood was even worse than the weather outside.

Leaning on his side, he opened the photo album. The very first picture was of him and an American Shorthair. It was taken during his college days when the kitten was only the size of his palm. There was another picture of them after he had graduated from university and began working at his family’s company to gain experience. Yet another photo showed the kitty rubbing against his smiling face… The most recent photo was three months ago.

In that picture, the three year old silver tabby cat was wearing an adorable little birthday hat. It was standing on a table with its front two paws placed elegantly on the edge. There was a birthday cake in the shape of a cat face with words written on it—【Happy Third Birthday Weiwei!】

“How come she disappeared…” Cao Yuze muttered to himself. His face sank into confusion: “I admit that I’ve been busy recently, but I asked the maids to take special care of you… Why did you suddenly run away…”  

Weiwei had been lost for a month already. At first, they frantically searched everywhere but now he had no hope left. No one knew the torture Cao Yuze felt.

Just then, a woman, Mother Cao, slowly descended down the spiral stairs. Seeing her dispirited son acting this way, she frowned and started to berate him: “It’s only losing a cat! You already made a huge fuss for a month! If I knew you were going to act this way, I wouldn’t have allowed you in the first place to accept your classmate’s cat! You play too much!”

“…” Cao Yuze rolled his eyes while she scolded him and didn’t bother to turn around. His fingers tightened around the photo album.

Mother Cao began to get more angry watching her son ignore her. The pitch of her voice turned up a notch: “It’s just a cat! Because of this meaningless thing, you are living like you are half-dead!”

“It’s just a cat? That’s not true… Weiwei is special.” Cao Yuze finally responded and his eyes swept over to focus on his mother. “Mom, ever since I was a kid, you and Dad never cared about me unless it was related to school or work. To live up to your expectations, I always worked hard whether it was to enter an exemplary high school, a famous university, win violin competitions, compete in various areas… Even now, I hold a management position in the company and have to compete with other companies to win proposals and bids… Mom, I’m really tired. Did you know? Even my classmate was able to tell, so they especially gave me one of their cats that would mesh well with my needs in the hopes that I would receive some comfort. But for some reason, my parents are never able to tell that I am suffering. Isn’t that funny?”

Her son stared at her and Mother Cao’s heart jumped. Then, he opened his mouth again.

“Mom, Weiwei’s importance has long surpassed one of a regular pet. She is an intelligent companion who has supported me these past few years. Every time I was worried or stressed or wanted to die, Weiwei has always been by my side. I don’t understand, Weiwei is just a cat. It’s not like we can’t afford to treat her well, right? The cost of her food each month is incomparable to one of your many handbags. But can you tell me why she suddenly decided to run away? Mom, tell me directly, why has Weiwei calmly accompanied me in our house for more than three years without running away and only decided to escape this year?”

“What are you trying to say!” Mother Cao shrilly screeched, “Do you think that I deliberately chased that cat away?! Do you think I’m so bored and want to take it out on a cat?”

Seeing his mother react this way, Cao Yuze knew her true nature and knew exactly if her answer was real or not. He couldn’t help but sadly smile and grunt.

No matter how hard he searched or utilized his connections to hire countless people to search all over the city, not a trace of the cat’s fur could be found. After interrogating several of the servants, their accounts were all vague and unclear. So it turns out, it really had happened this way.

It was actually quite ironic.

He searched and brooded over this matter for a month. The answer he prayed wasn’t true turned out to be true.

“Mom, just because the daughter of the wealthy household you want me to marry is allergic to cat hair and I turned down the proposal because of this, you went behind my back and threw Weiwei out? Are you hearing this?” After one month, Cao Yuze had no more patience and was direct: “So this is how you really think of me. You even have to personally find and approve of my marriage partner, otherwise, I won’t be able to get married?”

“What are you even saying? I’m doing this for your sake and for our household!” Mother Cao sternly yelled: “The Huang Family’s daughter is perfect in appearance, education, and character! Where is she lacking? As long as you marry her and gain the approval of the Huang Family, do you know how much that will help our family?! The only slight disadvantage is that she is allergic to cat hair. So what if you just suck it up and give up raising that cat!”

Even though she didn’t mention how Weiwei was lost, Cao Yuze clearly knew that she indirectly admitted to getting rid of her.

When confronted with the fact that he refused to admit turned out to be true, Cao Yuze’s heart stopped hurting so much.

His Weiwei was a pampered and spoiled pet kitty and had never experienced the harsh elements of the outdoors. To add to that, she was intentionally abandoned at a far location. Even a stray cat wouldn’t be guaranteed to survive the winter weather. A whole month had passed, and Cao Yuze no longer had any hope that she was still alive.

His current thoughts right now were that in the eyes of his parents, he probably was no different than Weiwei.

“Mom, I’m your son, not a plaything you can command to do whatever you want.” Cao Yuze sucked in a breath of air and expressionlessly stared at his mother. His tone was very detached as he spoke, “Whether or not I raise a cat, whether or not I get married, and who I get married to are all things that I should decide for myself. From now on, don’t think you can control me.”

When he spat out his last sentence, he closed the photo album. Swiftly turning around, he exited the villa and tried to leave all the shock, rage, and shouting behind.

In around ten more days, it would be Chinese New Year’s, but Cao Yuze could not stand to stay in that household for another day, not to even mention Chinese New Year’s.

Cao Yuze held a high executive position in his family’s company. Besides the shares he received for his twentieth birthday and the shares his grandfather gifted to him last year, he still had loyal people in the company and had a trusted network of contacts. If he tried to dispute his father’s power, it had a chance of succeeding.

He wasn’t a small child who couldn’t make decisions for himself anymore. Those in power and had say in the company were not necessarily more powerful than him.

Cao Yuze boarded the driver’s seat of his car and sped out the gate of the villa. His face was indifferent but his eyes gleamed. After this situation with Weiwei, he realized something. If his powerful parents continued to control him, he would forever be a filial child and never be able to cut ties with them.

The car steadily travelled towards one of Cao Yuze’s other properties, when his cell phone suddenly rung.

The Caller ID showed Wang Jiayi’s name, causing Cao Yuze to become confused. After a moment, he picked up and was about to ask why she called when a woman’s voice energetically spoke: 【Brother Yuze, I think I found your Weiwei! I sent the photo to you, tell me whether it’s her or not!】

A few minutes later, the car immediately made a turn up ahead and quickly sped away in the direction of Xi City.

Inside the cat cafe, Lin Lan and the other two employees had stunned expressions.

“You’re saying that this is a cat from another city?” Pointing to the American Shorthair who Lin Lan was holding, Tang Xiaoya was in disbelief. “What kind of joke is this? Even if a cat escaped, what are the chances of it showing up in another city? The only way this would be plausible is if it got lost inside this city.”

Looking at Wang Jiayi’s clothes and makeup, and her latest model of phone that wasn’t even available domestically yet, Tang Xiaoya wondered, ‘so what kind of person would be able to be friends with her? The type of people who lived in villas in the expensive city centre?’

“I’m not lying! This is precisely my friend’s cat. You guys just heard our conversation over the phone.” Wang Jiayi pursed her lips and felt disgruntled. “The reason why Weiwei is named Weiwei is because there is a small ‘V’ marking on her belly.”

(T/N: The pronunciation of V is very similar to “Wei”. Think of ‘V’ as something along the lines of ‘vay’ or ‘vey’.)

Lin Lan held the kitty up to inspect. Indeed, there was a V-shaped marking. Then, she returned the kitty to her embrace and rubbed her head: “Little troublemaker, why didn’t you mention that your previous owner is a pretty sophisticated individual?”

The American Shorthair tilted her head up and meowed: “Miaow—” (There’s no use telling you anyways. This city doesn’t have Xiao Yu’s scent and I can’t find him. Not only that, I have become very dirty and have no semblance of my original appearance. Even if I tried to act cute towards humans, they would pay no attention to me. Thankfully, I found you, and you offered me shelter.)

As a sad, pampered kitty who wandered around hopelessly, it must have been difficult to stay alive.

Thinking back to when she sent the cats to the animal clinic, Doctor Liu charged her for medical fees on top of the customary grooming. Lin Lan could only sigh. Compared to the other two common cats, this American Shorthair would have to train for a while before it could properly work at the cat cafe.

Now that her owner was able to find her earlier, the situation would be resolved smoothly.

The three people discussed this for a while. Shortly, the bell at the entrance rang again.

“Welcome to our cat cafe!” x3

Lin Lan and the other two employees all called out in unison.

“Dang, that scared me!” The voice of a young man sounded. Smiling he said, “I’m guessing I don’t need to help out anymore?”

Lin Lan heard his voice and a smile appeared on her face automatically. Still holding the American Shorthair, she walked over: “Cheng Fengyang, we haven’t seen each other in nearly two weeks. You finally came!”

Watching the young woman hugging a cat approaching him with a beaming smile, Cheng Fengyang’s smile also grew bigger but his mouth complained, “Don’t mention it! That one client who prevented me from meeting you is completely to blame. I helped fix the problem for them, but then they said it was only a test. And then, they gave me another urgent task. They asked me to design another separate apartment! I’ve been worked to death!”

He worked overtime each day for an entire two weeks. Finally, he was able to get rid of that extremely wealthy and annoying client.

“I made it very clear to my company that I won’t be taking new work until after the New Year. I want to rest and I want time off!” Cheng Fengyang gazed at Lin Lan in front of him and silently added a sentence: and I want to see you everyday.

Throughout Cheng Fengyang’s complaints, Lin Lan was giggling. She replied: “Fine, Interior Designer Cheng who finally received a break, let’s go eat kabobs later tonight.”

“This can’t get better. I’ve waited for half a month so let’s make it count.”

As the two people spoke near the entrance, Tang Xiaoya squinted her eyes. She remembered this man: he was the employee who helped out with the cafe when it first opened. Boss mentioned that he was a friend she knew. Looking at them now, something was fishy.

In the morning, there were few customers because it was mostly a shop where people relaxed. Young people who slept in on weekends could be found everywhere. If they were able to get up and leave their cozy and warm bed before 9 A.M. on a cold winter day, everyone would call them heartless.

Currently in the cafe, there were five heartless people. Other than Miss Wang, the rest wore a matching cafe apron.

Cheng Fengyang was able to acquire the ups and downs of the American Shorthair’s story.

“So you’re saying that the former owner of this cat is about to come?” Compared to the others’ happy expressions, Cheng Fengyang’s expression was more serious.

His gaze swept over the interior of the cafe. A couple customers had entered the cafe. One simply came to sip milk tea and nibble on pastries for breakfast while the other played with a cat and took pictures in all kinds of poses.

“What’s up?” Lin Lan looked at his strange expression and asked, “The kitty returning home might turn out badly?”

“It’s not that.” After Cheng Fengyang finished examining the customers, he turned to Lin Lan: “For the past few weeks, business has been pretty decent? You even have designated dates for the kitty performance, which should bring back a lot of repeat customers right?”

“That’s right. I was the very first customer and now I’m a part-timer,” Tang Xiaoya immediately replied. “This cafe is wonderful! The refreshments are very tasty. The only thing you need is idle time to come and pet kitties. Repeat customers are normal!”

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Danggg, tell me why I cried at Cao Yuze’s part in the beginning. But this is the prime example of why I would never wanna marry rich rich, and I mean never. Reading any random face-slapping with domineering CEO story is good enough for me (although I dislike reading those as well unless I’m fuming mad). I’m glad we got to see Cheng Fengyang in the end of this. Small spoiler: the ending (Cheng Fengyang’s weird-ish foreshadowing) isn’t leading to anything super serious. Also, whoever commented asking if old/middle-aged women are gonna be the villain in this story… so far its true. This author really has some grudges against them lol.

Thanks for reading! I hoped you guys enjoyed these two chappies as much as I did 🙂

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