I Can Talk to Cats C32

Chapter 32: Xiaoya is Renting

Translated by Lime

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Only one chapter today, sorry. Small recap since it’s been so long: Qian Xuan is asking Lin Lan to temporarily take in her British Shorthair cat (Niu Niu) while she goes on a business trip.

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From a business perspective, of course they would agree.

Qian Xuan’s kitty was well-known throughout the apartment building due to its haughty temper and spoiled attitude, as well as being a money burner.

“Do you trust me to take care of her?” After agreeing to the job, Lin Lan joked around.

“Why wouldn’t I trust you?” Qian Xuan glanced at the Ragdoll cat currently snuggled in Lin Lan’s arms before speaking, “Sapphire was nursed back to such a healthy state so I am definitely comfortable leaving Niu Niu with you.”

When Lin Lan first took in Sapphire, each one of the tenants were not optimistic about its chances of survival and they felt like Lin Lan was just throwing money away.

Well, how about now?

Sapphire was now the ‘top cat’ in the cat cafe. Each day, there would be countless customers who wanted to kiss and hug her.

Not only that, Sapphire was very healthy and almost showed no traces of having been sick.

“I am truly in awe of how you manage to take care of all these delicate kitties.” Qian Xuan contemplated on her own experience with caring for Niu Niu and thought about the amount of effort she put in. Then, she saw Lin Lan somehow keeping all the high-maintenance cats in line and sighed. You really shouldn’t compare yourself to others after all.

What Qian Xuan didn’t know was that Lin Lan had ordered the kitties to inform her if they felt any pain or were itchy.

This obviously was a secret between Lin Lan and the kitties so she threw out a random excuse: “It’s probably because I am now a VIP client of Doctor Liu’s veterinarian clinic. Each month, I get complimentary checkups for the kitties.”

“That’s a thing?” Qian Xuan exclaimed, her expression morphing into one of shock. “I’ve spent a lot of money at his clinic and I haven’t received this sort of deal yet. This is unbelievable, I’m going to go find him!”

Afraid that the animal clinic was going to close soon, Qian Xuan hastily said her goodbyes and rushed out the cafe, on her way to haggle with Doctor Liu.

“She’s really lively and energetic all of a sudden,” blurted out Song Xinmin.

As a lively and energetic career woman herself, Tang Xiaoya didn’t find Qian Xuan’s behavior strange at all: “How else do you expect career women to act? Do you want her to channel all her energy into her work so her male boss can get promoted and get a raise?” Without missing a beat, Tang Xiaoya turned to Lin Lan and asked, “Boss, I have some time today. Can you take me to tour the apartments? If I decide on an apartment today, we can sign the rental contract immediately. Next week, I’ll be moving in on Wednesday.”

Song Xinmin: “…” His coworker’s attitude shocked him more than Qian Xuan’s.

“That’s fine.” Lin Lan didn’t want to drag things out either and gently set down Sapphire before speaking, “First, help me bring these kitties upstairs and I’ll take you to see the apartments right after.”

The kitties had already crawled into their respective cages and were waiting to be transported. The three people quickly completed the task of bringing them up to the Lin family’s living room. Song Xinmin soon left and Lin Lan brought Tang Xiaoya to tour the apartment units.

“The apartments on the second floor are completely being occupied by tenants right now. So, let’s start from the fourth floor and go up from there.” Lin Lan roughly laid out the availability of units: “We have an empty apartment on the third floor, but unfortunately, we don’t have another tenant that is willing to split the rent with you right now.”

Tang Xiaoya rejected the thought without hesitating: “How can I even think of getting a roommate when I want a kitty? My current plan is to rent an apartment by myself. As long as the price is fair, it’s a done deal. Of course, if you want to give a small discount to your employee, that would be even better!”

Lin Lan chuckled and swung the ring of keys around her finger: “We will definitely give you a reasonable price. However, we can’t give you too much of a discount because our building’s location is not bad and it still has some value.”

The two joked around before starting to tour the apartment. Tang Xiaoya carefully examined the apartment and she soon discovered that not only was the exterior wall well-made and sturdy, but the insulation was also excellent.

The corridor leading to the entrance of the apartment was clean and there weren’t piles of junk littered around the other tenants’ doorways. Even the milk cartons and other trash were neatly ordered in a line to be taken out. At the stairwell on each floor, there was also a fire extinguisher. As she walked, Tang Xiaoya was even able to make out the faint smell of disinfectant.

“In the middle of each month, the city will send people to disinfect the stairs and corridors as well as to inspect the cleanliness. If a tenant likes to discard trash in the corridor or leave piles of junk outside their door, they will be evicted as according to the contract.” From time to time, Lin Lan pointed out details to Tang Xiaoya. She pointed to the ceiling of the corridor: “Do you see that? There’s a surveillance camera installed there that can see the entire corridor. Anything people do in the corridor can be clearly seen by the camera. If the tenant tries to bring us to court and deny that they blocked the corridor with trash, we would have sufficient evidence.”

“Wow, you are prepared for anything,” Tang Xiaoya exclaimed. She was more than satisfied with the cleanliness and security of the building.

“It’s only natural that we are meticulous. This is my family’s sole property so we need to take extra good care of it.”

That’s true. Tang Xiaoya nodded. A landlord was still an occupation. They weren’t supposed to sit around on their butts all day and only collect money.

Before long, the two had toured all the available units on the third floor. After mulling over her options, Tang Xiaoya settled on the middle apartment unit on the fourth floor.

“The fourth floor is pretty good. Both tenants beside you are young and when you bump into each other occasionally, it will be easier to make small talk.” Lin Lan began to introduce them to Tang Xiaoya, “Actually, you just met one of them. The woman named Qian Xuan who brought over her British Shorthair cat earlier is living on this floor.”

Tang Xiaoya did not really have any objections to her and was more concerned about the floor: “I don’t really care about having to stay in the middle unit. The only thing is, having to travel up and down four floors each day will make me tired. If your family decides to install an elevator- or if there is an available apartment on the second floor, I would have no worries at all.”

Install an elevator? Was her family’s six-story apartment that large?

Lin Lan had never considered installing an elevator before. She had grown up in this building and was accustomed to running up and down the floors.

She was still thinking of a proper answer when a woman’s surprised voice came from the stairwell: “You want to live on the second floor? I’ll switch with you!”

Lin Lan glanced over and saw Miss Wei, the tenant living on the second floor, happily walking towards them from the stairs. She was still wearing a professional-looking bag, and it was evident that she had just got off of work.

“Hello Miss Wei, it’s surprising to see you now. You didn’t work overtime today?” Indeed, this was the tenant who had the bad luck to encounter the Maine Coon kitty who sneakily stole her food and destroyed her kitchen. After Lin Lan took in Mercury, she sought out Miss Wei again and compensated her for the incident. Even now, she still looked tired and exhausted.

Miss Wei weakly laughed at Lin Lan’s question before replying, “My company is holding their annual meeting soon so we get a two day break from hell. During the New Year, they need people to stay to monitor the server room. My boss hasn’t announced who the unlucky person will be.”

That’s right, Miss Wei was a female programmer. She earned a lot, but she was also almost being worked to death, not to mention the amount of risk associated with her work. The famous ‘Jiang’ shampoo corporation was their main client so the pressure was high.

“Never mind this, were you two discussing renting the apartments earlier?” Miss Wei’s eyes lit up as she spoke, “If you want to live on the second floor, I’ll happily switch with you. I can move up to this floor and let you have the unit on the second floor.”

“Why?” Although this was good for Tang Xiaoya, she didn’t understand why the other party would suggest this.

“Are there any problems living on the second floor?” As the landlord, Lin Lan was even more nervous. “If there’s anything wrong, you need to tell me. That way, I can help you resolve it.”

“There’s nothing wrong with the apartment.” Miss Wei immediately shook her head, and feeling a bit embarrassed, she explained, “It’s just that I’ve been unsettled ever since the cat incident. I would be more relieved if I moved up a few floors.”

Although she spoke softly, Lin Lan understood her.

The incident with the huge cat stealing food from her kitchen in the middle of the night left a lasting impact on Miss Wei. Even though they had already settled and dealt with the problem, she was still unsettled deep down. She thought that if she lived in an apartment higher up, then those kinds of incidents would never happen again.

Mercury, you really are a troublesome kitty.

Wait a minute, now that she thought about it, Tang Xiaoya was going to be living in that exact apartment soon. Lin Lan felt that there was a subtle hint of fate bringing the two together.

When Tang Xiaoya understood the gist of the incident and learned that Mercury was first found in that apartment, she immediately agreed without thinking twice.

Miss Wei was also happy and the two of them expectantly stared at Lin Lan. 

“No problem at all,” answered Lin Lan. “If you both agree, then let’s go downstairs to find my Dad. I’ll need you two to sign another rental contract.”

Lin Lan soon realized that the renter of the adjacent apartment on the second floor was Miss Wang. In three days, Tang Xiaoya and Wang Jiayi would become neighbors. Whatever was going to happen between the two would be unknown.

Lin Lan didn’t dwell on these thoughts for long. After the renters came to an agreement and settled the contracts, Lin Lan returned to her room and changed her clothes, preparing to go out.

“Dad, Mom, Grandma, I won’t be eating dinner at home tonight.” When she finished getting ready, Lin Lan petted the kitties who swarmed around her legs. She strung her bag over her shoulder and explained, “Two weeks ago, I said that I would be treating Cheng Fengyang to a meal. This week, he finally has free time so we will be going to Old Zhou’s Barbeque Restaurant to eat kebabs.”

The Lin family were already aware of this matter and weren’t surprised. However, Lin Youyu, who frequently visited the street behind their building, spoke, “Are you talking about Old Zhou’s Barbeque Restaurant? On New Year’s Day, they expanded their restaurant to Old Zhou’s Barbeque and Hot Pot Restaurant!”

“Eh?” Lin Lan had been too busy working on New Year’s Day and didn’t have time to check out other shops. “They’re selling hot pot now? Hasn’t their business been pretty good because of kebabs already? Why did they add hot pot to their menu?”

As she spoke, the Siamese kitty, Jintan, naughtily jumped onto her shoulder: “Miaow!” (Lin Lan, where are you going?)

Lin Lan was about to brush him off her shoulders when the silver British Shorthair, Milky, also jumped onto her back: “Miaowow!” (Are you not eating with us? But I can smell salmon cat food!)

“Stop being naughty, I have something to do,” Lin Lan had no choice but to address these clingy little kitties. “Your grandparents will bring over your cat food after I leave. When you finish eating, be obedient and go back to your cat beds to sleep. I’ll reward you with roasted fish later, okay?”

As soon as they heard the sh*t shoveler was bringing them home tasty treats, the kitties immediately became obedient, letting Lin Lan shoo them back to the living room. They didn’t forget to meow at her: (Lan Lan, bring more fish back!)

In their dreams! At most, she would give each kitty one strip of fish. Their portions of cat food weren’t lacking and they still wanted more snacks afterwards. She can’t support these kitties who only knew how to eat!

As Lin Lan messed around with the kitties, Lin Youyu was talking about the new hot pot developments: “It’s because of their family’s eldest son. He worked for a company in the capital city for a few years. He was tired of sucking up to the team leader and never being credited for his work. Finally, he couldn’t bear it anymore and came back. A few days ago, I spoke to him, and he said that it was much better to be a boss than a white-collar worker.”

Lin Youyu repeated everything he heard to his family members before glancing at his daughter who was playing with the kitties. He couldn’t help but shake his head: “You younger people are really different from when we were young. Back then, if we had an actual full-time job, we would rather die than resign.”

Lin Lan had finally shooed all the spoiled kitties back to the heating pad and she walked to the entrance again. “Why are you leaving out the fact that university graduates were allocated jobs? Now, other than the students who excel academically or graduate from a famous university, the rest of us with Bachelor’s Degrees are left in an awkward position. We can’t get the good jobs and we can’t accept the low paying jobs either. Old Zhou’s restaurant is quite profitable. Being a self-employed boss is infinitely better than working as a puny white-collar worker. On this note, I thank our Lin family’s elders. Thank you for letting me be able to easily become self-employed and leading a more carefree life than Old Zhou’s family. I’m leaving now, I love you guys!”

When she finished, Lin Lan turned to her family and goofily blew them a kiss before opening the door and heading out.

The Lin family elders were taken by surprise due to Lin Lan’s last sentence and stared at the closing door. After a while, they didn’t know whether to cry or to laugh, this daughter of theirs was silly.

The author has something to say:

Three days later, after Tang Xiaoya has moved in: What! How come it’s you!

Wang Jiayi opening the adjacent apartment door: Ugh, how come it’s you!

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