Chapter 4 – Meiqiu
“Mimi.”
Lin Yan didn’t see the cat anywhere. He made a soft tsk tsk sound and leaned forward, searching.
This apartment was something he rented so he could live closer to work. His budget was limited — the place was small, but it was the best he could afford. It had one bedroom, a living room, and a tiny kitchen.
The space wasn’t large, and the furnishings were very simple.
He searched around again but still couldn’t find the cat.
A bad feeling crept into Lin Yan’s heart. Earlier at work, while slacking off and scrolling on his phone, he wasn’t sure if it was the algorithm spying on him or what, but his feed had been flooded with videos about cats and raising cats.
Big data’s predictions were almost frighteningly accurate, and Lin Yan couldn’t help watching.
Soon, every app on his phone was filled with related videos. Many of them showed people who lived in high-rise buildings forgetting to close their windows. Cats loved heights, yet had no real concept of human buildings. Some lucky ones managed to climb out the window and hide on the ledge, while the unlucky ones might fall straight down from high above.
Thinking of that, Lin Yan immediately went to check the windows. Seeing that all the windows were firmly shut, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
The bedroom and living room were empty.
So where could it be?
Lin Yan thought for a moment, then bent down, about to check under the bed. Just as he half-crouched, the little cat crawled out from beneath it.
“Meow~”
The kitten stretched lazily, looking like it had just woken up. Its eyes occasionally flicked toward Lin Yan.
Lin Yan squatted down and gently stroked its head.
The kitten purred, circling around his legs, arching its back and tail. Lin Yan followed its movement, petting it along its body.
After playing for a while, his hand was covered in fur. He patted his hands together, and the fur scattered down from the air.
Lin Yan glanced at the bowl of cat food and saw that it was still full. He guessed the kitten probably didn’t like the cheap food.
He turned to grab the can he had just bought today and opened it for the cat.
Only after Lin Yan left the room did the kitten stick out its tongue and pant slightly.
This cat is exhausted.
Ten minutes earlier, Lu Heng had still been on edge. After finally sprinting to the door, he suddenly noticed something wrong with his body — the sign that he was about to turn into a kitten.
In that critical moment, he remembered Lin Yan’s résumé that he had seen earlier. He quickly recalled the information and typed in Lin Yan’s birthday.
The next second, the door opened.
It wasn’t right to do that, but he didn’t have time to think.
After entering the apartment, he put the clothes back in their place. Before he could adjust himself and run back outside, the 1.8-meter man suddenly shrank into a small bundle, and the suit slid off onto the floor.
He had turned into a cat.
Another transformation — irregular and without any warning.
Kitten Heng followed his feline instincts, lifting his leg to lick his fur. When he heard the sound of the door lock, his head shot up. He quickly pushed the suit under the bed.
Luckily, only the robot vacuum could get under there. The floor had just been cleaned, so it was fairly tidy — hiding the clothes here was perfect.
Originally, Lu Heng’s plan had been to return the clothes and leave. But now that he had suddenly become a kitten — and with Lin Yan back — there was no way he could go.
He decided to hide the clothes and stay one more night for now.
Hm? That smell…
Lin Yan walked in holding the opened can, and the kitten immediately rushed over and circled his feet, bowing its head for food.
Kitten Heng didn’t want to act like this, but the canned food smelled way too good. He just wanted to start licking it immediately.
“Meow, meow.”
He couldn’t help calling out twice, urging Lin Yan to hurry up and put the food down.
“Alright, alright, I’m getting it ready,” Lin Yan said patiently.
The edge of the opened can was a little sharp, and he was afraid it might cut the kitten’s tongue, so he went to the kitchen to get a spoon and transferred the minced meat onto another plate.
There was no extra cat bowl at home, so he took a smaller plate and placed it beside the cat bowl.
The moment the plate touched the floor, the kitten rushed over, lowering its head immediately. Its brow furrowed as its nose flared repeatedly, sniffing the meat.
Kitten Heng: What is this? It smells incredible.
Seeing how much the kitten was enjoying it, Lin Yan’s heart melted again. He took out his phone, opened a shopping app, used image search, and ordered several more cans of the same food.
Even though Lin Yan himself was barely managing to eat properly, his kitten had to eat well.
Thinking of that made Lin Yan feel a little emotional. He gently stroked the kitten while it continued to eat with noisy enthusiasm.
He didn’t know how long the kitten would be able to stay in his home.
Still, calling it “Mimi, Mimi” all the time wasn’t a solution. The kitten had already been here for a whole day, and no owner had come looking for it. Most likely, this cat would become his.
Probably.
Hopefully.
Ever since getting the kitten, Lin Yan had developed a bit of selfishness. He felt that once he gave the kitten a name, it would truly belong to him.
Right.
He needed to think of a name.
“Lili?” Lin Yan decided to randomly try a few names and see which one the kitten would respond to.
The first one — no reaction.
And besides, Lili didn’t suit a male kitten anyway. Good thing it ignored him.
“Susu?”
Still no reaction. The kitten kept its head down, eating. The food on the plate was disappearing fast.
“Miao Miao?”
No reaction again.
“Meiqiu?”
Lin Yan didn’t even know why that name came to mind. Maybe because back in his hometown, people always called black cats Meiqiu.
The kitten finished the last bite of meat. He hadn’t really heard what Lin Yan was saying — only that he’d spoken a few words. Suddenly, the kitten lifted its head and looked at him.
Lin Yan met the kitten’s bright eyes and found it amusing. He reached out and rubbed the kitten’s fluffy little head.
After finishing the food, the kitten felt full and satisfied. It lifted one paw and began grooming, carefully smoothing its fur.
“Alright. From now on, your name is Meiqiu.”
The kitten froze mid-lick.
Oh… so you were naming me just now. 🐾
Meiqiu.
That name wasn’t unacceptable.
Kitten Heng silently accepted it and continued grooming his fur.
Lin Yan returned to his desk, satisfied, and went back to working overtime.
He entered the account Zhao Ming had given him, only to find that he didn’t have sufficient permissions and couldn’t view the information he needed.
Thinking he might have typed it wrong, he tried again several times — same result.
Worse, the account got locked.
Fuming, Lin Yan grabbed his phone and snapped a photo of the error message on his computer screen. Whoever designed this system deserved to be cursed — after too many failed logins, you had to wait five years before trying again. Lin Yan was ready to explode.
He sent the photo to the company’s [Worked-slaves] group chat.
Lin Yan Yan Yan~: [Damn it, who set this up? Enter it wrong and you have to wait five years to log in. On fire.jpg]
yy Genius Representative: [You’re working overtime too? About to cry.jpg]
Wang Hao Is a Handsome Guy: [Sorry bro, that was me.]
Lin Yan Yan Yan~: […]
Lin Yan Yan Yan~: [Can I ask… why? Life is suffering.jpg]
Wang Hao Is a Handsome Guy: [Zhao Ming told me to set it up. I don’t know why either.]
Lin Yan Yan Yan~: [That bastard!!!!]
After a while, Lin Yan chose to manually enter the data himself.
The progress was slower, but it was better than having no progress at all.
He focused on his work again.
Meiqiu wandered over to check on him. Lin Yan’s fingers flew across the keyboard — up, down, left, right — and in Meiqiu’s eyes, they looked like they were dancing. Meiqiu nodded in satisfaction.
But after watching for a while, Meiqiu went to dig at the litter box, drank some water, and started to feel bored.
He paced around the apartment several times, already familiar with its true size and the placement of everything.
With nothing else to do, Meiqiu jumped onto Lin Yan’s desk and stared seriously at the rows of numbers on the screen.
Out of the corner of his eye, Lin Yan glanced at Meiqiu and couldn’t resist petting him again.
Kittens really did slow down productivity — but Lin Yan was more than willing to let it happen.
He set Meiqiu beside the desk.
“Be good, Meiqiu. I’m working. I’ll play with you later.”
Then he returned to work.
Meiqiu sat facing him and watched quietly for a while.
Normally, Lu Heng didn’t get many chances to look at Lin Yan this closely. Now that he did, he noticed a tiny mole at the corner of Lin Yan’s mouth — so small that you’d miss it if you didn’t look carefully.
After staring for a moment, Meiqiu suddenly turned his face away, inexplicably shy.
Afraid that any big movement might disturb Lin Yan, Meiqiu turned back, tucked his front paws against his chest, and before long, his eyelids drooped and he fell asleep.
It was the first time in a long while that Meiqiu had fallen asleep before eleven.
Lu Heng had originally been relieved, thinking he wouldn’t turn into a kitten the next day.
But in the early morning, he was shaken awake.
Looks like tomorrow he’d still be a kitten.
When Meiqiu opened his eyes, he saw Lin Yan with tear-filled eyes.
Meiqiu’s nose twitched slightly.
What’s that smell…? Did this human drink alcohol?
Meiqiu disliked the smell of alcohol and shifted backward a little.
The moment he moved, Lin Yan tightened his hold on him.
“Don’t go, Meiqiu.” Lin Yan had been drinking, but he was still very clear-headed. He simply wanted to hold the kitten and act a little spoiled.
Meiqiu: I’m not going anywhere. I literally can’t move.
“Meiqiu, why do you think I’m so unlucky?” Lin Yan lifted the kitten. “I worked so hard and in the end everything turned out wrong.”
He raised the kitten, then pulled him back into his arms, rubbing his face against the kitten over and over.
The soft fur brushed gently against his skin, and Lin Yan relaxed almost instantly.
Meiqiu, made uncomfortable by the alcohol smell, lifted one tiny paw just as Lin Yan leaned in again, blocking his face.
Lin Yan’s mouth was stopped by a small paw.
He pressed forward anyway — and the other paw joined in to block him.
The bitterness in his heart surged with the alcohol. A wave of sadness welled up.
Usually he had no one to talk to, but now he had a kitten.
The kitten didn’t understand, but just saying it out loud already made him feel much better.
“Our director won’t give me budget or permissions.”
“I’ve worked overtime night after night for nothing.” Lin Yan hugged the kitten even tighter.
Once he started talking, he couldn’t stop.
“Without permissions, how am I supposed to track project progress?”
“They cut the budget, so we can only use secondhand servers. How is the data supposed to run like that?”
“Zhao Ming does nothing but bully people.”
“Waaah… Meiqiu~”
Meiqiu squirmed in his arms, but Lin Yan was holding him too tightly and showed no sign of letting go.
Two nights of overtime and being tormented by that broken server — Lin Yan felt like he was going insane.
But he still had to keep going.
If he didn’t, how would he pay rent?
How would he afford to raise a kitten?
Suddenly, Lin Yan loosened his grip.
Meiqiu finally caught his breath. With a push of his hind legs, he kicked away from Lin Yan — but worried something might be wrong with him, he stayed close by.
Lin Yan patted his clothes, finished the last sip of beer, crushed the can in his hand, and went back to work.
After venting for a while, his chest didn’t feel so heavy anymore.
Thank goodness for the kitten.
Meiqiu lay down beside Lin Yan’s mouse. Lin Yan glanced at him, his crumbling emotions patched back together by the little cat.
“Thank you, little kitty.”
Lin Yan raised his hand, about to pet Meiqiu.
But Meiqiu pressed Lin Yan’s hand down with a tiny paw, then gently patted the back of his hand twice with his fluffy paw.