Chapter 6 – Lost
Lin Yan stared at the revised file.
The screen was packed with changes that needed to be made.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
That old geezer had completely butchered his original data. Fixing it back to the way it was might actually be even harder than starting from scratch.
He took a screenshot and dropped it into the office group chat.
Lin Yan Yan Yan Yan~: [image]
Lin Yan Yan Yan Yan~: [Guys, how do you think this should be fixed. [crying.jpg]]
cx Little Angel: [Fix it. Just… fix it.]
yy Genius Representative: [You can tell at a glance it was brutally modified by that dog Zhao Ming.]
yy Genius Representative: [Last time he edited mine, I was about to cry too. In the end, President Lu needed it urgently, so he just submitted the first version as it was.]
Wang Hao Is a Handsome Guy: [Fix it, Engineer Lin. That’s what being corporate cattle is like.]
Lin Yan Yan Yan Yan~: [Okay, I’ll try to finish it tonight. If I don’t, none of your parts can move forward either.]
yy Genius Representative: [Thanks for the hard work, Engineer Lin.]
Wang Hao Is a Handsome Guy: [If you need help, say the word. I don’t have any big projects right now, so I can free up some time.]
cx Little Angel: [Must be nice. That bastard Sun Ning dumped a pile of work on me. [covering face crying.jpg]]
Sun Ning’s desk was next to the director’s office.
He suddenly sneezed and looked toward the others.
Everyone had their heads down working, switching back and forth between their phones and computers.
He had a strange feeling they had a private group chat behind his back — and that they were probably talking trash about him.
But he had no proof.
Seeing no one reacting, he withdrew his gaze and went back to filling in modules.
Lin Yan accepted the fact that he would have to rewrite the whole thing.
He spent the entire afternoon fixing errors.
As for progress — basically none.
Wang Hao, who was sitting next to Lin Yan, rolled his chair closer. “You’re still fixing it?”
“Yeah. If I don’t correct this part, I can’t move on to the rest.”
Sun Ning suddenly straightened his back.
His ears very casually tilted toward their direction, while his head pretended to look elsewhere.
Wang Hao noticed and lifted his chin slightly toward Sun Ning’s seat, signaling Lin Yan to look that way.
Lin Yan understood, curled his lips, and stopped talking about it.
“You bought this canned food?” Wang Hao noticed a box of cat food stacked near Lin Yan’s feet.
Lin Yan nodded and opened the box. There were 24 cans inside.
He took out four or five and handed them to Wang Hao.
“My cat really likes this brand. Take some home for your cat too.”
“No need, I already have plenty at home.”
“Take it, take it. Sharing good stuff,” Lin Yan said, forcibly shoving the cans into Wang Hao’s hands.
Wang Hao waved him off, but Lin Yan simply placed them on his desk.
Wang Hao accepted them generously. “Thanks. What’s your cat’s name?”
“Meiqiu.”
“But he’s silver, right? Why call him Meiqiu (‘Coal Ball’)?” Wang Hao asked.
He took two bottles of milk from his drawer, handed one to Lin Yan, and pulled out two more for Yang Yang and Chen Xin.
Lin Yan tore open the straw wrapper, poked it through the plastic seal, and took a sip.
“I tried a bunch of names. This was the only one he responded to.”
“Fair enough. Have you found his owner yet?” Wang Hao asked, also drinking his milk.
Lin Yan shook his head. He didn’t want to think about it.
He smacked his lips around the straw. The milk was actually pretty good.
He wondered whether cats could drink milk — he kind of wanted Meiqiu to try it too.
“Can cats drink milk?” Lin Yan asked Wang Hao.
Wang Hao didn’t answer. He probably didn’t know either.
“Cats should drink goat milk. Don’t give them cow’s milk — they’re lactose intolerant and will get diarrhea.”
Chen Xin, who was sitting behind them, spoke up.
Chen Xin was the only woman in their department. She didn’t talk much with the guys, since most of their conversations revolved around work and esports.
None of that interested her, so she rarely joined in. Plus, Sun Ning liked to eavesdrop, so anything work-related was usually discussed in the group chat, where Chen Xin would occasionally chime in.
After chatting more over time, everyone gradually became more familiar with her, but they still didn’t talk much in the office.
“You have cats too?” Lin Yan turned and asked.
“Yeah, three of them. I’m a veteran cat servant,” Chen Xin said, opening her phone’s lock screen for him to see.
Lin Yan glanced over. He wasn’t good with cat breeds — he only recognized colors.
On the screen were three cats: one white, one black, and one golden.
He shot a sideways glance toward Sun Ning, his eyelashes flickering slightly, then leaned a bit closer to Chen Xin and lowered his voice.
“Why didn’t you say anything in the group chat?”
Chen Xin also lowered her voice and kept her head down. “I didn’t see it.”
“Ohh.” Lin Yan pulled a few more cans from the box and handed them to her.
“Thanks. I’ll take them. My cats love this brand too.”
Seeing how plump and glossy her three cats were, Lin Yan decided to learn a thing or two from her.
Meiqiu wasn’t particularly thin — more on the sturdy side — but ever since he started raising a cat, he couldn’t stop worrying.
He always felt like his “child” wasn’t eating well, not growing properly.
Kind of like how moms always think you’re cold.
“Why are your cats so chubby?”
“I got them all neutered.”
“They get fat after neutering?” Lin Yan asked.
“Without hormones, all they think about is eating,” Chen Xin said.
“That’s why a lot of cat owners get their cats neutered — to make them put on some weight.”
Just to make them a little fatter, they take away a kitten’s complete life.
Lin Yan felt that was far too cruel.
Meiqiu wasn’t picky anyway — he ate when it was time to eat, drank when it was time to drink, slept when it was time to sleep.
There was probably no need to neuter him.
“That’s too cruel.”
“Neutering actually has many benefits for cats. Besides, my cats only look fat. I cook for them too, so their meals are balanced even though they appear chubby.”
Lin Yan nodded. “You can even cook for them.”
“Yeah, and it’s fresh food. Cats love it,” Chen Xin said.
Then she lowered her voice. “I’ll share some cat meal ingredients and recipes in the group chat. Take a look.”
…
Lu Heng hid in the small side room of his office.
The cat stayed curled in its nest and hadn’t gone out.
He took a nap, but it was restless.
The room was twenty or thirty square meters, yet he only wanted to curl up in this tiny space.
It still didn’t feel right.
Suddenly, he wanted to go to that sixty-square-meter little home and wait for that person to get off work.
With that thought, Kitten Heng moved.
He slipped out through the hidden doorframe, darted between obstacles, and made his way to the stairwell.
It was the end of the workday. The company was still full of people, but luckily no one liked using the stairs.
Kitten Heng slipped past a group waiting for the elevator and entered the stairwell, going down step by step.
There were still many people in the lobby.
Kitten Heng strolled out the main entrance at his usual leisurely pace.
The security guard at the door glanced at the cat, snapped a photo, and sent it to the security group chat.
How did this cat get in here?
Kitten Heng shot the guard an annoyed look, flicked his head, and left.
Once outside, he picked up speed.
The journey was unusually difficult.
People kept trying to stop him, thinking he was a stray.
Each time, Kitten Heng would dodge aside and dash away.
Passersby all agreed: this cat was incredible — he even obeyed traffic lights, like he had a destination in mind.
Some people even blocked his path to take photos and posted them on a local forum.
Hundreds of users soon saw the pictures of the meowing Little Cat Heng.
Wang Hao happened to be scrolling through that post.
The cat looked oddly familiar. He opened the work group chat and checked the photo Lin Yan had sent earlier.
Why did this cat look exactly like Meiqiu?
Could it be from when he was still a stray?
He checked the timestamp and comments.
They were from just a few minutes ago.
That felt strange. He was about to ask Lin Yan.
Then he looked up — Lin Yan’s desk was already empty.
“Where did Lin Yan go?” he pointed at the workstation.
“He left on time.”
“Yeah, Lin Yan’s been leaving on time these past few days.”
After all, there was a soul-stealing little kitten waiting at home.
And today, his salary had just been paid.
Lin Yan finally recovered some energy.
He went to the fresh food market, planning to personally make a meal for Meiqiu.
On the way to the supermarket, Lin Yan passed by an electric scooter shop.
He stopped at the entrance and watched for a moment.
“Hey handsome, come take a look — new models just arrived, 20% off.”
Lin Yan walked in.
At first glance, he was drawn to a red-and-white scooter.
The main reason: the front headlight design looked just like a little cat.
He pointed at it. “How much?”
“Good eye, handsome. That’s our newest model — 5,600.”
Hearing the price, Lin Yan immediately turned his head to leave.
“Hey, hey, hey — handsome. Original price is 5,600, now 20% off, plus subsidies. Total comes to 4,100.”
That knocked off more than a thousand. It was a pretty good deal, but spending a third of his monthly salary in one go still hurt.
He also had to save money for renewing his lease at the end of the year.
After thinking it over, the scooter really was a necessity — he could never find shared bikes, and he’d paid for a monthly pass but used it fewer than five times.
“Boss, I won’t haggle much. How about 3,800?”
“Can’t do 3,800.” The owner waved his hand. “I’d be selling at a loss.”
“3,900.”
“Still can’t.” The owner changed tactics. “How about this — no more bargaining from either side. 4,000, final price.”
“Deal.”
Lin Yan took out his phone and paid.
His salary had just been deposited and hadn’t even had time to ‘cool down’ before it was gone.
Several new messages popped up on his screen.
He opened them — they were from Wang Hao, sent over ten minutes ago.
Wang Hao: [Does this look like your Meiqiu?]
Wang Hao: [I think it really does.]
Wang Hao: [It’s near the company. Lots of people are posting about it.]
Lin Yan didn’t even open the forum post.
His unease grew stronger. The cat in the photo was definitely Meiqiu.
“Boss, can I ride the scooter now?” Lin Yan asked.
“Sure. We just finished assembling one — brand new,” the owner said. “But the license plate isn’t registered yet. Did you bring your ID?”
Lin Yan patted himself down and confirmed he hadn’t brought his wallet.
“Left it at home.”
“Then you technically need the plate before riding on the road.”
“I’m not going far, just nearby,” Lin Yan said anxiously. “I’ve got something urgent.”
“That’s fine — just don’t let the traffic police catch you.”
The owner took a white helmet off the wall. “Here, take this. It’s on me.”
Lin Yan accepted the helmet, put it on, swung his long leg over the scooter, twisted the throttle, and shot off.
The owner shouted after him, “Don’t forget to bring me your ID later!”
Lin Yan didn’t look back. He sped straight toward the company.
He had briefly glanced at the forum — every sighting of Meiqiu was around the company.
The unease in his chest only grew.
He rode around the area several times, but still couldn’t find Meiqiu.
He parked by the roadside and opened his phone, scrolling through the local posts.
Those posts had all been made half an hour earlier.
Meiqiu’s appearance was burned into Lin Yan’s mind.
After all, he had even changed his phone lock screen to Meiqiu’s photo.
Seeing it every day made it impossible not to recognize him.
He looked left and right, then rode back to the starting point —the place where he had first found Meiqiu.