Chapter 7 – The Little Troublemaker
After roaming around for years, Lin Yan had never felt this exhausted before.
He rode his bike through one office building after another.
Every time he passed a bush, he stopped to check.
But all he ever found were cigarette butts, trash, and leftover vomit from drunken strangers.
He spotted a familiar street vendor and walked up with a photo in hand.
“Hello, have you seen this kitten?”
The vendor shook his head.
Out of options, Lin Yan decided to ask for help and sent a message in the group chat.
Lin Yan Yan Yan Yan~: [What should I do? I’ve gone around several times and still can’t find it.]
cx Little Angel: [Check the grass by the roadside.]
Lin Yan Yan Yan Yan~: [Already did. Nothing there.]
Wang Hao Is a Handsome Guy: [I’ll ask the person in charge of a nearby rescue station.]
Lin Yan Yan Yan Yan~: [Okay. Let me know if you hear anything.]
Lin Yan circled the area again, riding his little bike, and turned into an alley.
Ahead, several bright green vests caught his eye.
Oh no. Traffic police.
Lin Yan immediately made a U-turn and headed for another alley entrance.
Fortunately, his years of riding experience allowed him to react quickly.
In the end, though, he still returned home, feeling dejected.
He was anxious the whole way. On the road he ran into the traffic police again. A pile of illegally parked vehicles had been detained on the roadside. Lin Yan dodged one checkpoint but couldn’t avoid the next.
The officers stopped a whole line of riders without helmets, making them queue up to pay fines.
Lin Yan wasn’t worried about the money.
He was worried — worried that if Meiqiu had gone out, he wouldn’t be able to find his way home.
The more worried he became, the more flustered he got. As he turned his bike, another traffic officer appeared ahead.
The officer waved at Lin Yan. Since Lin Yan had just bought the bike and hadn’t registered it yet, the officer fined him fifty yuan and let him go.
Lin Yan returned home, completely drained.
When he stepped out of the elevator, the hallway lights turned on.
Curled up by his door was a silvery-gray fluffy shape. The sudden light made Meiqiu squint as he opened his eyes — and Lin Yan was standing right in front of him.
“Meow.”
Meiqiu stretched slightly.
Meiqiu: What are you staring at? Open the door. This time I’m walking in fair and square.
Hearing the meow, Lin Yan rushed out of the elevator and looked toward the sound.
It wasn’t anywhere else — it was right outside his own door.
A tiny furball was squeezed inside a cardboard box.
The box had once held canned food. He’d left it there in the morning and forgotten to throw it away. He never expected a kitten to curl up inside it.
Seeing Meiqiu sleeping safely in the box, Lin Yan’s eyes lit up — like a drowning man grabbing hold of a lifeline.
He crouched down and gently picked Meiqiu up, then held him tighter and tighter.
“Meowww~”
The sound seemed to complain about why Lin Yan had come home so late.
Lin Yan opened the door and went inside.
As soon as he stepped in, he kicked something on the floor. He bent down to pick it up, and Meiqiu seized the chance to dash inside.
Lin Yan looked at what he’d picked up.
Wasn’t this the collar he had put on Meiqiu this morning?
He probably just didn’t like wearing it. Lin Yan casually placed the collar into the drawer of the shoe cabinet by the door.
No wonder the post he’d seen online today didn’t show the collar — the little guy must have kicked it off himself.
Meiqiu dashed straight to the sofa and flopped down.
Seeing Meiqiu hopping around the apartment again, the panic in Lin Yan’s heart finally faded. He smiled, and the tension between his brows slowly eased.
He took out his phone and replied to everyone’s messages one by one. He had almost thought he had lost his kitten forever and had been freaking out in the group chat.
So much so that Wang Hao and Chen Xin had been running around asking random passersby where they had seen the cat.
Everyone said they’d seen it near the office area.
Yet Lin Yan had been circling around there for one or two hours without seeing Meiqiu at all.
He even started to think that the traffic police probably hadn’t wanted to fine him, but since he had been riding around right under their noses for so long, not fining him would’ve looked strange.
Fortunately, Meiqiu wasn’t lost.
Lin Yan sent a message in the [Worked-slaves] group to thank Wang Hao and Chen Xin.
The next second, a voice message from Chen Xin came in.
cx the Little Angel: [Good that you found him. Where did you find him?]
Lin Yan Yan Yan Yan~: [He was waiting for me at my door.]
Wang Hao Is a Handsome Guy: [What? He actually ran home by himself.]
Wang Hao Is a Handsome Guy: [Do you think this cat went to the office to pick you up after work?]
Seeing that message, Lin Yan turned his head and glanced at Meiqiu.
Meiqiu had his hind leg lifted and was licking the fur at the base of his thigh.
When he noticed Lin Yan staring at him, he paused, looked up at Lin Yan, then calmly continued grooming.
Would he really go to the office to pick me up? Lin Yan wondered.
yy Genius Representative: [Are cats really that smart?]
Wang Hao Is a Handsome Guy: [I guessed it because the post today said the cat was seen near the office.]
cx the Little Angel: [I’m telling you, it’s totally possible. My white cat is super smart — it can open the door by itself. It’s run out several times already.]
Wang Hao Is a Handsome Guy: [Lin Yan, you’re doomed. The kitten has chosen you~]
Lin Yan Yan Yan Yan~: [Then what should I do?]
Ignoring Wang Hao’s teasing, Lin Yan thought about the fear he’d felt when he couldn’t find Meiqiu earlier. He never wanted to go through that again. What he really wanted to know was how to prevent it from happening.
cx the Little Angel: [Is your door lock the kind with a handle?]
Lin Yan was squatting down changing his shoes. He looked up at the door handle and replied: [Yes.]
cx the Little Angel: [That kind of lock opens if a cat jumps up and presses it. I suggest you change it. Don’t use this type of handle lock.]
cx the Little Angel: [The pain of experience. crying.jpg]
Taking Chen Xin’s advice, Lin Yan immediately opened an online store to browse. This wasn’t something he could put off — he was afraid Meiqiu would run out again and never come back.
He took a screenshot and sent it to the group. There were several smart door locks in the image, priced from a few hundred to several thousand yuan.
They all had different features, and he couldn’t decide which one to choose.
cx the Little Angel: [The second one. The one without facial recognition. Try not to use facial recognition on door locks — it’s not very safe.]
Lin Yan glanced at the price: 899.
That was still within his budget.
After placing the order, Lin Yan messaged his landlord. Changing the lock required the landlord’s approval, but Lin Yan couldn’t worry about that now.
He had to convince the landlord to agree.
As it turned out, the moment the landlord heard it wouldn’t cost him anything, he agreed immediately.
Less than an hour later, the technician arrived with the new lock and replaced the old one.
Lin Yan entered his fingerprint. Only then did he finally feel at ease.
Meiqiu watched from the side as Lin Yan registered his fingerprint and set the password.
“Meiqiu, don’t run outside anymore next time. I’ll worry about you.”
Worry?
Meiqiu tilted his head.
Would Lin Yan really worry about him? They had known each other for less than three days.
Meiqiu stared at him with wide eyes. Lin Yan turned around and met Meiqiu’s gaze.
Feeling awkward, Meiqiu turned his head away and walked to the other side of the room.
After everything was taken care of, Lin Yan finally realized he hadn’t eaten. He dug out a cup of instant noodles from the storage cabinet, boiled some water, and started soaking it.
Meiqiu stared at him in shock. His little head turned to glance at the door lock.
He was now convinced that Lin Yan must be running out of money.
Just as he was wondering what to do, that familiar smell drifted into Meiqiu’s nose again.
Canned food. Canned food.
Meiqiu immediately ran to his bowl and lowered his head, gulping it down mouthful by mouthful.
He hadn’t eaten properly all day, and after running around outside for so long, Meiqiu’s stomach was completely flat from hunger.
Lin Yan patted Meiqiu’s head and returned to the table to eat his instant noodles.
Originally, he had planned to make homemade cat food for Meiqiu today, but in his panic to find the cat, he had put that plan on hold.
He opened the link Chen Xin had shared and started planning what ingredients to buy tomorrow.
Lin Yan had lived alone for so long that his fridge contained nothing but drinks and alcohol — no fresh vegetables or fruit at all.
It was Meiqiu’s sudden arrival that made him want to truly enjoy his days at home.
After working for more than three years, Lin Yan had gradually come to understand that life wasn’t just about work — there were many other meaningful things worth doing.
Actually, nothing dramatic had changed.
It was simply that Lin Yan had learned how to control his own work rhythm, so he no longer had to live so exhausted.
And after today’s frantic search for Meiqiu, he finally realized how lonely he had been. He wanted companionship — and Meiqiu had just happened to step into his life.
Suddenly, he wanted to spend more time with Meiqiu, not just a short while here and there.
Despite all these thoughts, Lin Yan still had to deal with what was right in front of him.
He returned to the desk and continued working overtime.
After finishing his meal, Meiqiu still had nothing to do — but unlike usual, instead of wandering around aimlessly, he stuck close to Lin Yan.
Before Lin Yan even realized it, a small cat had settled into his arms. At first, Meiqiu simply lay there obediently, sleeping soundly against his chest.
Lin Yan couldn’t get this set of data right no matter what he tried. He didn’t even know where the problem was. Errors kept popping up, as if he had wandered into a dead zone with no way out.
Meiqiu felt the rise and fall of the stomach he was lying on becoming more intense.
Did something happen?
He opened his eyes, shook his head, and looked at the screen.
The screen was still packed with lines of text.
Meiqiu had only slept for a little while, yet there seemed to be more red on the screen than before.
Unable to see clearly, he immediately straightened up, placed his front paws on Lin Yan’s keyboard wrist rest, and felt the soft surface. Meiqiu couldn’t help kneading it back and forth with his paws.
His paws kept moving while his eyes stayed fixed on the screen.
Lin Yan looked at Meiqiu and was once again melted by how cute he was. He gently rested his chin on Meiqiu’s head and rubbed against it.
Then he went back to fixing the errors.
Suddenly, Meiqiu’s little paw pressed down on Lin Yan’s hand.
“What’s wrong, baby? Do you want me to play with you?”
Meiqiu: No — you made a mistake here. Don’t type that.
“Then I’ll play with you for a bit.”
Meiqiu: Sigh… you just don’t get it.
Meiqiu jumped down from Lin Yan’s lap.
“Hey, do you want to play or not?”
Lin Yan didn’t understand a cat’s heart at all and stared at Meiqiu in confusion.
After jumping down, Meiqiu didn’t do anything special — he simply started licking his fur as usual.
He wandered over to the coffee table, where a lint roller was lying. Sitting upright on the table, he stretched out a paw and slowly nudged the lint roller.
Thump.
The lint roller fell onto the floor.
The sound caught Lin Yan’s attention, and he turned his head to look at Meiqiu.
Meiqiu froze with his paw still stretched out. He looked at Lin Yan. Lin Yan simply smiled at him.
“Did I scare you? I’ll pick it up later.”
Lin Yan thought that Meiqiu was getting a bit mischievous, so it was better not to leave things on the table — a kitten would just swat them down anyway.
He hadn’t noticed Meiqiu being this naughty in the past few days, but then again, that was just a kitten’s nature, so he let it be.
Lin Yan stopped paying attention to Meiqiu.
Meiqiu turned his head to look at him. After confirming that Lin Yan was still working overtime, he jumped onto the table. He glanced back again — Lin Yan was still buried in his work.
Meiqiu stretched out a paw and pushed the paper container of instant noodles. There was still some broth inside, but not much. For a cat of Meiqiu’s size, it was easy to move.
Under Meiqiu’s persistent nudging, the noodle container crept closer and closer to the edge of the table.
Lin Yan suddenly turned around.
“Hey— don’t…”
The container — along with the remaining broth — spilled onto the floor.
Soup splashed everywhere.
Lin Yan put his hands on his hips. “Meiqiu, you’re really naughty.”
Then he smiled helplessly and got up to fetch cleaning supplies from the bathroom.
If that broth wasn’t cleaned up right away, the smell would be terrible. Lin Yan had no choice but to pause his work and deal with the mess.
While Lin Yan was cleaning up the aftermath, Meiqiu seized the chance, jumped onto Lin Yan’s computer desk, and started stomping on the keyboard like crazy.
Lin Yan suddenly sensed something was wrong. He heard the rapid clacking of the keys — nonstop.
He turned around.
Sure enough, Meiqiu was right there, stepping on the keyboard.
“Meiqiu!!!”