After Transmigrating As The Female Lead Of A Cruel Novel, I Raised a Big Shot Cat - Chapter 11

Since they parted ways after dinner that night, Ji Qingyue and Bo Shuhan hadn’t seen each other for a whole month.

Although they had exchanged contact information, neither of them was particularly social. They weren’t the type to strike up a conversation out of boredom, which meant their chat history remained frozen a month in the past, consisting only of the polite greetings from the day they first added each other.

The “Big Boss” (the cat) didn’t care at all if their relationship grew cold.

In fact, it was living its best life right now.

Kisses from a beauty in the morning, pets from a beauty at noon, and sleeping next to a beauty at night, who would ever trade such a divine existence? As for its “self” from two years ago? It could rot for all the cat cared.

However, as time ticked by, the cat began to notice Ji Qingyue’s growing irritability.

Her routine shifted from “early to bed, early to rise” to “early to rise, late to bed.” Deep dark circles began to mar her porcelain white face.

The cat tried to intervene, but its meows were clearly insufficient to sway a Ji Qingyue who was entirely consumed by her work.

Driven by necessity, the cat began broadcasting brainwaves to the person living next door.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the wall, Bo Shuhan was rubbing her temples as she looked at her laptop screen. It was filled with various documents, price-performance comparison charts for materials, and a mountain of proposals. She couldn’t help but feel a surge of impatience.

As one of the first cities in the Dragon Kingdom to interact with foreign capital, many of Shanghai’s industries involved foreign investment, some were even factories opened directly by foreign entities. They didn’t always disclose their full backgrounds, requiring Bo Shuhan to verify everything herself.

She got up to pour herself a cup of coffee, preparing to push through the night to approve the batch of files, when the “Big Boss” next door started shouting in her head.

【Are you asleep? If not, come over and talk to my darling baby. She hasn’t been sleeping, the work pressure is massive. Come over and give her some guidance.】

Truthfully, Bo Shuhan didn’t need the cat to tell her that Ji Qingyue had been working late.

Every night when Bo Shuhan worked until three or four in the morning, she could see the faint glow of the living room light through the balcony next door.

But Bo Shuhan hadn’t thought much of it.

She worked until 4:00 AM herself. There was no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Even if someone wanted to be a “canary,” they still had to work hard to provide emotional value to their patron, didn’t they?

Nothing was gained without effort. If Ji Qingyue wanted to go viral and make Ye Sishen hesitate to act against her, she naturally had to endure more hardship.

Having finished her coffee, Bo Shuhan felt a bit more energized. She was about to look at the next file when the cat next door started cursing.

【Hey! Bo Shuhan, are you coming or not? “Mistreating your wife is fun for now, but the chase later will be a funeral pyre!” Right now you’re ignoring my baby, but in the future, she’ll be out of your league!】

【Ahhh! My baby is drinking! She’s so stressed she’s actually drinking! Can you come over now? Are you dead?】

Bo Shuhan rubbed her aching head. Feeling helpless, she walked next door and knocked.

The door didn’t open immediately, but she could hear the sound of the handle being pawed at repeatedly.

Unsurprisingly, it was a certain cat jumping up to reach the lever.

Sure enough, when the door finally opened, the cat was sitting solemnly at the entrance.

【You useless thing!】

Bo Shuhan: “?”

【You’ve lived next door to my baby for a month and you still haven’t gotten a spare key? If you aren’t useless, what are you?】

Bo Shuhan was slightly annoyed. She glanced at Ji Qingyue, who was passed out in the living room, and picked the cat up by the scruff.

“First of all, I am not a pervert. Ji Qingyue and I are just ordinary friends. It’s normal that I don’t have her spare key.”

“Secondly, don’t forget that I like women. To Ji Qingyue, I am a ‘potential danger.’ If a person like me had her key, do you think she’d sleep soundly?”

【Fine, fine. You’re a gentleman, you’re virtuous, you’re moral. I’m the lecherous one, I’m the pervert, okay?】

Two pairs of green eyes locked onto each other. Both were stubborn, and had they not been afraid of waking Ji Qingyue, they likely would have started a shouting match.

A breeze blew in from the balcony. Bo Shuhan frowned, stepped across the room, and closed all the windows.

Then, she scanned the living room.

It was clear that the owner had been living a rough life this past month.

The floor was littered with various scrap papers and fragments of fabric. In the center of the room, Ji Qingyue was sitting on the floor, slumped over the coffee table, seemingly fast asleep. A few beer cans sat on the table, evidently the reason for her current state.

Bo Shuhan stepped forward and gave her a nudge.

“Qingyue, wake up.”

The woman furrowed her brows, looking displeased. She mumbled something, but Bo Shuhan couldn’t catch the words.

Just as Bo Shuhan leaned in closer, the woman suddenly snapped her head up, forcing her eyes wide open in a desperate attempt to look sober.

She didn’t realize that, while slumped over the table with watery eyes, she didn’t look threatening at all. Instead, she looked like a little “crybaby” who would burst into tears if poked.

“Qingyue, don’t sleep on the floor. Go to bed,” Bo Shuhan said with a hint of a smile in her voice, though she politely stepped back.

Ji Qingyue let out a long “Mmm,” sounding much like a cat’s purr.

“Who are you?”

“Bo Shuhan.”

“Ah? Bo… what Han?”

“Bo Shuhan.”

“Bo what now?”

Bo Shuhan fell silent. If she weren’t certain the woman was drunk, she would have thought Ji Qingyue was messing with her.

“Stop playing around. How about I help you to the bedroom?” Bo Shuhan didn’t get too close. The drunken Ji Qingyue was very sensitive to anyone approaching her. To prevent anything bad from happening, it was better to keep her distance.

The cat had no idea that its “future self” from two years ago thought this way. If it did, it would have delivered a flying kick. Single for so long and still being so fastidious, no wonder you don’t have a girlfriend!

Hearing the clear, cool female voice, Ji Qingyue finally regained a sliver of consciousness.

She stood up unsteadily and suddenly lunged forward, grabbing Bo Shuhan’s arm. Standing on her tiptoes, she squinted and leaned her face toward Bo Shuhan’s.

Her breath brushed against Bo Shuhan’s neck and lips. The sudden intimacy made Bo Shuhan recoil instinctively, but fearing she would drop the clinging Ji Qingyue, she could only tilt her head back as far as possible.

This movement infuriated the drunk Ji Qingyue. She was just a hair’s breadth away from seeing what this person looked like, and yet she tilted her head away!

Ji Qingyue decisively reached out to grab Bo Shuhan’s head to pull it back, but her legs were weak and she couldn’t stay balanced.

Left with no choice, Bo Shuhan wrapped one arm around Ji Qingyue’s waist and used the other to pin her flailing hands.

Having secured the drunkard, Bo Shuhan exhaled and lowered her head. Finally, Ji Qingyue could see her clearly.

“Little Han-Han!”

A new nickname?

Before Bo Shuhan could comment, Ji Qingyue’s mouth twisted, and she burst into loud wailing.

“Little HanHan, I’m so miserable!” She let out a howl, peeking at Bo Shuhan out of the corner of her eye. Seeing Bo Shuhan watching her, she wailed even harder.

“I’ve been filming videos for days, but I have no traffic at all. I can’t get famous. Am I just not meant to be an influencer?”

Ji Qingyue’s sobbing wasn’t actually an attempt to get Bo Shuhan to help her. This was just how she was when she got drunk. She complained because, as a child in the orphanage, the caretakers were always biased toward the boys. If she didn’t act “pitiful,” she might not have even gotten enough to eat.

She didn’t act this way as an adult, but some things are etched into the bone. They aren’t forgotten; they just reappear at specific moments.

Bo Shuhan naturally didn’t know that Ji Qingyue was a professional at playing the victim when drunk, but she didn’t take it to heart.

Girls cry to their best friends when they go through a breakup, it’s only normal to cry to a friend when career paths are rocky.

Bo Shuhan handed her some tissues and sat down on the floor with her, taking on the role of a listener. This actually confused the drunk Ji Qingyue.

In her drunken state, she couldn’t process the situation. Seeing Bo Shuhan sit down, she assumed Bo Shuhan was going to “act miserable” too.

So, Ji Qingyue brought out her ancestral techniques for playing the victim.

“Little HanHan, let me tell you, acting pitiful is a craft!” As she spoke, she began to recount her countless experiences from her childhood.

She added with great seriousness, “This is the ‘Secret Manual’ of my sect. You must never tell anyone else. If you do, I’ll really be left out in the cold.” After finishing, she solemnly “handed” the manual to Bo Shuhan.

Bo Shuhan looked helplessly at the “invisible book” Ji Qingyue had plucked from thin air and placed in her hands with such gravity.

Then, Ji Qingyue looked at her expectantly. “Flip through it. If there’s anything you don’t understand, feel free to ask.”

Bo Shuhan was silent for a moment before testing the waters: “I have a math problem I don’t know how to solve. Do you want to try?”

In response, she got a completely stunned version of Ji Qingyue.

“Are you a devil?!”

“No,” Bo Shuhan shrugged. “I’m just thinking that when you wake up tomorrow, your ‘social death’ (embarrassment) will be quite a sight to behold.”

Ji Qingyue didn’t understand, but the cat was speechless. What kind of person is this? Is she really this vengeful?

“Alright, the secret manual has been passed on. Isn’t it time to go to sleep?” Bo Shuhan struck while the iron was hot, trying to lead her to the bedroom, but Ji Qingyue flatly refused.

“No. I don’t sleep with strangers.”

Bo Shuhan raised an eyebrow. The next second, Ji Qingyue stood up unsteadily. Bo Shuhan went to steady her, and then…Mwah!

In the ensuing silence, Ji Qingyue said proudly, “There. Now we are lovers. We can go sleep now.”

Bo Shuhan massaged her forehead. “I hope you’re still this happy when you wake up tomorrow.”

If “social death” had levels, Bo Shuhan’s previous embarrassment was a Level 2. Ji Qingyue’s current performance was at least a Level 4.

So, balancing the scales, Ji Qingyue was the one suffering more.

Bo Shuhan felt better. She happily shared this thought with the cat, who stared at her in disbelief and remarked: 【No wonder you’re still single.】

Bo Shuhan didn’t care. “Perfect people are too fake. Sometimes, being stubborn about small things makes life more interesting.”

With that, Bo Shuhan carried Ji Qingyue to the bedroom. Perhaps because that kiss had “confirmed” Bo Shuhan’s identity, Ji Qingyue didn’t struggle and let herself be held.

The room was filled with warm yellow light. The woman sat on the edge of the bed, her head lowered shyly, resembling a delicate lotus flower unable to withstand the cool breeze.

Bo Shuhan suddenly felt she was indeed quite a gentleman. At the very least, with such beauty before her, she remained quite stoic.

“Alright, hurry up and take your clothes off to sleep.” Having settled everything, Bo Shuhan prepared to leave.

Ji Qingyue grabbed her, looking confused. “Aren’t we sleeping together?”

“No.”

“Why!” Ji Qingyue grew anxious.

Why wouldn’t her girlfriend sleep with her!

Bo Shuhan didn’t want to argue with a drunkard. She was about to make an excuse, but in the next second, she was grabbed by the waist and hauled onto the bed.

She was surprisingly strong.

Looking at Ji Qingyue curled up in her arms, Bo Shuhan felt like giving up, but also felt like laughing.

This level of “social death,” she’d give it a 7.

She had made a small profit before; now she was hitting the jackpot. No matter what, she would never lose out.

The cat had followed them in at some point. Seeing Ji Qingyue held in Bo Shuhan’s arms, it raised an eyebrow, then decisively turned off the light and went to sleep right between them.

Outside the window, the dawn was rising. Inside, two people and one cat slept peacefully.