After Transmigrating As The Female Lead Of A Cruel Novel, I Raised a Big Shot Cat - Chapter 19

The pounding on the door was deafening, but after calling the police, Ji Qingyue had grown strangely calm.

She yawned listlessly. Her black sweater dress traced her slender waist. Realizing the woman outside wasn’t going to stop anytime soon, Ji Qingyue wrapped herself in a white blanket, pulled up a chair, and sat by the entryway. Watching the woman’s hysterical cursing through the monitor felt like watching a front-row comedy.

Beside her, Bo Shuhan hopped into her lap. One woman resting her chin on her hand, one cat yawning with boredom, under the dim yellow light, they looked so perfectly matched that anyone seeing them would say: like “wicked” owner, like “wicked” cat.

However, Bo Shuhan wasn’t as relaxed as she seemed. Her ears were pricked, tracking every rustle in the air. She sensed the two men outside had darker intentions. The security in this neighborhood was decent, but the villa walls weren’t particularly high. If those men truly meant harm, the walls wouldn’t stop them.

The landlord had clearly thought of this, though, while the living room connected the front and back gardens, it featured reinforced, motorized glass doors that could be locked tight. Bo Shuhan wasn’t worried about safety so much as she was worried about Ji Qingyue getting a fright.

Then, a draft of wind brushed past their faces.

Bo Shuhan: ???

She widened her feline eyes at the leisurely Ji Qingyue. You didn’t close the glass doors!

Just as the thought occurred, both Ji Qingyue and Bo Shuhan heard the heavy thud of someone landing in the garden. In an instant, goosebumps erupted across Ji Qingyue’s arms, and Bo Shuhan’s fur stood on end.

!

Since she had just finished working, only a small lamp was lit. The two burly men, having dropped into the front and back gardens respectively, immediately locked eyes with the woman wrapped in a blanket holding a cat through the transparent living room.

Bo Shuhan let out a sharp hiss. Without hesitation, Ji Qingyue threw off her blanket, kicked off her slippers, scooped up the cat, and bolted for the stairs.

The men roared and charged.

Ji Qingyue managed to reach her bedroom first, slamming the wooden door and locking it. Bo Shuhan was frantic, running to the second floor felt like becoming a “turtle in a jar,” trapped. But Ji Qingyue didn’t stop, she opened another small door in the bedroom that led to a large balcony.

This balcony held a small elevator that went down to the two story basement garage. This was her plan all along: to escape through the garage.

As the elevator doors began to slide shut, a loud bang echoed from the bedroom door. The wooden door was likely gone. Through the glass walls of the elevator, Ji Qingyue saw the two men standing there, pounding on the glass in a rage, unable to stop the descent.

As the elevator dropped, she heard a muffled, accented curse from above.

There was no time to think. She set the cat down and whispered urgently, “Big Boss, sit here by the door. Do NOT let this elevator close and go back up.”

Bo Shuhan nodded. Ji Qingyue scanned the garage frantically. Unfortunately, it was too clean, no bricks, no sticks, nothing to jam the door.

Bo Shuhan wanted to urge Ji Qingyue to run alone, she was just a cat, they couldn’t catch her. But Ji Qingyue never even considered leaving her behind. Even if she had to hide the cat, it would be after they got out of the house.

After three seconds of finding nothing, Ji Qingyue gritted her teeth and pulled off her long sweater dress. She quickly tied it into a thick knot. It was a “hail Mary” move, but she was wearing a tank top and leggings underneath, so she wasn’t exposed.

She jammed the bundled dress into the elevator tracks to keep the doors from fully closing and resetting, then scooped up Big Boss and sprinted for the exit.

The garage floor was clean but not perfect; small, sharp pebbles remained. Ji Qingyue didn’t have time to look. After five or six steps, a piercing pain shot from the soles of her feet to her brain.

Her body instinctively slowed, but stopping meant death. She didn’t hesitate for a second, forcing herself into a full sprint. The pain became a dull roar, and the freezing wind bit at her skin. Tucked against her chest, Bo Shuhan could hear the woman’s heart hammering like a frantic drum.

It would take a car one second to exit the garage, it took Ji Qingyue fifteen.

Finally, they hit the outside air. The wind was colder, but they were out. Ji Qingyue gasped for air, her dark eyes scanning the area. Every surrounding villa was dark. She was new here and only knew her neighbor Qiao Hua’en, she had no idea which other houses were occupied.

Abandoning any hope of help from neighbors, she sprinted down the main road toward the security gate.

The “trap” in the elevator hadn’t stopped the men for long, but it had bought her thirty precious seconds. Hearing the footsteps behind her, Ji Qingyue took a deep breath, her eyes turning sharp and cold.

She lifted the cat in front of her face and managed a small, trembling smile. Her voice was tender. “Big Boss, let’s play hide and seek. Don’t let me find you, okay?”

Bo Shuhan couldn’t understand why Ji Qingyue was wasting time comforting a cat at a moment like this, just as she couldn’t understand why the woman hadn’t dropped her earlier to run faster.

Before Bo Shuhan could react, Ji Qingyue tossed her gently but firmly into a thicket of bushes.

The footsteps were closing in. Ji Qingyue began to run with everything she had left. Her arms swung until they felt numb, her feet left a trail of blood, and her lungs burned like a broken bellows, but her vision was starting to go black.

Suddenly, a blinding light hit her. Her consciousness began to slip, a high-pitched ringing in her ears. Just as she was about to collapse into the darkness…

“Hands behind your head! Police!”

The tension in Ji Qingyue’s nerves snapped. She pitched forward, but instead of hitting the pavement, she was caught in a pair of strong arms. She was completely spent, sagging like a ragdoll against the other person.

Bo Shuhan, who had followed from the shadows, let out a soft meow. Ji Qingyue moved her eyes, looking at the cat with that same lingering tenderness.

Qiao Hua’en noticed Ji Qingyue’s condition, her lips pressed into a thin line.

“Xiao Chen, arrest them and take them to the station. And the woman outside the door too, bring her in.”

“Yes, Captain Qiao!”

After giving the orders, Qiao Hua’en lifted Ji Qingyue in a bridal carry. The woman was tall but felt weightless. As she was carried, the exhausted woman could do nothing but offer a faint, grateful smile.

Qiao Hua’en placed her carefully in the passenger seat of the police car. Just as they were about to leave for the hospital, a black cat leaped onto the windshield.

Bo Shuhan refused to let Ji Qingyue out of her sight. She meowed insistently. Qiao Hua’en looked at the cat, feeling helpless.

“You want to come too?”

“Meow.”

“But the hospital doesn’t allow pets.”

“Meow meow meow!”

After a moment, Ji Qingyue regained enough clarity to speak, her voice raspy. “I’m okay, no need for the hospital. I just haven’t eaten today… low blood sugar, just exhaustion.”

“And your feet? Do you not want them anymore? Those injuries are serious.”

When Ji Qingyue had collapsed into her arms, Qiao Hua’en had seen the blood. Ji Qingyue’s feet were small and pale, with healthy pink toes like a masterpiece. Now they were shredded, leaving a bloody footprint with every step. Yet Ji Qingyue acted like it was nothing.

Glancing at the cat on the windshield, Qiao Hua’en compromised. “If you’re worried about the cat, I’ll bring it. But it can’t go inside; it has to stay in the car.”

Bo Shuhan didn’t argue and let out a soft meow. Ji Qingyue accepted this. Though Big Boss was brave and unusually smart, the night’s events were traumatizing. Cats can suffer severe stress reactions, and Ji Qingyue couldn’t bear to leave her alone.

Qiao Hua’en reached out to grab the cat, but Bo Shuhan dodged her hand with a nimble leap and hopped into the car herself.

Normally, Bo Shuhan might have curled up in her lap, but today she kept glancing at the empty space in the passenger footwell. Before she could settle there, Ji Qingyue pulled her onto her lap, stroking her fur and checking her heartbeat.

Finding the cat’s heart rate steady, Ji Qingyue sighed in relief.

“You really love your cat,” Qiao Hua’en remarked as she drove.

Ji Qingyue stroked the cat’s head. “I have to. When I brought her home, I promised to be good to her for the rest of her life.” Her voice was filled with a depth of love that made Qiao Hua’en feel a pang of jealousy.

Bo Shuhan looked up at Ji Qingyue. Suddenly, she began to understand why her future self, two years from now, would fall in love with this woman.

Who wouldn’t want a lover who was so tender, yet so resilient and sincere?

The night was silent, with only a few cars on the road. The dim streetlights flickered across the cat. The black cat had fully recovered from her former bedraggled state, her fur was glossy and smooth, like soft silk. Though still small, she looked majestic. She had been raised very well.

At a red light, Qiao Hua’en looked at Ji Qingyue, her heart racing.

“Miss Ji, living alone is dangerous. Have you considered getting a dog? I have a friend who is looking for homes for retired police dogs.”

Ji Qingyue paused, then shook her head.

“When I coaxed her into coming home with me, I promised my little cat that it would be ‘one life, one cat.’ I can’t be unfaithful and get another pet, can I, Big Boss?” She rubbed the cat’s head, her eyes showing a hint of apology.

That apology was not just for the policewoman she had rejected, but for the cat who had been put through such a terrifying night.

Qiao Hua’en didn’t push further. They arrived at the hospital. Ji Qingyue repeatedly told the cat not to be scared and promised to be right back before Qiao Hua’en carried her inside.

The hospital lights were white, the policewoman’s uniform was blue, and the woman in her arms was in pale pink. Three bright colors, bathed in light, belonging to the world above.

For some reason, Bo Shuhan thought back to when Ji Qingyue had lamented not getting the policewoman’s WeChat. Even though Ji Qingyue laughed it off later, the way she treated a promise to a cat was the same as a promise to a person.

Watching their retreating backs, Bo Shuhan curled up under the windshield. She was black, and she liked the dark.

So…

Suddenly, a knock sounded on the window.

“Big Boss” (the human version) stood outside the car, looking grim. “Where’s Qingyue?”

[They carried her into the hospital. By the way, she seems to really like that policewoman.]

The “Big Boss” was stunned. “Dammit! Someone’s trying to steal your girl and you’re just sitting there?!”

Before Bo Shuhan could retort, the world spun. Her vision shifted, and she was back in her human body.

The cat (now occupied by the “other” soul) lay lazily in the car. [Don’t look at me. At worst, we can both be single for the rest of our lives.]

Bo Shuhan: …