After Turning Into a Kitten, I Was Adopted by My Father-Figure Childhood Friend - Chapter 10

Meow Meow Meow Meow. Meow?

“Meow?”

The moment the call was picked up, Song Xingyou pulled down the towel. His eyes darted around for a second before he leaped nimbly onto the man’s shoulder.

He stood on his tiptoes, his paws padding across the broad shoulders that were wide enough to race horses on. After finding an awkward yet comfortable spot, he flopped down and stretched his arms out contentedly. “Meow-uuu!”

His twitching pointed ears pressed against the back of the man’s hand, brushing past like a wisp of light cloud and leaving behind a trace of damp stickiness. He perked up his ears, huddling close to Lu Jingchuan to start eavesdropping on the call.

The kitten’s expression was serious, one paw covering his mouth as if he were strictly observing a vow of silence, yet his ear tips were held high and pressed firmly against the back of the phone.

“…Have you coaxed your princess back yet?”

Princess? Again with the princess!

Are you studying abroad or falling in love, you bastard! Liar!

The static blurred the voice on the line, but it exploded in Song Xingyou’s ear like a clap of thunder.

Song Xingyou flew into a rage. The cat tail that had been stickily curling into the man’s palm instantly stiffened into a cat-club. Abandoning his soft demeanor, he lashed the man’s palm hard.

Baring his teeth and hissing, he meowed in fury. From his position half-curled around the man’s neck, he scrambled up and began flailing about, determined to give Lu Jingchuan a piece of his mind.

“Meow meow meow!”

Prepare to die, Dog Lu!

Song Xingyou raised his paws high and delivered two heavy thumps directly to Lu Jingchuan’s head.

Lu Jingchuan moved with lightning speed, tossing the fuming kitten onto the sofa. The kitten spun and leaped from the cushions, lunging toward the man’s face in a fierce, rapid strike.

“What the hell is that noise on your end?” a shocked voice questioned from the phone.

Lu Jingchuan and You-you were in the middle of a decisive battle at the summit of the sofa. With rapid hand movements, he dodged the strikes while using one hand to cup the kitten’s head and push it away. In the midst of the chaos, he answered, “It’s a little cat that loves listening to phone calls.”

The friend asked, “Haven’t you returned to the country? Why are you still getting attacked by animals?”

“Meow-uuu-meow!” Animals won’t attack him, but I will! I’ll beat him to death!

Song the Cat shouted his answer.

Lu Jingchuan suppressed the suddenly fuming calico with one hand. His large palm pressed against the cat’s back like the Five Elements Mountain. The kitten, less than half an arm’s length long, was so thin and small that Lu Jingchuan didn’t even dare to use real force.

Under this suppression, he felt as if he were holding down a soft cloud. As the light fur brushed against his palm, his breath caught. It took a long moment before he replied, “It’s a kitten I adopted.”

“Also, don’t call him a princess.” Lu Jingchuan disliked the term. Given the context, the other person was suggesting that Song Xingyou was ill-tempered and difficult to deal with, but he didn’t find Xing-xing hard to get along with at all.

Xing-xing was just better at expressing himself.

“You can’t even say one word about it.” Lu Jingchuan’s words left the other side speechless for a long time. “You really are willing to spend. A Stradivari cello, one of only seventy in existence. Twenty million dollars. When are you sending me the money?”

“Xing-xing didn’t like the birthday gifts from the last few years.” The man lowered his head. A few stray hairs fell over his smooth forehead, breaking his cold aura while making him appear even more brooding and deep in the night.

He whispered, “He will definitely like this one.”

Meow?

Song Xingyou, who had been struggling with all his might, perked up his ears and scratched his ear tip in confusion.

Like… like what? What will I definitely like?

Do you even know me? You say I’ll definitely like it?

I’ll definitely NOT like it!

Song Xingyou let out a disdainful snort and cocked his tail high. He wiggled his round butt to express his contempt. Ashamed of his submissive position, he tried to prop up his cat paws to pull his head out from under the man’s restraint.

With both paws hugging the back of the man’s hand, he shook his head frantically. Lu Jingchuan loosened his grip and, with a flicker in his eyes, stroked the kitten’s head fur.

“Yes, I know. It was my fault for missing his eighteenth birthday.”

“Meow-uuu!” Song Xingyou lifted his head.

It was totally your fault!

Lu Jingchuan checked the time. “Based on bank speeds, it should be in two hours. Please don’t ship it back via regular freight.”

The friend agreed readily. “Don’t worry, I’d lose myself before I lost that cello. I really envy you. Your mentor actually agreed to let you return early and even allowed you to do your defense online. You must be living the high life back home now. Who said studying abroad was great? It’s not great at all!”

As the friend rambled on, Lu Jingchuan listened quietly while continuing to dry the kitten.

He was shirtless under the lights, his solid and beautiful muscle lines clearly visible. As he turned, his deep back dimples flickered in and out of sight. Two V-lines extended downward into his bath towel; there wasn’t a speck of fat on his body.

Even by Song Xingyou’s strict standards—honed by browsing muscular hunks to motivate himself to exercise—this was an exceptionally superior and beautiful physique.

However, Song Xingyou was being “rua’d” through the towel by the man. He was rubbed into such a daze that he nearly collapsed with pleasure. Only his two pointed ears remained stubbornly upright, letting out a “meow-meow” of mockery whenever the man spoke.

He would NOT lust after his rival’s muscles!

The little calico’s gaze at this moment showed a resolve and depth that would not be blurred by beauty.

Facing his friend’s rambling, Lu Jingchuan said, “You can also apply to your mentor.”

The friend replied, “Do you think everyone is like you? A ‘grind of grinds’ who finished a combined bachelor’s and master’s in four years, started a company, and still had time to publish in top journals? I really want to tell my mentor that Chinese people being naturally gifted in science is just a stereotype. I’m just a little newbie, please let me go—”

“Meow meow!” If you’re a newbie, practice more!

Friend: “Lu Xiao Chuan, your cat seems like a real chatterbox. It’s been meowing at you this whole time.”

Lu Jingchuan looked down. The little calico, half-wrapped in the towel with fur half-dry, had regained its peerless beauty. Its snow-like fur was spread sweetly across its body, with sunset-orange flushes drifting across the white surface like blush. The kitten lifted its head, its tail tip poking out from a gap and swaying slowly in a pleasing manner.

Truly cute.

Lu Jingchuan, who usually didn’t like small animals, stared at the fluffy tail tip for two seconds and said softly, “It’s just reacting to the sound. All animals have that kind of reflex.”

“What an unromantic answer,” the friend complained. “I feel like even if the most beautiful person stood in front of you, you’d only unromantically judge that they are a human being.”

“Meow-uuu!” Agreed.

Song the Cat didn’t miss any opportunity to mock Dog Lu. He drew out his voice and couldn’t help but cover his mouth to let out a secretive “meow-meow,” swaying his tail in high spirits.

The fluffy tail brushed against Lu Jingchuan’s hand. Lu Jingchuan stroked it twice with his palm, falling silent for a moment.

Lu Jingchuan: .

He wasn’t a machine.

And he didn’t think that if Xing-xing stood before him, he would only distantly judge that Xing-xing was a human.

Xing-xing was so beautiful. His soft, beautiful black hair, his clean and delicate skin. Xing-xing himself didn’t even realize how sexy the small mole on his eyelid was when he closed his eyes.

He was beautiful when playing the cello, too. Xing-xing would sit there like a white crane pausing for a brief rest. The way his arms moved was so elegant and lovely, and the music he played was more moving than any musician in the world.

No, he was more than just beautiful.

Clearly, his personality was also good. He was always lively, sometimes like a bad-tempered kitten. One had to patiently coax him before he would graciously extend a hand and allow intimacy. At those times, Lu Jingchuan had to restrain himself from pulling Xing-xing into his arms and breathing him in deeply.

They clearly used the same body wash and shampoo, so why was Xing-xing always so fragrant? Like a soft, glutinous Snow Meiniang cake, carrying a sweet milky scent that made one want to hold him in the mouth, to linger and grind between the lips and teeth, yet too precious to swallow.

Xing-xing, Xing-xing, his Xing-xing…

Lu Jingchuan silently repeated the name. His fingers couldn’t help but drift to the chat app. Suddenly, his gaze darkened as he stared at the unresponding chat box for a long time.

His face was buried between light and shadow. As he lowered his head, it was half-hidden in the gloom, outlining an indescribable sentiment.

“Has Xing-xing spoken to you lately?” Lu Jingchuan’s voice sounded strange, carrying a hint of gloom.

Friend: “Huh? Why would he look for me? Isn’t he traveling? He never replies to messages then.”

Xing-xing indeed didn’t like replying to messages while traveling. In his own words, it was to “preserve the mood and maintain inspiration.”

Lu Jingchuan’s tightened hand loosened. He gave a low response and, after hanging up, sat alone at the table with a thoughtful expression.

“You-you.” The man turned his gaze, abruptly placing a shard of hope on the kitten. He murmured to himself, “Will he like a Stradivari that was lost during the October Revolution?”

“Will he stop being angry? Will he finally reply after three days and thirteen hours?”

“Wu…” The kitten scratched its ear, looking innocent and cute.

Lu Jingchuan rubbed its little head and stood up to change clothes.

The fabric was pulled down from his beautiful back, gradually covering his entire spine. Song Xingyou, taking advantage of his cat status, watched openly and shamelessly.

He scratched his whiskers, his cat pupils narrowing.

A Stradivari lost during the October Revolution? The cello of my dreams?

Stradivari cellos, due to their unique craftsmanship, had incredibly beautiful varnish colors ranging from orange-red to deep red. The formula for the varnish remains a mystery to this day. The sound possesses an irreplaceable “penetration” and richness—a pinnacle work of the Renaissance that remains impossible to replicate. ①

This is bad. I really DO like this.

Song Xingyou instantly couldn’t stay on the sofa anymore. He stood on his tiptoes and walked around excitedly, his pointed ears shaking nimbly. He couldn’t help but rub his chin.

If Lu Xiao Chuan gives him this, he swears he won’t call him Dog Lu anymore!

…It wouldn’t be impossible to forgive him just a tiny, tiny bit.

Song the Cat remained calm on the surface, but his tail was already cocked high enough to touch the ceiling. He couldn’t help but jump around, his head bumping into Lu Xiao Chuan’s lower back, excitedly “high-fiving” the man’s butt with his head.

“Meow meow meow!”

Song Xingyou lifted his head in excitement and jumped onto a cabinet level with Lu Jingchuan’s line of sight. Just as he was about to graciously tell Lu Jingchuan his decision, his tail couldn’t help but swish back and forth.

The items on the cabinet were swept to the floor by his tail. He didn’t even look at them, padding on his tiptoes and chasing Lu Jingchuan with “meow-meow” talk, noble and cold as he extended a paw to allow the man to kiss it.

“Meow-uuu-wu!” Lu Xiao Chuan, I forgive you for not notifying me first when you returned to the country!

The kitten raised its chin high with a smug expression. His throat emitted an increasingly soft and flirtatious “meow-meow” sound, the tip of his tail curling happily.

In the next second, Lu Jingchuan finally reached his limit. While picking up the fallen box, his right hand came down and delivered a firm but not heavy swat to the kitten’s fluffy butt.

Slap.

The light sound was exceptionally clear in the quiet room.

“Bad cat.”

Support After Turning Into a Kitten, I Was Adopted by My Father-Figure Childhood Friend