After Turning Into a Kitten, I Was Adopted by My Father-Figure Childhood Friend - Chapter 19

The little calico was determined to give Lu Jingchuan a hard time. However, Lu Jingchuan simply draped a towel over him, trapping the kitten beneath the fabric. It took a long while before a grumpy cat face poked out, its oppressed pointed ears popping up with a “biu” sound and swaying stubbornly from side to side.

Song Xingyu lowered his head, huffing until he puffed up like a little cat rice ball, deliberately turning his round bottom toward the man. He waited for Lu Xiaochuan to coax him, wagging his tail performatively for quite some time before turning his head in confusion.

To his surprise, the living room was empty. The big jerk who had offended the Cat Hero had taken a cup of coffee and walked into the study, leaving only a narrow crack in the door as he closed it.

“Damn you, Lu Xiaochuan!” Song Xingyu grumbled.

He gave chase in a few quick bounds, his feline body feeling lighter and more agile than ever before. He poked his head through the small crack in the door and nimbly jumped from a low cabinet onto the bookshelf, step by step. He walked with a graceful cat gait, his pupils narrowing as he looked down at the human with disdain.

The human, unaware of the impending retaliation, opened his laptop to browse files and casually added the weekend dinner party to his schedule. He was completely defenseless!

The wicked kitten narrowed its eyes. Its tail flickered thoughtfully in the air for an instant, tensing along with his pupils, which had shrunk into thin vertical lines. In that very second, the Cat Hero descended from the heavens.

“Taik! The Cat Hero has arrived!”

The kitten leaped down, using the man’s neatly styled hair as a springboard to flip in the air. He landed a precise roll across the laptop keyboard. As he landed four paws up, the phone charging cable he had snatched in his teeth snapped into two pieces with a “da-ba” sound.

A few minutes later, Lu Jingchuan walked out of the study, expressionlessly carrying the kitten by the scruff of its neck. He held a half-empty coffee cup in his other hand. Coffee dripped from the kitten’s four white paws, leaving a trail on the floor and several wet paw prints on the man’s clothes.

Song Xingyu had successfully taught Lu Jingchuan the consequences of failing to coax the Cat Hero. Completely ignoring his pathetic, dangling position, he licked his paws with an air of triumph.

“Pei, pei, pei! What on earth is this?”

Stunned by the bitterness of the coffee, Song the Cat’s face paled. He stuck out his pink tongue and stared at his paws in disbelief. Had Lu Xiaochuan left his sense of taste behind when he was abroad?

While Song Xingyu was questioning his life choices, he was suddenly plunged into water. He meowed loudly, shaking his head instinctively and flailing his limbs to escape. A great force dragged the escaping kitten back from the door and tossed him into the bathtub again. The man blocked the way, cutting off the light.

Lu Jingchuan gripped the back of his own collar with one hand and pulled slightly. His undershirt tightened across his back, revealing firm back muscles and a deep waist. The man’s back was beautiful; the subtle signs of exercise made the rugged muscle lines appear cold and profound, creating a sharp contrast with his usually reserved and quiet demeanor.

A subtle sense of dominance and strangeness crowded the shadows. Strands of hair fell over the man’s eyes, which remained calm and dark as they stared at the kitten.

Song Xingyu suddenly realized that Lu Jingchuan had changed without him noticing. He had become strange, powerful, and deep—no longer the guy he could bully whenever he wanted. The habitually lawless Song Xingyu belatedly lowered his ears. His stubborn expression crumbled, replaced by a complicated feeling in his heart. Amid the man’s silence, he grew aggrieved, timidly hugging his tail and putting on a cute, innocent cat face.

“Youyou,” Lu Jingchuan said.

Song Xingyu pleasingly hugged the hand the man reached out, treading his small paws against the palm. He watched the man stealthily, his gaze a mix of guilt and wariness. His amber-gold cat eyes looked like brilliant gems soaked in water, glowing with a sweet, moist light as if they could speak.

“I was wrong, meow!”

Lu Jingchuan scratched the kitten’s pointed ears. The rich, warm aroma of coffee seemed to permeate the enclosed space.

“You are not allowed in the study next time,” Lu Jingchuan said gently, merely flicking the kitten’s ear.

The man’s intimidating aura seemed to soften with that gesture. The familiar indulgence and helplessness reappeared, dispelling the trace of strangeness. Song the Cat’s eyes lit up. The storm had passed; he immediately flipped over and began meowing loudly again.

Warm water sprayed over him. Lu Jingchuan’s large hands were warm and steady, shielding the kitten from the direct pressure of the showerhead so that a gentle stream flowed over him. The kitten lay dazed against the man’s chest. Just moments ago, he had been meowing in protest and cursing with his long tail, but once wet, he seemed to shrink in size. He lay piteously on the man, trembling and sticking out his tongue to lap up water.

His wet, red tongue brushed across the man’s chest. The tiny barbs on his tongue caused a slight itching sensation and faint marks on the skin below the collarbone. Lu Jingchuan merely glanced down and calmly applied cat shampoo.

Covered in bubbles, Song Xingyu sneezed. He lowered his head, burying his cat face into the man’s heaving chest. The thin muscle smacked against his face.

“Pervert!” Song the Cat thought.

He bit resentfully at the “bad chest” that had attacked him, only to feel his back legs being spread apart. He immediately pricked up his ears in alert and spun his head around to look. The man had rubbed a handful of bubbles onto the kitten’s bottom and casually touched his “little bells.”

His little bells… his bells… the bells…

Song the Cat’s pupils went dull. “Ahhh!”

Without hesitation, he gave Lu Jingchuan a slap, leaving three distinct scratch marks on the handsome man’s face. One look told him this “dirty human” had gone too far.

Lu Jingchuan remained silent.

Once cleaned, the grumpy Song the Cat sulked inside the pet dryer. The gentle warm air blew over him, making him feel lightheaded and blurry-eyed. Dazed, he honestly pushed his cat bed to the window and flopped onto it. His soft fur trembled with every breath, and even the sweet strawberry scent on him felt warm from the sun.

Basking in the sunlight, Song the Cat dreamed of going to the Lu family home with Lu Jingchuan. Uncle Lu and Auntie Qi were sitting on the sofa chatting. Seeing him arrive, the auntie brought out a soufflé with a giant strawberry on top, so heavy it made the dessert collapse. His eyes lit up, and he rushed forward to take two big bites.

“Wait, why can I not bite through the strawberry?”

Song Xingyu chewed in confusion. Through his daze, he heard a nightmarish voice, “Youyou, it is time to go out and exercise.”

“What! I am not going, you damn self-disciplined freak!”

“If you do not go out to exercise, you will just cause trouble at home.”

“How dare you! You dare to slander me? The Cat Hero only punishes evil and promotes good; I never do anything bad!”

“Youyou.”

Song Xingyu opened his eyes in a rage, intending to complain to Uncle Lu about Lu Xiaochuan bullying him again. Instead, he spat a finger out of his mouth.

Oh. In his dream, he had mistaken Lu Xiaochuan’s finger for the strawberry. No wonder he could not chew it… wait!

Song Xingyu watched in horror as that jerk Lu Jingchuan tapped his sports watch and showed him the time. The electronic screen clearly displayed 4:30 PM. A one-hour hike, half an hour to cook upon return, and dinner would be ready at 6:00 PM sharp.

Damn his self-discipline.

Lu Jingchuan scooped up the sleepy kitten. “Do not be lazy, Youyou.”

“Meow meow meow!” Song the Cat argued back, faking a yawn and deliberately keeping his eyes shut.

As the saying goes, “where there is a move from above, there is a counter-move from below.” However, Lu Jingchuan ruthlessly shook the kitten awake, pushing the over-energetic cat to exercise.

A walk at 6:00 AM and another at 4:30 PM. After two such sessions, Song Xingyu—who had been a frail university student for four years—could only flop onto his pillow and sleep. He transformed from a wicked calico ball into a perfect cat who was ready for cuddles and did not wreck the house.

The School of Feline Virtue needs you.

Song Xingyu was furious. He transformed into a roaring tiger and devoured his cat food. During the process of inhaling his meal, he resentfully pointed his bottom at the man.

Lu Jingchuan held his phone, frowning at the screen with a dark expression, scrolling through something unknown.

“It must be that ‘little ancestor’ again. Hmph, Lu the Simp!”

“Keep sending messages! See if they even reply! You could have sent them to me! If you sent them to me, I could have sent you a few emojis back!”

“Damn you, Lu Xiaochuan! You were never this good to me before, and now you are so mean!”

Song Xingyu grew even angrier. Feeling indignant, he ran over and kicked the man’s hand before quickly jumping off the table and running to the backyard to sulk in the bushes.

After several days of battling wits, Song Xingyu’s speed had reached a new level. He ran incredibly fast. By the time Lu Jingchuan reacted, the kitten had vanished.

“Youyou,” Lu Jingchuan called. He brought the unfinished cat food to the backyard. After scanning the surveillance footage, he placed the bowl in front of the bushes. The man’s shadow lingered for a moment before he quickly walked away.

Song Xingyu narrowed his eyes and flicked his tail unhappily. He thought spitefully, “You jerk, you will never catch a wife in your whole life!”

“That is right, meow!”

The sudden voice startled Song Xingyu. He jumped up, hit the bushes above him, and tumbled back down in a flurry of fur.

“Xiao Bai?”

“Meow!” The black cat, Xiao Bai, licked its paws with a grin. It circled Song the Cat affectionately and rubbed its fluffy cheeks against him. “Xiao Mi, I came to play with you, meow!”

“I do not know what is wrong with the poop-scoopers lately, meow. They have stopped letting the cats out. It is not just me; it seems to be the Boss and the others too. Luckily, I am smart and snuck out, meow!”

Xiao Bai explained why he had been absent while lapping up the cat food.

“They are not letting you out?” Song the Cat flicked his tail and pushed the bowl toward Xiao Bai. His sensitive ears twitched. “Why?”

Xiao Bai meowed through bites of food, “Well… Nuomi said that the poop-scoopers found out through that little glowing box that we were sneaking out at night. They are not letting the cats go out anymore. But cats will always run outside, meow!”

“The little glowing box? A phone?”

“Could it be that the owners are communicating in a group?”

Song Xingyu rubbed his chin with a paw, feeling like he had figured something out. He narrowed his eyes shrewdly. Come to think of it, he did seem to recall seeing some kind of cat-owner exchange group on Lu Xiaochuan’s phone.

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