After Turning Into a Kitten, I Was Adopted by My Father-Figure Childhood Friend - Chapter 29

The electronic screen lit up, but a kitten immediately flew into action. With a sharp clatter, the thin electronic device was kicked away. It slammed firmly onto the floor, the screen flickering twice before finally displaying the exhausted battery icon and shutting down on the spot.

Song the cat, having averted a crisis, narrowed his eyes. His beautiful features were pulled into a fierce, aggressive expression, making him look like a wicked rice ball. He let out a series of triumphant “woo-woo” grunts.

“Meow meow!” Yeah!

You bastard, no unmasking allowed.

Lu Jingchuan tried pressing the buttons several times, but he could not revive the tablet. He gave the exterior a quick glance. The electronic device that had served him for four years was still holding up well; it only had a tiny chip in the paint. It seemed it was truly out of power.

“You do not want to watch Tom and Jerry?”

He murmured in confusion, then obediently put the tablet on to charge.

As he bent down, a “cat bomb” launched itself onto his back. The kitten was agile, climbing up his shoulder in a few swift movements and wrapping its furry tail around his neck. This was a dangerous move. While the chance of being strangled by a kitten’s tail was small, it was not zero.

Song the cat shook his ears proudly. His two pointed ears swayed back and forth, the thin ear leather showing a hazy pink like sunset clouds, bouncing like two feline radar dishes.

Lu Jingchuan reached out to pet him, but the kitten immediately swatted his hand away with a thwack of his tail.

“Meow-woo!”

The kitten drawled out a long cry with his chin slightly raised and whiskers proudly curled, meowing out some wicked insults.

Unexpectedly, the man pulled open his collar, revealing a narrow, dark, and warm embrace hidden by his clothes. The wicked kitten’s eyes instantly widened, his pupils dilating rapidly. Unable to resist the temptation, he poked his head inside.

The man’s body heat warmed the fabric and seemed to melt the kitten’s bones as he peered in. He practically fell in headfirst, curling his tail and nesting against the man’s chest. He was a tiny bundle, with only his tail left outside, wagging happily.

The warm, narrow space provided an immense sense of security. Song the cat’s paws “bloomed” with comfort. He rolled over lazily, folding his pointed ears down as if the world were too noisy. He opened his mouth wide, transforming into a fierce tricolor python, and let out a massive yawn before taking a firm bite of the man’s reaching finger.

The kitten’s yawning expression was far too cute. Lu Jingchuan could not resist rubbing the kitten’s puffed-up cheek. Even after being bitten, his expression remained calm and unrepentant. Instead, he scratched the kitten’s “plum blossom” paw pads.

The soft-looking paws delivered two quick slaps. The kitten unceremoniously grabbed his hand and took two more hard bites. The consequence of teasing the kitten was that Lu Jingchuan was left with not only a bite mark but also two red scratches on the back of his hand. He stared at the back of his hand, pressing down on the red marks, rationally judging whether he should apply some safflower oil.

“Lu Jingchuan, Lu Jingchuan!” Someone was leaning over the courtyard gate of the small villa, drawling out his name as if calling for a ghost.

The man went out to see what the commotion was about, still holding the bottle of safflower oil. When he saw a young man dressed casually, with a suit jacket draped over his shoulders, leaning over the low courtyard gate without any regard for his image, his brow twitched.

“Gu Yingming.”

The outfit was truly inappropriate. After all, no one wears a suit jacket over a tracksuit. Gu Yingming looked as if he had been dragged into a corporate meeting while out for a stroll. And wasn’t it exactly a corporate meeting?

Gu Yingming spoke in a ghostly tone, “Do you even remember what you are supposed to be doing today?”

“The negotiation between our two companies at 2:30 PM has been pushed to tomorrow morning,” Lu Jingchuan reminded him.

The young man unceremoniously rolled his eyes at him. “I know that, of course. But you are pushing meetings and asking me to check surveillance. I am worried about you, brother.”

“You have been back in the country for two days and you are already being given the cold shoulder by the ‘Princess’ to the point of planning a crime? You aren’t thinking of forced love, are you? I have to save you from yourself, man.”

As Gu Yingming spoke, he climbed over the fence, preparing to barge into the house. Just then, there was a movement at Lu Jingchuan’s bulging chest, and a beautiful tricolored kitten poked its head out. The kitten only showed its eyes. Its amber-gold gaze was profound, and its pointed ears were stood high, twitching this way and that as if to say:

Talk! Keep talking! Quickly confess what ‘hidden beauty’ you are talking about!

Gu Yingming raised an eyebrow. The handsome and elegant young man gave Lu Jingchuan a lewd, meaningful look. “Oh, playing to his tastes? You have even started raising a cat. Impressive, brother.”

“What is this cat called? Xixi? Huanhuan? Aiai?”

Lu Jingchuan’s head throbbed from his friend’s noise. His brow jumped as he raised a hand to cover the curious kitten, shielding it from the “bad uncle.”

“Youyou.”

“What?” Gu Yingming was stunned.

He repeated, “Youyou. Its name is Youyou.”

It was the “You” as in Song Xingyou. As Lu Jingchuan spoke, he suddenly froze, sensing an indistinguishable oddity. Xingxing was in seclusion, not replying to any social media. So how did the kitten know its name was Youyou?

Xingxing clearly cared. According to his habits, he should have already arrogantly ordered Lu not to use that name, rather than going to the trouble of using another app to reply to him.

Xingxing…

Lu Jingchuan’s thoughts were jolted awake by the kitten’s fierce prodding. The kitten’s expression was hostile, his claws scratching the air as he let out a low, threatening “woo-woo” growl at Gu Yingming.

Gu Yingming was not afraid of kittens. He shamelessly grabbed the kitten’s paw and shook it up and down. “Handshake, handshake! Good boy!”

The kitten was so angry he wanted to scratch the man’s face into a garden.

“Meow meow meow!” Do not touch my hand, you big idiot! Scratch you, scratch you, scratch you!

Song the cat brandished his claws, dodging left and right to keep Gu Yingming from touching him. Gu Yingming was thick-skinned, completely ignoring the kitten’s resistance. He said to Lu Jingchuan with a straight face, “I think he really likes me.”

Lu Jingchuan covered the kitten and, ignoring Gu Yingming’s hurt expression, ruthlessly backed away a few steps. “I do not think so. Youyou is still sick. You will cause him stress.”

He tucked the kitten back into his embrace, rhythmically and gently patting the kitten’s backside through his clothes. The steady movement instantly calmed the fierce kitten. He burrowed his round backside deeper into the clothes, leaving a paw print on the fabric.

Song Xingyou rubbed his paws against the man, blooming his claws and pressing them against the man’s chest. He let out a low growl, “Hateful Gu Yingming!”

Song Xingyou hated him most of all. The Gu family were new business elites who had moved in from out of town. Compared to the Song family, who started in beverage exports, Gu Yingming, whose family was in the electronic industry, seemed like the kind of friend Lu Jingchuan should be making.

Even more annoying was that Gu Yingming and Lu Jingchuan were classmates and had been members of the same astronomy club since they were young. They always had many common topics that Song could not understand. Clearly not Song’s friend, Gu Yingming used his close relationship with Lu to call him “Xingxing” just like Lu did. He always watched them with a playful, teasing expression.

Was he challenging Song? Was he saying only he was worthy of being close to Lu? Hateful, hateful, hateful!

Song the cat angrily patted the man’s chest. Do not talk to this annoying person!

The kitten was restless, meowing and moving around inside the clothes. While Lu Jingchuan soothed him, he sent Gu Yingming away. “You have seen what you came to see. You can leave now.”

He spoke bluntly, and Gu Yingming was just as blunt. He tossed his suit jacket over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. “I haven’t inspected your house yet. Aren’t you going to invite me in for a cup of tea?”

Lu Jingchuan was silent.

Gu Yingming swaggered into the house as if he were back in his own home. He opened the fridge and clicked his tongue. “With your healthy habits, if Xing-zai ever comes over as a guest, you will probably just serve him a glass of plain water. A man who serves plain water is very boring. Xing-zai must like an interesting man who serves him Cola.”

Lu Jingchuan pulled a can of Cola from the cabinet and handed it to him. The Cola was handed over silently and directly. Gu Yingming froze for two seconds, then leaned against the kitchen island and laughed loudly. “You, oh you!”

“Well, things are looking up for you now.”

The young man leaned against the island, a meaningful, cloud-like smile on his face. He raised his can in a silent toast to his friend, teasing him playfully.

“If you hadn’t come back, I would have pushed you aside and become Xing-zai’s best friend. Oh my, wouldn’t that have made you so angry you would challenge me to a match again?”

Gu Yingming talked big, looking smug as his words flowed. After all, Lu Jingchuan had a dead man’s face. There were very few people who could make him lose his composure, but Gu Yingming happened to be one of them. Thinking back to when Lu Jingchuan had been so jealous over Xing-zai that he challenged Gu to a fight, Gu Yingming could brag about it for three days and nights without stopping!

Lu Jingchuan merely gave him a cool glance. His straight back supported a stiff, upright neck, revealing half of his collarbone. When the collar, weighed down by the kitten, was about to slip, he reached out just in time to support the kitten’s backside.

The ill-tempered kitten was lying at the edge, wagging his tail and staring dangerously at this boundary-less outsider with sparkling cat eyes.

“Meow meow!” Who is your friend? You have such a nerve!

While meowing his rebuttal, the kitten wagged his tail crossly, looking from Gu Yingming to Lu Jingchuan.

“Meow-woo!” Do not talk to him!

Song the cat patted the man’s face. Lu Jingchuan looked puzzled.

Gu Yingming said, “Cute kitten, handshake, handshake.”

“Awoo!”

Lu Jingchuan covered the kitten and dodged just in time. Gu Yingming propped his chin on his hand with a smile. He leaned down and enthusiastically teased the kitten with his finger, making clicking sounds with his tongue.

His eyes were on the kitten, but he suddenly said, “Xing-zai didn’t actually go out with his roommates, did he?”

“You are not surprised?” Lu Jingchuan narrowed his eyes.

“Well, looking at your reaction today, it isn’t a hard thing to guess.” Gu Yingming laughed, shaking his head nonchalantly. “I also know that his roommates definitely won’t tell you the truth. We all have a tacit understanding. It is normal that you do not know. Your family doesn’t care about these things. Plus, it was requested by Xing-zai himself. After all, he and his family…”

“Meow meow!” Song the cat’s ears instantly pricked up. His eyes widened as he fiercely and swiftly turned his head. His gaze looked as if he wanted to eat someone.

Do not say it! Do not say it!

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