Did I Succeed in Redeeming the Villain Today? - Chapter 63

Chapter 63: “Kitten Loves Mu Qiuyu The Most.”

Mu Qiuyu’s voice was calm and deep, her breath like a wind rolling down from a mountain peak. It brushed against the kitten’s face, making Lu Ning’s confusion distinctly visible amidst her flattened fur.

Lu Ning stared at Mu Qiuyu with sparkling eyes. She naturally rejected the sudden label of “scumbag.”

“Meow~ (I’m not a scumbag! I only love Host!)”

The kitten cried out. Not just her voice and eyes, but every single hair on her body screamed rejection. Lu Ning protested by ramming her small head into Mu Qiuyu’s palm—the very hand that was trying to keep her at a distance. It was the classic standoff: the human tries not to pet the cat, so the cat aggressively throws itself into the human’s arms until the human eventually gives in.

Cheng Juan, watching this from the podium, was a bit surprised. She hadn’t expected Mu Qiuyu to be so popular with the kitten; even when the girl ignored the cat, the cat remained so clingy. A plan began to take shape in the class teacher’s mind. “Is it just my imagination, or is the kitten exceptionally fond of Qiuyu?”

“Teacher, who wouldn’t want to be close to Qiuyu!” Li Xiang blurted out the honest truth.

“If I were a cat, I’d stick to Mu Qiuyu too,” a girl sitting in the front row chimed in.

“It’s different, though,” Cheng Juan said, continuing to guide the class. “Just now, the moment I said the grade’s rank one was Qiuyu, the kitten immediately jumped into her lap.”

The students didn’t catch onto Cheng Juan’s intent, but Lu Ning, with her teacher’s intuition, knew exactly what she was doing. Cheng Juan was a good teacher, and Lu Ning was willing to cooperate. She poked her head out and let out a soft “Meow~” toward the teacher.

The sound was soft, as if confirming that Cheng Juan was right. Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Lu Ning meowed and proactively stretched her neck to nuzzle Mu Qiuyu’s cheek.

“I’m a little jealous.”

“Super jealous.”

“Does the kitten like people who are both good-looking and smart?”

As the students discussed this, Lu Ning’s ears didn’t miss a single word. Once she captured the “correct answer,” she let out an incredibly cooperative “Meow!”

“Really?”

“They say felines admire the strong.”

“Is that why she’s always sticking to Mu Qiuyu?”

“I can’t do anything about my looks, but I’m definitely going to beat Mu Qiuyu’s score next time!”

“Get out of here! The kitten is mine!”

Cheng Juan hadn’t expected Lu Ning to be so helpful. The academic enthusiasm of the class was genuinely being ignited by a cat. Looking at the high-spirited morning study session, she looked at Lu Ning with approval. She felt she had made the right choice; this kitten was not only a good cat but a lucky star for the class.

“Good cat,” Cheng Juan murmured as she patrolled the classroom filled with the sound of reading. She stopped at the back row and gave Lu Ning a stroke.

“Meow~” Lu Ning called out softly, squinting her eyes in comfort under the praise. The kitten thought proudly: We’re all educators here; helping out is just a small favor. I’ll make sure to follow through with the “I love good grades” persona later.

Cheng Juan didn’t realize what a perfect assistant she had found. Knowing she couldn’t linger too long, she gave Lu Ning’s fluffy head one last lingering rub before walking away with her hands behind her back. Lu Ning watched her colleague leave with a “we both have it hard” look in her eyes.

Then, she felt a gaze on her back. It was Mu Qiuyu.

The girl’s gaze was cast down, her raven-feather lashes masking her pupils, radiating a cold aura. She watched the kitten in silence, as if asking: Is that so?

Lu Ning was becoming increasingly adept at reading Mu Qiuyu’s mind. Meeting her gaze, she looked up. The sunlight gilded the kitten’s fluffy fur, creating a soft silhouette in the girl’s vision.

Lu Ning sat upright on the desk, craned her neck, and intimately touched her nose to Mu Qiuyu’s. “Host, I’m not close to you just because you have good grades or look pretty. No matter what you look like, or whether you have points for me to buy dried fish, you are my number one in the whole world.”

A cat’s nose is always warm and damp. Puffs of warm air escaped from her nose, burning against the tip of Mu Qiuyu’s nose without any shield. The temperature seemed to exceed the threshold of what a human could accept.

Mu Qiuyu’s heart skipped a beat. This human, who had been the “rejecting party” just a moment ago, ultimately couldn’t resist the kitten’s advances. Looking at Lu Ning’s black nose so close to her, she felt the creature was becoming increasingly emboldened.

“Host, I’m just playing around with the others,” Lu Ning nuzzled Mu Qiuyu’s palm. For the thousandth time, she stood by Mu Qiuyu’s side whenever the girl felt insecure.

“Kitten loves Mu Qiuyu the most.”

Lu Ning answered the questions Mu Qiuyu hadn’t even had time to ask. For a moment, it felt as if countless tentacles were reaching out from the fine hairs of Lu Ning’s nose, slowly creeping toward Mu Qiuyu’s heart, wrapping around it, and tightening.

Mu Qiuyu thought that if she told her past self she would one day lose her heartbeat’s rhythm over a cat, her past self would have thought her future self had gone mad. Perhaps life is just that fickle. The future the Main System showed her was beginning to show its tracks.

As soon as the afternoon bell rang, the class gathered in a swarm. They were excitedly discussing how to celebrate the kitten being allowed to stay—some suggested dinner, some karaoke, some gaming. It was chaotic.

Li Xiang, being Mu Qiuyu’s closest friend in class, knew she wouldn’t like those activities. But as a major contributor to the cause, she knew everyone would want to invite her. How could she prevent Mu Qiuyu from refusing?

Li Xiang’s mind whirred, then she spoke up: “I think we should skip the eating and singing. Last week, Qiuyu, Shi Jin, and I… the kitten we rescued is still in the pet hospital.”

“If we’re going to celebrate, why don’t we use that money to buy some supplements and toys and go visit the kitten at the hospital together?”

Li Xiang’s suggestion was practical and much more meaningful than karaoke. Everyone looked at her and chimed in.

“That’s a great idea! It’s very meaningful!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m willing to save my money to buy things for the kitten!”

“I have a lot of cat biscuits I can bring.”

“Meow~”

While they were debating passionately, a kitten’s head popped up from the desk. Lu Ning dragged her own toy into the middle of the group and pawed at Li Xiang, as if to say: “Give this to the kitten too.”

The phrase “human-like intelligence” always resonates with people. Instantly, everyone was moved. Li Xiang rubbed Lu Ning’s face. “Kitten, you are a super, invincible, great cat.”

“Meow~ (Of course!)” Lu Ning puffed out her chest, her tail swishing.

Seeing the cat, everyone’s gaze shifted to Mu Qiuyu, who was still working on a test at her desk. “Qiuyu, do you want to go with us to see the rescued kitten?”

Hearing her name, Mu Qiuyu pulled her mind away from the Cloze Test for a moment. The setting sun painted her solitary silhouette against the window, forming a sharp contrast with the bustling group around Li Xiang.

So many people. Mu Qiuyu thought coldly and distantly.

Li Xiang didn’t know Mu Qiuyu well enough yet. She didn’t realize that Mu Qiuyu didn’t just dislike eating with people—she disliked crowds. Too many people made her feel it was too noisy. With that in mind, Mu Qiuyu was about to refuse.

“I…”

But just as she started to speak, she felt her hand being nudged. Lu Ning had somehow materialized in front of her and was nudging Mu Qiuyu’s hand with her head, trying to make her raise it in agreement. “Give it a try, Host. It’s just to see a kitten, no big deal.”

Zhi——

The first cicada of the summer crawled out of the earth and let out its first cry. It perched among the leaves, looking down at the teenagers walking home in groups. Under the sunset, the green shade intertwined, and light skirts billowed in the wind. Everyone was laughing and talking, their voices crisp and clear, like a painting of youth.

In this painting, Mu Qiuyu was walking too, with Li Xiang by her side. Li Xiang was the center of gossip; she and Pei Yinyue usually talked non-stop, but now with everyone together, the chatter was even more lively. Mu Qiuyu listened in silence, thinking it was all meaningless nonsense.

She truly couldn’t bring herself to like it, but perhaps from hearing Li Xiang talk so much, she had become somewhat desensitized. She didn’t hate it now, and occasionally, she even filled in the blanks for Li Xiang when she forgot key details.

“That Class Ten person…” Li Xiang got stuck.

Mu Qiuyu corrected her from the side: “It’s Class Twelve.”

“Right, right, Class Twelve! I knew something was off…” Li Xiang laughed, scratching the back of her head, and continued the gossip.

“Host has a great memory,” Lu Ning praised from the side.

“Not as good as yours,” Mu Qiuyu replied meaningfully in Lu Ning’s head. She looked down at the kitten by her side. That body, which looked like a little gas tank, was exceptionally agile, and her four paws kept up perfectly with the group’s shifting formations.

The sunset filtered through the branches and silhouettes, casting streaks of gold on the kitten, making her shifting eyes look as deep as a galaxy. It was because of this that she could act out all sorts of expressions, especially the pitiful ones.

Mu Qiuyu frowned slightly, a hint of annoyance in her eyes. How did she let this person sell her out with a pitiful “cute” act and agree to this? Yes, why did she agree?

Lu Ning was thinking the same thing, but without the annoyance. She was happily adjusting the system camera, stealthily taking photos. No matter how far to the side Mu Qiuyu stood, Lu Ning’s lens always centered on her.

Perhaps even Mu Qiuyu hadn’t noticed that she had integrated into this class. The same sunlight that hit Li Xiang and the others fell on her as well. She was in it. No longer a passerby or a bystander.

Lu Ning thought happily. Looking at the newly taken photo, she wrote her feelings on the back.

—Host integrated into the group again today. The atmosphere is great. I hope Host can keep it up and get better and better!

—I have to work hard too! I want to be Mu Qiuyu’s strong arm!

Lu Ning wrote several lines on the back. She liked recording things; after all, a dull pencil is better than a sharp memory, and records are more reliable than brains. She had forgotten when she started this habit, but since teachers and colleagues had always praised it, she was happy to keep it up.

Once the crystal-blue ink dried, Lu Ning looked up and saw they had arrived at the pet shop. A scene that surprised her even more appeared when the door opened.

Sitting alone in the pet shop lobby was Shi Jin.

“Shi Jin? What are you doing here?” Everyone was shocked.

Seeing her classmates suddenly appear, Shi Jin’s expression became unnatural. “What? Why can’t I be here?”

“Are you here to see the kitten too?” Li Xiang asked with a teasing smile. Perhaps because of their silent agreement in cursing people over the weekend, she didn’t feel as much hostility toward Shi Jin anymore.

But Shi Jin remained her old self, head held high. “Hmph, I’m not as bored as you. I’m here to get my cat neutered.”

This surprised everyone in the lobby. After all, not long ago, this person had been stubbornly refusing to manage her cat.

“Good job, keep it up,” Li Xiang walked over and patted Shi Jin’s shoulder. Shi Jin was unaccustomed to the gesture and pointed toward the back. “The kitten is in there. Be quiet, she just fell asleep.”

“Thanks,” Li Xiang said briskly, leading the group to the ward.

Just as Shi Jin said, the kitten was asleep. The little orange ball was curled in the corner of the ward, looking even smaller than Lu Ning had when she first appeared in class. White bandages wrapped her two back legs, and her torn, scabbed ears made everyone’s heart ache.

“People like Cen Qin should be cut into a thousand pieces.”

“Gao Yuan even provided the tools. Is he even human?”

“I hope those two stay locked up in juvenile detention forever.”

As they cursed Cen Qin and Gao Yuan, Li Xiang added indignantly: “It’s not satisfying that we didn’t make Cen Qin pay in blood.”

“Yes,” Mu Qiuyu agreed for once. She nodded softly, her deep eyes fixed on the peacefully sleeping kitten.

“The kitten is so pitiful.”

“Those monsters. It wouldn’t even be enough if they got hit by a car.”

“Isn’t there anyone who can make them pay for a cat’s life with their own!”

The discussion grew heated, and despite their low volume, the voices drifted into the kitten’s ears. She was having a beautiful dream until the noisy voices forced their way in. Her ears twitched, and she opened her eyes to see a crowd of strange human faces pressed against the cage.

“Meow! (Who are you! Go away!)” The kitten became instantly alert, her tiny body puffing up like a dandelion.

The kitten was frightened by the humans, and her reaction startled the students. Just as both sides were at a loss, a black shadow flashed by. Lu Ning had heard the kitten’s weak struggle and nimbly jumped onto the table. “Meow~ (They’re good people, they won’t hurt you.)”

Who else could communicate in her language? The kitten realized something and looked up with a sense of anticipation at the imposing shadow. That familiar black figure, soft and strong, brought a massive sense of security that made her nerves relax instantly. “Kitten… Kitten Immortal! You’re not dead!”

“They said I was the only kitten that survived. I thought… sob… I thought you died like my sister… sob sob…”

The kitten spoke through tears, making everyone’s heart ache. Lu Ning couldn’t stand such scenes and lowered her head to lick the kitten’s fur. “How could that be? I, the Kitten Immortal, am blessed with long life. I’m a cockroach that can’t be killed. Don’t cry, what if your wounds open up?”

“Meow~ (Sob sob, Kitten Immortal, thank you.)” The kitten’s emotions overflowed, and she went limp in Lu Ning’s embrace.

The constant-temperature fluorescent lights kept the ward warm, and it warmed the hearts of those watching from outside too. Seeing the cat proactively lick the kitten’s fur made everyone’s hearts melt.

“Our kitten is a brave Cat Knight,” Li Xiang said, recalling the day they rescued the kitten, feeling moved by the scene. She turned to Mu Qiuyu for agreement. “Qiuyu, don’t you think this scene is beautiful?”

“First love, innocent playmates, childhood sweethearts.”

As Mu Qiuyu listened to Li Xiang’s words, her gaze darkened further. Those idioms spilling from Li Xiang’s mouth made Mu Qiuyu feel as if those familiar phrases had never sounded so piercingly unpleasant.

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