I Really Want to Pet My Wife's Cat Ears - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Sixteen Cats

Although Shen Zhiyin looks like a scatterbrain who keeps her nails long and pretty—hardly the image of someone who belongs in a kitchen—it has to be said: her cooking is actually delicious. It’s just that she’s usually too lazy to chop vegetables or wash pots, so she rarely cooks. Having not eaten her food in a long time, Shuoyu was actually a bit tempted.

Therefore, even though she had seen Ka Ling’s charred eggs last time and knew she had the potential to blow up a kitchen, Shuoyu agreed.

Arriving at Shen Zhiyin’s place, Shen Zhiyin started delegating tasks while squeezing orange juice. “Let’s keep it simple today: Braised Prawns, Tomato Beef Stew, Salt-Fried Pork, plus Vinegar-Glazed Potato Shreds and Poached Lettuce. How does that sound?”

Shuoyu nodded and naturally walked to the sink to start selecting ingredients. “Good balance of meat and greens. I’ll handle the chopping; you go rest.”

The long-standing tacit understanding between them accidentally wounded Ka Ling. She frowned, stepped forward, rolled up her sleeves, and volunteered, “I’ll steam the rice then.”

“Xiao Ka can steam rice? Amazing! I’ll leave it to you two then. Once the prep is done, I’ll do the stir-frying!” Shen Zhiyin, being heartlessly cheerful, poured everyone a glass of orange juice and actually went to lie down on the sofa.

This left Shuoyu and Ka Ling alone in the open kitchen, staring at each other in a somewhat awkward silence. Shuoyu guessed she was being treated as an imaginary rival. She wanted to explain, but didn’t know how to start. Without the other person expressing anything, rushing up to say “I have no feelings for Shen Zhiyin, don’t overthink it, just go for it if you like her” would be too weird.

So, Shuoyu focused on washing the potatoes. It wasn’t until she saw Ka Ling find the rice, fill it with water, and prepare to put it into the rice cooker that she could no longer stay calm.

“Better wash Ah Yin’s rice a few times. This lazy dog only cooks once in a blue moon; there’s bound to be dust on it.”

“Thank you.” Ka Ling froze for a moment, then took the inner pot to the sink beside Shuoyu to wash the rice. She clearly hadn’t been in a kitchen much; even washing rice was clumsy. Handfuls of rice grains were being washed down the drain with the water.

Muttering “waste is a sin” twice, Shuoyu reached out and took the pot. “Forget it, you go rest too. I’ll do it.”

Ka Ling looked at her silently, the cold lines of her gold-rimmed glasses making her look even more stubborn. She gripped the pot tightly, refusing to let go. Shuoyu sighed, knowing Ka Ling just wanted to prove herself in front of Ah Yin.

She helplessly pointed to the vegetable basket. “Then go wash the greens, I’ve already picked them out.” While briskly pouring out the starchy water, Shuoyu thought of a counter-strategy. Shen Zhiyin liked Xiao Ka, so she would definitely be interacting with her a lot in the future. They couldn’t have Ah Yin oblivious while they secretly competed with each other; that would be too exhausting.

Watching the milky water turn clear between her fingers, Shuoyu finally decided what to say. She unhurriedly dried her hands, opened her phone’s photo album, and found the “Cat Island Diary” folder. She pulled out a screenshot of Ji Mianmian shielding her eyes from the sun with a shy smile.

“Let me introduce you. This is my wife.”

Ka Ling was stunned. For the first time, she showed a sincere smile toward Shuoyu, saying word by word, “If I’m not mistaken, those are… cat… ears?”

To reduce real-life trouble, Shuoyu had revealed her niche preferences to an acquaintance for the first time. She retracted her phone, face unchanging. “Yes, my wife is a game character. Beautiful, right?”

Call her a furry-lover if you want; Cat-Eared Girls are number one!

Shuoyu’s plan was incredibly effective. Ka Ling’s attitude immediately softened ten degrees. “You have good taste.” Seeing that Ka Ling understood that a person who loves 2D virtual characters and a “pure-blooded normie” like Shen Zhiyin could only ever be friends, Shuoyu’s mood relaxed.

She pointed playfully toward the living room. “If you can’t cook, stop causing trouble. Go play with Ah Yin, and remember to wash the dishes after we eat.”

After lunch, Shuoyu walked the few steps back home, thinking the meal was well worth it. Once Ka Ling’s hostility vanished, she became a very easy-to-get-along-with “socially anxious science girl.” After hearing Shuoyu mention that she liked cats but couldn’t touch them due to allergies, Ka Ling even pulled up her home security feed to call over two beautiful Siamese cats so Shuoyu could “pet” them virtually.

“I wonder if there are pedigree cats on Cat Island…” As soon as she got home, Shuoyu’s hands honestly connected her phone to the TV screen.

Entering the game, she found the icons for the four cats in the safe zone stacked together, and they weren’t in the medical station. Shuoyu raised an eyebrow in surprise. “A-Jin must have been discharged!”

The medical level on Cat Island is very high; broken legs and “one-eyes” can be cured. However, when she saw the tortoiseshell cat before, it was always wrapped in bandages inside the medical pod, so Shuoyu didn’t know what she looked like now.

She quickly switched the camera to the cats’ location and found them squatting under the sun umbrella she had made earlier, watching the sea. Ji Mianmian was the first to notice her; the girl, standing barefoot on the sand, turned and waved as if sensing her presence, her voice sweet: “Shuoyu, you came back early today!”

“Yeah, just ate at the neighbor’s. Congratulations on being discharged, A-Jin!”

Shuoyu selected the tortoiseshell cat sitting on the beach lounge chair and found their favorability had reached 76 she could now use Stroke. Unlike Ji Mianmian, whose favorability fluctuates with her mood, the other cats’ favorability increases regularly through interaction and feeding.

A-Jin, due to her distrust of humans, gave the lowest points usually within 3 points. After all these days, the other two kittens could be stroked up close, but A-Jin’s favorability had stayed under 30.

Shuoyu checked the history and found that once her disability was cured and she was fully discharged, A-Jin had suddenly given 50 favorability points. This was the cat she felt most for.

Zooming in, Shuoyu saw that A-Jin’s once cloudy right eye was now clear. She didn’t start stroking immediately, but carefully greeted her: “How is the vision in your right eye, A-Jin? Can you see clearly?”

The cat on the screen meowed sweetly, pacing back and forth with unmistakable joy. The dialogue bubble said: “I can see clearly, and my arm doesn’t hurt anymore. Thank you for saving me!”

Shuoyu then noticed her right eye was actually green—very beautiful and different from the yellow left eye. She was a heterochromatic tortoiseshell cat. Shuoyu asked cautiously: “Can I pet you from now on? Where do you like to be petted?” After lowering favorability by petting Ji Mianmian’s belly by mistake once, Shuoyu now asked for preferences before first-time interactions.

A-Jin liked her immensely now, meowing with an upright tail, even standing up on two legs trying to touch the floating Shuoyu. She answered immediately: “Neck, head, back… and belly are all fine!” She listed almost every part of her body; she had the fewest taboos of the four cats.

Shuoyu was overjoyed and gave her a full petting session. Ji Mianmian, watching A-Jin purring and showing her belly to be petted, actually felt a bit of a sting in her eyes. She looked up toward Shuoyu, lost in thought.

Support I Really Want to Pet My Wife’s Cat Ears