I Really Want to Pet My Wife's Cat Ears - Chapter 23.2

Chapter 23.2

Fortunately, the cats already knew how to cooperate. Ji Mianmian’s long arrow sliced through the sky, successfully cutting off its path of retreat…

During the 30 minutes the Spirit-Attracting Incense burned, a total of seven evil spirits and two malicious cats were attracted. As carnivores, the cats were ruthless when extending their claws to the evil spirits, turning all seven into loot. But when dealing with the malicious cats, which also radiated black qi, they had to be careful. Evil spirits occupied the bodies of weak cats; they could escape at any time, but the cat that luckily survived would have to bear the injuries.

Little Flower’s talent was to taunt evil spirits during battle, attracting them to attack itself and reflecting the damage; it could weaken the enemy without even making a move. But Little White and A-Jin—one affecting the spirit and one affecting the physical body—couldn’t use their talents freely anymore and could only meow and roar in angry frustration.

While frantically clicking on the malicious cats, Shuoyu analyzed calmly: “Mianmian, distribute the Meow Power arrows to Little White and A-Jin!” She remembered that Meow Power was an energy that could only cause direct damage to evil spirits. Striking a malicious cat with a Meow Power arrow would produce two effects simultaneously driving away the black mist evil spirit and healing the possessed cat’s chaotic spiritual sea.

After the Spirit-Attracting Incense had completely burned out, several more minutes passed before this battle truly ended. Of the two possessed cats, the black one had succumbed and fainted. Ji Mianmian saw the other calico cat with wide eyes, running around frantically and preparing to bolt. She quickly dashed forward a few steps and scooped the cat into her arms: “Don’t run, we’ll treat your wounds!”

Shuoyu took the opportunity to use the Greet interaction on these two cats.

Coalball Favorability +1, added to Cat Encyclopedia. Wuwu Favorability +1, added to Cat Encyclopedia.

Rescuing them from the possessed state of an evil spirit was equivalent to a grand favor; the first greeting’s favorability would also surely be positive. With the favorability increasing slightly, the attitude of Wuwu in Ji Mianmian’s arms relaxed significantly. It raised its head, its emerald-green, glass-like eyes rolling as it stared at Shuoyu, very puzzled as to why it would feel good toward a human.

Coalball and Wuwu were both adult cats. Since Ji Mianmian had to carry her bow, holding even one cat was quite a struggle. Watching her wife work so hard to bring cats “home,” Shuoyu was moved beyond measure. “You’ve all worked hard. Wait a bit and eat something.”

Shuoyu eagerly took out food to distribute to the cats, including the newly joined Wuwu, and used build mode to create a small cart on the spot. Then she put the weak calico cat and the fainted black cat both into it, so it wouldn’t be tiring for Ji Mianmian to push.

Halfway there, the black cat Coalball slowly woke up. Finding itself trapped in a strange small space, it gave a few shouts and tried to escape. This time, the one to take the initiative in persuasion was actually the calico cat Wuwu. Recognizing that “he who understands the times is a wise man,” it saw the difference between Shuoyu and the evil spirits and was also very grateful for her food and help.

Shuoyu watched with great interest the dialogue bubbles appearing as the calico cat meowed: “Don’t be afraid, Coalball. We’ve finally met a kind-hearted human. Her name is Shuoyu; she rescues cats and gives free food. Look at the two kittens following along; they’re both sturdier than us. Anyway, there’s no place more dangerous than the wilderness. These cats say Xier Beach now has a very, very large safe zone; let’s live with them from now on.”

Coalball was also a long-haired cat, entirely black without a single stray color, but compared to Big Yellow, it was much thinner—clearly, it hadn’t fared well in the wild. It listened dazed, its small emojis slowly shifting from terror, fear, and dread to confusion, thought, and joy.

This battle against the evil spirits was a huge harvest, yielding eight interaction fragments. Shuoyu hadn’t had time to balance and synthesize them yet, but she had all three types of fragments—time, location, and event. She roughly estimated she could synthesize at least two interaction cards!

That would be two opportunities for a private date as a Little Cloud Person with Ji Mianmian! So as she sent the two of them into the medical rescue station, she didn’t feel too much pain seeing the medical bill of 2,980 Cat Coins and 33 Cat Diamonds. Fortunately, the station was large enough for five cats to be hospitalized together.

A-Jin sat on the ground, looking left and right. She couldn’t help but meow in lament: “Good thing Shuoyu came! Otherwise the five of them, plus me six cats would have had to endure pain constantly, and might have just died on Cat Island like that…”

“And the three of us also have to thank Sister!” Ji Mianmian nodded along, taking the arrows with missing Meow Power tips out of her quiver and setting them aside. The cats looked at each other and then, as if a floodgate had opened, the meowing sounds rose and fell as they expressed their gratitude to Shuoyu one after another. They even grew more excited as they chatted, with “Favorability +2, +3, +2” appearing.

Cats who know how to be grateful are simply too cute! A group of well-behaved kittens all looking up at once with watery eyes—it was an incredibly cute image! Shuoyu was overjoyed in her heart, wanting to pet this one and rub that one. However, she remembered how she had been so absorbed in petting A-Jin last time that she forgot Ji Mianmian, and how her wife said nothing but secretly gathered jealousy in her heart and eventually couldn’t help being sad.

The first one she petted was still Ji Mianmian. Now that Shuoyu knew her own heart, her sweet talk toward the girl she liked was a complete broadcast without cost. “Baby, you did so well! Most of the Meow Power arrows hit! Such a big improvement!” Her words made the tips of the Cat-Eared Girl’s ears turn hot and her face flush red.

Once Ji Mianmian was properly tended to, Shuoyu petted every cat in the order they arrived. The cats’ personalities and patterns were all different, and the feedback from petting them was also varied. The quiet, healing feeling lasted until she went out in the afternoon.

The design for the niche cultural trend district wasn’t completely finished; the three consecutive days last time only finalized the general direction. After resting for two days and regaining their energy, the three women gathered again at Shen Zhiyin’s home to discuss details.

Meng Xu announced excitedly: “I plan to ask my second uncle to help us with the renovation. He has a professional team that renovates art galleries! Our Meng family is very supportive of the children’s entrepreneurship; for a first-time project needing help, they only charge for the materials, so the price will be much lower than the market!”

Shuoyu and Shen Zhiyin were also a bit anxious about the renovation. After seeing the photos of previous renovation results she showed, they satisfiedly chose that renovation team. Raising her hand to lightly smooth her hair, Shuoyu tapped the tablet screen with her fingernail and reminded: “Remember not to forget to reserve more sockets and light points for our district; we’ll need to install lighting equipment later.”

Their future target customers would likely all be people who liked niche cultures, liked taking photos and dressing up, and showing themselves under the lens. And perfect lighting’s contribution to a photo is more than just a little.

As they spoke, the three girls constantly proposed ideas on the path to fulfilling their dream, overcoming difficulties one by one…

When the cold moon hung high in the sky, its light filtering through the treetops and into the room, Meng Xu finally turned off the tablet. Long hours of desk work had caused them to change their sitting positions repeatedly. Right now, Shuoyu was curled up in a beanbag chair, staring blankly at the ceiling; Shen Zhiyin was stretched out in a long line on a sofa; and Meng Xu was sitting cross-legged directly on the carpet.

With the “click” of the screen locking, Meng Xu cheered, “Then that’s the specifics for now! I think we’ve thought of everything we need to consider! Rest for another day tomorrow, and I’ll go talk to my second uncle about the renovation schedule and price. We’ll gather again the day after tomorrow!”

Shen Zhiyin turned over onto her stomach: “Mhm. Tomorrow I’ll talk to those niche style shop owners again and finalize their respective booth locations and fees. If they can handle their own booth renovations, our work will be less.”

Seeing this, Shuoyu also recovered from her “brain-dead” state to her normal self: “Okay. Remember not to rent out the best booths. I’ll go back and ask the photographers, makeup artists, stylists, and local Yunxi models I know if they’re interested in coming to support us.”

In any industry now, if you want to make money, you have to target the mass market. Niche culture enthusiasts will get the word out, and then most of those attracted afterward will likely be ordinary people. If they want to experience niche culture and take some artistic photos, having a mature photography team prepared in advance will surely make a lot of money, just like those Hanfu or Cosplay experience shops.

“Xiao Yu, thanks for your hard work.” Shen Zhiyin smiled at her, knowing well the pain of a “closet” social-anxious person stepping out of her comfort zone.

Suddenly she saw a glint of silver. She scrambled up from the sofa to take a closer look: “Eh? You’re wearing an earring? It’s so small, I didn’t even see it!”

Shuoyu’s lips curved slightly as she tilted her head to show it off: “Mhm. It’s a small cat head. Cute, right?”

“I like the more exaggerated earrings, but this one looks like a small cat head, it truly is cute! Is there a link?”

Shuoyu paused for a second and shook her head: “No… it’s a gift from the Cat Island Diary official… from that game that stopped being downloadable.”

Meng Xu, not knowing the background, chipped in: “Then Sister Yu must have spent a lot of money in the game, otherwise why would they send you merchandise.”

She did, and quite a lot too, but she spent it willingly. Thinking of the cats on the island and Ji Mianmian, Shuoyu’s eyes curved in a gentle arc: “Exactly. That’s why we have to make this district really good—I have to earn money to support my wife.”

“Oh!” Meng Xu slapped her forehead. “We’ve finalized the big direction and the details, but we haven’t decided on a name for the district yet! Y2K, Lolita, Cyber, Gothic—all four cultures are very special, naming it is too hard…”

Shen Zhiyin thought for a bit and said: “Then let’s just not have a name. I think ‘Niche Culture Trend District’ sounds pretty good. Shortened, it could be ‘Niche Trend’.”

Shuoyu lowered her eyes and pondered for a moment: “What do you think of ‘The Fourth Definition’? Everyone should live an undefined life.”

“Yes!” “This one’s good!”

The time was already 2:00 AM. Having finished the serious business, Shen Zhiyin directly invited Meng Xu to sleep at her house tonight. Shuoyu dragged her heavy body and excited brain back to her home on the other side of the corridor.

Still worrying about the cats, she opened Cat Island Diary on her phone while washing up. After getting used to using the TV and enjoying the movie-level realistic graphics of Cat Island, Shuoyu found herself a bit unaccustomed to the image on the phone.

Because of the evil spirits being nocturnal, the cats’ schedules and instincts were completely reversed on the island sleeping at night and active during the day. Shuoyu’s gaze fell on the phone; listening to the quiet crackle of the campfire and the faint snoring of the sleeping cats, her mood returned to tranquility.

After washing up and lying in bed, she switched the camera to Ji Mianmian’s bedroom. Shuoyu noticed that the Cat-Eared Girl liked to curl up like a cat when she slept; right now, she was curled into a small ball under the blanket, looking very cute. The girl’s breathing was very light; Shuoyu felt as though she had entered a world as quiet as a vacuum.

She raised her finger, wanting to touch this special cat. But fearing she would disturb Ji Mianmian’s peaceful dream, she ultimately gave up. Shuoyu found a silk nightgown to put on; she wanted to leave the game running while she slept tonight, but she also feared she might kick off the covers in her sleep. Between the comfort of sleeping naked and “sleeping on a call” with the Cat-Eared Girl, she chose the latter with a sweet heart.

Thus, when Ji Mianmian woke up fully rested and comfortable, the first thing she saw was the docile sleeping face of the woman who was as beautiful as a statue of a goddess. The girl, who usually got up on the dot, thought for a bit and lay back on the bed. She curled under the covers, her fluffy cat tail wagging happily, occasionally tapping the edge of the bed.

Whether Shuoyu came to Cat Island or not had always been her unilateral choice; Ji Mianmian rarely had the chance to appreciate her with her eyes closed. She even had the illusion that she was very, very close to Shuoyu close enough to touch her if she reached out.

Unfortunately, this tender atmosphere didn’t last long. Little White, Little Flower, and A-Jin, unable to wait for Ji Mianmian to come out and prepare food, arrived at her door in unison, heartlessly scratching the door and meowing for a meal. Much of the food required flexible human fingers to prepare; without Ji Mianmian, they couldn’t even tear open the packaging!

Fearing the cats outside would wake Shuoyu with their noise, Ji Mianmian curled her lip and was forced to get up unwillingly. Quickly changing into her convenient maid outfit, she stepped lightly out of the bedroom in her leather shoes. Then, she put on the face of a “bad woman,” pointing her finger at the cats.

“Eat, eat, eat! All you know is eating every day! You’re all greedy little cats!”

Facing the young girl’s inexplicable condemnation, the three cats looked at each other, their faces filled with question marks and confusion.

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