On the day of the Minor New Year's Eve, the Lin family closed their businesses.
Both the tobacco and liquor shop and the cat tea house rolled down their shutters, officially closing for the holiday to prepare for their own New Year celebrations.
Since they would be closed for several days, Lin Lan moved all the portable cat trees, cat bowls, cat beds, and similar items from the tea house up to the third floor, her new living area. After all, the cats also needed more spacious room to move around during their break; the small living room in the old house wasn't enough for a dozen cats to stretch their legs.
She wasn't doing this task alone. As the only employee who wasn't going home for the New Year, Xiao Song naturally lent a hand.
"Xiao Song, since you're not going back, why not come to my house for New Year's Eve?" After moving everything into the new place, Lin Lan suggested to her employee. "Spending New Year's alone is too lonely. Come over for the reunion dinner, consider it a bit of employee welfare from the tea house."
Touched by such consideration from his landlord and boss, Song Xinmin felt a bit embarrassed. "Won't I be causing trouble for your family, Boss?"
"No trouble at all," Lin Lan waved her hand dismissively. "I've already discussed it with my parents. For tomorrow's reunion dinner, we're not just inviting you; we plan to invite Miss Wang as well. After all, as you know, she's also spending New Year alone."
"Boss..." Song Xinmin was genuinely moved. "You're such a good person!" Whether as a boss or a landlord, she was incredibly kind-hearted!
Lin Lan quickly waved her hands in refusal. "Please don't praise me like that. I've never considered myself a 'good person'." She had never held herself to such high moral standards. "I'm just an ordinary person. Don't think of me as so noble. I'm inviting you because you're my employee. Miss Wang is the tea house's top VIP customer. Both of you rent from me, and neither of you are going home for the New Year. It's that simple."
Just like how, after unexpectedly gaining a "golden finger" in Greece, she never thought about saving all the cats in the world. She only did what she could for the cats she could see and reach. Being called a good person was still a long way off.
"That's already more than enough." Song Xinmin, who had wandered many places, met many people, and experienced many things, smiled. "A private boss like you, who doesn't delay wages and even offers employee benefits now and then, is already very good."
The subtext in his words was clear to anyone who had been in the workforce. Hearing it, Lin Lan could only sigh and pat her employee's shoulder. "Remember to come over tomorrow evening."
"Thank you, Boss." Comrade Xiao Song agreed with a smile. He was about to say goodbye and leave when he saw Lin Lan stuffing bags of cat food and cans into a large backpack. He paused. "Boss, don't our shop cats eat homemade cat food? Why did you buy commercial cat food?"
"Oh, this isn't for the shop cats. It's for the stray cats outside." Lin Lan explained while packing. The stray cat colony led by Cat Boss was huge. Relying solely on her to make homemade food for them would be exhausting.
Song Xinmin understood immediately. "Going to feed those strays?" The boss would go out for half a day every so often to deliver food to stray cats. He also knew this was the main source of the pedigree cats in the tea house.
It seemed the boss and the stray cats had reached a subtle understanding: she provided them food, and they would occasionally let her take away beautiful pet cats.
"Yes, tomorrow is New Year's Eve, the big holiday. I want to send them some supplies too."
Hearing her confirmation and seeing her struggle to heave the heavy backpack, Song Xinmin quickly stepped forward. "How about I go with you, Boss? Carrying the load between two people will be easier."
He had nothing to do during the holiday anyway. Following Boss Lin to see the stray cat colony would be a good way to get some fresh air and maybe find some inspiration.
Lin Lan couldn't refuse her employee's enthusiastic offer. Plus, the backpack was indeed heavy. In the end, she took him along. Each carrying half of the cat food, the two headed towards the territory of Cat Boss's colony.
It had been snowing in West City for days. No cats were on the roofs of the abandoned houses anymore, but they could be found in another sheltered, empty building.
Following Lin Lan, Song Xinmin stopped at a cluster of deserted, uninhabited houses. One of the dilapidated buildings had its drafty windows and doors patched up. The boss walked towards that house, pushed the door open casually, and inside the empty room, rows of foam boxes were stacked like a pyramid. Each box had a round hole cut out for the cats to come and go freely, lined with old fabric. From some boxes, different-colored stray cats could occasionally be seen.
Compared to the freezing outdoors, this somewhat chilly empty room was quite warm and cozy for the cats.
These cats were very familiar with the boss. Almost the moment she pushed the door open, many cats gathered around her feet.
"Meow..." "Meeoow—" "Aow aow..."
Meows of various tones rose and fell, some gentle, some rough. Having gained some experience with cats at the tea house, Song Xinmin could tell from their straight-up tails that they were begging the boss for food.
Of course, only Lin Lan could understand the more complex feline language.
(Lan Lan, you came to see us again!)
(Lan Lan, did you bring us food again?)
(Lan Lan, the cat beds you gave us are so warm! We don't feel cold when we crawl inside!)
The stray cats swarmed around her legs. Some meowed, others rubbed their heads against her legs, acting utterly spoiled.
"Don't crowd, everyone will get some!" Lin Lan carefully shifted her feet, afraid of accidentally stepping on someone. "By the way, where's Cat Boss?"
Hearing her mention the boss, the cat colony slowly and automatically made a path.
"Waoow a..." A familiar, hoarse meow sounded. Lin Lan spotted Cat Boss sitting regally atop the highest stack of foam boxes. (Even though you've brought food again, there are no cats you want this time.)
Lin Lan laughed. "I'm just here to deliver food this time. The New Year is coming; I want you all to have a prosperous holiday too."
Song Xinmin followed behind, carrying the cat food. Upon spotting Cat Boss, he was instantly struck by this mackerel tabby.
Not because of its appearance, but because of its solitary, exceptional aura.
Having wandered through so many cities, he had never seen nor imagined a cat with such a leader-like presence, instantly setting it apart from other mackerel tabbies.
He instinctively reached in front of him, only to remember his camera wasn't with him. What a pity. If he could photograph this cat now, it would make an excellent shot.
But soon, he had no time for regret. The boss was already instructing him to help open cans for the little cats to eat.
When rows upon rows of canned food were lined up in several columns on the empty floor of the vacant house, and the scene of stray cats eating in neat, orderly rows appeared before her eyes, the sheer scale of it was quite impactful. However, aside from the various protective growls the cats made while guarding their food during mealtime, it wasn't much different from the cats in her own shop eating.
Perhaps it should be said, as expected of cats raised by a shopkeeper skilled in training felines? Even their eating had a sense of discipline.
While the cat colony ate, the cat leader with its air of authority did not. It was still engaged in a back-and-forth dialogue with the shopkeeper... or rather, the shopkeeper's miraculously effective Level 10 Cat Speak was at work again.
"Meow-rowr." (Lately, some more cats have wanted to join, but I drove them away.)
"Drove them away? Why?" Lin Lan was surprised.
"Meow." (Food is limited. I can't possibly protect all the cats. It's natural for weaker cats to be weeded out by winter.)
Lin Lan fell silent. Compared to humans, animals living in the wild had their own straightforward and brutal methods of selection—competing for more food, more territory, and... the chance to survive.
"You're the boss cat. It's your call for your group." After a moment, she replied to the leader.
The tabby cat's golden vertical pupils looked at her as it let out a long call: "Meeeow-rowr—meow-rowr." (I've seen many two-legs. Some two-legs, like you, often take the initiative to feed us, but they also often suddenly disappear and never come back. Rather than placing all our dependence for food on you, I trust relying on ourselves more.)
Lin Lan was momentarily at a loss for words.
What a... blunt, hard-to-describe answer.
As an animal, the cat didn't know how to beat around the bush, nor had it learned human deception. It simply stated its judgment and actions based on its own past experiences and understanding.
"I'm sorry." That was all Lin Lan could say. "I can only guarantee that I will care for the cats I take back home with me. I can't make the same promise to all of you."
Searching her heart, she herself couldn't be certain she could feed this colony of stray cats for a lifetime. There were too many unforeseeable variables.
The cat leader's gaze, however, softened then. It also lowered its tone as it called to her: "Meow-rowr." (It's okay. In this world, only you two-legs are willing to take in and provide for other species.)
The food delivery mission soon ended. After helping to secure the cat shelters and the doors and windows of the abandoned house again, Lin Lan left the vacant dwelling, but her mood was somewhat heavy.
Various thoughts swirled in her mind, along with some impractical impulses, but in the end, reason pressed them down one by one.
Indeed... she was just a selfish, ordinary person who couldn't play the savior.
"Shopkeeper, are you very familiar with the leader of these stray cats?" On the way back, Song Xinmin's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. Looking up, she saw the face of the wandering photographer, full of excitement. "I want to take its picture. Do you think it's possible?"
He meant for her to help.
"Don't ask me about that. You have to ask the cat itself if it's willing." Lin Lan thought the chances were fifty-fifty. "It's too early to bring this up now. Let's talk about it after the New Year."
Back at the small building, Comrade Xiao Song went to rest in his own room, while Lin Lan went up to the third floor and returned to her new apartment, now home to the teahouse cats.
As usual, the moment the door opened, she was greeted by a chorus of meows. The keen-eared cats had long identified her return from the footsteps outside the door.
(Lanlan, you're back from delivering the food?)
(You smell so much of other cats!)
(Rub it off, rub it all off! Mama is mine!)
She had just closed and locked the door and stood still when a group of cats was already surrounding her legs, each rubbing its head against her to reapply their scent. Lin Lan's previously low spirits immediately brightened.
"Stop rubbing, it's all wasted effort," she said, scooping up the Ragdoll cat that was rubbing the most vigorously and gently tapping its pink little nose. "Don't you all forget, today's the day everyone agreed to take a bath."
Once washed, all those scents would be gone.
Instantly, several of the cats who had been rubbing enthusiastically scattered and ran off.
