"Your cat Nian Nian is pregnant."
Huh? Miss Wei, who was waiting for her pet's check-up results, felt her smile freeze.
"Initial estimates put her at nearly three weeks along."
What was Dr. Liu saying?
"Miss Wei, the gestation period for cats from conception to birth is generally around two months. She'll start showing in at most a week. Regarding the precautions for Nian Nian during pregnancy and delivery..."
Dr. Liu's voice gradually faded in Wei Yan's ears as The Lady Programmer remained in a state of disbelief.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, she got a cat. On the fourth day, she was informed she was about to have a litter of kittens.
It was all a bit too sudden. In a daze, Miss Wei agreed to Dr. Liu's list of recommendations one by one and simultaneously paid for a whole assortment of supplies for a pregnant cat. By the time she emerged with a cat carrier in her left hand and a large bag of items in her right, she was still completely bewildered.
On her way back, as she passed the inevitable cat café on her route, the sound of an argument inside snapped her out of her stupor.
"You say you want to work here? What can you even do? Can you sweep the floor or wash dishes? Can you make milk tea? Can you bake cakes?"
"Don't look down on me! I... I can learn!"
"Oh, so before you start working, shouldn't you pay the shop owner a tuition fee first?"
"Fine, I'll pay! I'm not short on money! I learn fast, I'll be able to help out in no time!"
"Better not. Don't come over and just create more work for everyone."
Through the spotlessly clean glass door and window, Wei Yan saw two familiar faces inside: one was her former neighbor, and the other was the kind-hearted girl she had swapped floors with. They were squaring off against each other like fighting cocks.
Why were they suddenly arguing?
Inside the café, a dozen or so cats were lounging or lying in every corner of the shop. Now, they all opened their round, wide eyes in unison, looking towards the two arguing humans, their ears perked up sharply to catch the commotion.
Tang Xiaoya and Wang Jiayi's voices had unconsciously risen in pitch. Lin Lan, standing behind the beverage counter, saw the situation turning sour and was just about to intervene when the black-and-white cat Diandian jumped onto the counter. The little kitten even meowed at her.
"Meow." (Lan Lan, these two humans have been arguing for so long, why haven't they started fighting yet?)
The shop owner Lin, whose attention had been on the quarreling pair, immediately shifted her gaze to the little black-and-white cat here, her eyes filled with a "what did you just say" kind of shock.
Diandian, still unaware, this street-savvy moggy even called out to the two arguing people: "Meow!" (Fight already! Whoever wins becomes the boss and gets to call the shots!)
Little cat, you look so adorable, but is it really okay for you to say such fierce things? Do you even remember today is your first day on the job?
The cow cat's meow wasn't too loud or too soft, but because it was close, it also made the arguing young lady and Sister Tang pause. Both were cat lovers, and this abrupt meow was enough to make them stop and look over.
"Alright, stop arguing now. Can't you see even the cat can't stand it anymore and is telling you to stop?" Lin Lan immediately seized the moment to call a truce, brazenly lying through her teeth. "You're both educated, civilized people. Are you really going to keep arguing like this over a trivial matter?"
The two girls, whose voices had been rising higher and faces turning red with anger, now flushed red with embarrassment.
"Here's what we'll do, Jiayi. I agree to let you work at the shop. Start as a part-timer, three hours a day to get used to it first. We'll see about you becoming a full-time employee later based on how it goes."
Shop Owner Lin began to lay down the law. The young lady looked up in pleasant surprise, while Tang Xiaoya pursed her lips noncommittally. The shop owner's eyes then fixed on her.
"And Xiaoya, I'm putting you in charge of teaching Jiayi the shop's work procedures."
What!?
Tang Xiaoya's eyes instantly widened. A wave of intense refusal surged in her heart before she could even voice it, but the young lady beside her beat her to the protest.
"I don't want her to teach me! Lan Lan, can't you teach me yourself? I promise I'll study hard." Towards the end, the girl even added a little pleading, coquettish tone.
Unfortunately, it had no effect on Shop Owner Lin, who remained stern and impartial. "These are the hiring rules. I'm the shop owner, what I say goes. These are the conditions, Jiayi. You can choose not to come. A forced melon is never sweet. It's up to you whether you want to take a bite or not."
Wang Jiayi instantly deflated. The young lady wasn't stupid; she knew her previous unreasonable pestering and insistence had upset people. Lan Lan was making her hit a wall to know when to quit.
Just then, the bell above the door jingled. Miss Wei walked in laden with bags, her expression dazed as she looked at Lin Lan and blurted out, "Dr. Liu says Nian Nian is nearly three weeks pregnant."
Seeing her like this, Lin Lan fell silent, but Wang Jiayi was the first to speak up. "That's the one that followed you home on its own on New Year's Day?" She stared at the cat carrier in the other's hand, looking astonished. "So, this cat knew it had kittens in its belly and deliberately found someone to take care of it on purpose?"
Wow, how clever!
The young lady didn't say the above sentence out loud, but her barely concealed expression made it obvious to anyone.
"Xiao Song, please make a cup of milk tea for me." Shop Owner Lin instructed the only other employee besides herself who knew how to make milk tea, then walked over to Miss Wei.
A few minutes later, Wei Yan and Lin Lan sat facing each other at a set of fabric-covered dining chairs. On the table, besides the cat carrier containing Nian Nian, there was also a cup of hot tea.
"I really hadn't imagined things were like this back then," Wei Yan said, looking at the quiet, long-haired grey-and-white cat in the carrier with a complicated expression. "No wonder Nian Nian actively followed me that day. It was because she was pregnant in the winter."
"Are you that shaken by it?" Lin Lan found it somewhat amusing.
"Shaken, not really." Wei Yan didn't quite know how to answer. Through the small window on the cat carrier, Nian Nian was lying inside in a "loaf" position. This cramped space gave her a great sense of security. Even through the bag, one could hear her purring with her eyes closed. Seeing her so utterly content and at ease made her owner both amused and exasperated. "How should I put it... feeling a bit conflicted is true."
"Feeling conflicted is definitely understandable." Lin Lan nodded in agreement, after all, the little cat's initial motive for the "adoption scam" wasn't pure. "But it's also because she liked you that she followed you home. Otherwise, you're not the only kind-hearted person who feeds stray cats that act cute. Why did she pick you alone to follow, refusing to leave no matter what? Even keeping a pet depends on whether there's a connection between the two parties."
Clearly, after being taken home by Miss Wei, the supposedly fierce stray cat had been incredibly well-behaved, even patiently enduring a bath. These actions themselves already indicated that Nian Nian and she were a good match.
Wei Yan's expression softened, obviously having thought of this too, though she didn't say anything.
"What? Are you scared of being a grandma?" Seeing this, Lin Lan deliberately continued, "It's fine, you know. If you really don't want to raise the kittens, you can give them all to me after Nian Nian gives birth."
Wei Yan, who had been silent until now, immediately shook her head in refusal. "No, no, I didn't say I didn't want them. I... I want to raise them. I want to take good care of Nian Nian and her children..." As she said this, she looked at the long-haired cat in the carrier, her expression very gentle.
Although it was her first time keeping a pet, her first time raising a cat, and she was suddenly faced with the news of Niannian being pregnant, with many, many things she still didn't understand, the joy and happiness Niannian brought her was enough for her to gladly accept all its surprises, which of course included its kittens.
"I'll take good care of them all..."
With a month and a week left before Niannian was due to give birth, The Lady Programmer adopted an extremely serious attitude. Sitting in the teahouse, she carefully recalled and recorded Dr. Liu's earlier instructions, jotting them down in her phone.
"It's a bit troublesome to write everything down bit by bit in the notes app like this. It really would be better to just make a dedicated little app for the phone." The programmer's immediate leap to "let's make an app" stunned the friends around her. "Niannian is pregnant, I need to take even more meticulous care of her. Food... water... supplies... But I'm always working overtime and can't always be with her. Should I buy some remote electronic device to control feeding and watering?"
"Wei Yan, why are you making it so complicated?" The blunt young lady asked, puzzled. "If you're worried about not being able to care for Niannian properly, why not just take the cat to the office? Even while working, spending a few minutes looking after a cat isn't that much trouble, right?"
The Lady Programmer, who had been typing on her phone with her head down, suddenly looked up at her as if struck by a revelation. "You're right! I can take the cat to the company with me!" Her company had a very humane culture, especially towards their poor, often overnight-working, balding coders. "If I apply for pet permission from the company, it'll definitely be approved!"
No sooner said than done. Her fingers flew across her phone as she sent an email to her company.
Since it was still during the New Year holiday period, the email wouldn't be seen and approved by management immediately, but Wei Yan was already satisfied.
"Lin Lan, Wang Jiayi, thank you. I need to go buy some more things to take to the office later when work starts, so I'll head off first." Impatient, she slung the cat carrier on her back, picked up the large bag of purchases, and left happily.
Once Miss Wei left, everyone else in the teahouse turned their eyes to Wang Jiayi.
"Why is everyone looking at me?" The young lady was baffled. "My family's company also has employees who bring pets to work. They even provide free pet food and litter. What's so strange about that?"
Alright, enough, we get it, you're from a wealthy family.
Song Xinmin didn't pay much mind to Wang Jiayi's earlier words. Instead, he watched Wei Yan's departing figure with some emotion. "Is this how all you cat people are?"
The shock and sense of loss from suddenly becoming a "grandpa" lasted only a moment before she was immediately filled with drive, preparing for the cat mother's pregnancy and tending to her. If this were a person, they could instantly fit the role of the devoted, second male lead in a TV drama.
"What's wrong with that?" The other three people present said in unison. "Kittens are so cute, what's the problem?"
After speaking the same words simultaneously, the three couldn't help but look at each other and laughed together the next second.
The previously tense atmosphere from the earlier argument completely vanished.
"Lan Lan, I've decided," Wang Jiayi spoke up first. "I still want to come work here. Even if Sister Tang is the one to guide me, for the sake of the cats, I think I can put up with her sharp tongue."
"Hmph, that's my line, isn't it?" Sister Tang retorted, crossing her arms. "Let me be clear upfront. If you come to work, you have to act like it. If you don't do the work properly and I scold you, don't go crying to the manager."
"Don't worry, if she really messes up and gets scolded, I won't pay attention to any complaints either," Lin Lan chimed in immediately from behind, putting on her manager's stern face. "There's a probation period until the tenth day of the new year. If you're not hired, you'll just have to continue being a VIP customer, drinking tea and petting cats."
"Ugh, I'm not that useless!"
