When Cao Yuze brought someone into the teahouse, Lin Lan was sitting by the cat wheel in the corner. She was watching Mo Mo and Gentleman run on the wheel while grooming Huihui and Naitang, checking if their nails needed trimming or if the fur on their paw pads needed shaving.
"Not too long, no need for a pawdicure yet."
Just as she confirmed this task could be scheduled for later, Wang Jiayi's delighted greeting sounded from the water bar.
"Brother Yuze, you came to see me? ... Huh? You are... Yi Hang? Why are you here too?"
It seemed the young mistress had another acquaintance visiting. Lin Lan couldn't help but look back and saw Cao Yuze standing at the water bar with a teenager, talking to Wang Jiayi. Not long after, the young mistress waved excitedly in her direction.
"Lan Lan, you've got a customer coming your way!"
And then... the so-called customer turned out to be this fierce-looking Bengal cat.
The cat had a brownish-yellow base coat covered in black seal point rosettes. Its chest and belly were a near-white cream color, its eyes a common golden hue. The naturally eyelined eyes were now wide, round pupils glaring at everyone outside the cage, emitting a low, threatening growl full of vigilance.
"Hiss—!" (Come any closer and I'll scratch you to death!)
Hearing the cat's warning, Lin Lan immediately gave up on the idea of a closer inspection.
"Student Yi, has it always been like this?" She turned to ask the teenager, Yi Hang, the Bengal's owner.
"Pretty much," the boy replied with a year's worth of frustration and confusion. "His name is Gray. I found him in my family's courtyard about a year ago. He was probably seven or eight months old at most, often sneaking food from our kitchen, so I took him in. But even after raising him for so long, why is he still not affectionate? I looked it up online; Bengal cats are supposed to be gentle pets, different from wild leopard cats. He shouldn't be this wild, right?"
"Huh? He wasn't adopted from a cattery?" Lin Lan was surprised. She never imagined such a beautiful Bengal could be a stray.
"Last year, my family rented an apartment in a high-end community near my school so I could focus on preparing for the college entrance exams. That's where I found the cat," the boy, Yi Hang, briefly explained the cat's origin. "He looked cute back then, and I was under a lot of academic pressure. Remembering Brother Yuze said he relieved stress by keeping cats, I got the idea. I never thought that even after feeding him for a year, he still won't let me hold him. Trying to touch him gets me scratched."
Suddenly named, Cao Yuze coughed dryly, seemingly not expecting he'd been the reference point for this cat adoption.
Unfortunately, unlike Cao Yuze, Yi Hang, the exam candidate, did not successfully reduce stress with a cat; instead, it added quite a few troubles.
"My college entrance exams are in June this year. My family keeps telling me to get rid of the cat to focus on studying, but I just can't bring myself to do it. Then Brother Yuze introduced me to you, Shopkeeper Lin. He said you're very good at training cats and might have a way to solve this problem."
After listening, Lin Lan lowered her head in thought. "So, apart from not allowing people to hold or pet him, he uses the litter box and eats normally and everything else?"
"Yes," Yi Hang nodded. "He eats and uses the litter box fine. Otherwise, I couldn't have kept him for a year. He just won't let anyone touch him for things like bathing."
Hearing this, Lin Lan frowned. She turned back to look at the cat in the cage and tentatively reached out her hand. Again, before she could even get close to the cage, the Bengal lunged forward with a swipe, making the cage walls tremble slightly.
"Hiss—!" (Human, I'll scratch you to death!)
It was so fierce that Wang Jiayi, watching from behind the water bar, took two fearful steps back, patting her chest. "Little Yi Hang, he's so fierce."
At this moment, Lin Lan confirmed something. "Student Yi, he had an owner before you found him. But his previous owner did not treat him well. To be precise, he was abused by his previous owner, at least beaten severely several times. That's why he has a strong fear and resistance towards human hands."
The boy's face changed slightly upon hearing this.
Cao Yuze, who saw this, couldn't help but frown. "Yi Hang, you didn't hit the cat too, did you?"
The boy immediately became evasive. His attitude made Wang Jiayi behind the bar unhappy. "No way, Little Yi Hang? You decided to keep him, how could you hit him? That must have hurt the kitten so much!"
"I didn't mean to either!" Yi Hang said defensively. "I just wanted to pet him that time, but he scratched a really long gash on my arm. It hurt so much and I was so angry that I couldn't help it." As if to prove his point, the boy rolled up his sleeves, revealing forearms and hands covered in cat scratch scars, old and new crisscrossing over each other.
The sight made Lin Lan gasp involuntarily, let alone Wang Jiayi behind her.
"Why do you keep bothering with such a fierce cat?" the young mistress softened her voice. "No matter how much you like him, you can't live with him like this."
"But I can't just abandon him, Sister Jiayi," Yi Hang said helplessly. "Even though Gray is fierce towards people, I still quite like him. And I definitely can't throw him outside. He loves to scratch and bite people so much, he'd definitely anger others. Who knows if he'd even survive then? My family says to give the cat away, but who knows where they'd send him? Being this fierce, they might just give him a lethal injection to save trouble. I don't want that either, so I had to find someone to see if his behavior can be corrected."
"For cats, scolding and hitting are useless," Lin Lan spoke up then. She looked at the Bengal baring its claws and glaring warily from the cage, her expression turning helpless. "The result of excessive 'discipline' is that it thinks you're harming it, which erodes its trust and dependence on you, leading to hostility and resentment. Just like now, he not only dislikes you, but also unwelcomes strangers like us. Clearly, people other than you have also hit him."
"Uh... it was the aunt my family hired to take care of me," Yi Hang admitted awkwardly.
Now the situation was clear, and it was quite awkward. This cat had been scared of humans by being beaten, hence its rejection of human hands. It no longer believed someone just wanted to hold or pet it; it only thought it was about to get hit again.
An uncertain silence fell over the scene.
Lin Lan stroked her chin, staring intently at the cat in the cage, her delicate eyebrows tightly knit. "This is a bit difficult..."
Yi Hang's face fell with disappointment. He had thought the cat training expert introduced by Brother Yuze would have a solution, but it seemed...
"Here's what we can do. Leave the cat with me first. I'll try to see if I can correct his behavior and help him stop being afraid of people again." Lin Lan turned to look at the boy. "Student Yi, you're taking the college entrance exams this year. You shouldn't have any extra pressure. Leave the kitten with me until after your exams, then come pick him up. If Gray can accept you by then, we'll discuss the fee. If not, there's no charge. If it works, we can sign a written agreement. How does that sound?"
Yi Hang shook his head. "Having Brother Yuze and Sister Jiayi here is the best guarantee. I trust Shopkeeper Lin and am willing to leave Gray in your care." He turned to look at the cat in the cage, revealing a bitter smile. "To be honest, I'm actually a bit relieved to be able to leave the cat. My parents will finally stop nagging me about this, and I have something to look forward to—when I come back in a few months after my exams, Gray might be willing to be affectionate."
Upon hearing this, Wang Jiayi immediately puffed out her chest. "Don't worry, Lanlan is great at training cats. I'll help look after it too. Your Gray will definitely be fine." It was the first time someone considered her reliable enough to be a guarantor, filling the young lady with a surge of pride.
"Then it's settled," Cao Yuze finalized as well. "Yi Hang still has tutoring sessions with his home tutor later, so we should get going. Shopkeeper Lin, we entrust this Bengal cat to you. If there's good news, we can definitely discuss generous compensation."
At this moment, Wang Jiayi quietly leaned in behind Lin Lan and whispered, "Yi Hang's family runs a jewelry company. His pocket money is no small amount. Fleece him!"
Look at this girl. She hadn't even lived here for a full month and had already picked up the slang for ripping someone off.
Before leaving, classmate Yi wanted to bid farewell to the Bengal cat. "Gray, I'm leaving. Be good here..." Before he could finish, he was met with a hiss from the cat. "Alright, fine. I'm going. Do whatever you want."
The young man pushed the door open and left with an air of resignation. Cao Yuze called out a quick goodbye and hurried after him.
The few people in the teahouse watched the boy's departing back with mixed expressions.
Song Xinmin looked at the person, then at the cat, and sighed with some emotion. "It's not just that the Bengal cat has lost trust in people. That college entrance exam student is also nearing his limit of disappointment with Gray."
Considering the numerous wounds on the young man's arms, one could tell how much he had wanted to accept this cat, stubbornly trying to get close again and again, but both the timing and the methods were wrong.
"Don't say that," Wang Jiayi said gloomily. "You're making me think that even if Lanlan trains the cat well, little Yi Hang might not want Gray anymore anymore."
That's pretty much it. Lin Lan replied inwardly, not voicing it out loud. The high school student's words and expression earlier had indeed hinted at this intention. The reason he hadn't abandoned the cat until now wasn't out of reluctance to part with it, but out of fear it would lose its life as a result.
A cat that injures people is destined to be rejected by society. If not corrected, its fate is easy to imagine.
The young man couldn't bear it, which is why he sought her help through Cao Yuze.
He just wanted to give the cat a chance to live.
"Give me the cat," Lin Lan said, picking up the carrier and heading towards the boarding room at the back. "I'll leave the teahouse to you two. I'm going to settle this cat in."
The two immediately grew concerned. "Are you sure you'll be okay alone? What if you get scratched?"
"It's fine," Lin Lan waved her hand. "If there's really a problem, I'll call Mo Mo and the others for help."
Watching the black cat brigade swiftly follow the shopkeeper, the other two: "..."
Was she saying they were less useful than cats now?
Apart from the time Niu Niu had stayed, the boarding room was empty, with rows of vacant cages inside. Lin Lan carried the carrier in, and as she stepped inside, six black cats also slipped into the room before the door was closed again.
With only Lin Lan alone in the room, she no longer held back. She set down the cage and locked eyes with the cat inside.
"Hiss—!" (Come fight if you want!)
For cats, mutual staring is a signal for wanting to fight. The Bengal cat, already averse to humans, immediately puffed up its fur and hissed threateningly under Lin Lan's gaze.
"I don't want to fight you," Lin Lan said to the caged cat. "You can understand me, right, little cat? If I fight you, you'll scratch me, and I don't want to get hurt, so I won't fight you. Do you understand, Gray?"
Perhaps it understood, or perhaps it was shocked that it could actually comprehend what this human was saying. The Bengal cat, which had been hissing incessantly at people, grew quiet.
"Can we communicate peacefully now?" Lin Lan took a cat treat stick from her pocket and tore it open. "Or shall we chat while you eat? You must be very hungry now, right?"
The cat had been in a state of vigilance and fear, which took a toll on both its mental and physical energy. The delicious aroma of the cat treat made the Bengal cat involuntarily lick its lips.
"Meowr—" The Bengal cat let out a low-throated call. Its tone was still wary, but much calmer than at the beginning. (What do you want to say? I won't submit to you.)
Mo Mo, who had been sitting quietly behind Lin Lan, wanted to rush over, but Lin Lan held it back and immediately picked it up, cradling it to soothe it. "I don't intend to make you submit. After all, you dislike humans right now, don't you? How could I do something you hate?"
While petting Mo Mo and scratching its chin, Lin Lan kept her eyes on the caged cat. She freed one hand and squeezed some of the treat through the bars of the cage. "This is the most popular cat treat among the little cats in my shop. You should try it too, Gray."
If it weren't caged, the Bengal cat would probably have found the farthest, darkest corner to hide in. Unfortunately, it couldn't escape now and could only watch as the cat treat swayed before its eyes, from left to right, then slowly back from right to left.
The little Bengal cat didn't even realize its own head was following the treat, swaying back and forth. As Lin Lan's movements grew more pronounced, it even traced a wavy line.
"Meow—!" (Give it to me!)
The Bengal cat finally let out a meow that aligned with human aesthetic standards. Lin Lan pushed the treat stick through the bars, and the cat immediately leaned over to lick the snack oozing from the torn opening.
There wasn't much in the treat stick, and Lin Lan soon fed the entire thing. With food in its belly and a sense of satisfaction, the Bengal cat's aggression diminished significantly. Only now had the one person and one cat truly reached a state where they could have a proper conversation.
"How many months old were you when you left your mother?"
"Meow." (Four months.)
Hmm, definitely a cat from a legitimate cattery or pet store then. Responsible cat breeders or sellers usually have clients take kittens home around this age. Firstly, kittens can only be vaccinated after three months. Secondly, it's the optimal time to foster a bond between the cat and its human. How close a cat becomes to its owner is crucial at this stage, after all, not everyone can communicate with cats as easily as Lin Lan.
"You didn't like the person who took you away?"
At this question, the Bengal cat's emotions suddenly became agitated. "Yowl—Hiss—!" (Hate! I hate her especially! She smelled so bad, I didn't want to go near her! Hate hate hate! Even more than that male human!)
The sudden agitation even startled Lin Lan. After finally calming the cat down, Lin Lan asked a few more questions. Through a combination of deduction and guesswork, she finally pieced together the general sequence of events from the Bengal cat's account.
The Bengal cat Gray... perhaps its first owner didn't call it that, but let's use the name given by classmate Yi for now... was a beautiful pedigree cat from a legitimate cattery. Its high quality caught the eye of its first owner, who bought it and took it home.
But the perfume this owner wore contained a component that cats despise, causing the pet cat, which should have been docile and affectionate, to strongly resist getting close to her. The cat owner, unaware of the reason, only felt that her overflowing affection was met with the cat's rejection and resistance. When coaxing didn't work, she resorted to force, and later was accidentally scratched on the face by the cat.
This was a disaster, like poking a hornet's nest. The little cat was severely beaten and its life in that home became utterly miserable.
Afterwards, the Bengal cat escaped from that home and encountered its second owner, Yi Hang, who lived nearby. Too afraid to return, the cat stole food from Yi Hang's house and lived as a stray for a while before being taken in again.
Because it failed to receive kind and nurturing human care during its most crucial developmental period, the Bengal cat developed childhood trauma. This also caused immense trouble for Yi Hang, who treated it well. Ultimately, a similar scenario to the first owner played out. Although Yi Hang only hit it once, it completely shattered the cat's confidence in interacting with humans.
"Tragic."
Lin Lan didn't know whether to say the Bengal cat's first two owners were tragic, or the cat itself was. Neither party intended harm, yet they still step by step led to such a situation.
"Gray," she looked at the Bengal cat in the cage. "I can guarantee now that you won't come into contact with any other humans besides me, but you must also agree to one condition. Provided I don't harm you, you cannot scratch or bite me."
The Bengal cat, distrustful of humans, refused outright: "Meow." (Why should I listen to you?)
Lin Lan smiled slightly and lifted the black cat Mo Mo in her hands. The black cat's emerald green eyes fixed intently on the Bengal cat in the cage. Held aloft by Lin Lan, it let out a threatening hiss towards the cage.
The well-fed, sturdy black cat mother had long since accomplished the great feat of unifying the Cat Tea House. Moreover, with her five obedient kittens behind her, she was the undisputed authority among the cat community there. Having long disliked the Bengal cat, Mo Mo, with Lin Lan's permission, directly issued a warning to Gray.
That roar was delivered with full force and imposing aura. The Bengal cat, which had been resisting Lin Lan, instantly froze in terror, arching its body into a bridge shape. All its fur stood on end, its ears flattened back, as it hissed back at the black cat, but its defiance sounded utterly lacking in confidence.
The difference in size and physical strength between the two was obvious at a glance.
Holding Mo Mo aloft, Lin Lan smiled amiably at the Bengal cat from behind: "You don't have to listen to me. As long as you can defeat the boss here after I open the cage door, you can do whatever you want."
