Keeping a pet can really change a person's mental outlook, especially for single people living alone, like Miss Wei here.
A single person who hasn't even found a partner yet has now taken on the responsibility of being a cat grandmother, meticulously researching every detail about her furry child's upcoming delivery.
"I wonder what color the kittens will be in a month? Niannian is so adorable, her babies should be very pretty too, right?"
Looking at the long-haired cat with a large ruff in the carrier, Miss Wei's eyes shone with anticipation.
Seeing those eyes, Shopkeeper Lin swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue. She recalled the scene from last year when she first found Sapphire—a sickly little kitten just over a month old. It had taken immense effort and energy to save it. While Grandma Wei most likely wouldn't be delivering sickly kittens, a whole litter would be enough to keep her busy later on.
Even if she plans to give the kittens away later, a responsible attitude means they should stay with their mother for three months before being sent off.
"You've got your work cut out for you. Good luck." In the end, Shopkeeper Lin could only offer this encouragement to her tenant.
The worrying life of a grandmother was only just beginning a month from now.
In the teahouse, after resolving the Qiuqiu incident involving Song Xinmin and the cat leader stakeout, peace had returned.
Shopkeeper Lin's focus shifted back to the group of little cats in the teahouse... Well, to be precise, she settled into her daily routine of observing the teahouse cats as they began their process of brainwashing... no, persuading the new cat.
Lin Lan's arrangement for the Bengal cat Gray was as follows: for the first three days, she would let the cat out of its cage when the shop was empty, allowing it to move around or have tentative contact with the other cats. Once it had familiarized itself with the entire teahouse environment, she stopped worrying about whether there were customers in the shop.
For the Bengal cat, who remained wary of humans, Lin Lan was the only one who could pet and hold it. After getting used to the network of catwalks on the teahouse walls, whenever it saw a stranger enter, the cat would immediately leave the floor, hiding on the high shelves near the ceiling to watch warily from above—it was already afraid of people itself. Moreover, having received warnings from Lin Lan, it was even less likely to give strangers a chance to touch it, thus avoiding any incidents of cats scratching customers.
With the strong crowd control provided by employees Song Xinmin and Wang Jiayi, Shopkeeper Lin also changed her usual sunbathing spot by the window to a small corner seat closer to where the Bengal cat was.
As for that massively long web novel she had passed off... ahem, lent her account to Yu Lingling to read, the middle schooler had finished it in a few days. She had come over enthusiastically the day before yesterday, acting as an excellent class representative by summarizing the entire plot and telling Lin Lan all about it.
Today, however, the middle schooler's winter vacation had ended. With her backpack, she had officially started the new semester. The school was currently a scene from a large-scale horror movie, packed with people.
So, on the surface, Lin Lan was sitting there brewing a pot of tea and concentrating on scrolling through her phone. In reality, she was pricking up her ears, eavesdropping on the conversation between the cats above her.
The Bengal cat Gray was also hiding on the high catwalk today, avoiding the unfamiliar humans who came in from time to time below. After these days of adaptation and the reassurance from that terrifying human who wouldn't hurt it, it no longer felt tense or uneasy here. Even if some oblivious human saw it and tried to grab it, it could calmly evade their grasping hands and jump to a high place to look down on them.
Hmph, foolish humans, don't even think about touching a single hair on its body.
The little leopard-spotted cat looked down at the tea customers from its high perch, not even noticing that its tail was swishing leisurely behind its aloof expression.
This period of time at the teahouse was the most comfortable and relaxing the Bengal cat had ever felt. There was a magical human here who could talk to it. She also provided delicious food and would absolutely never hit it. She would groom it and give it massages. Although at first she had her six black cats beat it up and forced it to let her pet and hold it, Gray felt that considering how well she had taken care of it since, it wasn't unforgivable.
Like now, this human was also protecting it. After letting it out of the cage, she would always sit nearby, blocking other humans from coming to hold it.
The little Bengal cat lay on the catwalk, its small head resting on the edge as it maintained its aloof expression while looking down at the humans below.
The other cats here seemed to call her... Lanlan?
If this human could always treat it like this in the future, it wouldn't be impossible for it to start calling her that too...
(Lanlan is super nice, she's very gentle with us, right?)
A cat suddenly squeezed in beside it, lying down close and also looking down below, its paws resting on the edge of the walkway.
The Bengal cat looked at it. It was a cat with a similarly slender build as itself—beatable, not a threat. It sniffed the cat's scent. Although there was some smell of unfamiliar humans, the strongest scent was that of the human below, which wasn't unpleasant either.
So, the Bengal cat didn't move away.
The fellow cats here seemed very friendly. Every time it stayed in one spot, a cat would always come over to sniff it. But Gray, who had been on high alert before, wouldn't let humans get close, and of course, wouldn't let cats get close either, instinctively avoiding anyone who approached. It was only in the last few days that this had started to improve.
(Who are you?) Gray asked, swishing its tail as it looked at the cat beside it.
(My name is Pudding, it's the name Mama gave me.) The cat that had come over replied. It was one of the only two house cats in the teahouse with no experience of being a stray—the Abyssinian cat, Pudding.
Having been raised in a home since kittenhood and never having strayed, Pudding had a very gentle temperament. That completely non-aggressive, soft scent made the Bengal cat feel no urge to be wary or run away. Instead, it went along with the other's friendly overture to communicate.
Or perhaps, the Bengal cat was interested in its current caretaker, Lin Lan, and was happy to gather some information from the Abyssinian cat.
Pudding continued: (I heard Lanlan say that you and I were both taken from cat shops. After Mama took me, she was always very good to me. Later, to protect me, she sent me to Lanlan here.)
The Bengal cat suddenly stood up: (How can you call a human "Mama"! My mama would never hit me, and she definitely didn't have that unpleasant smell!)
(That's because I was weak from birth, so Mama took me away to care for me personally. Not every human has that smell we dislike... Gray, where are you going!)
Before Pudding could finish, the Bengal cat ran off angrily to hide somewhere else.
Shopkeeper Lin, sitting below and poking at her phone, thought, "Oh dear, Pudding's persuasion failed. The start was good, but the topic later stepped on a landmine."
Gray originally would have had a human mama who doted on it too, but because of the scent issue, the birth mother turned into a stepmother. That human-cat conflict had now become the little Bengal cat's childhood trauma, which was indeed quite troublesome.
But there was no helping it. Once a kitten's personality is set, it's not easy to change it back. It could only be done slowly.
In other corners of the teahouse, pairs of cat eyes watched the direction in which the leopard cat had left.
(Lanlan was right, as expected. This newcomer is a bit hard to deal with.)
The other cats, who had been observing all along, communicated silently among themselves. Cats with different personalities held varying opinions.
(This new cat has been sticking only to Lanlan every day lately. Such a schemer, dislike it.)
(Don't say that. Once we persuade it to join us in hunting for cans, it won't just stick to Lanlan anymore.)
(Exactly, we can't give up, even if just for the dried fish.)
The kittens exchanged information, actively preparing for battle, ready to conquer the stubborn leopard cat. Only the Black Cat Corps within the cat community was quite lax, either being held by tea customers begging for cans or lazily yawning wherever they were sprawled.
Persuade the leopard cat? What's that?
Didn't Lanlan say before, if someone's disobedient, just give them a beating. Why bother with something as troublesome as persuasion?
The teahouse's sole official feline violence institution remained as simple and crude as ever today.
Shopkeeper Lin, who understood this underlying meaning of the black cats, wiped his sweat and then sternly instructed that their "persuasion by force" was the final trump card, not to be used until the last moment. For now, it was better to let the other pedigree cats with experience as house cats try "persuasion by words" one by one.
The kitten Pudding, leading the charge, failed in persuasion, and subsequent cats continued the effort.
In the afternoon, another tea customer entered. The ringing bell at the main door startled the leopard cat dozing on a high perch, making its triangular ears twitch.
Suddenly, it caught a whiff of a fresh, savory scent.
That was the smell of food!
The leopard cat instantly opened its eyes and stood up. Following the scent, it saw a silver shaded British Shorthair standing before it, wagging its tail with a fish jerky in its mouth.
(Hey, newcomer, want to try this? It's really tasty!)
Although Gray remained slightly wary, its eyes were involuntarily fixed on the food. The enticing aroma from the fish strip made it lick its lips.
The silver shaded cat, Naitang, placed the fish strip in front of Gray. Just as it was about to make its next move, a tea customer on the ground already exclaimed excitedly.
"Oh, Naitang, you're so sweet! I wondered why you suddenly snatched the fish jerky from my hand. Was it to give to your friend?" The customer looked at the two cats with delight, their eyes scanning over the leopard cat a couple of times with particular surprise and joy. "When did this shop get a leopard cat? So beautiful! Little kitty, want some canned food? I have some here too!"
Having a fish jerky snatched by a cat was nothing. The customer indicated they had other cat-luring treasures.
The cat can was opened and deliberately waved near the leopard cat. The meaty smell from the can was even more appealing.
Gray didn't move, watching the person below warily.
(Don't you want to go eat?) Seeing it immobile, Naitang suggested from the side, then jumped down from the cat tree in a couple of leaps. The whole cat demonstrated by rubbing against the tea customer's legs, occasionally standing upright to paw at the guest's pants, letting out coquettish meows.
The leopard cat remained unresponsive despite repeated calls. The tea customer's attention was almost quickly recaptured by the silver shaded cat, and they directly gave the can to Naitang to eat.
Naitang didn't just eat by itself either. After a few bites, it called out to the leopard cat above.
(See, hunting for cans is easy, right? Come down and join! As long as you listen to Lanlan and don't scratch people, you can definitely finish a whole can by yourself!)
The kitten, eating while calling friends to share, melted the customer's heart once more. They couldn't help but reach out to pet it again, happily praising, "Naitang is so good, even knows to leave good things for its friend. Such a little angel!"
Shopkeeper Lin, who knew the whole truth: "..."
Looking up again, Lin Lan saw the leopard cat had already left its original spot on the cat tree and hidden in an even more secluded place.
Clearly, the food persuasion method had also failed.
However, the fish jerky Naitang had left there had also disappeared along with it.
Seeing this, Lin Lan couldn't help but curve the corners of her lips.
The project of persuading the leopard cat to join the teahouse team continued. The kittens who originally just ate and slept in the teahouse seemed to have found a new fun activity because of this, eagerly flocking around Gray one after another, allowing Lin Lan to occasionally witness some amusing scenes.
Whether it was persuaded to become closer to people showed no obvious effect yet, but it was true that the leopard cat was becoming more and more familiar with the other cats.
Besides the efforts of the cats, the humans didn't do nothing either. Afterwards, Lin Lan started having Xiao Song or Jiayi take turns delivering meals to the leopard cat, letting it get further accustomed to the scents of other people and realize that most humans don't hit cats.
Amidst this daily routine, West City gradually entered the early spring of March.
Just as the winter jasmine began to bloom, Lin Lan received a phone call from Cheng Fengyang, who had finally finished serving a demanding client and had time to rest again.
[Lanlan, let's go out for a meal together!] The person on the phone spoke in a bright and cheerful tone. [I've been working overtime all these days and haven't had time for a proper good meal. Let's go eat grilled fish at a restaurant! I also have a business opportunity I'd like to introduce to you!]
