On the first day back in her hometown, Lin Lan discovered she could suddenly understand cat language.
And it was already confirmed that this wasn't an illusion.
Most people would instinctively wonder "Why?" or "How did this suddenly happen to me?" when faced with such an anomaly, and Lin Lan was no exception.
After carefully recalling her recent experiences, thinking back to the things she saw and heard during her trip to Greece, her mind skimming over the tour guide's introduction to Greek deities, the moon goddess's wishing well, the local playful legends, and countless other images, Lin Lan finally fixed her memory on the moment she checked out of the hotel, got into a taxi, and said goodbye to those two stray cats.
The meows she heard that day when she got in the car were real, and those two cats really were bidding her farewell.
She had gained this special ability on the last day she left Greece, and it was most likely because she had visited the Moon Goddess's wishing well earlier.
She had tossed a coin, and then the deity had answered her wish.
...The whole thing sounded more like nonsense. If it hadn't happened to her, Lin Lan would have just dismissed it as an internet joke.
But now, the joke had become real.
The lucky one, however, immediately clutched her chest, her face a picture of utter anguish.
"What a huge loss!" Lin Lan's face was full of regret. "If I'd known it would be this effective, I definitely wouldn't have made that kind of wish!"
Her dramatic display of beating her chest and stamping her feet was exactly like Lin's father's behavior when he sighed longingly over upscale residential complexes.
Just look at what she had missed! The loss felt worse than missing out on a hundred million, no, even more!
The more she thought about it, the more her heart ached. Lin Lan, her face scrunched up, turned and walked towards the snack shop. She deftly picked up a small shopping basket placed on the ground and plunged right in.
She needed the massive comfort of cola, chips, and preserved fruit to soothe this heartache!
As the young mistress of this building... pah, as the landlord's daughter, the snack shop's proprietress naturally knew Lin Lan too and even gave her a promotional discount at checkout. Lin Lan smiled and thanked her.
"Are you back home on holiday for a few days?" Before she left, Lin Lan heard the shop owner ask familiarly.
"No, I quit my job," Lin Lan stopped and replied. She didn't hide it; everyone in the building would find out sooner or later anyway, so it was better to be open about it. "I'll look for a new job here in my hometown from now on, not going out anymore."
The proprietress was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, then nodded vigorously in agreement. "You should have done that long ago. It's not so easy to make it out there. Your mom used to chat with me and mentioned it too, and isn't it just like that? How many of those young folks who go out to work actually end up putting down roots in Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou? Most just end up coming back home honestly, don't they? If you ask me, home is still the best. Lan Lan, finding a job at home will make dating and getting married easier later too. If your partner bullies you, you won't have to worry about not finding someone to back you up."
The quick-tongued proprietress rattled off a whole bunch, all sincere words.
Lin Lan just smiled and didn't continue the conversation, walking out of the shop with her bag.
When she returned to her family's liquor and cigarette convenience store, she plopped the bag of snacks onto the glass counter. Wang Xiuzhi, Lin's mother, who had been sitting inside engrossed in a drama, was startled by the noise and whipped her head around. Seeing it was Lin Lan, she couldn't help but scold, "You brat, you scared me."
"Brought some tasty treats to show my filial piety," Lin Lan said, tilting her head. She saw the drama playing on the tablet propped up there—it was the fairly popular family drama from a few years back, "The Temptation to Go Home." Her mom was really into it right now.
Hearing her daughter, Wang Xiuzhi looked up and saw the large pile of snacks on the counter. She also stood up, reached into the bag, pulled out two packs of sunflower seeds, and sat back down while tearing one open. "Went shopping at Old Chen's place? So much, are you planning to hole up at home these next few days?"
As she spoke, she was already skillfully cracking the seeds. The middle-aged woman was very adept at this action, spitting the shells accurately into the trash can below without even turning her head, her eyes never leaving the tablet screen.
"I do want to rest. The more I thought about it today, the more I felt like I suffered a huge loss," Lin Lan said, leaning on the counter, watching her drama-addicted mom, her reply somewhat listless. "Mom, if you could have gotten twenty billion, but because you didn't realize the opportunity, you only got less than a hundred million, would you be very upset?"
"Why be upset?" her mom replied without turning her head. "I'd be laughing my head off."
"Huh?" Lin Lan didn't understand. "Why? The benefit shrank so much, wouldn't you feel heartache and regret?"
"What do you mean 'why'?" Her mom impatiently glanced back at her, perfunctorily responding to her daughter's nonsensical question. "It was a windfall to begin with. Having something is already good enough, and you're still thinking about getting it all. You're really just as greedy as your dad."
"How is that greedy!" Lin Lan protested indignantly. "It was an opportunity that belonged to me in the first place. Isn't it only natural to want to get it all?"
"Then who do you blame for not seizing it? That's called deserving it." Wang Xiuzhi rolled her eyes at her daughter and directly shooed her away. "Go on, go on, go upstairs and munch on your snacks. Don't interrupt my show. The wife and the mistress are about to confront each other inside, it's the crucial moment!"
Lin Lan: "..." Is this really okay for a daughter who just returned home heartbroken? This mom is definitely the real one.
Helplessly carrying the snacks, Lin Lan went upstairs alone. No one else was home at the moment, so she went straight to her room.
Although she was often away from home, Lin Lan's room was always kept tidy by her family. Knowing she was returning today, the bedding had been sun-dried and changed on the bed.
The afternoon sunlight streamed in from the windowsill, illuminating the warmly-toned room and also drawing Lin Lan's attention to a photo frame on the desk.
It was a family portrait taken last year. Mom, Dad, Grandma Lin, and Lin Lan were all in it, facing the camera. In the photo, she was holding a beautiful white cat in her arms. It was the only one in the family not looking at the camera; instead, it had turned its head and was caught mid-yawn, its sharp little fangs and sticking-out tongue frozen by the lens.
Looking at the photo from afar, Lin Lan couldn't help but smile. Suddenly, she thought that being able to understand what Snowflake said in the future might not be so bad. There would be one more being at home to chat with.
She hadn't taken two steps forward when her foot bumped into something.
Looking down, it was a pile of unpacked travel souvenirs.
Lin Lan smacked her forehead. "Almost forgot, need to deliver things to Auntie Yu!"
Uncle Yu had been so kind to help her with such a big favor. Now that she was finally home, she really should send some gifts to thank them.
After sorting out the souvenirs she had picked out for that family back in Greece, Lin Lan tidied herself up a bit, then grabbed the gifts, went out, clattered up to the second floor, and knocked on the Yu family's door.
It was the weekend, a busy time for the service industry. Usually, Uncle Yu returned very late, but Auntie Yu and Yu Lingling were both home.
The door opened, and a fourteen-year-old girl inside looked at her with pleasant surprise. "Sister Lan Lan, long time no see! Come in, come in!" It was Yu Lingling.
As the young girl lowered her head to hand Lin Lan the slippers, a rough, hoarse voice chimed in from inside the room: "Come in! Come in!"
Hearing this, Lin Lan immediately smiled. "Just from the voice, I can tell Little Kui is still as lively as ever."
"Of course," the girl pouted, casting a jealous glance inside. "My mom treats it like a lord every day. If it weren't a bird and not a person, I'd think it was her real child."
Before her words faded, Auntie Yu's scolding voice came from behind: "What nonsense are you saying, you silly child!"
Lin Lan looked up to see Auntie Yu, having heard the commotion, walking towards the entrance. Not only that, but perched on her shoulder was a large parrot. The bird stretched its neck towards Yu Lingling and squawked: "What nonsense are you saying! What nonsense are you saying!"
Even though it was just a parrot's mimicry, it somehow looked like pure mockery.
"You stupid bird!" Yu Lingling shook her little fist at the parrot hatefully. "No nutty treats for you today!"
The Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo was this bird's scientific name. Its entire body was snow-white except for a crest of pale yellow feathers on its head. When raised, the crest looked like half a sunflower perched on its skull, hence the name. As a pet, this type of bird could generally live to be seventy or eighty years old.
Yes, that means, if well cared for, it could very well outlive you.
Six years ago, when its owner, Auntie Yu, brought it home from the flower and bird market, the bird received a simple and straightforward new name: Little Kui.
Auntie Yu had put considerable effort into raising it, even obtaining a permit from the Forestry Bureau for fear someone might report it and have the bird confiscated.
Perhaps due to its owner's doting care, in Lin Lan's memory, this bird had quite a cheeky personality. It would watch TV with Auntie Yu while cracking sunflower seeds, keeping her company and amusing her. Not only that, it would also throw its weight around and tattle to Auntie Yu—like when Yu Lingling played on her phone instead of doing homework, or when Uncle Yu secretly stashed away his private savings. It was practically a little household surveillance camera in Auntie Yu's hands, to the point where the father and daughter sometimes had to butter it up. It was truly the undisputed tyrant of the Yu household.
Of course, Lin Lan thought its most impressive skill was its ability to read people, knowing who was easy to bully and who wasn't.
"Pretty lady! Pretty lady's here!"
Upon seeing Lin Lan standing at the door, the parrot Little Kui immediately abandoned its standoff with Yu Lingling and called out loudly to Lin Lan. Its sunflower crest stood erect, and with its wings spread, it looked exactly like a primary school student holding a bouquet to greet guests at the school gate: "Welcome! A warm welcome!"
Seeing this, Auntie Yu burst into hearty laughter. "After all this time not seeing you, Little Kui is still so enthusiastic towards you! Being fostered makes a difference!"
When the Yu family had inconvenient times while keeping a pet, like returning to their hometown for the New Year or having urgent matters that made taking the bird along impossible, they would send Little Kui to the Lin family for fostering. So Lin Lan was not only familiar with this bird but could be considered an old acquaintance.
As for what this arrogant, cheeky bird experienced at the old Lin household, and why it was so obedient towards Lin Lan, that was a secret unknown to the Yu family, much like Lin Lan's mysterious smile at this moment.
"Pfft, brown-noser," Yu Lingling scornfully mocked her family's troublesome bird.
But Auntie Yu glared at her just then. "Have you finished your homework yet?"
The middle schooler immediately ducked her head, stuck out her tongue, and ran off towards the back. You couldn't mess with the bird-protecting mother.
"Auntie Yu, I came to say thank you." Lin Lan smiled and handed over the gift bag in her hands with both hands. "Thanks so much for Uncle Yu's help recently. These are small gifts for you, Uncle Yu, and Lingling, all specialties and souvenirs brought back from Greece. Please accept them."
"Oh, you child, such a small matter isn't worth you spending like this," Auntie Yu immediately protested. She had heard a general account of what happened to Lin Lan from her husband. "You were being bullied out there, and Old Yu happened to be able to help. It was just what he should do. Besides, you paid for the car rental; Old Yu didn't really put in any effort. There's no need for you to specially bring gifts to thank him."
"Don't say that, Auntie Yu. If it weren't for Uncle Yu's help, things wouldn't have gone so smoothly. A new car like that would have been impossible for me to rent on my own." Lin Lan stuffed the items into the other's hands. "They're all just little things, not valuable. Please don't refuse. Oh, I also brought a gift for Little Kui. Why don't you let it see if it likes it?"
"Wow, Little Kui gets a gift too?" The middle schooler, who had slipped away but hadn't gone to do her homework, popped out from the back again and snatched the bag from her mother's hands. "Let me see!"
Yu Lingling ran inside with the gift, and the parrot perched on Auntie Yu's shoulder flapped its wings and chased after her, also squawking, "Let me see! Let me see!"
Witnessing the big and little tyrants of the household acting like this, Auntie Yu could only give up the struggle. She first promptly invited the guest into the living room. By the time she went to the kitchen to prepare tea and snacks and brought them out, Yu Lingling had already dug out the small gift prepared for the parrot.
It was a small necklace that could hang around its neck—a delicate Greek-style metal plate, very lightweight. On the front was a miniature engraving of Little Kui's Chinese name, and on the back, laser-printed, were the Yu family's address and contact information.
"A pet tag!" the girl exclaimed. After the parrot put it on, it seemed a bit uncomfortable at first, but after flapping its wings and pecking at it with its beak, finding it didn't hinder movement at all, it quickly adapted.
The white cockatoo started calling again: "Pet tag! Pet tag!"
"Mhm." Seeing it didn't seem displeased, Lin Lan also nodded with a smile. "Little Kui, did you thank me?"
"Thank you, pretty lady! Thank you, pretty lady!" Little Kui raised its sunflower crest again, flapping its wings open and closed in a display of joy.
The parrot's final sycophantic gesture caused a burst of laughter, and the Yu family living room was filled with continuous merriment.
As the sun set in the west, the Lin family's tobacco and liquor shop quickly closed up. Lin Lan went to the activity center to pick up Grandma Lin, and Lin Youyu also finished his chess game and ambled home slowly.
After dinner, the western part of the city was already lit up with countless household lights.
Lin Lan washed up early and retreated to her room, burrowing into bed. But like countless contemporary young people, getting into bed didn't mean she would fall asleep immediately.
Lying in bed idly scrolling through her phone, Lin Lan's thoughts were still on the supernatural ability she had only learned about that afternoon.
After visiting the Yu family and delivering the gifts, she had gone to the pet clinic downstairs. She knew the veterinarian there too, since she kept Snowflake and needed to get the cat vaccinated or buy nutritional paste.
Originally, she had intended to go in and find another cat to test her ability on. But just as she reached the entrance, the cat that had been screaming "The poop-scooper is going to give me a shot again!" and its owner happened to be coming out. She heard the cat's soft meows from inside the carrier bag. And when she directly received the thought, "Poop-scooper, if you don't open two cans of fish to appease me when we get back, I won't forgive you," she stopped in her tracks, turned around, and left.
"Still so weak and strange after all." Tossing her phone aside, Lin Lan rubbed her chin, unable to accept it. "Usually, when a protagonist in a novel gets a special ability, it's something like X-ray vision to see through jadeite or a spiritual spring for farming. Why is mine so... shabby?"
What can understanding cat language even do? Command the feline race and conquer the world?
Lin Lan thought about it. Ever since raising Snowflake, she had completely understood what a creature cats are—both adorable and utterly neurotic—so she immediately dismissed the idea.
These fluffy beings who can sleep half the day away should just continue being pampered by humans.
With her mind full of these random thoughts, Lin Lan eventually drifted off into a hazy sleep.
In her dream, she seemed to turn into a cat again, surrounded by countless felines. They all lazily basked in the sun together. The sunlight was too warm and comfortable; neither Lin Lan nor the other cats wanted to get up, curling into balls and sleeping soundly.
When she opened her eyes again, it was already the next morning.
Perhaps because she went to bed early last night, Lin Lan woke up early too. Looking out the window, the sky was just beginning to brighten. At this hour, no one else in the house was up yet.
The Lin family didn't make breakfast on weekends. Whoever woke up first was expected to conscientiously go downstairs to the snack shop to buy breakfast, then the whole family would eat together. Used to this rule, Lin Lan didn't find anything odd about it. Since she was the first one up today, she would go down and buy the food.
After getting dressed and opening her door, Lin Lan was about to step out when her toe bumped into something.
Right at the doorway, neatly placed, were a half-eaten chicken leg, a small piece of salted meat stolen from who-knows-where, and a still-wrapped candy that she had just accidentally kicked away.
Lin Lan's mouth twitched. Finally, she facepalmed. "I forgot about this..."
Snowflake's welcome gift.
The white cat, sleeping in its corner cat bed, rushed out the moment it heard Lin Lan's door move. The family took good care of it; the cat was slender, strong, with fluffy, clean, and glossy fur. It trotted over to her on its little paws.
"Snowflake," Lin Lan called out helplessly. "I've told you many times, don't bring me these things anymore." She really had no use for them.
But the white cat didn't listen. It even picked up the kicked-away candy in its mouth, brought it back, and neatly rearranged it in front of Lin Lan. Then it sat down, looking up at her with wide, round golden eyes, meowing.
"Meow—" (Lan Lan, Lan Lan, look!)
"Meow—" (There's food here, all for you. Don't go hunting outside anymore!)
Lin Lan's wry smile froze on her face.
Cats are creatures that can be both affectionate and fiercely independent. In their eyes, their owner's daily comings and goings are about foraging and hunting, and they are accustomed to these long, unexplained absences. In the understanding of these little beings, going out to hunt is a dangerous activity where one could lose their life at any moment. If the one who leaves returns later, it means the hunt was successful. If they don't return...
Lin Lan silently crouched down slowly. She reached out, gently picked up the cat in front of her, and held it in her arms, staying still for a long while.
Only after understanding the cat's language did she realize the truth that had been misunderstood all along.
It was never a welcome home gift. It was a plea for her not to travel far anymore.
"I won't go," she said, holding the cat, feeling her nose sting so much it threatened to bring tears. "I won't go hunting far away anymore."
