Presenting flowers was the final training Gentleman received from Lin Lan before the orange cat left the teahouse.
Although due to Yaoyao's situation, the Xiao family would absolutely take good care of Gentleman, there would inevitably be an adjustment and adaptation period for a cat joining a new family.
The more Gentleman demonstrated his intelligence and likability, the more beneficial it would be for his future life.
Manager Lin was quite confident that this scheming cat would win over the hearts of the Xiao couple in his new home. Big oranges were usually quite skilled at competing for favor.
While Missy was over there clutching her phone and exclaiming incessantly, Manager Lin was already busy with other matters in the teahouse.
By the time Yaoyao's family left, the patch of catnip planted in the backyard was already flourishing.
Pale purple flowers stood in pagoda-like clusters on the stems, huddled together, filling the planter box.
At that moment, a pair of golden-red kitten paws embraced a bunch in a hugging gesture. It was the Abyssinian cat, Pudding. The cat in question had completely lost its usual grace and elegance, burying its entire head in the pile of catnip, nibbling and licking, utterly intoxicated and unable to extricate itself.
It wasn't just Pudding. Several other cats were also rubbing against the flower bed nearby. Some, after sniffing, rolled on the spot, twisting and turning with their bellies up; others lay still, pinching a leaf they had bitten off with their paws and chewing it carefully; some were excitedly running around, and in their excitement, would suddenly pounce on a nearby cat too blissed-out to move and vigorously groom it; others were even more extreme, either sneezing or drooling.
This scene of cats gathering to indulge in catnip completely upended their usual demeanor, causing the customers in the main hall—who were watching through the glass wall and recording videos on their phones—to laugh uproariously.
"Hahaha! These videos and photos will keep me entertained for months!"
"Me too, so many pictures can be directly made into memes!"
"Look at Pudding's! In public, a dignified and noble Abyssinian; after catnip, a silly grass-chewing kitten!"
"Sausage's is truly fierce! After catnip, I'm the strongest little kitten, even with the lowest chassis I can conquer big brother Mercury!"
"Charcoal takes the cake. Siamese cats really are the Huskies of the cat world. Look at that little body wriggling, it's killing me with laughter."
"The Husky of the cat world is clearly the tuxedo cat! Look at Dottie's silly appearance, drooling while desperately rubbing against the planter box, it's making me laugh myself silly!"
Of course, not all sixteen... well, now fifteen cats in the teahouse reacted to this plant said to give cats hallucinations. A small number of cats were completely uninterested in catnip. They aloofly nestled in other corners of the teahouse, letting their overly euphoric counterparts be captured in one unflattering photo after another by the laughing two-legged creatures.
Employee Xiao Song, unable to bear the sight, shook his head and sighed. "Thank goodness this condition usually only lasts about fifteen minutes and is harmless to cats. Otherwise, just watching this, I'd want to pull out the plants."
Lin Lan, standing beside him, heard this and was about to say something when she saw the blissed-out Sausage in the narrow courtyard pounce onto Mercury. The sight of the Munchkin cat—so low-slung with its short legs—grooming the over-a-meter-long Maine Coon as if claiming him as a little brother was so comical that another group of people burst out laughing, leaving Manager Lin momentarily speechless.
"Ah, since they're already planted, let them have their fun. It's also a way for the kittens to relieve stress," Lin Lan finally managed to explain. "By the way, Xiao Song, has that photography competition of yours produced any results?"
It had been over two months; there should be some progress by now.
At this mention, Song Xinmin smiled. "The photo I submitted made the shortlist last week and is now in the final judging stage. The results should be out in no more than a week, and the winning works will be published in the magazine."
"Confident about winning an award?"
"Yes!" Song Xinmin replied with certainty. Even if he didn't trust his own skills, he trusted that feline model. Anyone with eyes could sense the aura of that lead cat.
The brief chat ended. A little while later, Lin Lan took a broom and dustpan to clean up the mess left by the kittens' catnip party, sweeping away all the ravaged flower and leaf debris.
"Planted too much. Should plant less next year," she muttered to herself while sweeping. "Milk Candy, don't chase after my broom. Be careful or I'll sweep you up too."
The silver-shaded cat, still basking in the afterglow of the catnip, carried on doing its own thing. Eventually Brother Song carried it out, holding it upside down by all four limbs. Even after being placed in a bowl-shaped cat bed, its goofy expression — head hanging over the edge and tongue lolling out to one side — once again drew laughter and the click of customers' phone shutters.
This scene happened frequently after the catnip grew well. Regular customers never tired of it because it was simply too funny.
The employees who saw it often were gradually becoming immune. For example, Missy, who now cared more about how to spend the two months' salary she had saved than watching the cats gather for catnip.
Previously, seeing the ailing Yaoyao being meticulously cared for by her parents, Wang Jiayi inevitably thought of herself.
When she was little, because she was weak and sickly, she was raised with very careful attention. As a child she couldn't understand her parents' loving kindness, but after learning many things in the teahouse, she came to see it more and more clearly.
But precisely because she had become sensible and understanding, Wang Jiayi, on the contrary, didn't dare to actively contact her family.
After thinking it over from every angle and still unable to bring herself to make the call, Missy simply chickened out and skipped that step. Clutching her freshly earned wages, she instead dragged Lin Lan out to go shopping.
"Lanlan, I've saved up two months' salary," Wang Jiayi invited Lin Lan. "It's... it's not much money. So, do you know where there's a suitable mall for me to buy gifts?"
Lin Lan was taken aback for a moment, then understood her true meaning upon seeing her very nervous expression.
Missy wanted to buy gifts for her family. However, because the money she earned from this job wasn't much, she couldn't spend lavishly as she usually did. Yet, her family's standard of living was what it was, and Missy wasn't willing to buy things that were too low-end. So, she simply came to ask her, a local, where would be the most appropriate place to spend these few thousand in salary.
"Picking gifts? Of course I know where to go," Lin Lan said without hesitation. The conflict between Missy and her family was actually very simple. It had lasted from last winter until late spring, and it was about time to end. "How many people are you planning to buy for?"
"Three," Wang Jiayi answered instinctively. But then it occurred to her that on average, she could only spend about two thousand per person. Missy's face began to burn with embarrassment again. "...No, maybe I should save for another month."
"No need, the money is enough." Lin Lan interrupted her hesitant deliberation. If they delayed any longer, summer would arrive. "At this price range, we can definitely buy a gift with both excellent quality and taste, something perfectly presentable. And think about it, how many daughters would take their entire first two months' salary and spend it all on a gift? That's incredibly sincere, okay?"
Manager Lin skillfully avoided the fact that the Missy and her family certainly didn't need those few thousand yuan, focusing instead on the preciousness of her hard-earned two months' wages. This immediately pleased the other party, who eagerly arranged to go shopping together the next day.
Their shopping trip naturally meant Song Xinmin was forced to watch the shop alone for half a day: "..."
Watching the shop alone wasn't the main point. What he really wanted to complain about was how the manager had brought out her knack for coaxing the little cats into duping people, and it had actually worked.
The next day, as Song Xinmin guarded the teahouse alone, his sense of speechlessness deepened another layer when he saw Cheng Fengyang, who wasn't looking for someone here for the first time but had come to no avail once again.
The little episode in the teahouse was unknown to Lin Lan, and even if she knew, she could only tell Cheng Fengyang to either go back or wait in the teahouse petting cats. She had already gone out with Wang Jiayi and reached the designated mall.
"This is the mall." Local Lin Lan pointed to the bustling plaza ahead, introducing it to the Missy. "In West City, it's considered mid-to-high-end. There aren't many luxury brands inside, but the quality and after-sales service of the goods sold are quite solid, with a very good reputation. All my family's new clothes last year were bought here."
"I remember that! The scarf you bought for New Year, I recall. Even though it was a brand I hadn't heard of, the style and quality were really good!" The Missy quickly recalled some details, her originally anxious expression settling down.
Wang Jiayi followed Lin Lan into the mall building. As the dazzling array of shops came into view, the two women soon immersed themselves in the joys of shopping. The Missy, who rarely shopped anywhere outside luxury brand stores, this time witnessed the super high cost-performance ratio of mid-range goods.
Lanlan was right! "You get what you pay for" applies to things that are "cheap," but once the unit price reaches four digits, most ordinary products can't really be considered cheap anymore!
Drawing on her years of shopping experience, Wang Jiayi picked out a tie, a pair of earrings, and a gemstone cufflink, corresponding to her parents and elder brother at home. Disregarding brand value, these items were in no way inferior to those from major brands in terms of both quality and style, so Wang Jiayi was very satisfied with this shopping trip.
"So? The things are all pretty good, right?"
When Lin Lan asked this with a smile, Wang Jiayi could only happily nod while holding her shopping bags.
After several hours of mall crawling, it was nearing mealtime and both were hungry.
"Lanlan, thank you for today. Let me treat you to Western food!" The Missy pulled Lin Lan, ready to dash into a Michelin-starred restaurant across from the mall.
Manager Lin was so startled she immediately pulled her back, refusing with a serious expression: "Jiayi, don't be like that. Think about how we just spent a whole morning spending your entire salary on gifts, and then think about a meal that costs more than that salary. Doesn't that seem wrong somewhere?"
It did seem quite wrong.
Wang Jiayi stuck out her tongue a little and quickly changed her tune: "Then where should we go to eat?"
"Let's walk and look around. There are plenty of restaurants nearby. You can pick one you like when we see it," Lin Lan suggested, and Wang Jiayi gladly accepted.
The gentle spring breeze felt particularly relaxing to both of them, as they hadn't been out shopping like this for a long time. Manager Lin suddenly thought that this was one downside of running her own teahouse—being self-employed meant essentially having no days off.
Just as she was calculating whether to set a fixed day off for herself, Wang Jiayi beside her suddenly let out a shriek.
"Ah! A rat!"
Following her scream, Lin Lan spotted a black rat that had just emerged from a sewer drain. The rat was moving fast; by the time Wang Jiayi's short scream ended, it was already almost at the bushes in the greenbelt.
Just as it was about to dive in, a small kitten suddenly emerged from within, pouncing with astonishing speed, precision, and ferocity to pin the rat down. What followed was a series of bites, clutching hind-leg kicks, and violent shakes... The rat completely lost its ability to resist and was carried away in the kitten's mouth, vanishing in an instant.
"So, so impressive..." Forgetting her fright, Wang Jiayi stared dumbfounded at the now-empty bushes.
The Missy had only ever seen cats eating cat food, homemade meals, or playing with teaser wands. She had never witnessed such a live version of a cat catching a rat. Moreover, that cat was at most three months old, its scrawny little body not even as plump as the rat.
"There are lots of restaurants around here, so it's normal for the rats to be well-fed," Lin Lan couldn't help but comment. "But the competition among stray cats must be pretty fierce."
For such a small cat to be that skilled, yet still so thin...
Both Lin Lan and Wang Jiayi thought this was just a brief interlude. Afterwards, they found a restaurant to fill their stomachs and were planning to take the subway home when, unexpectedly, they encountered that little kitten again.
It had bitten the previously caught rat in half and brought it to a mother cat, nudging its head against the larger cat, urging it to eat with occasional meows.
But anyone could see at a glance that the mother cat had long been dead.
