NDM-C6

Chapter 6

During class, Tan Xu couldn’t stop thinking about Yunxing being home alone.

Even when class ended and he handed the first draft of his paper to his professor, he was still somewhat distracted.

“Tan Xu, what’s wrong with you?”

Chen Chen leaned closer and looked at the draft in Tan Xu’s hands.

Tan Xu finally snapped back to reality.

He checked the time on his phone.

11:45.

Class had ended five minutes ago.

He couldn’t help wondering what Yunxing was doing.

A kilometer away, Yunxing had already been lying on the floor for quite some time.

His ear was pressed tightly against the tile.

Every person who passed outside could be heard clearly.

But none of them were Tan Xu.

Soon, Yunxing heard a familiar—

Ding—

The iron box had arrived.

But Yunxing didn’t immediately get up.

Only when he sensed Tan Xu’s presence getting closer did he finally stand.

The moment Tan Xu opened the door, he saw a certain little cat waiting right outside for him.

Yunxing saw him enter and deliberately acted aloof for a moment.

Then he began meowing.

“Why did you take so long?! I was bored to death!”

Yunxing circled Tan Xu once before moving closer and sniffing his trouser leg.

No other animals’ scent.

Good.

Tan Xu changed his shoes and headed toward the bedroom to put his paper on the desk.

The moment Yunxing saw him walking that way, he remembered what he’d done.

He immediately became extremely nervous.

“Meow meow meow!”

He rushed ahead.

Tan Xu’s eyelid twitched.

Don’t tell me this evil little cat did something bad.

Yunxing followed him into the bedroom guiltily while meowing desperately in his own defense.

“You left it too close to the edge! It’s not my fault!”

Tan Xu’s first glance around the bedroom immediately revealed that the bedside lamp was missing.

He walked around to the other side of the bed.

Sure enough—

There was the corpse of the lamp lying on the floor.

Tan Xu sighed.

He bent down, picked it up, and held it toward the sunlight to examine the broken edge.

Yunxing jumped onto the bed.

He initially wanted to place both front paws on Tan Xu’s arm and inspect the damage together.

Unfortunately, his body was too short.

His paws could only reach Tan Xu’s leg.

Tan Xu glanced down at the culprit.

He realized Yunxing wanted to see what had happened too, so he sat down.

Now that Tan Xu was sitting on the edge of the bed, Yunxing could easily place both front paws on his forearm and lean over to inspect the broken lamp.

Seeing the little cat looking so worried, Tan Xu deliberately sighed.

“What are we going to do? This was pretty expensive.”

Yunxing immediately became anxious.

“How much? How many times can you put that into the merit register?”

Tan Xu didn’t understand what he was saying, but he could guess that the cat was asking about the price.

He thought about it.

He’d bought the lamp online for 6,888 yuan.

For a little cat, that was enough to buy a lot of cans of food.

So he deliberately told Yunxing,

“That would be enough to cover your food expenses for an entire year.”

Yunxing’s mouth fell open slightly.

A year?!

What does Huo Xu mean by that?

Is he going to make me go without food for an entire year because I broke the lamp?!

Yunxing instantly became miserable.

But he quickly tried to defend himself.

“Fine, I broke your pretty lamp. But you took all my spiritual power! So we’re even!”

Yunxing had never learned arithmetic.

He had no idea how much food he could actually eat for 6,888 yuan.

But he knew that a year was a very long time.

This servant is so disobedient.

I’ve already explained everything, and he’s still trying to punish me.

Yunxing reluctantly rubbed his head against Tan Xu.

No reaction.

So he rubbed against him again.

Tan Xu couldn’t help laughing.

He placed the broken lamp back on the floor, then scooped up the little cat beside him and opened his mouth toward Yunxing’s head.

Chomp.

Yunxing was bitten right on the head.

He immediately began struggling and yowling.

“Huo Xu is eating the cat again! Somebody save me!”

But after struggling for a while, Tan Xu released him.

Yunxing immediately raised a paw and touched his head.

Nothing was missing.

Thank goodness.

Tan Xu remembered that he hadn’t prepared lunch for the little cat yet.

He patted the little cat, who was currently rubbing his face with his paws.

“Come on, Xingxing. Let’s find you something to eat.”

Only then did Yunxing remember the disappearance of his delicious food.

He gave Tan Xu a deeply resentful look.

You still haven’t noticed that something is missing?!

Tan Xu scooped up the little cat, who was mumbling away in meows, and carried him to the cabinet where he stored the cat food.

He opened the door.

Yunxing’s ears perked up.

Then his eyes lit up.

Inside were rows upon rows of cat cans and treat tubes.

“So they weren’t stolen!”

Tan Xu heard him muttering again and chuckled.

“What do you want? See anything you like?”

Yunxing’s four little legs shifted as he carefully considered his options.

He wanted to try every single one.

But he knew he couldn’t be greedy.

So he stared intensely at the can he wanted most.

“The chicken-flavored one!”

Tan Xu couldn’t understand.

So he held Yunxing by the armpits and lifted him slightly forward.

“Which one?”

Yunxing couldn’t move his paws at all while being held like that.

“Idiot! How am I supposed to point like this?! Put me down!”

When Tan Xu saw that the cat wasn’t moving, he simply brought him back into his arms.

Like holding a human baby, he used his other hand to point at each can one by one.

Only after Yunxing approved did Tan Xu take down the chicken-flavored can.

He opened it and poured the food into the little cat bowl.

Yunxing was just about to start eating when a large hand suddenly blocked him.

Yunxing looked up.

He tilted his head.

“Meow?”

Tan Xu paused.

He glanced at the other little cat bowl.

The water level looked exactly the same as when he’d left that morning.

So he simply used the empty food can to scoop up some water and poured it into the bowl.

Yunxing watched in horror as his delicious canned food was diluted.

He stared at Tan Xu in disbelief.

Then slowly backed away.

“Huo Xu! That’s too much!”

After his initial shock, only fury remained.

“It’s practically soup now!”

Tan Xu watched the little calico begin loudly protesting again and couldn’t help laughing.

“You didn’t drink any water all morning.”

Yunxing spun around twice.

“That’s because I wasn’t thirsty!”

Tan Xu smiled at him.

“Are you eating it or not? If not, I’ll take it away.”

Yunxing immediately rushed forward and began eating.

“I won’t forgive you, Huo Xu!”

Tan Xu couldn’t help laughing when he saw the cat eating while simultaneously complaining.

He pulled out his phone and started recording.

Yunxing was completely absorbed in his watery breakfast and didn’t notice that Tan Xu was secretly filming him.

Even after licking up the very last drop of diluted canned food, he continued meowing his complaints.

Once Tan Xu saw that he’d finished eating safely, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“This afternoon, I’m taking you to the pet hospital for a checkup.”

Yunxing stopped licking his paw.

He knew hospitals were places where humans went to get repaired.

So a pet hospital must be where little animals went to get repaired.

But he wasn’t broken.

Why did he need to go?

He gently shook his head.

“Huo Xu, I’m very strong. I don’t need to go to the hospital.”

Tan Xu couldn’t understand cat language, but he understood that shaking one’s head meant no.

“No, Xingxing.”

Tan Xu picked him up and sat down on the sofa.

“We’re going to the hospital for a checkup. Just to take a look.”

He also wanted to see when Yunxing could be neutered.

Naturally, he didn’t say that part aloud.

He’d already realized that Yunxing seemed to understand him.

He didn’t dare say it directly.

Otherwise, the little calico would probably punch him again.

Yunxing leaned against Tan Xu’s chest.

After thinking for a moment, he raised his head.

“Just a checkup?”

Tan Xu discovered that he seemed to understand this sentence.

He nodded.

“That’s right. Just a checkup. If you’re healthy, we’ll come straight back.”

The technician Tan Xu had booked to install the security camera was coming at four in the afternoon.

It wasn’t even one yet.

He planned to grab something quick to eat after returning home.

He picked up the cat carrier he’d ordered with yesterday’s delivery and prepared to put Yunxing inside.

The moment Yunxing saw the cage-like object, he froze.

Although it had pretty pictures on it, he knew exactly what this was.

A cage!

Don’t think he didn’t know!

Once he was locked inside, he’d be sold to some faraway place!

Because I broke the lamp, you’re selling me?!

Hateful Tan Xu!

I knew you had ulterior motives!

Yunxing shot away like a slippery loach.

He darted past Tan Xu’s legs and disappeared beneath the sofa.

Then he quietly watched from the darkness.

He hadn’t even blamed Tan Xu yet for stealing his spiritual power.

And now this human dared to treat him like this!

Tan Xu crouched down and looked underneath the sofa.

Yunxing’s glassy eyes glowed in the darkness.

“Xingxing, come out.”

Tan Xu’s voice was gentle.

“Didn’t you agree to go to the hospital? You said yes, remember?”

Yunxing stared at him.

“I don’t want the cage!”

Tan Xu tried again.

“I can’t see you under there. Come out and tell me if something’s wrong.”

Yunxing thought about it.

Tan Xu had bought him so many things.

If he sold him, wouldn’t all those things go to waste?

He slowly crawled out from beneath the sofa.

He wanted to tell Tan Xu that he didn’t want to be put in the carrier.

But he knew humans normally couldn’t understand him.

So he walked over to the carrier, raised one paw, and smacked it over.

Then he turned around and meowed at Tan Xu.

Surely you understand now, stupid human.

Yunxing pushed the carrier a little farther away.

His disgust was unmistakable.

If Tan Xu still didn’t understand after that, he really was a stupid human.

Luckily, Tan Xu remembered that there had also been a leash in yesterday’s package.

He took it out, crouched down, and showed it to Yunxing.

The leash was bright yellow.

There was even a fluffy star-shaped plush toy attached to the back.

Yunxing looked at it.

“Meow.”

Permission granted.

He then stood obediently still, waiting for Tan Xu to put on his exclusive star leash.

The moment Yunxing entered the pet hospital, his head began to hurt.

All the animals were crammed together, chattering noisily.

There were cats.

Dogs.

Even a pig.

The receptionist saw them arrive and hurried over to ask how she could help.

Yunxing widened his round eyes and carefully surveyed the pet hospital while Tan Xu discussed the necessary examinations with the receptionist.

Then—

“Hello, beautiful.”

A white cat nearby meowed at Yunxing.

Yunxing followed the voice.

And immediately jumped.

How dare such an ugly cat flirt with me?!

Not only that—

It had mistaken his gender!

This was absolutely unforgivable.

Anyone can tolerate this, but Yunxing cannot!

He immediately snapped back:

“I’m male! MALE!”

A black-and-white cow cat in the cage beside them immediately rushed to the cage door.

“Don’t fight! Let’s talk things out! I’m Sheriff!”

The moment everyone heard the argument, the already-noisy pet hospital practically exploded.

“I think you’ve watched too many cartoons. Sheriff?!”

“What did you say?! I am Sheriff!”

“Handsome kitty, do you have a girlfriend?”

“…”

The receptionist was starting to get a headache.

“Everyone, please stop fighting, okay?”

Yunxing also thought these animals were incredibly noisy.

He didn’t want to stay here for another second.

So he rubbed himself against Tan Xu’s trouser leg, trying to get his attention.

Tan Xu immediately bent down and picked him up.

“Handsome kitty, your owner is handsome too.”

A nearby Ragdoll cat meowed.

Yunxing looked at Tan Xu.

The man was currently scratching beneath his chin.

Yunxing proudly raised his tail.

Then he turned and looked at the ugly cat who had just complimented Tan Xu.

See?

Is my owner even paying attention to you?