The Little Bookworm Marked Her Ex-aunt - Chapter 2: Ji Shiyi, Your Spirit Body Ran Away!!

Chapter 2: Ji Shiyi, Your Spirit Body Ran Away!!

Shu Yue stood under the eaves, holding an umbrella in one hand and a canvas bag with a cat in the other. She stood still for three minutes.

During those three minutes, she prayed countless times that someone would pass by and kindly take the cat away. But the continuous drizzle kept falling, and no one passed by.

Only she and the cat, which had forcefully bumped into her, stayed together.

She could feel the cat looking at her with a very eager gaze. Shu Yue felt uneasy, not daring to look back.

She had self-diagnosed her fear of cats countless times. In her growing-up years, she had no experience of being hurt or frightened by a cat. In theory, she shouldn’t have such a striking physical fear of cats.

But theory was just theory.

Shu Yue had once tried, at a friend’s invitation, to visit her house to see a kitten. But before entering the house, upon hearing the cat’s meow, she had already run away with a blank face, actually scared out of her wits.

It was an incurable condition.

Shu Yue accepted it.

She couldn’t wait any longer. She tilted the umbrella toward the cat, lifted the bag, but still kept her arm extended to maintain distance from it.

Shu Yue stepped into the rain and walked to the property management office.

The auntie on duty saw her soaking wet and hurriedly said, “Little girl, what happened to you?”

Shu Yue quickly explained the situation, “Auntie, hello, a few minutes ago, I was sheltering from the rain in the corridor. A cat rushed into my canvas bag and refused to leave.”

She lifted the cat up to show the auntie.

Shu Yue added, “It’s this one.”

The auntie, as an experienced employee of the property department, looked at the kitten’s pitiful eyes without changing her expression. She nodded, giving full emotional support, and said, “Oh my! There’s actually such a thing! Is there anything I can help with?”

Shu Yue said, “Can I leave it here with you? Since it appeared in the neighborhood, its owner might live here too. Maybe, Auntie, you could ask in the owners’ group if anyone lost a cat.”

The auntie said with some embarrassment, “Asking is fine, no problem, but leaving it here…”

“Meow~” The white cat with round spots on its body clung to the edge of the canvas bag with both paws, showing half its head. Its ears drooped, and it meowed pitifully at the auntie.

The auntie said, “It’s really not convenient to keep it here, little girl. I see it likes you a lot. Since you found—”

Shu Yue corrected, “It闯 into my bag.”

The auntie: “…”

The auntie said, “Anyway, you and it are quite fated, don’t you think?”

Shu Yue shook her head, “I don’t think so.”

The auntie: “…”

The auntie smiled slightly and said, “Wait a moment, I’ll ask in the group.”

She picked up her phone and took a picture of the cat.

Shu Yue saw her type something on the phone.

She waited patiently, her arm holding the bag starting to feel sore.

“Auntie, any news?” Shu Yue asked.

The auntie said, “Sorry, no news yet. Little girl, how about this? Leave your phone number, and if there’s any news later, I’ll contact you. Take it home for now? It’s raining, and the weather is cold. What if something happens? It’s a little life, after all. You can’t just abandon it, right?”

Shu Yue pressed her lips together and said, “Okay, thank you.”

She picked up the umbrella, carried the cat, and walked out of the property office.

The auntie sat back down, looked at her retreating figure, shook her head, and clicked her tongue twice. She sent a voice message to a colleague, “I’ve really opened my eyes today. In this day and age, how can someone say anything to abandon a cat? She even said a cat forced its way into her bag? I’ve raised cats my whole life, and I’ve never seen such a thing!”

Shu Yue did want to abandon the cat a bit.

Not just the cat, she even wanted to throw away the canvas bag that had held the cat.

But her phone was still in the bag. The lesson plans for her tutoring job were in the bag. The lipstick she hadn’t returned to Meng Zhiyu was also in the bag.

The rain grew heavier, pounding on the umbrella.

Shu Yue sighed and turned to the cat to negotiate, “Can you move aside? I need to get my phone.”

She thought she might be crazy, actually saying such things to a cat.

The cat seemed crazy too. It suddenly lowered its head, hunched its body, and rummaged around in the bag.

Shu Yue could barely hold the bag; her wrist started to feel tired and sore. But she didn’t want to sling the bag over her shoulder because that would bring the cat too close.

Shu Yue simply put the bag on the dry ground nearby, stepped back, and watched from a distance. She thought maybe when it finished rummaging, it would come to its senses, leave the bag, and kindly let her off.

After waiting, the cat stopped moving.

The canvas bag sat there quietly, with no movement at all.

Shu Yue frowned, a bad guess forming in her mind.

She poked the bag with her umbrella.

The cat didn’t respond.

Shu Yue’s heart skipped a beat. She stepped forward and cautiously leaned in to look.

At that moment, the cat moved. It balanced her phone on its head, like a stunt performer in a circus balancing a glass of water.

The phone flattened the soft fur on its head, showing the curve of its forehead. Its upright ears twitched smartly, and its eyes looked at Shu Yue, excited and cute.

Shu Yue’s breath stopped; she was scared half to death.

She reached out her fingertips, carefully picked up the phone, shook it from a distance, and brought it to her mouth to blow on it.

After confirming no cat hair remained, she finally held the phone in her palm.

The kitten whimpered pitifully. The fur on its head hadn’t sprung back, still flat, making it look even more comical and pitiful.

Shu Yue stepped back, squatted down, stared at it, and said, “You understand me.”

The kitten slowly blinked at her and meowed in a milky voice.

Shu Yue said, “I know my reaction is a bit much, but it’s not about you, it’s about cats. It’s not your problem, it’s the problem of the cat species, understand?”

The kitten looked at her without a word.

“Anyway, thank you for finding my phone,” Shu Yue said. “If you could kindly get out of my bag, that’d be even better. I swear, I’ll buy you two big boxes of cat treats as thanks. Cat cans are fine too. What do you think?”

The kitten tilted its head.

Shu Yue saw many question marks in its eyes.

She sighed.

She started to think the cat couldn’t understand human speech, and what just happened was a coincidence.

Shu Yue checked the time; she had to get to her next part-time job.

She couldn’t keep wasting time here.

She picked up the cat, hailed a cab, and once inside, quickly put the cat on the far end of the back seat while she shrank into the corner.

The driver saw and said nervously, “Girl, is your cat sick? Can it infect people?”

Shu Yue said, “No, sir, it’s not sick. I’m the one who’s sick.”

The driver: “…?”

After that, the driver didn’t say a word. He dropped Shu Yue at her destination and left quickly.

“Xiao Yue, you’re here?” As Shu Yue pushed open the shop door, she heard a woman’s voice.

She nodded and responded, “Hmm. Senior, I need to tell you something.”

The red-haired woman came out from behind the counter, holding freshly washed cherries, and gestured for Shu Yue to try some.

Shu Yue shook her head.

Chen Mi picked up a cherry, put it in her mouth, sucked off the flesh, spat out the stem, tossed it into the nearby trash can, and asked, “What’s up?”

Shu Yue held up the canvas bag, “On my way here, a cat bumped into me.”

Chen Mi stared at the kitten’s head poking out of the bag and screamed, “Ahhh!”

“So cute!!”

Chen Mi reached to pet it, but the cat dodged and hid back in the bag.

Chen Mi stared at the bag with infatuated eyes.

Shu Yue said, “Senior—”

Chen Mi said, “Hmm hmm hmm, I’m listening. Who bumped into you?”

Shu Yue said, “The cat, this cat.”

Chen Mi looked up, “It bumped into you?!”

Shu Yue nodded, “You know I don’t like cats, so I’m thinking, could you take it home for now or keep it in the shop? If neither works, it’s fine. It’s just that today, because of it, I wasted time and can’t go home. So while I’m working, it might stay here and could be a bit troublesome.”

Chen Mi shook her head repeatedly, “Not troublesome, not troublesome at all.”

She excitedly bent down and spoke to the canvas bag, “Little kitty, come play with Sister.”

But no matter how Chen Mi used an overly sweet, unnatural voice to coax it, the kitten didn’t budge.

Chen Mi persisted for a while and got tired.

“Are you sure it bumped into you?” She started questioning life.

Shu Yue said, “You know I never lie.”

Chen Mi gave her a resentful look and sighed, “Heaven is blind! Why did a cat bump into you of all people?”

Shu Yue felt helpless too.

She put the cat in the staff prep room. Chen Mi followed, staring eagerly.

“I’m going to work for a bit,” Shu Yue said to the cat. “You can wait here, or you can wander around.”

She used a disposable bowl to get water for the cat and placed it on the floor.

Chen Mi watched, entranced, “What kind of cat is this? So special. I’ve never seen this pattern.”

Shu Yue said, “Senior, you’re asking the wrong person.”

She, who normally didn’t even look at cat pictures, couldn’t possibly know cat breeds.

Chen Mi said, “You’re right, but it bumped into the wrong person too.”

Shu Yue grabbed the work uniform from the wall and put it on, “I’m going out to do prep work.”

Chen Mi nodded, “Don’t worry, leave it to me.”

The kitten meowed, crawled out of the bag, rubbed against Shu Yue’s leg twice, then looked up at her with eyes like shimmering blue lakes.

Shu Yue got goosebumps, quickly pulled her leg back, and said as if fleeing, “I’m going now.”

Once Shu Yue left, Chen Mi secretly took out a cat treat she’d swiped from the shop next door, shook it, and said, “Want to eat? If you want to eat, let Sister pet you.”

The kitten gave her a haughty look and, the moment she got close, swiftly leaped onto the cabinet top, its tail hanging down, swishing impatiently.

Chen Mi: “…?”

Little cute thing, you have two faces, huh.

She didn’t give up, opened the cat treat, and coaxed, “It’s delicious, kitty, want to try?”

The kitten looked at her like she was an idiot, turned its head, closed its eyes, and buried its face in its paws.

Chen Mi fell silent.

It didn’t even eat the cat treat. Did this cat quit drugs or something?

Was this even a normal cat?!

*

Swan City Neighborhood.

Yu Qianyue pushed open the door, calling out, “Shiyi?”

Hearing no response, Yu Qianyue didn’t panic. She shook the pheromone vial in her hand, “Coming out? I got you something good.”

The house still gave no response.

Yu Qianyue sensed something was wrong and started searching the house. Finding nothing, she immediately checked the home surveillance.

At 6:42 p.m., the kitten Shiyi suddenly sniffed the air, as if smelling something. It paced anxiously in the living room, then ran to the door, jumped up, and opened the handle.

Before leaving, it even turned back and glanced at the camera.

“Meow!”

After that, the kitten vanished.

Yu Qianyue watched the video, felt a bad premonition, and immediately called her friend.

Ji Shiyi didn’t answer.

After a while, she called back, her voice cool, “Was swimming just now. What’s up?”

“Big trouble!” Yu Qianyue said with a headache. “Check WeChat quick. I sent you a video.”

Ji Shiyi replied unhurriedly, “Wait, I’m blow-drying my hair.”

Yu Qianyue was about to lose it, “Forget drying! What time do you think it is, still fussing over that messy black hair? You’re really like a cat now. Ji Shiyi, your spirit body ran away, you know that? This afternoon, it was home alone, smelled something, secretly opened the door, and ran off!”