The Little Bookworm Marked Her Ex-aunt - Chapter 5: Winking at a Blind Person

Chapter 5: Winking at a Blind Person

Taking people’s money eliminates their troubles.

After Chen Mi’s repeated persuasion, Shu Yue finally decided to accept this difficult yet well-paid pet-sitting task.

For this, she added the WeChat of Shiyi’s owner.

The other party quickly asked for her address, saying they would send a bunch of Shiyi’s commonly used items to her home.

After Shu Yue sent the address, she looked at the person’s profile picture on the screen and, out of curiosity, couldn’t resist clicking to take a look.

It seemed like a photo taken from a third-person perspective; the side profile wasn’t clear. The woman wore outdoor clothing, standing in a place where vitality and desolation, greenery and heavy snow, blended together.

After studying cat-sitting precautions online, Shu Yue imitated the questions of other pet-sitting families and asked Shiyi’s owner if there were any specific precautions.

He: None.

He: It’s fine at your place.

Shu Yue stared at the message, and a strange feeling surged in her heart again.

“What’s wrong?” Chen Mi noticed her odd expression and asked her.

It was almost closing time, with few customers left in the gray domain. Chen Mi sat by the bar, chatting idly with Shu Yue.

Shu Yue showed her the phone, and the chat content was clear at a glance.

Chen Mi clicked her tongue in wonder: “This sister is really a bit strange. You say she doesn’t care about the cat, yet she pays a sky-high pet-sitting fee without hesitation. You say she cares, yet she has this casual attitude, like she doesn’t care if the cat lives or dies.”

Shu Yue thought exactly the same. She glanced back at the kitten, always lying on a stool a meter away.

The kitten, originally dozing with closed eyes, keenly sensed her gaze. Its amber-like eyes appeared, fully reflecting her figure. It lazily meowed, with an upward lilt in its tone, and its tail gently swayed, as if inviting her.

Shu Yue looked but didn’t move, thinking this cat was a bit like the kind of child who appears in wealthy family dramas.

The parents only give money, never love.

Chen Mi, charmed by the cat, really wanted to reach out and pet it but knew if she approached, the cat would likely dart away in an instant. Turning to Shu Yue, who still looked wooden, Chen Mi thought, truly winking at a blind person.

Chen Mi said sourly: “I don’t know what Shiyi sees in you.”

Shu Yue said: “This question, I also want to know now.”

It is said that animals are particularly sensitive to human emotions.

For example, some small animals accurately identify who is most afraid of them in a crowd and then actively approach for close interaction.

Shu Yue believed Shiyi fell within this category of animals.

After work, the items Shiyi’s owner bought were already piled at the door. Shu Yue passed through the neatly arranged cardboard boxes, opened the door, and let Shiyi out of the canvas bag.

Shiyi wasn’t shy at all. It leaped out of the bag, landed lightly on its two paws, and began exploring the house.

Shu Yue dragged the boxes inside one by one, opening the packages.

All were clearly expensive cat-care equipment.

Automatic litter box, automatic feeder, automatic water dispenser.

Shu Yue stared at the row of equipment in silence.

So, why did this owner spend two thousand yuan a day to place the cat at her house…?

For a moment, Shu Yue couldn’t see what necessity she had beyond providing an emotional reaction after being startled by the cat.

She set up all the equipment, took a photo, and sent it to the boss.

Sy: Shiyi’s owner, hello, I received all the items.

He: OK.

Sy: [Picture][Picture][Picture]

Sy: [Video]

Shu Yue, not very skillfully, imitated what cat-sitting families should do.

Sy: It doesn’t seem nervous; you can rest assured.

Ji Shiyi slid her fingertip, opening the photos Shu Yue sent.

In the photos, the silver leopard cat had already chosen a comfortable corner on the sofa, lying beautifully. The video was even more exaggerated; who knows what it was excited about, frantically rubbing back and forth in a corner of the sofa, belly up, exposing its soft stomach.

Perhaps it noticed Shu Yue recording the video or sensed her gaze, so it tilted its head back, its big watery eyes looking at Shu Yue, meowing spinelessly with a pinched voice.

Ji Shiyi thought, this isn’t just not nervous; it’s outright fawning.

Since Shiyi appeared in her life after her differentiation, for so many years, Ji Shiyi had never seen it react this way to any human.

Including herself.

Curious, she asked Yu Qianyue.

He: Did you meet that Xiao Shu today?

HeartHasThousandMoons: Yeah, what’s up?

He: Alpha? How does she smell?

Speaking of this, Yu Qianyue felt it was strange.

HeartHasThousandMoons: She’s an alpha, but I didn’t smell anything.

HeartHasThousandMoons: I even wondered if my nose was broken. I opened a tube of pheromone at home, got too close, and nearly knocked myself out.

An alpha whose scent Yu Qianyue couldn’t detect?

Ji Shiyi had never encountered this before.

As a doctor in the gland department, with a Ph.D. in pheromone basics, Yu Qianyue was practically a master of pheromone scent identification.

All pheromone suppression tools were virtually ineffective in front of her.

Her nickname: Southern Medical Dog Nose.

Even she couldn’t smell it.

Yet Shiyi was utterly fascinated by her…

Ji Shiyi glanced at the chat interface on her phone.

The ID named Sy had a profile picture of a green field, with the only different color coming from a small bird.

Its head feathers were puffed up, looking a bit dumb.

Ji Shiyi couldn’t distinguish birds; to her, those flying in the city were either sparrows or sparrow relatives.

An alpha whose pheromone scent couldn’t be detected? Interesting.

Alpha Shu Yue was now troubled.

Shiyi was too clingy to her.

Wherever Shu Yue went in the house, Shiyi followed.

Even when she went to the bathroom to wash up and closed the door, Shiyi’s small figure appeared by the frosted glass.

Out of options, she sat on the toilet and asked Chen Mi, her most cat-savvy friend, for help.

Sy: Why is she like this? Did I do something wrong?

Chen Mi stayed silent for a long time before sending a message.

mimimi: Your mistake was not having eyes.

Sy: ?

mimimi: Haven’t you figured it out? She’s acting cute with you! She wants you to pet her! You heartless human!

mimimi: Yue Cub, you accepted two thousand yuan a day; petting someone else’s cat isn’t too much, right?

mimimi: (Biting handkerchief)

mimimi: Don’t make me rush to your house and force you to pet her.

Shu Yue put down the phone and turned to look at the small black shadow on the bathroom door’s glass.

She sighed, stood up, washed her hands three times, just short of bathing and burning incense.

Walking out of the bathroom, Shiyi still followed by her legs, just like their first meeting. She took a step, Shiyi followed a step, rubbing against her with a twist of its body, from head to butt, every part brushing against her calf, not missing a spot.

Shu Yue stiffened, squatting down like a stack of blocks.

She held her breath, opened her palm, and moved her hand toward the cat.

As she was about to touch the cat, Shu Yue still couldn’t get past her mental barrier and instinctively wanted to pull her hand back.

But the cat reacted quickly.

It raised its head, automatically rubbing against Shu Yue’s palm, nudging it.

Shu Yue widened her eyes, completely frozen, unable to move from head to toe, not daring to breathe through her nose or mouth, only her eyes observing, closely watching the kitten’s movements.

Shiyi was practically an automatic petting machine.

It moved nimbly, rubbing its head thoroughly in Shu Yue’s palm, then stepped forward, rubbing its waist up, all the way to its butt, finally sweeping its long, soft tail back and forth.

Perhaps because it rubbed to its satisfaction, the kitten’s throat kept making a purring sound, like a cute little motorcycle.

When Shu Yue came to her senses, her hand had instinctively petted the kitten’s head again.

The silky, soft, and warm sensation spread from where she touched the kitten, flowing through her veins straight to her heart.

This feeling was truly wondrous.

For a moment, Shu Yue even felt an illusion, as if her palm, through this tiny kitten, touched the softness deep within the world.

When her rationality returned and she withdrew her hand, she stared at her palm, suddenly alert.

So scary.

Cats were indeed a terrifying creature.

How could a slight touch almost make her lose all reason?

Shu Yue stood up expressionlessly, determined not to be tempted by the cat again.

She steeled herself to go to the bedroom to rest; she had class tomorrow morning, and early sleep was necessary. Letting the cat into the bedroom was impossible. Two thousand yuan was enough for the cat to roam freely anywhere in the house, except the bedroom.

Shu Yue resolved to keep her last piece of pure land.

Shiyi was very polite in this regard, so polite that Shu Yue couldn’t help feeling a bit of pity.

She looked at the obedient kitten sitting at the bedroom door, its little paws neatly placed together, never crossing the boundary.

…

Shu Yue told herself, this was two thousand yuan.

She could be cruel to the cat, but not to the boss.

She let go of the fingertip about to touch the bedroom door handle, stepped forward instead, walked out of the bedroom, squatted down, and said to the kitten in a friendly way: “Just a little more petting.”

Shiyi agreed: “Meow!”

When Shu Yue finally stopped, washed her hands, and returned to the bedroom, she checked the time.

Twenty-three minutes had passed since her planned bedtime.

But she genuinely felt she had only petted for a little while, just a tiny bit.

What happened in between? Could petting a cat trigger some kind of time-space magic mechanism?

She took out her phone, wanting to share her novel experience today with Meng Zhiyu, to tell her, I actually petted a cat, really.

After opening WeChat and seeing the cold system prompt “Not a friend of the other party,” her nerves suddenly stung.

Her fingertip had already clicked into the window to re-add a friend, but Shu Yue saw Meng Zhiyu’s new profile picture and ID.

The photo of her smiling at the camera had been replaced with an angry cartoon character expression pack.

The ID had changed from “Zhi Fish” to two other words.

“Hate Bird”

Shu Yue stopped her action and exited the window.

She pulled the blanket tightly, wrapping herself up. A silent rain that had spread all day finally poured down overwhelmingly in this moment. A helpless, unnamed emotion completely blocked her mouth and nose, filling her throat to the brim, nearly suffocating her.

“Meow—!”

Shiyi’s anxious cry sounded outside the door, its claws scratching the wooden door.

Shu Yue got up and opened the door.

The tiny kitten stood outside, looking up at her, saying nothing, only stretching out its right paw to tug at the edge of her pajama pants.

It said nothing, yet seemed to say everything.

In this moment when she least wanted to be seen, the kitten was there.

Click.

Like a lock unfastening, a gate opening to a flood, Shu Yue didn’t know what came over her. Looking at the kitten’s pure eyes, which seemed unaware of what happened in the world, her tears suddenly flowed uncontrollably.

At first, it was silent, but gradually, she bent down, squatted, unable to do anything, only tightly hugging her knees with both hands. Her whole life was like this; she was the kind of child who didn’t even dare cry loudly from childhood to adulthood.

At this moment, the kitten came closer, cautiously, tentatively, raising its body, tilting its head, and gently licking her tears with its rough yet warm little tongue.

Shu Yue froze.

The next second, the kitten’s expression paused, making a “yue” face, opening its mouth, sticking out its little tongue, as if attacked by something biological.

Shu Yue burst into laughter through her tears, tapped its head with her fingertip, and scolded it: “Dummy, tears are bad-tasting.”

The kitten took the chance to paw at her fingers, came closer, and licked her fingertip again.

A ticklish, numb sensation, like a soft cloud, gently filled the hole in her chest bit by bit.

In this moment, Shu Yue suddenly understood the phrase Chen Mi always said.

Yes.

This world cannot be without kittens.