Bad Cat – Chapter 12

February is going to be a busy month, though even when I’m free, updates will be super slow. I’m sorry 🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️

Enjoy reading! 😊

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The shut-in boy with social-anxiety Bai Hefei can longer find any excuses, so he finally plucked up his courage to go out and face reality. 

Huatang also stepped into the cat box to have a look twice, and saw that it was empty inside from the small window outside. The canned food and bottled pure water that Bai Hefei specially prepared for her remained untouched, knowing that he hadn’t returned. 

When there is no one at home, the black cat also doesn’t really want to enter, even if the canned food smelled delicious. 

Hooking the tip of the tail, Huatang went down the cat path, taking the elevator to Han Lan’s house, only to be told that the person was also not at home. Aunt Su, who was not as averse to Huatang as before, told her that Han Lan has an interview today, and that it would be evening before she returned. 

No matter what, life still needs to continue. Han Lan has been sad because of Bibimbap’s thing, but it will be damaging to her health if she continues moping around. Now that she can raise her spirit enough to return to work it was also quite good.

“Do you want to come in?” Aunt Su opened the door, learning Han Lan’s tone of talking to Huatang just like treating a child.

Entering the door and sitting around for a while at the entrance, the black cat drank a mouthful of water from the kitten bowl that Aunt Su brought over, and then washed her face with her front paws. Before leaving, she gently patted Aunt Su’s leg with her tail, then went to the elevator to go downstairs.

The chubby back, somehow seemed to look like a lonely shadow.

Aunt Su thought about Huatang working hard trekking to the fifth floor, but was disappointed that Han Lan was not at home, so she hurriedly put on her shoes and went out to accompany Huatang who was waiting for the elevator. Then she watched the cat enter the elevator, and couldn’t help sighing with praise, “A good cat with spirituality.”

The elevator door closed, and Aunt Su returned into the house with emotions. But Huatang inside the elevator was about to blow up.

What nonsense are you talking about? Are you belittling and demeaning this villainous evil cat? How come one or two of you will go so deep into your own self-dramatization?

Bai Hefei returned to college and Han Lan went to work, will Huatang feel lonely?

Of course that’s impossible. The entire Jiuzhou Community is the cat’s. As for the residents living here?

Probably the same as tenants, working hard to expand her assets~ Which landlord will be lonely and sad when their own tenants go out to earn money and support them right?!

This evil cat is so cruel, ruthless, and overbearing. 

Seeing that the one on the top of her spare tire list and the gentle beauty know that labor will bring glory and working hard will get you rich, Huatang was relieved. She curled the tip of her tail, walking towards the lake to watch the scenery. After sitting down for a while, she retreated to avoid the water vapour coming together with the breeze from the lake, clearly afraid of the water. 

Huatang is a cat that only pays attention to the combination of work and rest. In addition to going around the Fishmeat Village to check her territory every day, she will also specially make time to the lake to admire her “Fish consorts”.

Look, these are all this cat’s ⁽¹⁾wealth.

Huatang stretched out her front paws carefully, and cautiously stepped on the small puddle on the steps on the lake. Just rounded it up as if she has just conquered the water, and today she is again still an evil cat without any weaknesses.

“Huatang?” Holding a small shovel, Prof. Li, who was about to plant flowers into the loose soil in the front yard put on the glasses she took out from inside of her pocket, then smiled and greeted the cat.

She just saw a black dot jumping around by the lake, thinking that there will only be the cat be let loose in the community, so she put on her glasses and called out. It was indeed Huatang.

Huatang, who was violently conquering the small puddle, paused. When she turned to the direction of the voice, she found the person a bit familiar. It was the old lady that helped her remove static electricity for her before, who also made her feel comfortable when rubbing her face.

The black cat left behind the defeated pit, rubbed the water on her paw pads on the manicured lawn next to her, and ran towards Prof. Li.

The villas were built scattered close to the lake. Huatang jumped skillfully from the planked road by the lakeside, stepping onto the cat path to the small flowered wall of the yard. Then she crouched down from above before she yawned towards Prof. Li, showing a friendly greeting.

Except for the usual passionate cat scolding, Huatang rarely meowed.

The old lady laughed amiably, just like chatting with an old friend, “Huatang, do you have any flower that you like? Come and choose a plant.”

Prof. Li is very good at gardening, and she is also not picky with the varieties, whether famous or commonly known plants were all taken care of by her very well. The ones she was about to plant were the young plants that she had already cultivated earlier, and just needed to be transplanted into the soil.

After a while, the saplings will take root and continue growing, and then everyone can see the buds bloom into blossoming flowers.

She had never raised a cat, but she remembered a friend saying that cats would also gnaw on some cat grass. Prof. Li made a mental note on this matter, and planned to ask her granddaughter to help find cat grass seeds for her later so she can plant some cat grass in the yard.

Prof. Li often grows flowers and knows that some plants have certain toxins, so everything that she planted outside was chosen from safe and non-toxic plants, because it will be bad if curious children passing by or a bored cat that chewed on the plants got hurt from it.

The black cat jumped down from the wall and curiously approached the saplings shown by the old lady’s hands. Stimulated by the peculiar distinct smell of the plants, she veered twice, and then stretched out a paw, very straightforwardly choosing the largest sapling.

She wants this.

“So it’s the ⁽²⁾Spanish dagger ah!” The old lady was so happy, the Spanish dagger is a beautiful plant, with white flowers drooping like bells. It’s a beautiful ornamental plant, and the one Huatang chose is the daughter ramet she took from an adult Spanish dagger plant, “You have good eyes.”

The old lady specially left a corner for the Spanish dagger sapling, and under Huatang’s supervision planted it carefully.

The black cat curiously touched the only two leaves on the stem with her paw. It was hard to imagine that this would be able to produce beautiful flowers. The old lady took a small basin of clean oval pebbles, wanting to make simple decorations for the piece of land. The result was Huatang taking all of them to build a small fence for a lone Spanish dagger sapling.

“Well, okay!” Prof. Li was patient, seeing the black cat setting up a small pile of pebbles. She returned back into the house to take out a small wooden sign, using a brush to write Huatang’s name and inserted the sign beside the Spanish dagger, indicating that the plant is owned by the cat.

Huatang was very satisfied with the old lady’s meticulousness, sitting next to the temporarily ugly sapling, feeling the joy of increasing an asset.

“Want to come in and clean up?” The ground outside the yard is quite large, so Prof. Li didn’t have the intention to plant the young saplings all at once. Looking at the time, she put away all the tools properly. After glancing at the cat, she asked Huatang if she wanted to get inside and wash away the soil on her paws.

The feeling of clumps of soil on the paws was indeed uncomfortable, and Huatang was unwilling to lick them clean herself, so she followed inside to wash her paws.

Prof. Li entered the house after changing shoes, but Huatang couldn’t change her paws. However, it would not be appropriate to let the elderly clean up her mess on the floor. So when the black cat spotted the sweeping robot parked next to her, she sat directly on top of it, waiting to be taken away by the robot.

The solid weight caused the machine to make a clicking sound. Fortunately, its quality was excellent. After moving a few laps around, it successfully sent Huatang from the entrance to the door of the bathroom. 

Huatang handed her paws to Prof. Li to help her with the scrubbing. Tilting her head, she noticed that many parts of the house had handrails, and there were some places that looked like a runway.

Is it for elderly people with limited mobility to exercise?

The black cat guessed right. These things were actually prepared for Prof. Wang. The brain damage caused by aging is irreversible, and there is still no special medicine or treatment available to stop it, only strengthening exercise and balanced nutrition can be considered as a method to slowing the disease. Huatang waited for a while, then saw Prof. Wang who was in poor mental state and in a wheelchair last time, coming out. 

The old gentleman has a kindly smile like his wife, while holding onto the railing to walk, he smiled towards Huatang, then praising that the cat is good looking towards the old lady.

Strong, healthy, and spirited, of course there’s nowhere that she would look bad!

Huatang felt that Prof. Wang’s way of walking is very interesting, like a toddler just learning to walk. So she quite mischievously walked over, passing by to the front of Prof. Wang, she flicked her tail looking at Prof. Wang following her from behind.

The nurse next to the old gentleman was nervous, afraid that the cat would stop in front of Prof. Wang and made him fall, but the two elders didn’t care much and signaled that it was okay. The cat is smart, she wouldn’t let herself be trampled.

‘No, I’m worried that you will be the one falling,’ The nurse wanted to say something, only to be interrupted by Prof. Wang who waved his hand in dismissal.

“The cat is more agile than me, don’t worry.” The cat was being naughty in front of him but walked with a constant speed, where she would let herself be trampled, let alone tripping him. The old gentleman laughed cheerfully, watching the cat walking in front made him feel motivated, supporting himself on the handrail to take a few more steps forward.

Not everyone will like cats, in the same vein, a cat’s goodwill is very rare and precious. The husband and wife Prof. Wang and Prof. Li were both tolerant and gentle, earning Huatang’s liking. So she stayed for a meal, even letting Prof. Wang helping her split a chicken leg for her to eat.

What the two elderly couples usually eat are softer food. The chicken leg was actually the leftover after cooking soup, and they couldn’t swallow it after a few mouthful, so they just tore it for the cat to eat.

Each meal has their own special taste. Prof. Wang and his wife eat with a light taste, low in oil and salt, but with a careful taste can discern the freshness and sweetness of the food. Huatang quite likes it.

After eating and drinking to her fill, she stretched her body and lay on the two elderly’s laps to sleep, not letting their hands that were massaging her stop, adding a new item to the elderly’s daily exercises.

The black cat can have a beautiful good time anywhere, but Gu Yusheng ran into trouble when he went to pick up the puppy.

“Gu gē, or how about you pick both of them?” 

Lin Qing is Erpeng’s cousin, and also a retired veteran. Later, he opened a pet hospital and sometimes would also come to give health check-ups and vaccinations to military dogs, successfully promoting himself into “The man military dogs most afraid of.”

The pup that was facing unemployment and suffering hardship was recently fostered by him. In the phone call with Gu Yusheng before, Lin Qing told him to come pick the pup directly at the hospital.

But he wasn’t able to say things clearly during the last phone call. Gu Yusheng saw the black puppy sleeping on its legs up and back down, and then looked at the border collie still with plaster cast hiding from him, feeling a headache. He wanted Lin Qing to explain, what does he mean by dog picking a dog back.

“Ey, isn’t it because we’re thinking that it’s Dorji’s offspring, can’t let it lose face. So the last time Erpeng and I brought it out for a drive, let it play around a little bit, and it brought back this border collie.” The military dog breeding is very professional, the puppy pointed by Lin Qing is Dorji’s descendant; be it physical fitness, obedience, and suitability with the soldiers, are something that has been selected from generation to generation, making them relatively stable in temperament.

Unexpectedly, there will always be exceptions to everything. This puppy that was most resembling Dorji in appearance, the moment it opened its eyes had shown a rare liveliness and shamelessness, ⁽³⁾a ghost among ghosts. But it was used to be lazy and pretending to be silly, and its smartness was not used in the right path.

It’s fine if it was only the little guy itself was being bad, but it also took the other puppies in the same batch to become fools together. In the end, there was no way. The person in charge of the military dog contacted Lin Qing to first take away the most harmful culprit, waiting for a rich owner with a good heart to jump into the pit.

Lin Qing and Erpeng went to the suburbs, let the pup play around for less than 5 minutes, and just when they were ready to follow the collar positioning to catch it back, they found the pup with the seriously injured border collie.

It’s not appropriate to see ⁽⁴⁾death without saving, so Lin Qing let Erpeng take the puppy, and he hurriedly brought the border collie back for treatment. If he was a few dozen minutes later, the border collie might not be able to be saved. 

They guessed that the border collie might have been lost, and then met with a dog abuser, luckily it was discovered by the puppy. When the border collie was finally rescued, the dog was a bit afraid of strangers, and it has been keeping close to the puppy ever since.

Therefore, if Gu Yusheng wants to take the puppy away now, then the border collie will add the problem of being unable to eat and drink. They cannot get close to it, and once they get close, the border collie will want to hide and shivers regardless of the injury on its body, sobbing pitifully with fright. 

If even Lin Qing whose profession is animal-related can make the border collie afraid, not to mention Gu Yusheng. The border collie has already went into hiding behind the puppy without him getting closer, and even when the body cannot be blocked it still wanted to hide deeper. 

Not only given a cast but also shaved, the pretty border collie is now like a mummy. Gu Yusheng also didn’t bully the dog, reaching out his hands towards the puppy first. 

Dorji is a Kunming wolfdog; majestic, heroic, and loyal. He doesn’t know from which blood lineage that ran off, although it is very alike to Dorji, but as soon as it opened its eyes and saw Gu Yusheng, the spitting out tongue and wagging tail look didn’t have half a point of likeness with Dorji at all. 

The 3-months old pup still has a bit of a milky taste, but weighing the heavy pressure in his arms, he can see that it usually did not eat less. 

The dog that Gu Yusheng most familiar with was Dorji, and they were comrades-in-arms who fought side by side. The feelings between them were different from master and pet, but more equal and woeful. So looking at the puppy that was acting coquettish towards himself, he was a little doubtful that he could take care of it properly.  

“See, I’ve said that the little one is bold, when doing sound training, this guy was the happiest, completely unafraid.” Lin Qing seeing that the puppy was being close to Gu Yusheng, also felt relieved. He felt that it was also very good to have a lively little guy accompany Gu gē, he has been afraid that the little guy wouldn’t dare to approach Gu gē before.

Now it seems that he can be relieved.

As for the border collie that was recuperating at the side? Gu Yusheng rubbed the soft, warm belly of the puppy, planning to let it stay with Lin Qing for another two days. At least try to make the border collie not so afraid of him.

He will take both dogs away. Anyway, adopting one needs to be raised, adopting two still need to be raised too.

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Translator’s Note:

1. 江山 : lit. river and mountain. A metaphor for wealth, treasure, possession from having status or power over something.
2. 凤尾兰 : Spanish dagger (scientific name: Yucca gloriosa). I’m torn between using direct translation or using pinyin of its Chinese name because of future plot tho. But it’s still pretty far away, so for now I’ll use its official name first.
3. 鬼精鬼精的 : lit. ghost among ghosts. An idiom to describe a devilish/naughty personality.
4. 见死不救 : lit. Seeing death without saving. A common Chinese idiom of not saving someone/something that was in near death.