Chapter 4

I jumped off the sofa and walked leisurely to the door.

"Mimi, are you going out to find your friends?" The old man saw me going outside and raised his foot to block me.

I looked up at him emotionlessly, then leaped past him.

The glass door was tightly closed and I couldn't open it by myself, so I continued to hold my head high and gestured with a calm look to the old man standing next to me to open the door for me.

But the old man's eyes did not stop at me, and I heard trembling footsteps behind me.

I looked back and found that it was the old man's wife walking towards us. Her face, which was not rosy to begin with, looked even more haggard. Her daughter's illness must have exhausted her mentally and physically. No wonder she was getting thinner day by day.

She drove the old man away and squatted carefully beside me.

I felt her warm, rough hands caressing my furry head, and I couldn't help but hum. At the same time, I heard her voice, as slow as flowing water: "Did I scare you just now? Auntie didn't mean to scare you. She has loved kittens since she was a child, but she was kidnapped over 20 years ago, which is why she's so scared. You, little one, you don't know if you can tell the difference between good and bad people yet. Don't approach strangers when you go out on the street. There are psychopaths everywhere here who harm cats and dogs, you know?"

Listening to her rambling on and on, I felt unhappy and complained that mothers were so nagging.

I have been here for four years and I have seen through what this world is like.

I've just been here for less than a year, and I've already seen children grabbing all kinds of weak little animals and swinging them back and forth. I've used my real body several times to stop their cruelty, but my silence only made the children and their parents worse, and they insulted me too, saying that I had nothing better to do than to go out and meddle in other people's business. I also know that if I intervene in the form of a cat, I will only get into trouble.

I pulled away from the hands that were caressing me and looked outside.

No matter how harsh the environment was, I still lived to the age of three and survived until now.

The woman let me go anyway: "You know what? Watch the car outside. If you're hungry, come knock on the door and it will open when you call."

After the door opened, I looked back at her and ran away.

I have made up for the days I ignored Li Ying'an.

Even though I had no connection to him, I couldn't help but think of him. Perhaps it was because his magnetic field was so strong that I was constantly drawn to him, like a cat to catnip.

While he was picking up trash, I would also wander around the city, one to look for Xiaoju, and the other to occasionally peek to see if Li Ying'an was slacking off at work so I could report it to the old man who took him in and make him lose his job.

Of course, losing my job was just a joke. I just wanted to go and see what kind of magic Li Ying'an had occasionally.

In addition, occasionally, when Li Ying'an was not in the scrap yard, I would go to see the little orange dog adopted by Li Ying'an who was always strolling around nearby.

This little orange cat was incredibly aggressive when we first met, instinctively wanting to fight. His years of wandering had fueled his insecurity, leading him to disguise his ruthlessness with ferocity. As a fellow cat, I could understand this. As the saying goes, familiarity breeds friendship. After a few days, he stopped being aggressive towards me, and we became friends.

When spring comes and flowers bloom, we make an appointment to go out for a walk.

Spring came a little late this year, but the day I took Xiaoju away was a sunny day with warm breeze and gentle sun.

Cats love basking in the sun; it not only kills bacteria and prevents disease, but also promotes bone development and helps us catch mice faster. Little Orange and I lay under a dense holly bush, enjoying the sunlight filtering through the gaps while watching the cars passing by with a gloomy look.

I asked the kitten next to me, "Should I follow him all the time?"

After spending a whole winter with Li Ying'an, Xiaoju seemed very attached to him: "Well, wherever he goes, I go."

It tells me that Li Ying'an is a very good person.

Even after only a few months of getting along, it could tell what kind of person Li Ying'an was from his behavior.

It said that the frugal Li Ying'an would always give it its favorite treats, such as cat food and cat food, which he bought from the store with the 20 yuan the old man gave him every day. Even though the daily tiring work of picking up trash was exhausting enough, he would still buy some kitten toys so he could find time to play with it.

In just a few months, the orange cat not only looked cleaner, but its shriveled belly also became bulger.

I have never seen how Li Ying'an treats the orange cat, but the orange cat's eyes will not lie, and I also believe that Li Ying'an would rather eat coarse grains and plain meals himself than raise the orange cat well. After all, he is the one who is willing to share a steamed bun with me.

Empress Wuqing once told me that I must love a pure and beautiful person in the future. I think if I see Li Ying'an again in the future, I should not always ignore him. I can let him touch me.

"So what are your plans for the future? Are you going to follow him?"

The orange cat hummed twice: "Regardless of whether he is rich or poor, I am willing to stay by his side, even if it is just to provide emotional value."

Looking into his sincere eyes, my heart was like a string being plucked by a hand, and suddenly it rang out: "The future is safe."

"Thank you, my tabby friend." The little orange cat turned around. "So, what are your future plans?"

"Travel around the world," I jumped out of the holly bush and looked around at the surrounding scenery, "looking for my friends."

My friend Xiaoju disappeared without a trace after experiencing the tribulation in the human world.

In heaven, every animal around the Goddess Wuqing has to come to the human world and roll around. This is the rule.

I don’t know about other animals, but for us cats, once we are one year old, we have to wander around in cat form for three months to experience the beauty and cruelty of the world, and to decide whether to leave or stay in the future.

If you meet a good person, you will choose to stay in the next life. If you meet a bad person, you will most likely choose to return to Wuqing.

The eight-month-old little orange cat did not meet the standard, but because he had a fight with other cats in heaven and angered the goddess Wuqing, she punished him severely and sent him to the human world to experience trials in advance.

When the little orange cub returned to heaven, it was already over one year old, but no one had seen it for a long time. It was most likely that it was in danger.

This kind of thing is not uncommon. The so-called tribulation, whether it can be survived safely is a question. There are many kittens who went to the human world and disappeared. Although Empress Wuqing felt distressed, she could not go against the laws of heaven. After all, no one can have a smooth life.

But Xiaoju was my only true friend in heaven. Other cats could ignore him, but I couldn't. I didn't believe he'd died in a foreign land. So, on the day I journeyed to the human world to transcend my tribulation, I sought out the Goddess of Wuqing and begged her to grant me a true body. The condition was that if I didn't find Xiaoju within five years, I would remain in the human world forever as a cat.

But during these five years, I can transform into a human form.

Now four years have passed, and I haven't seen even a trace of Xiaoju. There are quite a few orange cats, but none of them is the Xiaoju I'm looking for.

"I decided to follow the route and head south. My friend always likes to go south, so maybe I can see it there."

Xiaoju nodded in agreement: "Okay, then I wish you good luck! Be safe on the road!"

Before leaving, I planned to see Li Ying'an, who once fed me a steamed bun, so I returned to the scrap yard with the orange cat.

The sun was already tilted, and the light was no longer hanging overhead, but was instead hazily scattered everywhere. The orange cat and I crept out of the dense holly bushes, and seeing that there were few people on the road, we boldly walked towards our destination.

Not long into my walk, I heard footsteps behind me.

I turned around and looked at the person running towards me.

I thought they were just a bunch of kitten-loving chasers as usual, running over out of curiosity after seeing two kittens close together, so I slowed down.

But when I saw clearly what they were holding, a sudden panic rose in my heart!

wrong--!

They were clearly holding red bricks in their hands.

I can still tell whether it is petting a cat or harming a cat.

I screamed, signaling the little orange beside me to run faster, but the little orange was even more relaxed than I was. It was used to being close to people, and the sound of such rapid footsteps didn't even bother it at all.

The heavy gust of wind startled me so much that I turned and ran, not caring a bit about the little oranges beside me. I rushed forward in a straight line, avoiding any obstacles that blocked my way, trying to get out of the sight of the crazy people behind me.

I knew that my speed was beyond the reach of humans, but surprisingly, those people seemed to have planned and come prepared in advance. Now they were divided into two, and several of them were hiding at the intersection I passed by.

Fortunately, I was not caught by them, but unfortunately my hind legs were hit by stones in an instant.

The pain made me scream in fear and also made me lose my direction. I endured the pain and ran into a dead end.

My keen ears were enough to hear the footsteps of several madmen approaching rapidly. They seemed to be obsessed with cats, so at the moment, it seemed that I had no choice but to become a human.

The hurried, chaotic footsteps paused as they approached the corner. I saw a flicker of moonlight on the wall opposite for a few seconds. Then, a tall, thin boy caught my eye. He leaned sideways, a small braid tied behind his head. Silver glittered on his earlobes. Before I could see clearly, he was walking towards me.

I sat motionless on the ground, looking at several boys approaching me in unison with unfriendly and nervous eyes.

The boy stopped one meter away from me. I tilted my head back and could clearly see that he was wearing earrings on his earlobes.

He turned his gaze away from me and looked around at the layout. Finally, he asked me, "Did you see anything?"

In my current state, excessive covering up will only attract other people's attention. I am not worried that they will think I am a tabby cat. What I am worried about is that they will mistakenly think that I am hiding the tabby cat.

So I lowered my eyes, pointed at my throat and waved my hand, then calmly gestured: I can't speak.

The leading boy frowned and narrowed his eyes, then further confirmed what he was thinking: "Can't you speak?"

I nodded quickly and expressionlessly.

After leaving heaven, I can live in this world in human form for five years, but Goddess Wuqing deprives all the small animals that can transform into human form of their voices, retaining their original appearance.

After all, she is kind. Although she has lost her voice, she can still make us understand what she says.

After receiving the reply, the boy raised his hand and pointed at his ear: "Are you simply dumb or deaf?"

When I heard what he said, I didn't hide anything and told him the truth directly: I pointed to my ear and nodded, then pointed to my mouth and shook my head, and finally moved my gaze to the ground below.

Perhaps because he knew I was mute, the boy's frown gradually relaxed. As if afraid that I couldn't hear him clearly, he moved closer to me and asked, "So, did you see anything?"