Zhang Xiaohua
"hiss--"
After enduring it again and again, Yun Jin finally couldn't bear it any longer and gently bit Xiao Hua. Xiao Hua let go in pain, allowing Yun Jin to land lightly and stretch her body.
"I'm sorry, kitty." Xiaohua's voice was very soft as her fingertips carefully touched Yunjin's ruffled fur. "I didn't mean to."
Yun Jin shook her ears and pressed her ear against the crack in the door again. The sound from behind the door gradually became clearer.
“You can’t abandon me. You’re the one who brought me there,” Xie Xinrou’s voice was sharp. She grabbed Shen Yi’an’s arm tightly, but he shook her off.
"Crash—" A sound of glass breaking on the ground was heard, and someone had smashed a vase on the ground.
Shen Yi'an's voice was low and deep, "This situation is entirely your fault. Haven't I advised you? I've already cleaned up so many messes for you!"
"Shen Yi'an, you're the one who turned me into this. If you hadn't invited me in the first place, I wouldn't have been bothered by this bastard, and then you just wanted to pack up and leave?" Xie Xinrou's high heels clattered loudly.
Shen Yi'an remained silent for a long time before finally managing to squeeze out a sentence, "What else can you do besides moral blackmail?"
"I've had enough of this mess. No matter what, I'm going to stay here for a while." The voice came from afar and grew closer, Xie Xinrou must have arrived at the door.
With lightning speed, Xiao Hua scooped up Yun Ji. Before Yun Jin could react, the cat was already in her arms. As Xiao Hua ran, her two little braids whipped Yun Jin up and down.
"Meow—it hurts a little," Yun Jin cried out in dissatisfaction.
"Bang!"
The moment the door was violently pushed open, Xiaohua had already grabbed her and hidden in the corner of the spiral staircase, secretly observing the situation at the doorway.
Yun Jin felt like she had heard the name Xie Xinrou somewhere before, and soon she remembered that she was the leading lady of Xingyao Media.
Xie Xinrou, the venomous second female lead in last year's hit idol drama, is still featured in advertisements that play on a loop in the elevator of Yun Jin's apartment building. She's holding a wine glass and saying, "Love is a gamble."
Standing at the forefront of the gossip, Yun Jin's eyes gleamed with excitement in the dim light. This was far more thrilling than the melodramatic soap operas she used to watch: a popular actress secretly married and had a daughter, and was entangled with the infamous and controversial star Shen Yi'an...
Before long, Shen Yi'an appeared at the door. His arms were covered in scabbed cuts, his collar was torn, and there were smudges of lipstick on his shirt. But his face had returned to its gentle and refined appearance.
If it weren't for the fact that they were arguing, Shen Yi'an's behavior would have been quite misleading. At the same time, Yun Jin felt sorry for herself for thinking about lewd things at a time like this.
After Xie Xinrou walked away, Xiao Hua dared to run out with Yun Jin in her arms, and came to Shen Yi'an with her head down, "Uncle, I'm sorry, I..."
"It's alright, you two go to sleep." Shen Yi'an gently placed his hand on Xiao Hua's shoulder and said in a gentle tone, "This is not your fault."
The motion-sensor lights in the corridor gradually turned on in sync with their footsteps, casting two shadows of different lengths on the wall.
When they arrived at one of the secondary bedrooms, Shen Yi'an turned on the light and settled them in.
"Xiaoyun, please take care of Xiaohua. I'll be quite busy lately," Shen Yi'an said softly to Yun Jin, kneeling slightly beside the bed.
Yun Jin nodded.
After a long while, Shen Yi'an turned around wearily, his leather shoes making a dull sound on the carpet. With a soft creak, the room fell into darkness.
The room was very quiet. Yun Jin looked at the moon through the window. She couldn't sleep at all. The shocking gossip she had just heard had her thoughts racing and she couldn't stop thinking about it.
Yun Jin really wanted to call Yun Chen to share this, but unfortunately she couldn't.
She remembered that the young woman's surname was Zhang, so she must be a male celebrity in the industry with the surname Zhang, meaning she wasn't Shen Yi'an's child.
Honestly, the name "Little Flower" is a bit too casual; it feels like it's on par with the names of the pets at home...
A rustling sound startled Yun Jin from her thoughts. She pricked up her ears, turned around, and saw Xiao Hua getting out of bed and walking towards the door in the darkness.
Is she going to the toilet? But the toilet is over here.
"Meow!" Yun Jin darted to the door like an arrow, her tail held high.
"Shh—" Xiaohua covered her mouth with her finger and scooped her up with her other hand. "Go to sleep, little kitten."
Yun Jin bit her trouser leg, indicating that the toilet was on the other side.
"Kitty! I want to go out and find my mom, not go to the toilet!" Xiaohua pushed Yunjin's body forcefully.
"Meow—it's so late."
Then Yun Jin and Xiao Hua engaged in numerous chases until Xiao Hua, exhausted, collapsed to the ground, asking, "Xiao Yun, why did you stop me?"
Yun Jin lightly leaped into her arms, her pink tongue gently licking away Xiao Hua's tears, her paws pressing against her chest, and her head rubbing against Xiao Hua's chin.
"Waaaaah, why...why do I have such a dad...and mom?" Xiaohua squeezed out the words in broken sentences.
"Meow meow meow meow—cry, little one." Yun Jin lay on her chest, feeling her heartbeat gradually quickening.
“My name…” Xiaohua raised her red and swollen eyes, her voice hoarse, “is the name of the little dog we used to have at home.”
Yun Jin watched as she forced a smile that looked more like a grimace, and felt utterly distressed and at a loss for what to do.
Xiaohua buried her face in her warm belly and said in a muffled voice, "Sometimes I feel... I'm not even as good as that dog. At least... when the dog dies, they cry."
The moonlight slowly crept up the windowsill. Xiaohua cried herself to sleep, and Yunjin curled up in the crook of her neck. She could clearly hear the girl's sobbing breaths gradually becoming longer and more even.
May you have sweet dreams tonight, Yun Jin gently climbed off her.
Sleeping on the floor will make her catch a cold. Let's go find Shen Yi'an and carry Xiaohua to the bed.
Yun Jin's soft paws made no sound as she stepped onto the cold ground, searching for Shen Yi'an.
The villa was shrouded in an eerie silence at night, with only the grandfather clock in the living room making a faint "click" in the darkness.
This looks a bit like a horror movie; it seems that having a house that's too big isn't a good thing either.
She walked up the spiral staircase step by step, the moonlight shining through the stained glass windows and casting dappled shadows on the ground.
The doors to several rooms were ajar, and the scent of Shen Yi'an or Xie Xinrou wafted out, but when you pushed the doors open, there was no one there.
After searching the entire villa, Yun Jin found that there was no one else there. Was Shen Yi'an really so comfortable leaving a child and a cat alone?
After searching in vain, Yun Jin returned to her room, stretched, and gently picked up Xiao Hua from the floor and placed her on the bed. As she bent over, her long hair fell down and brushed against Xiao Hua's tear-stained cheeks.
Little Flower murmured in her sleep, "Mommy..."
The murmur struck Yun Jin's heart unexpectedly. She froze on the spot, watching Xiao Hua rub against the pillow and bury half her face in the corner of the blanket she had just tucked in.
Yun Jin sighed, sat on the bay window and stretched, her bones aching from maintaining a cat-like posture all day.
Before she could catch her breath, the lights in the hallway by the door suddenly came on. Yun Jin quickly curled up and transformed back into her cat form amidst the rustling of fabric.
Footsteps stopped at the door, and the light from the crack in the door was cut off by a tall, slender shadow. Yun Jin held her breath; it was Shen Yi'an.
Yun Jin didn't know why he always appeared when she transformed, and they were almost discovered each time.
As the footsteps drew closer, Yun Jin quickly pretended to be asleep. She could feel Shen Yi'an's face very close to hers, his breath brushing against her face.
A pervert who peeps at cats while they sleep.
——
On the bustling stage, the actors are passionately performing "The Sleeping Beauty." A short-haired girl in a princess dress slowly awakens with a prince's gentle kiss.
Yun Jin's applause was drowned out by the tidal wave of cheers as she gazed at the short-haired princess on stage, completely mesmerized.
The short-haired princess walked to the center of the stage, the spotlight shining on her light-colored dress. Just as she was about to sing something, her expression suddenly changed, and she pointed at the audience.
"ah--!"
Her scream ripped through the entire theater, and the short-haired princess pointed her long hand directly at the audience.
"A terrifying cat demon!"
Her voice suddenly became a superposition of hundreds of voices, resounding simultaneously from every corner of the theater.
Yun Jin's vision began to distort. The chair gripped her hands tightly as if it were melting wax. She looked down and saw that her hands were melting, and orange down was emerging from under her skin.
The screams of the surrounding audience were drawn out into a strange buzzing sound, their features becoming blurred.
"Bang!"
Suddenly, the stage screen lit up with a blinding red light. In the image, Yun Jin's head had completely transformed into a cat shape, with heterochromatic vertical pupils filling the entire screen, while her human body was still wearing the blue dress she had worn when she arrived.
A tattered rabbit doll fell from the sky, its trajectory unusually slow. Cotton drifted out from its cracks, and when it struck Yun Jin's forehead, the gushing blood obscured her vision.
The short-haired princess walked slowly towards her; it was Qin Yi.
Qin Yi grabbed Yun Jin's cat ears and whispered, "Go to hell, you cat demon."
"Meow meow meow meow—help!" Yun Jin frantically waved her paws.
"Xiaoyun, did you have a nightmare? Don't be afraid, I'm here." A familiar voice rang out.
Yun Jin suddenly opened her eyes. She was in Shen Yi'an's villa. There was no stage, no Qin Yi, and she hadn't lost control and turned into a half-human, half-cat monster.
Xiaohua's face drew closer against the morning light, her sleepy bangs sticking out on her forehead, her face full of worry, her warm little hands gently stroking herself.
Was it a nightmare?
Yun Jin's voice caught in her throat. She looked down at her paws, which were normal, furry cat paws, not the twisted, half-human shape she had seen in her dream.
“If there are bad guys,” Xiaohua suddenly jumped out of bed, raised her little fist and waved it at the air, the morning light gilding her silhouette, “I will do this! Like this! Drive them away!”
Yun Jin arched her back, stretching out all her muscles inch by inch. Sunlight shone on her downy fur, casting fluffy shadows on the solid wood floor as she slowly and methodically groomed herself.
After washing up, she lightly leaped onto the windowsill and saw several sparrows pecking at something on the dew-kissed lawn in the garden not far away. Someone was tending to the flowers and plants, and the air smelled of fresh grass.
It was just a nightmare, Yun Jin comforted herself.
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