Why bother with dating when you already have a cat?

"Alright, let's go eat." Yao Qiang had touched him enough, so she ended the conversation, got up, and left Ai Qing's bedroom.

Ai Qing glanced at Xiao Yu, who was lying on the ground with her belly showing, scratched her chin, and said, "Be a good girl, I'll come up and keep you company in a little while."

……

The family of five gathered together, but the meal itself was rather unremarkable.

Ai Qing has never been one to speak much at the dinner table.

Grandma Lang Xiangying rarely spoke, except when she told Grandpa to drink less alcohol.

After Yao Qiang shared some recent events at the company and discussed some issues that arose after she took on the role of deputy director of the sales department, the conversation shifted to Ai Lisong and his son Ai Zhongguo.

When he was young, Ai Lisong was a well-known writer in local publishing houses in Hangzhou, and he was also a member of the provincial writers' association.

He's retired now, though.

Besides practicing calligraphy at home, playing chess and practicing Tai Chi with other old men in the neighborhood, he usually runs a shop in Ai Yingchao City.

My grandson recommended Douyin to me during the Chinese New Year, and I've developed a new interest in it ever since.

However, when chatting with my son at the dinner table, we talk about international affairs, financial trends, new literary works, and hot news. We sip our liquor and discuss current events with great enthusiasm and confidence.

The meal lasted from around 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. before finally ending.

Then came the part that Ai Qing always looked forward to the most when she came home.

"Grandma, let me help you!"

Following Lang Xiangying to the supermarket warehouse, Ai Qing immediately helped Lang Xiangying pick up a bag of cat food and freeze-dried food.

The two then walked towards the small courtyard outside the first-floor balcony.

Yao Qiang followed along, and the three of them went outside together.

Their ground floor courtyard isn't very big, especially since they built a staircase leading to the second-floor balcony, leaving only about ten square meters of space.

It was surrounded by a wall, with a door for entry and exit.

Just then, Ai Qing stepped out of the balcony into the yard. Next to her, her grandmother was holding an iron pot for cooking rice. She tapped the pot lightly with a spoon, and a few swishing sounds could be heard. Suddenly, pairs of bright eyes appeared on the surrounding walls.

Moreover, this number is increasing over time.

Ai Qing skillfully helped her grandmother open the cat food and freeze-dried food and poured them all into the iron pot.

Lang Xiangying held a long spoon and stirred the pot back and forth, while Yao Qiang went inside to fetch a stack of small bowls and set them aside.

The pairs of eyes that had emerged from outside the wall had now leaped over it into the yard, transforming into cats of all shapes and sizes, in various colors and breeds.

A rough count suggests there are about fifteen or sixteen of them.

After the cats came into the yard, they were all very well-behaved, squatting down next to Lang Xiangying or wandering around.

Lang Xiangying chuckled kindly, stirred the freeze-dried cat food in the pot until it was evenly mixed, and then added it spoonful by spoonful into the small bowl.

"Come on, Maple Leaf Beauty, eat first." Ai Qing picked up the first bowl, placed it by the wall, and came over carrying a very beautiful cat whose back pattern resembled a maple leaf.

"Then came the sheriff."

"Sir, please come too."

"By the way, where's Big Orange?"

The stray cats that come to eat here are not fixed every day, but there are always a few regulars, and Ai Qing has a deep impression of them.

But I didn't see the big orange cat that I used to see every day during the Chinese New Year today.

"Go open the door, you should be able to see it," Lang Xiangying said with a chuckle.

Ai Qing was puzzled and curiously opened the gate to the courtyard, whereupon she saw a yellow blob crawling in.

"Whoa!"

"Meow!"

"How did you get so fat?" Ai Qing squatted down, picked up the big orange cat, and weighed it in her hands. She almost couldn't lift it.

“This guy eats too much. Don’t let him in yet. Lock him outside and let him in after they’ve finished eating,” Lang Xiangying said. “Before, he would always steal other people’s food after finishing his own. He’s gotten so fat in just a few months.”

"You little rascal, you should lose some weight." Ai Qing chuckled and closed the door again.

"Where's Xiaoyu? Did she eat dinner?" Lang Xiangying asked with concern.

"Go upstairs and open a can of food for her later," Ai Qing said.

Speaking of which, Xiaoyu's mother was brought here by other stray cats to beg for food.

At that time, her belly was already very big, and she was on the verge of giving birth, but her body was shockingly thin, as if she had no nutrition at all.

So much so that when Lang Xiangying first saw him, he thought it was just a simple case of a fat belly.

As a result, after feeding the mother cat, she immediately gave birth to kittens in the yard.

Despite Lang Xiangying's efforts to care for her all night, the mother cat still died from complications during childbirth because the nutrition was provided too late.

The kittens in her belly also suffered from congenital malnutrition, and three of the four kittens died. Only Xiaoyu survived the first night and saw the sun the next day.

However, Xiaoyu was also malnourished and was born with congenital deficiencies. She was raised alone at home by Lang Xiangying, who took meticulous care of her every day until she finally escaped the danger period.

Later, because Ai Qing really liked it, she finally decided to keep the little fish at home.

"Then everyone, please continue eating." Ai Qing stood up, stretched, and then said to her grandmother and mother, "I'm going upstairs to check on Xiaoyu."

As he spoke, he glanced at the second floor and then his expression turned to shock!

Because at that moment, the little fish, now human, was perched on his bedroom table, peering curiously at the scene in the courtyard on the first floor through his window.

What the hell!

How did it turn into a person at this hour?!

Chapter 17 I'll Show You a Big Treasure

In that instant, a multitude of thoughts flashed through Ai Qing's mind.

For example, how should I explain to my parents and grandparents that a girl suddenly appeared in my room?

For example, should we be honest with them about the fact that the little fish could turn into a human?

For example, what if the phenomenon of "the little fish turning into a human" is really just his own fantasy, and in reality, no one can see the little fish in human form at all? Then shouldn't he really consider seeing a psychologist...?

However, when Ai Qing caught a glimpse of her mother squatting on the ground petting cats, and her grandmother adding cat treats to some of the thinner-looking cats as dessert in her meal, she immediately felt relieved.

Then he tried his best to maintain his composure and walked up the stairs in the yard to the second-floor balcony with a normal expression.

Then, from a distance where Mom and Grandma couldn't see him, he instantly dashed towards his bedroom.

Open the door, sprint, and spread your arms wide.

Then he picked up the little fish that was lying on the table.

The white-haired cat-eared girl, wearing only a blue coat, had a soft and fragrant body. Holding her in one's arms would naturally make one's heart flutter.

But Ai Qing didn't linger. She immediately carried her to the bed and put her down. Then she went to the window and looked down to make sure that her mother and grandmother hadn't looked up and seen anything unusual in the second-floor room.

"Meow?"

The little fish, lying on all fours, tilted its head to look at Ai Qing, not understanding why he had picked it up.

So he climbed back to the bedside, braced himself on the ground with his hands, and then climbed to the chair, looking as if he wanted to climb back onto the table to enjoy the view outside the window.

So Ai Qing had no choice but to quickly draw the curtains and then press down on Xiao Yu, who had just climbed onto the chair.

"Don't move, just sit here obediently."

"Meow!"

"Meowing at me won't help."

Ai Qing held her down for a while, then picked her up and put her back on the bed. She then closed the bedroom door, took out a can from her backpack, and gently tapped it to make a crisp sound.

Upon hearing this sound, the little fish's cat ears immediately perked up, and it turned its head to look at the can of food in Ai Qing's hand.

I never expected that I would react to cat food after becoming human.

Ai Qing couldn't help but chuckle and shake her head as she watched Xiao Yu's eyes light up.

Open the cat food can and pour the food into the cat bowl, being careful not to let the edge of the can scratch the cat's tongue.

Then Ai Qing let out a long sigh, plopped down on the bed, propped herself up with her hands, and watched the little fish struggling to climb down and try to eat. She couldn't help but pat her forehead.

"Shouldn't we get you a spoon or chopsticks so you can learn to eat with your hands?"

Fortunately, the little fish didn't make him put it into practice right away. In the blink of an eye, he transformed back into a cat and started eating canned food.

……

For the rest of the time, until bedtime, Xiaoyu didn't cause any more trouble and obediently did her job as a little kitten.

Ai Qing also took advantage of this time to write a chapter in the evening, and then took a shower and went to bed to rest.

After he fell asleep, he was suddenly awakened by a noise at some point in the early morning. When he opened his eyes, he found that there was another girl in his bed.

Perhaps she had developed some immunity to it, and coupled with her extreme sleepiness, Ai Qing opened her eyes, glanced at them, then closed them again, mumbling, "Just go to sleep and don't make a fuss."

But soon, he heard a soft creak at the door.

This startled him awake from his bed.

With a whoosh, Ai Qing sat bolt upright in bed, her eyes wide as she looked toward the door.

Then they saw Xiaoyu lying on the ground, struggling to prop herself up, and then grabbing the doorknob with one hand.

With a simple pull, the bedroom door opened.

It's open...

What the hell!

Ai Qing quickly threw off the covers and jumped out of bed, pressing down on the little fish that was trying to stick its head out.

If it were just Xiaoyu opening the door, Ai Qing wouldn't be so panicked.

The key point is that as soon as the door opened, light shone through the corridor, and there were also faint voices coming from the balcony.

There are people outside!