Why bother with dating when you already have a cat?

If the new book doesn't perform well, once my savings run out, I'll have no choice but to slink home and, under my mother's arrangement, go to work as an intern at her company.

You absolutely must not do that kind of thing.

Thinking of this, Ai Qing took a deep breath, then opened the editor Guagua's QQ and sent a message.

[Flowers Bloom Around the Corner]: Dear Editor, my new book, "My Childhood Sweetheart Will Turn into a Cat," has just passed the review process. I'm requesting a 6000-word submission!

No reply received.

It was past 9 p.m., after all, outside of working hours.

Ai Qing closed QQ, reopened the author's backend, and glanced at the drafts saved up in the last few days.

Hmm... there are only three chapters left.

I'll try to write more tomorrow.

With that in mind, Ai Qing quit the author's backstage and began to indulge in various apps in turn.

I don't know if these apps were all in cahoots, but the videos they pushed to him late at night were either all sorts of beautiful young women or mouthwatering food.

Occasionally, a few patriotic and touching video compilations are interspersed, along with heartwarming stories of couples who go to great lengths to be together and eventually become husband and wife, specifically designed to evoke tears.

This is truly the dreaded era of short videos...

Ai Qing glanced at the time and realized it was already past eleven o'clock at night.

Time to sleep.

He tossed his phone aside, plugged in the charging cable, then turned and casually picked up Xiaoyu, pulling her directly into his arms.

The little fish struggled slightly and shifted to a more comfortable position in his bed.

"Single people don't need to be in a relationship. When I see videos of pretty girls and couples, it's just for inspiration." Ai Qing kissed Xiaoyu, closed her eyes, and prepared to sleep. "If Xiaoyu could turn into a beautiful girl, then I might consider it."

"Meow~"

……

3:30 a.m.

Ai Qing was awakened by the urge to urinate in the dim light of night. She stretched in bed and was about to get out of bed to use the toilet.

But before he could even finish half of his stretching motion, he felt his hand bump into something...

Small fish?

This doesn't feel right... Where's the fur?

Why is it all bare?

Ai Qing frowned slightly, blinked hard twice, and looked to her right, following the direction her arm had touched.

The next instant.

When the girl's quiet, gentle sleeping face under the moonlight suddenly entered his world.

He stopped breathing.

Oh, it was just a dream... I should go back to sleep.

Chapter 2 He's not a Fury fanatic!

Sleep, sleep... sleep my ass!

I had just unconsciously stretched and was about to raise my right hand from my waist when I accidentally touched the side of the girl next to me.

Delicate, smooth...like fine silk, yet with the smoothness of milky tofu, as if it had been soaked in milk day and night.

Even the slightest touch feels like a desecration, yet I can't bear to pull my hand away.

After turning her head, Ai Qing stared blankly at the girl sleeping peacefully beside her, feeling a real yet surreal sensation in her right hand.

He immediately fell into self-doubt between "reality" and "lucid dream".

But his gaze lingered on the girl's face, unwilling to leave.

Her eyes were closed, her eyelashes fluttered slightly, her delicate nose was pert and small, and her pink lips were slightly parted as she slept...

Hmm... he still has white hair?

and many more!

After passively admiring the girl's beauty for a while, Ai Qing's gaze was finally drawn to her clean, clear, snow-white long hair.

But before he could even be surprised, his gaze fell on a pair of ears.

These... are cat ears, right?

Ai Qing stared at the pair of pure white cat ears between the strands of hair on the girl's head, suppressing the urge to reach out and touch them, a guess already emerging in her mind.

This speculation left him somewhat bewildered.

Late at night, moonlight, a secluded bedroom, a spacious double bed, and a kitten that has transformed into a human...

"I'm not raising a fox spirit..." Ai Qing instinctively complained to herself to calm her emotions.

He then withdrew his right hand and, together with his left, vigorously rubbed his face to clear his mind.

But when he released his hands and opened his eyes, the exquisite sleeping beauty who had been lying next to him had disappeared.

"Meow?"

With slightly sleepy eyes, Xiaoyu brought her cute cat face close to Ai Qing, filling his entire field of vision.

It seemed they were asking him why his expression looked so strange.

"Was that girl you in disguise?" Ai Qing sat up abruptly, pinching Xiao Yu's cheek and interrogating her, "Why did you turn back?"

"Meow meow?" Little Fish tilted its head back as its cheeks were pinched, looking at Ai Qing's confused expression. It tilted its head, looking puzzled, and finally couldn't say anything. It could only stick out its tongue and lick Ai Qing's hand.

Looking down at the adorable kitten licking her palm, Ai Qing simply couldn't reconcile her with the girl who had just appeared like an angel.

but……

With a whoosh, he yanked the blanket off.

Ai Qing splattered her bare feet on the wooden floor and rushed into the bathroom.

I was so busy looking at the pretty girls that I almost forgot about the important matter.

After relieving himself and washing his hands, Ai Qing glanced at the toilet door and saw Xiao Yu squatting there, tilting his head and looking at him.

Xiaoyu loved watching him go to the toilet, and Aiqing had long been used to it.

But when Ai Qing thought about how the girl from before might have been the little fish in disguise, she suddenly felt a little awkward.

After washing her hands, Ai Qing splashed cold water on her face to fully wake herself up.

He shook his head, looked at his real self in the mirror, and lightly slapped himself across the face. The crisp sound confirmed that he wasn't dreaming.

but……

Was everything that just happened an illusion or reality?

After leaving the bathroom, Ai Qing returned to bed, and Xiao Yu jumped onto the bed after her.

"Transform!"

Ai Qing sat cross-legged on the bed, pointed her finger at Xiao Yu's nose, and gave serious instructions.

But Xiaoyu was just a kitten, so she couldn't understand what he was saying. She could only open her mouth and stick out her tongue to lick Aiqing's fingers.

A cat's tongue has barbs, and it feels itchy when it licks your hand.

Ai Qing looked down at the little fish licking her fingers, lost in thought, and began to wonder if she had developed some kind of hysteria.

How about I see a psychologist tomorrow?

I might be quite ill.

Could it be that writing novels about cats has given him a mental illness?

They've all started fantasizing about the little fish turning into a human.

But I really did touch that girl's waist just now... This is the first time in my life I've ever touched a girl's body like this... And you're telling me it was just my hallucination?

The sensation was so real... However, I've heard that some mental illnesses can also cause lesions that affect one's senses.

Thinking of this, Ai Qing became unusually nervous and picked up her phone to search on Baidu.

A few minutes later, he slammed his head on the pillow, sentencing himself to death.

……

At six o'clock in the morning, Ai Qing, with light dark circles under her eyes, struggled to get out of bed and went into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth.

After the paranormal events last night, Ai Qing didn't sleep well and remained in a state of semi-consciousness.

The little fish had probably had enough sleep, so it kept jumping around the room doing parkour.

As soon as she jumped onto the bed, Ai Qing was startled awake. She glanced to her right but didn't see the girl from her dream, which she didn't know if it was a hallucination or what. So she regretfully went back to sleep.

As a result, my mental state was very poor.

Fortunately, washing my face with cold water brought me back to my senses.

Watching the cold water droplets slide down the curve of her face in the mirror, finally dripping from her chin onto her collar, Ai Qing raised her hand and gently patted her face twice.

You're a staunch defender of celibacy!

How could I be bewitched by a cat-eared girl whose appearance I don't even know if it's an illusion?

Ai Qing shook her head repeatedly, criticizing herself in her heart. Finally, she returned to her cold and ruthless persona, freeing herself from the shackles of love and romance, and immersing herself back in her solitary world with her cat.

On an empty stomach in the morning, Ai Qing stood in the living room with all the curtains drawn, facing the rising sun, and performed the Eightfold Vajra Exercise.

It's not some kind of cultivation manual, it's just a kind of health-preserving exercise, and Ai Qing practices it like gymnastics.

He wasn't sure if the actual effect was as miraculous as the online videos claimed, but it did make his back feel much more comfortable after the treatment.

Online novel authors' backs are like shoddy construction materials; they need to take good care of themselves.

After practicing the Vajra Kung Fu for about ten minutes, Ai Qing took out some frozen custard buns and dumplings from the refrigerator, steamed one and boiled the other, thus solving her breakfast problem.

Then I went to the treadmill in the living room and jogged for ten minutes to warm up.