Why bother with dating when you already have a cat?

Anyway, their family never expected Li Qiqi to achieve anything significant. They just wanted her to find a stable job, marry well, and live a good life.

Looking back, working in a cat cafe isn't so bad.

At least Li Qiqi herself likes it.

It's better than having to volunteer at other adoption centers.

Since the cat cafe was run by family members, Ai Huijun felt more at ease having Li Qiqi there.

"Little Fish is here?" Li Qiqi's eyes lit up when she saw Little Fish, and she quickly waved to her and said, "Come and talk to Big Orange, tell it not to always crawl into that small litter box, can't you find it a big litter box?"

"It's so cramped in the small one, it always poops on the side where there's no litter, and then it comes out with its butt covered in poop!"

"Luckily, the litter box is deep enough, otherwise it would have gotten a patch of grime all over its belly, and I would have had to give it a bath then."

"Meow..." The orange cat, which was pressed against Li Qiqi's thigh, let out a pitiful whimper.

Others might not understand, but the little fish could.

So Xiaoyu said, "Let's take away its favorite litter box first, and then put the litter in a bigger litter box."

"It's just used to the smell over there. The other litter boxes smell like other cats, so it probably doesn't like that and always instinctively goes to the smaller one."

After dealing with this matter, Ai Qing followed Xiao Yu into the rest room next door.

They weren't planning to do anything bad; they were just checking on the mother cat inside.

The mother cat's belly is already very big, and Hu Tian, ​​who is very experienced, said that she would probably give birth in the next few days.

The little fish was very curious about this, and would come in to take a look whenever it had free time, to see when the mother cat would give birth to kittens.

Because there's a pet hospital next door, and the shop has Hu Tian, ​​a seasoned professional who graduated from medical school and has been in charge of an adoption center for many years, the risk of the mother cat giving birth to kittens has been minimized.

So Ai Qing wasn't worried at all.

Little Fish, however, was so concerned that she became flustered and kept getting nervous. Every time she saw Bread, she would immediately speak in a soft and gentle voice.

"Meow~"

"Meow?"

"Meow meow..."

"Meow~"

A person and a cat, one squatting and one lying down, began to communicate remotely.

Soon, Xiaoyu turned to Aiqing nervously and said, "It says it feels like it's about to give birth! It asked me if I have anything to eat."

"I'll go get the canned food." Ai Qing walked towards the back of the lounge, which was the cat cafe's storage room, where cat food, freeze-dried cat food, and canned cat food were usually stored.

Xiaoyu had already run out of the lounge and announced the news to the people outside.

Hu Tian was the first to run in, touched Bread's body, and made a preliminary check on its condition: "Hmm, it is indeed possible that it is about to give birth. Anyway, everything that needs to be prepared is here. Let it do its best, and we will provide food."

"Mmm!" Little Fish nodded vigorously, a little excited. This was the first time she had ever seen a cat give birth, and she was incredibly nervous, as if she were the one about to give birth.

The others, on the other hand, seemed unsurprised.

Hu Tian and Li Qiqi had seen many of them at the adoption center, while Lang Xiangying and Ai Qing were the ones who witnessed the birth of Xiaoyu.

It's fair to say that Xiaoyu really grew up under their watchful eyes.

However, Lang Xiangying was unaware of Xiaoyu's true identity.

In the following time, Ai Qing went to a corner of the cat-petting area to write, and occasionally when she got to a crucial part, she would grab the Japanese cat and give it a good thrashing.

The others continued as usual. Around noon, Lang Xiangying prepared to go home to cook, and didn't forget to tell the people in the shop, "Come to our house for dinner later, don't order that takeout stuff, it's unhealthy."

At first, Hu Tian and Li Qiqi refused, after all, they felt a little embarrassed to just go to someone's house and freeload.

But later, Xiaoyu dragged me to eat there once, and Grandma's cooking was really delicious. The takeout I usually eat is just garbage.

After that, things got a little out of control between the two.

Lang Xiangying also really liked this feeling.

After all, Yao Qiang doesn't usually eat at home; she's only home on weekends.

There are only two grown men in the family, Ai Lisong and Ai Zhongguo.

Now that Ai Qing and Xiao Yu are here, along with Li Qiqi and Hu Tian, ​​and Xiao Youqian occasionally comes over for a meal, the house has suddenly become lively.

At this age, the elderly person is still in good health and can't stay idle.

If so many people could come over to her house for a lively gathering, she wouldn't mind cooking a big meal in the kitchen; on the contrary, she would enjoy it immensely.

After Lang Xiangying left, Xiaoyu remained squatting in the break room, staring at the bread.

But even by noon, they only heard the bread squeal a few times, and there was still no sign of it going into labor.

So Xiaoyu was pulled away by Aiqing and went back to Lang Xiangying's place for lunch.

Li Qiqi and Hu Tian stayed here to watch the shop, waiting for Ai Qing and Xiao Yu to finish their meal before they went over to eat.

Just as Ai Qing and Xiao Yu were halfway through their meal, Li Qiqi rushed over from across the street. Before she even entered the living room, she called out to Ai Qing and Xiao Yu at the dining table:

"It's born! It's born! The little fish has given birth! Oh no, the bread has given birth! Little fish, come and see!"

"What?!" Upon hearing this, Xiaoyu immediately stood up from her chair, put down her chopsticks, and hurriedly rushed to the other side.

Ai Qing wasn't in a hurry. She glanced at the food and thought for a moment, then said to her grandmother, "Why don't we just take it to eat across the street?"

"Okay." Hearing him say that, Lang Xiangying got up and went to the kitchen to look for two large stacked lunch boxes, and put all the dishes on the table into them.

Then, using another lunchbox, a large bowl of rice was filled.

"Qingqing, grab a few bowls and chopsticks, let's go."

"Okay." Ai Qing quickly picked up the bowl and chopsticks and followed her grandmother to the other side.

As they walked, Lang Xiangying said, "You've reminded me. Anyway, I don't have anything else to do at noon. Since you two take turns coming to eat, I might as well deliver it to you every day."

"Um... that's not necessarily true. Dad and Grandpa need to eat too."

"Let them eat here. Just leave them some food, and I'll bring the rest over for you."

"Sissi is next door, isn't she? Let's invite her along too."

Seeing that his grandmother had said so, Ai Qing didn't object anymore, but he still added, "Then I'll have Xiaoyu help you. It's a bit troublesome for you to carry things by yourself. Anyway, she doesn't have anything to do at noon."

“Okay, let Xiaoyu come.” At this point, Lang Xiangying turned to Ai Qing and said with a smile, “Speaking of which, you two are living together now, and Xiaoyu has no family, so it can be said that she has come with you.”

"So, what are your plans for the two of you? How about we start thinking about marriage soon?"

"Your grandma is still waiting to hold her great-grandchild."

"Ahem... No rush, we're still young." Ai Qing coughed a little embarrassedly. "Besides, Xiao Yu isn't even of legal marriage age yet, so let's wait a bit longer."

That's what they say, but in reality, Xiaoyu doesn't have an ID card at all, let alone a household registration book, so she can't even get a marriage certificate.

Whether or not they get a marriage certificate doesn't really matter; the main form of marriage is still the wedding ceremony, which tells everyone that they've become husband and wife.

However, Ai Qing did not want to get married so soon.

After all, this might be the only time he'll ever be in a relationship, so let him experience it more.

He is simply not ready to be a husband, let alone a father.

not to mention……

Whether there is reproductive isolation between him and the small fish is a very serious scientific question.

Ai Qing was very doubtful whether she and Xiao Yu could actually have a baby.

With that thought in mind, he had already followed his grandmother back to the cat cafe and put the food on the table.

Fortunately, the stray cats in the cat cafe have all been well trained and will never touch the things on the table.

Ai Qing confidently brought out each dish.

He then walked into the lounge.

The break room is quite spacious, about ten square meters, with about half of it being a storage room and the rest being a place for bread to produce its own babies.

In the middle is a cat bed specifically for cats to give birth. Bread is lying half-lying inside, and if you look closely, you can clearly see her belly twitching slightly.

"How many have you had?" Ai Qing asked the three girls inside.

“This is the second one, and they are both healthy.” Hu Tian, ​​wearing clean sanitary gloves, pointed to the two cubs lying quietly to the side. “During the previous checkup, they said there were five, but they might be hidden. We’ll have to see for sure.”

“Hmm.” Ai Qing nodded, then said, “It won’t be finished in a short time. Why don’t you leave one of you here to watch over them while the rest of you go eat? Otherwise, I think there will be a shortage of bread if there are too many people.”

“Yes, that makes sense.” Hu Tian nodded, then said, “Then I’ll go first…”

"Sister Tian, ​​how about I do it?" Xiaoyu volunteered. "I've already eaten, so I'm not very hungry. I can keep an eye on things."

"Hmm...that's fine. Xiaoyu, put on your sanitary gloves, and if it gives birth to a third kitten, pick it up and put it aside. Don't touch it too much," Hu Tian instructed. "Try not to leave too much of our own scent on the kittens."

"If it finishes its cat food later, you can give it some goat milk or something similar to help it regain its energy."

"If you don't understand anything, just call us anytime."

Little Fish listened attentively, then nodded vigorously: "Okay, I understand!"

After saying that, Hu Tian got up and walked outside, and Li Qiqi followed her out to eat at the table in the cat petting area.

Ai Qing glanced at Xiao Yu. She felt she hadn't eaten enough, but after thinking about it, she took two steps back and stood there with her.

This was the first time in Xiaoyu's life, both as a cat and as a human, that she had ever seen a cat give birth.

Her eyes were wide open, not wanting to miss a single move.

Her gaze shifted between the mother cat and the kittens, sometimes fixed on the mother cat's belly, sometimes on the two kittens.

She had originally wanted to reach out and touch it, but remembering Hu Tian's reminder earlier, she silently withdrew her hand.

Soon, the third kitten was born.

After putting on sanitary gloves, the little fish picked up the baby and placed it next to the other two to lie down in a row.

They all looked healthy, wriggling around in their cat beds, scratching with their little paws, unable to get out of the cats' beds for a long time, and their eyes were still closed.

The little fish was overjoyed and looked down at its palm, recalling the feeling of holding the kitten just now.

It was so soft and squishy, ​​and I was holding a real little life in my hands.

And yet, this tiny cat, only the size of her palm, grew to such a large size in just a few months.