The gray tones of dawn were gradually dispersed by the brightening morning light, and fine dust motes floated in the living room.
Su Yuqing curled up on the sofa, her consciousness struggling to surface from the deep mire of sleep.
Every joint in her body complained about the cramped and hard discomfort of the sofa, yet her extreme mental exhaustion made her cling to this brief moment of peace.
However, that peace did not last long.
A teasing voice, like a cold cat’s claw, lightly scratched through the silence.
“Ugh…”
Su Yuqing let out an unconscious grunt of dissatisfaction and pulled the thin blanket higher, trying to cover her head to shut out the outside world.
The voice was relentless, sounding again with a mischievous, sugary sweetness.
“If you don’t get up soon — then I, this cat, will have to start exploring your living room — for instance, pushing the books off the shelf one by one to hear the noise they make, or perhaps testing the durability of the sofa fabric with my claws…”
This threatening “preview” acted like a bucket of cold water, instantly jolting Su Yuqing awake.
She snapped her eyes open and met Zhi Ai’s glazed-colored eyes, which looked exceptionally clear in the morning light.
Zhi Ai was already fully dressed, her long blonde hair neatly brushed.
She stood with her arms crossed, looking down at Su Yuqing with a composed air, as if she had been enjoying the sight of her pathetic sleeping posture for quite some time.
“You… you’re already up?”
Su Yuqing’s voice was raspy from sleep and carried a hint of helplessness.
“And why wouldn’t I be?”
Zhi Ai curled her lip, her expression completely at odds with her delicate appearance.
“Though, it really is a shame, meow — I’m the one with a bed to sleep in, but in the end, my sleep duration for the entire night wasn’t as long or as deep as yours, you poor thing squeezed onto a broken sofa.”
There was a faint, barely perceptible trace of jealousy in her tone.
Su Yuqing rubbed her bleary eyes and couldn’t help but snap back.
“Well… if you’re really that dissatisfied with your sleep quality and feel it’s unfair, we can always swap tonight. I promise I won’t fight you for that bed.”
Zhi Ai reacted immediately as if someone had stepped on her tail, rejecting the idea flatly.
“Keep dreaming! Not a chance!”
Her attitude made it seem as if Su Yuqing had suggested something sacrilegious.
“Fine, fine.”
Su Yuqing gave up on the pointless morning bickering and struggled to sit up from the sofa.
“I won’t argue with you for now. I need to wash my face and wake up. My brain still feels like mush…”
“Go ahead, go ahead — “
Zhi Ai waved her hand with a light tone, acting like a generous master.
Su Yuqing dragged her tired feet toward the bathroom next to the kitchen.
However, in less than thirty seconds, a nearly panicked cry erupted from the kitchen.
“Agh — ! Zhi Ai! What… what is going on in this kitchen?! Why are there so many half-opened cans of Cat Canned Food on the counter…?! And there’s juice splattered everywhere!”
Hearing the commotion, Zhi Ai slowly sauntered to the kitchen doorway.
Leaning against the frame, she looked at the messy scene inside without a shred of shame.
Instead, she said quite matter-of-factly:
“Because I felt hungry. Is that really so strange? When a cat is hungry, she has to eat. Isn’t that just common sense, meow?”
“It’s not strange that you ate because you were hungry!”
Su Yuqing pointed at the various flavors of Cat Canned Food that had only been poked at for a bite or two, her fingers trembling with rage.
“The problem is, why did you open a can, taste one or two bites, and then stop?! Look at this! Fish flavor, chicken flavor, Seafood Feast… you only ate a little bit of each one! Did no one ever teach you not to waste food…!?”
Faced with Su Yuqing’s accusation, Zhi Ai simply blinked innocently and explained:
“At the very beginning, I really did plan to honestly finish one can. But then — “
She dragged out her words, her gaze sweeping toward the cupboard.
“After I opened the cabinet and saw there were so many different flavors inside, I… changed my mind a little — “
She acted as if she were stating perfectly sound logic.
“I thought I would try a little of every flavor to see which one tasted the best. So, before I knew it, things ended up looking like what you see now — “
She spread her hands as if to say, “This isn’t entirely my fault.”
“But… but that isn’t a reason for you to waste food so recklessly and then refuse to take responsibility for cleaning up the kitchen you messed up!”
Su Yuqing felt her blood pressure soaring again.
Hearing this, Zhi Ai sighed softly and looked at Su Yuqing with a “why don’t you understand yet” expression, speaking slowly and deliberately.
“Sigh — but have you ever considered one thing?”
“What?”
“If I really cleaned the kitchen until it was spotless and pristine all by myself…”
She tilted her head slightly, revealing a smile that was pure yet laced with thorns.
“Then what… would be the use of having you in this house, meow — ? I have to leave you something to do to reflect your ‘value’, don’t I?”
“You…!”
“To hell with you…!!!”
Su Yuqing turned away indignantly, no longer looking at the messy kitchen nor wanting to look at the little demon who could so easily ignite her fury.
She walked straight to the bathroom, prepared to use cold water to calm herself down.
However, fate seemed determined to work against her today.
She twisted the faucet, only to hear a few dry, “clack-clack” sounds from the pipes, like the cough of a dying patient.
Not a single drop of water came out.
“What’s happening…?”
She twisted it a few more times in disbelief, but it was still futile.
Zhi Ai watched her frozen silhouette in front of the sink and strolled over leisurely, her tone carrying a hint of amusement.
“Oh? You finished ‘cleaning’ the kitchen so quickly? I couldn’t tell, but your cleaning efficiency is actually quite high — “
Su Yuqing spun around, her face pale and her voice filled with suppressed anger and frustration.
“The water is out! Now I can’t even wash my face! Are you satisfied now?! This is all because of the luck you brought!”
To her surprise, Zhi Ai didn’t show any sympathy.
Instead, she wore an expression that said, “You really haven’t seen much of the world.”
“Who told you that you can’t wash your face… without water?”
She tilted her chin up slightly, possessing a superiority unique to felines.
Su Yuqing was in the middle of her temper, and hearing this only made her feel like the other was being deliberately difficult.
She couldn’t help but retort:
“Hmph, well since you’re so god-like that you can wash a face without tap water, why don’t you show me and open this mortal’s eyes…?”
She had said it sarcastically, but she didn’t expect Zhi Ai to agree so readily.
“Fine — “
Zhi Ai nodded briskly, a glint of cunning flashing in her glazed-colored eyes.
“I’ll show you. Now, go lie down on the sofa and close your eyes.”
“Huh?”
Su Yuqing was stunned, unable to keep up with her train of thought.
“What are you doing now? What does washing a face have to do with lying on the sofa?”
“Stop talking.”
Zhi Ai spoke in a commanding tone, carrying an unquestionable authority.
“You just need to do as this cat says.”
Looking at her serious expression, Su Yuqing felt full of doubt and a slight sense of foreboding.
However, under the other’s forceful gaze, she somehow ended up walking back to the living room.
She lay down on the sofa as told and closed her eyes tightly.
With her vision gone, her other senses became exceptionally sharp.
She could hear Zhi Ai’s light footsteps approaching and feel a faint, sweet scent similar to milk candy enveloping her.
“Uh…”
She shifted uncomfortably.
“Fine… I’ve done what you asked. Now what…? How are you going to — “
She didn’t get to finish her sentence.
In the next second, a warm, moist, and slightly grainy, rough sensation accompanied by a careful pressure lightly brushed across her forehead.
*Chiu…*
Su Yuqing’s body instantly froze, her mind going blank.
That sensation… it wasn’t like a towel, nor was it like any cleaning tool she knew.
It was flexible, moist, and carried the specific warmth of a living being.
Then, the sensation fell again, this time on her cheek.
*Chiu…*
It was gentle, yet it carried an irresistible thoroughness, as if wiping a precious collectible.
It was only then that Su Yuqing’s brain, previously bound by common sense, was suddenly split open like a bolt of lightning.
She abruptly understood exactly what kind of behavior “washing a face” referred to in a cat’s most primitive and instinctive worldview.
‘So she’s using her tongue… to wash my face?!’
“Ah…”
An exclamation mixed with shock, absurdity, and a slight shiver escaped Su Yuqing’s throat.
She couldn’t describe what kind of novel experience this was.
It was strange and eerie, yet it carried an unspeakable sense of intimacy that gave her goosebumps all over her body.
Fragments of memory involuntarily began to surface.
In the past, when that haughty Silver Tabby, Mantou, was still around, he would occasionally — usually when she forgot to feed him and the bowl was empty — impatiently lick her fingers with his little barbed tongue to remind her of her duties as a Master.
But the current Zhi Ai was, after all, different from an ordinary cat.
This realization became incredibly clear and piercing in the next second.
That warm, barbed sensation did not stop after “cleaning” her cheek.
Instead, with a slow aggression, like a queen inspecting her own territory, it finally —
Landed on her lips…