The ball of yarn was stuffed with catnip, and no cat could resist the temptation.
Sure enough, just as she'd hoped, the grayish-white cat's body slowly went limp. It hugged the ball with both paws and began kicking its legs wildly...
Wen Qian's smile widened at the sight, and she lay back on her bed, completely satisfied.
But Wen Qian's smile didn't last long.
The catnip had made Yin Zhi abnormally excited, and he wouldn't listen to a single command. The entire person—oh, no, the entire *cat*—brazenly refused to leave her bed, finally rolling right into her arms...
She might have put up with this before, but now that she had seen his human form, Wen Qian's face flushed beet red.
She focused all her attention on fending off Yin Zhi's "assault," completely missing the sight of his tail swaying gently behind him...
...
That night, Wen Qian learned the hard way what it meant to dig your own grave.
It was also her first time experiencing the boundless energy of a nocturnal animal... He really wasn't tired at all!
He rolled around restlessly, one moment nudging her neck with his head, the next pressing her chest with his soft paws. Finally, he simply dove under the covers... his thick, long tail wrapping firmly around her forearm.
'I really dug my own grave!'
Wen Qian was having an internal breakdown. The moment before she drifted off to sleep, she used the last of her strength to grab the catnip-stuffed ball of yarn and hurl it away...
If she had her way, she would never see catnip in her house again for the rest of her life!
...
The Wind Chime by the window TINKLED as the breeze blew past.
On this cool, late-summer morning, Wen Qian was somehow woken up by the heat.
The silver gradient cat was gone from the bed. In his place was a man with a refined, handsome face. He was naked, one arm draped casually over Wen Qian's waist.
The warmth radiating from his chest made her forehead break out in a thin sheen of sweat. She groggily opened her eyes, her gaze sweeping over his forehead, the corners of his eyes, the bridge of his nose, and finally, his full lips... Wen Qian swallowed instinctively.
Suddenly wide awake, Wen Qian shook her head vigorously. 'I have to lay down some ground rules with Yin Zhi. No transforming in his sleep!'
"Ngh..." While she was lost in thought, the man opened his eyes. They were still hazy with sleep. He gave her a harmless-looking smile, but the arm around her tightened imperceptibly.
The man's body blocked most of the light, and the air suddenly felt thin. Wen Qian immediately struggled to sit up, stammering, "Uh, um, I have to go to class. There's cat food in the cabinet in the living room—no! I mean, uh, bread! There's food in the fridge too... If you, if you get hungry, just eat!"
Enduring Yin Zhi's knowing gaze, Wen Qian snatched her clothes and fled the bedroom.
...
It wasn't even six o'clock, but a faint red was already coloring the eastern sky.
Wen Qian bought a savory crepe and waited at the bus stop for a while before catching the shuttle to campus. She sat in a seat near the middle, her gaze drifting out the window. She saw a stray cat rolling in the grass, and her expression grew complicated.
The events of yesterday and this morning had been too sudden. Wen Qian still couldn't believe that the soft, fluffy silver gradient cat from a month ago had just... transformed into a human.
As she recalled the first time they met, Wen Qian looked to the heavens, speechless.
It was on a night just after a rain. The air in her apartment complex was filled with the clean, cool, pleasant scent of wet earth. Wen Qian had a late class that day and didn't get back to her complex until eight. As she approached her building, she spotted the grayish-white cat.
It looked like it had just been in a vicious fight with another cat. It was crouched defensively under a streetlight, back arched, poised to attack at any moment. The dust and blood caking its fur made it look extremely dangerous. Naturally, Wen Qian wasn't foolish enough to approach it and say hello...
If it scratched her, she'd be looking at five shots, minimum.
With that thought, she began to back away, suddenly in no hurry to get home.
But a cat's hearing is incredibly sharp, and it had noticed her arrival long ago. Seeing her try to leave, it closed the distance in a few quick bounds. It cornered Wen Qian about thirty feet from her front door, leaving her frozen, unsure whether to move forward or back.
"You... y-you stay back!" Wen Qian glared, trying to look fierce. When she remembered it wouldn't understand her, she quickly took off her bag and swung it a couple of times, attempting to scare it off.
Its tail gave two gentle flicks. This "battle-damaged cat" was unusually bold. It began to circle her with a curious "catwalk," completely unconcerned that the object in her hand might hurt it.
Wen Qian couldn't tell if she was imagining it, but she felt like the cat was sizing her up. Its amber eyes held a dangerous, probing light.
Wen Qian swallowed nervously. Just as she was debating whether discretion was the better part of valor, the creature in front of her had a sudden change of heart. It leaned in and began to rub its head endearingly against her ankle...
'What is it doing? Is it trying to be cute?!'
Wen Qian was horrified by the thought. Covered in bloodstains as it was, this cat did not look like one to be trifled with. After a moment's hesitation, however, she tentatively reached out a hand. As soon as she did, the little cat cleverly met her halfway, pressing its head into her palm and rubbing against it with a soft meow.
Wen Qian's eyes widened in pleasant surprise. She decided to retract her earlier assessment of it being dangerous. 'What ulterior motives could a little kitty possibly have?'
For the next week, Wen Qian saw the grubby little cat by her door every day.
Despite being covered in dirt, it still possessed a cat's unique elegance. Its tail would sway as it walked, and whenever it stopped, it would hook its tail around Wen Qian's ankle in a clear attempt to curry favor.
Wen Qian considered adopting it, but she quickly dismissed the thought. Taking care of a pet was a lot of trouble. Wen Qian was a senior in college and about to start an internship... she didn't have any extra time to waste on pets.
Besides, pets cost money! How could she spend the money she'd worked so hard for at her part-time jobs on a cat...
'Besides, it's a stray cat. It's probably used to life in the wild. It loves freedom, poetry, and distant lands... It's definitely only following me because it wants my two sausages!'
'Yes! That has to be it. And the fact that it only eats the pieces I put in my palm? That's just because it's full, not because it thinks the ground is dirty...'
「Until a week later.」
A notice appeared in the apartment complex's group chat: there had been an incident where a stray cat attacked a child in the neighborhood where Wen Qian rented her place.
A parent had complained that their child was playing by the flowerbeds when they were bitten "for no reason." They were demanding that community management round up and remove all stray animals.
Wen Qian was puzzled. The strays in the complex were very wary of people; you couldn't get close to them unless you were deliberately trying to provoke them. How could someone get bitten "for no reason"?
A few other residents in the group chat raised doubts, but they were quickly shut down by the injured child's parent. The community managers hurried to mediate, offering placating words until the parent was finally calmed.
Wen Qian did some asking around and found out that the family of the child who was bitten was notoriously difficult. They were known in the complex for being arrogant and bossy, constantly picking fights with their neighbors. To make matters worse, the father worked in online media, so management was terrified of the story getting out and escalating.