Lan Lan looked curiously at the new house, purring, and seemed satisfied.
Zhao Qi placed the cat on the sofa in the living room and went to the kitchen to boil water for her coffee.
As soon as the water was ready, someone rang the bell.
Through the visual intercom system, she saw it was the delivery guy, and he was carrying a lot of stuff.
Soon after turning on the access control system, the elevator stopped at her floor, and then the delivery guy knocked at the door.
"Coming," she said and opened the door.
"Please sign and pay the delivery charge," the courier said.
Zhao Qi took the pen and signed. She took her wallet out of her handbag and paid him the fee.
The guy counted the money and made sure it was the correct amount. While putting the money into his pocket, he asked, "Was that your cat that just ran out?"
Zhao Qi suddenly paused, then looked back. The British Shorthair was no longer in the living room.
She wanted to swing her handbag at the delivery guy’s face. Why hadn’t he said something sooner?
She ran out in a hurry. Fortunately, this was a high-rise apartment. The elevator door was not open, so the cat hadn’t run far. It was squatting on the stairs before the escape, looking left and right.
She held Lan Lan in her arms right away, feeling relieved.
"Bad Lan Lan, don’t run around in the future!" she scolded in a low voice.
Lan Lan didn't seem to realize the seriousness of its behavior. It stared at its new owner with its big eyes. The confused and slightly guilty look made Zhao Qi's heart melt.
They went back home and closed the door. She saw the piece of paper that Zhang Zian had given her, containing the cat-raising instructions, tossed to the side. She picked it up and started reading. The first line read: "As the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat. The cat is curious about the world. It is important to pay attention when opening the door—don't let the cat get out the door and run away, otherwise it will get lost. If you live in a high-rise building, pay special attention to this matter."
She was astonished and felt guilty that an irreversible mistake had almost been made. She folded up the paper and put it on the desk so she could read it carefully tonight.
But before that…She took out her phone, getting ready to take some beautiful pictures of the cat and share them on her Weibo and WeChat Moment to earn a few "likes" from her friends.
…
Okay, if she just showed a few pictures, the result would be… out of her hands.
Zhao Qi had shown her new handbag and shoes on her WeChat Moment previously, but the handbag and shoes were just some objects, while the cat was different—it was alive.
The British Shorthair was a quiet cat, but its curiosity was too strong. At first, there was a place for her without barriers. It immediately got restless and wanted to explore the new area. It played there for a while then moved to the signature pen on the desk, then onto the keyboard, and then jumped on a loudspeaker, but it was scared by the speaker’s sound and suddenly hid behind the monitor. Oh my, it was very active.
Zhao Qi started taking pictures with her phone. The more pictures she took, the more she felt that Lan Lan was absolutely a little beauty. The cat was cute in every pose and picture. She was afraid that she didn’t have the photography skills to show it off. She just unwittingly took one hundred or two hundred photos until the phone prompted low battery.
"Lan Lan, you are so magical!" She took it in her arms and rubbed her face against its cheeks.
Lan Lan seemed to have gradually accepted its new owner. It wasn’t struggling at all.
The connection led to a kiss. Zhao Qi finally chose ten pictures among the one or two hundreds pictures to put on Weibo and WeChat Moment, and she didn’t forget to emphasize her bad photography skills and lack of SLR.
Zhao Qi installed the litter box and cat nest, following Zhang Zian’s cat tutorial introduction. After she plugged her phone into the charger, she rushed to take a bath.
As a young lady, Zhao Qi took at least an hour in the bathroom, taking a bath and blow-drying her hair, but today it only took her half an hour to get everything done.
The whole time, she was thinking, "Ah, did I close the balcony window? Will Lan Lan stick its claws into the socket? Did I forget to put away the kitchen knives?"
When she walked out of the bathroom in worry, she saw Lan Lan playing happily with some cat toys. Lan Lan saw her come out, dropped the cat toys, and ran to her feet, smelling the scent of her body wash.
"Oh dear! Well behaved, Lan Lan!" she said.
In spite of the bath, Zhao Qi picked it up again and made a connection with the cat.
She was wearing a bath towel while holding Lan Lan with one arm. She could hardly wait to check on people’s comments on her WeChat Moment.
"Wa! When did Qi Qi buy a cat? Kawaii!"
"What cat is it? How beautiful!"
"Is it a shorthair cat? British Shorthair or American Shorthair?"
"How much? I want one too!"
"Wuwuwu… Overnight, the rival in love added another..."
"Great pictures." Two short words, this was Zhang Zian’s comment.
Besides, there was a private letter from her colleague, Shi Shi. "F*ck! Shame on you!"
She replied, "Hum!!!! From now on, I will play with Lan Lan every day! Get some cat hair and go to work! Let the b*tch know my way!"
Shi Shi: "You are not a man; you are a woman!"
Zhao Qi: "From now on, I will be a man and I will cherish my little Lan Lan every day!"
Shi Shi: "Haha! I will go to your house some day and visit your Lan Lan!"
Zhao Qi: "Welcome!"
After sharing on Weibo and Wechat Moment, she updated her QQ space as well. Of course, the theme was Lan Lan.
Even with all of that, she wasn’t satisfied. She wanted the whole world to know her stunning Lan Lan.
There was a famous local forum in Binhai City named "Wang Haige."
Wang Haige was a comprehensive forum, divided into many sub-sections. Zhao Qi had also registered an account in this forum. Her apartment was found in the rental section of Wang Haige. Besides that, she also sold a few clothes in the forum that were not available in the second-hand trading market, as well as the luxury cosmetics which didn’t fit her skin. In case of second-hand trading, it was reassuring to have a local deal.
As a comprehensive forum, Wang Haige also had a subsection in the life and leisure section called "The family has a lovely pet," or pet area for short.
Zhao Qi had never been in this section before, but she knew the amount of postings and the level of activity ranked in the top three in Wang Haige after the second-hand market and comprehensive irrigation district.
She clicked the pet area, and it was as she had thought. At least half of the posts in the forum were pictures of their pets, and the rest were for help and questions and answers.
After randomly viewing a few posts, she smiled coldly.
"Hum, were these ugly pets brought out to show? Look at my Lan Lan!" she said.