9: Chapter 9: Be Careful of the Bugs!
9: Chapter 9: Be Careful of the Bugs!
“You, you want this?”
The salesgirl at the counter nervously looked at the cat that seemed to have human-like understanding.
She pointed to a lipstick priced at 399 under the glass and asked.
Lu Zixun nodded solemnly and then licked the bills in his mouth.
Hmm, there were five bills, which was enough.
The girl behind the counter carefully took out the lipstick chosen by the cat and placed it on the table.
Lu Zixun spat out the bills and, with a paw, pushed them towards the salesgirl.
“Meow,” take the money.
The salesgirl received the money with a stunned look and went to fill out the form.
Another girl nearby hurriedly packed up the lipstick for the fat cat on the glass counter.
In no time, the salesgirl came back with the receipt and change.
At one glance, she saw the fat orange cat lying on the glass counter, waiting with the packaged lipstick in its mouth.
“This Orange Cat couldn’t have become a spirit, could it?”
The salesgirl shoved the change and the receipt into the bag with the lipstick, watched the cat leave, and let out a long sigh of relief before asking her colleague.
Her colleague, unfazed, said, “You’re thinking too much, this cat is clearly well trained.
I saw on the news last time that an old man from Japan has a Shiba Inu dog that goes out to buy breakfast for him every morning!”
“Wow, animals are so incredible these days…”
Her colleague laughed and continued, “It’s alright, but if a cat really did become a spirit, it wouldn’t be called a cat anymore.”
“Then what’s it called?” asked the girl at the counter curiously.
“Dingdang Cat, of course.”
Lu Zixun quickly returned to the Taekwondo Hall.
Lin Siyin was still sparring freely; only a few people were left to fight with her on the mat.
Up in the spectator seats, Xie Zong was still sprawled out like a lump of mud, unconscious in his seat.
As Lu Zixun passed by Xie Zong, he found a secluded spot to take out the lipstick.
Then he ran to Lin Siyin’s backpack and stuffed the lipstick in a pocket that she often opened.
After some time, a shrill whistle sound filled the hall, and the coach walked to the center of the mat to score every competitor sparring freely.
Xie Zong woke with a start at the sound of the whistle, touched his achingly sore chest, and couldn’t remember when he fell asleep, “I seem to remember getting knocked out by a cat…”
He raised his head, glanced at the Orange Cat acting as if nothing had happened, and immediately dismissed the thought.
What kind of strength would a cat need to have for that.
“I declare the scoring results, first place Lin Siyin, second place Liang Lu, third place Deng Youyou…
Next month, they will go with me to the largest Taekwondo Hall in the city to compete.
As for the rest, wait for the next selection opportunity…”
After the coach finished speaking, today’s taekwondo practice came to an end.
Lin Siyin slung her bag over her shoulder and looked from afar at the cat who wanted to come over but didn’t dare, feeling both annoyed and amused.
“You know you’ve made a mess, right?
You know I’m angry, right?
Come over here now, I won’t hold it against you this time, but don’t let it happen again!”
Lin Siyin watched the cat slowly approaching her, incessantly lecturing.
Yeah yeah, I know I was wrong, dare to do it again.
“That’s more like it.”
Looking at the fat cat at her feet rubbing against her constantly, showing an attitude of genuine apology, Lin Siyin couldn’t hold back her affection any longer and hugged and petted it fiercely.
“Siyin, it’s already 5 o’clock, shall we still go to the movies?” Xie Zong came over, rubbing his chest, and asked.
Lin Siyin showed a troubled look and apologized, “I’m sorry Xie Zong, my dad is about to get off work, I can’t go back that late.”
Xie Zong’s expression changed.
He certainly knew who Lin Siyin’s father was, the principal of Yu Ren Middle School, notoriously strict and ruthless.
If he found out that he took his daughter out to the movies tonight, he wouldn’t be able to escape trouble during class tomorrow.
“Ah, no problem, no problem, we can make plans some other time,” Xie Zong said, scratching his head and hastily speaking.
Lin Siyin breathed a sigh of relief.
He was one of the few friends she had, so naturally, she valued this friendship.
When parting at the street corner, Lin Siyin smiled at Xie Zong, “Thanks for spending the afternoon with me at the Taekwondo Hall today.”
Being thanked by the person she liked, Xie Zong’s face turned red, and he couldn’t bring himself to look at Lin Siyin, stammering, “Ha, no, no need to thank me, we, we’re friends after all.”
Lu Zixun curled up in Lin Siyin’s arms, eyeing Xie Zong with ill intent.
He wondered how he could sabotage the spark that was about to kindle between the two.
Although he had become a cat, he felt it was necessary to weigh in on Lin Siyin’s matters of the heart.
A person like Xie Zong, who had too much drama inside and stuttered when speaking, and seemed unreliable at first glance, must not be allowed to get any closer to Lin Siyin.
After bidding farewell to Lin Siyin with joy, Xie Zong was ready to take a taxi home.
He reached into his pocket, and his expression changed subtly, “Eh?
Back at home, Lin Beisheng was sitting on the sofa reading the newspaper.
Lin Siyin immediately turned into a quiet, gentle girl, “Mhm, I’m back.”
Why did dad have to come back today!”
Lin Siyin ranted internally.
According to her original plan, her father wasn’t supposed to be home at this time, and she felt…
That her pet fat cat might have to say goodbye to her today.
“I’ll start cooking now that you’re back, what would you like to eat tonight?”
Lin Beisheng put down the newspaper, adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose, and asked with a serious tone.
“Anything’s fine, I’m not picky.”
Lin Siyin stuck out her tongue slightly, carefully holding the Orange Cat as she walked toward the bedroom, hoping not to let Lin Beisheng see it.
“In your arms, is that a cat?”
Lin Beisheng stood up, towering over Lin Siyin by a head and a half, and immediately spotted the orange creature in her arms.
Lin Siyin, like a deflated ball, turned around limply, her tiny voice as low as a mosquito’s, “Daddy, it was a gift from a classmate, I really like it…”
“Ridiculous, you accept whatever others give you?” Lin Beisheng said with a stern face.
Tears immediately welled up in Lin Siyin’s eyes, and she gripped Lu Zixun tighter without realizing it.
Her voice was soft but stubborn, “But I like it.”
Lin Beisheng’s towering figure approached Lin Siyin step by step, an invisible pressure closing in.
“Like it or not, but do you know about germs?
If you’re not careful and get scratched, you’ll have to get an injection.
Have you taken it for deworming yet, has it been vaccinated?”
“Daddy agrees to you raising it, but you have to be careful.
Daddy isn’t home often to keep you company, so having a cat can be nice.”
Lin Siyin looked up in surprise, her eyes still shimmering with unshed tears, “Thank you, Daddy.”
“Silly girl, Daddy only has one daughter, how could I bear to scold or hit you!”
Lin Beisheng smiled affectionately, as if a millennium-old iceberg had melted.
“After dinner, I’ll accompany you to the pet store.”
“Heehee, Daddy’s the best!”
Lu Zixun lay powerlessly on the sofa, watching Lin Siyin’s jubilant celebration.
He couldn’t feel happy at all, what injections…
he hated getting shots the most.
Eleven o’clock at night.
In Fengye City, Lihua District, in certain apartment room.
The girl lay quietly in bed asleep.
Beside the pillow was a planner, which lay open without its cover, displaying her plans for the next day.
The room was dead silent, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Just then, a tiny slick worm wriggled out of the drain.
Its wet, slimy body was covered in dense, nearly invisible tendrils.
Like a thread, the worm twisted its way out of the bathroom, along the white tiles, slowly crawling up the marble staircase.
Then it turned a corner and entered a room filled with the essence of a young girl.
At this moment, the girl in the room slept peacefully, her lips holding a faint, almost imperceptible smile.
The thread-like worm found its target, slowly climbing up the foot of the bed.
The worm reached the Bai Hui acupoint at the very center of the girl’s head, its dense tentacles suddenly extending, attaching to the roots of the hair around the acupoint, releasing a neurotoxic venom.
The thread-like worm gently burrowed into the Bai Hui acupoint, and the sleeping girl had no idea until the worm was fully inside.