Chapter 15: Abandoned Cat Effect

[Yaya, don’t worry. This is just one of her little mind games—playing hard to get. She’s trying to get back at you for not replying to her messages, drawing your attention by making you anxious. It’s classic ‘abandoned cat effect’. You absolutely shouldn’t indulge Su Li.]

Chi Qingya had read plenty of psychology books and quickly understood what her bestie meant, and she had to admit—they made a lot of sense.

In the pet world, the “abandoned cat effect” refers to how a cat that’s been abandoned and then adopted again will behave especially well, out of fear of being abandoned once more.

In relationships, this effect describes a phenomenon where someone who’s been dumped will try extra hard if given another chance, hoping not to lose the other person again.

Su Li was deliberately creating that push-pull dynamic to make her feel like she was being abandoned—so she’d go chasing after her instead.

As if!

Let her leave if she wants. Chi Qingya didn’t care one bit whether Su Li left or not!

The one getting abandoned—there could only be one, Su Li!

Not her!

…..

Watching the door slam shut, Su Li shrugged, a little helpless.

She had no idea what Chi Qingya was so mad about.

It was just a light.

And it was right by the entrance—you just had to press it.

Something you could easily do on your way in.

It’s not like Chi Qingya didn’t have hands.

Why all the anger?

Thinking maybe her period was coming up, Su Li turned her attention to Saturday’s appointment instead.

MOKA was one of Su Li’s long-time clients.

They’d met on a social app during an argument about a song.

That argument had gone up to 99 floors of replies.

Of course, Su Li never thought of it as an argument with MOKA—she was just sharing her opinion.

But MOKA clearly didn’t agree with her take.

In the middle of their back-and-forth, Su Li suddenly got a DM.

Inside: 500 yuan. A bribe to take back her opinion and agree with MOKA’s instead.

So for the 500 yuan, Su Li took back what she said, tried to see things from MOKA’s perspective, and rephrased her views.

After that, whenever MOKA got into arguments she couldn’t win, she’d forward the messages to Su Li to argue on her behalf.

If the word count was high, there’d be an extra fee.

One day, MOKA discovered Su Li’s IP address and realized they weren’t far apart.

That’s when she asked to meet in person.

The purpose? Stress relief.

Su Li didn’t find this client particularly troublesome just had to sit there, listen to her vent, and let her unload everything.

One hour, one thousand yuan.

Before leaving the house on Saturday, Su Li made breakfast and left Chi Qingya a note saying she’d be back late.

Of course, she also cleaned the whole place beforehand.

Otherwise, she could already imagine the incoming barrage of phone calls from Chi Qingya while she was out doing something else.

And if she didn’t pick up, once she got home, Chi Qingya would pester her nonstop.

Or subject her to a lecture that could last for hours before she’d finally stop.

“I’m not trying to scold you, I’m just worried. Do you know how anxious I get when you don’t answer my calls?”

“What if something happened to you?”

Just imagining Chi Qingya standing in front of her, lecturing, made Su Li’s head throb.

She didn’t even feel anything emotionally anymore—there was no love left.

Even thinking about it didn’t stir up much feeling.

But her body still reacted instinctively, with discomfort.

Su Li had even told Chi Qingya how to heat up the breakfast.

But she doubted it would help. She’d explained it before and still ended up getting bombarded with calls.

And in the end, after all the phone calls, Chi Qingya still wouldn’t heat up the food—she’d grumble in frustration and just throw it out, ordering takeout instead.

The reason Su Li prepared breakfast wasn’t to waste food. It was because if she didn’t, she’d still get bombarded with calls, with Chi Qingya demanding to know why she was so heartless.

“I work myself to the bone for this home, and you eat alone, only thinking of yourself.”

What she wanted wasn’t a nice breakfast.

She wanted an attitude.

Chi Qingya’s barrage of phone calls was undoubtedly a trigger that could set off a client’s emotions, and the last thing Su Li wanted after a long, exhausting day was to get dragged into another round of back-and-forth with her.

Maybe the time had really come for her to move out of Chi Qingya’s place.

With things the way they were now, was there any point in continuing to live together?

Besides, in Chi Qingya’s eyes, she had always been the one who caused trouble.

Distance brings appreciation, but long-term cohabitation had already worn down all of Chi Qingya’s patience.

No matter how much Su Li did, it never seemed enough—she was always in debt to her, somehow.

Of course, the breakfast she had prepared used all fresh ingredients.

To make it, Su Li had gone out early to the morning market and picked up some fresh vegetables.

Before heading out, Su Li checked her outfit one last time.

She dressed with extreme caution.

Wearing plain clothes, along with a mask, hat, and sunglasses—she was bundled up from head to toe.

After going downstairs, Su Li stopped briefly at the hidden cat shelter she had built for the stray cats, setting out food for them.

Potato was still curled up, dozing in the soft nest. Milk and Tofu were nowhere to be seen.

Ham, who often wandered in and out, cautiously approached the food bowl when she saw Su Li, sniffed it, and then began to eat carefully.

Su Li could tell Ham was pregnant.

She gently stroked the cat’s head, wondering if she could find a proper home before Ham gave birth.

On the bus to the meeting place with MOKA, Su Li opened her notes again and reviewed some details about MOKA.

Compared to other clients, MOKA was relatively easy to handle but only relatively. I

t didn’t mean she was truly easy.

The appointment was at 2 p.m., and Su Li had to arrive three hours early to get everything ready.

It was a tea restaurant called Chaxiang Pavilion.

Not too upscale, and it didn’t get many customers.

Su Li wandered around the area once, mapping out a quick escape route in case she needed to leave in a hurry.

Then she sat quietly in the tea restaurant, waiting for MOKA to arrive.

If MOKA sensed she hadn’t shown up ahead of time, she would cancel the appointment without saying a word.

And if MOKA was delayed for any reason and couldn’t make it, she’d also cancel the appointment silently.

So even Su Li wasn’t sure whether MOKA would show up today.