Qu Yanning carefully cleaned the fresh mackerel he had just bought.
It was rare to find live mackerel at the supermarket, so he bought a whole one.
Fresh mackerel had a tender texture—cats would probably love it.
The fish had already been processed at the store, so Qu Yanning sliced it thin, rinsed his hands, and held up a translucent piece of fish to Xie Qi’s mouth with his fingers. “Try it—see if you like it.”
Xie Qi narrowed his eyes at the fair, slender fingers.
After hesitating a moment, he gave in to Qu Yanning’s expectant smile, opened his mouth, and bit into the fish straight from his hand.
The sashimi was elastic and springy.
As he chewed, the fish’s unique sweetness and freshness came through.
Xie Qi licked his lips, leaned forward, and ate the whole piece.
His rough tongue, covered with tiny barbs, flicked quickly across Qu Yanning’s fingertips, tickling them and sending a tingling sensation straight to his heart.
Qu Yanning smiled even wider and sliced a small plate of fish to leave in the living room as a snack for him.
“Jealousy has disfigured me. I’m no longer your precious baby,” Chu Zhou muttered jealously, watching the show of affection between human and cat.
Qu Yanning replied mercilessly, “Yeah, you’re old news now.”
Chu Zhou put on a heartbroken face and fake-cried, saying he was too upset and needed a cigarette.
“…Don’t use that as an excuse to smoke,” Qu Yanning said after a beat.
Chu Zhou had been trying to quit to protect his skin, and Qu Yanning was responsible for keeping him on track.
Chu Zhou: “…”
He sighed heavily and went back to washing the potatoes in the basin.
The bone broth had simmered for over two hours.
The once-clear soup had turned a rich, milky white.
Qu Yanning turned off the stove and began preparing chili oil.
Beef tallow and dried chilies sizzled in the wok, the pungent heat making Chu Zhou tear up.
He rushed into the living room clutching his nose and coughing, only to see Xie Qi perched on the couch, watching TV and pawing at slices of fish.
He was overwhelmed with emotion.
A man’s life wasn’t even as good as a cat’s these days.
When the chili oil was ready, Chu Zhou brought out the household hotpot stove and placed it in the center of the table.
The milky-white broth bubbled with green scallions and gave off an enticing aroma.
Qu Yanning poured the spicy oil in, creating a perfect yin-yang hotpot—half white, half bright red.
It looked irresistibly appetizing.
They brought out pre-sliced meats and vegetables, filling the table.
Outside, thunder rolled and heavy rain poured down.
Inside, two people and a cat sat around the bubbling pot, their mouths watering.
Xie Qi was given a tall stool, which was adjusted to table height so he could lean forward and eat meat that had cooled on the plates.
Qu Yanning dipped the fish slices into the clear broth, placing them one by one in front of him to cool so the hot soup wouldn’t scald his feline tongue.
Xie Qi ate while eyeing the bright red spicy half of the pot, his round cat eyes locked onto Qu Yanning.
After some hesitation, Qu Yanning remembered that Second Master Xie had said this little guy wasn’t an ordinary cat.
So, he dipped a piece of spicy beef for him.
Xie Qi looked satisfied, his movements retaining the graceful elegance of a feline predator—even as his furry mouth got completely smeared in red chili oil.
“Are you sure that’s okay for him to eat?” Chu Zhou asked, astonished at the cat eating spicy food without a care.
“Hmm… should be fine,” Qu Yanning said. “His owner said he can eat it.”
Chu Zhou let it go with an “oh” and focused on eating.
Qu Yanning picked up a piece of corn and put it in Xie Qi’s dish.
Many cats liked corn—he wondered if this one would too.
Xie Qi shoved the corn aside disdainfully and let out a discontented meow at Qu Yanning, clearly unhappy with such a disappointing offering.
Unaware that his mouth was still ringed with chili oil, he stared wide-eyed at Qu Yanning and meowed furiously—creating a hilariously fierce image.
“Pfft!” Qu Yanning couldn’t help but laugh, his eyes crinkling with joy.
“…?” Xie Qi didn’t understand what was so funny.
He tapped at the corn with his paw and meowed again.
Qu Yanning pulled out his phone and snapped a photo.
Xie Qi glared at him, face wrinkled in annoyance.
He was getting way too spoiled lately—it was getting out of control.
His whiskers even curled up in frustration.
Qu Yanning stifled his laughter, gently wiping the chili oil from his mouth with a tissue.
The white fur had been dyed red, and even the tissue couldn’t get it all off.
Qu Yanning pinched his furry little face and said, “You’re gonna need a bath after this.”
“…!” Xie Qi stared at the oil-stained tissue in shock, his feline pride in shambles.
Then, the two at the table watched as the once-ravenous cat now gingerly used his paw to bring each piece of meat to his mouth, licking his paw clean after each bite, and wiping it on the tissue.
Chu Zhou muttered, “Is your cat… actually magical?”
Qu Yanning held the cat in his arms and fed him with chopsticks, forcing a smile in response to Chu Zhou’s suspicion.
Yes, he was magical. But I’m not telling you that—I don’t want to scare you, mwah.
By the time they finished the hotpot, it was past ten.
Outside, the rain hadn’t let up, and thunder occasionally lit up the gray stormy night.
The table was a mess of leftovers, and Chu Zhou was left to clean up.
Qu Yanning took the cat—who was sulking over his lost dignity—for a bath.
Soaked through, the cat looked much smaller than usual.
What had once seemed the size of two palms now shrank to resemble a weaning kitten.
Qu Yanning gently lathered him with shampoo.
Wet fur clung to his skin, exposing pink flesh.
The unfamiliar sensation of being touched all over made Xie Qi’s fur stand on end, and he struggled to escape.
Qu Yanning held him down with one hand while scrubbing with the other.
Even a cat this humanlike still didn’t like baths, apparently.
But resistance was futile. Xie Qi lay stiffly in the water, frozen as the audacious human touched him here and there.
When Qu Yanning finished washing his belly and started moving downward to scrub his little furry jewels—
Xie Qi realized what he was about to do, flattened his ears, and pushed down on Qu Yanning’s arm, his wide eyes full of indignant rage.
Qu Yanning froze, his hand trapped.
After a brief standoff, he gave in first to avoid giving the cat a cold. “Alright, alright, we’ll skip that part.”
Xie Qi reluctantly let go.
Qu Yanning picked up the showerhead to rinse him off, muttering, “So you do know how to be shy, huh?”
Xie Qi: “…”
Unhappy, he shook out his wet fur—splattering Qu Yanning with water.
After a final rinse, Qu Yanning wrapped him in a towel and carried him out, setting the hairdryer to its lowest setting to gently dry his fur.
His damp fur slowly fluffed back up, the little black-and-white bundle swaddled in the towel.
His ears were folded back, and his eyes half-lidded in comfort—so adorable that Qu Yanning’s heart melted.
Xie Qi hadn’t yet recovered from the trauma of almost being groped.
He was lost in a swirl of emotions: anger, embarrassment, and an odd sense of enjoyment.
Once completely dry, he slapped Qu Yanning with a paw, deliberately stepped on his head, and stomped into the bedroom.
Qu Yanning touched the spot where he was hit and muttered under his breath, “So petty…”