NOVEL NEXT Ch. 2
Chapter 2
Sleep, sleep... sleep my ass!
The moment he stretched on instinct, his right hand brushed the bare skin of the girl lying beside him—just above her hip.
Silky, satiny... like top-grade silk poured over milk-white tofu, as if she’d been soaked in milk day and night.
A single touch felt like sacrilege, yet he couldn’t bring himself to pull away.
Ai Qing twisted his head and stared, dumbstruck, at the girl sleeping peacefully beside him. The sensation crawling up his right hand felt real and impossible at the same time, trapping him somewhere between “reality” and a lucid dream.
His gaze refused to budge from her face: eyes closed, lashes quivering now and then, a delicate tilted nose, petal-pink lips parted just enough in sleep...
Wait—snow-white hair?
Hold on.
Only after he’d drunk in her features for a while did her hair—clean, glassy, waist-length silver—finally grab his full attention. Before the surprise could register, his eyes slid higher and landed on a pair of ears.
Are those... cat ears?
Nestled among the pale strands sat two pure-white feline ears. Ai Qing swallowed the urge to touch them, a wild guess already flashing through his mind—one that left him equal parts thrilled and uneasy.
Midnight. Moonlight. A bedroom he lived in alone. A king-size bed. And a little kitty who’d apparently turned human...
I didn’t raise a fox spirit, okay? he grumbled to himself, trying to defuse the panic.
He yanked back his right hand, brought both palms up, and scrubbed his face hard, desperate to reboot his brain. But when he lowered his hands and opened his eyes again, the exquisite sleeping beauty had vanished.
“Meow?”
Xiao Yu—eyes puffy with sleep—popped her fuzzy cat face right into his line of sight, as if asking why he looked so freaked-out.
“Was that girl just now you?” Ai Qing shot upright, pinching the cat’s cheeks between his fingers. “Why’d you change back already?”
“Mrr-meow?” Xiao Yu, still squished, tilted her head in bewilderment and, finding no words, gave his hand a tentative lick.
Staring at the kitten lapping his palm, he couldn’t connect her to the angelic girl he’d just seen. Yet...
Whoosh—he flung the quilt aside.
Bare feet slapped the wooden floor as he sprinted to the bathroom, nearly forgetting the most basic morning business in all the commotion. After relieving himself and washing up, he glanced toward the doorway: Xiao Yu sat there, head cocked, watching him pee—her favorite spectator sport. He should be used to it by now.
But if that girl really had been Xiao Yu... the whole thing suddenly felt awkward.
He splashed cold water over his face for good measure, then studied the mirror and gave himself a light slap—crisp, real, definitely not a dream.
Still... had it been hallucination or reality?
Back in the bedroom he sat cross-legged on the mattress, index finger pointed between the cat’s eyes. “Transform. Now!”
Xiao Yu, being only a cat, merely blinked and licked his finger. The tiny barbs on her tongue tickled.
Maybe I’ve lost it. Should I book a shrink tomorrow? Writing cat novels has finally broken my brain?
Yet he had felt that girl’s waist—his first time ever touching a girl there—and now it might’ve been pure delusion? The sensation had been so solid... though he’d read that certain mental issues could hijack the senses.
Suddenly anxious, he grabbed his phone and Baidu-diagnosed himself. A few minutes later he face-planted on the pillow, mentally signing his own death warrant.
...
Six a.m. Ai Qing dragged himself from bed, faint dark circles under his eyes. He’d spent the remainder of the night half-awake, Xiao Yu parkouring around the flat. Every leap onto the mattress jolted him; he’d glance right, find no mysterious cat-eared girl, and flop back in disappointment.
A splash of cold water helped. Watching droplets slide down his jaw, he tapped his cheeks.
You’re the last sworn guardian of singlehood, remember? Can’t let some maybe-hallucination catgirl bewitch you.
He shook off the fantasy, rebooted his icy, romance-free persona, and marched to the living room. With the curtains wide open, he performed a round of Eight-Section Brocade beneath the early sun—nothing mystical, just elderly calisthenics. Whether or not it channeled cosmic qi, his lower back thanked him; an author’s spine is held together by hope and caffeine.
Ten minutes later he steamed frozen custard buns and boiled dumplings—breakfast of champions—then jogged another ten on the treadmill.
At seven sharp he settled at his desk. Xiao Yu sprawled across the keyboard shelf, eyes on him. He inhaled, boxed up the night’s madness, and opened his manuscript.
...
Ai Qing. Male. Twenty-three. Fourth-year university. Once he defends his thesis in May, the “freedom and joy” of society await.
What exactly he’d learned in four years, he couldn’t say; every final exam had vacuumed the knowledge right back out of his head. Luck came senior year when he cursed out a dropped web-novel author, got challenged with “You do better,” and did. His debut, Little Kitty Just Wants to Lie Flat, starred a guy who dies and possesses the family’s newly adopted kitten, watching over Mom, Dad, and little sister as their “cat-son.”
A quiet slice-of-life that somehow scratched a niche itch. It limped to the paywall, earning a first-month subscription count of 100—roughly 2,000 yuan a month: 1,500 from the site’s Perfect-Attendance Bonus, 500 from actual readers. Over 880,000 words it racked up a hair above 10,000 yuan total, more than half courtesy of perfect attendance—he’d milked the platform for every cent.
More importantly, it showed him another way to live. New semester, new resolution: turn that possibility into a paycheck before graduation. If the ink failed to pay rent, he’d surrender to Mom and Dad’s “get a real job” campaign.
Hence this new book mattered. My Childhood Friend Turns into a Cat—still feline territory, playing to his strengths. This time the childhood sweetheart turns into a calico every night at ten; come six a.m. she’s human again. Once she realizes the schedule, she starts enjoying the gig—especially the chance to spy on the guy she grew up with... until one slip lets him discover her secret and the plot flips upside-down.
...
Clack-clack-clack echoed through the flat for three solid hours before fading. Ai Qing flexed his fingers, leaned back, and exhaled. Four thousand words, two chapters done. Stockpile intact, he checked the clock: still a while before eleven.
In that case...
“Hah...”
Ai Qing shot up from his chair, lightning-fast, hooked his hands under Xiao Yu’s front-leg pits, and lifted her clear off the ground.
He spun, pounced on the bed, and pinned the adorable little kitty on her back. His face dove straight into Xiao Yu’s soft belly, burying itself in a sea of fluff.
Ahh~
I could die~
Cat-sniffing is seriously addictive.
The exhaustion from a morning of typing melted away in an instant.
Halfway through the bliss, Ai Qing suddenly jerked his head up, face growing grave. One terrible thought had struck him—
What if—just what if—
last night hadn’t been a hallucination? What if Xiao Yu really had turned into a beautiful girl? Then everything he was doing right now... counted as molestation, didn’t it?
“Meow?”
Xiao Yu, long used to these invasions, hadn’t struggled much. Seeing Ai Qing stop mid-snuggle, she tilted her head in cute bewilderment.
Just then, his phone rang.
Caller ID: “Ai Zhongguo.”
“Hey, Dad.”
“I’ll drop by this afternoon—okay?” His father’s voice came through the speaker.
“Sure, but aren’t you working today?” Ai Qing glanced at the calendar; it wasn’t the weekend.
“The company handed out perks. I’m bringing you three crates of fruit,” Ai Zhongguo said. “Two-thirty sharp. Be there.”
“Got it.” Ai Qing hung up and looked back at Xiao Yu sprawled on the bed. For a second he thought he saw a flash of unsatisfied hunger in those mesmerizing heterochromatic eyes.
Why did it feel like a couple getting down to business, only for Dad to call at the worst moment?
Damn it—
He wasn’t even a furry!