Please Be More Serious

Chapter 16

Closing the door, he returns to his own room to wash up and then goes to bed. Every now and then he can hear the sound of meowing from the other room. He checks it a few times, each time the cat seems fine. He doesn’t bother with it anymore and goes straight to sleep after turning off the lights. The entire room is quiet in the dark. “Meow~” His eyebrows furrow. Okay, I know you’re here already. “Meow~” He turns to his side. He is in bed now, the lights are turned off, he is about to sleep. There are water and food in the cat’s room, there is nothing lacking at all. “Meow~” He ignores it. “Meow~” The cat meows very loudly with no signs of stopping.  

He finally sits up, wondering if the litter box is not prepared properly. Does it want to go to the toilet? He gets off his bed and walks into the other room. Using a shovel, he turns over the sand in the litter. Da Da indeed has urinated. He scoops out the soiled sand and put in fresh ones. During this, the cat only watches from aside. When he is done, it quickly runs onto the sand, as if marking its territory. “The toilet’s clean now, no one is competing with you here. Go to sleep, understand?” After his lecture, he makes sure that there is indeed enough food and water. The cat really doesn’t lack anything. That’s good. After taking out the trash, he washes his hand and returns to his room to sleep. “Meow~” He is barely in bed for a few minutes before the meowing begins again. This time he intends to ignore it for real and just sleep. “Meow~” In the night, the sound of meowing rings clearly without any sign of stopping. He sighs. Getting up, he walks to the cat’s room again. Da Da looks at him with a bright expression, eyes round and innocent. “What do you want?” he asks. The cat is quiet and then meows again. “Okay, okay, don’t cry anymore. It’s already late night, you’ll disturb the neighbours.” Qiu Zheng Qing strokes its head and the cat immediately quiets down. “Are you scared?” he asks. “This is your home now, no one will hit you, there won’t be anyone starving you either. The most is that, you’ll be a little lonely.” The cat lies down beside him, rolling affectionately. “Stop meowing, understand?” The cat begins purring rather loudly. He accompanies the cat for a while before leaving. As soon as he lies on his bed, the meowing begins again. He furiously leaps off his bed to confront the cat. Da Da still has the same innocent expression, making his heart soften. “You need someone to accompany you?” he asks. Da Da continues meowing. “Fine, fine.” He sits down beside it. “I’ll just stay with you for a while. It’s already late at night, don’t disturb the neighbours. It’s not civic, understand?” The cat doesn’t understand what civic is but it really stops meowing. He feels a little cold just sitting there, so he leaves intending to grab some thicker clothes. The cat starts meowing as soon as he closes the door. He feels a little helpless and ends up grabbing his quilt with him. He wraps himself in the quilt. He has never own a cat before, logic tells him that he shouldn’t allow a pet into his bed. Therefore he can only burden himself to stay in this room. “I’ll only stay with you tonight, seeing that you’re new and has not adapted, understand?” he tells the cat. “You too, don’t make so much noise. You don’t want to be complained by the neighbours, do you?” Da Da’s response is a big yawn. “Sleep now. After you fall asleep, I’ll leave.” He is counting his chickens before they are hatched. However, the cat actually doesn’t sleep! It paces around the room, either sitting or lying down, or licking itself with eyes wide open. The cat doesn’t sleep at all! Qiu Zheng Qing is rendered speechless. Finally, he sleeps on the floor, wrapped in the quilt. The next morning he is awakened by the sound of sand being tossed aside. He opens his eyes and sees Da Da staring at him warily, sitting on the litter, doing a number two with its b.u.t.t t.i.tled. He knows it is excreting because he could smell the strench. Yin Ting told him yesterday that she won’t set up the toilet door because she was afraid the cat won’t adapt. So therefore, he ends up watching a excretion live show. He sits up, fully awake. The cat finishes its business in a flash, even turning around to check its masterpiece. Clawing the sand, the p.o.o.p is buried. Then it walks out, looking at him. “Okay, no need to shake hands to say good morning to me.” He stretches himself to loosen his sore muscles. Sleeping on the floor like that really makes his body ache. Da Da barely takes two steps forward before turning around to see the litter. Seeing that it has not buried its p.o.o.p completely, the cat quickly returns to bury them properly before coming out. He bursts out laughing. He decides to tell Yin Ting so that she can also laugh. While brushing his teeth, he wonders if he really needs Yin Ting this p.o.o.ping story, is it appropriate? He shaves and dresses up, ready for work. He hasn’t heard the cat meow for a long time. This brat, did it do it on purpose yesterday? Ah right, he has almost forgotten to check its condition. He walks into the cat’s room and makes sure the bowl is full, the water is ready. He cleans its litter, with the cat supervising from behind. Having finished all this, he turns around to tell the cat, “Okay, I’m done. I’m leaving now, see you tonight.” He is so sleepy that he thinks he needs three cups of coffee to get through the day. The moment he steps inside his office, he receives a call from Yin Ting. He can’t help but smile, she’s really early. “Please-be-more-serious, good morning!” She sounds really spirited, her enthusiasm sweeps all his drowsiness away.   “Morning.” “Is Da Da is obedient last night, did it make any noise?” “It’s obedient, no noise at all,” he smoothly lies without an ounce of hesitation. “How is it when you leave?” “It’s good. There’s food and water, I even cleaned the litter. Don’t worry.” “Good, thank you.” She happily reports, “I also bought a lot of stuff online, like climbing tree, toys and automated feeder. I have picked them all out, I’m just waiting for someone to adopt it and buy it for them. I’ll put them at your place first, okay? Once I have found a proper home, I’ll take them away.” “Okay.” “Then I’ll pick you up tonight, okay? We can to together.” “I’ll pick you up, you don’t have a car.” “The traffic is terrible after work, it’s too much trouble to pick me up. I’ll find you.” He thinks this over. He has a meeting today, so he might not be able to leave work on time. “Okay, you come over then.” This is the first time he is going to be picked up by a woman, and it’s even the woman that he likes. He suddenly feels like he knows the definition of happiness. “Then I can come to your house tomorrow? The things should arrive by tomorrow, I used your address.” “Okay.” It’s even better if she can come every day. He decides that accompanying the cat for the whole night has been worth it. “Good,” she sounds happy. “See you later. Go and busy yourself.” She ends the phone call a little quickly, but she is right. He’s indeed busy. He needs to finish all his work if he wants to leave on time and returns with Yin Ting. Imagining the scene making him secretly delighted. Nothing exciting happens the entire day. He continues to work, work, and work. His efficiency is very high. In order to leave at exactly six pm today, he is practically racing against time. His subordinate secretly wails, “The sky is very blue today, why is he acting like a devil.” Qiu Zheng Qing does look happy, but he keeps on urging them and pushing for progress. They really doesn’t understand it. Another colleague is also feeling shaken. “Director Qiu walked past my desk today and saw a photo of my Second Brother.” Second Brother is his family’s cat, his darling. He even framed a photo of the cat and placed it on his desk. “How is it? He thinks that Second Brother is your wife?” “No, he only smiles gently and says, ‘Your cat? Very cute.’” The subordinate mimics Qiu Zheng Qing’s tone, causing the crowd to fall into a frenzy. It’s already Friday. He really doesn’t want them to live nicely, is it. That evening there is a guest at the company, causing the colleagues to begin gossiping. Yin Ting’s relationship with their boss is really too confusing. It doesn’t seem like they are lovers, but it doesn’t seem like they are just friends either. To say they’re in an ambiguous relationship, Yin Ting looks way too natural and relaxed. To say they’re not, just look at that Director Qiu who seems to be possessed by the devil. Look, today the boss is acting abnormal, and then Yin Ting shows up! “Director Qiu.” In front of others, Yin Ting is respectful and polite. “I’ll go say hi to Qin Yu Fei first,” she says with a smile. Qiu Zheng Qing nods after contemplating the amount of workload left. Yin Ting walks to Qin Yu Fei’s office next door, she’s working on a proposal. That wretched Qiu Zheng Qing demands her department’s work to be done ahead of schedule, keeps on urging them. Will he die if their work is a few days late. When she is still in a fury, she notices Yin Ting. “I don’t have time to play with you,” she says. “I need to hand this in later.” “It’s okay, I’m not here for you. I’m here for Please-be-more-serious,” Yin Ting confesses. Qin Yu Fei is stunned and looks up. “You owe him money again?” “Da Da is at his place. I’m here to pick him up so we can go back to his place together.” Qin Yu Fei receives a shock from her words. “That guy is keeping that cat of yours?” “Yeah. But of course I’ll try and find a home for Da Da, today I asked some friends to look out for me. I even went to the cat rescue shelter to ask. Once I found a home, I’ll pick up Da Da from his place.” “He’s actually keeping your cat?” Qin Yu Fei completely cannot imagine the possibility of this to occur. From his head to toe, Qiu Zheng Qing doesn’t have the slightest feeling of someone who will keep small animals as pets! This grim-faced, mythical-creature workaholic, he actually keeps a cat?! “But to be honest, I still hope that someone I know will keep Da Da, so I can always check on it and buy things for it. When I have my own place in the future, I can then keep Da Da.” Yin Ting is completely operating on a different channel from Qin Yu Fei, as if she is talking to herself. “But it’s not realistic. Once I give it away, it’ll be someone else’s cat. If I want to take it back, it’s not fair both to the owner and the cat. In this b.u.mpy road of love, I also don’t know which year and which month I can find someone. Who knows that Da Da will have long forgotten about me by then.” She looks at Qin Yu Fei. “Ah yes, you said you’re really busy. So I’ll leave first, bye.” Qin Yu Fei is dumbfounded, she can only watch Yin Ting skip merrily away. She still couldn’t believe that Qiu Zheng Qing would adopt Yin Ting’s stray cat. There must be something going on! She calls her secretary, “When you see Director Qiu getting off, inform me.” She looks at her watch, there are fifteen minutes to six pm. Qiu Zheng Qing has been speeding through all his work today, she wants to see what time will he leave. 6.03 pm. Her secretary calls her, “Director Qin, Director Qiu is leaving.” Qin Yu Fei closes her laptop and stuffs it into her bag. She rushes towards the direction of the elevator. Since he is leaving, she also wants to leave. There are a lot of their colleagues waiting for the elevator. Yin Ting and Qiu Zheng Qing stands in the middle of the crowd. Qin Yu Fei stealthily stands beside them and hears Qiu Zheng Qing whispers to her friend, “What should we eat for dinner?” Yin Ting answers, “Which one is faster? Why don’t we just get takeaway?” “Okay. Hamburger or Chinese fast food?” he asks. Qin Yu Fei realizes the colleagues are like her, pretending to be deaf but are actually listening in. “Let’s have Chinese. I know there’s a famous fast food restaurant that I haven’t tried out yet. It’s in the direction of your house, you can just drop me off to buy. It’s more convenient this way.” “Okay,” he promises with ease. This conversation really allows for one’s imagination to go wild. The two of them couldn’t wait to get home, what are they planning to do? Their colleagues exchange meaningful glances. Furthermore it’s Great Director Qiu’s home! It’s also the weekend, Director is actually going to be alone with a woman. There won’t be anyone else home either, just the two of them! “Cough, cough!” Qin Yu Fei clears her throat. Yin Ting turns to look at her. “I say, you two should mind your conversation, look at how it affects others.” Yin Ting looks surprised. What’s with minding conversation, look at the effect, all these words. Qiu Zheng Qing retains his poker face. Qin Yu Fei pulls Yin Ting close to her and says, “Your cat is at Director Qiu’s place, you’re going to see the cat, why does your conversation sounds like you’re staying the night at his place. No wonder you can’t find a boyfriend, you really don’t use your brain well.” The colleagues shift their attention to the elevator, why is it taking so long. Ding! Really good, it’s here! Everyone rushes into the elevator, followed by Yin Ting. Only then, does she realize. “Ah!” “You understand now?” Qin Yu Fei purposefully shoots Qiu Zheng Qing a meaningful glance. His face still has no expression, he only presses for the ground floor with a poker face. “Oh!” Yin Ting makes a second noise. “Sigh!” She sighs. “Yu Fei, your mind is really wicked!” “Huh.” Qin Yu Fei is unsatisfied. “I’m unkind, that’s why I didn’t adopt your cat.” “Right, right,” Yin Ting replies. “It’s okay if you mock me, but Director Qiu is such a upright and decent man, and is kind enough to keep my cat. Don’t mock him. It’s not nice to create misunderstandings.” Who is the one who is misunderstanding here? Qin Yu Fei glances at Qiu Zheng Qing. Right then his expression is even more deadpan. He also glances in her direction, but not at her. He is looking at Yin Ting. Their eyes met. Qin Yu Fei raises her eyebrow, he simply stares back at her.  Yin Ting is still nagging, “Tell that Gu Ying Jie, he must be familiar with people who likes cats. Ask him to look out for someone suitable for me.” “Deal.” Qin Yu Fei purposefully says with a louder voice, “I will urge him.” To be honest, Gu Ying Jie has told her before, he probably can’t help. Yin Ting’s cat is not a pure breed, it even has a turned tail. His circle of cat lover friends all prefer pure-breed cats, and they all regard cats with turned tails as bad luck. Even though Qiu Zheng Qing looks calm on the outside, inside a wave is surging. She wants to s.n.a.t.c.h the cat from him? Then isn’t she trying to kill off his path to romance? No way! His house’s Da Da is noisy and troublesome, who will have the patience to take care of it? His house’s Da Da is cute and affectionate, even while hiding its p.o.o.p. How will he be able to bear to separate with it?  Either way, once the cat has stepped [married] into his house, then it is his cat. So is the woman.
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