"The rain’s getting heavier," Wen Yang said, sitting in the cafeteria while eating the braised noodles Ning Chu had brought him. He looked out through the transparent plastic curtain at the downpour outside.
The tiled floor of the cafeteria was already streaked with dirty footprints from the students’ wet shoes. Cold, damp air crept in through their sleeves and collars, chilling them to the bone.
"I saw the weather forecast—it’s supposed to rain until Monday."
Ning Chu rested her cheek in one hand as she sat beside him, mumbling, "If it keeps raining like this, there’s no way we can go out this weekend."
"Yeah, and it’ll be a pain for me to do deliveries too."
"Then just don’t go. The roads are slippery when it rains—what if you fall or something?"
She picked up the takeaway box and slurped up the last bit of broth, then pulled a pack of tissues from her pocket and wiped her mouth.
Since girls can’t just give a little shake after going to the bathroom like guys can, she’d gotten into the habit of always carrying tissues when going out.
There was still over half an hour before class, so neither of them was in a rush to leave the cafeteria after breakfast.
"We’ll see how it goes," Wen Yang said, turning to Ning Chu, his eyes warm. "How about I stay over at your place this weekend?"Ning Chu instantly knew what was going on in that guy’s head.
She recalled the kisses and touches from the night before, her cheeks flushing red as she glared at him, feeling both shy and annoyed. "Pervert! You horny freak!"
If it weren’t for Wen Yang, her breast wouldn’t still be developing!
"I only act like that with people I like. Anyone else, I wouldn’t even be interested," Wen Yang said with a cheeky grin. "Doesn’t that just prove I like you?"
"Don’t copy Shaoqing’s greasy lines."
She rolled her eyes at him and muttered, "So Wang Jie’s going to visit his girlfriend, and you’re coming to see me. That means Shaoqing’s gonna be all alone in the dorm this weekend?"
"That’s why he was arguing with Wang Jie last night. The guy can’t handle being bored."
As they were speaking, Wang Jie and Zhang Shaoqing walked into the cafeteria one after the other.
Ning Chu glanced over at them.
Zhang Shaoqing was, surprisingly, being a bit humble for once—walking beside Wang Jie, waving his arms as he animatedly talked about something.
Noticing Ning Chu’s gaze, Shaoqing froze for a second, then jogged over to her and asked, "Hey, you still want that cat? Take it already."
"Black Bean? What’s wrong?"
"I don’t have money to keep it anymore!"
He plopped down in the seat across from them and started ranting. "The cat food’s almost gone in the dorm, and I can barely afford to feed myself at this point."
"You were the one who brought Black Bean back. Now you’re trying to dump it on someone else?"
"Well, uh..."
Ning Chu frowned in frustration. "How about I buy the cat food, and you keep taking care of it? Didn’t you really like Black Bean?"
"You should’ve said so earlier~ Here, this is the brand. Hurry up and order it."
She leaned over to glance at Shaoqing’s phone screen—and her face turned green.
"Wait, WHAT? Why the hell are you feeding a cat this well?!"
That bag of cat food, despite only weighing 10 pounds, cost over 400 yuan!
Not even she eats that well!
"It’s imported. It’s really nutritious," Shaoqing said casually, forwarding her the shopping link. "Hurry and buy it—the food in the dorm will only last a week or two."
"God, that cat eats like a damn bulldozer. It’s not even a year old and already weighs almost ten jin. Must’ve starved to death in a past life or something."
"Can’t we switch to a cheaper brand?"
Ning Chu winced at the thought of spending 400 yuan. That was nearly enough for a whole month’s rent and utilities.
"Then take the cat yourself."
"..."
After a moment of consideration, she finally nodded. "Alright, I’ll take it."
"Oh, by the way, Black Bean’s starting to go into heat. You should probably get it neutered soon."
"Going into heat..."
Ning Chu’s expression darkened even more.
She was broke!
Spaying a female cat would cost close to a thousand yuan, and she had just rented a new place—there wasn’t a chance she could scrape together that much money right now.
But considering Black Bean was only about six months old, she figured it was unlikely she'd turn into a “cat girl” before the New Year. Even if she did go into heat, it would probably just mean a bit of noise—nothing too serious.
Besides, Black Bean was bound to become a cat girl eventually. Spaying a girl was a bit too much, wasn’t it?
She’d just take the cat back home over winter break and let her mom take care of her, she can just consider it as getting herself a new cat girl "sister" and giving her mom something to fuss over again.
After all, her mom wasn’t working anymore. Giving her something to take care of might stop her from going stir-crazy and getting depressed.
After thinking it over, Ning Chu said, “I’m not getting her spayed.”
“Whatever!” Zhang Shaoqing said, clearly relieved to have pawned off the responsibility. He practically skipped off to the breakfast stall.
Tch. You had your chance and blew it.
That guy had a thing for cat girls—he was into that type. If Black Bean turned into a cat girl and decided to become his mate to repay him, wouldn’t that be a win-win?
But instead, he stupidly kicked his future wife to the curb.
Ning Chu watched his smug retreating back and let out a dissatisfied snort. Then she turned to Wen Yang and said, “After class this evening, go to the dorm and pack up all of Black Bean’s stuff.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll take her back home during the winter break.”
She stretched, opened her umbrella, and walked with Wen Yang toward the teaching building.
What a situation: her rented apartment now had a cat girl who might ‘repay kindness’ to her caretaker at any moment, and the school building had a lusty ghost with her eyes on Wen Yang. If she wasn’t careful and let Wen Yang go off on his own, he might even bump into that frail, sickly vampire girl.
And she couldn’t just destroy their storylines outright either.
Her life is full of minefield~
As soon as they stepped into the teaching building, Wen Yang quickly glanced around. When he didn’t see any sign of a red-dressed figure, he let out a sigh of relief.
Ever since he’d learned there was a ghost girl here, he couldn’t shake the feeling that attending class was like visiting a grave.
It was still early, so there weren’t many students around. The classroom had only a few scattered classmates.
As usual, Ning Chu sat in the front row, put her umbrella in the desk drawer, and pulled out her phone to look up more affordable cat food online.
There was no way she could afford cat food that cost 45–50 yuan per jin. She figured something in the 20 yuan range should be okay.
She was seriously broke.
Her December living allowance hadn’t come in yet, and she barely had a few hundred yuan to her name.
And now, she had Black Bean to feed—cat food, cat litter, all that stuff.
“How much money do you have left?” she asked.
Wen Yang checked his phone before replying, “A little over a hundred. I earned it last weekend doing food deliveries.”
Last weekend, Ning Chu hadn’t been around, so Wen Yang borrowed an e-bike and delivered food to shops around the school. A full day’s work had earned him a decent amount.
Since it was a crowdsourced delivery app, the money he earned could be withdrawn the same day.
“Well, that’s something~” Ning Chu muttered. “I’ll get a trial pack of cat food for Black Bean first. Once my living expenses come in, I’ll buy a big bag.”
Under her care, Black Bean wouldn’t be getting any fancy canned food or cat treats for a while. Her diet was going to take a big hit—hopefully, Black Bean wouldn’t resent her for it.
Still, it had to be better than those country cats surviving off leftovers and catching mice for dinner, right?
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