第十章 一只猫

At noon on Saturday, A Kai came into the living room mysteriously, holding a cardboard box.

"Family!" he said to the phone, "Today, I'm going to give 302 a surprise!"

He put the cardboard box on the floor and opened it.

A small orange cat poked its head out of the cardboard box.

"Meow."

The living room was silent for three seconds.

"A cat?!" Xiao Mei shouted, "When did you get a cat?!"

"Just now!" said A Kai, "I found it downstairs! It kept following me!"

"You brought back a cat?!" said Xiao Mei, "Did you ask us?! Did you ask Aunt Wang?!"

"Aunt Wang said we can keep a cat!" said A Kai, "I called and asked!"

"Well..." said Xiao Mei, "But you should have asked us first!"

"I'm asking now!" said A Kai, "Family, help me plead in the danmaku!"

Danmaku: "Keep it!" "So cute, we must keep it!" "A Kai finally did something right!"

Zhou Zhou stood on the sofa, pointing at the cat, her voice trembling: "It... it won't eat my takeout, right?!"

"Cats don't eat takeout," said Miya, "Cats eat cat food."

"Then will it scratch my takeout bag?" asked Zhou Zhou.

"..." Miya thought for a moment, "It might."

Zhou Zhou: "That won't do!"

Miya crouched down and looked at the cat. The cat looked back at her.

"In France, my mother kept three cats," said Miya, "They were all very gentle."

She reached out her hand. The cat sniffed it and rubbed against her hand.

"It likes me," said Miya.

"I picked it up," said A Kai, "It should like me!"

"Who it likes is up to the cat."

"...Fine," said A Kai.

"What's its name?" asked Miya.

"Not yet," said A Kai, "You come up with one?"

Miya looked at the cat, thought for a moment: "Let's call it Croissant. Croissant."

"Croissant?" said A Kai, "Isn't that a pastry?"

"It's a pastry, but also a name," said Miya, "In our France, it's common to name a cat 'Bread'."

"...You French people really name casually," said A Kai.

"Croissant," Miya called out. The cat gave a "meow".

"It agreed!" said Miya happily.

Xiao Mei took out a piece of paper: "Okay, since we're keeping it, we need to set rules. First: cats are not allowed in the kitchen. Second: cats are not allowed on the bed. Third: cats are not allowed to touch my labels..."

"Third?" said A Kai, "Cats don't even know how to read!"

"It's a cat, it doesn't need to read," said Xiao Mei, "The rules are for the cat's owner to read."

"Who is the cat's owner?" asked A Kai.

"You," said Xiao Mei, "You picked it up."

A Kai: "..."

In the evening, A Kai went live.

"Family! Today is Croissant's first appearance!"

He set up his phone and put Croissant in front of the camera.

Croissant looked at the camera, raised its paw, and with a "pa", knocked the phone over.

On the screen, only the ceiling was left.

"Croissant!" shouted A Kai, "My phone!"

Danmaku: "Hahaha" "The cat is the director" "Is this a new show: ceiling live stream?"

As soon as A Kai picked up his phone, Zhou Zhou came in with takeout.

Croissant's ears twitched, it jumped off the table and ran toward Zhou Zhou.

"Stay away! Stay away!" Zhou Zhou held the takeout box and stepped back, "This is my spicy malatang!"

Croissant jumped up, sniffed next to the box, wrinkled its nose, and walked away.

Zhou Zhou stood in the middle, watching Croissant run away: "You even look down on my takeout"

"Croissant thinks you're eating something weird!" said A Kai, "It definitely doesn't want to eat your takeout"

A Kai poured some cat food for the cat. After eating, the cat played around in the room.

The four of them chased the cat all evening, finally finding it in Miya's room.

Croissant was curled up on Miya's bed, eyes closed, snoring.

"It's asleep," Miya said softly.

A Kai looked at Croissant snoring in Miya's arms, a bit sour: "I was the one who picked it up..."

"But it likes me," Miya said to Croissant, "Right?"

Croissant opened one eye, glanced at A Kai, then closed its eyes and continued sleeping.

"..." said A Kai, "Did it just roll its eyes?"

"No," said Miya, "Cats don't roll their eyes."

"I think it did," said A Kai.

"Alright," said Xiao Mei, "Since Croissant is staying, A Kai, you're responsible for cleaning up cat hair every day."

"Okay!" said A Kai.

"Also," said Xiao Mei, "the cat food should be split equally among everyone."

"Sharing is fine," said Zhou Zhou, "But — if it looks down on my takeout again, I will... I will..."

"What will you do?" asked A Kai.

"I will..." Zhou Zhou looked at Croissant, "Forget it. It's too cute."

The next day, A Kai went live.

"Family! Today we're live streaming Croissant eating!"

Danmaku: "Where's Croissant? Point the camera at Croissant quickly!"

A Kai looked at the danmaku: "...My fans have all become the cat's fans now."

Miya passed by, looked at his phone, and said, "Croissant is more famous than you."

"I know," said A Kai, "It gained more followers in one night than I do in a month."

"Then why don't you consider," said Miya, "letting Croissant be your streamer?"

"...That works too," A Kai thought for a moment.

In the evening, Miya watched Croissant curled up on the sofa — no, it was curled up on the sofa watching A Kai's live stream.

"Croissant," she called out.

Croissant turned its head and looked at her.

"Tomorrow," said Miya, "I'll make you a French cat bed. The kind with a sense of ceremony."

Croissant yawned, as if it agreed.