I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 8: Chapter 6: The Cat Got into Trouble, and Met a Stranger?

Su Miaoyi returned to her apartment. After quickly washing up, she lay down on her bed and fell asleep.

She didn’t know how long she’d slept, but a phone call eventually woke her.

Su Miaoyi fumbled for her phone with her eyes still closed and answered the call.

The person on the other end asked, ”Hello, is this Su Miaoyi?”

”Mhm,” Su Miaoyi grunted.

”This is the Love Pet Shop. About the cat you boarded with us a month ago, would you have time to come by?”

Su Miaoyi didn’t respond. She had fallen asleep again...

”Hello? Are you still there?”

Su Miaoyi jolted awake, glanced at the ongoing call on her phone, and said, ”No thanks, I’m not interested. I have enough data, I have enough money, and I already have a membership. I don’t want anything. Nothing at all.”

With that, she hung up, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

A moment later, her phone rang again.

Su Miaoyi rolled back over and rejected the call.

Then, the phone rang again.

Su Miaoyi finally opened her eyes, a little more awake now.

She answered the call.

The voice on the other end said, ”Hello, this is the Love Pet Shop.”

It finally clicked for Su Miaoyi. ”Oh, hello.”

”Here’s the situation. Your cat got another cat pregnant at our shop. We need you to come down and sort this out.”

That snapped Su Miaoyi wide awake. ”What!”

...

After hastily washing up, Su Miaoyi rushed out the door.

She took a taxi to the pet shop. The moment she walked in, an employee pulled her aside.

”What’s wrong?”

”The other party is very angry,” the employee said.

”The cat is very angry?” Su Miaoyi asked, confused.

”The cat’s *owner* is very angry.” A speechless look crossed the employee’s face. ”And he seems like a big shot. You should be careful what you say later.”

Seeing how nervous the employee was, Su Miaoyi nodded. ”Oh.”

The employee led Su Miaoyi to the manager’s office.

Just as she reached the door, she heard a voice from inside. ”President Shen, I am so sorry. This was our negligence. We will absolutely give you a satisfactory resolution. We’ve already notified the other cat’s owner. She should be here any minute.”

Listening from outside, Su Miaoyi could only hear this one person speaking; the other person remained silent.

”I haven’t been in the shop recently. If I had been here, this never would have happened. If I were here, I never would have let them take in that cat. How dare they send a mutt cat like that here. The owner must have never disciplined it—such an ill-mannered little cat. And the owner doesn’t even want it anymore. It’s been a month and no one’s come to get it.”

Su Miaoyi knocked once before pushing the door open and walking right in.

There were only two people in the office.

She had never seen either of them before.

One was standing, and the other was sitting, holding a cat.

Su Miaoyi glanced at the seated man before turning her gaze to the one who was standing.

The seated man, however, froze for a second the moment he saw her.

”You must be the manager.”

”I am,” the man said. ”You must be the owner of that little mutt cat.”

”Yes,” Su Miaoyi replied.

Manager Gao said, ”How do you usually discipline your cat? We have so many cats in the shop, and in all these years, nothing like this has ever happened. How is it that the moment your cat arrives, something like this occurs?”

”And I’d like to ask how you were taking care of him. I paid money to board my cat here. If something happened, it’s your mistake,” Su Miaoyi said. ”What’s this? When you wanted my money, you treated me like a goddess and called my cat a ’little darling,’ but now that there’s a problem, you’re just shirking responsibility and blaming me?”

The seated man watched her.

’She doesn’t just look like her, her personality is the same, too.’

”Then why are all the other cats fine, but yours is the one that did this?” The manager didn’t dare to offend the seated man, so he tried to push all the blame onto Su Miaoyi to absolve the shop of responsibility.

Su Miaoyi was so angry she laughed. ”I’d like to ask the same thing. How come all the other cats are fine, but mine was let out? I suspect your shop practices discrimination. I want to see the security footage.”

The seated man suddenly let out a soft cough.

The manager immediately looked over, his tone becoming extremely fawning. ”President Shen, you see? Like owner, like cat. She’ll say anything to avoid paying compensation. Such petty, common behavior.”

”You!” Su Miaoyi was livid.

’I’d love to crumple this manager into a ball and throw him into the ocean to drift away.’

In the heat of her anger, she felt the man on the sofa watching her again.

She turned her head to look at him.

A three-piece suit in the sweltering August heat...

’What an overdressed jerk.’

The man looked at her furious expression, paused, and said, ”This is indeed the pet shop’s fault. They should bear all responsibility.”

”President Shen...” the manager started to say more.

But a single glance from the man made the manager swallow his words. He changed his tune, saying, ”It is indeed our problem. It was our mistake. The pet shop will cover all the compensation.”

”Compensate this young lady for her losses as well,” the man added.

Su Miaoyi: ”???”

The manager glanced at Su Miaoyi. ’???’ ’What losses does she have?’

”Your shop was negligent in its care and allowed the cat to get out. Shouldn’t you, Manager Gao, provide appropriate compensation for that?” The man’s tone was light, but it carried the weight of someone used to being in charge.

The manager nodded, smiling. ”Yes, yes, of course. President Shen is right.”

The man said no more, lowering his gaze to the cat resting on his lap.

Su Miaoyi looked at the man.

’My opinion of him just did a complete 180.’

’His suit is obviously expensive. He must be a distinguished young master from a wealthy family.’

’He’s probably busy, with lots of formal events to attend.’

’Dressing formally is perfectly normal.’

’It must be tough for him in this heat.’

’He’s handsome, too.’

’Cool and elegant.’

’And he’s so reasonable.’

The man raised his eyes to look at her.

As their eyes met, a sharp pain suddenly shot through Su Miaoyi’s head.

Her pupils contracted.

”What’s wrong?” the man asked.

His inquiry was devoid of any emotion.

Su Miaoyi shook her head and looked at the cat in his arms.

A beautiful Devin Rex.

’If I were him, I’d be angry too.’

She said, ”Even though it was the pet shop’s negligence, my cat is still the one who caused this. I have to apologize on behalf of my cat to you and your cat.”

The man looked at her without speaking.

Just then, the cat in his arms suddenly jumped down.

It walked toward Su Miaoyi.

Seeing it approach, Su Miaoyi immediately took two steps back.

The Devin stopped and looked at her.

Su Miaoyi stopped as well.

The Devin walked toward her again, then placed its two front paws on her leg.

Su Miaoyi jumped in surprise.

The man looked from the cat to her. ”You’re afraid of cats?”

”My own cat made me scared of them. A month ago, my cat suddenly started attacking me—hissing, biting, and scratching me.” Su Miaoyi looked at the Devin Rex. ”It wouldn’t even eat the food I put out. I had no choice but to bring it here.”

Su Miaoyi didn’t know what had happened.

She’d had him for over two years.

Her cat had always been so gentle.

She had no idea why it had suddenly started attacking her.

The man looked at his own cat. ”She likes you a lot.”

”Really?” Su Miaoyi crouched down and stroked its head. ”What’s her name?”

”An’an,” the man replied.

’I’ll call you An’an. I hope you always come back safe from every mission.’

”An’an,” Su Miaoyi said, calling her name.

An’an nuzzled against her hand.

The man watched for a moment before leaning down and picking the cat up.

But An’an didn’t seem to want to leave, meowing twice in displeasure.

Nevertheless, the man held her in his arms and carried her away.

The manager hurried to see him out.

Su Miaoyi went to check on her own cat...