Chapter 15 – Ka-Cha, Ka-Cha

 

The home was simple but it was full of warm emotions. It was even more so than bigger homes.

The only bad thing about the house was how small it was, there wasn’t even a good place to stand. For Ouyang Feng, it wasn’t comfortable to sit, so he stood up and walked towards the counter next to the TV.

There was a small photo frame on the counter, which might be the only photo in this house. Ouyang Feng was a little curious and took it from the counter to take a look. The picture had a youthful vibe to it. The outside was a little yellowed, but it was obvious that it had been well taken care of. The four corners of the picture were carefully covered with cardboard. Looking at the picture again, there was a little kid shyly hugging a big cat tightly. The background wasn’t clear but it looked similar to the orphanage the city had in the past.

The little kid was definitely Lin Jiabao, they had the same shy expression. It was just that the cat looked a little familiar?

On the other end, Lin Jiabao took the defrosted fish out and was getting ready to cook boiled fish. 1028 sat beside the sink, looking over curiously

‘You’re finally willing to eat it? I thought you were going to treat it as a baby forever.’

“Hehe, I didn’t keep it for that long.”

He cut the fish before preparing the seasoning. Lin Jiabao chopped the celery and coriander together. His mummy needed to help him so with a swipe of its tail, 1028 passed the ginger and garlic over to Lin Jiabao.

‘I heard that you brought someone home, is it the male lead?’

Lin Jiabao sliced the garlic into slices and replied, “I invited him, hehe. This big brother is super good. Not only did he teach me on how to play badminton, he also gave me a pair of shoes meow~~”

The male lead is so good? Don’t be so easily bought over ba, 1028 wrinkled its cat face and applied for the higher-ups to check if the male lead’s behaviour was normal.

‘Less spice. Everytime you eat too much spice, you get diarrhea.’

Lin Jiabao heard this and put away the large amount of chilli he secretly took before taking out only a little. Later when mummy isn’t paying attention, he’ll add a little more.

1028 saw that the main system reported back that the male lead’s stats were all normal. 1028 returned to its senses. Maybe it was due to how close Baobao and the male lead were, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

When the pot was hot, oil could be added. Then, stir-fry the base flavours together, garlic and ginger. Lin Jiabao proceeded to add some thick bean paste and fried them until they were fragrant. He swallowed his saliva and added celery and coriander for more taste.

The vegetables were cooked and could be plated. Finally the fish could be put into the pot. Although Lin Jiabao wanted to hurry and eat hot tofu, he still lowered the fire.

‘You slowly cook. You’re not allowed to secretly eat. I’ll go and see what the male lead is doing.’

“Meow~!”

1028 left the kitchen and noticed that Ouyang wasn’t sitting on the sofa. He was instead standing beside the counter. With its kitty vision, he could see that Ouyang Fang was looking at a picture of itself and Lin Jiabao.

The picture didn’t have anything particularly nice to look at and didn’t have any hidden message. What was he looking so intently at?

Ouyang Feng heard movements coming from the side and put the picture down to look over, realising the cat that Lin Jiabao owned was staring straight at him. He found it a little strange but didn’t show any reaction. Ouyang Feng thought about it, if the cat in the picture and the cat here were the same, the cat must be very old. Could it be that cats really had nine lives?

1028 saw that the male lead was staring without a single movement at itself and also didn’t dare to make a single movement. Could it be that its identity has been exposed?

They held each other’s gaze with different thoughts in their hearts until Lin Jiabao yelled from the kitchen that the food was done. They both then made their way into the kitchen.

Besides boiled fish, Lin Jiabao cooked other dishes, fearing that there wouldn’t be enough to eat. Ouyang Feng took the initiative to help Lin Jiabao carry the dishes to the dining table.

1028’s tail wagged back and forth and waited for Ouyang Feng to leave before asking Lin Jiabao, who was currently washing the chopsticks, ‘Baobao, you didn’t secretly eat?’

Lin Jiabao shook his head. He only tasted to see if the flavour was right, it shouldn’t be counted as secretly eating right? Probably…

‘Heh heh, what’s that besides your mouth?’

Lin Jiabao’s hand flew to the corner of his mouth and he touched something that felt like paste. When he licked it, he found it to be some sauce. “Meow!”

After placing the dishes on the table, Ouyang Feng came back, thinking that Lin Jiabao had called for him. He asked suspiciously, “You called for me?”

Lin Jiabao heard Ouyang Feng’s voice and replied airheadedly, “I didn’t secretly eat.”

“Huff.” The corner of Ouyang Feng’s lips hooked up and he walked in front of Lin Jiabao. He used his hand to wipe the sauce off Lin Jiabao’s lips and tasted it happily. “En, you didn’t secretly eat, the taste is quite good.”

“Meow meow!!!”

Lin Jiabao’s cat ears were going to pop out of his head and his face was burning red. At first, 1028 didn’t have any reaction before it resisted the urge to rashly paint on Ouyang Feng’s face. It stepped on Lin Jiabao to wake him up. If he didn’t snap out of it, he’d probably faint out of fright.

“Eat, eat, eat, eat… Eat ba.” He was even stuttering out of fear. Lin Jiabao walked over to the dining table using the same leg and same hand1 to place the chopsticks, completely avoiding looking over at Ouyang Feng.

After teasing, it left this kitten silly. Ouyang Feng scolded himself for this strange behavior in his heart, but he secretly wanted to make greater efforts to tease Lin Jiabao in the future.

It was as if he accidentally turned on some switch.

At the dinner table, the flustered Lin Jiabao continued to stuff white rice into his mouth, not even paying any attention to his beloved boiled fish. Ouyang Feng paused and placed some dishes into Lin Jiabao’s bowl. He used a deeper voice to say to Lin Jiabao, “You’re not allowed to gobble down your food, eat slower.”

Hearing Ouyang Feng’s voice. Lin Jiabao slowed down and when he tasted the fish, he had forgotten whatever had happened just now. He turned his attention to eating the fish.

After they ate, they rested for a while. Ouyang Feng got ready to say goodbye to Lin Jiabao, telling him to rest well and that he would take Lin Jiabao out to play some other time.

Lin Jiabao nodded and wanted to send Ouyang Feng downstairs, which Ouyang Feng didn’t agree to.

When Ouyang Feng left, 1028 pushed Lin Jiabao to the couch and interrogated him, ‘When did you and the male lead have this good of a relationship.’

Lin Jiabao hugged his head and said to 1028, “I don’t know, mummy.”

1028 let Lin Jiabao go. Lin Jiabao, this little milk kitten, didn’t know anything. Even if it forced a confession out him, it wouldn’t get anything. It squinted its cat’s eyes and told Lin Jiabao to sit down. It said to him, ‘You have to make it clear. Whether he sees you as a friend or as a younger brother, those two aren’t important. It’s only when he starts to fancy you.”

“Fancy me?” Lin Jiabo tilted his head in confusion, not understanding the meaning behind 1028’s words.

‘Just ka-cha ka-cha2 him.’ 1028 used its two paws to make a scratching motion.

Meow meow meow?

Although he didn’t understand the meaning, he felt that it sounded very dangerous.

Ouyang Feng, who was currently driving, felt a shiver down his spine…

dreamy here!! as you can probably tell from the poor grammar, i am in need of a temporary editor (for the next few months at least) as my usual one, Senna, is busy! if you’re available and willing to commit, drop me a dm on discord!

thanks for reading and see you next week!

1

Normal people walk with their leg swinging with the opposite hand. You step out with the left and swing your right hand and vice versa. But Baobao was too nervous so he stepped out with left leg and also swung his left hand.

2

Scratching noise