Chapter 16: Fancy Cat Food

His words backfired too abruptly. Just as he finished typing the comment, someone else had entered the stream.

“You haven’t been online for two days, sis, I was so worried about you! Have you taken Daylight to the vet yet? Did you find out why she was sick?” –Peach is a fairy.

“Yes, we found out. There wasn’t a parasite in her body, it was the cat food. I bought fake cat food, apparently.”

“What shop was it? Expose them!” –Where there’s a cat, there’s me.

“Taobao’s been selling lots of fake stuff, and it’s very normal these days.” –Dragon’s Roar.

This fan of Liu Man’s, who had rarely talked, finally appeared.

“They aren’t willing to admit that what they’re selling is fake, and they aren’t willing to refund either. I’ve already requested for a staff member to step in.”

“Ugh, doesn’t this store feel shameful? I mean, they’re selling fake cat food and are harming cats. So unscrupulous…” — Peach is a fairy.

“I once bought fake cat food, too. My kitty was barfing and pooping nonstop, he almost died!” — I love caaaats.

Maybe it was because this kind of incident was too common for a lot of cat fans, most fans who rarely talked started to comment.

“I thought that food made for pets usually have a mark in case of counterfeits? I don’t have a pet, and I don’t really know, don’t beat me up if I’m wrong.” –I’m here for the shoes.

“Nowadays, a lot of shops sell them in a mixture of fake ones and real ones. If they punch a hole through the bottom of the package and fill in some fake cat food, it’d be useless to look for the counterfeit mark.” –I’m Tingting.

“Right, and it’s difficult to litigate because you can’t even find proof. Especially if you ask those cat food surrogates to help you buy cat food from outside the country. I mean, we can’t go to those companies from other countries and ask for them to verify.” –Pancakes.

The fans were getting infuriated while discussing, and Liu Man was angry too.

It was a surprise for her when this discussion over cat food made her able to break her record. She was able to have 200 people watching her live-stream at once, and her fan count grew straight to 97. Not counting in Li Xiaoru and Wang Nina, those two “fake” fans, she was very close to her target of 100 fans.

And at this moment, a WeChat notification popped out on her phone.

“I’m on the first floor of your apartment building.”

It was a message from Yu Zhan.

Liu Man told her audience members, “My cat food’s here. I need to pick it up. I’ll be right back.”

“Which express delivery company would be so obliged to do their job at such a time in the evening?” –Otaku Boy.

Just as the teenager who was sitting in front of his computer finished typing this line, the girl on his screen stood up, grabbed her jacket, and walked out. Her beautiful silhouette and her perfect outline really shocked him.

“Oh fuck, this live-streamer is definitely a goddess.”

His roommate A looked at him with contempt, “We’re about to take our end of the year exams, you should stop watching these livestreams.”

TL Note: Chinese does this thing where people can be called like “Passerby A” or something like “____ A”. It’s a bit weird, (like a variable – as Syd puts it), but in this case, that “Passerby A” is a roomate, so “Roomate A”.

His roommate B, being indifferent as he was, “These live-streams are very boring, and they teach you absolutely nothing.”

Roommate C, somberly, said, “The problem is, even if he watches these livestreams all the time, he still gets a higher score than us…”

The trio turned around to look at “Otaku Boy”, who was staring at his computer screen and drooling. They could only complain about how unfair god was.

As Liu Man stepped out of her elevator, she could see an upright silhouette with her first glance. Yu Zhan was easily recognized as he had a unique aura on him, making it easy for him to be spotted within a crowd.

When he saw Liu Man, Yu Zhan smiled, “Apologies, you had to visit my pet clinic for nothing.”

Liu Man saw a huge sealed box near the elevator, and she asked Yu Zhan with confusion, “Didn’t that nurse say you don’t sell cat food?”

“We do buy in cat food now and then. She’s a new staff member and wasn’t trained enough,” Yu Zhan lied. His clinic didn’t have to earn money by selling cat food, for they earned lots of money just with the lines and lines of people lining up for him to examine their pets.

Because Liu Man asked him that day if he sold cat food, he actually contacted his friend in Hong Kong to directly buy cat food from the company’s branch in Hong Kong. Liu Man had no idea that this box of cat food had been flown over from the company. Although Yu Zhan told the company to hurry up, the cat food was still two days late as it spent time in the customs.

“Don’t you worry, the cat food’s definitely not fake,” Yu Zhan said.

Liu Man wasn‘t feeling doubtful, at all. She just trusted everything Yu Zhan said for no reason.

“Thank you so much, I caused you trouble yet again.” She was a bit embarrassed.

“It’s alright, I had to pass by your apartment anyways to get home.” Yu Zhan smiled, “How was your exam today?”

“I passed, just above the average line,” Liu Man lowered her head, feeling shy, “I’m not someone who gets especially good scores.”

Yu Zhan saw how Liu Man had her hair in a bun, and it was rare for someone to tie their hair into a bun with this kind of hair pin. At least, Yu Zhan had never seen someone do this. Maybe it was because Liu Man was just about to go to sleep, Liu Man’s hair was loosened and a bit puffy, and her hair had formed a round shape on the back of her head with the pin tucked in through the middle. The few locks of hair in front of her forehead were too short and naughtily laid on her cheeks.

Yu Zhan suddenly felt a bit unnatural and wanted to pull these locks of hair over her ears.

“Will you be busy tomorrow? I would like to invite you to dinner to celebrate your passing of the exam.”

Liu Man raised her head, shocked. As she looked into Yu Zhan’s eyes, which were filled with warmness, she felt a bit numb, but immediately shook her head, “No, no, it’s alright.”

“Ah, ever since my clinic opened, I’ve been too exhausted every day. I never even had the time to drink some tea. I wanted to find an excuse to make myself take a break and have a nice feast. If I have to go eat at a restaurant all by myself, I would seem lonely. The waitresses and the other customers would also think of it strange, right? I wouldn’t even feel comfortable.”

Liu Man wasn’t that dumb, and she immediately understood the hidden meaning of what Yu Zhan said, “Then, you should find your friends to accompany you.”

“I used to go to college in another country, and I just came back last year after my graduation. I left this country for so many years that none of my old friends would recognize me. My other friends aren’t in this country either.”

When she heard these, Liu Man, who was a very kind person already, felt sorry for Yu Zhan, “Then, alright, I’ll accompany you tomorrow for dinner.”

Yu Zhan smiled as if he had succeeded in a fraud, “Then, I have your word. Tomorrow at five, I’ll pick you up at your school.”

He immediately turned around and left, so Liu Man didn’t even get the chance to think about it and reject him.

Liu Man hadn’t shut the doors when she left her apartment, so Zhang Pei had watched as her daughter, who had just announced that she was going downstairs to fetch the delivery, come back with an enormous box.

“What did you buy this time?”

It was only until Zhang Pei’s inquiry when Liu Man realized she never paid Yu Zhan for the cat food.

“Cat food.”

“Didn’t you just buy cat food?”

“Those cat foods were fake; I’ve already requested for a refund.”

“There’s something such as fake cat food? These immoral businessmen…” Zhang Pei shook her head, “Then, are you sure that the cat foods are real this time?”

“Of course.”

Liu Man started to unseal the paper box in the living room. The place where it was taped was still sticky, since it was where the delivery logistics document was. It was, of course, ripped off by Yu Zhan.

There were four huge bags of cat food, each containing 12 pounds. After she did some calculations, Liu Man realized these were enough for Daylight to consume for more than half a year.

Liu Man took out the bags, and from them fell out a piece of paper. There were a few lines written in Traditional Chinese,

Mr. Yu:

Greetings, I feel very honored, for you have chosen to buy cat food from my company. If there are any issues while your pet is consuming these cat foods, please contact me: xxxxxxxxxxx,

Manager Huang.

Liu Man didn’t think much about it, as she naively thought every customer who purchased real cat food from this company would receive an after-sale card like this. She put the card into her jacket’s pocket carelessly.

Daylight, who sensed the smell of fresh cat food, ran out from the bedroom. She ran in circles around the cat food package with much excitement, it was apparent that she couldn’t wait to start eating. She didn’t have such a good appetite when the fake cat food was delivered.

Credits: Sydney, Kathrien, & Dora

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