Who Needs a Relationship When You Have a Cat?

Chapter 5

Xiao Youqian was Ai Qing’s childhood sweetheart... except she really wasn’t.

More like a playmate from back when they still counted age on one hand.

The building Ai Qing currently rents in is called Jinpan Yunting Residence—

formal name, minus the mandatory “North Block” tacked on the end.

His parents, Ai Zhongguo and his wife, plus Grandpa and Grandma, all live in the “South Block” of the same complex.

One road. Six lanes. That’s the entire distance between them.

Back in 2010 the whole neighbourhood was condemned.

The south towers opened in 2015, right on schedule.

The north towers got caught in the local property-sector meltdown, dragged through lawsuits, and didn’t hand over keys until 2021.

Before the bulldozers, the place was plain old Jiannan Subdistrict.

Ai Qing, a textbook post-2000 kid, was ten and in fifth grade the year it came down.

Xiao Youqian lived two floors above him.

Their building had a whole gang of kids.

Some were relocated to the outer suburbs and vanished; others still turn up at reunions, and a handful even rode the same school bus through middle and high school.

Xiao Youqian landed somewhere in the middle—close enough to recognise, too far to miss.

After the demolition she moved to the Main Urban District for school, but every Spring Festival she came back to visit relatives, so they’d bump into each other at the gate or the supermarket.

None of this meant anything romantic; she was three years older and Ai Qing had never been into older-sister types.

Besides, she already had a boyfriend—he’d seen the guy during winter break.

Version 2.0, actually; she’d upgraded twice since then.

No idea whether the current model was still employed.

“Xiao Qian, moving in?” Ai Zhongguo spotted the familiar face and paused, grocery bags swinging.

“Need a hand?”

“All sorted, Uncle Ai. I hired movers.”

She stepped out of the elevator, waved them through, and two uniformed men began shuttling boxes.

“So the flat opposite yours now?” Ai Qing asked, puzzled.

“Didn’t your family pick a unit in the South Block?”

“Dad snapped up a north-side flat when the developer finally offered discounts,” she explained, then glanced at Ai Zhongguo with a tiny frown.

Ai Zhongguo coughed loudly, cutting her off.

“Well then, you two’ll be neighbours. Ai Qing’s renting right next door—perfect, you can keep an eye on each other.”

“Renting?” Xiao Youqian blinked, then laughed.

“Sure, works for me.”

Ai Zhongguo ruffled his son’s hair, delivered the usual parental warnings, and left for the office.

The corridor was left to Ai Qing, Xiao Youqian, and the two movers jogging in and out.

“So why relocate back here?” Ai Qing asked.

“Your parents both work downtown.”

“Escape velocity,” she grinned.

“They’ve turned nagging about marriage into a sport. I fled.”

She jerked a thumb toward the ground floor.

“Dad also owns a shop-front by the gate.

Last tenant just moved out; instead of re-letting, I convinced him to let me open my own place.”

“What kind of shop?” Ai Qing rubbed his chin.

“Didn’t you study medicine?”

“Switched to veterinary science for grad school.

I’m opening a pet hospital.”

She beamed.

“Nearest competitor is three kilometres away—easy win.”

“Not bad,” Ai Qing said, then felt something brush his ankle.

Xiao Yu had slipped out when he’d held the door for his dad.

“Xiao Yu, inside. Now.”

“Oh my gosh, is that Xiao Yu?”

Xiao Youqian dropped to her knees, eyes sparkling.

“Can I pet her?”

“Go ahead—just move slow, she spooks.”

Ai Qing crouched beside her.

“Xiao Yu, this is Sis Qian. You met her last New Year, remember?”

“She’s doubled in size!”

Xiao Youqian stroked the fluffy head, blissful.

Total cat slave.

“She’ll be one in mid-March,” Ai Qing said.

“A one-year-old cat equals a fifteen-year-old human—basically a teenager.”

Fifteen.

Ai Qing’s hand froze mid-pat.

He was twenty-three and suddenly felt like a criminal.

Xiao Youqian, oblivious, scratched beneath Xiao Yu’s chin and admired her odd-coloured eyes.

“She’s gorgeous.

Turkish Vans really are supermodels.

Even prettier than my Vera.”

“Vera?”

“My Ragdoll.

Still at my parents’ place—I’ll collect her next week.

The girls can hang out.”

Hang out?

Ai Qing’s stomach tightened.

If Xiao Yu morphed into a human while Vera was around, the explanations would be... complicated.

Xiao Youqian straightened, businesslike.

“Once the clinic opens, Xiao Yu’s annual check-ups are on me.”

“Deal.

Grandma will leaflet the whole block for you,” Ai Qing said.

“Perfect.”

A mover called that the truck was empty.

“I’d better unpack.

Knock if you need anything.”

“Will do.”

She gave Xiao Yu one last scratch and jogged inside.

Ai Qing carried the cat back to his flat, shut the door, and collapsed on the bed.

Xiao Yu bounced after him, tail high.

He watched her leap—

and spotted something stark against the navy duvet.

A single, impossibly long white hair.

Dad hadn’t noticed.

Thank God.

How on earth would he explain that?