Chapter 23

March 9th, overcast.

I just noticed a flaw in the dress—one that had never occurred to me before.

After Xiao Yu turned human, her tail stayed.

Underwear’s fine; the tail sprouts just above the tailbone, higher than the waistband.

But in a one-piece, the tail is completely trapped inside.

Awkward.

It doesn’t seem to bother her much, yet judging by her face, it’s not exactly comfy either.

I’m thinking of cutting a tail-hole in the back tomorrow.

Not like I’m taking human-form Xiao Yu outside anytime soon; at home, comfort rules.

---

March 10th, sunny.

Nice weather. I jogged downstairs after breakfast—first exercise in ages.

Ever since I started writing full-time, my body’s been falling apart.

Sis Qian keeps inviting me to play badminton on the estate courts. I’m scared she’ll massacre me; she’s been lethal with a racket since we were kids.

Xiao Yu still can’t walk.

Every day I haul her upright by the hands and let her feel what standing on two legs is like.

We only practice twenty-odd minutes, though.

Hope she catches on soon.

Weird—she mastered the kiddie smart-watch camera in seconds, yet walking’s a saga.

---

March 11th, weather warming up.

This Sunday my novel hits the trial promo slot and I’m a nervous wreck.

Bookmarks just scraped past five hundred, almost all carry-over readers from my last book.

Feedback’s decent, so maybe I can hit five hundred average subs and qualify for the attendance bonus.

Fingers crossed.

---

March 12th, sunny.

Royalty statement for the old book arrived: a little over 1,000 yuan for the first month after the finale. Subscription numbers got chopped in half, but still—beer money.

It’ll keep the grocery budget alive.

New dilemma: how often do you change a cat-turned-girl’s clothes?

She’s been in that dress for days—should I wash it?

Looks clean to me.

Strictly speaking, she’s only worn it a cumulative three or four hours in human form.

Laundry can wait.

Just please, Xiao Yu, don’t shift silently.

Today I was mid-sentence when something grabbed my leg—nearly died of fright.

---

March 13th, sunny.

Afternoon: Sis Qian dragged me to badminton. I died.

She says the pet hospital opens this Sunday and wants me there for moral support.

Grandma’s already looped in the neighborhood committee; flyers go up Saturday.

Grandma’s square-dancing squad is on marketing duty, too.

Plenty of pet owners around here, so a local clinic’s a win for everyone.

Then she mentioned the neutering package... ouch.

I’d actually planned to spay Xiao Yu last year—figured I’d do it the minute she hit heat.

No intention of letting her have kittens.

But she never went into heat, so I forgot.

Obviously impossible now.

Wonder if skipping the surgery has anything to do with her turning human.

---

March 14th, Saturday.

Trial promo goes live at midnight—gulp.

Tomorrow is both Sis Qian’s grand opening and Xiao Yu’s first “birthday” since I adopted her.

I’ll cook something nice tonight, kill two birds with one celebration.

I’ll swing by the clinic in the afternoon; Qian will be swamped, so I won’t linger.

Tonight Xiao Yu stood on her own for five whole minutes!

Walking looks imminent.

Human-form duration’s stretching too.

I timed it: 29 minutes 17 seconds from shift to shift-back—call it half an hour.

Twice a day equals a full hour of human time.

Might be time for home-schooling. First subject: speech.

No idea if she can learn.

Headache.

Feels like I’m raising a mute teenage girl who occasionally naps as a kitten.

---

March 15th, sunny.

Morning: knock out my word count. After lunch, drop by the pet hospital.

---

“Whew...”

At 10 a.m., having banked his daily 2,000-word buffer, Ai Qing exhaled and opened the author dashboard.

The trial promo had only gone live at midnight; you had to dig into the Light Novel sub-page to find his title.

Previously he’d netted fifty to a hundred new bookmarks per day.

Today, half a day in, he was already past one-fifty.

Hope we hit a thousand soon.

As the thought crossed his mind, something brushed his foot.

He glanced down and nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Holy—!”

“Xiao Yu, could you not scare me to death?”

Wedged under the desk, the girl blinked up at him.

The desk had drawers on both sides; only the center gap fit his legs.

Pushed against the wall, the cavity was cramped—perfect for a kitten, not so much for a human.

Xiao Yu must have crawled in cat-form, then shifted.

Feeling stuffy, she’d stuck her head out, bumping his stomach and nearly giving him a heart attack.

“Out you come.” Ai Qing rolled his chair back, reached in, and hauled her free.

Since he’d finished writing anyway, he pulled her up to practice walking.

They were tottering across the room, her small hand soft in his, when the doorbell rang.

Figuring it was Xiao Youqian, he let go, warned Xiao Yu not to move, slipped out of the bedroom and shut the door behind him.

He opened the main door to a guy in sunglasses he didn’t recognize.

“Um... you are?” Ai Qing frowned.

The stranger pushed his shades onto his head and grinned.

“Wow, CEO Ai forgets the little people. Kong Fugui—just got back from overseas.”

“No way. Guigui?” Ai Qing looked him up and down.

Head-to-toe hype-beast gear—logos he couldn’t read, colors loud enough to shout.

His gaze settled on the guy’s hair.

“Dude, why green?”

“Brown! It’s freaking brown!” Kong Fugui stepped inside, thrusting his head forward.

“Check it in this light—sun hits it weird, but indoors it’s chocolate, I swear.”

“Fine, brown, brown.” Ai Qing half retreated, glancing toward the bedroom.

“So what brings you here?”

“Came to hang.”

“No time.”

“Come on... I came straight to you the minute I got back. We’ve been brothers for years—aren’t you even a little touched?”

“We saw each other at New Year’s. You fly home and skip the girls to hunt me down—what kind of trouble are you dragging me into?”

“Ah, well...” Kong Fugui chuckled and slapped Ai Qing’s shoulder. “You know me too well. Sis Qian just opened her clinic; my girlfriend bought a puppy, so I figured we’d get it checked out and toss a bit of business her way.”

“First tell me which girlfriend.”

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