Yun Mian ran lightly along the street.

Facing the warm morning sun and breeze, the feeling was wonderful!

The only trouble was, there were too many obstacles on the road, and she kept tripping.

Still not fully accustomed to moving like a cat, her motion was a bit uncoordinated. When she tried to rely on her bipedal memory, her spine’s alarm system was triggered. And when she instinctively jumped down from high places, the human consciousness in her body made her freeze midair.

This caused her to tumble over here and roll over there.

She even ran into a few annoying little brats who tried to catch her.

Yun Mian dodged the obstacles and ran hard in the direction of home.

A City was very big. If not driving, it was at least more than twenty kilometers from Shen Zhixing’s place to her home.

Yun Mian kept running.

When she got tired, she rested by the roadside. When she got thirsty, she drank some water in a park.

She even went the wrong way a few times because she wasn’t familiar with the roads.

Finally, by dusk, she made it back to her home.

It was a red-and-white villa with a courtyard.

Through the waist-high fence, she could see the housekeeper, Uncle Yang, trimming the greenery in the garden. Yun Mian’s father had a hobby of gardening, so flowers bloomed in the courtyard all year round.

Especially in spring, the colorful flower garden was very beautiful. Her mother loved drinking afternoon tea in the yard.

Finally returning to the place where she had grown up, Yun Mian’s eyes couldn’t help but well up with tears.

Without hesitation, she squeezed through the fence and entered the yard.

As soon as she entered the hall, she smelled a delicious aroma wafting from the direction of the kitchen. It smelled like old hen soup being stewed.

It must be Aunt Wang cooking.

Great! Since Aunt Wang was making soup, then her parents must be home too.

Yun Mian was overjoyed.

She ran straight across the hall, up the stairs, and started searching in the living area upstairs.

Aunt Wang was focused on watching over the bubbling soup pot in the kitchen and didn’t notice a cat running in from behind the living room.

It was very quiet upstairs. The layout and furniture of the house hadn’t changed, still maintaining the same look as in Yun Mian’s memory.

Holding back her excitement, Yun Mian headed straight to her mother’s room.

As soon as she got to the door, she smelled a strong scent of traditional Chinese medicine.

Before she could think about what was going on, she saw her mother, Madam Yun Bei, lying weakly on the bed in the middle of the room. A bowl of dark medicinal soup sat on the bedside table. That strong smell of herbal medicine was coming from it.

At the first sight of her mother, Yun Mian’s eyes turned red.

How could this be!

How did Mom become this sick, and so much older…

In Yun Mian’s perception, her mother was someone who maintained herself well. An elegant middle-aged woman who, in her forties, looked like she was in her thirties.

Now, the woman lying on the bed had a pale face, sunken cheeks, wrinkles climbing the corners of her eyes, and her whole spirit seemed to have collapsed.

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

Yun Mian hurried forward, wanting to hug her.

Yun Bei vaguely heard a few cat meows. Half-asleep, she opened her eyelids and suddenly saw a dirty stray cat jump onto the bed, leaping toward her.

Frightened, she let out a terrified scream.

“Ah—”

“Where did this stray cat come from! Aunt Wang! Cough, Aunt Wang!!!”

Yun Bei waved her hands, trying to drive the stray cat away.

But as soon as she sat up, she started coughing violently. She reached out to the bedside table for tissues but accidentally knocked over the bowl of medicine.

In an instant, the room became a mess.

Yun Mian was startled by her mother’s reaction and didn’t know what to do.

She knew her mother didn’t like cats. When she was little, she had asked her mother several times to let her keep one, but her mother always refused. But she hadn’t expected her mother to react this strongly—almost a physical revulsion.

Worried about scaring her mother, Yun Mian had no choice but to step off the bed and retreat a few steps, meowing softly at her from the bedside.

“Get out! Get out!”

Yun Bei stared at her with disgust in her eyes, picked up a pillow, and threw it at her.

Aunt Wang upstairs had heard the commotion and rushed up.

As soon as she entered the room, she was shocked: “Madam, what happened?”

“Cough cough, cough… cat…” Yun Bei clutched her chest, struggling to breathe. “Quickly get that cat out of here!”

Only then did Aunt Wang realize a stray cat had somehow gotten into the house.

It was filthy, covered in mud, its paws dirtying both the bed linens and the floor, leaving behind several dark paw prints.

Aunt Wang’s expression turned stern and she said immediately, “Madam, don’t be afraid. I’ll get this filthy thing out right away.” Saying this, she turned to grab a feather duster and began driving Yun Mian away.

Seeing that both of them treated her like a stray cat, Yun Mian felt both anxious and wronged.

But she couldn’t speak, so she could only meow pitifully at them, hoping they would sense her affection.

But Aunt Wang didn’t care about that at all.

Seeing the stray cat refusing to leave, she gripped the end of the feather duster tightly and swung it at Yun Mian.

The feather duster was made of bamboo segments—it hurt when it struck.

Caught off guard, Yun Mian was hit once, and the pain made her cry out in a high-pitched “aowu,” staring at Aunt Wang in protest.

“Get out, get out, you filthy thing! Where did you come from!” Aunt Wang, worried that Madam’s condition would worsen due to the scare, showed no mercy in driving the cat away.

A few strikes landed on Yun Mian, making her so pained that her tears almost burst out.

When she was little, Aunt Wang had been the one who loved her the most—cooked good food for her and coaxed her to sleep when her parents weren’t home.

Yun Mian was devastated.

Her dearest family members were right in front of her, yet she couldn’t reveal herself.

Instead, she was loathed and driven out.

She looked sorrowfully at her mother, who had turned even paler and was coughing so hard she could barely breathe. Then, she turned away in grief and left the room.

While passing through the corridor, she caught a glimpse of her current self in the reflection of a metal wine cabinet.

After running all the way, the snowy white fur that Shen Zhixing had groomed so neatly was already filthy.

Her face was dusty, her paws full of grime.

It was a level of filth that anyone would find repulsive.

Yun Mian lowered her head silently, let out a soft whimper, and turned around.

After leaving the villa, she had wanted to stay a bit longer, hoping she might catch her father coming home.

Her father managed the family company. Although he was always busy, he had doted on her since she was young. Yun Mian thought maybe, just maybe, her father wouldn’t hate the cat she had become.

But Aunt Wang didn’t let her off.

After coming downstairs, Aunt Wang complained to Uncle Yang in the yard, “A stray cat got into the house just now and scared Madam badly! Hurry and check around so it doesn’t get in again.”

Uncle Yang replied, put down the watering can in his hand, grabbed a broom, and started patrolling the fence.

Yun Mian was hiding behind a short shrub. Seeing Uncle Yang approaching with the broom, she nervously held her breath and shrank back.

As his steps came closer and closer, Yun Mian had no choice but to slip through the fence and hide outside.

After searching around without spotting the stray cat, Uncle Yang wasn’t at ease. He swept around the garden a few more times. Once he was sure the cat had run off, he told Aunt Wang, “It’s gone. Is Madam alright?”

“Sigh, don’t even mention it.”

Aunt Wang sighed, her voice filled with undisguised worry: “Ever since Miss passed away, Madam’s health has gone downhill. Constant anxiety and nerve issues, all kinds of illnesses stacked together—her body’s worn out. I think tonight’s soup will go to waste again.”

“Sir isn’t coming home for dinner tonight either?”

“It’s already this late, looks like he won’t.”

“You think… maybe Sir’s outside with someone…”

“Shh, Sir and Madam’s matters aren’t for us to discuss!”

Yun Mian hid outside the garden wall, listening to Uncle Yang and Aunt Wang whispering by the corner. Her heart felt like it was stuffed with cotton—sourness that couldn’t rise or fall, leaving her vision blurred with tears.

…

Yun Mian didn’t know how she left home.

She wandered aimlessly through the streets.

By now, night had long fallen. The city streets were lit up with brilliant neon lights.

At the crossroads, cars on the road honked to urge the vehicles in front. In front of the red traffic light, people waiting for the countdown were in a hurry. Noise, bustle, the crowding of a big city.

Yun Mian stood by the roadside, but did not know where she should go.

“Darling, look, there’s a stray cat.”

A couple noticed the homeless kitten by the roadside.

The girl looked at the kitten for a while and then acted coy with her boyfriend beside her, “That little cat looks so pitiful. Why don’t we take it back and adopt it?”

The boy glanced at the kitten. Seeing the dirt on its body, he showed some disgust, “Forget it. Stray cats usually have infectious diseases. If you want one, I’ll buy one for you from a pet store.”

“Alright then!”

The girl was easily persuaded by the boy. The two walked away hand in hand without looking at the kitten again.

Yun Mian walked forward for a long time again.

She walked until she was already exhausted, both tired and hungry. Looking up, she only then realized that she seemed to be lost.

A strange street, strange faces, a strange world.

In the night, the city’s neon lights flickered, and the steel forest stood tall. Those alleys under the night looked very much like a suspense film setting, where man-eating monsters might rush out at any time.

Just then, two stray dogs darted out from the alley. They bared two rows of fangs at Yun Mian, their foul breath rushed at her, and low growls of threat came from their throats.

Yun Mian trembled all over in fear and quickly turned around to flee.

By the time she was no longer being chased by the stray dogs, Yun Mian already had no idea where she was.

Now, she could not even find her way back to Shen Zhixing’s home by retracing her steps.

“…Wuwu.”

Could it be that she really was going to become a homeless stray cat?

Yun Mian curled up in a corner and curled herself into a ball.

“Xiaobai—! Xiaobai—!”

Just then, in the late-night street, Yun Mian vaguely heard Shen Zhixing’s familiar voice calling from afar.

That voice carried anxiety and worry, drawing nearer and farther with the buildings in between.

At that moment, Yun Mian even felt like tears were about to fill her eyes.

She did not hesitate at all and got up to run toward the direction of the voice.

…

Shen Zhixing had already been looking for Xiaobai for a whole day.

He started by searching within a five-li radius of his home, then expanded to ten li, and by the end, he no longer remembered how many places he had searched.

He Guang tried to persuade him to give up. Unable to convince him, he gave up and went home first.

But Shen Zhixing had no intention of giving up. Xiaobai was different from other cats to him; it was one he had picked up from that place.

Moreover, Xiaobai was very intelligent. He believed that Xiaobai wouldn’t run away for no reason.

He wore a mask and a cap, drove on the street, searching while calling out.

It wasn’t until after ten o’clock at night, when he passed an old neighborhood, that he finally found it.

It ran out from a pitch-black, filthy alley. Upon seeing him, its dim pupils lit up, and without the slightest hesitation, it ran straight toward him.

Shen Zhixing breathed a sigh of relief.

He squatted down and picked up the dirty little cat into his arms, tapping its head, “Where did you run off to? Got yourself this dirty. Hmm?”

Xiaobai curled tightly in his arms, as if frightened, trembling all over and letting out low whimpers.

Shen Zhixing gently stroked it and said softly, “Alright, alright, I’m not mad at you.”

Under the caress of the man’s long fingers, the little kitten could not help but nudge his palm with its head, letting out a very aggrieved meow.

Shen Zhixing tucked it into his arms and gently wrapped it with his coat, “It’s okay now. It’s good you’re back. Let’s go home.”