Like? Like.

When Chen Miansheng finally calmed his emotions and walked over, in just the blink of an eye, the scene he had seen moments before had miraculously vanished without a trace.

As he reached the foot of the bed, all he saw was his little kitten collapsed on the floor, her snowy white belly fully exposed. Her fluffy little head tilted slightly upward, eyes reflecting gold in the darkness as she blinked up at him with innocent curiosity.

Chen Miansheng’s throat felt dry. The two—man and cat—stared at each other in silence, and the large room suddenly fell deathly quiet.

Seeing that he hadn’t reacted for a long while, and with the candlelight still unlit, Fei Yan couldn’t make out his expression. Her heart, which had just settled, tensed up again with unease.

Why wasn’t Chen Miansheng saying anything? Did he notice something?

But that didn’t make sense. She had retreated so quickly and hidden herself in such a concealed place—there was no reason she would’ve been exposed.

Fei Yan quickly scrambled to her feet and nervously pawed the floor in place. Just as she was about to lean in and nuzzle him to test his reaction, Chen Miansheng, who had remained silent for so long, finally moved.

“It’s too late,” he said hoarsely as he turned away, took a brand-new candle from the drawer, and placed it on the candlestick. “Rest. We have to go to the medicine hall early tomorrow.”

Fei Yan licked the corners of her lips. No matter how she looked at it, his reaction didn’t seem like someone who had just discovered her secret identity.

So she let out a quiet breath of relief, boldly jumped up onto the bamboo bed, and lay down obediently beside Chen Miansheng with only a blanket between them.

Perhaps she had really played too hard that day, because in no time at all, Fei Yan had completely drifted off.

Her body rose and fell with a steady rhythm. If one leaned in close enough, they could even hear the faint sound of her purring.

Unfortunately, Chen Miansheng couldn’t hear it.

The night was deep, and the room was cloaked in darkness. He lay there, eyes open in silence, lips tightly pressed together, black eyes glinting faintly in the dark.

After quite a long while, Chen Miansheng finally moved.

Propping himself up with one hand, he slowly sat up from the bed.

His gaze lowered, falling on the little cat curled beside him.

The small orange cat was curled up against him, separated only by the quilt. One of her soft paws unconsciously rested on his leg—so light he could barely feel it.

Chen Miansheng narrowed his eyes, and his mind involuntarily recalled the scene he had witnessed at the foot of the bed. His throat once again dried uncontrollably.

He stared at her for a long time before finally leaning down and, with restraint and gentleness, placed a featherlight kiss on the top of Fei Yan’s head.

In the silent room, a low, hoarse voice suddenly broke the stillness.

“All right. My wish came true.”

—

The next day.

Chen Miansheng jolted awake from a dream, the fabric against his back soaked with sweat.

He furrowed his brow, not wanting to recall what he had just dreamed. But the more he resisted, the more clearly those tangled scenes played back in his mind.

It was much the same as the other dreams he’d had before—but this time, the images were clearer.

He dreamt that his little kitten had transformed into a human right in front of him, dressed in an orange robe. He couldn’t make out her face clearly, but a pair of white, jade-like feet peeked from beneath the hem of her robe.

Those feet gently rested on his leg. Then, the girl’s soft body leaned in close, her dark eyes glistening with emotion, filled with tender affection. Again and again, she called his name softly, asking gently:

“Chen Miansheng, do you like me?”

As his thoughts returned to the present, Chen Miansheng took a deep breath and decided to get up and take a cold shower.

But the moment he sat up and caught sight of the candleholder by the bed, his senses sharpened and his expression darkened.

To confirm whether or not he had imagined things, he had deliberately replaced the candle with a brand-new one before bed last night. If there were any signs it had been burned, it would prove his suspicion—that his little kitten was indeed a little demon.

But the candle remained untouched, still the same length as before. No one had used it during the night.

So… was he wrong?

No, that couldn’t be right. Although the scene he saw last night had flashed by in an instant, it probably wasn’t just his imagination.

But why was it that the candles had been burning so strangely until now, and yet the one he replaced last night remained completely untouched?

In that moment, it felt like a bucket of icy water had been dumped over his head. A rare wave of irritation stirred within Chen Miansheng.

He raised a hand to press on his aching temples when he suddenly felt something soft and furry nudging his other hand repeatedly.

Chen Miansheng looked down, his gaze landing on the little orange cat.

The little thing had just woken up. Her dark, sleepy eyes glistened with a hazy moisture. She clearly hadn’t fully come to her senses, yet the moment she noticed something was wrong, she moved closer to him, rubbing against his hand with concern.

Something soft inside Chen Miansheng’s heart seemed to be gently struck, and the agitation he had just felt vanished without a trace.

A faint smile lifted the corners of his lips as he reached out to gently rub the little cat’s head.

“Good morning, Little Orange.”

After breakfast, man and cat set off as usual to the Tong Yao Hall.

Worried that the clumsy little thing would tangle herself up like a cat dumpling again, Chen Miansheng hid the yarn ball he’d won on the highest shelf of the inner room’s cabinet and brought her only a reed stick to play with.

The reed stick was nailed to the wall inside the clinic. Its long feathered tip drooped naturally, and Fei Yan, all on her own, could have a great time playing with it.

She focused on the feather’s tip and bounced around it enthusiastically, thoroughly entertained.

Few visitors came to the clinic that day. Chen Miansheng sat in the back courtyard’s pavilion reading, his peripheral vision frequently drawn to the figure of the little orange cat. His Adam’s apple bobbed slightly as his eyes landed on her hind paws, then he awkwardly shifted his gaze away.

Yes, he was still very much bothered by what he’d seen the night before.

And strangely enough, even he couldn’t quite understand why.

Whether she was a cat, a human, or perhaps a demon—why did it matter so much to him? All he had ever truly wished for was for her to stay by his side.

Yet, one sentence kept echoing in his mind.

It was from last night’s dream, a vivid and intimate one. The young woman had leaned over him and asked—

“Chen Miansheng, do you like me?”

Like?

That word was too unfamiliar to Chen Miansheng.

He had fallen ill at a very young age. Other than tending to illnesses and treating patients day after day, his world consisted only of military rites, epics, and classics.

As fate would have it, he later lost his hearing. After repeated failed treatments, no matter how unwilling he had been, he had to accept the reality and chose to settle in Dongfeng Town. Given his condition, there was never much space in his life for thoughts of romance.

But that woman in the dream had asked him—did he like her?

Chen Miansheng took a sip of Gu Wu’s warm tea, propped his head with one hand, and after thinking for a moment, turned to the attendant beside him. “Xiao Wu, have you ever liked someone?”

Gu Wu, who had just been preparing tea for him, nearly spilled the pot in shock.

Panicked, he quickly set the teapot down and took two hurried steps back before bowing deeply. “This servant is wholly devoted to serving the young master and has never dared to entertain such thoughts. I am afraid I don’t understand, why does young master suddenly ask such a thing?”

Caught off guard by Gu Wu’s dramatic reaction, Chen Miansheng paused for a moment before chuckling softly and reaching out to steady him. “Why are you so scared? It’s not like I asked something dangerous.”

He didn’t answer Gu Wu’s question directly but instead asked another: “Then do you know what it means—to like someone?”

Gu Wu looked up at him in surprise, a faint flush rising on his tanned face. Hesitantly, he gestured as he answered, “This servant has never been enamored with any woman, so I don’t know. But before entering the young master’s service, I did read a storybook that spoke of such things.”

Chen Miansheng raised an eyebrow with interest. “Oh? Let’s hear it.”

“The storybook said that liking someone means feeling happy when you see them and missing them when you don’t. You can clearly feel that they’re completely different from everyone else around you,” Gu Wu explained, clearing his throat while signing awkwardly, as if resigning himself to embarrassment.

“The story also said that if it’s true affection, it’s not about reaching marriageable age, or following parental orders or matchmakers’ words, or simply deciding to marry and then growing fond of someone. It’s because of her that the thought of marriage arises—that you want to spend your whole life with that person.”

Because of her, you begin to want marriage. Because of her, you want to spend a lifetime together.

Chen Miansheng lowered his gaze and silently repeated that sentence in his heart.

“But with family and friends too, don’t we also want to spend a lifetime together?” he said.

Gu Wu gradually relaxed a little. “That may be true, but Young Master, think about it more carefully. Spending your life with family, with friends, or with someone you love—those are all very different experiences. Surely no one would want to marry their own family or friends.”

Chen Miansheng frowned slightly.

If he followed that logic… Did he want to marry Little Orange?

If Little Orange truly wasn’t just an ordinary cat, then marrying a little demon creature wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

After all, he wouldn’t keep dreaming of those lingering, intimate dreams, wouldn’t secretly kiss her while she was asleep, and wouldn’t worry so much about the possibility of her leaving him someday.

At that same moment, Fei Yan, who had been playing with a reed stick in the medicine hall, suddenly froze. Her body gave a violent shudder.

The burning pain of changing from a cat back into human form swept through her in an instant—and this time, it was far more intense than it had ever been before.

Because it came on so suddenly, Fei Yan didn’t have time to prepare. Her round body instantly lost balance mid-air.

She crashed straight to the ground, too startled to even cry out in pain, completely panicked. Her first instinct was to frantically call out for Thirteen in her mind: “Thirteen, what the hell are you doing? It’s broad daylight right now!”

But Thirteen seemed to have totally malfunctioned, its voice repeating in her mind on a loop:

[Detecting Affection Level  between Host and Designated Target… zzzt… detecting… zzzt…]

Fei Yan, unwilling to give up, tried calling again and again—but the result was the same.

Afraid she would transform back into her human form in front of everyone—especially in front of Chen Miansheng—Fei Yan gritted her teeth and stopped wasting time questioning Thirteen. Without hesitation, she kicked off with her little cat legs and bolted out of the medicine hall.

She had no clothes on her when she returned to human form. Given what was happening now, she didn’t know how much longer she had until the transformation was completed. Her best—and only—option was to rush back to the small courtyard and put on Chen Miansheng’s clothes.

The path from Tong Yao Hall to the courtyard was already etched deeply in Fei Yan’s memory. She didn’t dare run down the main market street openly, so she endured the searing pain in her body as she darted from wall to wall through narrow alleyways, speeding toward the courtyard.

Fortunately, no other incidents occurred along the way. Using the last of her strength, Fei Yan leapt over the courtyard wall and landed inside.

She burst through the door to the inner room and rushed straight to the wardrobe. Without even checking carefully, she yanked out an inner robe. Her consciousness had already started to blur—she could no longer tell what she looked like or what she was doing.

Just before the pain finally overwhelmed her and she passed out, one single thought echoed in Fei Yan’s mind:

Tsk. I’ve been enduring this humiliation, living as a cat in this world for so long—am I really going to die before Chen Miansheng ever truly falls in love with me?

When Chen Miansheng walked back into the medicine hall, the orange figure by the reed stick was nowhere to be seen.

His brow lifted slightly. Turning his head, he saw Ah Chu busy preparing herbs for a customer. He walked over and asked, “Ah Chu, where did Little Orange go?”

Ah Chu instinctively pointed toward the reeds. “She was just over there playing with the stick… eh? Where’d the cat go?”

His face went blank for a moment. He blinked in confusion. “That’s odd. I could’ve sworn she was right there just a moment ago.”

Seeing Ah Chu’s puzzled reaction, Chen Miansheng knew he probably didn’t know where the kitten had gone either. He pointed at the herb-grinding jar on the counter and said, “No problem. You keep working—I’ll look elsewhere.”

He went around checking all the places Little Orange usually liked to stay, one by one, but couldn’t find a trace of her.

Only then did Chen Miansheng realize something was wrong. His heart sank.

After spending so much time with Little Orange, he knew her well.

She might have been lively on a normal day, but she had never once disappeared without a trace like this.

He pressed his lips together and quickened his pace. “Little Orange, where are you hiding?”

Hearing his voice, Gu Wu rushed in from the backyard. “Young Master, what are you looking for?”

“Little Orange is missing.” When Chen Miansheng said this, his expression was more frantic than ever before. “Before you came in from the back, did you see her in the medicine hall?”

Just then, Wu Gang strode in from outside the medicine hall and called out as soon as he saw Chen Miansheng, “Oh hey, Shopkeeper Chen, you’re still here?”

“Brother Wu, did you see my cat?” Chen Miansheng didn’t even register what Wu Gang had said. He grabbed his wrist tightly, his voice full of urgency.

Gone was the usual calm and composed Chen Miansheng—he gripped Wu Gang’s wrist so hard, it was unclear where that strength came from. For someone with years of chronic illness, he managed to make Wu Gang, a burly man, wince in pain. “Hiss—ouch! Shopkeeper Chen, let go first!”

Seeing this, Gu Wu hurried forward to separate them. “Young Master, don’t panic—let’s hear what Brother Wu has to say.”

Wu Gang shook his wrist, wincing. Honestly, when Chen Miansheng had grabbed him just now, it had felt like his bones might break at any second. But seeing how terrible Chen Miansheng looked, Wu Gang ignored the pain and quickly said:

“I did see Little Orange, just a moment ago, but it was only for a second. She was walking on the stone wall by the street. I don’t know where she ran off to after that.”

Gu Wu frowned. “Are you sure that cat was Little Orange?”

Wu Gang replied, “Of course. I saw the silver collar around its neck right away. Who else in this town besides Shopkeeper Chen would put such a nice collar on a cat? It was definitely the little orange cat, I’m certain I didn’t mistake it.”

Gu Wu nodded and signed the message to Chen Miansheng just as it was.

Chen Miansheng’s expression darkened, and without another word, he left the medicine hall.

Gu Wu was caught off guard and called out instinctively.

“Mast—Shopkeeper, where are you going?”

Chen Miansheng took a couple of steps and then stopped. Though he was clearly trying to suppress his emotions, Gu Wu could still see the panic etched on his face.

“Xiao Wu, go back and tell Ah Chu the medicine hall is closed today. You and Ah Chu search the north and east sides of town for Little Orange. I’ll check the other two directions. If you find anything, wait for me at the courtyard gate.”

Without waiting for Gu Wu’s response, he turned and headed west.

According to Wu Gang, the kitten had been spotted walking along a rooftop path it had never taken before. Chen Miansheng didn’t know why Little Orange had suddenly left the medicine hall on her own today, nor why she would choose such a remote route. All he could think about was finding her quickly and making sure she was safe.

But she was nowhere to be found.

In just one hour, Chen Miansheng had turned the west and south sides of town upside down, but there was still no sign of the little orange cat.

Ever since she came into his life, he hadn’t been this exhausted in a very long time.

Leaning against a rooftop edge for support, Chen Miansheng panted heavily, his body bent over in a coughing fit, as if he might cough himself to death at any second.

But he seemed completely numb to it all—only the fear rising in waves inside him remained.

He had suffered from this strange illness since childhood. When he coughed to the brink of unconsciousness, he wasn’t afraid. When the poison in his body acted up, wracking him with pain, he wasn’t afraid. Not even when his hearing failed and he lost all sound was he afraid. But now—now that he had searched nearly half of Dongfeng Town and still couldn’t find that familiar orange figure—for the first time, he truly felt the taste of fear.

Even though he had begun to suspect the little cat’s true identity, in the end, it was all just speculation.

Little Orange had never truly transformed into a human in front of him.

What if the glimpse of her at the foot of the bed during the Lantern Festival had just been an illusion? What if his little cat really was nothing more than an ordinary orange cat?

Or worse—what if she really was some kind of spirit or demon creature, and had simply left without a word, never to return? What then?

Chen Miansheng didn’t dare consider the possibility. He couldn’t afford to.

Forcing his breath to steady, he suddenly remembered Gu Wu and Ah Chu.

That’s right—maybe they had already found her. Maybe they were waiting for him at the courtyard gate even now.

He coughed several more times, hard enough to cover his mouth with his sleeve, then leaned against the wall and began making his way back toward the courtyard.

Meanwhile, as if it had just recovered from a system glitch, Thirteen finally returned to normal, and its cold mechanical voice rang out clearly in Fei Yan’s mind.

[Affection Level between Host and Designated Target has reached the threshold. Objective complete. Congratulations, host—human form restored.]

[Now issuing Task #4: Please remain by your designated target’s side. Completion reward: one Affection Point.]

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