"Divine intervention!"
Penguin Orange was overjoyed, but the next second, its heart tightened again—because it had no idea who was at the door. What if it was Li Guanqi or Gu Ruoxue? That would spell big trouble.
Moreover, there was a high chance both women had been summoned by Liu Qingyue, who had previously vowed not to let Ji Qingyi stay at her place.
As a penguin, it hadn’t even been fifteen minutes yet, so it couldn’t answer the door. Its only option was to play dumb, continuing its adorable penguin act in hopes of slipping under the radar.
Ji Qingyi, hearing the doorbell, withdrew her feeding hand and stood up, peeling off her gloves. She glanced at the incessantly ringing door, then at the cluelessly cute penguin on the sofa, pressing her lips together in a frown as if deep in thought.
Penguin Orange breathed an internal sigh of relief but couldn’t help wondering—would she open the door or pretend nothing was happening?
But soon, its confusion only grew. Ji Qingyi walked toward the entrance, peeked through the peephole, and then slowly stepped back.
"Who the heck is it?"
Penguin Orange was dying of curiosity. Ji Qingyi’s actions only deepened the mystery.
Then, without warning, Ji Qingyi grabbed it and tucked it under her arm. Before Penguin Orange could process what was happening, she marched straight to the fridge.
Su Cheng: "…?"
With a creak, Ji Qingyi opened the fridge door, revealing a freezer packed with food, drinks, milk, and neatly arranged canned goods.
Her brows furrowed. She then opened the lower compartment, where drawers were stacked with meat, vegetables, ice cream, and other frozen items.
Penguin Orange, still clamped under her arm, suddenly had a bad feeling. Was this woman seriously about to shove it into the fridge?
Ji Qingyi eyed the absurdly small freezer, shook her head slightly, and shut the fridge. She strode into Su Cheng’s bedroom, scanned the room, then unceremoniously tossed Penguin Orange onto the bed before closing the door behind her without hesitation.
Before leaving, she paused at the entryway, then calmly opened the door.
The visitor was someone she didn’t recognize—an elderly woman.
Click—
The door swung open.
The old lady outside seemed startled. Though breathtakingly beautiful, this girl wasn’t the one she’d seen last time. Still, she didn’t pry, sensing the icy aura radiating from the young woman.
Instead, she quickly held out a plastic container, trying to hand it to Ji Qingyi with a warm smile. "You must be Su Cheng’s friend, right?"
Ji Qingyi took a step back, refusing the box. Her dark, fathomless eyes rested indifferently on the woman’s wrinkled face as she spoke coolly, "Elder, may I help you?"
"Oh, it’s nothing much. My grandson has a school sports day tomorrow, so I made extra dumplings tonight and thought I’d bring some over for Su Cheng…"
The old woman—Grandma Li—laughed awkwardly at Ji Qingyi’s frosty demeanor, lifting the container again in offering. But Ji Qingyi still didn’t take it.
"My apologies. He isn’t here at the moment. Please come back tomorrow. Goodbye."
Ji Qingyi's gaze remained aloof and indifferent, exuding an air of cold detachment as she closed the door without another word.
"What's with this rude young girl? The last one was so sweet and polite. Ah, I just don’t understand kids these days..."
Grandma Li sighed, shaking her head in disappointment.
She remembered how, not long ago, Su Cheng had walked out of the apartment holding hands with another girl. She had run into them back then.
That child had been so well-mannered, even greeting her warmly as "Grandma." But this new one didn’t even bother with a greeting before shutting her out.
Yet, behind the door, Ji Qingyi—her slender legs clad in black stockings—suddenly stiffened, her expression twisting into something complicated and dark, a shadow of gloom settling over her features.
It wasn’t that she was cold by nature. She simply didn’t know how to respond, how to interact. Her personality made her disdainful of pandering to anyone.
In short, she had no idea how to communicate with ordinary people, suffering from severe social anxiety.
But hearing those words, driven by some inexplicable impulse, she turned and reopened the door, calling out to stop Grandma Li before she could leave.
"Wait." Her low voice carried an unyielding tone.
Grandma Li paused, surprised, and turned to look at her.
………………
In the bedroom, Penguin Orange hopped around frantically, trying to reach the doorknob to peek at the visitor. But it was too short, leaving it flustered and helpless.
Since the fifteen-minute mark hadn’t passed yet, and fearing Ji Qingyi might suddenly return, it didn’t dare transform back to human form to open the door.
"Wait, the fifteen minutes are up!"
Penguin Orange glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand and instantly shifted back into human form. Su Cheng then cracked the door open slightly, eavesdropping on the conversation outside.
He recognized the voice—it was their neighbor, Grandma Li, who often dropped by with dumplings.
Relieved, he flopped onto the bed, frustration gnawing at him. His penguin form had failed to expose Ji Qingyi’s true thoughts or provoke any physical reaction from her. Instead, he’d nearly lost his composure—what a humiliation!
"What if I try cat form next...?"
A new scheme formed in Su Cheng’s mind.
It was worth a shot, but if he turned into a cat, she couldn’t possibly feed him shrimp again, right?
Raw shrimp carried parasites, and a cat’s stomach couldn’t handle that. Plus, cats were way cuter.
With that thought, he sat at the desk and scribbled a note:
"Did something happen earlier? I heard you talking cheerfully outside, saying I wasn’t home. It’d be awkward if I showed up now, so I’ve turned into a cat again. Just so you know, it doesn’t have human reasoning either."
He left the note on the table, then—poof—transformed into an orange cat. Digging out his homemade tiny shorts, he paused mid-dress, struck by a sudden worry:
What if Ji Qingyi tried to tear them off for a photo?
His oversized "bells" would be immortalized in pictures for the world to see!
The thought gave him a headache.
He needed an extra layer of "protection."
And in the future, this would also deter any handsy individuals when he was in cat form.
A permanent solution!
At this thought, he transformed back into human form, wrote five characters on his shorts, then put them on before hopping onto the bed and closing his eyes, waiting for the club president.
……………………
At the doorway, Ji Qingyi returned to the living room holding a box of dumplings, placed it on the coffee table, and then headed toward the bedroom.
She had just politely exchanged a few words with the elderly woman and bid her farewell. Though the old lady’s incessant chatter had been rather rude, Ji Qingyi didn’t dwell on it since she had come to deliver something for Su Cheng.
As for the dumplings, she accepted them as well.
However, upon opening Su Cheng’s bedroom door, she froze—because the penguin was nowhere to be seen, replaced instead by an orange tabby cat.
"Meow~"
The tabby on the bed stood up, let out a soft sound, then sat back down and extended a paw to lick it clean. The sight would have been so adorable it might have made Gu Ruoxue’s nose bleed!
Ji Qingyi glanced at the cat, then scanned the room and noticed a note on the computer desk. She walked over and instinctively picked it up to read.
After a quick look, she understood and turned back toward the tabby—only to find it had vanished.
Ji Qingyi stepped out of the room to search for the cat.
Soon, she spotted it crouched beside her food box, staring up at her with big, watery golden eyes.
"Meow~"
The tabby padded over on delicate paws, rubbing its head against her stocking-clad calf.
Just as Su Cheng was about to look up with pitiful eyes to melt her heart, Ji Qingyi swiftly pressed down her skirt to avoid any accidental exposure. Then, she bent down, grabbed the cat by the scruff, and held it at eye level.
"Seriously, even guarding against a tiny kitten?!"
Su Cheng, now held by the scruff of his neck, inwardly wept. He hadn’t even had any ulterior motives—just wanted to trigger Ji Qingyi’s maternal instincts with those sad kitten eyes…
But her reaction made it clear she didn’t believe him at all, assuming he was faking it.
Su Cheng blinked his big golden eyes, tilting his little head up at her without a word, looking like an abandoned kitten with a gaze full of grievance.
Ji Qingyi carried him to the sofa, set him down, then pulled a camera from her bag, intending to take photos of Su Cheng in this form as a keepsake.
The tabby immediately sprang up, leaping three feet high before darting back to the food box—a perfectly reasonable act for a cat drawn to seafood, though of course, it was all an act.
Ji Qingyi readied the camera, but the cat’s sudden movement forced her to scoop it up again.
"Sit still. Don’t move."
She wasn’t sure if the cat could understand, but she gave the command anyway, adjusting the focus before preparing to snap the photo.
To her surprise, the tabby actually obeyed, sitting perfectly still—something she hadn’t expected.
"Deceive when weak, feign strength when strong—mix truth with illusion. The way of the cat."
—Su Cheng
The whole point was to confuse her, making it impossible to discern the truth.
Round two of psychological warfare had begun.
Ji Qingyi gave the tabby a curious look, then raised the camera again and ordered, "Lick your paw."
This time, however, the cat remained completely unfazed, maintaining its crouched posture with an innocent demeanor, as if it hadn’t understood a thing.
Ji Qingyi narrowed her eyes slightly before her gaze finally settled on the clothing covering the lower half of the cat, a flicker of suspicion crossing her mind.
Why would this cat deliberately wear a pair of pants?
Moreover, if they were taking a photo, these pants would look utterly ridiculous—they practically stole the spotlight from the cat itself.
Slowly, she approached, gently stroked the orange cat’s little head, and then reached to remove the pants. But the next moment, she abruptly withdrew her hand, her brow furrowing in displeasure.
Because written on the pants were words—vicious, malicious words!
["Take these off and your whole family dies!"]
Ji Qingyi: "……"
But such a problem was nothing to Ji Qingyi, who held no reverence for gods or ghosts. With a cold snort, she reached out, grabbed the cat’s paw, and attempted to use it as a tool to break this "seal"!
?????
"No!"
Watching as the seal was about to backfire, the cat’s face twisted in panic. It desperately tried to retract its paw, but Ji Qingyi’s strength was far beyond what an ordinary cat could resist.
Besides, using brute force would only expose itself, wouldn’t it?
So, Ji Qingyi firmly held its paw, yanked at the homemade little shorts, and with one fierce tug, sent them flying onto the floor!
Fortunately, the curse had no effect on Su Cheng.
The unfortunate part, however, was that its little bell was now exposed.
Ji Qingyi stared blankly at the cat’s lower half for a few seconds before slowly averting her gaze. Then, raising the camera, she commanded, "Sit properly!"
"You just saw everything, and now you’re acting all high and mighty while scolding me?!"
Su Cheng was practically cursing internally, but to avoid revealing its act, it obediently sat still, allowing Ji Qingyi to take the photo while secretly plotting its next move.
Click~
Ji Qingyi snapped a picture of the cat sitting on the couch, nodded in satisfaction, and then settled back onto the sofa. She placed the cat on her lap, gently stroking its fur with deliberate slowness as she murmured, "Indeed, petting a cat’s fur brings a certain sense of comfort."
Su Cheng lounged comfortably on her thighs, breathing in her faint, elegant fragrance, basking in the tranquility. A mischievous thought crossed its mind—if it transformed into human form right now, would it be sitting on her lap or resting its head there, enjoying the legendary "lap pillow"?
But there wasn’t even fifteen minutes left. So, it decided to play along for now, amping up the cuteness to trigger her maternal instincts, hoping she’d eventually succumb to showering it with kisses and cuddles.
"Meow~ meow~ meow~"
Su Cheng put on its sweetest, most delicate meow—a sound so irresistibly charming that even Ji Qingyi stiffened for a split second.
Yet, the next moment, she regained her composure, remaining unmoved. She simply continued stroking Su Cheng’s fur, refusing to engage in any more intimate gestures.
As the fifteen-minute mark drew closer, Su Cheng grew increasingly anxious and doubled down on its adorable act. But Ji Qingyi seemed deaf to its efforts.
Is Ji Qingyi a dog person?
Does she not like cats?
No, that can’t be—she must have seen through my plan!
No one in this world can resist Cat Cheng!
Just as this thought crossed Su Cheng’s mind, with barely half a minute left, Ji Qingyi instinctively glanced at the clock. Seeing how close it was to the fifteen-minute mark, she promptly placed the cat back in the corner of the sofa.
Su Cheng’s heart skipped a beat as she immediately switched into acting mode. She scurried over to Ji Qingyi’s thigh, meowing coquettishly and rubbing her head against it, yet she still couldn’t elicit even the slightest reaction from Ji Qingyi.
In fact, Ji Qingyi even closed her eyes, as if counting down the last ten seconds in her head.
Seeing that her plan had failed, Su Cheng steeled herself for a desperate move. In the final three seconds, she leaped straight onto Ji Qingyi’s lap and settled down to sleep peacefully!
Ji Qingyi was startled and tried to shove her away, but no matter how fast she moved, she couldn’t outpace Su Cheng’s quick thinking.
With a poof and a puff of white smoke—
A human figure suddenly sat right on Ji Qingyi’s lap. The two were now extremely close, their posture undeniably intimate, yet Ji Qingyi felt no trace of tenderness in the moment.
Her beautiful eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at Su Cheng, who was now mere inches away. Flustered, she turned her head aside.
Meanwhile, Su Cheng wore an utterly bewildered expression, blinking her innocent, questioning eyes as she asked in a guileless tone, “President Ji, how did I end up sitting on your lap?”