The early spring morning was still cold. It was just after dawn, and the streets were empty, with only a few shops open along the road.
In the dim morning light, two figures—one tall and one short—entered from the street entrance.
The shorter one was a large orange cat. It looked around at the surrounding shops as it walked and spoke in a low voice, "It's just up ahead."
The young man beside the cat, surprisingly unperturbed by the paranormal phenomenon of a talking cat, nodded and followed the orange cat forward.
The young man was named Pei Shiyi, he was not human, nor a demon. He had been dead for who knows how many hundreds of years and had just risen from the grave last week. Upon awakening, he had saved a demon who was trying to commit suicide at his grave.
The demon claimed to be bankrupt and suicidal. At first, the "living antique" Pei Shiyi didn't understand what bankruptcy was. After listening to the demon's explanation, he realized—it was simply a business failure.
The demon's name was Feng Huang, one of the earliest batches to enter the human world to work. After several centuries of hard work, he had saved up enough money to open a cat café. However, being naturally bad at business, the café soon went bankrupt, leaving him with tens of thousands in debt. Unable to repay it, he even learned from humans to commit suicide.
After hearing the whole story, Pei Shiyi, to avoid further emotional torment from Feng Huang's incessant crying, casually dug up a gold nugget the size of a human head and some other treasures from his grave and bought Feng Huang's shop.
With money in hand, Feng Huang stopped wailing and even took the initiative to help Pei Shiyi establish an identity. Having lived in the human world for centuries, he had to renew his identity every few decades, so he had some connections. After pulling a few strings, Pei Shiyi got his new identity.
Thus, within less than ten hours of his resurrection, Pei Shiyi became a modern person with a household registration and identity. Feng Huang also gave him a crash course in modern human knowledge. Pei Shiyi developed a strong interest in various modern high-tech gadgets, mastering the use of a smartphone even faster than Feng Huang.
Feng Huang felt he had nothing more to teach and decisively packed his bags. Pei Shiyi sent off the grateful Feng Huang and inexplicably became the new owner of the shop.
As for why Pei Shiyi, now fully aware, decided to run the shop... well, it was because he had no money.
Most of the burial items in his grave were magical artifacts. The few pieces of gold, silver, and jade that could be converted to cash were given to Feng Huang. After all, a shop in such a location could be considered extremely valuable, and Feng Huang had saved for centuries to buy it.
Pei Shiyi had little money left, and without running the shop, he would have to find a job. But the problem was, he had no qualifications.
However, owning a shop was better than working for someone else, right?
Pei Shiyi's mood was quite good until he saw the cat café. The orange cat led him to a coffee shop.
The shop's door was tightly shut, with a sign that read "Cicada Courtyard." Though it wasn’t dusty, the lettering was peeling, clearly indicating it hadn't been maintained for a long time. The lights inside were off, and while the tables and chairs were neatly arranged, each one was covered with dust cloths. Even without entering, Pei Shiyi could smell the scent of a failed business seeping through the door.
Pei Shiyi: "..."
On this street, which was said to be very bustling, this shop stood out uniquely – uniquely shabby.
Pei Shiyi took a step back and took out a key to unlock the door. As soon as he turned on the light, a series of soft meows sounded, and two kittens cautiously poked their heads out.
The orange cat meowed twice, and the two kittens immediately ran over to snuggle with it.
The orange cat sat in front of Pei Shiyi and said, "Boss, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Yolk, male, a Jinhua cat, and currently working at this cat café as the manager. These two kittens have just started their training and have been under my care. They are now ready to receive guests."
It introduced itself very earnestly, but its big, round face and sturdy body ruined the serious atmosphere.
As a big orange cat, it lived up to its fur color. Although it wasn’t a large breed, it used its robust body to prove its talent for eating. Moreover, it had a chubby body but not a chubby head, so despite its round face, it still looked adorably handsome.
For some reason, it gave off the impression of a muscular man with a cute, delicate face.
The two kittens behind Yolk were eye-catching – they were identical tortoiseshells with snow-white paws. When they tilted their heads to look at Pei Shiyi, they gave off a mirrored effect.
Pei Shiyi nodded and extended his hand with interest: “Come here.”
Yolk was stunned for a moment, then cautiously walked over and had its head patted by Pei Shiyi.
It sat there dumbfounded, not reacting even after Pei Shiyi straightened up.
Although Pei Shiyi had a human body, he emitted a scent that was irresistible to cats. Even though he just patted its head, Yolk felt like it had eaten a bag of catnip.
Yolk took a few steps, then wobbled and collapsed at Pei Shiyi’s feet, exposing its furry belly to him and letting out a drawn-out meow.
Pei Shiyi glanced down at Yolk’s paw pads, which had stepped on the street and were still a bit dirty. His expression subtly changed, and he silently withdrew his hand.
Yolk, not getting the petting it expected, looked up in confusion, only to see Pei Shiyi already standing up.
Yolk collapsed on the ground, licking its thigh in its reclined position, feeling dejected: Could it be that my plump orange body can’t tempt the heart of the new boss? But he just patted me, didn’t he?
Pei Shiyi neatly folded his sleeves twice, revealing his well-defined wrists.
Who knows what kind of abuse this cat café suffered under its previous owner? Every corner exuded a lifeless atmosphere.
Yolk thought Pei Shiyi was about to start cleaning, so it stuck close behind him, intending to help as much as it could.
Pei Shiyi pondered for a while, but he couldn't bring himself to clean up.
So, he put his sleeves back down.
Pei Shiyi decided to skip that step.
Yolk came over expectantly, "Boss, when are we reopening?"
Pei Shiyi replied, "We need to renovate, we're short of a chef, and most importantly, we don't have any cats."
Yolk asked, "Then, how about buying them?"
Pei Shiyi smiled slightly and spread his hands, "We don't have enough money."
Hiring a chef and waitstaff required salaries, buying cats, and renovating was a considerable expense, and the pre-opening advertisement was also a hungry mouth to feed.
Pei Shiyi's human world currency wasn't enough to cover both renovation and advertisement nor enough for hiring a chef.
Both Pei Shiyi and Yolk fell into deep thought.
The two little kittens, oblivious to what was happening, tumbled into Yolk's fur, making innocent and naïve sounds, "Meow~"
Yolk nearly jumped, trembling, "But their milk powder will run out tomorrow. Milk powder and kitten food are very expensive..."
These young cat demons had hardly any cultivation. They were essentially just slightly stronger kittens, completely incomparable to a strong and healthy big cat like Yolk. They needed milk.
Pei Shiyi, who was suddenly forced to raise a family without even having started one: "..."
He originally thought that after his resurrection, he could live a good life with the burial items from his tomb. Now it seemed, as expected, that his brain wasn't functioning well just after coming back to life, to have such a naive idea.
Could he sell the cat café?
Pei Shiyi looked down and met Yolk's expectant eyes, clearly hoping he could keep the cat café going.
So, Pei Shiyi silently gave himself an answer: he couldn't.
In this human-dominated society, where certificates and education were necessary to survive, as a recently resurrected "person" from the mountains, running a cat café was his only option.
________________________
Support Me on Ko-fi
The author has something to say: Pei Shiyi's name might be a bit of a mouthful, but it's actually easy to remember. This unlucky kid is the eleventh in his family, and Shi Yi is a homophone for eleven, derived from the phrase "times change."
This is just a daily story about cats, a bit of romance, and cat-rearing. I hope everyone enjoys reading it, mua!