The poor scholar Shen Yan rescued a male cat, Shen Jianxue, from the water.
Little did he know the cat was a spirit. The moment they reached shore, it transformed into a handsome young man, tackled him to the ground, and insisted on marrying him to repay his kindness.
Shen Yan had no interest in men.
So the cat spirit conjured up gold and silver instead.
Shen Yan's eyes lit up at once, but the cat spirit stubbornly insisted that he marry him.
Shen Yan sighed helplessly and reached out to hug the innocent, bewildered kitten. "A hug counts as getting married where I come from."
The clueless little cat spirit's ears turned scarlet, and he hurriedly nodded, believing him.
Later, the little cat spirit accompanied Shen Yan all the way to the capital for the imperial examinations. The scholar taught him how to get dressed, grilled fish for him, and took him to see the lanterns...
The cat spirit conjured silver for the scholar and looked after him when he was sick...
But the poor scholar seemed completely oblivious, treating him only as a pet cat.
After they reached the capital, they heard that the Regent was gravely ill and was offering a thousand taels of silver for the inner core of a thousand-year-old cat spirit to cure him.
Without its core, a cat spirit would die.
Shen Jianxue had never doubted Shen Yan. But after drinking the tea Shen Yan handed him, he passed out. When he woke, he was already locked in the Regent's prison.
That scholar... had betrayed him for a thousand taels!
The faithless scholar from the opera stories had turned out to be true in every word.
The Regent's sword pierced the little cat spirit's skin. He wept in pain, but the scholar who had once held him and gently comforted him never came to his rescue.
"If you... come save me, I'll forgive you."
"If you'll just come see me, I won't be mad at you anymore."
"You... I'll imprison you, you faithless scholar, on Mount Kunlun, so you can never get away from me!"
