If I Were a Cat

Preorders are open, and the novel is currently updating: A Guide to Growing Things. A sweet, slice-of-life story about raising a child and growing flowers. Add it to your collection from my author page!

Jiang Xun had always been determined to get a cat that didn't cling to her, so she could come home at night, scoop it up, and curl up on the sofa with it to watch shows.

But her mother was allergic to cat hair, and her father had even declared, "Having you in this house is already adding insult to injury."

So Jiang Xun had to think long-term. She began lingering among the flowers in her neighborhood and struck up a good friendship with its stray cats.

Perhaps to repay her, the neighborhood's big orange cat actually became a matchmaker and set her up with someone, even though she'd been single her whole life.

Later, she got a boyfriend, and the big orange cat lost his dignity as a male cat.

On the very first day she met Qin Juan, Jiang Xun, who had no romantic experience whatsoever, made the first move.

Sure enough, you have to take the initiative if you want a story.

He was every bit the man she'd had her eye on.

He fed stray cats, took them to get fixed, and brought her mango pomelo sago...

In short, he was a warm, caring guy.

Or so she thought.

Qin Juan had never considered himself a kindhearted person.

Every time he fed cats, he would change his clothes and shower as soon as he got home. He would never wear any clothes that had picked up cat hair a second time.

The cold-blooded, cleanliness-obsessed capitalist learned to choose cat food, read up on cat care, and figure out which kinds of milk tea young women liked these days, all to win his girlfriend over...

At last, his efforts paid off.

But one day, when Jiang Xun said she wanted to get a cat, Qin Juan flatly refused.

"A pet would only take your attention away from me.

"It would affect my standing as your boyfriend.

"Then you wouldn't love me as much.

"So we can try another way instead. For example, you could raise me. That would be just as good."

Jiang Xun: ...?

My new novel is currently updating: A Guide to Growing Things. Add it to your collection from my author page!

It's probably a gardening story? A sweet slice-of-life romance about growing flowers and vegetables and raising a child, with a marriage-before-love setup.

Blurb:

Twenty-three-year-old Tang Zhizhi got married on a whim and woke up the next morning with a husband and a three-year-old child.

They'd met through a matchmaking arrangement. Before the wedding, Tang Zhizhi had a good impression of Song Yu. He was polite and handsome, and she figured that even if they didn't get along after marriage, just looking at his face would put her in a good mood.

On the first day of their marriage, Tang Zhizhi woke up in a huge villa with a garden and realized she'd married into a wealthy family.

Looking at the bare garden, her gardening-blogger instincts kicked in.

Whether her husband was rich didn't matter. Now that they were married, she could do whatever she wanted with the garden, right?

With Mr. Song's approval, Tang Zhizhi let loose, buying seedlings, mixing soil, and making compost to her heart's content.

Then one crisp autumn day, while she was planting strawberry seedlings in the garden, the little one watched her working hard and called out brightly, "Mom!"

Tang Zhizhi nearly had a heart attack.

You can say whatever you like, but you can't just call me Mom!

Tang Zhizhi: I'm not your mom. Your mom is in the Maldives.

The child: Waaah!

Tang Zhizhi: But you can call me Big Sis.

The child: Big Sis...?

Mr. Song, just back from a business trip: Hmm?

The garden was huge, and every day there were plenty of kitchen scraps and fallen leaves. Growing flowers and vegetables also required lots of fertilizer, so Tang Zhizhi started making compost.

Composting means putting kitchen scraps and shredded leaves together. Microorganisms break down the waste and produce organic fertilizer. The fermentation process generates heat, which kills insect eggs, germs, and weed seeds. But the center of the compost pile gets too hot for earthworms and bacteria to survive, so it needs to be turned every other day.

It was hard work, and Tang Zhizhi couldn't be bothered. Every time, she would sweet-talk the cleanliness-obsessed Song Yu into turning it for her.

One day, the two of them had an argument, and Song Yu stormed out.

After calming down, Tang Zhizhi realized she was in the wrong. She searched the whole house but couldn't find him. When she went downstairs, she saw him outside, sleeves rolled up, angrily turning the compost with a shovel.

Tang Zhizhi: ...

All right, she really was wrong. QAQ

Probably a gardening story? A sweet, everyday romance about growing flowers, falling in love, and raising a child.

Warnings: The male lead has been married before, and the child is his biological child. The female lead has also had an ex-boyfriend.

Theme: Keep at it, and you'll eventually get results.