After the Orange Cat Was Mistaken for the Lion King’s Brother

Ju Rong, a human, died and was reborn as a chubby orange cat stranded on the great grasslands.

Good news: He was alive!

Bad news: He had landed right in the middle of a fight between hyenas and lions, with a dying lion cub lying beside him.

Seeing the tail swaying behind the hyena, Ju Rong had a flash of inspiration and flung a frisbee-shaped leaf nearby.

The hyena queen instinctively caught it in her mouth. "Arf... huh?"

Sure enough, hyenas were dogs too.

Then he curled his tail around a makeshift teaser wand and waved it proudly. He swung it left, and all the lions looked left. He swung it right, and they all looked right. Their movements were perfectly synchronized.

See? Lions were cats too.

They were all felines, after all.

Ju Rong raised his chin high, the tip of his tail practically pointing at the sky.

He thought he was no different from a lion!

Starting today, he would be the ruler of the grasslands too!

Cat people deserved to rule the grasslands!

Ju Rong took his first bold, strutting step, only for someone to lick his hind paw.

His whole body stiffened, his fur standing on end. He spun around to see the dying lion cub clinging desperately to his hind paw, its fuzzy head mussing up his tail fur. "Little brother..."

"Who's your little brother? Don't just go claiming we're related!" Ju Rong nearly jumped out of his skin, but then he met the cub's clear amber eyes.

They looked just like the eyes of the kitten he'd once raised.

Well, taking in a lion as his little sidekick might not be so bad...?

They were both felines, after all... right?

He planted a paw on the cub's head with an imperious air. "Call me Big Bro. I'll protect you!"

Ju Rong raised the little lion for a long, long time, until the cub had grown into a great lion. One of its paws was nearly as big as half of Ju Rong's body, and it still insisted on sleeping pressed against him, burying Ju Rong in its mane.

Ju Rong gave it some serious thought and decided that the cub needed to learn to be independent and find its own pride.

So one night, he asked another animal to deliver a letter to the cub, then strolled away with both paws behind his back, leaving only his solemn silhouette behind.

But when he opened his eyes the next morning, he came face-to-face with the cub's amber eyes. The cub had grown up, and its gleaming, metallic eyes were sharper now. It was the undisputed king of the grasslands.

But whenever it looked at Ju Rong, it still seemed like the little lion from years ago.

The little lion crouched beside him, tilting its head with an especially sweet expression. "Big brother, why are you sleeping here?"

Ju Rong wanted to steel himself, but just couldn't. His little one was far too innocent... Maybe he could let it try being independent another time?

Distracted, Ju Rong didn't notice the message torn to shreds beneath the little lion's paw, or the messenger animal trembling beside it, too scared to move.

From Ju Rong's blind spot, the little lion murmured to the messenger, "Tell the whole grassland that if anyone else takes a job like this, I won't hesitate to send them to their death."

Happy ending.

Little lion gong x orange cat shou. Both gong and shou can turn into humans.

Theme: Protecting the environment is everyone's responsibility