Cat Companion for Hire, Making Money Online (70,000 Words Banked)

[Super-Sweet-Talking Lucky Cat Bottom x Top-Ranking Human Who Nearly Got Sweet-Talked Into Becoming an Embryo]

Question: How do you make money in human society?

Chen Nuo posted the question and got answers from humans themselves. Confidently, he declared that he had figured it out.

All he had to do was download a game and make his voice sound a little sweeter.

They said the most important thing in this line of work was having a sweet tongue. All he had to do was stick by the boss and keep saying nice things.

Isn’t it just sweet-talking humans? He could do that. He had experience.

Chen Nuo spent ages looking things over, then, on the recommendation of his human roommate, picked a currently popular online game.

OK, the game was fine.

He tried pitching his voice, and got his roommate’s “praise.” People had been telling him since he was little that his voice was lovely.

OK, his voice was fine too.

The game was fun, and before he knew it, Chen Nuo had become an expert. After all, a cat’s reflexes were beyond anything a human could match. It was just that his gaming-companion business wasn’t going all that smoothly.

Even so, Chen Nuo didn’t give up.

At last, after his tireless efforts, he opened a new account with a female avatar. His human roommate had told him that female gaming companions were more popular. And so, he welcomed his first customer since opening for business.

Chen Nuo secretly vowed to do his very best.

No problem, a great start!

The boss was generous.

The boss was gentle.

The boss was sending him money.

The boss... wanted to keep booking him? [Horrified]

The boss wanted to meet in person.

???

Something was wrong!

Boss, there is something very wrong with you!

*

At his best friend’s shameless, tearful pleading, Mu Jingyun agreed to find a gaming companion and become a bonded couple with him, giving his lovesick friend a chance to pursue someone. He indignantly declared that if another lovesick fool showed up around him, he hoped his friend would win a billion-dollar lottery.

OK, the gaming companion was decent.

The gaming companion was an expert player.

The gaming companion had a lovely voice.

The gaming companion was incredibly lucky.

The gaming companion... had a very good sense of boundaries. [Fuming]

Mu Jingyun watched, full of frustration, as the gaming companion called him A-Jing in front of other people, but called him Boss in private messages.

After finally managing to get the gaming companion to call him A-Jing in private too, the companion disappeared the very next day!

Mu Jingyun was heartbroken, dazed and crestfallen, and overcome with loss.

It happened to be summer vacation, and a friend left a cat in his care. Mu Jingyun thought he might be too much of a lovesick fool, maybe even a little crazy, because he kept thinking that cat looked a bit like...

*

Mu Jingyun set the cat on the desk and looked it in the eye. His tone was oddly calm, with a hint of madness beneath it. “Tell me, are you him? I’ve figured it out.”

Cat Chen Nuo immediately flattened his ears like airplane wings, eyes round with fright. “Meow? Meow-meow!” How did you know?

Mu Jingyun’s father walked by and offered a two-word verdict: “You’re nuts.”

Mu Jingyun nodded to himself, still perfectly serious, and gave an order. “I knew it. You are him. Change back.”

Cat Chen Nuo hesitated, panicked, paced back and forth, his four legs busy and his tail swishing. At last, he decided: he would change back.

!

The world lost its color, and all creation fell silent. That was what happened inside Mu Jingyun.

But on the outside, he remained as steady as a rock. Looking up at the handsome young man before him, he said evenly, “I must have been so hungry I was seeing things. There are still some cat treats at home... ham, I mean. Do you want some?”

Chen Nuo tilted his head in confusion. Hm? I eat? Could I have been so hungry I was seeing things?

Theme: Animals are humanity’s good friends