A Little Thing About Turning into My Ex-Boyfriend's Cat After I Died

[Signed for publication in a simplified Chinese print edition. Check vb @Ao Wu Ao Wu Jiao Yunduo for updates.] Widower fiction / unconventional second-chance romance / sweet story about each other's first love Cool cat-owning guy x sweet catlike girl [Blurb] After breaking up, Zhu Qi fell asleep while rushing to meet a deadline and died suddenly. When she opened her eyes again, she had become an orange cat, with fur and markings that looked just like Jindou, the kitten she and her ex-boyfriend Lian Chuan had raised. Being an orange cat was much happier than being a PhD student. Every day, all she had to do was fill her soft belly, which was like an evil black hole, with food. She never had to worry about publishing in a top journal or being dismissed if she failed to get tenure again. Then, a month later, Lian Chuan appeared at her little nest, dressed in black and looking haggard. Zhu Qi bared her teeth and hissed, cursing her ex-boyfriend and his entire family without the slightest courtesy. At the sound, Lian Chuan’s furrowed brows relaxed, and a faint smile appeared on his face. He reached out and scratched her chin. “Come with me, Little Stripes.” Zhu Qi: ? Stripes. Your. Ass. She’d cursed so viciously that every cat within a kilometer had flattened its ears! A cat’s hearing is three times better than a human’s. After waking to Lian Chuan’s muffled sobs in the middle of the night, Zhu Qi jumped onto his face and shoved the paw she’d just buried in the litter box into his mouth. Zhu Qi: *angry meowing Lian Chuan, eyes brimming with tears: Did you come to comfort me, Jinbao? Zhu Qi: … Zhu Qi: Don’t! Hug! Me!!! After being woken up for the umpteenth time, Zhu Qi finally lost patience. She carried a tablet case in her mouth to Lian Chuan’s bed. She slapped the memo app open with one paw and typed four characters: “I am Zhu Qi” New line: “I’m not dead” After thinking for two seconds, Zhu Qi added one more word: “Yet” Lian Chuan: ? [Reader’s notes] 1. Cats don’t turn into humans, but a tabby cat immortal performs magic to bless the couple with a happy ending and a life together. 2. This story includes cats beating people up, writing academic papers, looking up ancient texts, and criticizing poems written by the male lead: all sound ridiculous, but aren’t entirely impossible, examples of a bad cat’s behavior. 3. Neither lead is perfect. 4. The theme is inspired by Alain Badiou’s In Praise of Love. 5. Cover lettering by @Jiu Niang San Wen Yu A 6. The four bonus chapters are arranged in chronological order: 29 (during university) - 27 (immediately after the main story) - 30 (one year after the main story) - 28 (five years after the main story) Coming soon: I’m Just a Weak Woman Whose Husband Is Dead Sunny, cheerful airhead x scheming little crybaby [Blurb] He Weixiao always considered himself a champion of the weak, a righteous man who did good deeds and lived up to his name as leader of the martial arts world. As he lay dying after falling into an ice field, the only thing he couldn’t let go of was his wife, Dai Han, who was waiting for him to come home. Although Hanhan came from the evil lands of the south, she was kind by nature, gentle and timid. She rarely even raised her voice to bargain at the market, and when someone bullied her, she never fought back. She would only come home, cling to his sleeve, and lower her eyes, whimpering like a puppy. He didn’t know how his gentle wife would survive alone in this cruel world after he was gone, or how she would face all the enemies he’d made in the martial arts world. That was why, on the first day after returning to life in another person’s body, He Weixiao seized his sword, mounted his horse, and raced home through the night. On the way, he heard that after his death, his wife had returned to the vast ice field with red-rimmed eyes and brought his body home. He also heard that when the followers of the Moon-Invasion Cult learned he was dead, they had gone in force to take revenge on the widowed Dai Han. Before he’d even been in a panicked rush for half a day, he heard that He Weixiao wasn’t dead after all, and had beaten up everyone who came to cause trouble. He Weixiao was stunned. When he finally made it home, he saw through the slightly ajar door, covered in axe and knife marks, his wife kneeling and weeping over his corpse. The corpse’s eyes were vacant, and its large hand mechanically stroked the top of her head as if comforting her. He Weixiao suddenly understood: Hanhan had turned his corpse into a corpse puppet to protect herself. Hanhan was so clever. Just as he was about to push the door open, he heard his wife suddenly sniff, straighten her slender back, and speak through gritted teeth with undisguised malice: “He Weixiao, go and turn them into bean paste for me!” “Bean!! Paste!!!” He Weixiao: …? He Weixiao: Honey, please don’t do that. You’re scaring me. Theme: Love is communism on the smallest scale.