IGTCDCN chapter 8

The driver did not know when the cat ran away, but by that time the car had long driven far away, making it impossible to go back and look for any trace of the cat.

Li Jiaojiao felt frustrated for quite a while, and in the end, she could only helplessly give up. “Disobedient and running around at will, it deserved to become a stray cat!”

…..……

After Su Jiujiu jumped off the car, she rolled into a nearby patch of grass, trying to hide deeper so that Li Jiaojiao, who hadn’t gone far yet, wouldn’t notice her and drag her back.

Fortunately, the car quickly drove out of the residential area, and in no time, it was out of sight. Su Jiujiu waited for a while before peeking out from the grass.

By now, her body was already covered in quite a bit of dust and grass. She didn’t pay much attention to it, thinking only about getting back to the apartment building to wait for the male lead to appear, and then shamelessly clinging to him.

She’s in a bit of a ‘whatever happens, happens’ mood right now. As long as it involves working for money—oh no, I mean completing tasks to earn points—she’s bound to be a little thick-skinned. Just look around; in this world, the people who succeed are usually the thickest-skinned.

Su Jiujiu swallowed her pride, squeezed into the iron gate, avoided security and property staff, and went straight ahead toward the apartment she remembered.

This real estate project was marketed during its development as “river-view homes” and “luxury large apartments.” As soon as it opened for sale, it was snapped up.

Most of the residents are rising stars in the industry or corporate executives, meeting their commuting needs and housing aspirations, while others are property investments by some big bosses.

The apartment the male lead now lives in was resold to him by the developer as a favor to him.

Just on Su Jiujiu’s way here, she saw quite a few luxury cars. The people she passed by were either extravagantly fancy or subtly luxurious.

Even a lady walking her dog on the street had an LV shopping bag on her back, and when her little Teddy couldn’t walk anymore, she just put it into that LV bag… It wasn’t just that one dog—along the way, she saw lots of pets, including many high-end breeds, all being treated incredibly well.

Su Jiujiu: …

I don’t know what’s going on. Clearly, my own value is fine, but being stuck among this group of valuable pets, I suddenly feel like a common cat.

She continued walking forward with a heavy heart until she stopped under the familiar apartment building.

Due to the access control and the private elevator, she couldn’t go up, nor could she sneak in with others, so she had to squat in the flower bed at the entrance and wait.

She heard Li Jiaojiao say in the morning that he was going to the company today, so Tan Chen should come out, right?

Holding onto this thought, Su Jiujiu waited for two whole hours. There weren’t many people coming and going, but she still didn’t see Tan Chen’s figure.

“Grr.”

Her stomach growled.

“System, I’m so hungry. Do you think I can wait for Tan Chen?”

The system felt equally distressed: 【I don’t know.】

It hadn’t expected its host to be so miserable, and thinking about it made its guilt even stronger.

【Wuwuwu, I’m so sorry. If I hadn’t spent a huge chunk of points in advance, host, you would now have a normal human body, and even if the male lead ignored you, you could still live a good life wuwuwu…】

Instead of being like now, as a cat with no autonomy, with all hopes of survival resting on the male lead.

Su Jiujiu had already lain back and accepted this fact. She only cared about one thing now: “How many points do I need to exchange for a human body?”

【You need 5000 points.】

Perfect!

She still needs 4,600 points to reach 5,000! What kind of tragic situation is this? Su Jiujiu clenched her paws tightly—she had to get back to the male lead!

[Host, the male lead hasn’t come out yet. Maybe he doesn’t plan to go to work today. Should we go find something to eat first?]

“Good idea.” Su Jiujiu hadn’t eaten anything since morning and was now so hungry she felt like her chest was pressed against her back. “But where should I go to find something to eat?”

The system was really thoughtful: [Garbage can? The trash cans of rich people should be pretty luxurious.]

Su Jiujiu: “…”

Su Jiujiu’s claws were itching: “Show your disguise.”

A little red panda appeared in front of Su Jiujiu without her understanding and even stuck close to her: [Host, what’s wrong?]

Su Jiujiu was almost knocked over by it and immediately raised her cat paws to give it a good beating.

“Flip a damn trash can! Why don’t you go yourself!”

After she finally vented her anger, she majestically climbed out of the flower bed again and slowly walked forward.

“Let’s see if I can find a small supermarket, and charm the owner into giving me a small sausage…”

As she spoke, a boutique supermarket appeared in her view. Not many people went in, but the security guard still stood dutifully at the door, measuring temperatures.

Very well, even the supermarket here is imported, and the security personnel are just as thorough, clearly blocking her last way out.

Su Jiujiu: The days of a stray cat are too hard, she might really cry herself to death here.

Every path was blocked, so she had no choice but to circle back to the apartment building. As she wandered around… she noticed that the residents on the first floor had small gardens. The gardens weren’t planted with flowers, but with vegetables and fruits.

The most important thing was that these small gardens had wooden fences, which she could easily slip through.

…..

Su Jiujiu, who had snagged a bunch of cherry tomatoes from the garden, happily squeezed out through the fence with one still in her mouth.

After getting out, she turned her head and let out a ‘meow’ at the homeowner.

“Meow meow meow.”

Don’t worry, once I make it big, I’ll repay your cherry tomatoes tenfold.

With her belly full, her confidence was back! Chewing on a tomato, she strutted along the roadside, ready to hop back into the flowerbed.

Maybe the cat really has a loose mouth. Carelessly, the little tomato in its mouth suddenly fell and rolled all the way to the middle of the road.

Su Jiujiu hurriedly ran after it, but no matter what, she couldn’t run faster than the suddenly approaching sports car.

The wind from the luxury car ruffled her hair! The swirling dust blinded her eyes!

By the time the car’s lingering shadow disappeared, the flustered Su Jiujiu hurried to catch up, but it was already too late, too late.

The little cherry tomato that rolled into the middle of the road was crushed into mush by the sports car.

An adult’s breakdown might happen in a moment like this.

The stray cat Su Jiujiu looked at the ‘corpse’ of the tomato and let out a loud cry, sobbing like a 300-pound fat cat. 　　She twisted her body, lay on her back with all four paws in the air, and started giving up.

“Whoever wants to do this crappy task can do it!”

“I’m not going back to the real world, just let me die!”

The system panicked: [Host, you can’t just give up like this! We need to look at the bigger picture, don’t dwell on the setbacks right in front of you, the outcome is what truly matters!]

“I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna!”

Su Jiujiu lay on the ground in complete despair, giving up entirely, utterly motionless, even tilting her head and sticking out her tongue to play dead.

Just then, not far away, a child’s voice rang out: “Mom, there’s a cat over there that’s been squished!”

“Where?” The woman followed the little girl’s finger and immediately saw the silver-white cat lying motionless in the middle of the road, with spots of red blood scattered around.

“Mom, it’s so pitiful. Let’s go bury it,” the girl said.

“No!” the woman stopped her daughter. “The property management will take care of it. If you don’t go to school now, you’ll be late!”

The little girl was being led forward, but she turned her head and looked back pitifully: “But it really looks so pitiful. The driver is really bad. Can’t they see there’s a cat on the road?”

The daughter’s words struck the woman, and she instinctively looked back as well. Thinking of the sports car that had just sped recklessly past, she immediately frowned.

Although this section of the road is wide, it is still the garden under a residential building, and elderly people and children often go there for walks. The residents are driving so recklessly; today it was only a cat that got killed, but what if tomorrow it’s their own child?

The woman became increasingly worried and immediately took out her phone to take a photo of the ‘dead cat’ in the middle of the road, then sent it to the property management group.

“Today I was taking my daughter to school and saw a red sports car speeding past in the little garden, not slowing down at all. I have no idea whose cat got run over in the middle of the road. My daughter felt really sad when she saw it and even asked me who could be so heartless.”

“I also don’t know which resident could be so inconsiderate to drive without slowing down in the residential area. Today it was a cat, but what if tomorrow a child or an elderly person gets hit? Who could you even talk to then? Once a tragedy happens, can it ever be undone?”

A long post along with the ‘shocking’ on-site photos was very convincing and immediately got a lot of residents worked up.

“Oh my god, whose cat is this!”

“Exactly, every household has elderly and kids—they’re the slowest to react. Do these speeders even have any sense of public decency?”

“Everyone can probably afford a sports car, but I’ve never seen anyone just race through a residential area. Who do they think they’re looking down on?”

“@PropertyManagement, come out and check the surveillance, see who’s speeding.”

“……”

After sending that message, the woman kept following up on the situation, insisting that the property management give an explanation.
The photos of the cat being ‘squashed to death’ were spreading faster and faster.
The cause of all this trouble was now standing up from the middle of the road, sheepishly squatting down at the little flower bed under the apartment building, completely unaware that it had caused such a big misunderstanding.

…..

This morning, Tan Chen, who had taken the elevator straight down to the underground parking lot and driven the car out through another exit, was now sitting in the office.

Assistant Liu quickly arranged a new life assistant for him, who was now explaining Mr. Tan’s daily living precautions.

“This is the property management group for Mr. Tan’s current residence. There will be relevant notifications there. If there is any news, remember to follow it in a timely manner, and then remind Mr. Tan. If it’s nothing important, handle it yourself.”

“Understood.” The new assistant Lin was very composed and immediately took note of most of the instructions. Assistant Liu nodded in satisfaction, feeling that this assistant would definitely please Mr. Tan.

After explaining everything, she knocked on the door of the main office.

“Come in.”

“President Tan, the new assistant has been transferred here. He will also be in charge of your meals from now on.”

Tan Chen sat at his desk without even looking up: “Mm, noted.”

When Assistant Lin brought in the pre-ordered lunch to the small tea room at noon, Tan Chen casually said, “I still have one at home…”

He stopped halfway through the sentence, and Tan Chen almost forgot that the cat had been taken back by Li Jiaojiao earlier this morning.

This assistant was originally hired because of that cat, so now it seems like a bit of an unnecessary move. “Forget it, it’s fine.”

Assistant Lin didn’t understand why, but wisely didn’t ask further. While he was setting the table, his phone kept vibrating in his pocket.

Tan Chen glanced over: “If it’s work, go ahead and take care of it first.”

“It’s nothing serious, it should be a message from the Taosha Bay property group. This morning, someone was racing in the garden and ran over a cat to death, and some residents are complaining.”

In the past, Tan Chen wouldn’t pay attention to such trivial matters, but ever since he got that cat, even for just a day, he became a bit more sensitive to the word ‘cat.’

“What kind of cat was it?”

“From the photo, it’s an American Shorthair with white markings.”

American Shorthair with white markings?

Tan Chen’s heart skipped a beat.

Isn’t that the cat that just left his house this morning? Surely it can’t be such a coincidence.

He instinctively pressed his lips together: “Let me see.”

Assistant Lin found the photo and handed it to him. The moment Tan Chen saw the photo, he knew for sure that this was the cat!

The cat that was still lively and jumping yesterday now lay there lifelessly, with red bloodstains dotted around. This scene hit his eyes abruptly.

Didn’t Li Jiaojiao take the cat back?

What exactly is she doing that the cat ended up dying miserably on the road in just one morning!

Could it be that she just threw the cat away as soon as she left the apartment?

I have to say, his impression of Li Jiaojiao was just that bad, he almost immediately believed this reason.

Tan Chen held back his anger and said to his assistant, “Contact the property management as soon as possible and tell them not to handle the cat’s body. I’m going back to deal with it now.”

Author’s note:
Smooch!​