Ch26.1 - It Likes You Too
The moonlight spilt down like water, coincidentally illuminating the silhouette on the window.
A ghost wasn’t supposed to be fluffy and round right?
As Xu Haoming was thinking this, he saw Lu Xu open the window. The round silhouette immediately wormed its way in, emitting “meow meow” sounds nonstop as it snuck into Lu Xu’s arms.
Song Zhe got out of bed and turned on the lights. It was only then that everyone realized Lu Xu was embracing an orange cat with sleek fur. It had a rotund body shape and a round head, nestling in Lu Xu’s arms like a small child, its watery eyes moving about.
As they observed the cat, the cat observed them.
“Xu ge, is this your family’s Ba Mei?” Even Xu Haoming felt like this was a little unimaginable after asking.
One had to know that Ba Mei was a cat, not a dog. It had never come to the apartment before. It was only a small kitty cat, how could it have come all the way here?
But before he had even figured it out, Lu Xu had already given a resolute answer. “Right, this is my family’s Ba Mei.”
“Ai?” Forget about Xu Haoming, anyone who heard this would feel incredulous.
Han Tianyu scooted over and stared at Ba Mei, then couldn’t resist asking, “Why do you think it showed up at the apartment?”
Lu Xu rubbed Ba Mei’s head and softly placed it on the ground. “Probably saw me on TV at home and missed me.”
Even Song Zhe felt a little overwhelmed by this. “You mean, your cat found its way here by itself?”
Lu Xu nodded. “Mn, probably walked very far.”
Seeing that Ba Mei kept licking its legs, Lu Xu immediately stopped and said, “Come on, wash up first.”
Perhaps those words would have made sense to small children, but Ba Mei was just a cat, it would be strange if it could understand him.
However, what happened next opened Xu Haoming’s eyes to a whole new world.
When Lu Xu finished speaking and walked towards the bathroom, Ba Mei wagged its tail, its butt shaking as it followed him.
“Hm?”
The other three had the same reaction, feeling that this was very novel and strange.
Xu Haoming did not hesitate. Seeing Lu Xu bring his cat into the bathroom, he followed as well, wanting to see how this kitty was going to wash up.
He saw Ba Mei sitting obediently on the floor, tilting its head as it watched Lu Xu take down the showerhead and test the water temperature.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Ba Mei let out a “meow meow” and rubbed Lu Xu’s palm as though it understood.
Miraculous.
Xu Haoming leaned against the doorway. When he saw the water soaking into Ba Mei’s fur, he realised — cats on the internet were all slightly fat, but once they got wet they became very skinny. Only Ba Mei, when soaked, was still as round and chubby as always, and looked pretty cute.
Ba Mei’s arrival had been sudden, and after Lu Xu finished drying Ba Mei it was already getting close to midnight.
But no one felt that Ba Mei was annoying. They even felt quite happy.
Ba Mei sat on the table licking its own fur. The other three people were gathered around and watching the little kitty. They held their phones and took picture after picture of Ba Mei, and occasionally asked Lu Xu Ba Mei related questions, obviously wanting to know where such an adorable cat came from.
When Lu Xu came out of the bathroom and saw this scene, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The entire dormitory seemed to have become a cat-spectating room.
Ba Mei’s face was round and chubby, its two cheeks protruding out adorably. Even Lu Xu liked Ba Mei, so the other three’s reactions were normal.
Ba Mei was rather proud, treating everyone’s passionate attention as though it was deserved. It seemed that to anyone other than Lu Xu, Ba Mei had an air of being reserved and noble.
“Xu ge, how are you planning on dealing with Ba Mei?” The owner was filming a show yet their pet came to visit. This was probably the first time in history this has ever happened.
“I’ll wait until we wake up tomorrow to talk to Director Fan.” Lu Xu picked up Ba Mei and tossed the cat onto his bed, then urged the others to quickly go to sleep. “Hurry and rest. We have to film an MV tomorrow as well, don’t we?”
Song Zhe thought about it, then said, “Let’s set an alarm just in case we get up late.”
Ba Mei sprawled on the bed, its mouth spreading wide as it yawned, then laid its head on its front paws, quietly listening to them talk.
After Lu Xu climbed up into the bed, Ba Mei quickly rolled over to show its belly, its four legs facing the sky as it purred at Lu Xu.
Lu Xu rubbed its soft belly and said warmly, “You’ve worked hard today. Be good and sleep early.”
Ba Mei let out a “meow” of agreement and started to snore not long after.
Lu Xu looked at the sleeping ball beside him, and his heart couldn’t help but feel a little soft –– From the community hospital to here was a distance of a dozen miles. It was natural for Ba Mei to be tired after having walked all the way here.
“Silly child.”
Lu Xu said in his heart, then took out his phone to send a message to Xie An. “Ba Mei has already arrived, don’t worry.”
“Okay.”
Although he knew that Ba Mei was no ordinary cat, Xie An couldn’t help but worry after it ran out on its own. After replying to Lu Xu, he continued to be busy with his work. Ever since Lu Xu had gone on his mission, all the business in the area had basically become Xie An’s responsibility.
The higher-ups thought that Xie An working on his own would be too difficult, and had considered sending someone over, but Xie An had refused, saying that he could handle it on his own and that there was no need to expend other people’s energy.
After Xie An had collated all of the client’s information and sent it out, he glimpsed out of the corner of his eye that small yellow file under the table, and couldn’t help but reach over to pull it out.
Nowadays, all client information was in an online database, but this file was on paper. On it, written in pencil, was the date 1970-02-27, more than 50 years ago.
One look and it was obvious that this document should have been submitted a long time ago, but Xie An had put it off.
“It’s already been so many years, it can be sent immediately, it probably won’t be noticed…” Xie An thought about it, then put the file back down. He didn’t know why, but he felt a little bit unsettled.
He just hoped that the time would come soon, to prevent any unnecessary troubles.
The sunlight filtered in through the curtains and into the room. It was clear that a new day had come.
Xu Haoming groped around for his phone and opened his eyes to squint at the time, only to realise that he had woken up before the alarm. He saw that everyone else was holding and playing with their phones. He yawned as he got up and rolled out of bed to put on his slippers, sleepily walking into the bathroom.
“Eh?”
He saw a round, orange cat squatting on the toilet, its tail high in the air, obviously doing its business.
Only then did Xu Haoming remember that Lu Xu’s Ba Mei had come to the dorm yesterday. So, this cat was using the toilet?
“Meow…” Ba Mei didn’t like other people watching it do its business, and let out a couple of meows when it saw Xu Haoming enter. After it had finished, it jumped up and raised its paw to press down on the toilet flush, then landed on the ground, marching out of the bathroom with proud steps.
The entire process had been smooth beyond compare. It was clear that it wasn’t the cat’s first time using the toilet.
Xu Haoming was completely awake now. It had even remembered to flush the toilet. He immediately jumped out of the bathroom to share his discovery with everyone. “Do you know, Ba Mei knows how to use the toilet!”
Han Tianyu swiftly sat up. “My god, really?”
“Really, I saw it with my own eyes!” Xu Haoming pointed towards the bathroom, then pointed at Ba Mei, even mimicking Ba Mei’s actions from earlier as he continued to say, “Ba Mei even knows how to flush the toilet!”
Even that was possible?
Xu Haoming couldn’t help but ask Lu Xu, “Xu ge, how did you train this?”
Lu Xu glanced at Ba Mei who was sprawled on the bed, busy licking its fur. His eyes glinted with a smile. “I didn’t train, Ba Mei had no teacher.”
“Wow! As expected of my Ba Mei, so smart and so cute!”
Han Tianyu frowned at Xu Haoming when he heard those words, and said a little unhappily, “Lao Xu, what’s up with you? You’ve been babbling all cutely like a child since yesterday, my goosebumps have all risen.” He turned his head and saw the fluffy Ba Mei, and couldn’t help but soften his voice. “But our Ba Mei really is very cute and very smart!”
Song Zhe laughed softly. “You said all that about Hao Ming, but what about yourself.”
Growl…
A few of them followed the noise and saw Ba Mei pressing on its belly with its paws, watching Lu Xu with wide eyes and a pitiful look.
Xu Haoming’s heart ached when he saw this. “Is my Ba Mei hungry?”
“Mn.” Ba Mei’s appetite had always been big. After walking such a long distance last night, it should be hungry by now. “Let’s go, I’ll bring you to eat breakfast.”
There were no cats in the apartment, so naturally, there would be no cat food. Luckily, there was meat in the cafeteria, so Lu Xu prepared to take Ba Mei to the canteen.
As a result, the other three immediately said, “I can give my share of today’s meat to Ba Mei, we can’t let the little baby starve.”
Lu Xu looked at the three grown men all surrounding Ba Mei, and couldn’t help but shake his head, laughing.
The canteen was filled with a lot of trainees who had come to eat. Their eyes lit up when they saw Lu Xu enter, carrying a cat––
“Fuck, what is this? Little kitty!”
“Aaa, Xu ge, is this the Ba Mei that you mentioned on the show?”
“Gosh, this is way too cute. Can I pat it?”
Not long after, dozens of trainees had gathered around, wanting to pat Ba Mei.
Xu Lele took out his phone to take a picture with Ba Mei. The more he looked at it, the more he liked it –– Look at that perfectly round body, that silky smooth-to-the-touch fur, that soft yet squishy little belly, those chubby little legs and pink paws…
Aaaa, how can there be creatures as cute as cats in this world!!!
the Official Alien Bureau is announcing a new project! head over to beyond the outline for a fluffy, (mostly) wholesome high school story about finding yourself, with a fantasy twist. this novel is so so so cute and heartwarming and we’ve been screaming over it for weeks. we promise it’s nearly as cute as ba mei :3
first chapter will be up on monday (16th), and we’ll update weekly! hope to see you there
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Ch26.2 - It Likes You Too
“Xu ge, is this a surprise that the program team planned for you?”
It wasn’t only Xu Lele. Almost everyone who saw Ba Mei had the same thought.
After all, Lu Xu had said on the show yesterday that he only had a cat. In the end, the cat had appeared. No one could have imagined that the program team would be so humane. Sending a cat over was really too heartwarming.
“Aiya, Xu ge, your treatment is really too good.” Some were admiring and some were a little jealous, unable to help but think that for the program team to spend so much time to send the cat over, it showed just how important Lu Xu was to them.
Xu Haoming overheard them wrongly speculating, and immediately explained, “It wasn’t arranged by the production team. Our Ba Mei found its own way over in the middle of the night.”
“Found its own way, how is that possible?” Some people immediately snorted, thinking that Xu Haoming was taking them for fools. This was a cat, not a person, how could it find its way to the apartment at night?
At this moment, Fan Zeng brought his assistant and a VJ into the canteen. The assistant had told him just now that Lu Xu’s cat had come. Fan Zeng thought that this was incredible, and had to see it for himself to realise that it was true.
“Fan ge is here!” A trainee with sharp eyes saw Fan Zeng, and immediately asked in a loud voice, “Fan ge, was this cat brought here by the production team?”
“Of course not. We don’t even know where Lu Xu’s cat lives.” Fan Zeng himself was shocked. He walked over and stared at Ba Mei, then raised his head to ask Lu Xu, “It came last night?”
“Mn.” Lu Xu nodded, smiling warmly as he scratched Ba Mei’s head.
Han Tianyu couldn’t help but open his mouth to say, “Ba Mei really found its way here. It was sitting outside the balcony in the middle of the night tapping on the window. At first, we thought it was a ghost haunting, hahaha…”
Fan Zeng heard the words “ghost haunting” and felt unsettled, but he quickly focused his attention back on Ba Mei, not forgetting to ask Lu Xu, “Do you mind if your Ba Mei appears on camera?”
“As long as Ba Mei agrees.” As Ba Mei’s guardian, Lu Xu still respected his cat’s choices. Seeing that Fan Zeng was looking at Ba Mei with a smile, as though he had discovered some sort of treasure, Lu Xu asked, “Fan ge, do you think I should let Ba Mei stay for a couple of days or should I send Ba Mei home today?”
Ba Mei was pretty and cute, for Ba Mei to have run all the way here to find Lu Xu was a topic in and of itself.
The more Fan Zeng looked at Ba Mei, the cuter Ba Mei became, so he made the decision immediately. “What do you mean send Ba Mei home? It wasn’t easy for Ba Mei to have come all the way here. As long as this doesn’t affect your training, it’s okay for Ba Mei to stay and accompany you.”
“Meow…”
It was as if Ba Mei had understood, getting up when it heard those words, and rubbing the palm of Fan Zeng’s hand with its head. It was a little bit like Ba Mei was sucking up to him.
My god!
Fan Zeng didn’t know how to describe his current feelings. He was a manly 45-year-old, but his heart had completely softened when Ba Mei rubbed against him.
This cat really was too cute!
Working hard to fight the urge to rub Ba Mei’s belly, Fan Zeng clapped his hands together to get the attention of the trainees who were staring at Ba Mei. “All right, all right, you’ve looked your fill. Today and tomorrow, you have to finish shooting the MV for me, got that?”
“Got it!”
The group of trainees replied excitedly, but couldn’t help but steal a glance or two at Ba Mei –– The little kitty really was very cute, aaa.
Xu Lele still wanted a bit more time with Ba Mei but was forcibly taken away by his groupmates. “Ba Mei, stay there, we’ll go and settle our dance first, okay?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Ok ok ok.”
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“Vagjcuf, ktja’r eq klat Ojc Xjbplf?” We Ofif gfmbuclrfv tlw. Lf tjv ifoa j vffq lwqgfrrlbc pewqlcu ogbw M ab C-gjcx joafg jii.
Just when he felt that there was something amiss, his groupmate yelled at him from behind, “What are you doing? Hurry up and go practise.”
“Coming!” Xu Lele quickly replied, turning to run to his groupmates, very quickly pushing this matter to the back of his mind.
His groupmate saw that he was distracted and said to him quietly, “Do you know how hardworking the others are? I heard some people practise until midnight every day and wake up at 5 A.M. to continue practising.”
“So strong, do they not sleep? Who is this put together?”
“I don’t know, every time I enter they’re already gone. I think they’re trying to sneakily improve behind our backs…”
8:15 in the morning, the ratings of all TV programs in the nation had been calculated and released.
Although they had already made mental preparations, when they saw that ‘Birth of an Idol’ had secured first place with 3.1% in ratings, the program staff were ebullient.
The premiere had broken the record of last year’s highest variety shows ratings. This start was too good!
One had to know, it had been two years since Dongcheng TV last broke 3% in ratings for any of its programs. Very quickly, ‘Birth of an Idol’ once again appeared on the hot searches due to its ratings.
Once netizens clicked on the search, they would discover that the program page had just posted a new Weibo status.
@Birth of an Idol Official V: The premiere broke 3%, please congratulate. Posting an HD picture of Lu Xu and Ba Mei as a small service. We hope you will follow us all the way in the future. [Kiss] [Photo]
Clicking on the big photo would lead to a delicate, handsome boy holding an orange cat as he smiled. It was warm, soft and sweet, and people couldn’t help but feel their hearts being moved.
The comments below surged—
[@Preschool Rubber Handle: Aaaaaa Ba Mei is actually so cute oh my god, it feels like my heart is melting!]
[@I’ll Bet On Tomorrow With My Youth: Male god is male god, even his cat is doubly cute!]
[@Sweetheart Strawberry Icecream: @I’ll Bet On Tomorrow With My Youth This former black fan seriously, forget it.]
[@Make Money To Eat: The background seems to be of the training camp. Is this a surprise the program staff prepared specifically for Xu ge?]
The official Weibo account quickly replied to this comment—
[@Birth of an Idol Official V: No, Ba Mei came over to see its gege by itself. We were also very astonished! @Make Money To Eat: The background seems to be of the training camp. Is this a surprise the program staff prepared specifically for Xu ge?]
[@Two Leg Hairs Carried On The Shoulder: The cat came by itself to see Lu Xu? No matter what, this is too exaggerated. I originally thought the program was honest, I didn’t think they’d play this kind of hyperbole game to promote discussion. Why not say it was a surprise prepared by the program staff. It’s a little gross~~]
[@Coca Cola And Pepsi: I like Lu Xu and I think the kitty is cute, but can you not make things up like this. Even dogs may not necessarily be able to find their owners, not to mention a house cat]
[@A Sour Lemon: He obviously has skills but then used the cat to create hype, I don’t understand it at all]
…
There were many people who voiced their doubts in the comments; some even went so far as to comment on Lu Xu’s Weibo page out of spite for not living up to their expectations.
[@Daisy Blooming: Xuxu you’re really a contestant with skills, so when the program staff asks you to make things up please don’t agree, okay?]
[@Biting A Sliver Of The Moon: Compete properly and don’t be a demon. I just became a fan yesterday and don’t want to stop being a fan because of something like this ah]
[@You’re A Bald Little Baby: Using the cat to make up stories is really low. I originally came to curse you but I’ve decided to forgive you after thinking of your face. I’m begging you don’t be a demon aaaaaa]
…
Seeing that everyone was suspicious, the program staff immediately sent out a video—
[@Birth of an Idol Official V: In fact, we also didn’t believe at first that a little kitty could find its owner by itself, but the surveillance footage doesn’t lie. We specifically found some footage from several locations around the building. Everyone will understand our current feelings after watching. [Video]]
The video included several angles of surveillance footage. One could only see a little kitty cat who had wandered over carefreely from the Second Ring road all the way to Dongcheng TV, before arriving at the trainees’ apartment building.
Sometimes when it was tired it would jump onto a bus, hitching a ride for a bit, before continuing on when it was time to get off.
No one knew how this cat had pulled it off. Anyways, at ten minutes past midnight, it had successfully appeared under the trainees’ dorm and climbed up the wall to the second floor.
[@Humble Little Li Is Gambling Online: My god, you sure this isn’t some sci-fi related movie? Why do I feel like my intelligence can’t even compare to that of a cat’s?]
[@A Piece of Sweet Candy: What kind of godly little kitty is this! When I look at Lu Xu’s Ba Mei, then look at my house’s little one, I suddenly know what “someone else’s child” means]
[@I Have A Cat Today: Wah, Ba Mei is really too cute, I really want to rua once, aaa]
[@Gu Gu Ten Thousand Tomorrows: Wah, I can’t help but let my imagination go crazy, what if Ba Mei is actually some kind of peerless genius soul, with the body of a cat and the soul of a human, and then transforms into a cool heroine, ahahaha]
…
If Fan Zeng had known earlier that Ba Mei would find its way here by itself, he definitely would have known that this would bring the program some additional popularity.
As long as there was popularity there would be no problems. Speaking of which, Lu Xu really was a treasure, and Bai Mei was a mascot.
He had planned early on for the staff members to release the surveillance footage in order to dispel the doubts of netizens.
Thinking of the cute kitten, Fan Zeng couldn’t help but order his assistant. “Buy the best cat food. Prepare all kinds of snacks and cans for Ba Mei.”
When Ji Xiunian entered, he happened to hear Fan Zeng recklessly making purchases for Ba Mei. He asked curiously, “Is Ba Mei Lu Xu’s cat?”
Fan Zeng turned around to see Ji Xiunian. He smiled and nodded. “Yes.”
He immediately pulled Ji Xiunian over and recounted the happy encounter with Ba Mei before finally sighing. “How could there be such a smart cat in this world.”
As he listened to him say this, Ji Xiunian suddenly felt a touch of curiosity towards that kitten.
Seeing that it was almost time to record, Ji Xiunian immediately smiled at Fan Zeng. “Fan ge, I’m going first.”
“Go, go, you’ll have to work hard again today.”
As soon as he left the room, the F4 from before came up. He Xinghua stared at him eagerly. “Good morning Nian ge.”
“Morning.”
Ji Xiunian didn’t have the words to really describe the current situation.
The four ghosts had been following Lu Xu before, but they had changed their target the moment they learned that Ji Xiunian could see them. They had been following him since last night. They were supposed to discuss, but in the end they didn’t show up during the first half of the night, saying that they had gone to the practice room.
Ji Xiunian naturally wouldn’t have let them into his room if they had knocked on his door at such a late hour, but opening one’s eyes in the middle of the night to see them floating by the window while smiling and waving would have also been rather terrifying.
It wasn’t that they were trying to hurt their self-image; their politeness and manner in which they acted was similar to that of new trainees.
Ji Xiunian really couldn’t wrap his head around it and finally said lowly, “Tonight at 9 P.M., the storage room on the first floor. You can’t be late.”
The F4 immediately nodded their heads in agreement. “Thank you Nian ge. We were just too absorbed in practising yesterday. We definitely won’t be late today!”
Ji Xiunian nodded slightly and didn’t say anything else, just in case other people saw and felt that something strange was going on.
The F4 also didn’t push any further and merely followed him into the studio. Master Lu Xu was battling for center position in today’s recording; of course, they had to go over and cheer him on.
The stage set up in the studio was gorgeous. The staff members were hurriedly adjusting the screen’s background.
The moment Ji Xiunian entered, he saw a group of people surrounding a cat and taking pictures. The three other mentors of the program included.
Ba Mei liked Qin Kewei the most out of the three mentors. It rested in her arms, eating the dried beef Shen Chengyu was feeding it.
“Meow!” The Ba Mei who was quietly eating suddenly got up and stared in Ji Xiunian’s direction. It jumped off Qin Kewei’s lap with a dong.
“Aaaa, the little kitty isn’t meowing because it’s seen us right!”
“Right right, they say that kitties can apparently see ghosts, did we scare it?”
The F4 wouldn’t stop chattering, arguing over whether they should leave.
But Ba Mei only gave them a fleeting glance before striding over in small footsteps to Ji Xiunian’s side and rubbing itself all over his calf. When it saw Ji Xiunian, it lay down on the ground, its four paws aimed towards the ceiling, revealing its soft white belly. The round eyes watched him, and it began mewing softly and sweetly. “Meow…”
Ji Xiunian couldn’t resist squatting down and petting Ba Mei’s head. The little fellow immediately scooted over to his side, apparently in an incredibly affectionate state.
Ji Xiunian scooped up Ba Mei and only felt that somewhere in his heart had become very soft.
“Ba Mei never shows his belly in front of others.” Lu Xu jumped off the stage and walked over to Ji Xiunian, smiling casually. “Looks like it likes you too.”