Cultivating Immortality by Raising a Cat (GL) Chapter 49

“A-Bai, A-Bai, wontons should be eaten while hot.” Lin Mianmian quickly walked to the cat and rabbit. With one hand, she set down the wonton bowl. With the other, she swiftly pressed down the calico cat’s paw that was holding up the little rabbit’s chin.
“…” A-Bai looked at the wonton bowl in front of her, then glanced at Lin Mianmian, who had scooped away the whole calico cat almost as fast as lightning. A-Bai gave a light hmph. “So after a few months apart, I can only crouch on the ground to eat?”
“Uh, I forgot, I forgot.” Lin Mianmian stuffed the calico cat back into the cat pouch and finally let out a breath of relief. Truly, if she did not watch for even a moment, trouble would happen. Rice Ball was usually very well-behaved, and the little animals in the courtyard came and went without Rice Ball paying them any attention. But today, she had attacked a Core Formation rabbit demon. A-Bai had always acted unpredictably. What if Rice Ball turned into an ice cat?
Lin Mianmian carried the wonton bowl back to the courtyard table. The more she thought about it, the more dangerous Rice Ball’s action just now seemed. She could not help reaching into the cat pouch and gently pinching the paw the calico had used to hold up the rabbit’s chin.
A-Bai slowly hopped onto the table and saw all of Lin Mianmian’s little actions.
“What, is my fur poisonous? It was one thing for her to snatch you away so quickly just now, but now she is rubbing your paw too? Why rub the paw?” A-Bai crouched in front of the wonton bowl and sent the transmission unhappily toward Yuan Zhaoyang, who was curled inside the cat pouch with only a cat head showing.
“Probably afraid you spent too long running wild outside and have fleas,” Yuan Zhaoyang answered carelessly. She twisted in the cat pouch, found a comfortable position, and curled up.
Lin Mianmian had many strange and out-of-place points, but in terms of personality, she was not complicated. Her joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness were all hard to hide. Yuan Zhaoyang had spent so long at her side in cat form that she could basically understand Lin Mianmian’s nature. Just now, when Lin Mianmian came over with the bowl, the nervousness she had tried so hard to hide under a calm look was obvious to Yuan Zhaoyang. Yuan knew what she was worried about.
A moment earlier, after A-Bai had scolded her, Yuan Zhaoyang had started thinking she should become a cold cat and put distance between herself and Lin Mianmian. But Lin Mianmian’s nervousness and worry made that thought scatter again. Even now, when Lin Mianmian’s hand pinching the cat paw carried a tiny bit of anger, Yuan Zhaoyang felt that deep in her heart, there was actually some strange little happiness.
And so, Yuan Zhaoyang, lazily curled in the cat pouch, seemed to find her confidence again. When answering A-Bai’s complaint, she snapped back.
“Fleas? I am such a clean rabbit! Such a clean Core Formation rabbit!” A-Bai was so angry that her three-part mouth crooked. Yuan Zhaoyang had successfully pulled her off track.
Earlier, the moment A-Bai entered, she had seized the high ground of reason and criticized Yuan Zhaoyang until Yuan almost had nothing to say. This rare feeling of success made the whole rabbit swell with pride, so for a moment, she did not realize Yuan Zhaoyang had already walked out of that retreating state.
“Eat quickly. Your wontons,” Yuan Zhaoyang transmitted flatly, without showing emotion. For some reason, she did not really want to explain Lin Mianmian’s actions to the rabbit. She always felt the rabbit would not understand. Most likely, A-Bai would again mock her for being addicted to getting petted and not cultivating properly.
Although everything A-Bai said was right, Yuan Zhaoyang still felt that the daily ties between them were a kind of warmth and beauty she did not want mocked. Even facing A-Bai, who had been with her for a hundred years, she felt unable to explain this feeling in detail. Sometimes, she even felt she should not think too deeply about it.
For now, in this moment, this was enough.
A-Bai could not feel the thousand turns in Yuan Zhaoyang’s heart at all.
Having been led off track by Yuan Zhaoyang, A-Bai finally looked at the bowl in front of her. Were those… wontons? Dough lumps?
A-Bai slowly made an ice spoon, but the spoon hovered for a long time without landing in the bowl.
After a while, the little white rabbit, who had been lowering her head to look at the wontons, raised her head and happened to meet Lin Mianmian’s eyes.
Even A-Bai, who had just mocked Lin Mianmian for petting cats all day, could not ignore such an anxious yet expectant gaze.
The little white rabbit swallowed the complaints filling her throat, and the ice spoon floating in midair fell into the bowl.
The transparent ice spoon slid through the bowl and, with some difficulty, separated two wontons that had stuck together.
A-Bai looked at Lin Mianmian, then at Yuan Zhaoyang. With a mood like marching to her death, she ate one wonton in one bite.
The wonton was not big. Even a fat rabbit could manage one bite. It had pure meat filling, not fishy, and she did not taste scallion or ginger, so scallion-ginger juice had probably been mixed in. Egg white should have been added to the filling, making the texture fairly smooth, though the chopping had been rough. Overall, the seasoning was neither good nor bad. But the wonton wrapper… was hard to describe.
The little white rabbit chewed for a long time, lifted her head, stretched her neck, swallowed twice, and finally got the thing in her mouth down. After drinking a spoonful of soup, she looked helplessly at Lin Mianmian.
“Is it… not very tasty?” Lin Mianmian smiled awkwardly. “I cannot roll the wrappers thin. When cooking them, I was afraid the meat would not be done if the time was too short, but if the time was too long… the wrapper would get a little sticky.”
The little white rabbit made a small piece of ice and wiped her mouth. Just as she was about to speak, Yuan Zhaoyang’s transmission drifted over.
It was only two simple words. “Cough, cough.”
Cough, cough? What are you coughing for? What is there to cough about? Do I look like a rabbit who says cruel things?
The little rabbit rolled her eyes at the calico cat and waved a paw at Lin Mianmian. “The filling is not bad. As for the wrapper… when you made cold noodles before, I could already tell you were not suited to kneading dough. When there is a chance, let Yuan Zhaoyang teach you a few things. The noodles she made last time were delicious, right? Study hard, and you will be able to knead dough well later.”
Yuan Zhaoyang: “…”
“Senior Sister Yuan’s cold noodles really were delicious. Springy and smooth.” Lin Mianmian nodded loyally in praise.
“They were delicious, right? Then have her make them for you again.” A-Bai was full of boldness. “She is definitely willing anyway. Tomorrow. Tomorrow, she will make you a bowl of little wontons, and you can eat while learning.”
Yuan Zhaoyang: “…”
That was right. A-Bai was not a rabbit who spoke cruelly. She was a rabbit who specialized in digging pits for cats.
Lin Mianmian: “…Isn’t Senior Sister Yuan in seclusion?”
“Seclusion? Oh. It is fine. Just wait peacefully.” A-Bai happily finished digging the pit, pushed Yuan Zhaoyang into it, and even covered it with dirt.
“You said it. You make them,” Yuan Zhaoyang transmitted, naturally a little annoyed.
A-Bai bared her teeth at the calico and transmitted, “Fine. Let her experience that her Senior Sister Yuan is actually a fool who cannot tell salt from sugar and cannot even cook wontons properly.”
Yuan Zhaoyang: “…”
“Then, you should stop eating this.” Lin Mianmian could see how forced A-Bai had been when eating the earlier wonton. Thinking of Yuan Zhaoyang’s skill, she truly admired her own courage in bringing out this bowl of wontons.
“I will make them tomorrow. Eat this bowl, and tomorrow you will have a bowl too.” How could Yuan Zhaoyang not see Lin Mianmian’s disappointment and embarrassment? She felt even more that A-Bai using hunger as an excuse to send Lin Mianmian away earlier had been far too cruel.
A-Bai looked at Lin Mianmian’s hand, already touching the edge of the wonton bowl, and felt conflicted. Yuan Zhaoyang’s cooking was wonderful, but this bowl was really…
“Not eating? Tomorrow I will have Zihui deliver it, and do not even think of sneaking one taste,” Yuan Zhaoyang said without leaving any room.
“Wait!” The little white rabbit raised a paw high and pressed Lin Mianmian’s wrist. “The filling is still quite tasty. Let me finish it.”
Lin Mianmian stared seriously.
The little white rabbit looked back with a sincere face.
“Then… just eat the filling. Leave the wrappers.” Lin Mianmian could not resist the cuteness of the rabbit she had not seen in so long and finally gave in. Speaking of it, after the rabbit got two circles fatter, she looked even cuter.
A-Bai naturally agreed and lowered her head to eat the wontons. Why were there so many? So many. There had to be twenty or thirty, right? Truly many.
Lin Mianmian watched A-Bai eat two, then looked at the sky. She turned and carried out a bowl of something, set it at the corner of the table, took the calico out of the cat pouch, and placed her beside the bowl. Stroking the cat’s fur, she said gently, “I almost forgot. This is the snack I steamed for you. Luckily, it has not cooled.”
The little white rabbit, with a lump of wonton filling in her mouth, stared blankly with puffed cheeks.
Little calico Yuan paced beside the table and did not touch the bowl.
The little white rabbit stretched her neck hard, swallowed the wonton filling, and did not even bother drinking soup to smooth it down before asking with a face full of gossip, “What is that?”
“Fish meat with the bones removed and shelled shrimp meat, chopped into paste and steamed. Then mixed with boiled, shredded chicken breast and a little steamed egg custard. A cat snack.” Lin Mianmian stroked the calico cat, her voice growing even softer. “Why are you not eating today? Aren’t you usually very good? If you do not eat now, it will not taste as good after it is reheated.”
The little white rabbit stood upright and leaned forward, looking at the strange mush in the cat bowl. Heh. Even before being reheated, it did not look tasty.
What are you looking at? Yuan Zhaoyang had not forgotten that A-Bai had just criticized Lin Mianmian’s cooking. Almost by reflex, she blocked the cat bowl.
“I now think these wontons are actually quite tasty.” Even if A-Bai was being glared at, she had to fully express her current feeling. Yes, she was that stubborn a rabbit.
Lin Mianmian: “…”
Although Yuan Zhaoyang truly did not want to eat in front of A-Bai, she could not bear to see Lin Mianmian choked speechless like that. With a sigh in her heart, she walked to the cat bowl and lowered her head.
Eating this strange mush would kill a cat, right? A-Bai watched in shock as the calico cat licked the mush in the bowl bit by bit. Very quickly, a small section of mush was missing.
“Is it good?” A-Bai could not help asking through transmission.
The calico cat raised her head and silently looked at the little white rabbit.
Just then, a yellow cat suddenly appeared on the courtyard wall and let out a loud meow.
It was called sudden because A-Bai truly felt that it appeared suddenly. It was abrupt, almost as if it had been teleported. One lonely cat appeared on the wall just like that.
“Eh, why is it you again? Fried Dough, if you cannot get down, then stop going up, all right? I have never seen a cat like you, afraid of heights every few days…” Lin Mianmian complained as if used to it, while moving a stool over to catch the cat.
A-Bai could tell the yellow cat was just an ordinary mortal-world cat, and it looked like the one often seen in Lin Mianmian’s courtyard. So she only watched Lin Mianmian walk to the courtyard wall before losing interest in the cat.
But when A-Bai turned back to keep fighting the wontons, her gaze accidentally passed Yuan Zhaoyang’s cat bowl, and she immediately noticed something wrong.
“You! Did you put the mush into your storage bag?” The little white rabbit, having discovered a great secret, puffed up so hard that all her fur nearly exploded.
Yuan Zhaoyang slowly licked the last bit of mush at the bottom of the bowl, pretending she had not heard the transmission.
“You definitely did! Half a bowl of mush, and after licking for so long, only a corner was missing. I turn my head once, and it is all gone? It definitely was not eaten! Do you do this every day?” The righteous white puffed-up rabbit pointed angrily at the cheating cat. “I knew it. With Lin Mianmian’s cooking, how could you eat three meals a day and still be alive?”
Hearing A-Bai start insulting Lin Mianmian again as she spoke, Yuan Zhaoyang could no longer keep pretending not to hear.
“Her cooking is average, but even if one ate it three meals a day, it would not kill them.” The calico cat raised her head and looked at the puffed-up rabbit with some dissatisfaction.
“Since it will not kill you, why are you not eating it?” A-Bai, once again standing on the high ground of reason, slapped one paw on the wonton bowl. “You do not eat it yourself, but you make me eat!”
“…” Yuan Zhaoyang looked at Lin Mianmian. Lin Mianmian was working hard to catch the yellow cat down from the wall.
The yellow cat crouched on the wall, quietly avoiding Lin Mianmian’s hands while pretending to tremble. It kept looking at the calico cat. Why had the signal to stop not come yet? It was still waiting to eat meat and then keep playing.
That was right. The cat with fear of heights was Yuan Zhaoyang’s new training result with Fried Dough. It was her special move when Lin Mianmian watched her eat and the food was really…
“Then you put some away too. Leave a little at the bottom. Do not take it all. When she comes back, eat a few bites,” Yuan Zhaoyang finally compromised through transmission.
“I knew you did this often. You sound so experienced.” A-Bai jabbed at Yuan Zhaoyang, glanced at Lin Mianmian’s back, and used her ice spoon to quickly poke through the wontons. With one wave of her little paw, only a pile of wonton wrappers and one piece of wonton filling were left in the bowl.
Yuan Zhaoyang: “…”
A-Bai, no longer needing to finish the wontons, let out a breath of relief. Her transmission became much lighter. “You put food away several times every day. You must have stored quite a lot, right? Does it take up space? Want me to help you throw it away?”
“No throwing,” little calico Yuan said, slowly lying down.
“No throwing?” A-Bai asked in confusion. “You do not eat it and do not throw it away. Why keep it?”
“Mm,” little calico Yuan said perfunctorily. Why keep it? She did not know either. It was only mortal-world food. First, she did not need it and it did not help cultivation. Second, many ingredients were mixed together, and no salt was added. The flavor was truly hard to describe. So when Lin Mianmian walked away, Yuan Zhaoyang would always put away most of it. Sometimes, she would also call the yellow cat over to make trouble and draw Lin Mianmian’s attention so she could put the food away.
Although she did not eat it, she had never thought of throwing it away. She had even specially cleared a space in her storage bag and made some containers to hold the food she took in.
Yuan Zhaoyang’s silence did not stop A-Bai’s interest in gossip.
The little white rabbit tilted her head, combed the fur on her ears, and thought for a moment. Inspiration struck. “Eh, don’t tell me you keep it because you see how hard she works cooking and cannot bear to waste her care?”
The calico cat lying curled on the table slowly moved her gaze away.
“Oh, I was right?” A-Bai was surprised. “I really could not tell you were this kind of cat.”
The calico tucked her tail neatly and closed her eyes, refusing to look at the noisy rabbit again.
“What are you doing? Pretending to sleep? Voice transmissions do not stop just because you close your eyes. But speaking of it, no matter how hard she works cooking, she still hopes you will eat it, right? Even if you keep all that food in a storage bag for dozens of years, that is not what she wants. You might as well throw it away earlier. Speaking of which, how long can a storage bag keep this kind of mortal food? It will not go bad, right? I usually store things for one month at most.” A-Bai rubbed her furry face and glanced at the wonton bowl in front of her. “Mm. But with her cooking, finishing it really is difficult. No wonder you put it away.”
A-Bai’s chatter reached Yuan Zhaoyang’s heart without any barrier.
For some reason, something in Yuan’s heart thudded, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
And so, as the little white rabbit spoke, she saw the calico cat in front of her get up and slap the cat bowl with one paw. The mush… came back.
A-Bai stared, dumbfounded, at Yuan Zhaoyang, who buried her head in the cat bowl.
Impressive. Someone’s cat, indeed.