Testing
Acting Up
Luo Ke hung up the phone, but Lin Sifei’s final words of sajiao1 were still looping in her brain. She couldn’t help but laugh; even the coffee in her hand turned sweet.
Special Assistant Lin stared at her with wide eyes, then lowered his head, his fingers typing rapidly on his phone.
【Special Assistant Lin: Finished, finished. President Luo must have stayed up so late that her mind has developed a problem; she is actually laughing right now. Do you think it might be a facial nerve disorder?】
He sent the message to Zhao Min, then couldn’t resist glancing at Luo Ke again, afraid she might suddenly roll her eyes back and faint.
【Zhao Min: What are you thinking? I think President Luo is in love [Covering mouth laughing].】
Special Assistant Lin furrowed his brows. In love? But the person on the phone was clearly a woman… Hmm?
His eyes widened. 【President Luo is a homosexual?】
Just after sending it, he shook his head and withdrew the message. 【I think you’re overthinking it.】
Although President Luo didn’t have a partner up until now, many men had pursued her in the past, and people had arranged blind dates for her. He had never heard her mention that she liked women. According to her personality, it was impossible for her to like women yet still waste time going on blind dates with men.
He convinced himself and nodded vigorously.
“What matter makes you think so seriously?”
Hearing Luo Ke’s voice, Special Assistant Lin whoosh-ed his hands behind his back and puffed out his chest. “President Luo!”
Luo Ke extended her hand. “So nervous. It seems you are gossiping about me with Zhao Min again. Give me the phone.”
Special Assistant Lin wore a bitter face. “President Luo, we didn’t chat about anything, really.”
“Give it to me now, and I might not deduct your bonus.”
Before her voice even faded, Special Assistant Lin had already placed the phone in her hand.
Luo Ke raised an eyebrow slightly. “Relax, I won’t look at your privacy.”
She picked up the phone. The screen hadn’t been exited; it was still the chat page with Zhao Min. She saw at a glance that Zhao Min guessed she was in love. Just as she was looking, the phone vibrated twice; Zhao Min’s messages came through.
【Zhao Min: Don’t withdraw it! President Luo is really in love. I saw it—that person named Lin Sifei looks truly good. Her skin is snow-white, her mouth is red and moist, and her eyes are super big. It feels like if she looks at you once, your heart will shatter.】
【Zhao Min: No wonder President Luo likes her. Who doesn’t like a xiao jiejie2?】
Special Assistant Lin looked at the phone with no love left for life3, covering his eyes unbearably. Courting death4, ah.
Luo Ke looked at the screen. Following the words, Lin Sifei’s face rose in her mind—her brows, her eyes, her lips, as well as her slender neck and fair back. Her waist was very thin; two hands could grab it exactly. And further down…
The phone vibrated again. Luo Ke snapped back to reality, realizing what she was thinking about. She rubbed her temples with some annoyance.
She glanced at the phone screen; Zhao Min was continuing to court death.
【Zhao Min: She is really beautiful. Not that ordinary kind of beauty, but the kind with great temperament and unique characteristics. I think I could [do it] too!】
Luo Ke looked at her drooling sticker, and a trace of discomfort rose from the bottom of her heart.
She pressed the voice message button and spoke coldly, “Thoughts are not upright, touching fish5 at work—don’t want this month’s bonus anymore.”
The voice message was sent. The reaction from Zhao Min’s side was flying fast; a plea for mercy voice message came immediately. Luo Ke listened to her earnest and serious self-criticism, tossed the phone back to Special Assistant Lin, and walked quickly out of the company.
She had to go back to the hotel to sleep, save up enough energy, finish things early, and go back early.
Lin Sifei, having the password, returned home happily. As soon as she entered the door, she headed straight for the bedroom upstairs and, sure enough, found that note under the bed.
Luo Ke’s handwriting was very delicate and pretty, looking quite different from her outward appearance. However, Lin Sifei knew that her heart was actually super gentle. It seemed the old teacher’s saying that the words are like the person6 still had some logic to it.
The note simply stated the country and city of the business trip, as well as the approximate return date. It exhorted her not to run around wildly and also mentioned that Zhao Min would be sent over. Every sentence was seriously marked with a round full stop, very earnest.
Lin Sifei hummed twice with satisfaction, climbed up, and dug out a small box from the deepest part of the bedside table, placing the note inside. She paused, took out the cat tag inside to look at it. On the golden tag, the character “Luo” was carved in xingshu7.
“Gold and red color scheme. Looks like she just likes this kind.” She pouted, flipped it over to look a few times, and put the cat tag back.
Standing up and looking at the empty room, Lin Sifei suddenly felt a bit unaccustomed. She checked the time; Zhao Min would probably only come to pick her up after getting off work in the afternoon. There was still a long time.
Bored, she packed her things. The phone had to be brought along, just in case. Brought one set of clothes. It seemed there was nothing else.
Lunch had been prepared by the auntie before she went out. She ate lunch and contacted the director, asking him about the casting matters. Director Chen confirmed the date with her and told her to come to the site to take a look when the time came.
Lin Sifei heard a trace of disdain in his tone. His mouth told her to come to the site, but it felt just like he was letting her look at someone else’s child.
“Director Chen, rest assured, I will definitely arrive on time.” She smiled and cut the video call.
Watching Director Chen’s face disappear before her eyes, she curled her lips. As someone walking through the back door8, Lin Sifei could very much understand Director Chen’s attitude of looking down on her. But asking her to honestly take it was too uncomfortable; cutting the video first to let him be angry was better.
Anyway, she believed that in the end, Director Chen would still be subdued by her acting skills. Even if not subdued, as long as the movie was filmed well, it was fine.
She lifted out the cat bag and checked the time. It had already exceeded seven hours. It seemed the time spent as a cat would indeed stack onto the duration of being human.
She stuffed the clothes into the bottom of the cat bag, turned into a cat, and jumped onto the sofa.
She glanced at the phone. Luo Ke hadn’t sent a message; she should still be sleeping. She left in the early hours of last night, went to the company to understand the situation, and then got on the plane. She probably didn’t rest well on the plane either.
She thought about it and didn’t send a message to her. Luo Ke was a light sleeper; she would wake up at the slightest movement. Better not disturb her catching up on sleep.
Lin Sifei recorded the rules of transformation in the phone’s notepad herself.
Human form max 12 hours. If the 12 hours are completely consumed, she will be forced to turn into a cat for 12 hours to charge. During this period, she cannot turn into a human. Even when the duration is full, she needs Luo Ke to kiss her again to work. If the 12 hours aren’t used up, she can switch at will according to her wish, and can continue charging by turning into a cat. For example, if she is human for 11 hours and turns into a cat for 3 hours, then when she turns back into a human, she can stack those three hours of duration.
She scratched her hair, saved these, and planned to send them to Luo Ke when she woke up.
Di—— The sound of the main door opening.
Lin Sifei hurriedly turned into a cat, drilled out from the pile of clothes, lay on the sofa, and looked obediently at Zhao Min.
Zhao Min closed the door, poked her head in, and saw her. A smile immediately appeared on her face. “Little kitty~”
Lin Sifei’s mouth twitched. She immediately jumped up, stepped on the back of the sofa, and hid on the cat climbing frame. Where did this pervert come from!
Zhao Min coughed awkwardly, carefully took a step forward, and extended her hand. “Xiao Xiao, do you not remember me? We even met at the company two days ago?”
Lin Sifei saw her cautious appearance and just wanted to roll her eyes at her. Know you scared the cat now, right? Don’t even pay attention to this despite having raised a cat.
She watched Zhao Min tease her for a long time, then benevolently lifted her foot, jumped back onto the sofa, and drilled into the cat bag herself.
Zhao Min opened her eyes wide in pleasant surprise. This time she finally restrained herself a bit, pretending not to care as she put the cat bag on her back.
Lin Sifei stayed in the cat bag, her paw opening the phone screen. Seeing that Luo Ke had sent a message, she happily sent the rules she discovered to her.
Luo Ke sent a [Patting Head]. 【Has Zhao Min gone to pick you up?】
【Feifei: Currently in the cat bag.】
Lin Sifei stood the phone up, stuck it against the cat bag, and filmed the road outside for her to see.
【Luo Ke: If you aren’t used to it, contact me. I’ll ask her to put you in a small room alone. It doesn’t matter if you want to turn into a human at night.】
Lin Sifei covered her mouth and laughed. Still very considerate, huh.
【I’ll go stay for one night to see first. Maybe I’ll come back tomorrow.】
Zhao Min walked to the car and took the cat bag down, placing it in the passenger seat. Lin Sifei hurriedly hid the phone, pretending nothing had happened.
Zhao Min unzipped the cat bag, leaving it up to her whether to come out or not, and started the car to drive home.
Lin Sifei chatted idly with Luo Ke for a couple of sentences, put away the phone, poked her head out, and climbed out to look out the window. Zhao Min’s home wasn’t too far from Luo Ke’s side; they arrived without driving for long, and didn’t encounter traffic jams on the road either.
“Papa, Mama, I’m back!” Zhao Min carried the cat bag, opened the door, and carefully placed it on the table.
“What did you bring back?” Father Zhao, wearing reading glasses, walked over and saw the cat poking its head out of the bag at a glance. “Aiyou, a cat.”
“It’s my boss’s cat.”
Lin Sifei came out of the cat bag, jumped onto the sofa, and sat obediently.
Father Zhao reached out and stroked her once. Lin Sifei raised her head and meow-ed, shook her ears, and didn’t run or move randomly.
Zhao Min smiled foolishly watching her dad pet the cat, and ran happily toward the kitchen. “Mama~ I’ll cook. You go pet the cat for a while.”
Mother Zhao glared at her. “I’m not doing it. The house will get covered in cat hair.”
“Aiyou, I’ll clean it up, okay? Besides, the boss only entrusted her to me because she went on a business trip. She should be sent back tomorrow. The boss is looking for someone to take care of her.”
Mother Zhao hmphed. After a while, she handed the spatula to Zhao Min, wiped her hands on her apron, and walked out.
Lin Sifei saw Mother Zhao coming over with a cold face and naturally shrank her head in cowardice.
Mother Zhao’s palm covered her head and patted it, stroking twice. “Looks quite good actually.”
“It is quite good-looking. Raised well, lots of meat too.”
Father Zhao pressed on her back twice, smiling as he made room for Mother Zhao. Mother Zhao also sat on the sofa; one on the left and one on the right, they petted the cat.
Lin Sifei’s eyes aimed at Zhao Min, seeing that she was carrying a dish out. It was hongshao paigu9. She even secretly pinched one and ate it first.
Lin Sifei immediately meowed at her. Mother Zhao turned her head and caught her red-handed, going up to slap her on the back. “Dead child10, using your hands again. The chopsticks are right there; you are dead lazy.”
Zhao Min bit the rib and hid toward the kitchen. “I took chopsticks! Don’t knock the rib off.”
Mother Zhao glared at her. “Go serve the rice.”
Zhao Min finished the rib with a grin, wiped her hands clean, and served the rice. Lin Sifei jumped onto a chair at the dining table and continued to observe them.
Father Zhao also observed her. “Wife, come look quickly. This cat knows to get on the table herself.”
Mother Zhao also laughed, reaching out to stroke her twice more. “Go, wash hands and eat.”
Zhao Min served the rice well and also opened a can of cat food for Lin Sifei.
A group of people surrounded the dining table to eat, teasing Lin Sifei from time to time. Lin Sifei saw that Father Zhao and Mother Zhao were pretty nice people, so she was willing to pretend to be an obedient cat to amuse them.
Luo Ke was a very good boss. Because there was a lot of work, she assigned herself many secretaries so that each person’s share wasn’t much, and they didn’t need to occupy off-work hours. After eating and cutting fruit, the family sat on the sofa to eat.
Father Zhao stroked the cat, saying uncontrollably, “Let’s raise one too. Let’s raise one like this too.”
Mother Zhao slapped his arm. “Raise one? Will you clean the hair? Will you feed the cat? Will you sweep and dump the shit?”
Father Zhao thought about it and deflated. Zhao Min leaned close to her dad. “Dad, we’ll do it together. We can surely raise it well.”
Mother Zhao glared at them. “You guys clean, then raise.”
Zhao Min took a bite of an apple and raised her hand. “Tomorrow I’ll go buy one back.”
Lin Sifei’s head was being petted until it bobbed up and down. She looked at them seriously and nodded. Very warm and sweet; very suitable to give Luo Ke a lesson.
Observation complete. Lin Sifei opened her mouth wide, yawned, and lay down on the sofa.
Mother Zhao noticed it at a glance, patting Zhao Min’s leg and lowering her voice. “Daughter, does this cat want to sleep?”
Zhao Min looked and saw it was true. She got up and picked up the cat. “Mom, is the small room tidied up? Our boss said this cat can’t sleep if there are people at night; she has to stay in a room alone.”
“Tidied up. You carry her in. Do I need to make a nest for her?”
“No need. Mom, you sit and watch TV; I’ll just put her on the bed.”
“Alright, go ahead.”
Lin Sifei felt herself moving, and subsequently touched the soft bed. Zhao Min pulled a corner of the quilt to cover her. “Sleeping so soundly.”
She laughed, stood on tiptoe, and walked out the door.
As soon as the door closed, Lin Sifei climbed up, realizing her cat bag was still outside. Her phone and clothes were all inside. She jumped up again, opened the door, ran over, bit the cat bag, and dragged it inside.
Zhao Min saw her and shook her head with a laugh, sending the cat bag into the room as well. “This works now, right?”
Lin Sifei leaned against the cat bag with satisfaction, lying down to sleep.
Zhao Min closed the door again. Lin Sifei jumped up from the bed, turned into a human, and fished out her phone.
She opened Luo Ke’s message box. 【Luo Ke, Luo Ke, what are you doing?】
【Luo Ke: I am looking at the materials sent by Baierluo11, looking for problems.】
Lin Sifei’s feet swung back and forth. 【Don’t sleep too late; it’s bad for the body.】
【Luo Ke: You also rest early. Are you used to staying at Zhao Min’s house?】
【Lin Sifei: Just so-so. Have to pretend to be a cat all the time, eating cat food. How can it be as comfortable as staying at home?】
【Luo Ke: Can you take care of yourself staying at home?】
【Lin Sifei: You are underestimating me too much. How can I not take care of myself?】
【Luo Ke: Is ‘not knowing how to blow-dry hair’ taking care of yourself?】
Lin Sifei gritted her teeth, making gezhigezhi sounds as if she were biting Luo Ke. 【I can learn, okay? My learning ability is very strong!】
【Luo Ke: Okay, okay. If there is anything you don’t know at home, ask me directly. I should be back very soon on my end.】
Lin Sifei pouted. 【How soon is very soon?】
【Luo Ke: At most two days.】
Lin Sifei exercised her fingers, hugging the pillow. Still two days, huh.
【Lin Sifei: Then you work hard and strive to return at an early date. I am about to go participate in the casting, just the day after tomorrow.】
【Luo Ke: I will try hard to rush over.】
The doorknob suddenly made a sound. Lin Sifei whoosh-ed into a cat, lay on the phone screen, and blocked the light.
Lin Sifei closed her eyes and pretended to sleep. Zhao Min came over to check on the cat. Seeing she was still sleeping, she stroked her head twice and went out.
Lin Sifei let out a long sigh of relief, said goodnight to Luo Ke, turned off the phone, and maintained her cat form to sleep.
The next morning, Lin Sifei returned home.
She waited for a day, but Luo Ke still wasn’t able to return; a problem had occurred over there again.
Lin Sifei could only go to the casting site alone to accompany Director Chen in casting.
Before going out, Lin Sifei specially preserved twelve hours and dressed herself up meimeida12. She put on high heels, straightened her body, and took a deep breath.
Luo Ke wasn’t here; Director Chen probably wouldn’t let her off easily. If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have provoked him last time. Acting up, ah, acting up!
She slapped her own hand and went out with a pout.
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