I Didn’t See Anything
You Should Have Knocked
Lin Sifei sat on the sofa. She and Luo Ke were each wrapped in a blanket, curled up into two balls.
A sudden clap of thunder echoed outside. Luo Ke couldn’t help but tremble, pulling her blanket tighter.
Lin Sifei watched her, then shifted her body, snuggling up beside her.
With their heads touching, they spoke to each other.
After a moment, Lin Sifei turned into a cat, burrowed into Luo Ke’s blanket, and stuck out her tongue to lick her face.
Luo Ke let out a puchi laugh and scratched her fur. “Why’d you turn into a cat?”
Lin Sifei didn’t answer, simply nuzzling against her.
Luo Ke squeezed her soft paws, a smile gracing her lips. Lin Sifei’s sharp nails would pop out with a little squeeze, just like a mechanism. Luo Ke got addicted to squeezing them and even started playing with the tufts of fur between her toes.
After playing for a bit, Luo Ke noticed the fur on the bottom of her feet, then bent over and found a pair of scissors in the drawer under the coffee table. “Let me give your fur a little trim.”
Lin Sifei’s ears instantly shot up, her eyes staring at Luo Ke in terror.
Luo Ke held the scissors and pinched one of Lin Sifei’s paws.
Lin Sifei’s expression management1 completely failed as her entire cat body shrank back.
“Don’t be afraid, I’ve got a steady hand.”
Lin Sifei tried her best to calm down, but trusting her was one thing and being scared was another. She twisted her head away and buried it in Luo Ke’s chest.
Luo Ke let out another puchi laugh and rubbed her head.
Finally, after an agonizing ordeal, the last snip of the scissors fell. Lin Sifei let out a long sigh, her whole body going limp.
She pressed a paw against Luo Ke’s face, staring at her with a warning. I’ll let it slide this time on account of your mood, but just you try cutting my fur again.
Luo Ke smiled and lay down on the sofa, lifting the cat and placing her on her chest.
Lin Sifei’s cat paws couldn’t help but twitch, and her face turned red. What does Luo Ke mean by this? This is so embarrassing.
She lifted one paw to cover half her face while the other opened and closed, making the motion of treading milk2.
Luo Ke squinted, watching her evasive little eyes, and pinched the scruff of her neck. “You little pervert cat.”
Lin Sifei angrily took her paw away from her face and smacked it hard on Luo Ke’s chest. I’m obviously just a pure and shy cat, okay?
She narrowed her eyes. Fine, I’ll show you what a real little pervert cat is.
She opened her mouth and licked her through her clothes.
Luo Ke’s body trembled slightly as she gripped her neck. “Change back.”
Lin Sifei let out two proud little huffs, her chin held high. She just wouldn’t.
Luo Ke squinted, placed her on her lap, and used both hands to scratch the sides of her belly. “Gezhi gezhi.”3
A ticklish sensation shot through Lin Sifei’s waist. She opened her mouth wide, letting out a series of miao miao calls, twisting her body and wrapping all four paws tightly around Luo Ke’s hand. She was begging for mercy!
“Begging for mercy?” Luo Ke squinted at her. Lin Sifei nodded.
Only then did Luo Ke release her. “Change back.”
Lin Sifei lay there limply. The moment she saw Luo Ke’s hand move away, her body twisted like a nimble loach and, with a sou4, she shot away.
“Hey! How can you be such a sore loser?”
Lin Sifei turned her head and stuck her tongue out. This is called “all’s fair in war.”5
Luo Ke threw off her blanket and stood up. “You better not let me catch you.”
Seeing her pounce, Lin Sifei kicked off with her hind legs and fled.
This was where a cat’s advantage came out. Lin Sifei’s jumping ability was exceptional, and she easily leaped onto the top of the refrigerator.
By the time Luo Ke brought over a stool, she had already escaped again, finding another high spot.
Soon, the two had turned the house into a complete mess. Chairs were moved everywhere, the kettle was knocked over, several books had fallen from the bookshelf onto the floor, and a small rug was crumpled into a ball in the corner.
The next day, when Auntie Wu arrived at the house, this was the scene that greeted her. She jumped in fright and immediately called Luo Ke.
“Miss Luo, this is terrible! The house has been robbed!”
Luo Ke was already at the office with Lin Sifei. Hearing this, she pressed her lips together in embarrassment. “That was… Xiao Xiao did it. The cat is being mischievous now. You don’t need to touch anything, I’ll call a cleaning service to handle it. And you don’t need to make breakfast today, I forgot to tell you.”
“Oh, it’s okay, it’s okay. As long as it wasn’t a robbery.”
After hanging up, Luo Ke propped her forehead in her hand and looked helplessly at the cat sleeping soundly on the desk next to her. Yesterday, she and Lin Sifei had made a total mess of the house, and as soon as the sky had started to brighten at dawn, Lin Sifei had coaxed her into coming to the office.
She had brought Lin Sifei here thinking something was urgent, but it turned out she was just taking advantage of the empty office to go bouncing up and down6 all over the place, even finding a plastic ball to play with her.
They sat in the office with the curtains pulled open, watching the sun slowly rise outside.
Getting up, Luo Ke stood by the window. Below, traffic on the streets was gradually increasing as the sun’s rays cast an orange glow on the tall buildings.
A new day was beginning. Everything was waking from its slumber, and vitality was once again filling the earth as if it had been granted a rebirth.
Luo Ke held out her hand, watching the sunlight creep up her arm, as if nature itself was injecting this life force into her body.
Taking a deep breath, Luo Ke could hear the sound of her own heartbeat. “Xiao Xiao, thank you.”
There was no sound from behind her. She turned around and saw the cat fast asleep on the desk.
Luo Ke walked over and draped a small blanket over her.
Sitting back down at her desk, Luo Ke opened her computer and skillfully started browsing through reports.
In the morning, Zhao Min appeared in the elevator, yawning. She saw the equally exhausted Assistant Lin and patted his shoulder. “Didn’t sleep well last night?”
“The game had an update yesterday. I was grinding7 with my teammates all night.” Assistant Lin clutched his heart. “I think I’m about to have a sudden death.”8
“You came to work after not sleeping all night?!” Zhao Min was stunned. “You should probably take the day off. I’m afraid something might actually happen to you.”
“It’s fine. There’s not much going on at the company lately, so I’ll just touch fish9 and take a nap.” Assistant Lin leaned against the elevator wall and closed his eyes. “What about you? Why are you so tired too?”
“The cat I ordered arrived. It was making a racket until midnight.”
Zhao Min yawned and made herself a cup of coffee. As Assistant Lin was already sprawled out on his desk sleeping, she tidied up the documents on his desk and took them to Luo Ke’s office.
She pushed the door open and saw a figure sitting at the desk. “Ah!”
Zhao Min screamed in fright. Seeing clearly that it was Luo Ke, she let out a sigh of relief. “President Luo, when did you get here? I didn’t see you come in.”
“Don’t worry, it’s me. I came in at dawn.”
Zhao Min said, “Oh,” then asked in alarm, “It’s not that something’s wrong with the company, is it?”
“Secretary Zhao.” Luo Ke picked up a file and slapped it on the desk. “Instead of using your time to mentally supplement10 some weird scenarios, I’d prefer you go handle this document.”
“Right away, President Luo.” Zhao Min took the file and fled.
Lin Sifei was woken up by Zhao Min’s commotion. She let out a huge yawn, her eyes narrowed to a slit.
Luo Ke took out her phone for a two-shot burst11, then put it away, satisfied. “Did I wake you? Want to sleep a little longer?”
Lin Sifei smacked her lips, reached out a paw, and wrapped it around Luo Ke’s hand, squinting at her.
You just took a sneak picture, didn’t you? Even though I was half asleep, I’m very sensitive to camera lenses.
Luo Ke tried to act innocent. “I need to work. Why are you holding my hand?”
Lin Sifei refused to let go, instead using the opportunity to climb up the pole12. She craned her neck and saw the phone she was trying to hide.
Luo Ke leaned back in her chair, defeated. “You can look, but you’re not allowed to delete them.”
“Miao miao miao!” They’re my pictures, why can’t I delete them?
“I took really nice pictures of you, really.” Forced, Luo Ke used her fingerprint to unlock the phone.
Lin Sifei skeptically opened the photo album and saw two pictures of herself yawning.
She squinted at them for a moment, then slapped the desk. Hey, aren’t these pretty cute? As expected, cats look adorably cute13 no matter how you photograph them.
Lin Sifei became absorbed in admiring herself, even lying on her side and using a front paw to knead her own fur.
It wasn’t a problem until she did. The moment she kneaded, she got a shock. Lin Sifei kneaded again, then scrambled up, opened the album, and swish swish, scrolled to the very bottom.
Looking at the skinny cat she used to be, and then looking at the pictures just taken, her face was at least three circles fatter!
She reached down and felt her belly. It was all meat!
Lin Sifei counted on her fingers, thinking about all the things she’d eaten recently. It was all calories, and most importantly, she hadn’t exercised at all!
Luo Ke looked at her strangely. “What’s wrong?”
Lin Sifei took a deep breath, slapped the phone down, and looked at her. “Miao miao miao!“
Luo Ke tilted her head, confused. “What?”
Lin Sifei changed back into a person. Luo Ke immediately took off her jacket and draped it over her.
Lin Sifei looked down at her stomach. “Have I gotten fat?!”
“You look good fat.”
Lin Sifei stomped her foot in frustration. “Don’t you know that appearing on camera14 makes your face look wider? I’m doomed, I’m doomed! What am I going to do for the movie promotions? I need to lose weight.”
“Your health is the most important thing.” Deep down, Luo Ke didn’t want her to be an actress anymore. Losing weight was just too damaging to one’s body.
“You have to lose weight with me.”
Luo Ke pointed at herself. “Me?”
Lin Sifei nodded forcefully. “We’ll find a certified fitness coach so it won’t hurt our bodies, and it’ll even make us stronger. Most importantly, if I don’t have someone with me, I won’t be able to stick with it.”
Lin Sifei pouted aggrievedly.
Luo Ke looked into her big, watery eyes, and her heart softened as she agreed.
“President Luo, here’s a document.” Zhao Min suddenly pushed the door open and came in.
Lin Sifei’s eyes went wide, and with a sou, she ducked down.
Zhao Min tilted her head strangely. “President Luo, did something just fall down next to you?”
Luo Ke said, “It was just Xiao Xiao jumping down.”
“Really?” Zhao Min frowned in confusion but didn’t think much of it and strode toward the desk. “Yuan Corporation15 wants to partner with us and has proposed this plan.”
Hearing the sound of high heels getting closer, Lin Sifei anxiously pawed at Luo Ke’s leg and squeezed herself under the desk.
She was in such a hurry that she accidentally bumped her head on the desk, making a loud dong16 sound.
“What was that sound?” Zhao Min said, about to bend over.
Luo Ke shot to her feet. Zhao Min jumped, startled, and straightened up to look at her.
Luo Ke opened her mouth. “It’s Xiao Xiao, she’s playing under there. It’s nothing, you can go out for now. I’ll take a good look at this file.”
“Okay.” Full of questions, Zhao Min felt that President Luo was being a little strange, but she left anyway.
Luo Ke quickly pulled the person out from under the desk. “There are clothes for you in the break room. Hurry up and get changed.”
“Are there undies too? Which side is mine?” Lin Sifei asked in a jumble.
“In the left cabinet. Your clothes are in there too.” Luo Ke pushed her toward the break room door and pulled it open.
“Oh right, President Luo, about Yuan Corporation…” Zhao Min pushed the office door open again and stared, stunned dumbstruck, at the two people by the break room door.
Lin Sifei stared back at her, equally stunned.
Luo Ke silently took a step forward, shielding Lin Sifei behind her.
Zhao Min suddenly snapped back to reality and, with a swish, spun around. “I didn’t see anything.”
Lin Sifei, mortified, tugged at the jacket draped over her. It was too short, barely covering what needed to be covered. But any person could tell she was in neutral gear17 underneath.
“Get dressed first,” Luo Ke said, taking a deep breath before pushing her into the break room.
Closing the door, Luo Ke put her hands on her hips and looked at Zhao Min. “You should have knocked.”
Zhao Min walked out stiffly, like a robot, and closed the door behind her.
Knock knock. The door was knocked upon.
The author has something to say:
Zhao Min: I’m afraid I won’t see tomorrow’s sun.18
Luo Ke: What a coincidence, I already saw it for you today.
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