Chu Tingwu twitched her nose.
After a whole day, she could feel her sense of smell had slightly "dulled" - not that her cat-like keen sense of smell had disappeared, but she was starting to get used to it - used to the feeling of the whole world being filled with scents, and beginning to use her sense of smell to obtain more information.
"Teacher Wang smells like ink, dust, freshly baked cake with a hint of coffee bitterness," she told the system. "Teacher Zhang smells like old fabric, wood, and a bit of newly printed paper..."
Among the three people she interacted with the most today, Aunt Mei was the most fragrant. Chu Tingwu almost blurted out like that tabby cat with flowery arms: "Aunt Mei, you smell so good."
She held back.
But she did eat an extra half bowl of dinner, savoring Aunt Mei's food aroma.
Aunt Mei must cook healthy and delicious meals, often going to the market to buy the freshest ingredients. She probably cooked fish for lunch, as there was a slight appetizing fishy smell on her fingertips, along with the fresh scent of soil.
She rode her bicycle past the river embankment, and the evening breeze carried a slight warmth, blowing flower fragrance along with it, diluting the scents of the three people in Chu Tingwu's mind. But she believed that if they met again, she would still be able to identify them by their scents.
Everyone's scent changes slightly every day, but the essential smell of those who stay in the same environment for a long time may not change for years.
[Little one, this is called pheromones. Literally speaking, it's a substance that transmits information. However, the pheromones that animals secrete are from inside to outside the body, and cats' pheromones are more obvious than humans'.]
[What you smell is the surface scent. Human pheromones have degenerated... unlike you little cats. Oh, but humans seem to like pheromones a lot, they've created a lot of related literature. I see this literary genre is called ABO-]
The system received a large amount of human creative works in 0.01 seconds.
The system fell into an eerie silence.
Chu Tingwu: "I think I've heard classmates mention it..."
[Don't mention it! No, don't look... this, that, little cats shouldn't see...]
Chu Tingwu: "..."
She wasn't that curious to begin with, and she actually knew a bit about the setting, after all, "humans have created a lot."
Both parties tacitly avoided the ABO-related topic. When the bicycle stopped at the door, Chu Tingwu instinctively turned her head to the right-
A pair of bright cat eyes appeared in the darkness, and a few seconds later, another pair appeared on the wall.
The tabby cat: "Meow."
She greeted them.
Three-Five-Five jumped down from the bicycle basket. In the darkness, the three cats silently faced each other, and then Three-Five-Five also jumped onto the wall.
Although Chu Tingwu already had a level 3 cat language skill, the cats didn't speak.
On the wall of her house, the cats treaded on the tiles. The newcomer Three-Five-Five lowered her head, while the village tabby cat silently watched her in the darkness for a long while, then swayed its tail.
Three-Five-Five went to groom the tabby cat, and the tabby cat also came over, sniffing Three-Five-Five. The two cats quietly communicated for a while. Then the big orange cat behind them came running with "meow meow meow," squeezing both of them into the courtyard - the cats came and went freely, completely ignoring that Chu Tingwu was the real owner of the yard.
They had accepted each other.
When Chu Tingwu came back after parking her bicycle, Three-Five-Five was lying on the rattan chair, fiercely scolding the big orange cat who was scratching its claws on the chair, while the tabby cat was staring at the drone in mid-air. The system carefully raised the drone a little higher.
The tabby cat: "Kitten, is that the toy you like?"
She pointed at the drone.
It moves, and it's much smarter than mice, she wanted to play with it too!
System: "Yes! But you can't play with it..."
Chu Tingwu: "You're talking in my mind, she can't hear you."
Besides, this wasn't her toy! It was clearly the system playing... Thinking of this, Chu Tingwu took out the shuttlecock that Shikuai had given her. The moment she took it out, all three cats gathered around.
The feathers of the shuttlecock probably came from several rare bird species, not directly dyed chicken feathers. It felt very smooth to the touch. Of course, it was also covered with Shikuai's "pheromones". Chu Tingwu suspected that he had nothing better to do than to chew and kick the shuttlecock.
The tabby cat pawed at it a bit, uninterested: "Only kittens like this meow."
The big orange cat also sniffed it and said, "You play with it, kitten."
Only Three-Five-Five was polite, jumping up to grab the shuttlecock with her mouth, using her eyes to signal Chu Tingwu to reach out her "paw" and snatch it, playing a parent-child game with her.
Chu Tingwu: "...No need."
Three-Five-Five then put the shuttlecock aside, shook her head and spat, seemingly trying to "spit out" the smell Shikuai had left on it.
Chu Tingwu: "=="
No need to be so disgusted, right?
She told the two village cats about finding Shikuai's family, but they didn't seem to care much... For cats who grew up eating from many households in the village, clingy and childish cats like Shikuai probably lived a different kind of life. Seeing him was like seeing Three-Five-Five who had just arrived in the village.
They lived here, and then watched other animals come and go - humans were animals too.
The system, however, noticed Chu Tingwu's curiosity about the shuttlecock and quickly found the answer: "The three types of feathers come from three different birds. These two are from Africa, and this one only appears in Congo. They are all protected species in their localities - the feathers are quite expensive on the black market, but some naturally shed feathers often appear as gifts in diplomatic occasions."
This was probably how Teacher Zhang obtained these feathers.
Chu Tingwu tossed the shuttlecock up and caught it: "Let's take it tomorrow for Shikuai to play with, and bring it back when we leave."
She wasn't a kitten, she didn't play.
But as soon as she turned her head, she somehow saw a kind of inexplicable tenderness in the drone's surrounding filming posture.
Chu Tingwu: "I just, um, want to make Shikuai realize that he can't randomly run out of the house..."
Everything has a price. Even for cats, seeking help requires paying its price... Really, she didn't play!
System: "Okay, okay, little one, throw it a couple more times?"
Chu Tingwu: "...Good night."
System: "?"
-
Two people from the "Bring Chamomile Home" team arrived, carrying an electric cat trap cage to be donated to Little Sun Hospital, as well as their own filming equipment. The girl in charge of filming got out of the car in the morning sunlight and exclaimed, "The morning air in Fallen Phoenix City is really nice."
It was probably due to the mountains and waters around, and the level of greenery was also quite high. Except for the city center, the housing prices in the surrounding areas weren't too high, very suitable for retirement.
She looked up and saw a cat passing by on a nearby low wall, so she took out her phone and took a picture of the cat.
The cat glanced at her and continued to stand on the wall, looking around. After thinking for a moment, Chamomile's camerawoman opened an audio clip she had saved. When that cat meowing sound came out, the cat on the wall turned around puzzled, tilted its head and looked at her for a while, then suddenly jumped down from the wall and ran away.
Her partner laughed: "Are you playing Little Chu's voice again?"
The camerawoman shrugged: "I played all the ones Hang Ling sent me. Most of the time these cats look at me like I'm an idiot... But I think Little Chu really has something."
Partner: "Hmm?"
Camerawoman: "If I meow myself, they wouldn't even bother to give me a look like I'm an idiot."
It shows that Chu Tingwu's imitation is really accurate.
The camerawoman opened the Fenghua APP again and clicked on Chu Tingwu's account - yesterday after returning Shikuai, she had posted another update reporting the situation, concealing Teacher Zhang's detailed information, only saying that Shikuai had returned home, and it was based on "information provided by cats".
There were followers who questioned it, but early followers could already sense that Chu Tingwu's attitude was not to explain, not to care, you can follow or not as you wish - as if this account with over 200,000 followers was really just a private daily account for recording life.
Followers who crave interaction would be dissatisfied, but some followers just liked it this way.
"'Because the streamer is the same inside and out... she doesn't even interact with us during livestreams...' Haha," the cameraman read out this comment, "Although I'd like to criticize - if we really treat Chu Tingwu as a cat - isn't that her persona? It's pretty normal for her not to interact with me."
After all, that's what cats are like.
It feels like both the streamer and fans are really getting into character - how is this not a form of mutual engagement?
As they chatted casually, they arrived at the entrance of Little Sun Hospital. The hospital opened early, and the two members of the Chami team greeted Hang Ling, who had arrived early. Before that, the camera had already started rolling.
Hang Ling: "Can I start promoting our hospital now?"
Cameraman: "You've already started. This outfit was specially made, right?"
Hang Ling: "Hehe... This anime-style shirt has prints of the cats we raise..."
As both a colleague and a senior in the field, Hang Ling usually only filmed cats and not herself, so she was a bit nervous facing such a professional camera. However, once she started talking about her work and cat-related topics, Hang Ling immediately became more natural.
After all, she really knew her stuff.
Both parties recorded some footage together, then moved from the hospital to the rescue house. They filmed the rescued cats and adopted cats, and quietly explained through Chami's lens about the previous slander of the rescue environment by Qiao Hu. Then Chu Tingwu arrived.
She was walking Three-Five-Five, carrying a drone, and a large bag of ingredients. She greeted the Chami team:
"I'm going to make cat food. Do you want to film now?"
This was arranged beforehand - to make cat food on site.
The cameraman joked: "With so many ingredients, is there some for us too?"
Chu Tingwu nodded: "Because I thought you might want to try it."
Cameraman: "Uh..."
Chu Tingwu: "Don't you want to?"
The cameraman admitted: "I do."
All cat owners who've seen your videos probably want to try it too!
It was agreed earlier that as a volunteer, Little Sun Hospital would provide Chu Tingwu with one lunch every day. However, Chu Tingwu usually made her own meals and brought cat food ingredients every day... So that lunch turned into occasional snack treats for the underage girl from Hang Ling, Lizi, and other staff members.
—And sometimes the minor would cook meals for them in return.
The college student next door was already used to Chu Tingwu borrowing the kitchen. He was waiting with a bowl, with his cat "Wang Jingjing" lying by his feet.
The cameraman filmed on the side while chatting with Chu Tingwu. After discussing the topic of adopting Three-Five-Five, she started the topic she most wanted to talk about:
"Chu Tingwu, people who've watched your livestreams know that you once had Three-Five-Five help find someone else's lost pet cat, and also helped a lost cat find its owner... You must be very good at communicating with cats. We're all curious, can this method of finding cats and people be popularized?"
Chu Tingwu: "...It depends on whether the cats are willing to cooperate."
She told them about her communication with Oreo and other cats after turning off the livestream. The Chami cameraman listened with mixed feelings, but suddenly had a thought. Before he could speak, the college student nearby interjected—
"I've been listening for a while, and simply put, smart cats can understand what you're saying and can even be sent to work, right?"
Everyone: "?"
The college student gestured: "Isn't that right? Smart cats can understand human intentions, communicate with people and translate for other cats, cooperate in actions, and can also help use their sense of smell to find lost cats... Just like Three-Five-Five. So Chu Chu, can you take a look and see if my Jingjing can do it?"
He wasn't really planning to send Wang Jingjing to work, he was just curious whether the black cat he raised was smart or stupid.
Chu Tingwu put the cat food in bowls, glanced at him, and "meowed" to communicate with Wang Jingjing for a bit.
The black cat that had been lying down suddenly got up and kicked the college student while cursing.
College student: "?"
Chu Tingwu: "I told her you were very curious about whether her intelligence was high enough to be sent to work."
She relayed the exact words.
The college student mumbled: "...Then it seems she can."
The college student put his palms together and bowed to Chu Tingwu. Under her puzzled gaze, he said: "Master, can you say a few more words to my cat? Tell her not to throw my socks everywhere, and stop scratching the sofa, and don't claw the curtains. I bought so many cat scratching posts but they're just gathering dust. Also, her claws need to be trimmed—"
This time Chu Tingwu didn't need to relay the message. Wang Jingjing lowered her head and started biting the college student's shoelaces.
Chu Tingwu: "...She understood that you want to trim her claws. She carries your socks around because you often leave them unwashed and she doesn't like the smell. As for the sofa, she just likes doing that. Anything else you want to ask?"
College student: "Thank you, Master! Can you ask if she loves me... Never mind, no need to ask that!"
He picked up the cat and nuzzled it vigorously: "You just got angry but didn't bite me, only bit my shoelaces. You must really love me!"
Although he was nuzzling the cat, for some reason, Chu Tingwu felt a chill in her heart. She seemed to have a vision of herself turning into a small cat being nuzzled by a huge person. Her hand felt itchy, wanting to hit someone.
She averted her gaze and happened to make eye contact with the smiling Chami cameraman. He seemed to have been observing for a long time, then asked: "Chu Tingwu, do you want to become a full-time content creator in the future?"
The aroma of food permeated the air. The cameraman's partner took the opportunity to taste a bite, his eyes lighting up as he nodded repeatedly.
Chu Tingwu handed the cat food to Hang Ling for distribution, only serving a bowl for Three-Five-Five herself. Then she replied somewhat helplessly:
"Actually, I'm not the one managing this account right now... It's my friend who does post-production. It should be updated frequently."
The cameraman understood: "So you share the account."
"Actually, I wanted to say that your account is developing very well right now. Most cat content creators rarely film outdoor content..." The cameraman opened his phone to show Chu Tingwu, "The few creators I follow in this category either engage in outdoor activities themselves, taking their pets mountain climbing, paragliding, or walking cats... But your approach is different from theirs. You can create trending topics with originality, so you keep making it to the homepage."
"Currently, the content on your account seems to lean more towards filming daily life," the cameraman smiled, "But I see you training cats to find cats, teaching cats on livestream, it seems like you want to do something for stray cats..."
At just fifteen years old, the young girl's ideas were somewhat naive and innocent, but she had a special quality that made people want to believe she could really achieve it — that's why these two from Chami traveled from the neighboring province, wanting to meet Chu Tingwu in person and see if she could really forge a new path.
Chu Tingwu nodded: "I know I can't help all stray cats by myself, and cats are actually all individual beings with their own desired lifestyles... So I just want to help cats and humans get along better."
They all live in the same city, so it would be good to help each other a little. Chu Tingwu happened to be able to communicate with both sides, so she wanted to do something.
Cameraman: "That's great. I suggest you also develop your video account — if your account content isn't just recording daily life, but also has some 'themed' content, your follower growth will be faster. The number of followers is also a reflection of influence, and sufficient influence will make it easier for you to achieve your goals."
This was sincere advice, and he also shared his own experience. Moreover, it seemed the Chami team wanted to help Chu Tingwu.
Hang Ling also came over and put a mouthful of food in Chu Tingwu's mouth: "Right, like our account, we focus on the theme of 'catching cats for neutering'. Although we don't have a huge following, our views are always stable. We have a fixed audience, and fans can often help out."
[Does the little one want to open a new video column? Or do themed livestreams?]
The system's attitude was completely indulgent. It was clear that no matter what Chu Tingwu wanted to do, it would agree.
Camera suggestion: "You can also set staged tasks for yourself, creating a series of videos as a theme."
Inducing fans to follow updates in a series is beneficial for solidifying the account's fan base.
Chu Tingwu nodded: "Well... I'd like to start by doing a cat census for all the stray cats in the city."
Hang Ling: "Eh...?"
Cameraman repeated: "All the stray cats... in the city?"
The college student who had been listening: "The whole city?"
Wait, is that even possible? It takes half a month for a whole club to do a census of cats on one school campus. Stray cats don't have fixed living locations, and they wouldn't cooperate... wait, if it's Chu Tingwu, would they actually cooperate!?
Chu Tingwu thought for a moment: "I'm going to Jin City for school in September, so I'll get it done during the summer vacation."
Thinking about it this way, her summer vacation would be quite busy and fulfilling—
She had to volunteer at Little Sun Hospital for half a month, occasionally be an external helper, go to Teacher Zhang's house for Russian lessons, and do a cat census for the entire city.
If the system hadn't taken on the task of editing videos, she wouldn't have time to edit them herself.
But upon discovering there were things to do, Chu Tingwu felt inexplicably happy. She smiled gratefully at the camerawoman and then asked, "Aren't you going to eat?"
The camerawoman turned her head: "?"
"Ah ah ah, leave some cat food for me, why are you starting to lick the bowl—"
"You've been talking all this time and I didn't see you wanting to eat, wait, that's for the cats!"
The "cat census" wasn't just a whim of Chu Tingwu's, but something she felt she could actually do after evaluation.
Two incidents of lost cats made Chu Tingwu think that it would be good if cats had their own ID cards or name tags, but in reality, some pet cats do have them—
Pet name tags usually have the owner's phone number and information, as well as the pet's name, and some pet collars even have GPS tracking.
However, most lost pet cats are those that left home without wearing their collars.
Stray cats are even less likely to have owners, but if there was a systematic process to conduct a census of stray cats...
Chu Tingwu: "Can we make an APP specifically for photographing and finding cats?"
The system, of course, had a solution: "If we don't rely on invading surveillance systems, then we must have a large number of users actively taking and uploading photos of stray cats... I can optimize the APP's cat image recognition to improve accuracy, but the photos have to come from people themselves."
The person and the system discussed for a while and quickly decided on the APP's basic functions—
The main function would be to take photos of cats and match them online. If the photo database has data and photos of that cat, a successful match would indicate that the cat has been found.
Therefore, the APP needs a large number of users to actively upload photos of stray cats.
People looking for cats can take photos and match directly, and if not found, they can also upload a reward request for help.
"I feel it's quite... childish..." Chu Tingwu smiled, pursing her lips, "Many people probably won't believe this APP is actually useful, so I need to conduct the citywide cat census first."
It's both a video theme and a proof of concept.
The system loudly said: "It's not childish!"
"How is doing something that makes you happy childish? Other kitties would be so jealous!"
Oreo, who was considered one of the "other kitties" by the system, was chasing Xiaomei in circles. Xiaomei was leading him on a merry chase around the room with just her tail, fur flying everywhere. They seemed to be doing what made them happy too... extremely happy.
Lizi: "Oreo, how did you knock over the water bowl again! You little rascal, you're going to be the death of me!"
Oreo: "Meow?"
Chu Tingwu told Hang Ling and the others about her idea for the APP. Hang Ling couldn't help but exclaim: "Chu Chu... your ability to take action is so strong."
As soon as she made a decision, she thought of how to execute it. With this kind of drive, what couldn't she succeed at?
Chu Tingwu found it strange: she usually doesn't have many thoughts of procrastination. Of course, it might also be because when living with her great-grandmother, her great-grandmother often let her decide what to do and how to complete it... Since it's all her own business, isn't it normal to complete it immediately?
The camerawoman, listening on the side, proposed a new idea: "Chu Chu, why don't we provide a few street cameras, and then, promote it among the cats, letting them come and take photos themselves?"
This idea suddenly popped into her head — but thinking about it, it's normal. Chu Tingwu can communicate with cats, so why not make good use of this language advantage?
You can't install cameras in public areas yourself, unless approved by the public security system, but if someone is nearby, in the name of photography, staying for a day and a night is not impossible.
Everyone discussed for a while and found that they could find volunteers or...
College student: "I can ask my classmates to help you watch. If they don't need to operate the camera themselves, 20 yuan per hour should be fine... negotiate it down to 15 and it's possible."
Well, find cheap college students.
Chu Tingwu: "Then tomorrow I'll... have my friend make a test version of the APP, and then I'll do a live stream tomorrow. I have to make up classes tonight, so I'm leaving now. Goodbye everyone."
She only spent half a day there every day, generally without any special work, just playing with cats.
Hang Ling murmured: "Chu Chu's friend, is their alias Doraemon?"
How come they seem to be able to do everything, and so fast too? Where can you find such friends? She wants one too.
The two from the "Tea Cat Home" team originally planned to stay here for only two days, intending to catch the train tomorrow night. But because of Chu Tingwu's new idea, the camerawoman bought new tickets for herself and her partner, deciding to stay for two more days—
They were quite interested in seeing this cat census, although they'd probably only be able to see the beginning on site.
The partner was curious: "Did you have something else you wanted to say just now?"
The camerawoman whispered: "I originally hadn't thought about her doing a cat census... I was thinking of having this child try live streaming pet communication."
Her idea coincidentally aligned with Teacher Wang's idea from yesterday: being able to speak cat language, why not try pet communication?
"And then," the camerawoman pondered, "if Chu Chu can really do it, I want to send Long Zai over."
The partner realized: "Ah, Long Zai..."
Long Zai is a cat rescued by the "Tea Cat Home" team, a large tabby orange cat.
This cat is very special. It seems to have been trained by its previous owner and can understand commands well, including sit, shake hands, circle, get on the platform, etc., but it ran away from home on its own.
Not only that, Long Zai seems to have an extra "work drive". People in the team found that when it clings to people, it's often not for play, but to receive work-related commands — there are actually police cats in China, but they are very few in number and difficult to train. The team suspects that Long Zai received such training but didn't pass... or the training wasn't formal.
If there was a cat that could help humans communicate with trapped cats and carry out rescue work without Chu Tingwu's accompaniment, apart from Three-Five-Five by Chu Tingwu's side, the two from the camera team had the most confidence in Long Zai.
The team's goodwill towards Chu Tingwu was also because they thought they might need to seek her help, so they were giving roses first.
The camerawoman nodded: "Let's observe for two more days."
While they were chatting, Chu Tingwu had already arrived at Teacher Zhang's villa.
She could smell the aroma of fried shrimp even through the door. Sure enough, as soon as she reached the door, Chu Tingwu was welcomed in by Aunt Mei, then led to the table. There was a small shrimp in Teacher Zhang's bowl, while on Chu Tingwu's plate was a large serving of steaming hot fried shrimp.
Teacher Zhang was holding his small bowl, eyes closed, smelling the aroma in the air, while on the other side, Shikuai had already started to eat heartily.
Aunt Mei: "I made a bit according to the recipe you gave me yesterday. The ones prepared for the cats are all pan-fried, but you young people like fried food, don't you? Come and try it, it should be just the right temperature now, not too hot."
She brought over the new cat bowl she had prepared for Three-Five-Five and placed it next to Shikuai, who was eating intently.
Shikuai looked up: "Aren't you going to eat? Or do you want to eat from my bowl, meow?"
He hesitated, then pushed his bowl half a centimeter towards Three-Five-Five.
Three-Five-Five: "..."
The cat mom also lowered her head and began to eat from her own large bowl, gracefully yet quickly.
Teacher Zhang at the table eagerly listened to Chu Tingwu eating: "Did anything interesting happen today?"
Chu Tingwu told her about the app and the cat census. Teacher Zhang was very interested: "I have quite a few students, some of whom are now university professors themselves. If you can't find enough people, can I recommend their students to help?"
Chu Tingwu: "University students do seem very cheap..."
Although she hadn't been to university herself, why did everyone around her tell her this?
Teacher Zhang shook her head: "Not for work, but as volunteers. How could we let you pay? Just go through the application process, and if they can get course credits, that would be fine."
They would be extremely grateful.
So course credits were the universal currency unique to universities? Chu Tingwu silently added this to her impression and understanding of universities.
In her mind, the system also quietly added "Human university students seem very cheap, and can be hired using a universal currency that's only useful in universities" to its memo.
After Chu Tingwu finished eating, Teacher Zhang didn't take out any books. She just asked Chu Tingwu to take out the notebook she had brought, then had Mei play some music.
Shikuai meowed once, jumped onto the chair, and curled himself into a ball:
"Kitten, kitten, it's bedtime meow."
Chu Tingwu & Three-Five-Five: "..."
Teacher Zhang smiled: "Come, let's use song lyrics as our lesson plan."
Teacher Zhang's teaching method was different from the normal approach—
For her, the languages she was most proficient in were already as familiar as her mother tongue. She believed that language itself was more about speaking than reading, and reading was more important than writing, so she wanted to teach Chu Tingwu how to "listen" first.
"You can teach me cat language this way too," she said, "After all, I can't see now, so I can only rely on listening."
Teacher Zhang had a collection of classic Russian old songs. She sat on the sofa with Chu Tingwu, each holding their own cat. They would listen to a song together once, then start from the first line, teaching Chu Tingwu how to sing it.
Chu Tingwu: "Hmm..."
Teacher Zhang: "Don't be afraid to speak up. Learning a language is about learning to open your mouth. Be more confident, I won't laugh at you."
So Chu Tingwu sang a line, and Mei, who was ironing shirts nearby, couldn't help but praise: "It sounds quite good, and very similar. The pitch is spot on."
As similar as the original singer? Could this child have a talent for mimicry?
Teacher Zhang nodded and sang a line herself.
Chu Tingwu understood why she said she wouldn't laugh at her.
Mei silently turned her head, expertly pretending she hadn't heard anything.
Teacher Zhang, completely unaware that her singing was a bit off-key, explained the meaning of each word to Chu Tingwu, slowly wrote the lyrics in the notebook, and let her new student add phonetic notation herself, then sing along with another line.
This teaching method wasn't boring at all, and Teacher Zhang seemed to know everything, from the origin of words to local meanings in the lyrics. She would often digress, telling Chu Tingwu stories related to the content, helping her memorize quickly.
They only learned three songs tonight, starting with singing line by line, and by the end, Chu Tingwu was trying to sing longer passages while referring to the words on paper. Mei, having finished ironing the shirts, joined in by keeping the beat, interspersing with a few common phrases—
Chu Tingwu could confidently say that she could remember most of tonight's lesson, and if she reviewed regularly, she could really remember all the content.
She had studied English before and knew that learning a language couldn't be that simple. It was because she had met a very skilled and patient good teacher.
Therefore, after the Russian lesson ended, she took the initiative to ask:
"Teacher Zhang, how would you like to learn cat language?"
Teacher Zhang: "Oh!"
Teacher Zhang was delighted: "How about this, when you're at my house, you communicate with me in cat language, then translate it into a language I can understand? In the early stages, we'll use our mother tongue, and later we'll translate into Russian, how does that sound?"
"Cats have very few words, the main thing is the change in intonation. When they need to describe a specific item or event in detail, they invent new words, so learning cat language is mainly about learning the intonation to express emotions," Chu Tingwu thought for a moment, "However, it's about enough for communication."
Teacher Zhang nodded: "Then we can do this regularly too. You speak in cat language and translate the cats' words into Russian. For difficult words you don't know, use our mother tongue, and for words you've learned, we'll use Russian."
Mei, who had been observing the whole process, didn't object. When seeing Chu Tingwu off, she smiled and said "See you tomorrow" in Russian.
Chu Tingwu: "?"
Chu Tingwu: "Meow~"
The neighbor next door happened to be returning with their dog and stared blankly at the two of them finishing their simple exchange, with an expression of "Where am I right now?"
Half an hour later, Shikuai woke up: "Meow?"
"Mew mew?"
He angrily punched the blanket in the room: Weren't they supposed to play with the shuttlecock together! Did they secretly play with the stupid human while he was asleep? That's too much!
-
Chu Tingwu took the shuttlecock home and brought it to Little Sun Hospital the next day, also getting Three-Five-Five checked up.
Of course, she had just forgotten the shuttlecock in her bag.
"Three-Five-Five is recovering well," Doctor Yang said, "The bandages can be removed now. She's been quite active recently, right? Good, I'll help you take them off."
With the bandages removed, Three-Five-Five looked a bit more energetic, though she would occasionally turn her head to lick her back leg. She was still a bit unused to it. Meanwhile, Chu Tingwu brought her drone to Changning Community.
For this livestream, the system would be in charge of filming, so she didn't need to wear a camera on her body. Plus, with the system filming, it could capture her operating the app on her phone, serving as promotion.
The beta version of the app was called [365 Cat Census]. Neither Chu Tingwu nor the system was good at naming things, but she hoped this app wouldn't be limited to finding cats and could do something else in the future.
365 was inspired by Three-Five-Five's name, and also meant being with cats 365 days a year.
As soon as she started the livestream, many fans poured in—
[UP is the freshest, most unpretentious streamer I've ever seen. She disappears without warning, hardly shows up except to update new cat food recipes, and starts livestreams without any notice. Lucky I came quickly, or what if I missed it? The consequences would be serious!]
Comments not sent during livestreams don't have star symbols!
Chu Tingwu saw this comment and said "Oh": "Alright, if I plan a livestream in the future, I'll post an update in advance."
The comments paused for a moment.
[Oh my god, UP actually responded to us...]
[She read the comments, she read them! She even replied, I'm a bit moved, what should I do?]
[My eyes are tearing up, this feels exactly like when my cat suddenly comes to rub against me!]
Some passersby who accidentally clicked into the livestream were startled:
[You're too excited, what's going on? By the way, what does UP's title mean? [[365 Cat Census] APP test, Fallen Phoenix City cat census in progress...], what's a cat census?]
Chu Tingwu replied to each question in the comments, at a steady pace, and walked forward with Three-Five-Five standing on the wall: "It's an app that can photograph and identify cats. It's currently being tested. I've decided to use this app to record all the stray cats in the city."
The audience didn't quite understand at first, but then they saw in the frame:
Chu Tingwu raised her phone, opened the app, and took a photo of a gray tabby cat sunbathing nearby.
She labeled the photo "Gray Tabby" and the page automatically recorded the location coordinates and time of the photo. Then she uploaded all the information.
"This is the cat registry. Whenever you take a photo of this cat, you can add information about it—"
The gray tabby cat suddenly opened its eyes, hissed at Three-Five-Five, then let out a somewhat shrill meow.
Chu Tingwu entered in the tag interface:
"Strong territorial instinct" "Foul-mouthed"
These two phrases appeared as colorful tags in the "registry".
Chu Tingwu switched back to the main interface of the app: "This is the 'Census Report'. You can switch locations to see nearby uploaded cats, or take photos of cats and match them."
She took another photo of the gray tabby, then selected "match" at the bottom. A second later, the photo was directly matched, and the interface automatically jumped to the gray tabby's registry that was just uploaded.
Prompt: [Do you want to add this photo to the "Gray Tabby" cat registry?]
[It feels very smooth when it jumps!]
[Is this for finding cats, or just a platform for cat lovers?]
[Wow! Can I upload my own cat?]
Chu Tingwu shook her head: "Pet cats can only be uploaded to the 'Private Registry'. Same for cats in cat cafes. Because the app's photos come with IP locations, sharing data on house cats could pose some security risks. So this app is mainly used to record data on stray cats in the city... My livestream plan today is to first use the app to record all the stray cats in this neighborhood."
The app still in testing certainly had many other unforeseen risks, so Chu Tingwu wasn't planning to open it for download immediately. The adults involved in the design agreed with this point.
The comments paused for a moment, then her fans realized—
[Wait, Master Chu... you're not really planning to record every cat in the whole city with this app, are you?]
The app looked well-made, with a refined UI, but having a minor operate the app didn't inspire much confidence. The fans had originally thought Chu Tingwu was just using it as a gimmick for the livestream, or that the app would only be available for limited download trials? For fans only?
Where there was distrust, there were naturally those who wanted to download and try it out, regardless of the risks. However, Chu Tingwu didn't respond to either type of fan. She had already started photographing cats.
Actions speak louder than words.
Fans came and went in the livestream room, but the total number of viewers kept increasing. The drone footage was split into two by the system—
One half was the drone's view, mainly from behind and to the side of Chu Tingwu, like a third-person view in a video game, complete with the previously set game icons.
The other half was Chu Tingwu's own phone screen, constantly open to the camera interface of [365 Cat Census]... At first, the fans thought taking photos of stray cats wasn't very interesting, but half an hour later, the comments were full of—
[On the left, Master Chu, look on the left, there's one!]
[Are you blind? That one's already been photographed, ten minutes ago. Its name is "Kicked Twice"! I remember it clearly!]
[Just got here... What exactly are you doing? A mass cat-naming convention? No, why are there so many weird names in the comments?]
Ever since Chu Tingwu gave the fans the opportunity to name the cats, the comments became incredibly lively. The names given to the stray cats got increasingly strange. For example, a chubby stray blue cat was named "Earth Cat Cult" because it was as round as a ball.
Chu Tingwu: "Thank you all for helping me discover what feature the test version needs most right now..."
Limit names to six characters.
Otherwise, she believed some cats would end up with short essays as names.
Maybe five characters would be better? Four is also reasonable.
Chu Tingwu: "Three-Five-Five."
Three-Five-Five: "Meow?"
Chu Tingwu: "..."
Numbers are so much better, simple and easy to remember.
Look at how some cats are called things like Earth Cat Cult. It's a good thing it doesn't know its own name, otherwise it would surely be mocked when interacting with other cats.
A white cat darted across the wall behind her. The comments were about to alert her when, on that half of the screen, they saw Chu Tingwu turn and leap, easily landing on the wall.
She "meowed" once, trying to get the white cat to stop. Seeing it was still running, she took two leaps along the wall then jumped onto a tree trunk, moving in sync with the cat. The cat turned its head, startled, and Chu Tingwu took the chance to grab it by the scruff of its neck:
"Why are you running? Are you a resident cat? Why are you coming to this neighborhood to beg for food if you're from next door... Alright, what should we call you? I have several... several dozen names here... Okay, you can stop suggesting names now. We'll just call you Big White."
"Big White": "...Meow?"
