Chu Tingwu finally picked up Three-Five-Five after half an hour.
When the flashlight beam swept over, it revealed half of Three-Five-Five's shocked face—hearing the kitten's "meow," the Tortoiseshell Cat wasn't sure whether to hide or not, so she froze under the flashlight beam and pretended nothing happened by lowering her head to lick her paw.
Chu Tingwu walked over and scooped up Three-Five-Five, holding her close to his chest.
The Instructor waved his hand, signaling others to disperse.
As the light moved away, the Probationary Police Dog beside the Instructor curiously peered over, sniffing at Chu Tingwu but didn't bark.
The humans conversed quietly as they returned indoors, and whether it was the carried cat or the leashed dog, they all had the same starlight falling on their heads.
—Chu Tingwu rarely picked up Three-Five-Five.
Most of the time, the mother cat would sit beside her in a very human-like manner, requiring neither leash nor calls. Wherever Chu Tingwu went, she would follow at a comfortable distance.
When occasionally picked up, it was usually by other humans with a "kitty kisses" attitude, to which Three-Five-Five would promptly raise her paw in refusal. If it was a human the kitten was particularly fond of and couldn't refuse, she would turn her head away in disdain, tolerating it for about three to five seconds to be polite.
But now, being held by Chu Tingwu, she placed her front paws on his shoulders and unusually didn't struggle.
The Instructor was still amazed: "She's never been here before, how did she suddenly come here on her own..."
Chu Tingwu: "Because Three-Five-Five is really intelligent, she knows I've been here before. Back in Fallen Phoenix City, she could independently complete scent training to find bloodstained items."
Instructor: "Yes, I remember now, she's that cat who would climb mountains to seek divination! Among the cats currently in training, I've never seen one more human-like than Three-Five-Five."
The Instructor seemed to want to pet her, but seeing Three-Five-Five's vigilant gaze, he held back. He smiled and said, "Do you want her to be a transfer student?"
Chu Tingwu explained his request for coming today during the walk.
To be honest, although they had heard it once over the phone, everyone was still very surprised—
A highly wild stray cat had encountered a girl and treated her as its own kitten.
The girl had never raised cats before, yet she intuitively understood cat language. She understood that the cat considered herself her mother, and then she accepted it... A human and a cat formed a new "family."
Though surprised, the instructors also treated their trained police dogs like family members and could understand this profound bond between animals and humans.
But for a cat who considered herself a mother to realize that her human kitten was stronger than herself, and then come to the training base to learn secretly!
This was perhaps a bit too clever.
Instructor: We should have let her bring this cat to visit earlier!
Chu Tingwu followed the Instructor into the indoor training field, while another instructor took the training kittens back and brought two adult cats over.
One was a Siamese, the other a tabby. Both cats looked somewhat sleepy; the Siamese managed to sit properly, though its face clearly showed "why did you suddenly wake me up?"
The tabby sat by the instructor's feet, but kept its eyes open and made unfriendly "meow" sounds from its throat.
Chu Tingwu recognized them as two of the five adult cats she had selected previously.
As for the other three... they had apparently been sent back.
After the instructor's explanation, she understood the inside story of why they were returned:
The odd-eyed white cat was calm but not friendly enough, performed poorly in obedience training, and would slip away when it judged situations dangerous; the black and white cat had unusual logic, misinterpreting commands after receiving them, alerting the instructor even to falling leaves, and was returned after failed attempts to correct this behavior.
As for the short-haired calico, it was average in all attributes and did fairly well in everything, but after combat simulation exercises, everyone discovered it had a serious flaw: its psychological quality. It could keenly sense tense and dangerous atmospheres, then forget its training and choose to hide in a corner.
It would stare with big eyes at the instructor, meowing as if asking the instructor to handle the danger—you're the big human, how could you send a little cat to do this?
After several days of effort, everyone reluctantly concluded that this little cat was better suited as a clever house cat and couldn't adapt to life as a police cat.
"Bunana (the Siamese) and Gousheng (the tabby) actually have some minor issues too, but we believe these can be gradually corrected."
Out of nearly a hundred cats, only two were chosen, and even these couldn't be deployed immediately, yet the base thought this ratio was quite good.
The Siamese Bunana's advantage was its friendliness, which was also its disadvantage. It was a cat that rarely attacked humans, intelligent, quick to understand commands, able to adapt to unfamiliar environments, and loyal in completing training.
But it could never pass defense training.
The instructor said: "It probably has to do with the education it received when young. The original owner said it was born to a house cat mother, and the mother cat was also a friendly and considerate cat. Growing up surrounded by humans, and being taught by its mother not to bite or scratch humans—when we try to teach it how to attack enemies and protect officers, it just can't understand."
Perhaps for this little Siamese, how could humans be bad? All humans are good people, no claws allowed, no blood allowed.
The tabby cat Gousheng had completely opposite personality issues: it was outgoing, lively, talkative, and rebellious.
At the base, Gousheng quickly understood the meaning of training and soon achieved high scores, but its personality flaws were equally prominent. It had high demands for emotional feedback, and being clever, it had its own understanding of training.
—If it determined that the content in combat simulation training was simulated, acted out, it would "meow" questioningly at the instructor. If it judged that it had already successfully completed certain training and didn't need to do it again, it would refuse the instructor's command to "do another set" unless given a clear explanation.
And even after explaining once, it would ask again next time. But you couldn't say it was disobedient—it performed all required tasks well, leaving the instructors both amused and exasperated.
This time too, in Gousheng's mind it was: "Isn't it rest time now? Why wake up the cats!"
Police cats train so hard, of course they'd be annoyed being woken up in the middle of the night!
Three-Five-Five had been lying in Chu Tingwu's arms, her ears twitching as she listened to the other cats' calls.
The instructor tried to persuade and soothingly patted its head, but Gousheng was still "meowing" when Three-Five-Five suddenly turned her head and let out a "meow."
Gousheng: "...!"
The yellow and black striped tabby jolted, showing an expression of "how dare you use such foul language!"
Chu Tingwu, who understood what they were saying: "=="
Three-Five-Five had only called you childish!
The base's cat training time was still too short, and their experience wasn't sufficient enough to fully grasp Gousheng's personality—it was attention-seeking, coaxing would make it angrier, it was actually just being coy, but completely ignoring it would also make it hold grudges and become unfriendly. If it were Chu Tingwu, she would probably find something else to distract its attention, waiting until it stopped complaining angrily before explaining why it was woken up.
Of course, the base used a different approach.
The instructor, seeing that Gousheng was about to start meowing again, this time stood straight and calmly called out "Gousheng."
The tabby paused, quietly sat to the side, and stopped talking.
Being coy was fine, wanting attention was fine, but when the instructor became serious, it meant it was time to discuss important matters.
Chu Tingwu, having the ability to communicate with cats, understood better than most: intelligent cats can easily sense the atmosphere around them and even figure out which family member is the easiest to take advantage of, even if they've never been disciplined by the stricter family members.
After hearing about Three-Five-Five's situation, the Instructor understood her request:
"Of course, you don't want to train a police cat, but you love Three-Five-Five, and she loves you. You want her to stay by your side longer in every aspect, right?"
For ordinary people, the current abilities of Tortoiseshell cats are already sufficient for "companionship," to the point where they can brag online that "my cat is more useful than I am." But Chu Tingwu was different—this kid who does parkour, learns rock climbing, and might get into other extreme sports in the future.
The Instructor looked at Chu Tingwu, suspecting he might see her in some social media headlines one day.
"So let's start with jumping, climbing, defense, high-altitude adaptation... and maybe even scent training?"
For Three-Five-Five, obedience training wasn't important—she wouldn't become a police cat in the future.
But learning how to systematically train to break limits, jump farther, adapt to complex environments, crawl, climb, and even infiltrate, how to defend against dangerous elements, using claws and teeth to protect her "cub," and undertaking scent training to identify dangerous items—this wasn't just cat training, the Instructor thought, this was also their base's way of giving back to Chu Tingwu herself.
The Instructor said: "But training can be dangerous. For example, to increase police dogs' courage, we have them jump through rings of fire."
Currently, police cats hadn't undergone this training, but they would definitely have to in the future.
If Chu Tingwu wasn't comfortable with it, they could adjust the training difficulty. After all, Three-Five-Five wouldn't become a police cat.
He waited for Chu Tingwu's response, but she gave him an unexpected yet logical answer: "I'll ask Three-Five-Five."
The Instructor: ...Oh right, she could just ask directly.
After receiving a positive response, both parties agreed: Chu Tingwu would bring Three-Five-Five to the base for training every weekend, and whenever possible on weekdays. But they should try to prevent Three-Five-Five from running over by herself like today—it's dangerous on the roads, and the base isn't a place where other people's cats can freely come and go.
After Chu Tingwu left, another instructor nudged his colleague: "If you were going to agree anyway, why did you bring Gousheng and the others over?"
The Instructor: "I just wanted to show Teacher Chu our training results, to demonstrate the difference between trained and untrained cats..."
Although he couldn't understand the communication between the cats and humans, his instinct told him that rather than a demonstration, the cats had just embarrassed themselves.
The Instructor: "Gousheng, why are you glaring at me? It won't help—that Tortoiseshell cat will be joining as a transfer student. If she performs better than you despite starting training later, I'm keeping all your evening snacks!"
His colleague: "?"
Why did it feel like that last sentence was your main point?
-
On the way home, Chu Tingwu held Three-Five-Five continuously.
Three-Five-Five couldn't become the giant cat from the dream classroom, nor could Chu Tingwu become tiny enough to nestle on her back... If today's events hadn't been discovered, the Tortoiseshell cat might have become just a house cat, or perhaps one day suddenly left home and disappeared.
The taxi driver kept glancing back while waiting at red lights, seemingly puzzled why the cat wasn't in a carrier or travel crate, wondering if it would scratch the seats or have accidents when being held like that.
When Chu Tingwu was getting out, he couldn't help but advise: "You should keep your cat in a carrier when you go out. Late at night like this, someone else might refuse to take you."
Before Three-Five-Five turned her head, Chu Tingwu stroked her back.
Her fingers sank into the soft long fur, and she could feel the warmth radiating from the cat's body as it lay against her chest.
System: "Buy a car!"
Chu Tingwu: "You're right, I didn't bring my bicycle from home. I should buy a bicycle—I'm quite fast on one."
System: "...Well, buy that too."
Chu Tingwu laughed: "Don't be angry. Actually, I'm quite happy today."
She was grateful that Three-Five-Five had come to this kind of thinking—reason told her that she couldn't do everything with Three-Five-Five, but while humans have rational understanding, cats don't.
Three-Five-Five had never been to restaurants that refused pets; everyone in Fallen Phoenix City welcomed her.
Three-Five-Five had never been refused a ride because Chu Tingwu was carrying a cat. She'd only taken a few rides, either with drivers who needed Chu Tingwu's help, or with friends and family, or even like tonight's driver who, despite worrying about his seats getting scratched, still let Chu Tingwu and her cat in.
So why not maintain the world as the cat currently sees it?
What she saw was her cub growing stronger, jumping further, running faster, able to reach higher places—so the cat needed to work harder too.
As for other things, Three-Five-Five hadn't seen them yet, and Chu Tingwu didn't want her to.
Chu Tingwu opened the door and said to the System: "I can become famous in the future, famous together with Three-Five-Five. That way, when people invite me, they'll invite Three-Five-Five too."
Then the Tortoiseshell cat would never be refused entry to hotels or restaurants.
System: "Good!"
Chu Tingwu: "Brother Xia mentioned going wild climbing. I could get a custom pet carrier harness made."
People go surfing, paragliding, and skiing with their pets... it's just rock climbing, why not?
System: "I'll design it for you!"
Chu Tingwu: "Oh right, remind me to call mom tomorrow—"
System: "?"
It took a moment to realize she meant "that" mom.
Chu Tingwu: "Tell her in advance that I'll be involved in film shooting this year and can't spend New Year together."
After the cub fell asleep, the System was still pondering.
The cub had always been passive when dealing with that mom, which the System could understand: how could humans give birth to kittens? It's normal not to be close!
This was the first time she had actively reported her future plans to that mom, rather than passively waiting for inquiries.
Studying the cub's behavior and creating models to anticipate the cub's needs was one of its core commands... but this cub's emotional fluctuations were too minimal, making model creation somewhat difficult, as if something was missing.
It looked at the cub: small, cute... even though it had been raising this tiny one from such a young age, why was data still missing?
The algorithm model must be wrong. Damn, time to redo it!
-
Realizing it was Chu Tingwu calling, Lu Cenyin paused before saying: "Tingwu?"
There was silence on the other end for a moment.
Lu Cenyin continued: "Are you having trouble with something? Or do you need more money? I asked your homeroom teacher, and your test scores for the last two exams were quite good. Is there something you'd like as a reward?"
She felt somewhat dazed as she asked this—when Lu Tinglan was young, he would always boldly ask for rewards after good exam results. After he entered university, she became more generous with money and even supported his entrepreneurial endeavors, though she watched coldly, knowing Lu Tinglan would certainly stumble.
"I don't need any rewards. I just wanted to let you know I'll probably be spending New Year in a film crew—it's Director Mu Lou's film crew. She wants me to help train animal actors."
Lu Cenyin's brows furrowed slightly: "Have you signed a contract?"
Contracts for minors were still somewhat troublesome, and Chu Tingwu's age was right on the line—she wouldn't turn sixteen until April next year.
But this time, Chu Tingwu had signed the contract through the Fallen Phoenix City government, with the actual contracting party being the Culture and Tourism Bureau, as the film would also promote Fallen Phoenix City. Director Mu would then contract with the Bureau, making the whole process more compliant and bypassing her birth father, Shen Yue.
Lu Cenyin's feelings were complicated.
"Then this year I'll still spend it with you and your brother," she said, "Listen, Wu..."
Perhaps because they were talking over the phone rather than face to face, Lu Cenyin inexplicably voiced her inner thoughts: "I'm sorry, during those years after the divorce, I wasn't in a good emotional state and never paid attention to your situation. Later, I didn't know how to interact with you anymore... Mom - Auntie Chu took good care of you, better than when you were with us..."
Those years were probably Lu Cenyin's most devastating period. She finally had to admit that she and that man were never meant to be together, and the two children brought into this world were the bitter fruits of her choices. Right after the divorce, she even pushed aside the son she had fought for, throwing herself completely into her career. Only when she believed she had finally become a "successful person" could she somewhat forget those past dozen years. Then she looked back to check on her children's situation.
Living by her side, despite the arguments and constant friction, the relationship between mother and son was somewhat mended.
But her daughter was different.
This daughter was truly... different from the start.
Lu Cenyin had taken her to see doctors.
After conducting a series of tests, the doctor subtly asked Lu Cenyin if there were family problems: "This child isn't stupid, nor does she have autism. She's just more sensitive... She can sense the tense atmosphere at home, so she doesn't actively express her needs. She may seem quiet, but she understands everything."
She was like a perceptive little cat. When Lu Cenyin knelt down and said "Mommy will try not to argue with Daddy anymore," the then five-year-old Chu Tingwu looked puzzled: "Mommy has already said this many times here."
She pointed at Lu Cenyin's heart.
Does saying something out loud make it come true?
Later, those words did come true - a month later, Lu Cenyin divorced Shen Yue.
Years later, Lu Cenyin went to Fallen Phoenix City to visit Chu Tingwu. Compared to Jin City, this was a small city with inconvenient transportation, and her daughter lived in the countryside of this small city.
That day, Chu Tingwu was playing badminton with Chu Shuyi. The little girl held her racket, looking up at the shuttlecock flying over, mouth slightly open, appearing somewhat dazed.
But when she hit the ball back and her grandmother Chu Shuyi failed to return it, Chu Tingwu unconsciously broke into a wide grin.
She looked no different from other children; she had grown up healthy and normal. Her childhood sensitivity, introversion, and reticence had all disappeared. So Lu Cenyin simply completed her visit normally, without suggesting taking the child away.
However, after Chu Shuyi's death, things reverted.
In that familiar small courtyard, her grown daughter received her mother and brother. Lu Cenyin had deliberately come alone, but standing before her daughter again, she felt exposed—
Chu Tingwu's gaze was calm, showing neither closeness nor coldness, but she clearly sensed everything.
A strange mother, a strange brother, and a world where the person who loved her most was gone.
"Tingwu..." Lu Cenyin held the phone close to her ear, hearing herself say, "If you want to do parkour, make videos, or do other things... just go ahead and do them. You seem happy now—and these projects actually look more promising than what your brother is doing. But since you're still underage, it's inconvenient to handle things alone, and it's not safe to go to film crews by yourself. How about I assign you an assistant?"
Hearing no rejection from the other end, Lu Cenyin continued:
"I'll have the assistant stay with you long-term. It'll be convenient for driving, running errands, buying tickets, and handling daily life matters. If things go well, when you come of age and want to start a company, you can ask if she'd like to join you?"
Of course, the salary would still come from Lu Cenyin's side. Life assistants had limited career advancement opportunities, and since this would be working for the boss's daughter, the person wouldn't refuse.
As for future matters, that would be a mutual choice, and Lu Cenyin wouldn't interfere.
Hearing Chu Tingwu say "okay," Lu Cenyin put down the phone: "Get Man Xing to come here."
-
Man Xing was 24 years old this year. She had previously worked as a clerk in a branch company, and because of her meticulous and conscientious work, with consistently good meeting arrangements, she was promoted to general manager's assistant.
Then when the general manager was transferred to headquarters, Man Xing followed, only to find that the business at headquarters was much busier than before, with more aspects to coordinate. After making several mistakes, she applied to transfer to the secretarial department for retraining.
She indeed learned a lot during training, but career placement became awkward.
The former general manager had a new assistant, and during training, Man Xing's intended position was as a life assistant, but her level of professional expertise couldn't compare to the boss's current life assistant.
The life assistant who had followed the boss for many years was practically family, sometimes even closer than family. Man Xing, at her current age, lacked sufficient experience and didn't seem very reliable, despite having obtained numerous certifications that were currently useless.
So she could only do odd jobs for the secretarial department, drawing her salary while studying for more certifications.
When called to the boss's office, Man Xing was wondering if she would be sent to another branch company, when she heard: "My daughter?"
That's right!
The boss had a daughter! Her own daughter!
She was going to be assigned as the young miss's caretaker!
When she first started working, Man Xing had learned that the boss had an ex-husband, hadn't remarried after the divorce, lived with her son, and had a daughter who was taken by the ex-husband and raised in the countryside of a small city.
The company groups wouldn't openly gossip, but the secretarial department was always the most informed place.
When Man Xing returned, everyone started asking: "Did Sister Shi send you the 'young miss's' information?"
"I heard she's in high school, will you have to help with homework too?"
"Man Xing can handle it, she has a teaching certificate."
Man Xing: "I majored in music..."
Her original life goal had been to become a music teacher at a school and coast through life, but getting a permanent position was too difficult!
She chatted briefly with everyone, then opened the files Sister Shi had sent and started reading.
—Being a caretaker wasn't so bad, at least her salary had increased!
She was now on the same level as Sister Shi, reporting major issues directly to the big boss, hehe.
Besides, high school students are so busy, Man Xing couldn't be an assistant at school anyway, so it was like having vacation during class times, simple work with good pay!
She just hoped this high school student wouldn't be too difficult to handle...
She skimmed through the first part and found that the "young miss" had indeed been raised in the countryside, though she didn't need Man Xing's pity – she certainly wasn't lacking in material comforts, as her birth father was wealthy, just uninvolved.
The "young miss's" grandmother had passed away during summer break of middle school, and the boss had arranged for her to attend high school in Jin City. Seeing this, Man Xing's expression remained calm, still trying to analyze her new direct superior's personality—
She had few friends in middle school, got good grades, lived with her grandmother... probably a rather introverted, quiet, studious type?
But as she scrolled down, Man Xing fell silent:
Adopted a cat, okay, children who like pets aren't bad people, and she didn't have cat allergies herself, perfect! But what was this about cat language? She could learn to make cat food... but what was this about parkour? A major online influencer with millions of followers, spokesperson for city promotional videos (?), and... judge for national parkour competitions!?
And these messages from the homeroom teacher, the commendations were one thing, but wasn't there a subtle mention that the young miss climbed over the school wall every day to get to class!? That's what it said, right?
Man Xing silently erased the image of the "quiet studious girl" from her mind and opened Fenghua Network, beginning to search for "Chu and Three-Five-Five."
After watching some recent popular videos at double speed, she opened her New Plum account and searched for Chu Tingwu again.
Having updated her impression of her young boss, Man Xing took a deep breath and added Chu Tingwu as a friend on her phone.
[Hello boss, I'm the life assistant assigned by the big boss. My name is Man Xing, you can call me whatever you like—I'm ready to start anytime! Here are my various credentials, I can handle... these tasks. As a life assistant, I'm available around the clock and will do my best to fulfill your every request. When would you like me to come visit?]
A life assistant's duties range from driving to scheduling meetings, from bookkeeping to hiring cleaners or even cleaning themselves, from walking dogs to refueling the boss's car—practically everything is included.
【Just call me Chu Chu, no need for formalities.】
That was the first message from her.
【Since you have a driver's license, come help me buy a car.】
That was the second message.
Man Xing: "?"
-
When Man Xing drove over, she found that Chu Tingwu had already picked out a car.
It was a high-clearance SUV with spacious interiors.
Man Xing barely had time to exchange greetings with Chu Tingwu before being rushed to test drive the car. Fortunately, she wasn't too short, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to complete her first task.
When Man Xing got out of the car, she noticed the cat beside Chu Tingwu.
Chu Tingwu: "How was it? Was it okay to drive?"
Man Xing thought for a moment and first asked about Chu Tingwu's purchasing needs—bosses might make impulsive purchases, but as an assistant, she needed to understand the boss's requirements to provide better options.
...Of course, the final decision would still be the boss's.
Chu Tingwu: "For road trips."
Man Xing: That's normal.
Chu Tingwu: "When I go rock climbing, I can store climbing equipment that won't fit on a bicycle."
Man Xing: That's also normal... making a note that the boss likes rock climbing (wait, wasn't it parkour before?!)
Chu Tingwu: "And weekly trips to take the cat to school."
Man Xing: Huh?
They ended up buying the car, and since the young boss didn't mind, Man Xing negotiated a bit and secured a better discount.
Barring any surprises, she would be driving this SUV for the next two years.
Then, she learned more personal details from her boss:
Like how she wouldn't need to clean the cat's litter box, the boss didn't like having housekeepers, she wouldn't need to prepare cat food, the boss enjoyed cooking and was quite good at it, prepared all three meals herself, cat food would be delivered, and she didn't need to handle school drop-offs.
Because the boss lived right across from the school.
Man Xing's only assigned task so far was to drive the cat to Jin City Police Dog Training Base three times a week and then drive it back.
A regular driver could do this job too.
No matter, she thought, I'll surely be needed for road trips! And when the boss goes on winter break and heads to the film set, I can help out there too.
Seemingly noticing Man Xing's slight disappointment while driving her boss home, the boss offered some comfort: "Don't worry, you're actually quite good, you have advantages in this job."
Man Xing was eager to know: What advantages?
The boss paused for a moment: "Um... you're human."
When neither the system nor the cat can step up, that's actually quite useful.
Man Xing: "..."
Man Xing: "?"
Thank you, mom, for giving birth to me as a human.
