Chapter 126.1: Variety Show in Progress (5)
Seeing Lucky standing beside it, Wang Cai flicked its proudly raised tail, slipped behind the curtain, and squeezed out through the window crack it had pried open earlier.
Once Wang Cai disappeared behind the curtain, the viewers in the livestream could only see its shadow behind the fabric. Soon, even that shadow vanished, and all that could be heard was a single “meow.”
Hearing the meow, the viewers saw Lucky nudge at the edge of the curtain.
Very quickly, just like Wang Cai, it also wriggled behind the curtain, leaving only a small, round black silhouette for the viewers to see.
The staff member assigned to follow the cats, along with a feline behaviorist, had been trailing Wang Cai all the way. Now, they stood not far from the window outside, recording every move of Wang Cai and Lucky with handheld cameras.
In the footage, Lucky didn’t need to squeeze—he passed easily through the window crack that Wang Cai had already pried open.
Then, with a jump, he landed on the ground with a soft “thump,” looking like a round, rolling black plush toy.
Seeing Lucky land, Wang Cai turned and walked off. After a few steps, realizing Lucky wasn’t following, Wang Cai turned back and let out a long meow toward the one still standing there.
Lucky meowed back, his fur fluffing slightly, his confident little tail raised high—clearly in a good mood—as he happily trotted after Wang Cai.
Until now, Wang Cai had spent 99% of the time with his tail down, or flicking it back and forth in impatience. But now, his tail was held high for the first time.
Chen Qian, the feline behaviorist invited by the show’s production team, looked thoughtful as she saw Wang Cai raise his tail for the first time since arriving on set.
In the sunlight, a black-and-white adult tuxedo cat led the way, glancing back every few steps. Behind him trailed a small ball of fur, like a black lump of coal rolling along the ground.
The two cats held their tails high, and when they occasionally walked side by side, their tails would curve toward each other in the shape of little question marks.
Chen Qian recalled how Wang Cai had skillfully opened the door, followed the scent all the way to Lucky’s house, pried open the window, and took Lucky out with him. She couldn’t help but exclaim, “As expected of a tuxedo cat!”
A staff member responded in a low voice, “As expected of Boss Xiu—he anticipated Lucky and Wang Cai’s actions and dressed Lucky in advance.”
Otherwise, with how Lucky moved so low to the ground—practically rolling along it—his freshly cleaned and blow-dried long black fur would’ve gotten filthy all over again.
After each made their own remark, the two of them quickly and quietly followed behind Lucky and Wang Cai, curious to see what Wang Cai was planning to do.
Sun Qi cautiously stole a glance at Shen Xiu’s tense expression. Hearing the staff’s words through his earpiece, he quickly spoke up again to reassure the two cat owners—Shen Xiu and Xu Qingchen.
“Even though we can’t see them in the current livestream, the staff has been following Wang Cai and Lucky the whole time, so there’s really nothing to worry about.”
He patted his earpiece.
“I’m in constant contact with the team following Lucky and Wang Cai. If anything changes, I’ll notify you immediately.”
Despite Sun Qi’s words, Shen Xiu’s worry didn’t ease. He forced himself to say, “Got it. Thank you.”
Xu Qingchen, noticing Shen Xiu’s icy expression, also responded, “Got it.”
Then, remembering Shen Xiu’s earlier words, he added, “Thank you.”
[…Where’s my tiny, adorable little ball of coal?! What is the production team even doing—hurry up and show me where they went!]
[Confirmed with my own eyes—Wang Cai is a cat-dog! Commonly known as a cat-dog, the kind of cat that acts like a dog. No wonder—he’s a streetwise, experienced stray. Door-opening, window-prying—he’s got it all.]
[Didn’t you all say Wang Cai was fierce? Why didn’t he beat up Little Lucky?]
[Same question. When I saw Wang Cai open the window to find Lucky, I thought he was still holding a grudge from the pavilion incident—‘traveled miles through hardship just to give him a good beating.’]
[Is it possible that Wang Cai dragged Lucky out just to beat him up somewhere else?]
Even though Sun Qi said that the staff were keeping an eye on them, both the livestream viewers and the pet parents present couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat for Lucky, who had just been taken away by Wang Cai.
After all, according to Xu Qingchen, Wang Cai was a fierce little cat with no feline decency, known for changing moods faster than the weather.
Everyone’s gaze involuntarily shifted to Xu Qingchen.
Feeling their stares, Xu Qingchen felt the pressure mounting.
If the staff failed to keep track of them, and Wang Cai ran off with Lucky—or worse, dragged Lucky somewhere secluded and beat him up—wouldn’t Shen Xiu hold an even deeper grudge against him?
No matter how things played out, it wouldn’t end well for him. Xu Qingchen’s face turned slightly green with stress, and he had no time to spare a glance at what Jiang Rong’s expression might be at that moment.
Although this 26th episode of the live variety show featured five guests who brought animals, Zhuang Yi’s hamster Dingdang was fast asleep in its tiny cage, completely uninterested in “performing.”
Ning Sinian’s rooster Angel, on the other hand, strutted about his room with his deep red comb held high, pacing gracefully across the floor as if inspecting his territory.
As for Jiang Yanxi’s goose Devil, once it returned to its room—unable to go out and left unattended—it squatted motionless in the cozy nest Jiang Yanxi had brought from home. There it sat, unmoving, performing the perfect “goose squat” for the viewers—basically turning into a live-streamed sleep aid for Jiang Yanxi’s fans.
The most “active” duo, Lucky and Wang Cai, were a source of anxiety for Shen Xiu’s fans and Xu Qingchen’s fans alike—and at the same time, a source of entertainment for fans of the other guests, the production team, and casual viewers.
Ever since Lucky had vanished from his sight, Shen Xiu had been staring intently at the five livestream screens without saying a single word.
His mind was consumed with worry for Lucky, his brows furrowed unconsciously. He had no attention to spare for the people around him, or the expressions they were giving him.
Seeing Shen Xiu’s knitted brows, everyone around him instinctively fell silent.
Especially Xu Qingchen, who was visibly on edge.
[From that serious expression on Xiu-baby’s face, I can see how much he cares about Lucky. If anyone dares say again that he’s just using Lucky for show, I swear I’ll crawl through the internet and deal with them myself.]
[Same goes for Brother Chen—he’s so worried, he’s literally wiping sweat off his brow.]
[Wang Cai, this little rascal with no cat morals, is seriously lucky to have met an owner who doesn’t mind his fierceness and treats him like royalty.]
[It’s already been six minutes—where are Lucky and Wang Cai?!]
Shen Xiu continued to stare at the screen, silently counting down in his head.
Four minutes left. If Little Lucky still didn’t show up by then, he’d have to go look for him.
Lucky wasn’t just small in size—he was timid too. And black-furred. Even though he was wearing a bright pink dress, there was always a risk—just in case.
What if he ran off and the staff couldn’t see him?
Even if he hadn’t run, he was so tiny—what if someone accidentally stepped on him?
At home, Shen Xiu always watched the floor carefully when he walked, just in case Little Lucky darted out and got stepped on.
The more he thought about it, the more anxious Shen Xiu became.
Then—Sun Qi shouted, “Ah! Lucky and Wang Cai are back!”
Shen Xiu jumped when he heard Sun Qi’s voice suddenly behind him—just as Lucky reappeared on the livestream screen. Even so, Shen Xiu couldn’t tear his eyes away from Lucky.
He still didn’t get why Wang Cai had brought Lucky into this strange room.
[Finally! Lucky, you made me wait ages, damn!]
[Wang Cai didn’t beat up Little Lucky, didn’t let him run off, and even invited him over to his place—so smart! Total cat-dog behavior, lol.]
[Oh, so he just wanted to invite a buddy over. Wang Cai’s such a host—now I’m starting to doubt that he’s a “no-cat-morals” kitty.]
Having already opened the door once, Wang Cai didn’t need to pull Lucky through a window this time. The two of them strutted straight into the room that the show had set up for Xu Qingchen.
When Shen Xiu saw Wang Cai and Lucky both safe on camera, his racing heart finally settled.
Good—no beating. If Wang Cai had actually taken him downstairs to rough him up, they’d both be in deep trouble, his future prospects might’ve been toast.
Wang Cai wasn’t messing around. As soon as Lucky was inside, he ignored him completely and headed over to the dresser. He put his paws on the drawer handle and ripped it open.
Inside were kitty treats, kibble bags, and freeze-dried packets. Wang Cai used his front paws to dig around and, nose-first, started pulling things out with his mouth.
The first thing he grabbed was a small bag of kibble—though it was already half gone. What remained was rolled up and secured with a rubber band so you couldn’t tell how little was left.
Crack.
Swish.
Crack.
…
The sound of several plastic bags hitting the floor echoed in the livestream room. The bag of rolled-up cat food had also been pushed to the bottom under the weight of the other bags.
Within just two minutes, all the bags of cat food, freeze-dried treats, and snack sticks—except for the canned food—had been dragged out of the drawer by Wang Cai and dropped onto the floor.
Once he was done, Wang Cai lowered his front paws and stood firmly on all fours.
While Wang Cai was busy pulling things out of the drawer, Lucky stood curiously next to him, tilting his fluffy little head up and staring with wide emerald-green eyes.
Shen Xiu: “……”
Uh-oh. Lucky is learning way too seriously.
To keep Lucky from going home and putting what he learned into practice—binging on food, getting excessively overweight, and turning into the kind of kitty vets warn about due to obesity—Shen Xiu silently decided he would lock up the drawers with the freeze-dried treats and cat food as soon as they got back.
He couldn’t control Lucky, but he could control the drawers.
Wang Cai noticed Lucky wasn’t moving and stretched out a paw to pat the bags on the floor, signaling for him to dig in.
Pat pat…
The plastic bags made rustling sounds under Wang Cai’s paw.
Lucky tilted his head, watching Wang Cai.
Shen Xiu had always fed Lucky; no one had ever taught him to open bags, so he didn’t know how to bite them.
Wang Cai: “……”
Wang Cai lowered his head, pinned one of the bags down with a paw, and opened his mouth to start tearing it open.
The soft rustle rustle of plastic being shredded filled the room, and Lucky watched even more intently.
Seeing this scene, the viewers finally understood why Wang Cai had brought Lucky over.
[So it was to treat him—Wang Cai is such a polite little kitty. Aww, kisses for you, ee~]
[ROFL—Wang Cai went through all that trouble just to bring little Lucky over as a guest!]
[Hahaha, the little kitty booked a private flight! Such strong little teeth—biting like a pro!]
[Freeze-dried treat bag: Excuse me, is this what you call polite?]
[Little Lucky: Open the drawer, rip the bag—learned two new tricks in a row!]
[Lucky: From today on, I’m no longer the same kitty I used to be. I’m now a self-sufficient little cat who can dig through drawers and feed myself freeze-dried snacks!]
[Shen Xiu: ??]
The bags used to store freeze-dried treats were quite thick and tough to tear open.
Wang Cai was using quite a bit of strength. As he bit and tore at the freeze-dried treat bag, his limbs moved with great force, kicking aside the bags that had been sitting on top of the cat food. One of the cat food bags even got kicked away, landing a good distance from where it originally was.
Everyone’s attention had been focused on Wang Cai ripping open the freeze-dried bag, but that flying cat food bag suddenly drew their eyes to something no one had noticed at first.
Among the viewers watching this pet reality show, aside from fans of the various participants, the majority were pet owners—especially cat owners.
And for many pet owners, pets are considered beloved companions or even family, so they care a lot about what they eat.
If there’s a brand of toxic or dangerous cat or dog food, people will always post warnings to help others avoid them.
Although the cat food bag was rolled up so the name couldn’t be seen clearly, the packaging was familiar enough that many viewers quickly guessed what it was.
