The Best Actress Is a Cat - Chapter 1

What is there the most of on a summer evening?

Mosquitoes.

Especially in the woods. Mosquitoes came in rows and pairs, biting anyone they saw. Yet there wasn’t a single mosquito around Lin Duanduan. With a lollipop in her mouth, she squatted under a tree like some big shot, playing a game. Every now and then, when the character she was controlling died, she would lift her head and glance over.

The male lead was acting opposite the second female lead. The second female lead was making an affectionate confession, but halfway through her lines, she suddenly raised her hand with a smack and killed a mosquito that had landed on her face.

The director was so angry his eyes almost rolled back. “How many times have we shot this scene already? Can we still wrap up or not?”

The second female lead also felt wronged. “Director, you can’t blame me. There are too many mosquitoes.”

Lin Duanduan also shook her head and sighed along with them, but she was the one who was not in a hurry. Whether they wrapped early or late made no difference to her.

One minute later, Lin Duanduan’s phone dinged. The previously calm and Buddhist-like Lin Duanduan lowered her head and looked at the sender of the text.

Poop-Scooper No. 2: Come home for dinner.

Lin Duanduan slapped her thigh and nearly jumped up, as if her butt had caught fire. But the final scene between the second female lead and the male lead still had not been finished. Only after it was done could they wrap up and leave.

Lin Duanduan looked left and right. Seeing that no one was paying attention to her, she quietly blew out a breath. The air suddenly became a little colder. The mosquitoes that had been buzzing arrogantly and biting everyone in sight just a second ago instantly scattered and fled.

The second female lead stomped her foot, probably because she felt the chill. But it was summer right now. However, at that moment, the director had already told them to start again, so the second female lead did not voice her confusion and instead acted seriously with the male lead.

This time, without any interference, they finally managed to finish filming the scene properly.

The director also let out a sigh of relief and waved his hand. “Dismissed, dismissed. Wrap up!”

Lin Duanduan reacted the fastest. She sprang up like a coil and slipped away like a gust of wind. The second female lead and the male lead were left walking toward the makeup removal area while chatting.

Second female lead: “How strange. There were so many mosquitoes earlier. Why can’t I see a single one now?”

The male lead was also puzzled. “Could it be that they wrapped up too?”

…

By now, Lin Duanduan had already gotten into the car and was constantly urging the driver, “Hurry! Faster! Why are you driving so slowly?”

Driver: …

He couldn’t drive a four-wheeled car at the speed of a fighter jet!

The driver felt very wronged, but he still delivered Lin Duanduan back as quickly as possible. From far away, Lin Duanduan saw a car that had not yet been parked in the garage. It was Ji Lan’s favorite car.

She took three steps in two and hopped up the stairs. When she opened the door and did not see Ji Lan, she guessed that Ji Lan was upstairs. Lin Duanduan immediately slowed her steps, crept upstairs quietly, and pushed the door open just a crack.

The instant she saw Ji Lan’s figure, Lin Duanduan forgot that she had planned to give her a surprise. With a whoosh, she pounced over.

So when Ji Lan turned her head, she saw several pieces of clothing slowly falling to the ground, followed by an orange cat bigger than a person dropping from the sky.

The big orange cat directly pinned her to the floor and enthusiastically licked her face. But because of its size, this was almost equivalent to washing Ji Lan’s hair. Ji Lan was completely stunned from being licked, and only reacted after a long while. “Lin Duanduan! Change back right now!”

The big orange cat tilted its head, wearing an expression that said, “I’m just a little kitty, how could I possibly understand?” Then it happily rubbed itself all over Ji Lan.

It successfully ruined the haute couture outfit Ji Lan was wearing, which was worth over a hundred thousand yuan.

“Lin Duanduan!” Ji Lan struggled to hold the orange cat’s huge face. “If you don’t want to change back, then at least become smaller.”

Big Orange: I won’t. I don’t understand what you’re saying!

Until Ji Lan lowered her voice and said, “If you don’t get up, you can eat cat food tonight.”

The orange cat, which had been acting unbearably naughty just a moment ago, immediately widened its eyes. With a whoosh, it changed from a huge orange cat into a fair, tender Lin Duanduan.

Lin Duanduan lay on top of Ji Lan and continued rubbing her face against hers like a cat. Her voice was incredibly sweet. “Ji Lan, I don’t want to eat cat food…”

Ji Lan’s cheeks flushed slightly. She hugged Lin Duanduan tightly, pulled her own coat from the chair, and wrapped it around her. “You are not allowed to go without clothes.”

“Oh…” Lin Duanduan obediently picked up the clothes she had dropped all over the floor and huffed and puffed as she put them back on. Her fair arms and long legs swayed in front of Ji Lan.

Ji Lan felt that ever since she had started raising Lin Duanduan, her hair had become much thinner.

But what could she do? It wasn’t like she could throw her away.

Ji Lan would never forget the scene before her grandmother passed away, when she entrusted Lin Duanduan to her. At that time, Ji Lan had thought Lin Duanduan was just an ordinary cat. Before bringing her home, she had made countless preparations. She searched online for cat habits and asked her cat-owning friends what kind of cat food was reliable.

She gave her friend quite a fright, mainly because with Ji Lan’s personality, she did not seem at all like someone who would raise a cat.

Then she brought Lin Duanduan home. She even bought an exquisite and luxurious cat bed and placed it beside her own bed for Lin Duanduan to sleep in.

As a result, in the middle of the night, she was pressed down to the point of nearly suffocating. When she opened her eyes, she saw a cat as large as a person lying on her chest, sleeping and purring loudly.

When had President Ji ever seen such a scene? At the time, she thought she was dreaming and slowly closed her eyes.

Five seconds later…

There was an orange pig lying on her chest! A real pig! At least two hundred jin!

After putting on her clothes, Lin Duanduan rubbed against her again and hugged Ji Lan’s arm. “Ji Lan… Ji Lan… I don’t want to eat cat food.”

She raised her head and looked pitifully at Ji Lan. Lin Duanduan had a pair of cat-like eyes, round and watery. Yet the corners of her eyes lifted slightly, giving her a hint of cleverness within her laziness and a few traces of natural charm within her innocent expression.

So even though Ji Lan clearly knew she was pretending to be pitiful, very few people could steel their hearts and refuse her.

Ji Lan silently sighed. “Sit up straight. I’ll go make you cat rice. You are not allowed to play with the documents on my desk.”

Lin Duanduan immediately sat up extremely obediently and waited to be fed.

Although Ji Lan always said, “If you don’t behave, you can go eat cat food,” she would not actually feed Lin Duanduan cat food. Mainly, Lin Duanduan’s outward appearance was human. Feeding her cat food made it feel as though Ji Lan was abusing her.

Because of this, Ji Lan had specifically learned how to make cat meals. In truth, it was not very different from ordinary cooking. After all, Lin Duanduan was not like an ordinary cat who could not consume too much salt, nor did she have many dietary restrictions.

Ji Lan, who had never cooked before, made a cat meal for Lin Duanduan the very first time she entered the kitchen.

The worst part was that because Lin Duanduan was always suddenly turning into a cat at home, Ji Lan had dismissed the housekeeper, chef, and everyone else. She only kept a part-time cleaner who came to tidy up when no one was home.

Ji Lan: I have sacrificed too much for this cat.

She washed her face and changed into another outfit before putting on an apron and entering the kitchen. She had just taken salmon and lemon out of the refrigerator when she heard rustling at the doorway. Turning her head, she saw Lin Duanduan clinging to the doorframe, sneaking her head in and staring at her eagerly.

Even after being discovered, she did not feel guilty. Instead, she confidently made a request. “I also want chicken breast!”

She had probably raised a living ancestor.

The living ancestor had no awareness at all of how much trouble she caused. At first, she only clung to the doorway and watched. Slowly, she inched bit by bit to Ji Lan’s side and clung to the counter, peering into the pot.

Ji Lan had just placed the marinated salmon into the pan when its fragrance rose into the air. When she lowered her head, she could see a certain greedy cat, in the truest sense of the word, staring fixedly at the fish in the pan.

A little lemon juice had been added while marinating the salmon, so within the rich fragrance was a very fresh scent. In the oil, the surface of the fish was soon fried until golden.

Ji Lan used a wooden spatula to flip the fish over and fry the other side. The greedy cat’s head turned along with it, watching as intently as could be. Ji Lan could not help the curve of her lips. She took a clean plate over. Once both sides of the salmon were fried, it could be taken out of the pan.

Although Ji Lan knew Lin Duanduan was not an ordinary cat, she still did not like giving her too many seasonings. Therefore, the salmon had only been marinated with a little salt, lemon juice, and a tiny bit of black pepper. After it was taken out of the pan, she garnished it with blanched carrot slices and greens. Since a little salt had already been added when blanching them, all that was needed was a little fish sauce for flavor.

After frying the salmon, Ji Lan went to the refrigerator to get the chicken breast. As a result, when she turned around, she saw Lin Duanduan sneakily reaching her hand toward the plate of salmon.

Ji Lan used her free hand to tap the back of Lin Duanduan’s hand, successfully stopping her from stealing food.

Since Lin Duanduan failed to steal a bite, her gaze became somewhat resentful. Like a little tail, she followed after Ji Lan. “Don’t boil it plain! I want spicy diced chicken!”

“No.” Ji Lan cut the chicken breast while saying, “You can’t eat spicy food. Last time you ate spicy food, you felt unwell afterward.”

“Then… then I still want it lemon-flavored!” Lin Duanduan said pitifully. Although she really, really wanted spicy diced chicken, if her owner would not feed it to her, there was nothing she could do. She could only try her best to fight for some benefits for herself.

“Fine.” Ji Lan marinated the thinly sliced chicken breast. When she fried it, she cut a slice of lemon and squeezed the lemon juice over it, satisfying Lin Duanduan’s tiny wish.

So Lin Duanduan became a little more arrogant. “Add a little black pepper too!”

Ji Lan turned back to look at her. Lin Duanduan shrank her neck, and all her arrogant momentum instantly vanished.

In the end, Ji Lan still satisfied her. She sprinkled a small amount of black pepper over it and also fried her an egg.

Actually, Lin Duanduan was very easy to satisfy. Just looking at the two plates of cat rice made her so happy she seemed about to bubble over. Ji Lan carried the two plates to the table. The porridge she had put on the stove before cooking was also nearly done.

This time, Lin Duanduan was relatively obedient. When Ji Lan was serving the porridge, she actually did not steal any food at all. She even obediently helped fetch the chopsticks and other things.

It was just that when she passed by the doorway, Lin Duanduan, holding the chopsticks in her hand, briefly stopped for a few seconds. Her beautiful cat-like eyes swept back and forth around the doorway. Finally, she slowly stretched out her foot as if stepping on something, then ground down on it twice.

A very short scream rang out, so brief that Ji Lan almost thought it was an illusion. “Duanduan?”

“Coming, coming!” Lin Duanduan rushed toward the table with a blissful expression, and even complained first despite being the guilty one. “I’ll be there right away! Don’t steal any food!”