The Nutrition is Too Good - Chap 15
“I just had a little bit of alcohol.”
Rong Mian honestly said, “And then my tail couldn’t retract.”
The coccyx is the remaining part of the tail after human evolution, but at this moment, a soft and fluffy tail emerged from Rong Mian’s position.
This caused him to have a little difficulty even sitting down. Rong Mian could only pull his pants down slightly and use his sweater on his body to cover the base of his tail, barely sitting at the table in the cat cafe.
Even so, a large portion of his tail is still exposed from his clothes.
Because Rong Mian was feeling a bit down at the moment, his tail hung down along the edge of the table, swaying slightly at the tip.
Kong Sandou was furious.
“I told you before that you can’t drink alcohol!”
Kong Sandou was even more anxious than Rong Mian himself. She scratched her head and started pacing back and forth in the lobby, saying, “Now it can’t retract, what should we do, what should we do, what should we do…”
Rong Mian shook his leg, lowered his head, and looked at his own toes without saying a word.
“Sandou, it shouldn’t be a problem with alcohol.”
Yun Min said, “The effects of alcohol don’t last this long.”
Kong Sandou also realized that her volume was a bit loud. She slumped down and whispered, “Uncle Yun, I, I’m just worried about him…”
For small animals like them who can switch between human and animal forms, the ears and tail are considered two special parts. Even when they are in human form, they can freely control these two areas and make changes.
This was the first time Rong Mian encountered a situation where his tail suddenly emerged and couldn’t be retracted.
This directly resulted in Rong Mian being unable to continue staying on the set. Fortunately, most of his scenes were already filmed today, so it wouldn’t delay the progress too much.
Rong Mian was a bit bewildered. He definitely didn’t want to take leave and delay the progress of the crew, but in this situation, he could only cover his tail and ask Liu Yuanfeng for leave.
Liu Yuanfeng expressed his understanding as a director, as well as the fear derived from his own guinea pig nature. He trembled and waved his hand, generously approving the day off for Rong Mian tomorrow.
Yun Min calmly said, “Don’t panic for now.”
They first ruled out the alcohol factor and tried many other methods, including having Rong Mian take off his clothes and completely transform back into a cat form, then transform back into human form, or inhaling ten breaths of catnip and holding their breath to see if they could retract the tail.
However, no matter how much he struggled, Rong Mian’s tail still stood up energetically, occasionally swaying a bit, but it just couldn’t turn back.
Yun Min thought for a moment and felt that it might be because of the pressure of filming these past few days. So, he asked Rong Mian to transform back to his original form and relax for a while, thinking that maybe resting would be enough.
So, while he was at it, Rong Mian also entertained a few high school girls who had just finished school and ran into the cafe. They were delighted to see Rong Mian.
Thus, Rong Mian was hugged and cuddled by them one after another, and even helped them with their physics homework for an hour.
In the end, he couldn’t bear it any longer. He let the cafe’s twin doll brothers take over, and Rong Mian finally had a moment to breathe. He transformed back into a human form and glanced behind him expressionlessly.
The tail was still there.
Just as Rong Mian put on his clothes, he saw Yun Min standing at the door, speaking very gently, “Mianzi1 , let’s have a chat.”
Yun Min is a long-haired calico cat. In fact, he is already considered an old cat in cat years, but in human form, he still looks like a beauties in her thirties with long flowing hair.
When Yun Min picked up Rong Mian, he had just gained the ability to transform. His mentality was still that of a stray cat, with a high level of vigilance. He didn’t have a sense of home and thought that one day he would still have to wander.
So, Rong Mian’s daily routine upon waking up is to eat. He would secretly hide in a corner of the cat café, clutching a bag of cat food, and devour it greedily until his belly was swollen before he would stop.
Yun Min had been providing Rong Mian with psychological counselling for a long time to gradually help him relax his guard.
Yun Min had a good network of contacts himself. He had been running a modeling agency for several years. Upon noticing Rong Mian’s interest in acting, he made efforts to help him find various resources.
Rong Mian became highly dependent on Yun Min, and Yun Min, due to his own past as a stray cat, had a slight bias towards this child in his own selfishness.
In a relaxed tone, Yun Min asked, “Have you encountered any interesting incidents while filming recently?”
Rong Mian nodded obediently and meticulously recounted the dishes he had eaten these past few days, the scenes he had shot, and the number of cockroaches he had seen in the bathroom on set, all in great detail, to Yun Min.
Yun Min patiently smiled and listened.
As if remembering something, Rong Mian suddenly said, “I also made a human friend.”
Yun Min remained calm and continued to follow up, “Oh? Who is it?”
“Do you know Zhong Yi?”
Rong Mian was not very good at describing others, so he thought for a moment and struggled to say, “He is the actor I collaborated with this time, tall, good-looking, with beautiful eyes, and beautiful hands…”
Rong Mian seemed to realize that his description was a bit abstract, so he lowered his head and thought for a while, then said, “He is the person on the wristwatch poster hanging in the shopping mall across from our cafe…”
“—Of course, I know.”
Yun Min couldn’t help but chuckle, “He won the XX award recently, he’s a movie king.”
Rong Mian was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head and slowly muttered, “Oh.”
Yun Min noticed that the tail that was originally standing straight up behind the boy suddenly drooped down slowly, swaying slightly.
Rong Mian didn’t notice it himself. After a while, he said, “He is a very nice person, although sometimes I don’t understand what he says.”
He added: “He knows that I am a cat, but he is still willing to be friends with me.”
Rong Mian continued to talk about the wontons made by Zhong Yi and the sashimi they ate together.
Yun Min noticed that the slightly drooping tail behind the boy slowly stood up straight again.
Yun Min stared at the side face of Rong Mian, lost in thought.
“…Uncle Yun, what should I do about my tail?”
Rong Mian felt a bit down again, and he whispered, “If it can’t change back, how can I perform in the play? Will it delay everyone’s progress…”
However, when Rong Mian looked up, he noticed that Yun Min’s expression seemed much more relaxed. He was still smiling at him, but there seemed to be something inexplicable in his smile.
“Don’t worry.”
Yun Min said with a smile, “It’s springtime, rest well, just take a nap.”
Although Rong Mian didn’t understand the connection between this situation and the season, he trusted Yun Min’s words.
Yun Min went to prepare dinner for everyone, and Rong Mian sat on the sofa, lost in thought, playing with his own tail.
Suddenly, his phone vibrated, someone had sent him a WeChat message.
Rong Mian’s WeChat is usually silent, mostly filled with various video links sent by Kong Sandou.
He curiously opened the message and was surprised to find that it was from Shi Cheng.
Shi Cheng on the other end seemed clearly panicked.
He typed rapidly, bombarding Rong Mian with messages.
[Xiao Rong, Brother Zhong suddenly asked me for your WeChat, I’m so scared, so I gave it to him, you don’t mind, right?]
Rong Mian blinked, exited the chat interface, and indeed saw a new red dot in the contacts list.
The WeChat ID was “Traditional Chinese Medicine,”2 with a profile picture of Zhong Yi’s recent cover shoot for a magazine. His face was painted with vibrant red oil paint, and behind him was a blooming patch of orange-red chrysanthemums.
Rong Mian accepted Zhong Yi’s friend request, then switched back and slowly replied to Shi Cheng.
[It’s okay.]
Rong Mian thought that someone like Zhong Yi, with his status, wouldn’t have the time to initiate conversations with people. But unexpectedly, the moment the request was accepted, Zhong Yi messaged him.
Traditional Chinese Medicine:
[Liu Yuanfeng told me that you’re not feeling well.]
[What’s wrong?]
Rong Mian blinked.
He thought about his current situation and felt that “not feeling well” didn’t quite define it.
So Rong Mian earnestly typed a reply, saying that he didn’t have any health issues and asked Zhong Yi not to worry. But at the same time, he didn’t know how to describe his own situation.
Rong Mian pondered for a moment. Since Zhong Yi already knew that he was a cat, and they were now good friends, and good friends could share any secrets with each other.
So Rong Mian paused, put down his phone.
“Sandou.”
He called out to Kong Sandou not far away, “Can you take a photo of me?”
Zhong Yi hadn’t slept well for a few days.
That day, he had finished a boatload of sashimi, and while his stomach wasn’t upset, he couldn’t fall asleep.
Actually, Zhong Yi couldn’t quite explain what was going on with himself. In the eyes of others, he was almost thirty years old, and he had acted in idol dramas, horror films, and detective dramas. He had received the awards he deserved, and he had experienced all kinds of things.
But this time, for the first time, he felt inexplicably restless because of a child.
Later, he contacted his lawyer friend and discreetly asked about situations similar to his own. His friend said that it mainly depended on the specific contract terms. However, artists from small companies often suffered losses in this regard. If things got out of hand, they would definitely be frozen out, and if they terminated the contract directly, they wouldn’t be able to escape the astronomical penalty fees.
Zhong Yi disliked young people who tried to obtain resources by taking shortcuts without putting in any effort. That was the reason he initially distanced himself from Rong Mian. But from the current situation, this child’s circumstances seemed different.
Being brainwashed and exploited by the company at such a young age, it was likely that the mental issues he had when he was under pressure and resorted to eating cat food were indirectly forced upon him.
Zhong Yi felt a strange twist in his heart that he couldn’t quite describe.
That day, Zhong Yi was planning to have a chat with this child. As a result, this person played a game of “Fight the Landlord” and went to the restroom but never came back. Later, he heard from Liu Yuanfeng that he suddenly felt unwell.
In the end, Zhong Yi asked around and finally got the WeChat ID from Shi Cheng’s hand.
He had always been thinking about how to approach Rong Mian without raising suspicion. However, in the end, he took the initiative to add him as a friend.
Rong Mian’s WeChat name is his real name. His Moments were empty, and his profile picture was a cute black kitten with round, amber-colored eyes. Zhong Yi suspected that it was an image found online.
Zhong Yi opened the chat box and straightforwardly asked how his health was.
However, the person on the other side was typing quite slowly. The screen repeatedly displayed “typing” but no punctuation appeared for a long time.
While Zhong Yi was hesitating about how to continue the conversation, a long message popped up from the other side.
Rong Mian:
[I might not be able to go to the set tomorrow, sorry.]
[I’m not feeling unwell, just encountering a little trouble at the moment. It should be resolved soon.]
Zhong Yi paused for a moment and replied,
[What kind of trouble?]
The moment he sent it, Zhong Yi wished he could take it back.
The meaning behind his words is clearly that he don’t want to disclose his whereabouts any further. However, Zhong Yi end up resembling a sleazy blind date man, persistently pursuing him and engaging in awkward chat.
Rong Mian on the other side seemed to not anticipate Zhong Yi digging so deep and didn’t reply for a while.
Zhong Yi pondered, trying to think of something to say to make it less awkward. But when he looked at his phone again, he found that Rong Mian had sent him a picture directly.
Rong Mian:
[It’s like this.]
The small image was quite blurry. Zhong Yi hesitated for a moment, then clicked on the picture.
The person in the photo was Rong Mian himself.
He was sitting on a high stool without a backrest, facing away from the camera. The background lighting was somewhat dim, but his slender and fair neck was exposed, revealing a peaceful and beautiful profile.
Zhong Yi’s gaze gradually moved downwards, and his pupils suddenly shrank.
The boy was wearing a soft white sweater, which was quite loose, barely covering his buttocks. But it could still be seen that his pants were unbuttoned and fell loosely from his waist.
What appeared from the bottom of his clothes was a soft and fluffy tail.
Author’s note:
Zhong Yi: ???
I didn’t expect such a twist so soon, my dear readers, because a normal person wouldn’t immediately think of it in terms of a little kitten…
Footnotes
Mian-zi, 子=Zi = son
Zhong Yi name is 钟熠 (zhōng yì), while
Zhong Yi WeChat Id is 中医 also read as “zhōngyī” but the meaning is Traditional Chinese Medicine.
