While everyone was not paying attention, Zhao Yao carried Matcha to a corner of the café which was nearest to the cat toilet. To prevent anyone from noticing any abnormalities, Matcha even had to walk backward to the cat toilet.
In the illusion which Zhao Yao had cast, Matcha"s head had turned into his b.u.t.t while his b.u.t.t had turned into his head. The image projected by the illusion was the opposite of reality.
"This is so troublesome," Matcha grumbled as he backtracked his way into the cat toilet and out of the customers" field of vision.
With no one to judge him, Matcha just sat on the floor and ignored the fact that he looked like he was sitting on his face because of the illusion. Matcha grew frustrated and asked Zhao Yao, "Zhao Yao, are you done yet?"
"Wait, I"m still busy, just stay in the toilet for a little while longer."
Matcha pouted and begun surveying his surroundings. He thought, "Since I"m already in the toilet, I might as well use it." He then walked towards one of the automatic self-cleaning litter boxes.
At the same time, Dust Ball had just burrowed her way out of the litter box and saw a fat cat walking backward into another litter box. The fat cat turned his body and sat on his face. Strange sounds emanated from that litter box.
Dust Ball was traumatized by what she had just seen and sprinted towards the litter box. She fixed her eyes on the fat cat in it.
She could not believe what she saw. The fat cat vomited pieces of cat feces from his mouth.
Dust Ball broke into a cold sweat as she took a few steps back. Her mouth was slightly opened, and her entire feline worldview had been shattered to pieces.
The fat cat then exited the litter box by walking backward again. He even nodded at Dust Ball with his b.u.t.t cheeks. Dust Ball noticed the remnants on the side of his lips. The fat cat"s b.u.t.t cheeks started moving animatedly, and it seemed like he was communicating with Dust Ball.
"Oh, it"s Dust Ball? You also came for a toilet break? Do you want to help me lick my a.s.s?"
This frightened the life out of Dust Ball as she ran towards the exit, to escape from this monstrosity.
"Why did she run away?" Matcha licked the fur on his body and mumbled, "Was she afraid of my aura?"
Zhao Yao used his power to freeze time and conjure illusions to address the incidents which cropped up in his café.
The number of people who came to the café also reached an all-time high. There were a total of 60 to 70 customers. One cat had to be shared between 3 or 4 customers.
On the one hand, this was due to the soothing effects of Celestial Beats which attracted many people to visit the café. On the other hand, it was also due to the increase in the number of cat lovers in China. The last reason was due to Zhao Yao"s Kris Wu skin.
All the customers could not bear to leave the café when the clock struck 8 pm.
An Xin stared at the questionnaire in her hand and could not make up her mind over who was the cutest cat tonight.
"I think the cat with the giant head was the cutest."
"Ms. An, have you completed the questionnaire?" Zhao Yao raised his eyebrow as he collected the questionnaire from her. He took a peep at the paper and sighed, "It"s Matcha again. I guess it managed to earn quite a few votes with that magic trick."
Leigh Zhao walked towards Zhao Yao and submitted the form to him. She winked at him and gave a mysterious smile before turning to leave.
Zhao Yao looked at the questionnaire which Leigh Zhao had turned in and saw that she voted for Elizabeth. Other than that, she also left a phone number at the corner of the paper.
Zhao Yao sighed as he recalled the mysterious smile that she gave just now. He slotted the questionnaire into the pile and pretended as if he did not see anything. Deep down, he knew that the number was given to his "face" and not him.
Coco Sun who donned the sailor suit had cat fur all over her skirt and socks. After submitting the form, she stared at Zhao Yao wide-eyed and asked him excitedly, "Hi, do you sell the cats which are in the café today?"
"Oh, are you interested in buying the cats?"
"Yes," Coco was somewhat embarra.s.sed as she gave the reply. She lowered her head and continued, "I really like this cat, and I promise you I will treat her like a princess. I"m willing to pay any amount for Elizabeth." She had a burning desire to bring Elizabeth home right now. She did not want to see anyone hugging and cuddling Elizabeth. She wanted Elizabeth all to herself.
Zhao Yao scratched his head and replied, "I"m so sorry, but the cats in the café are not for sale."
"I"m willing to offer RMB 100,000 for Elizabeth. I"m really sincere about buying Elizabeth, and I promise you that I will take good care of it."
Zhao Yao stared at Coco who seemed so determined to call Elizabeth her own. He thought, "I knew that she was pretty rich. But I didn"t expect her to pay RMB 100,000 for just a cat. She is the fuerdai."
Her eyes flickered with antic.i.p.ation as she continued staring at Zhao Yao. She pleaded incessantly but to no avail.
It was already 9 pm when they sent the last customer out of the café. s.h.i.+ Yu and Baiquan stared at the mess in front of them. Zhao Yao tried to lighten the mood and said, "Thank you for your hard work today. I"ll reward you guys with a fat red packet at the end of the month!"
"Hmm, this is unlike Zhao Yao." s.h.i.+ Yu raised her and took a glance at Zhao Yao. She asked, "Did you win the lottery or something?"
"What are you talking about? I, Zhao Yao, have always been known for my generosity." Zhao Yao announced proudly.
The experience points which he earned at the end of the month were dependent on the profit and not the revenue. Hence, Zhao Yao had to minimize his cost to maximize his earnings.
Even though he was extremely strict as to where the money went, the utility bills combined with the money spent on cat food, tidbits had totaled to over tens of thousands RMB. Even though he had used the cheapest coffee powder, he could not do the same to his cats. He always bought the most premier food to provide a balanced diet for them.
Furthermore, the maintenance for the automatic self-cleaning litter box was a few times more expensive than ordinary cat litter box. With over 20 cats to tend to, the amount easily exceeded a few thousand each month.
Zhao Yao intended to distribute his profits to the cats and his human helpers as a reward for their month of hard work.
"Thank goodness I do not have to pay the rental and tax. It would be disastrous if I have to. Opening a shop is difficult."
Zhao Yao fetched the stack of questionnaire and started tallying the votes for each cat.
Matcha stared at Zhao Yao"s direction with his eyebrows knitted together. He was praying in his heart, "Please let it be me, please let it be me."
Roly Poly and Dust Ball"s forehead furrowed as they stared in the same direction. Even Elizabeth who seemed like she was indifferent to this compet.i.tion glanced in the direction from time to time.
Ten minutes later, Zhao Yao stared at the results in his hand, and he shook his head in disbelief, "I can"t believe it."
He turned to the cats who had a glint in all their eyes and announced, "The champion of this compet.i.tion is Matcha. This is followed by Elizabeth, Roly Poly and finally Dust Ball."
"Meowhahaha," Matcha stood on his feet and roared with laughter, "I knew it! I"m the cutest cat among the 4 of us!"
"Tsk," Elizabeth glared at Zhao Yao and asked, "Zhao Yao, are you sure you counted correctly? Are you sure I lost to this fool?"
"You guys can check and tally the votes if you wished to." Zhao Yao left the votes on the table and said, "However Matcha had won this time around. It might have been because of his "magic trick"."
"Meowhaha, Elizabeth don"t be disheartened." Matcha folded his ears and mocked her, "Not every cat is capable of competing with me on the same level. You should be happy that you defeated the stray cats."
Elizabeth instantly rolled her eyes at Matcha and could not be bothered by this c.o.c.ky fat cat.
Roly Poly also heaved a sigh of relief, "This might work out for me. After winning the RMB 500, Matcha would not come to me and ask for money."
Matcha ran to Zhao Yao and started rubbing his body against his legs, "Zhao Yao! Quickly give me my RMB 500!"
"I"ll pa.s.s it to you at the end of the month." Zhao Yao replied coolly. Matcha"s smile collapsed as he retreated to his corner.
Cat café"s business boomed in the subsequent days as it rode on the success of cat"s night. The influx of customers was to the delight of Zhao Yao.
However, Zhao Yao had to use his illusion on the four supercats to maintain their original image due to their bald patch.
Time flew, and it was already the end of the month. It was the day where Zhao Yao would earn the experience points from his monthly mission.