"Welcome to Cat Haven Coffee House!" Baiquan greeted enthusiastically.
He rushed forward to Xiao Qing, eager to begin corrupting students and conscripting them to Zhao Yao"s demon army.
His vision for the cafe was completely misguided, but it motivated him to work extra hard to win over customers.
Unfortunately, his exuberance felt more intimidating than inviting to Xiao Qing.
"Oh, erm, hi," Xiao Qing said meekly, taking in the surroundings.
Her eyes shone with happiness as she watched them. "There"re so many of them!"
"C"mon, let"s meet them. You"ll just have to put these on and sanitize your hands before you enter the play area," Baiquan smiled, handing his first customer a pair of disposable shoe covers.
Xiao Qing nodded quickly and did as she was told.
She held her breath when Baiquan unlocked the gate to the pen and ushered her into…paradise.
The moment she crossed the gate, her entire body seemed to come to a complete halt. She felt strangely limp but relaxed.
Her vision was full of nothing but cats. They were grooming themselves, playing with toys, and rolling around on the floor. Her heart was full, and she felt completely at ease. All the stress from school work, aches from gaming for long hours, and even her spinal injury started to float away and dissipate.
It felt like the world around her had suddenly emptied and grown quiet. All she felt was peace. Xiao Qing thought that these adorable cats were the reason behind this.
She was not wrong, but she was not quite right either.
The cats" cuteness did not relax her. It was the wave of Celestial Beats that hit her the moment she entered the area.
Xiao Qing was leisurely studying each cat when her attention was captured by one.
Elizabeth was lying on her side, carefully grooming each of her soft paws.
Xiao Qing was walking towards Elizabeth before she could register her limbs moving.
"Oh wow, isn"t this one precious?" she cooed, squatting by the table that Elizabeth was on, "Look at the pattern on her forehead, that fluffy neck, this thick fur! It"s a blue-eyed ragdoll, isn"t it? That"s supposed to be really rare!"
Xiao Qing could barely contain her excitement. She had only ever seen cats as beautiful as Elizabeth online. To have a real one within arm"s reach was too much. She absolutely must touch Elizabeth.
"Oh, sweetheart, you"re so pretty you can win all the beauty contests," she continued, reaching for Elizabeth.
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes as the girl drew closer but otherwise remained still.
Xiao Qing took this as a silent invitation to touch the cat. At first, her movements were tentative. She patted Elizabeth on the back, then gently rubbed the top of her head.
Elizabeth seemed perfectly happy with the attention. She grew limp under her touch, her large, blue eyes now partially closed in contentment. Xiao Qing practically radiated joy when she noticed this.
"No wonder ragdolls are called puppy dogs," she thought, "They"re so affectionate and docile, even to a stranger like me!"
"What"s her name?" Xiao Qing asked Baiquan, who was standing by the gate, flas.h.i.+ng his warmest smile.
"This one"s Elizabeth," he answered promptly.
Xiao Qing nodded, her eyes still firmly fixed on Elizabeth, who had s.h.i.+fted to lie on her back, tummy exposed.
She could no longer hold it any longer. She had to get even closer to the cat.
With a giggle, Xiao Qing buried her face in Elizabeth"s fur. She rubbed the tip of her nose against Elizabeth"s tummy.
Xiao Qing may be bursting with joy now, but Elizabeth was far from that.
Her body instantly turned rigid from the overly close contact. She rolled her large eyes. She was happy to be touched and petted but did not enjoy having someone"s nose in her fur. There was a limit on how much personal s.p.a.ce could be invaded.
Elizabeth was about to push Xiao Qing away when Zhao Yao"s voice flashed through her mind.
"Patience, Elizabeth, patience. Suck it up."
Zhao Yao"s words caused her to freeze mid-push.
"You want to keep your phone, right?" he continued calmly.
Elizabeth"s right eye twitched violently. Owning a phone was of absolute importance. It was a portal to every movie and drama series that this world could offer. Elizabeth was seriously deliberating if she could live without one when Xiao Qing"s constant rubs grew more p.r.o.nounced and annoying.
Her eye twitched again.
"Oh, screw it," she thought, placing her paw on the girl, ready to get away from her.
At that moment, Zhao Yao"s firm voice rang through her head again, "If you treat our customers well, I"ll get you a VIP account at the end of the month."
Once again, Elizabeth stopped in her tracks.
A VIP account would mean watching an unlimited number of movies without any of those annoying commercials. She thought longingly at the list of movies she had yet to start on.
"I have fallen to the temptation of the Devil," she sighed.
Defeated, Elizabeth fell back onto her back and exposed her tummy.
"This girl better be done soon," she grimaced.
Her open body language only served to excite Xiao Qing even more.
"Oh, Elizabeth, do you like me too? You"re so fluffy, I"m going to die!" she exclaimed, giving the unwilling cat the tightest of hugs.
She then whipped out her phone and started taking photos.
This was the beginning of a torturous cycle of photo-taking, excessive cuddling, nose rubbing, then more photos again.
A look of despise crossed Elizabeth"s face every time Xiao Qing got a bit too close. However, for the VIP account, she had no choice but to continue tolerating this a.s.sault.
"When will it end?" Elizabeth thought, now in utter despair.
Baiquan, who had been standing by the corner, watching this overwhelming display of affection, came to Elizabeth"s rescue eventually.
"Hey, miss? Would you like to order a drink?" he asked.
Xiao Qing looked up, embarra.s.sed.
"I"m so sorry," she apologized, "This ragdoll is just too adorable. I got a bit carried away."
"Don"t worry about it!" Bai Quan nodded before handing her the cafe menu, "Here"s the list of drinks we serve."
"Thank you," Xiao Qing said politely.
This was not her first foray into cat cafes, so she knew that they could be quite pricey. Normally, you would have to choose a seat, order a drink, then enter the play area to interact with the cats. On top of drinks, you could also order dessert or buy snacks to feed the cats.
She did not expect to be surprised when she looked through the menu, but it left her stunned.
On it was only five or six drinks, each with an exuberant price tag. They were all at least RMB 100, which was easily two times the price of the beverages served at other cat cafes.
"Can I have a latte, please?" she said to Baiquan, handing him the menu.
She leaned back and took in the view before her. She was surrounded by cute cats and felt completely at peace. Sure, this cafe was expensive, but this was money well spent.
"Sure thing. How will you be making your payment?" Baiquan asked.
"Do you take Alipay?"
At the other end of the cafe, Zhao Yao was watching this encounter intently, a lopsided grin plastered on his face.
"Seems like appearances almost matter, even if you"re a cat. Elizabeth has the potential to be our little star," he thought, amused.
He then turned to study the rest of the cafe, which was empty and seemed a little sad. His grin was replaced with a thoughtful expression.
"This can"t do. Even Elizabeth"s Celestial Beats will be useless if no one actually comes in," he mused, "Maybe we do need to do a bit of advertising and promotion? But that"s going to cost time and money."
He continued to deliberate his options as his gaze wandered across the cafe.
That was when his train of thought came to an abrupt halt.
"Hey, where"s Matcha?"
The cat in question was currently skiving in a small room that was converted into a bathroom for cats. Two shelves filled the room wall-to-wall. They were lined with ten self-cleaning automatic cat toilets.
Matcha was hidden in the toilet on the highest shelf, rolled-up tissues cramped into both nostrils. All his energy was focused on a heated match of Mobile Legend.
"Tsk, there"s no way in h.e.l.l I"m going out there to entertain the guests. Who would want to be molested by unwanted hands and pretend to be a complete idiot? Not me. Not when every penny goes to Zhao Yao," he complained.
"I might as well play games back here," he sn.i.g.g.e.red.
So, while Elizabeth and the other cats were molested by unwanted hands out there, Matcha spent the cafe"s first day of business slacking in the bathroom.
As the morning transitioned into the early afternoon, the golden hour for business drew closer.
Queues have already started to form at Cosy Coffee Cafe.
At Cat Haven Coffee House, however…
Two college students stopped by the entrance. They were both incredibly fas.h.i.+onable - the type of girls that you will see on the Instagram Explore page.
"Hey, is this a new cat cafe?" said the girl carrying the smallest of backpacks, "Didn"t Willow post a photo of her at some cat cafe on WeChat that day? C"mon, we should check it out."
She turned to her friend, who had long, silky hair and an enviably sharp chin. Her eyes were doll-like thanks to a pair of circle lenses.
"There"s no way there"ll be a decent cat cafe in this part of town. You wanna take snaps to show off online? Let"s go to the cafe downtown. It"s got European flair and style. Totally Instagram-able."