Chu Hengyuan casually wiped his hair a few times and then went to the balcony to hang up the towel.
When he returned to the living room, Rong Lan, who had just fetched a pen and some paper, was sitting down on the sofa.
Rong Lan gave Chu Hengyuan a pen and two sheets of paper. She was silently thinking about what names would suit their family's puppet cat.
Naming was a big deal. In her opinion, naming a pet was not much different from naming a child. Once the other party used the name she gave, she would be responsible for them. It was the same for children as it was for cats and dogs.
After thinking for more than half an hour, the two of them solemnly wrote down the names they had come up with on the paper.
Rong Lan closed the pen cap and handed the paper to Chu Hengyuan with a serious expression.
Chu Hengyuan glanced at the names the little girl had come up with and then at his own. He thought the puppet cat would probably prefer the little girl's choices.
The two names Rong Lan had come up with were "Rongrong" and "Tuanzi", while his were "Amber" and "Rourou". His names might be more suitable for a male kitten, but theirs was a female kitten.
"Lanlan, go and get four cat treats."
"Okay."
Chu Hengyuan lined up the four names in a row not far from the cat's nest. Rong Lan put a cat treat on each piece of paper. They had decided that whichever piece of paper the little puppet cat ate the treat from would represent the name it had accepted.
The little kitten, which had been lying obediently in the cat's nest, ready to sleep, smelled the aroma of the cat treats and poked its head out of the nest.
Rong Lan waved at the little puppet cat with a beaming smile. "Come here, little fellow. Come and choose your name."
The little puppet cat seemed not to understand Rong Lan's words. It hesitated for a while, not knowing whether it should leave the nest. But in the end, it was defeated by the delicious-smelling cat treats and trotted towards them on its short legs.
Looking at the innocent and cute puppet cat at this moment, Chu Hengyuan asked, "Lanlan, do you know what its previous name was?"
Rong Lan tilted her head. "I really don't know. But it doesn't matter. From now on, it's our cat. From the moment it chooses its name, it should completely say goodbye to the past."
Chu Hengyuan smiled and reached out to ruffle her hair. "You're right, Lanlan."
Rong Lan was used to pressing down her fox ears when Chu Hengyuan ruffled her hair. Relying on the fact that Chu Hengyuan couldn't feel them, she didn't show the slightest bit of awkwardness. She just casually smoothed the fur on her ears when he wasn't looking.
"The little puppet cat doesn't know which cat treat it likes more." Seeing the little puppet cat wandering around the four cat treats without making up its mind to eat one, Rong Lan whispered to Chu Hengyuan.
Chu Hengyuan raised his eyebrows. "Shouldn't it be that the little puppet cat likes one of the names more?"
Rong Lan looked at Chu Hengyuan in shock. Even she, a fox, thought the little kitten was actually choosing the cat treat it liked rather than the name. Did Chu Hengyuan think the little kitten could read what was written on the paper?
She reached out and ruffled the man's wet hair. "The little puppet cat can't read what's written on the paper. So what it's choosing now is the cat treat it likes more."
If the little kitten was a spirit like her, she would be able to tell. But their little kitten was just an ordinary kitten.
Moreover, there should be no other spirits like her in this world. Otherwise, those little ghosts wouldn't have looked at her as if she were a rare species. It must be because in their perception, spirits didn't exist. They had never seen an animal transform into a human before, so she, with her fox ears and a human body, was extremely strange.
She could tell that those little ghosts were really scared, and they probably thought she was terrifying too.
Chu Hengyuan's expression was gentle. "All things have souls. Our cat is a smart little kitten. Maybe it can understand. Otherwise, why is it so hesitant? Why doesn't it just eat all four cat treats?"
Since he had felt the little girl's soft ears that were connected to her scalp, he had started to believe in the truth of the phrase "all things have souls".
Rong Lan turned to look at the man. He seemed to be the same as usual, with a gentle smile and a casual yet earnest tone. But she always felt that there was something different about him now. She inexplicably wanted to lean over and kiss him.
The little fox had never been one to suppress her desires. She always did what she wanted. With this thought in mind, she leaned over and kissed his cheek with pursed lips.
Chu Hengyuan was startled by the little girl's sudden action. He looked at the little puppet cat and then at the little girl, whose eyes were shining brightly like the warm winter sun. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Lanlan, you're flirting with me in front of the cat."
With a cat around, he didn't feel comfortable kissing her and pinning her down like he did in the study before.
Rong Lan blinked innocently. "I'm not flirting with you. I just thought you were extremely good-looking at that moment, so I wanted to kiss you."
She wasn't the kind of fox who would flirt randomly. She was very upright.
Chu Hengyuan shook his head helplessly. Wasn't this flirting? Not only had her actions flirted with him, but her words had also done so. "We've lived together for so long. Did you only think I was good-looking just now, Lanlan?"
"No, no." Rong Lan grabbed Chu Hengyuan's arm. "My brother is always good-looking, but he was especially good-looking just now!"
Chu Hengyuan gave a soft snort and was beaming with joy after being coaxed by her.
"Meow!" As if realizing it had been ignored, the little puppet cat looked up at the two who were cuddling together and meowed, as if complaining.
Rong Lan immediately reached out and stroked the puppet cat's fluffy head. "Why haven't you chosen yet? Do you not like any of these names?"
If it didn't like any of them, they would have to come up with new names.
Influenced by Chu Hengyuan, she now also thought that the little kitten was seriously choosing a name for itself, rather than just randomly choosing a cat treat to eat.
"Meow~" The little puppet cat rubbed against Rong Lan's palm, then turned and walked to a piece of paper, eating the cat treat on it.
After eating that cat treat, it squatted on the paper and didn't touch the cat treats on the other papers.
Chu Hengyuan looked at the piece of paper the little puppet cat was squatting on and said in surprise, "It actually chose the name I gave it?"
This taste didn't seem very good. Weren't the names Rongrong and Tuanzi cute enough? After seeing the names the little girl had written on the paper, he had once thought his names didn't even need to be considered. The soft and cute little puppet cat definitely wouldn't like them.
"Amber? So you like this kind of name." Rong Lan picked up the little puppet cat. "Then from now on, your name will be Amber. Surname... Chu! How about it?" She held up the little puppet cat and showed it to Chu Hengyuan, smiling brightly. The last "How about it" was more like asking for Chu Hengyuan's opinion than the little puppet cat's.