Chapter 26: The Impostor Cat

Song Jin had long since figured out Duan Yan’s filming schedule and showed up on set on time, wanting to personally watch her every performance.

This afternoon, Duan Yan was filming a heart-wrenching scene.

Due to a spy’s betrayal, Duan Yan’s comrade-in-arms was captured and was to be publicly executed in the city market as a warning.

In the bustling crowd, Duan Yan’s eyes were filled with helplessness and pain, yet her facial expression remained unchanged.

Her inner torment was conveyed entirely through her eyes.

The veteran actress on the stage also gave an outstanding performance.

Her gaze was resolute, showing no fear in the face of death.

But when she caught sight of Duan Yan in the crowd below, a flash of reluctance and sorrow crossed her eyes.

Her lips moved, silently forming the word “Go.”

With the sound of a gunshot, the actress on the stage fell, yet a smile of release hung on her lips.

Tears streamed down Duan Yan’s cheeks, her eyes revealing a profound sadness and pain that infected everyone present.

Seeing that look in Duan Yan’s eyes, Song Jin was deeply moved and couldn’t help but be drawn into the sorrowful mood.

“Cut!” Director Yuan Si decisively called a halt, heaping praise on Duan Yan’s performance.

In an instant, Duan Yan pulled herself out of the emotions of the scene and returned to reality.

Song Jin was full of admiration for this.

The comparative phrase in her mind changed from “As expected of my rival,” to “As expected of the person she likes.”

After filming, Duan Yan walked over to Director Yuan Si.

“I have some personal business to attend to later. I’ll be back tomorrow morning.”

‘It’s almost evening. What is Duan Yan going out for now?’

Song Jin silently pondered the meaning of “personal business.”

‘Could it be that Duan Yan’s ‘girlfriend’ is back?’

Duan Yan’s smile was incredibly radiant.

It wasn’t a perfunctory politeness but a joy that came from the bottom of her heart.

A trace of sourness, however, rose in Song Jin’s heart.

She couldn’t help but feel jealous.

‘Damn it, how can Duan Yan like someone else?’

“Something’s up? Then I’ll give you a few more days off. Your scenes aren’t that many anyway.”

Director Yuan Si had a sudden realization and said to Duan Yan with a smile.

But Duan Yan interrupted the director’s guess:

“No, that’s not it. Please don’t misunderstand. My missing cat has been found.”

Bubbles of joy popped up in Song Jin’s heart.

She was delighted that Duan Yan was so worried about her, but then she frowned.

As far as she remembered, she had clearly told her butler to contact Duan Yan tomorrow.

She was right here, and the butler hadn’t notified Duan Yan.

Who on earth was impersonating her?

Song Jin fumed internally and decided to have her butler contact Duan Yan immediately.

Anyway, she had no scenes today, so it wasn’t impossible for her to leave early.

Plus, because Song Jin had treated the crew to a meal before, everyone was very understanding and urged her to go back and handle her private matters quickly.

Song Jin returned to her room, transformed into a fluffy little cat, and lay on the bed, acting cute for the camera.

That pair of watery amber eyes was enough to make anyone’s heart ache with affection at a single glance.

Duan Yan would surely be familiar with this voice and these movements.

It would definitely put that imposter cat, who had appeared out of nowhere, to shame.

‘Hmph, if Duan Yan gets it wrong, I’ll give her a vicious scratch with my claws.’

Song Jin returned to her human form, looked at the “pitifully cute” image of the kitten in the video, and nodded in satisfaction.

She sent it to her butler, then contacted her, also reminding her not to tell her mother and Auntie Shao.

“Sister Song, come directly to the hotel later. I’ve forwarded you the address. Take the little orange cat from the bed and give it to Duan Yan.”

The Song family’s butler received Song Jin’s sudden call and looked helplessly at the two mistresses of the house, waiting for instructions.

Song Yuan and Shao Lan had long known that Song Jin’s previous disappearance was because she had turned into a cat.

But since their daughter didn’t tell them, they couldn’t just force the question.

They couldn’t exactly turn into fluffy cats in front of their daughter and say, “Xiao Jin, Mommy is a cat too. Where did you run off to this time when you turned into a kitten?”

The cat form of the cat clan was generally only shown to their beloved.

It couldn’t be casually petted, held, or kissed by others.

That would be a great breach of cat etiquette.

Seeing that her daughter was fine, Song Yuan didn’t ask much more.

She hadn’t expected Song Jin to have fallen for Duan Yan and even wanted to go to Duan Yan’s house behind their backs.

Shao Lan let out a chuckle, pointed at Song Yuan, and laughed, “Your daughter is all grown up. You can’t keep her.”

Song Yuan’s face darkened, and she pinched Shao Lan’s cheek with her hand.

“What are you saying? She’s your daughter too. Quickly send someone to investigate Duan Yan’s background. Don’t let Xiao Jin be deceived.”

The Song butler couldn’t help but laugh at the two mistresses’ banter, her fluffy tail even popping out.

She promised to investigate and then left the room.

“I have to go first, or the Second Miss will get anxious.”

Although Duan Yan wanted to find her cat, she wasn’t a fool.

She arranged to meet the other party at a restaurant she was familiar with and even brought bodyguards to wait outside.

If the other party had ill intentions, they could intervene in time.

A couple brought a cage that was tightly wrapped in a dark cloth and carefully placed it on the seat opposite them.

They looked quite plain and sat stiffly, as if they were in an unfamiliar, high-class place.

According to them, they had been enjoying the nightlife at a luxury hotel when they unexpectedly found this injured cat.

They had been treating it until yesterday and had immediately contacted her.

Duan Yan walked in, and Xu Qin followed, sitting down.

The couple exchanged a look, hesitated for a moment, and said, “…the cat is afraid of light and is sleeping…”

Duan Yan frowned slightly.

‘Could this be a scam?’

Xu Qin acted, ripping the cloth off the cage.

The figure of a small orange cat was revealed.

It was indeed fast asleep, but from its appearance, it was strikingly similar to Duan Yan’s little orange cat.

“It’s identical.”

Xu Qin was very surprised and was happy that Duan Yan’s cat had been found.

Seeing this, the couple immediately made their demand.

“We’ve put a lot into this cat. We’re only asking for one million. For a big star like you, that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Xu Qin was blunt, retorting on the spot, “One million? This is blatant extortion!”

The couple also got anxious.

“Miss, you don’t know the price of daily necessities. We’re ordinary people, not like big stars who get paid tens of millions for a single movie. We’re not asking for much, just one million.”

Duan Yan tugged on Xu Qin’s hand, about to speak.

Just then, her phone rang.

It was Auntie Lian.

Someone else had found her cat.

Duan Yan looked at the cat in the video.

It was lying in a soft nest of blankets, letting out weak cries at the camera, looking exactly like her little orange cat.

Now, Duan Yan was in a difficult position.

It was impossible for both cats to be hers.

She only had one little orange cat.

“How about this? Since I only have one orange cat, let’s wait until the other cat arrives and compare them before we decide.”

Hearing Duan Yan’s phone call, the couple was also dumbfounded, their expressions panicked.

“We won’t ask for too much, just five hundred thousand. Five hundred thousand! Give it to us now, and we’ll give you the cat.”

Xu Qin had already seen through them and sneered, “What, are you scared? If it’s a fake, then I can sue you for extortion.”

The restaurant wasn’t far from the film set.

The butler quickly arrived with the cat at the designated place.

Song Jin was curled up in the cage.

The thought of living with Duan Yan soon made her extremely excited.

As soon as she entered the door, she heard Duan Yan’s voice.

“Alright.”

‘This woman Duan Yan has me and it’s still not enough. She wants to raise another cat. What a despicable jilt!’

“Alright, alright, alright,” the couple said, beaming with joy.

Song Jin saw the cat in the cage and the couple, and tutted.

They didn’t look like good people.

But the cat in the cage did look a lot like her.

However, its fur wasn’t as glossy as hers, and it wasn’t as cute.

Duan Yan had really bad taste!

“Your cat.”

The butler let the cat out of the cage.

Song Jin zipped over to Duan Yan in a flash, letting out a faint cry, acting pitifully cute and coquettish, like a soft feather gently tickling Duan Yan’s heart.

“Mewl~”

Seeing this adorable little orange cat in front of her, Duan Yan hesitated slightly.

Something felt off.

‘Why is it so fawning?’

Her cat was always extremely aloof and would only deign to be petted when it was happy.

For it to nuzzle up like this was a bit too…

‘I’m acting so cute, why isn’t there any reaction?’

Seeing that Duan Yan couldn’t recognize her, Song Jin raised her paw, preparing to “discipline” her.

“Hiss—”

‘This familiar feeling, this is my cat!’

It was as if a switch had been flipped in Duan Yan.

She instantly confirmed that this was her cat.

“Baby, Mommy is here.”

‘Sure enough, she has to get hit to recognize my true self.’

Song Jin was speechless.

‘Does Duan Yan really have some strange fetish? She doesn’t want me to be nice to her, she has to be hit to be satisfied?’

Seeing that Duan Yan had recognized the cat, the couple thought they wouldn’t get the money.

They suddenly made a move, trying to grab Song Jin.

Song Jin was gentle with Duan Yan, but she was by no means polite to others.

She extended her sharp claws, instantly leaving a bright red, bloody scratch on one person’s hand.

The person’s face darkened.

He picked up something from the table and was about to hit Song Jin.

“Little beast.”

Song Jin was naturally not afraid.

She extended her sharp claws, about to teach him a lesson.

The next moment, Song Jin was scooped into Duan Yan’s arms, held as tightly as the first time they met.

Duan Yan’s voice was impossibly gentle, like a lover’s whisper.

“Baby, don’t be afraid.”

The commotion alerted the bodyguards next door.

A bodyguard grabbed the couple and sent them to the police station.

“Since you’ve found the cat, I’ll be leaving now.” The Song family’s butler had completed her task and turned to leave.

“Hey, I haven’t given you the reward yet,” Xu Qin liked her very much. Seeing her about to leave, she offered the reward on Duan Yan’s behalf.

Song Jin stared coldly at the butler, as if she would bite off a piece of her flesh if she dared to accept it.

“No need.” The Song butler looked at Xu Qin’s smiling face and was a bit smitten, but she quickly regained her composure. Now was really not the time for romance. If she had the chance to meet her again next time, then…

“No need. I’m a cat lover too. If you really want to thank me, you could donate some money to a cat rescue center.”

“Of course.” Duan Yan watched her leave.

Duan Yan held the little cat tightly, as if someone had gently stuffed a cluster of honey-soaked cotton into her heart.

There was nothing but an indescribable softness and sweetness.

The tender affection in her heart made her want to kiss the little cat’s cheek.

Song Jin felt Duan Yan approaching.

Her warm breath gradually sprayed onto her own cheek.

A wave of shyness washed over her, and she involuntarily turned her face away, trying to avoid Duan Yan’s kiss.

‘I haven’t even been confessed to yet. I have no official status. How can I be casually kissed?’

Just then, Duan Yan’s lips lightly brushed against Song Jin’s.

Although it was only for a moment, Song Jin remembered the feeling clearly.

The cool, jelly-like touch of Duan Yan’s lips.

Song Jin couldn’t think of anything else.

Fireworks immediately went off in her heart, cheering and celebrating: ‘Wifey, she kissed me!!!’