After putting the cat climbing frame and cat scratching board away, the little snow leopard and Qi Xiaohan intended to go shopping at the second-hand market that Duo-en had mentioned before. The golden cat and the little bobcat would stay inside the dormitory to catch up on a drama.
Outside the dormitory, the sun shone fiercely. For both the little white cat and the little snow leopard, their fur being warmed up by the sun felt very comfortable.
The little snow leopard dragged its long tail next to Qi Xiaohan. The two freshmen still didn’t quite know the exact direction of the school and had to navigate using the roadside signs.
It took a long time for the two of them to find the second-hand market.
This side of the second-hand market was a temporary shed. The second-hand market stretched from the road east all the way to the road west of the small square. The students had fixed stalls, each marked with its own number.
The little white cat walked her little paws into the second-hand market while the little snow leopard looked around curiously.
The second-hand market had a lot of things, some of which were still very useful, especially for those freshmen who weren’t in a particularly good situation at home and didn’t get a scholarship at the beginning of the school year. It was quite timely.
On the side of the road were senior high school students holding QR codes to allow everyone to download the second-hand market’s app, which was said to have been written by the software majors.
The little white cat walked a little way forward before seeing something and stopped at a stall.
That stall’s keeper was a three-tailed fox with fiery red fur, probably a sophomore.
The little fox wasn’t too large. His three tails leisurely swaying, fluffy and smooth fur, tip of tail a handful of black fur, looked beautiful.
The little white cat stared at a bracelet on this fox’s stall for a while, then tilted her face to look at the fox and spoke.
“Senior, how much is this bracelet?”
The little fox glanced in her direction. When he saw which bracelet it was, his tail rose and whole body jumped down, looking at the little white cat. His fox eyes narrowed with a smile.
“Junior sister likes this? You have discerning eyes. This is a moonstone and you should know that we foxes worship the moon, right? It’s good for cultivation, and for a little cat like you, it can be used to absorb more aura to grow up.”
(T/N: Moonstone is known as the stone of ‘new beginnings’. It is also a stone for inner growth and strength. Moonstones can be of different colors such as white, gray, pink, transparent, etc. It is also widely used in jewelry. Examples of moonstones are shown in the picture at the end of the chapter.)
The little fox said as he raised his paw to lift the moonstone bracelet that was in the box. He then draped it over the little cat’s head. His furry fox ears drooped down and feigned pain:
“Seriously, I don’t want to sell it. It was originally for my former girlfriend. But after our breakup, she threw the bracelet directly at me. So desperate to leave, what a cruel woman,” the little fox tsk-ed while shaking his head and arranging the necklace on the little cat’s head.
The little snow leopard at the side listened with her eyes open in a round shape. ‘Ruthless woman’? How did a fox fall in love with a woman?
So amazing.
The little fox continued.
“If you really want it then you can buy it at a cheaper price, OK? You are still small, but you can still use it as a necklace.” The corners of the little fox’s mouth rose and he smiled while looking at the little cat in front of him.
Qi Xiaohan meowed and raised her cat claws to take off the bracelet. She put it back into its box. The little cat’s face looked up carefully, her eyes shining like crystals.
This bracelet was truly beautiful. The moonstone on it was crystal-clear, and the white light floss in the moonstone shone with a silvery glow, like running water, peacefully and gently.
After the little cat had seen enough, she finally lifted her paw and tilted her face to look at the little fox. She meowed, “How much is this?”
The little fox smiled: “It’s not expensive. When you’ve finished your military training, come help me refine weapons after your classes are over, for a week.” He paused for a second. “You’re a fire attribute cat, right?”
Her attribute could be seen just by looking at the flame-shaped hair on her forehead.
Generally, the spirit root attributes of the demon race would show up as special features.
The little white cat’s ears tilted a bit as she meowed, “I’m from the Fire Spirit Academy.”
“Is it not possible to pay for it?” The little snow leopard at the side asked with some confusion and then saw the little fox smile cutely.
“Of course you can, by doing some labor ah,” said the little fox as he pulled out the QR code from the back and pushed it towards the little white cat: “Scan the code and add me, I’ll contact you after military training.”
Qi Xiaohan also found her phone from the kitten bag she was carrying, swiped the QR code of the little fox senior, and then added him.
The little fox’s screen name was Nine Tails, and his avatar was an stylish photo of a cool and handsome human boy downloaded from somewhere.
“First pay a little interest, I’ll use it as a bonus.”
The little fox came close to the little white cat who was still off-guard. He opened his mouth and bit some hair off the little cat’s head. He then put it away inside the box.
Qi Xiaohan let out a pained meow. She raised her paw to touch her head and suddenly felt a missing patch of fur. She exploded into anger and glared at the little fox.
The little fox sensed that the little cat in front of him was angry, but immediately smiled and said, “Well, well, two days were saved, how about giving me just five days of work when military training is finished?”
The little white cat raised her paw to pat her head. She felt the pain of hair loss but when she thought about doing two days less work, she meowed happily, agreeing.
“I am Yu Xiu of the Mechanical Department of the Golden Spirit Academy, specializing in the manufacturing of magic weapons. I live in Wolf Academy’s building three. Remember to return to me,” the little fox said, noting down Qi Xiaohan’s school number.
The little cat meowed out a whimper before putting her bracelet in her bag. She definitely felt happy.
Now that she wasn’t back in her hometown anymore, she had to buy something suitable to put in her dormitory.
Moonstones could nourish the body, and they were very beneficial for humans. She was planning to give the moonstone bracelet to her family’s Ningning.
The little cat ran happily away from the stall and started humming an unknown cat song, evidently delighted.
She hadn’t used the money Ningning had given her to buy this bracelet, instead earning the money herself.
The little snow leopard followed Qi Xiaohan. Looking at the kitten who was so happy, the little snow leopard twitched its ears and grinned.
The little snow leopard went around and also bought some bits and pieces, which altogether weren’t too small (in terms of price).
Suddenly, the little white cat stopped walking and looked in a direction not too far away.
“Meow?”
Snow leopard Zhou Mingming also followed and stopped, looking in the same direction as the little white cat.
“What’s wrong?”
A big black wolf glanced toward them, and when he saw a familiar little white cat, his gaze grew certain and he went in their direction.
Qi Xiaohan: ……
The big black wolf walked to the little white cat. Looking down at the alert kitten with its round cat eyes open and tail frozen behind, he thought that it looked a little cute. He deliberately took another step forward, seeing that the little white cat was staring up to him with a fierce look, paws vainly touching the ground. It was a situation where raising the paws to fight would be an incorrect decision.
“Senior?” The little white cat’s voice rose.
The big black wolf gave a low laugh and retrieved the oppressive force around his body.
“I just saw you and came over to say hello, why so tense?”
The little white cat cried “Oh,” and raised her eyes to look at him. She saw that the wolf was also dragging an organizer’s shopping cart behind him.
The shopping cart had a lot of textbooks on it.
“Senior, you’re out selling books?” Qi Xiaohan asked curiously.
The black wolf gave a casual hmm and said, “There was a student who wanted a book and I sold it to him at a low price. I heard that he couldn’t find a place so I came here.”
After saying that, the black wolf pushed the shopping cart forward and let the little white cat climb up to look inside.
Inside were some first-year textbooks for the Department of Mind Control, except that the black wolf’s textbook was from the Water Spirit Academy.
Combined with the spiritual aura of this wolf that she felt last time, this black wolf should be an ice spirit root.
“Do you want any? I have some basic textbooks here which are general to all colleges. If you want any, I’ll give them to you.” Lei Ze looked to the kitten and said.
Qi Xiaohan shook her head. Senior brother Duo-en had already previously given her them, so there was no need to ask for more copies.
The little snow leopard was still picking at the inside of the shopping cart since she also had an ice spiritual root. She had only learned the professional ice spell but was still not quite able to use spirit mind control. The other general textbooks had already been given to her by her direct senior sister.
After the little white cat came close, the black wolf suddenly saw that the head of the little white cat seemed to be missing a handful of hair. It wasn’t particularly obvious, but it could be seen close up. He couldn’t help but hum a laugh.
“Fighting again?”
The little white cat scrunched up her ears and retorted, meowing back, “I’m paying interest to the stall owner, he used my fur as an additional element!”
As soon as he heard, he knew it was a refining major. Refining majors were always available in Fire Spirit Academy. They could be seen everywhere, out to recruit more members to their major. They would cheat other students into paying by labor, and it had practically become the refining majors’ tradition.
When he imagined this small white cat having to strike iron for a refining major in a few days, the big black wolf wanted to laugh.
“All right, you stroll around by yourself. I’m leaving.”
The big black wolf raised his paw to pat the little white cat’s head and turned to leave.
He had to hurry up and give the book to that new student. Later, the military department would hold a conference for the current military defense students, with him also attending.
Qi Xiaohan looked over at the black wolf. Not long after, she saw the black wolf approach a familiar Siamese cat. One wolf and one cat exchanged money and goods. The Siamese cat quickly transferred the books to its own shopping cart full of stuff.
Qi Xiaohan didn’t expect that the new student Lei Ze was going to sell books to was Ah* Tan and was slightly surprised.
Qi Xiaohan glanced towards them. Ah Tan’s shopping cart had unused fleece blankets, various books, water bottles, and a simple cat bed, along with other bits and pieces.
(T/N: Fleece blankets are usually made from polyester and is a good fabric to use as a blanket as it is warmer. Moreover, it is more lightweight than cotton. It is also used as fabric for other clothing such as fleece cardigans.)
Many of the things inside didn’t require money.
Noticing a gaze, Ah Tan looked over keenly but wasn’t expecting to see the little white cat.
Ah Tan pursed his ears and his tail dropped. He looked at his shopping cart, then at the little white cat, and pushed his cart away in silence.
The little white cat’s ears pressed downwards. She saw that Ah Tan did not want to greet her and did not go up herself either, instead changing direction and walking away.
(T/N: The ‘Ah’ here is used to call someone affectionately, especially a person whom you’re close with. It is the same as the use of ‘Xiao’.)