Though they had said goodbye for the afternoon when they parted.
Just over four hours later, Jiang Yu had finished preparing dinner for the spring hunt with the other witches. Following a paper crane, she hurried to the third floor of the old castle and easily spotted the black cat napping with its paws tucked beneath it atop a marble pillar by the staircase.
A little fairy in a gray gauze dress was flying laboriously through the air, holding a brush larger than her head and pushing it back and forth across the black cat's back. A contented purr rumbled from the cat's belly.
The witch could not help laughing.
"Didn't you say this castle was well worth exploring and that you would spend the whole afternoon looking around?" She tossed the little fairy a Gold Bean, gathered the black cat into her arms, and leaned close to whisper in its ear. "How long have you been exploring before you started slacking off?"
After properly bowing to the witch, the little fairy flew off happily with her brush and the tip she had earned.
The witch's gentle tone made the black cat feel a flicker of heat. It could not help narrowing its eyes and curling itself into a ball.
"That's because I didn't know there were so many rooms in this castle that cats weren't allowed into." Without opening its eyes, it flicked its ears comfortably, yawned lazily, and hooked its tail around the witch's arm. "Besides, this isn't called slacking off... How could sightseeing involve slacking? This is called stealing half a day of leisure from a fleeting life~~"
Jiang Yu ignored the black cat's glibness and gestured at the height of the marble pillar.
"You were lying somewhere so low. Weren't you afraid someone would pet you?"