Kitten has a sort of milky scent about her, similar to the one that clings to human infants. When she walks past me, she leaves a faint fragrance in the air that grows stronger when I sniff at her.

This aroma has a sweet tang to it and, coupled with Kitten’s squishy body, is just as alluring as the White Rabbit milk sweets I ate as a kid. I can’t stop sniffing at it, and neither can Cat. Oh, Cat. He’s unable to resist drawing close to Kitten, licking her fur, eyes shut, tongue dipping in and out with the same rapture and delight that he laps at his goat milk.

Cat sleeps alongside Kitten, but even with his large body spooning her little one, the milky fragrance still seeps out. It spreads all around, suffusing the air, and when it reaches my nostrils, I seize the opportunity to inhale deeply. This natural and free-floating aroma has a certain unforced wholesomeness. I also like to cuddle Kitten, burying my face in her side, huffing away at her delicious scent. Even if it meant catching Cat Virus, I’d have no regrets.

Cat’s body produces odors too, but these are very different from Kitten’s. He has no fixed scent but smells different depending on what is wafting through the flat. When we’re stewing winter melon with pork ribs, that’s what he reeks of. When we’re making braised beef, ditto. And when we steam fish with fermented black beans, etc.

Basically, whenever we cook, Cat will start emanating the same culinary scents. Husband will be clattering away in the kitchen, and Cat will squat on the little stool by the entrance, quietly absorbing all the foods’ aromas. He gathers all these appetizing smells to himself, then disseminates them far and wide. One sniff of Cat, and I know what to expect for dinner, as if I could part his fur and see a dining table with a delicious spread on it.

When I’m hungry, smelling cat temporarily sates me, just like the men in the old story who satisfied their thirst by gazing at a plum tree. Watching Cat lick himself, watching Kitten lick him, all kinds of weird questions pop into my mind, surprising and amusing me. Is Cat tasty? That probably means Kitten would be delectable too? Haha, I can’t help but laugh at my gruesome thoughts.

On any given day, as Cat sprints through the flat, he leaves a trail of aromas, and Kitten comes running after him. Eventually, I realized that Kitten is actually rapt at the delicious smells he gives off, and that’s the source of her attraction for him. So I’ve solved the riddle: it turns out Kitten is nothing more than a greedy guts!