"…that’s how it is, Master," a woman whispered, her voice tight with lingering terror. "Ever since that night, this happens every time I wake up. There must be a demon at work, Master, you must save me!" As she spoke, her fear mounted, causing her to tremble uncontrollably. "Master, I haven't slept properly in days; you absolutely must help me…"

The Master raised a hand, halting her pleas, and slowly began to pace, surveying the room with measuring steps.

It was a tastefully furnished one-bedroom apartment in a high-end residential complex brimming with every modern convenience. Its mistress was an accomplished woman, a graduate of a prestigious school working for a renowned company. Yet, when faced with something inexplicable, her first recourse was to summon a Taoist Master.

This Master appeared to be around sixty, clad in a moon-white Tangzhuang, exuding an ethereal grace and uncommon composure, truly resembling an otherworldly sage. This sage made his living through divination, occasionally accepting invitations to exorcise spirits or bless homes. However, in all his previous dealings involving alleged hauntings, fully ten out of eleven cases turned out to be the result of the client’s own imagination running wild—catching shadows and chasing phantoms. He sighed inwardly: humans invented their own ghosts only to blame demons every single time. Still, completing this job meant he could afford his wine for the month; quite a profitable arrangement. While contemplating this, he feigned a thorough inspection, circling the entire space while expertly counting on his fingers.

The mistress of the house was a woman of twenty-three or twenty-four, her exquisite features etched with pallor and shock. Her eyes followed the Master with desperate hope, clutching a cat tightly to her chest as if drawing courage from the pet. Her cat, clearly oblivious to its owner's distress, was purring softly with contented meows. "Master?" she ventured, summoning her nerve after watching him circle the room a few times.

"Rest assured, I have everything under control!" The Master offered a reassuring reply, while mentally calculating how to weave a believable story to conclude the matter.

"This is…" Suddenly alert, he spun around, detecting a faint scent wafting just below his nose. "Demonic energy! Could this time truly be the one…" A shiver ran down his spine.

The woman quickly asked, "Master?"

"Silence!" The Master drew his peachwood sword, performed the necessary steps to invoke the ritual, and threaded several talismans onto the blade. With a sweep of the sword, the charms burst into vibrant flame. He used the burning talismans to ritually mark the four directions, then quickly affixed several more to the walls with a sharp slap. He spat a mouthful of clear water onto them, causing symbols—twisted, crimson characters that no one could decipher—to materialize on the paper. Wiping away a bead of sweat, the Master exhaled and declared, "It is done."

The woman asked with bright relief, "Master, are you saying the demon here has been cleared?"

The Master adopted a stern expression. "The wandering spirits here have been removed by my hand. These talismans possess the power to anchor and stabilize the residence. Miss, you can now sleep soundly."

"Ah…" The woman let out a long breath and reached for her purse. "Then, Master, your fee is…"

The Master raised his hand to stop her. "We can discuss payment once your home is truly settled. This poor Taoist must take his leave now." With a slight bow of respect, he turned and strode out, vanishing quickly.

"Truly a master of great skill!" the woman exclaimed in admiration. She collapsed onto the sofa and joyfully held up the cat in her hands. "Wonderful, Coffee! We can finally get a good night's sleep tonight."

"Meow, meow," Coffee chirped. For the cat, a good sleep was always possible as long as it was beside its owner.

Lu Jiu stood before Zhou Ying's door, his hand raising to knock several times, only to draw back each time.

After the initial spate of frights upon arriving in the city, he couldn't fathom why he hadn't immediately packed his bags and fled back to the mountains instead of staying. Nor had he followed his uncle, Lu Weima, into the profession of con artistry. Now, he ran a small farm in the suburban fringe where the city dissolved into the countryside, raising pigs, sheep, and chickens, and cultivating mushrooms. Thanks to his clan's innate ability to rapidly multiply living things, the farm was thriving. However, his income remained stagnant because Liu Di and Huo'er treated his place as their personal 'canteen.'

Lu Jiu disliked coming into the city, but he genuinely needed Zhou Ying's assistance this time. Thump-thump! He finally mustered his courage and began to knock. Thump-thump!

After four insistent raps, the door was yanked open violently. Huo'er thrust their head out and snarled, "Who is it! Knocking in broad daylight, are you tired of living!"

Lu Jiu stumbled back several paces, stammering, "Is, is, is Zhou Ying home?"

"Not here, he went out with the zombie—if he were here, would I need to open the door myself!" Huo'er let out a massive yawn and asked, "What do you need?"

"N-nothing!" Being alone with Bi Fang was too dangerous for Zhou Ying, Lu Jiu thought, turning to leave.

"Stop right there!" Huo'er rubbed their stomach. "I woke up hungry. You arrived at the perfect time, come in!"

"~~~~~"

"Hurry up and come in to cook, or I'll eat you!" Huo'er commanded. "The meat is in the fridge, water is in the tap, and the pot is on the stove… You better be quick!"

Lu Jiu retrieved the meat from the refrigerator, fighting down the nausea triggered by the smell of blood, and tried desperately not to consider what creature it might have been. He was immensely relieved that Huo'er wasn't intending to eat him, and thus dared not admit he had no idea how to cook meat. When he nervously presented the boiled meat, Huo'er tasted it and surprisingly declared, "Not bad. Tastes even better than what Ying makes." Lu Jiu let out a silent breath of relief.

Huo'er ate to their heart's content, smacking their lips. "Alright, now tell me, what did you actually come for? Given that you cooked for me, I’ll listen."

"My uncle sometimes accepts jobs exorcising demons for people…" Lu Jiu said cautiously, watching Huo'er’s expression.

"He’s a demon himself."

"He… he's a fraud…"

"Oh, right. Your uncle is that swindler, Lu Shu," Huo'er nodded knowingly.

"He was hired last night to clear a haunting, and it turned out there was a real demon there. So he just slapped a random talisman on the wall and fled…"

"Fled? Fled?" Huo'er sounded incredulous. "It must have been a very tasty demon. How could he run away?"

Lu Jiu didn't know how to answer.

"And then?" Huo'er never tired of a good story.

"Then he ran away."

"I mean, what happened after he fled?"

"…He came to me because the fee the woman offered was extremely high, and he hated to let it go. So he asked me to go check out what kind of demon it was."

"You went? Are your powers stronger than his?" Huo'er asked.

Lu Jiu recalled that Lu Weima had actually said: "Little Jiu, aren't you good friends with Liu Di? Ask him to take a look at what kind of demon it is." Friends with Liu Di? Lu Jiu certainly didn't think so; he was merely Liu Di's favorite target for bullying. However, the memory of what happened after Liu Di forced him to drink with him made him afraid to approach Liu Di voluntarily. Yet, he couldn't refuse his uncle's request. After much deliberation, he decided to beg the good-natured Zhou Ying for help.

"Did you go? What kind of demon was it? Was it delicious?" Huo'er pressed.

"…I… I didn't dare to go either…"

"What a pity," Huo'er sighed, licking their lips. "Wasting such a golden opportunity."

"…"

"Then why did you come looking for Ying?" Huo'er narrowed their eyes at Lu Jiu. "Don't tell me…"

"No, no, it’s nothing, I should be going now." Lu Jiu tried to bolt.

"Haha, no need to be so distant. I constantly eat your pigs, so it's only fair that I help you out while Ying is absent." Huo'er patted Lu Jiu's shoulder with a wing. "But we need an agreement first: whatever delicious demon we find, I get to eat it. Also, you owe me another ten pigs."

"…"

"Let's go, let’s go. Where is this demon?"

Lu Jiu sought out Zhou Ying hoping for a peaceful resolution. If only Huo'er went, the outcome would be singular: Huo'er would devour the demon indiscriminately, without asking questions. The mere thought sent shivers down Lu Jiu's spine, yet he dared not defy Huo'er’s demand. Urged by Huo'er, he left the apartment. Reaching the fifth floor, he saw Lin Rui bounding up the stairs, dribbling a basketball with rhythmic thumps. Lin Rui spotted Huo'er perched on Lu Jiu's head and asked, "Huo'er, where are you off to? My mom’s on night duty tonight, why don't you come over and play video games at my place?"

"We're going to catch a demon!" Huo'er announced proudly.

Lu Jiu had a sudden spark of inspiration: if Zhou Ying wasn't around, Lin Rui was the only one who could restrain Huo'er if they started causing chaos. He quickly called out, "Lin Rui, want to come with us?"

"Catch a demon?" Lin Rui tilted his head, his eyes calculating something unknown.

Lu Jiu quickly summarized the situation for him.

"Truly useless," Lin Rui sniffed, wrinkling his nose. "You two—uncle and nephew—are a disgrace to demons!"

"Come along, Lin Rui, he'll pay twenty pigs as compensation," Huo'er generously doubled the offering.

"I don't like eating raw meat," Lin Rui replied. "You can have them all. But my mom isn't home today, so I have to cook for myself. I can’t go with you." Seeing Lu Jiu didn't react, he looked at his face again and added, "What a shame, I have to cook for myself tonight!" He then leaned close to Lu Jiu's ear, speaking in a low voice, "You want me to go with Huo'er, right?"

Huo'er stretched their neck, eager to hear the whispered conversation.

"…What do you want to eat?" Lu Jiu finally understood the implication.

"KFC!" Lin Rui announced loudly, the true nature of the fox asserting itself at that moment.

That evening at nine o’clock, Lin Rui and Huo'er ate until the KFC closed, draining every bit of cash from Lu Jiu's pocket. Only then, wiping their mouths in satisfaction, did they follow Lu Jiu to the apartment of the woman tormented by the supposed haunting.

The woman, unsettled by days of anxiety, had slept poorly. Once relieved of her worry today, she had gone to bed early. Lin Rui waved his hand, casting a subtle spell to deepen her slumber, and then the three demons materialized in the room. In her deep sleep, the cat beside the woman suddenly sprang up, arching its back and letting out a low, warning mew.

"Where is the demon?" Huo'er looked around, licking their lips.

"It’s said the entity appears every night after she falls asleep to mess with her things…" Lu Jiu was also looking around, but his motives differed sharply from Huo'er's.

"Then find it! Where is it? Where!"

"…I don't know… My uncle said he definitely sensed demonic energy."

"Can we trust that old liar’s word? If you tricked me, I’ll… Hmph!" Huo'er’s threat was potent.

Lin Rui surveyed the area for a while. "There’s no demonic energy, but it’s hard to say for sure. If it’s a demon with weak energy, our collective presence here could easily mask its aura. Let's wait. Since it caused trouble the last few nights, it should show up tonight—Lu Weima’s talisman won't have done anything useful."

"A demon with weak energy? That won't be tasty," Huo'er yawned in disappointment. "But for the sake of Lu Jiu’s fifty pigs, I’ll stick around and wait with you."

Lu Jiu: "~~~~~~~~~"

The cat, named Coffee, stared at them with its amber eyes, listening to their conversation. Hearing this, it let out a relieved breath. "Oh, so you're here to catch the demon, meow. Hurry up and find it, meow. My mistress has been very scared these past few days, meow. Although I didn't see anything myself, meow." It jumped off the bed, stood on its hind legs, waved its front paws, and instructed, "Hurry and catch it, meow. I have other duties for my mistress, so I can’t stay and chat, meow." It walked straight to the wardrobe, pulled out a box, and opened it.

Huo'er, Lin Rui, and Lu Jiu exchanged glances, their attention fixed on the cat.

Coffee took out a large ball of knitted material and, noticing them staring, grumbled unhappily, "What are you looking at? Meow, haven't you ever seen a cat! Meow!"

"You're a cat?" Lin Rui snatched it up, holding it close to his face. "You look like a cat demon to me."

"Let go of me! Meow, you stinking demon, meow!" Coffee thrashed its paws, trying to claw Lin Rui. Lin Rui tossed it onto the floor, and it immediately adopted a fighting stance, hissing, "Hooooww, hooooww!" "It's you disgusting demons who have been scaring my mistress, right? Meow! I, Coffee, will never forgive you! Meow!"

"…It wasn't you scaring her and messing things up?"

"Didn't you hear her say it's a demon? Meow! It's demons like you, meow! I, Coffee, am the most obedient and well-behaved cat in the world, meow! That's what my mistress says, meow, so it must be true, meow!"

"Why do you think you aren't a demon?"

"Me? Meow, of course I’m a cat, meow…" Coffee said with a hint of pride. "I'm the prettiest, noblest cat, meow. That’s what my mistress says, meow, it can’t be wrong. Meow." It gave Lin Rui a side-eye. "Stupid beings who can't even recognize a cat, meow. I’m ignoring you; I have plenty of work to do for my mistress! Meow." With that, it spread out the large knitted item, took out a few more yarn balls, sat on the sofa, cradled them with its front paws, and began knitting with an air of serious purpose.

The knitted item Coffee held was neither too long nor too short. It wasn't exactly a scarf, being cylindrical; it wasn't a sweater, lacking distinct shoulders, neck, or sleeves; it was too big for a glove, and too formless for trousers, lacking a waist or hips… Yarn ends stuck out everywhere. Some sections were knitted too tightly, forming knots, while others were so loose they created gaping holes. Lin Rui, Huo'er, and Lu Jiu stared for a long time, unable to name the object. Coffee knitted astonishingly fast with its two paws. Soon, a significant length had taken shape. It accidentally dropped a yarn ball, which rolled away with a clatter. Coffee immediately cried out in delight, pounced on it, and started 'playing' by kicking and biting the ball. After quite a struggle, it suddenly remembered its task, dragged the hopelessly tangled yarn back, and resumed knitting.

"Excuse me…" Lu Jiu finally couldn't help asking, "What are you doing?"

"Meow, knitting something," Coffee replied without looking up.

"But what is it?"

"A sweater! Meow." Coffee cast a pitying look at this fool who couldn't even recognize a sweater, let alone a cat.

"This is a sweater," Lu Jiu, Lin Rui, and Huo'er realized simultaneously: this wasn't a fishing net, but a sweater after all.

Lu Jiu murmured tentatively, "The reason that woman asked my uncle to exorcise the spirit was because of a sweater. She said she was trying to knit it for her boyfriend, but every night it would change from how she left it before sleeping, and even the yarn would get horribly tangled." Lu Jiu watched Coffee diligently knitting. "She couldn't find any sign of an intruder, so she was convinced there was a demon in the house and hadn't dared sleep for days."

"Then this must be the demon's doing," Lin Rui seized Coffee again.

"You're the demon, meow!" Coffee shrieked in anger. "I, Coffee, am a cat! Meow!"

"I am certainly a demon," Lin Rui countered. "But so are you, Cat Demon! I suspect you turned into a demon recently after consuming some Diliujiang. Now that your mistress is hiring people to eliminate you, you'd better accept your fate for Huo'er's fifty pigs!"

"Mistress… wants an exorcism… that means… meow… she wants to get rid of me…" Coffee’s eyes widened in disbelief. "Mistress… doesn't want me anymore… meow~~~~" Its voice trembled. "Mistress… doesn't want me… meow~~~~ I don't want to live anymore~~ meow~~~~ I want to die~~~~ Ah~~~~~ Mistress doesn't want me anymore~~~~ meow~~~~"

"Who told you to scare her every night? You deserve it!" Huo'er stated without a trace of pity.

"I wasn't scaring mistress~~~ meow~~~~ Coffee loves mistress the most~~ meow~~~~"

"You're clearly the one messing with this 'sweater,' and you still deny it!"

"Waaah~~~~ I was only trying to help my mistress, meow, because I saw her staying up so late every night, meow, and I was afraid she wouldn't finish by the man's birthday, meow… Mistress picked me up from the trash bin, meow, feeds me dried fish and milk every day, meow, lets me sleep beside her, meow, and calls me the cutest cat in the world, meow. I love mistress the most, meow. I’d do anything for her, meow! I must help my mistress marry the man she loves! Meow, why does mistress suddenly not want Coffee anymore~~~~ She just said she loved me the most moments ago, meow~~~~" As it spoke, it burst into tears again.

Lin Rui was beginning to grasp the situation, holding up the sweater. "But knitting the sweater like this, it’s understandable she’d think it was malicious destruction."

"Meow, where did I knit badly! Meow, I knitted it exactly like mistress did! Meow!"

When Coffee pointed out which parts of the sweater were knitted by its mistress and which by itself, everyone nodded—they were indeed identical. "That woman's boyfriend is quite unfortunate!" Lin Rui shrugged.

"Mistress doesn't want me anymore~~~~~ meow~~~~" Coffee continued to sob, clutching the ball of 'sweater' material and weeping afresh. "Mistress doesn't want me anymore~~~~~ meow~~~~"

"What do we do now?" Lu Jiu asked helplessly.

"What to do? I've already found the demon—only an uncle-nephew pair like you two would be scared silly by this kind of entity! Truly the shame of demons!!" Lin Rui exclaimed. "Now Lu Weima can go collect his money with peace of mind. As for this cat… Huo'er, do you want to eat it?"

"No! It has no power; cats aren't worth eating!" Huo'er dismissed the cat demon with disdain. "Besides, I have fifty pigs waiting for me! If I can't eat them all right away, I'll just keep them stored—one breeds two, two breeds four, four breeds eight… more and more, until there are endless pigs to eat…" Huo'er calculated shrewdly.

"Then what about it?" Lu Jiu felt a surge of pity watching the miserable Coffee, completely failing to notice that under Huo'er's accounting, his entire pig farm was about to become Huo'er's property.

Lin Rui scratched his head, looking at Coffee. "Right, we can't just abandon it. Hey, Cat Demon!"

"If you don't want your mistress to reject you, I do have a way."

"What way?! Meow." Coffee sprang up, rubbing against Lin Rui’s ankles, purring with utmost charm. "What is it? Meow. Tell me, tell me! Meow."

"First and foremost, you must never let your Master know you are a yaoguai." "I'm not a yaoguai to begin with, meow!" "Furthermore, you have to restore these 'sweaters' and this room to how they were before, so she thinks nothing happened." "That’s easy enough, meow." Coffee immediately set to work, swiftly unraveling the parts it had knitted into the sweaters, rolling the scattered yarn back into balls, placing them all back into the box, shoving the box into the cupboard, and then sweeping the floor clean of fluff with its tail. Sure enough, everything was back to its original state in under ten minutes.

"Anything else, meow?" Coffee looked at Lin Rui with great expectation. "That should do it," Lin Rui said.

"As long as you don't cause any more trouble for your Master and keep her from realizing there’s a yaoguai in the house, she’ll just believe that talisman Deer Yu made worked, and she won't try to hire an exorcist again." "Are you saying Master will love me just as much as before, meow, calling me the prettiest, cutest, noblest, gentlest, and smartest Coffee every day? Meow!" Coffee asked excitedly.

"If someone said that to me every day, I'd eat them as fast as possible!" Huo'er made a disgusted face and declared to Lu Jiu. Lu Jiu also felt that listening to such things daily was even more unbearable than having Huo'er stare at him.

"But Coffee, I must tell you," Lin Rui admonished, "you can't knit a sweater properly with your claws." "Why? Meow, I can knit just as well as Master with my claws, meow." "...Her knitting surely can't be used as a standard..." "Hey, Coffee, if you really want to learn knitting, I can certainly find you a good teacher," Lin Rui said smugly.

The next day, when Lin Rui's mother, Lin Qingping, was knitting a sweater for her son, she noticed the cat Lin Rui had brought home to play was staring at her without blinking. "Little Rui, keep an eye on your little friend; if it jumps up, it will mess up the yarn." "It won't.

It wants to learn knitting from Mom," Lin Rui said, stroking the cat. "A cat learning to knit?

You certainly have an overactive imagination, child." Lin Rui laughed happily and ran over too, resting his chin in his hands as he watched his mother knit the sweater for him: a light green sweater accented with pale yellow patterns, with the letters "LR" knitted in an artistic font over the chest. Only the final two sleeves remained unfinished.

Lin Rui gazed at it contentedly, then suddenly said, "Mom, I feel so happy that I get to wear such a nice sweater." "Oh, you child..." Lin Qingping's eyes grew red. "Mom can't buy you brand-name woolen sweaters like other mothers; I can only make you hand-knitted ones.

Once I pay off the debts your father left, I’ll definitely buy you the prettiest woolen sweater, so you won't be lacking compared to your classmates at school." "No, that's not it! I think Mom's hand-knitted sweater is much prettier than those 'fishnets'...

no, prettier than the store-bought ones! Besides, all the classmates are wearing bought sweaters, and only I have one that my mother knitted by hand; they are all envious of me!

(Hmph, anyone who dares look down on me, I’ll eat them!)" Lin Rui pounced into his mother's embrace, clinging to her affectionately. He sincerely cherished the happiness of the moment.

Three days later, Lin Rui put on his new sweater. Coffee, convinced it had mastered a full set of skills, returned home with high aspirations.

It sat on the sofa licking its paws, waiting for its Master to fall asleep so it could showcase its talents—to knit a real sweater for her to see. Then she wouldn't think there was a yaoguai at home, but rather a celestial being, perhaps?

"Coffee!" As soon as the Master returned, she lifted the cat high, spun it around, and held it tightly to her chest. "I finally mustered the courage today to give the finished sweater to him, and he didn't refuse!

I’m so happy! You're happy for me too, right, Coffee!" She kissed Coffee several times before setting it down.

"I'll make a feast to celebrate! Coffee, what do you want to eat?

Milk-stewed shrimp or fish-flake congee?" Coffee remained frozen on the sofa, watching its Master busy herself in the kitchen, analyzing her words: Sweater given to him = finished knitting = no need for my help = what I learned is useless... "Waaaaah!!!!" It grabbed a cushion and burst into tears.

"Hateful! Master!

Meow, I haven't even shown off my skills yet, meow, I studied so diligently, meow~~~~~" Its Master, in the kitchen, only heard the cat yowling. While recalling the moment she handed the gift over, she thought, "He must be surprised, right?

Even Coffee is happy for me..." Clutching the spatula, she was immersed in sweet musings, completely oblivious to the sound of the cat crying in the living room...