The System Mistook Me for a Cat

Cao Meng returned home and loudly declared, "Swimming is fun!"

Moreover, the coach praised him, saying that because he had a bit more chubbiness, with more practice, he could turn that chubbiness into muscle on his legs and grow much taller than others in no time—

So Cao Meng announced, "Let's send Meiqiu to learn swimming too!"

Meiqiu was shocked.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Teacher Yuan: "No, Meiqiu is a cat. Cats and humans can't learn together. We’d need to find a place specifically for teaching cats to swim."

Such a place definitely didn’t exist, but Teacher Yuan usually wouldn’t outright reject a child with "You’re too young to understand." Instead, she’d let them try and figure it out themselves, then explain after they hit a wall.

Cao Meng indeed tried, because he thought of Chu Chu’s sister’s cat, Sanwuwu, who seemed to excel at everything, so he went to ask Chu Tingwu if there were swimming classes for cats.

Chu Tingwu: "Huh?"

Chu Tingwu: "Yes, there are."

Cao Meng happily returned home: "Mom, let’s send Meiqiu to the police cat screening!"

Teacher Yuan: Uh…

No, besides the fact that the base no longer accepts domestic cats, our Meiqiu wouldn’t even pass the first round.

But the reason she gave was, "If Meiqiu passes, she won’t be able to stay at home. She’ll have to live at the police cat training base until she retires."

Cao Meng: An extracurricular class that keeps you away from home for years?

That night while feeding the cat, he hugged Meiqiu and rambled, "We love you so, so much. Because we can’t bear to part with you, we’re even giving up the chance for you to become a police cat…"

Meiqiu struggled: Wait, let me take one more bite, meow!

Beside them, Teacher Cao couldn’t help but laugh.

Children’s minds change like the wind. Two days later, Cao Meng had a new idea:

"When I said swimming was fun, why did Xiao Hong say I had no taste and that the VR experience pod is the best? I told him he couldn’t play anyway because my parents said he’s not old enough, and he got really mad, saying my parents were just lying to stop me from playing…"

Why would they lie? The VR experience room in our neighborhood clearly has age and height restrictions. Doesn’t Xiao Hong’s neighborhood have that?

At this point, Cao Meng glanced at the VR experience pod in Chu Tingwu’s study, his eyes gleaming with curiosity.

Chu Tingwu: "Want to give it a try?"

He didn’t get to, because Teacher Yuan dragged him away, saying, "Don’t disturb your sister’s studies."

Chu Tingwu: "=v="

She really had to study now.

With slightly heavy steps, she climbed into the VR experience pod and, among the many VR live streams, chose the one at the very bottom—a newly started stream with almost no viewers.

The stream was titled "Time to Review," and the streamer’s ID was "Xiao Xiao."

Apparently, this wasn’t registered by Chu Xiao but by Chu Tingwu’s cousin.

—Yes, this was essentially a private live stream for Chu Tingwu, since both kids in the family had made it to the provincial team. Though they were in different provinces, they’d both be taking the same national exams, so why not review together?

With VR live streaming, even study methods had diversified. Chu Tingwu discovered that the VR format heightened immersion, and if the streamer was highly focused, the viewers would be motivated to study along.

Of course, this only worked if the streamer’s curriculum was tailored to the sole viewer.

Some accidental viewers were utterly baffled, exclaiming:

"Who on earth uses VR equipment to live stream studying?"

Usually, people turned on study streams as background noise, but what was the point of a VR study stream? It felt like being thrust into a classroom, embodying the teacher!

Because Chu Xiao wasn’t just doing a slow-paced study session; he was essentially teaching Chu Tingwu while reviewing, even doing practice papers together. After finishing, Chu Tingwu would post answers in the chat, Chu Xiao would write them down, and they’d discuss the process… Sometimes Zhou Qiang and Shao Lingwu would drop by, and after each session, Chu Tingwu would leave with a stack of digital course materials.

A viewer who stumbled in twice by accident: "…"

The viewer, wearing a pained expression, shared the stream with others, adding—

"Highly recommended!" "A must-watch!" "You’ll fall in love with studying!"

No, forget falling in love—the viewer just wanted others to experience the same pain. Watching someone else study and teach was one thing, but realizing the content was way beyond your level? Terrifying. You couldn’t understand a thing!

Maybe the viewer’s intention wasn’t purely altruistic, but after that, the stream gained a small, steady audience, and the numbers kept growing. Judging by the chat, it seemed to be spreading by word of mouth.

Chu Tingwu asked the system and found out that most of the viewers didn’t even have VR equipment; they were just regular viewers, mostly high school freshmen in competitions. Some were recommended by teachers, while others were there because…

"This first-person teaching style is amazing!"

Even without VR, the immersion was strong, and it felt novel. Plus, since the teacher was their peer, the natural admiration for a fellow student made it easier to focus.

Once the stream had a stable audience, Chu Xiao and Chu Tingwu finished their review cycle and handed the stream over to Shao Lingwu, with Zhou Qiang assisting as the "teaching assistant."

Because Shao Lingwu had decided not to pursue competitions anymore.

He announced it in the group chat after the New Year:

"I’ve been hesitating about which competition to focus on, since I’m equally good at all of them."

He didn’t love or hate any subject; he’d just ended up here because he was good at them. But Shao Lingwu eventually realized: he had no desire to research or delve deeper. Even if he did make it to a top university based on his strengths, it wouldn’t mean much to him.

Giving up was hard for others, but for him, it was easy because he didn’t feel like he’d invested too much. Even though he’d spent 90% of his time on competitions, done countless practice problems, and taken extra classes… Shao Lingwu didn’t feel exhausted.

However, worried his parents might think his decision was related to the winter camp or the friends he’d made there, Shao Lingwu waited until he’d finished the camp’s program before telling them.

His friends: But… wasn’t it kind of related?

Shao’s Father and Mother were indeed shocked.

Shao’s Father: "Were you bullied at the camp? Did someone pick on you?"

Shao’s Mother: "Shut up, don’t make it sound like he’s refusing to take the college entrance exam! Sweetie, if you don’t want to go to school, we can homeschool you. At least get into a university. If all else fails, we’ll invest in your favorite school."

Shao Lingwu: "?"

Did he really look like someone who’d be easily bullied?

After a round of miscommunication, they finally got on the same page. Shao’s Father sighed, "Did we put too much pressure on you, making you feel like you had to be the perfect child… or did the relatives say something in front of you? It’s okay, you can study whatever you want. We’ve already accepted that you might not manage the company."

Shao Lingwu: That’s because I really don’t want to learn that stuff… Don’t make it sound like I’m not smart enough to run the company!

He added sheepishly, "Because I’m good at studying, you guys get to show off, right?"

That was true. Hearing that their son was a young genius in the competition class, Shao’s Father and Mother had always walked with pride in their social circles. And if their child suddenly decided to drop out and pursue music (Shao Lingwu: I’m not dropping out!), the parents wouldn’t see it as a problem, but the child, being considerate, would feel awkward bringing it up—

Shao’s Mother: "But even if you weren’t good at studying, people would still envy us."

Shao Lingwu: "No... I really won't perform poorly in my exams!"

He finished studying for the college entrance exam in just one month, gauged his performance, and then came over to help Chu Xiao with lesson preparation. After a while, Shao, the teaching assistant, replaced Professor Chu and began helping his friends with their second round of revision.

With more free time and no need to attend school, Shao Lingwu, with the help of his family’s resources, discussed with the system and added several plugins suitable for other students to the VR live-streaming classroom during Chu Tingwu and others' break times.

While some could use VR live-streaming for classes, there were also students who couldn’t access such devices but were equally eager to learn. Therefore, the plugins were designed to make it easier for these students to attend lectures. He also uploaded electronic textbooks to his account and dedicated two hours every night to answering questions from fans in the group chat.

——The fan groups on Fenghua Network were set up by the UP master with entry permissions, usually granted after donating a certain amount of money. Shao Lingwu set the entry fee at one yuan. Although Fenghua Network took half of it as commission, any viewer who wanted to learn could join for just one yuan and receive free lectures and after-sales service.

With his help in management, the account seemed more organized and structured. Some students in the fan group even formed study partnerships and created smaller groups to study together.

However, the fan group wasn’t just made up of students... There were also many people who, after hearing the background music during the lectures, treated it as a study room and donated gifts to join.

The UP master himself: "Because I wrote that music myself..."

It wasn’t uploaded online, so naturally, it didn’t have a name. It was just some instrumental music he casually composed before class and used during lectures.

The real "UP master" himself: "...Can you not use the ID 'Xiao Xiao' when saying that?"

Chu Xiao: "It feels a bit weird, I can’t stand it."

Shao Lingwu truly combined his hobbies... and his interests. In the eyes of Shao's father and mother, not only did he not interrupt his studies, but he also seemed to become even more diligent than before. He woke up early every day, worked until late, and his only breaks were for meals, sleep, and riding his electric tricycle around the neighborhood.

He also enthusiastically greeted neighbors who drove luxury cars and one day became close friends with a neighbor who liked riding a mountain bike to work.

Shao's Father and Mother: "..."

Their son truly didn’t care about others' opinions, which made it all the more precious that he cared about their thoughts and worked so hard to study! They needed to work harder to earn money. Even if Lingwu wanted to start his own business in the future... well, that wouldn’t be impossible, right?

Shao Lingwu: "?"

Why do my parents’ looks seem so strange?

He didn’t have any thoughts about starting a business. His current dilemma was that he couldn’t figure out how to write a song—he was an inspiration-driven musician and had liked creating various styles of instrumental music and uploading them online for a long time, but he had never tried writing an actual song. Now he had some ideas and wanted to adapt a song, but as he wrote, he felt something was missing.

Chu Xiao said during dinner: "Maybe it’s related to life experience. When your experiences are limited, it’s hard to write a song that touches others. Why not start with what you’re good at?"

He wanted to say that if he wasn’t good at pop music, he shouldn’t force it. The instrumental music path was fine, and after going to school for further studies, looking back at his first song... wouldn’t it feel awkward?

Shao Lingwu didn’t feel awkward.

Because that night, Zhou Qiang forwarded a video to Chu Xiao—

Chu Xiao: "?"

Why did you have to use the ID 'Xiao Xiao' to post it!

Shao Lingwu found Chu Xiao’s advice very useful, so he turned the difficult-to-memorize knowledge points from the biology competition into lyrics and fitted them into a melody. He thoughtfully uploaded it to major music and video platforms, including Fenghua Network.

The fans were deeply moved.

When Chu Xiao entered the fan group, he saw the fans saying:

"Teacher Xiao Xiao is really amazing... Not only does he teach us, but he even wrote a song to help us remember the key points. It’s like he’s become an idol trainee!"

Chu Xiao: "..."

"Mom, can I change my name?"

"Why? Do you want to change it to Chu Zi Xiao? Although our family doesn’t follow the generational naming tradition anymore, you can’t clash with the elders’ names. It could cause misunderstandings. Chu Ting Xiao isn’t an option either, that’s your aunt—"

"Never mind then =="