The Cub Comes from Planet Meow 37

Chapter 37: Meow 

Jiang Suifeng was a bit picky about beds, but not to the point of insomnia, just sleeping lightly.

The first time they traveled together after getting together, he woke up several times in the middle of the night. Seeing Jing Zhi sleeping beside him, he couldn’t help but kiss him, so much so that Jing Zhi woke up the next day with swollen lips.

He had woken up groggily the first time Grandpa tried to unlock his phone with his fingerprint.

Elders were different from young people. Young people felt phones were very private and shouldn’t be easily shown to others, feeling offended if someone peeked. But elders’ phones were mostly free for the younger generation to play with.

So Jiang Suifeng didn’t have any extreme emotions about this, he just didn’t know what he wanted to do.

Hearing his grandson’s voice, who should have been fast asleep, Grandpa Jiang’s heart rate suddenly accelerated, and his body tensed up like a stone.

Fortunately, he didn’t have heart disease.

“I… I…” Grandpa Jiang stammered.

Jiang Suifeng immediately sat up halfway from the bed and turned on the bedside lamp.

Suddenly switching from darkness to a bright environment, both squinted their eyes subconsciously. Only after their eyes adapted did their gazes meet again.

Grandpa Jiang was written all over with “guilt.” His lips moved, and he bit the bullet to explain quickly: “I just couldn’t sleep and wanted to see the photos of that child in your phone.”

If he didn’t explain, he was afraid Jiang Suifeng would misunderstand that he wanted to use his phone for something bad. After all, he had a “criminal record” of that text message sent to Jing Zhi.

Although they had cleared the air last night, trust had just been established and was still fragile.

Jiang Suifeng looked at him for a few seconds, suddenly took the phone from his hand, didn’t open the album, but opened the WeChat chat history with Jing Zhi.

Chat history could be opened in picture mode. During this period, the picture list was almost all photos of Mimi taken by Jing Zhi for him in the welfare institute.

Jing Zhi liked taking photos of Mimi and liked sharing Mimi’s photos with others, just like when they raised the kitten Mimi before.

Jiang Suifeng clicked on the first photo in the list and said to Grandpa, “Swipe right.”

Grandpa Jiang couldn’t wait to take the phone and look through them one by one.

Jiang Suifeng lay back on the bed and closed his heavy eyelids. “I’m going back to sleep. Turn off the phone and light after you finish looking. Don’t drain the battery; it will affect my work tomorrow.”

Unsaved pictures on WeChat were saved by default for 7 days. Pictures in the chat history further back were almost all expired, so he wasn’t afraid of Grandpa seeing them.

Grandpa Jiang agreed immediately.

Mimi photographed by Jing Zhi was more lively and vivid than the one photographed by Chen Ankang. Because he was the favorite and closest Papa, Mimi could completely let go only under Papa’s lens.

The more Grandpa Jiang looked, the more he liked it. He flipped through the photos of this week back and forth many times.

Suddenly, a pop-up window showing low battery and shutting down in 30 seconds startled him.

Grandpa Jiang: “?!!!”

Remembering his grandson’s words before sleeping, guilt hit him again. He carefully got out of bed, sneakily left the ward, and borrowed a charger from the nurse station.

When Jiang Suifeng woke up the next morning, Grandpa Jiang was still asleep, and his phone was connected to a strange charger charging at the bedside.

Jiang Suifeng: “…”

If there were a surveillance camera here, he would definitely check what his grandpa did last night.

…

Xu Sumei came to the welfare institute after lunch. When she arrived, Jing Zhi and Jing Mimi had also finished eating and returned to the dormitory. Jing Zhi was playing “East, West, South, North” (paper fortune teller) with him.

In recent handicraft classes, Jing Mimi learned many interesting things, such as folding stars, folding jumping frogs, folding small boats…

Among them, he liked folding “East, West, South, North” the most because he could play with others, and the interactivity was strong.

However, he didn’t know many characters, so he could only draw some simple patterns inside.

A mouth pattern represented a kiss, two little people sticking together represented a hug, a circle represented turning around on the spot, a kitten head represented imitating a kitten…

When Jing Mimi had nothing to do, he would ask Jing Zhi to play with him once.

Jing Zhi cooperated indulgently every time.

“South, horizontal, 12 times.”

Small hands started flipping vigorously, counting silently in his heart: 1, 2, 3… 10, 11, 12, done!

Tilting his little head, he saw the pattern inside clearly.

“It’s a kiss!”

Jing Zhi smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

Jing Mimi ran away happily. After a while, seeing Jing Zhi free, he ran over to play with him again.

A child’s happiness was just that simple.

Receiving Xu Sumei’s call, Jing Zhi stopped the game immediately and took Jing Mimi’s small hand to pick her up at the gate of the welfare institute.

Since separating at the hospital that day, Jing Mimi hadn’t seen Grandma again. Although Grandma would video call him and Little Papa, seeing but not touching didn’t count as a real meeting.

Xu Sumei was carrying two bags. Jing Zhi took the heavier one containing fermented rice wine from her hand, leaving the free hand to hold Mimi with her.

Mimi held Papa with one hand and Grandma with the other, his steps light.

After the three returned to the dormitory together, Xu Sumei couldn’t wait to open the lighter bag in her hand.

Inside were two hand-knitted coarse wool hats, one big and one small, made of very light beige wool. The basic style had a pair of unfixed cat ears that drooped forward with gravity.

Jing Mimi’s eyes lit up instantly.

Jing Zhi was also a bit surprised and asked, “Mom, is this for me?”

Xu Sumei hummed as a matter of course. “Parent-child hats.”

Xu Sumei added: “I originally wanted to make one for your boyfriend too, but I didn’t know his head circumference… felt like he wasn’t this style either, might not be practical, so I gave up.”

Jing Zhi thought to himself, I’m not this cute style either. How can a horror game streamer be cute… His clothes were mostly black, white, and gray. But since his mother had already knitted and sent it, he didn’t want to be a killjoy, so he accepted it.

Meeting Jing Mimi’s expectant gaze, Xu Sumei put the hat on him with a smile.

Under the expectant gazes of the two, Jing Zhi also put the larger hat on his head.

“Fits perfectly,” Xu Sumei looked at the two and was very satisfied. “Stand together, let me take a picture of you.”

Jing Zhi squatted down obediently, keeping the same height as the little cub.

Xu Sumei snapped a flurry of photos with her phone.

“Done.”

Jing Zhi and Jing Mimi immediately went to her side to look at the photos just taken.

The big one and the little one wore similar hats, heads touching, making their features look even more alike.

It was just that after Xu Sumei’s flurry of shooting, almost every photo looked the same.

Xu Sumei always took photos like this, as if burst mode was on.

Jing Zhi asked her to send the photos to him via WeChat, and he forwarded them all to Jiang Suifeng.

At this time, Jiang Suifeng was preparing for a nap. Hearing the special concern notification tone, he immediately checked his phone, not expecting to see so many heart-meltingly sweet photos.

Jiang Suifeng: [Auntie’s craftsmanship is so good.]

Jiang Suifeng: [[Pitiful] [Pitiful] No hat for me?]

Jing Zhi didn’t explain much, but said: [When we meet later, ask her for one yourself, let her measure your head circumference.]

Jiang Suifeng: [Okay.]

A family should be neat and tidy.

Inspired by this hat, Jiang Suifeng browsed shopping apps, preparing to buy some parent-child outfits for the family of three.

Knowing Jiang Suifeng was going to nap, Jing Zhi stopped chatting with him and turned off the screen. Turning his eyes, he saw Xu Sumei had already put Mimi on her lap.

This was the habitual posture for adults to hold children. Mom used to hold him like this when he was little.

Now he had grown up, and Mom was holding his child just like when he was little.

The big one and the little one were talking and laughing. It was nap time. Because of the daily nap biological clock, Jing Mimi suddenly yawned while talking, and mist appeared in his eyes.

Actually, it wasn’t entirely because of the biological clock, but also because Grandma’s embrace was too warm and comfortable. Curling up inside was very relaxing, and sleepiness crept up quietly.

“Want to sleep for a while?” Jing Zhi asked.

“Sleep for a while, I’ll hold him while he sleeps.” Xu Sumei couldn’t bear to put down the little cub in her arms and patted his back gently.

Jing Mimi didn’t refuse either.

Even if he was going to sleep, he wasn’t willing to take off the kitten hat on his head.

Xu Sumei suddenly asked again: “Does Mimi want to listen to a song? Grandma will sing to lull you to sleep.”

Jing Mimi nodded his little head quickly, and the cat ears drooping on the kitten hat shook with it.

Jing Zhi and Jiang Suifeng were both tone-deaf, especially Jing Zhi. When he was live streaming with some streamers before, he was asked to sing some songs. As he sang, the bullet screen turned into a sea of “Hahahahahaha.” His off-key singing audio was even edited and dubbed into some funny videos, showing how terrible his singing was.

But Xu Sumei knew a little about vocal music.

Although it was just a hobby, it sounded very good.

When coaxing young Jing Zhi to sleep, she often hummed some tunes.

In a moment, a gentle and soothing female voice sounded in the room.

“La la la la la la, la la la la la la,”

“A little cloud, slowly walking over,”

“Please rest your feet, stop for a while,”

“The mountain flowers are blooming, I just arrived on the mountain,”

“So you are also going up the mountain,”

“To see the mountain flowers bloom.”

“…”*

Jing Zhi stood aside, watching his mother holding the small child, patting his back gently with her palm, her eyes soft like water, inexplicably feeling a trance.

Time seemed to go back more than twenty years. He was also a small child, held in his mother’s arms and coaxed to sleep like this.

At that time, the only worry was that today’s homework wasn’t finished yet. What he looked forward to most every day was the cartoons on the children’s channel on the TV with a heavy back shell. Occasionally, thunder and rain would affect the receiving antenna outside…

Later, a series of changes in the family, the confusion after discovering his sexual orientation, and the years of persevering with Jiang Suifeng made him feel so tired.

But time wouldn’t flow backward, and he had no way back. He could only go forward, gritting his teeth and moving forward.

But occasionally, occasionally he would also miss the time when he was held in his mother’s arms as a child.

The time when he was a carefree child.

Xu Sumei suddenly raised her eyes, met his gaze with a smile, and the humming sound in her mouth gradually weakened, finally turning into a very light sentence: “Asleep.”

The little cub in her arms went completely limp, sleeping soundly nestled against her.

Jing Zhi suddenly felt his eyes a bit moist.

He looked away quickly, blinked away the traces in his eyes, walked lightly to the bedside, and lay down on his side.

“I’m sleepy too. Mom, sing to lull me to sleep too.” He said in a joking tone.

Fine wrinkles had long appeared at the corners of Xu Sumei’s eyes. When she smiled, they piled up together, like the patterns of butterfly wings.

She didn’t take it as a joke and really continued to hum.

“A little gust of wind, slowly walking over,”

“Please rest your feet, stop for a while,”

“The sea waves are blooming, I just arrived at the seaside,”

“So you also love the waves,”

“Just arrived at the seaside.”

“…”*

Maybe Jing Zhi felt he was already an adult, but in her eyes, he would always be a child.

Just a bigger child than Mimi.

That was why she was so worried about him, afraid that after she was buried underground years later, he would have no one to take care of him.

That was why she hoped he could also have a lovely child like him.

She accompanied him through the first half of his life, and that child would accompany him through the second half.

Jing Zhi closed his eyes obediently, listening to the singing in his ears. Before his consciousness fell completely into chaos, he suddenly saw a butterfly he almost caught when he was a child.

The butterfly broke free from his palm and flew to a place he couldn’t reach.

He ran and ran, chased for a long way, still empty-handed.

It flew and flew, flew past time, and landed on the corner of Mom’s eye.

He finally caught this butterfly.

…

Perhaps the effect of the singing was too strong; Jing Zhi slept very soundly and for a long time.

Until—he was shaken awake anxiously by his mother.

“Little Jing, Little Jing, get up quickly. Mimi he… Mimi he…”

Jing Zhi woke up instantly. His brain was still a bit dizzy, but his body sat up subconsciously, his heart rate a bit fast.

“What happened to Mimi?”

Xu Sumei: “I just went out for a bit. Mimi secretly ate a lot of fermented rice wine and seems to be drunk.”

Jing Zhi looked closely.

A big hole had been dug out by a spoon in the fermented rice wine opened on the table. The little cub nestled in the chair still wore that hat on his head, cheeks red, body swaying, “meowing” non-stop.

“Meow meow meow meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow meow meow…”

It was the melody of the song Xu Sumei hummed.

Seeing Jing Zhi’s gaze, the little guy “meowed” even more vigorously.

***

Author’s Note:

Little Cat Mi: Meow-zy (Drunk) (Drinking heartily)

Fermented rice wine is really delicious [Starry Eyes]