When Jiang Xiaoyu woke up, it was already dark outside. A dim yellow night light was on, and all around was quiet, with only the occasional chirp of insects breaking the silence.
His head was still a bit groggy, and when he tried to prop up his weak body, his limbs trembled. After swaying a few times, he was scooped up by Ye Qingxu, who had been keeping watch by the bed.
“Feeling better? Are you hungry? Sorry, it was my fault. I didn’t think you might be allergic to certain foods.”
There was guilt on Ye Qingxu’s face, and his eyes were slightly red. His gentle palm rested on the little cat’s head, stroking lightly from head to tail along the little cat’s body.
Jiang Xiaoyu let out a random meow, stretching lazily in the man’s warm embrace. It took a good while before his senses suddenly snapped back. He stiffened, then abruptly jumped out of Ye Qingxu’s arms.
“I’m done for!” The Little Black Cat stared wide-eyed and meowed in shock a few times. “I actually transformed in front of a human…” His fur all stood on end, his short round tail sticking straight up, and he eyed Ye Qingxu like a formidable enemy.
Ye Qingxu hurriedly reached out to soothe him. “What are you saying? I-I can’t understand your cat speak. Can you turn back into a human and tell me? Don’t be scared. I absolutely! Absolutely! won’t tell anyone that you can turn into a cat.”
Ye Qingxu spoke quickly, and even in his panic, the concern in his words was clear. But right now, Jiang Xiaoyu’s mind was a total mess. He never imagined that a simple outing would expose his identity in front of Ye Qingxu.
He shuffled back a few steps on the bed in a panic, his heart pounding fast.
“You…” He meowed, then realized the other couldn’t understand. Annoyed, he smacked his own face with a paw and stopped, inwardly berating himself: “I shouldn’t have let him move in…” If he hadn’t let the man get close, they wouldn’t have gone out together, and without going out together, his ability to transform wouldn’t have been discovered. He was supposed to be a highly vigilant person, so why had he been doing such brainless things lately?
That’s what he thought, but he couldn’t have predicted how wondrous instinct could be sometimes. The closeness surging from their blood ties was something reason wanted to suppress but couldn’t.
Seeing him so panicked, Ye Qingxu’s heart ached terribly. He squatted down, resting his head by the bed’s edge, and tried to soften his voice. “Little Yu, don’t be afraid. I’ll protect you. I really won’t tell anyone. This isn’t your fault—it’s mine. I had no sense of boundaries.” His eyes were very red as he blamed himself for being too hasty. He had planned to slowly be good to the kid, to do enough good so that the kid’s life got better, before having the confidence to stand before him and say, “I’m your dad.”
But what the hell was he doing now? Scaring his own kid like this. He watched the little guy trembling all over, barely able to stand, and felt his heart sour like it had been soaked in bitter water all night.
The last time Jiang Xiaoyu had exposed himself in front of humans, his tail had been cut off. The terrifying childhood memories flooded back, and his mind was in chaos. He retreated a few steps, wanting to flee, but tripped on the bed’s edge and fell flat on his back.
Seeing him in such a fluster broke Ye Qingxu’s heart. Trembling, he reached out to hug Jiang Xiaoyu, but got swatted away by a paw.
“Don’t touch me!” The Little Black Cat let out a miserable yowl, struggling to get up. His eyes were full of fear and wariness, as if through Ye Qingxu, he saw that woman with scissors, cold and cruel like a demon.
After several tries, he finally scrambled and rolled to the head of the bed, curling into a ball and shivering. He seemed to have completely lost his reason, left only with primal fear.
Ye Qingxu stood there at a loss, not knowing what to do.
“Little Yu, calm down. I know about your situation—I won’t hurt you.” He said urgently, his voice trembling. “I’m not a bad person. I’ll protect you! Please don’t fear me, don’t hide from me…”
But Jiang Xiaoyu couldn’t hear him at all. He was deep in extreme terror, unable to think of anything but escape. Shivering, he stood up, trying to bolt toward the door.
But his body, just recovered from illness, combined with extreme panic, gave out before he could get off the bed. He collapsed again. All he could do was curl into a trembling ball, clutching his remaining stub of a tail tightly to his chest.
Ye Qingxu didn’t dare touch him anymore. He could only squat down, choking back sobs as he cooed softly. “It’s Dad’s fault, all Dad’s fault. If I’d been more alert back then, you wouldn’t have been stolen away and suffered so much.”
In moments of extreme fear, hearing becomes hypersensitive. So when Jiang Xiaoyu made out what he said, he lifted his head in disbelief and asked, “What does that mean?”
Ye Qingxu took a deep breath, holding back tears, and tried to steady his voice. “I’m your dad. You’re the child I gave birth to.”
Jiang Xiaoyu’s mind went blank. He even forgot to tremble. The black cat’s face was full of bewilderment as he heard the man named Ye Qingxu say things he couldn’t comprehend at all.
“Back then, when I was pregnant with you, I was caught and locked up. After escaping, I gave birth to you in a small clinic. I-I was betrayed. He showed me a dead infant and said the child I gave birth to had died. His name is Li Shouhai, Li Shouping’s cousin. He handed you to Li Shouping to raise, which separated us father and son for so many years. I was too stupid. If I’d been more suspicious back then, he wouldn’t have swapped you out. I trusted the wrong person and let you live through so many sad days.”
Ye Qingxu spoke in broken sentences, with no order or logic. Jiang Xiaoyu thought he must have gone mad.
But maybe the man’s sobbing was just too pitiful. Jiang Xiaoyu wasn’t so scared anymore. With some reason returning, he meowed blankly: “You’re a man? How can a man give birth to a kid?”
Unfortunately, Ye Qingxu couldn’t understand cat speak, but seeing the bewilderment on the black cat’s face, he instinctively knew what he was asking—like a father-son connection. He wiped the tears streaming down his face with his palm and said, “I’m from the Three-Leaf Clan, an ancient race. The men in our bloodline have a certain chance of being able to conceive children.”
He rolled up his sleeve, revealing a three-leaf clover-shaped birthmark on the inside of his arm. “This is our mark. My father has it, my grandfather has it. Only direct blood relatives have a chance of inheriting it. That day, I saw this birthmark on your shoulder blade and started suspecting your identity.”
Later confirmed by Ye Lian, and he himself had done a paternity test again. “You really are the child I lost over twenty years ago.” He smiled. “Heaven hasn’t been too harsh on me after all—it let me find you back.” Then he cried. “But how could Heaven be so cruel to you?”
Remembering the investigation files from Ye Lian that said Jiang Xiaoyu had suffered family violence as a child, his heart twisted like a knife. “The first few days after I found out, all I could think was, I have to kill them. How could those bastards treat my child like that? But Li Shouhai is long dead, and I can’t find that Li Shouping. I don’t know who to take revenge on…”
Crying and sorrow are contagious. Watching the man cry uncontrollably, Jiang Xiaoyu wanted to speak but found his own vision blurred by tears.
He hurriedly lifted a paw, clumsily trying to wipe his eyes, but only smeared the tears all over his face.
Ye Qingxu forced himself to calm down and took a deep breath. “I don’t expect you to forgive me, or even acknowledge me. I just beg you not to be afraid. Let me stay by your side, let me take care of you.”
His gaze was full of sincerity and pleading, but Jiang Xiaoyu’s heart was a tangle of fear and confusion, impossible to unravel.
The man tentatively reached out a hand. Jiang Xiaoyu froze, unable to overcome the conflicting emotions in his heart. He chose to flee. He jumped off the bed and bolted out.
The night was gray, the moon disheartened by the thick clouds, unable to shine a single ray of light.
Jiang Xiaoyu stumbled out the courtyard gate, leaving Ye Qingxu’s hurt gaze behind as his limbs carried him mechanically onward.
The chaotic emotions in his heart burst like a flood, drowning all reason and calm. He didn’t know where he was going or what he was running from. When he finally couldn’t run anymore and stopped, he realized he was back in front of the Ye Residence.
The Ye family always went to bed early. At this hour, the Husky was snoring soundly in its doghouse. Jiang Xiaoyu stood there in a daze, not understanding why he’d run here.
He looked up at the massive Ye Mansion. The night lights were dim, with only one room still bright—that was Ye Lian’s study. At this time, the man was often still working and hadn’t rested.
Unclear what he was thinking, Jiang Xiaoyu didn’t deliberate much. Driven by impulse and instinct, his limbs moved again, charging toward the study.
He raced up the stairs but paused at the small hole in the study door. Panting to cool off, he steadied his breathing before sneakily poking his head in, staring at the activity inside the room.
From a distance away, he saw Ye Lian bent over the desk, holding a brush and writing something. Jiang Xiaoyu quietly watched for a bit, then hung his head dejectedly and shrank back, squatting in the doorway, not daring to go in.
In his feverish daze, he vaguely remembered catching a faint cold fragrance at the tip of his nose. Ye Lian must have realized he was a cat by now, right? After all, things had come to this point—if he still hadn’t figured it out, what kind of idiot would he have to be? And besides, that man was so smart; he must have noticed long ago. He was just too kind, so he’d never said anything outright.
But he’d been shamelessly fooling himself this whole time, pretending the other hadn’t caught on, enjoying his care in cat form, and instinctively turning to him for help whenever trouble cropped up.
Just like right now—he had zero reason for it, but he just wanted to lean on him.
He sank into self-loathing, and only after a good long while did he droop his ears, preparing to turn and leave.
“Where are you off to?” He heard the door open behind him. Ye Lian seemed to be smiling as he teased, “Your master finally let you come over?”
Jiang Xiaoyu’s nose stung sourly. He couldn’t hold back and turned to meow at him, “There is no master at all! You’ve figured it out—why keep pretending you don’t know?! Do you think I’m an idiot? Who’s the real idiot here, me or you? Why are you acting like this? Did you know ages ago that I could turn into a cat? You must think my antics are hilarious, huh?”
He’d only guessed that Ye Lian knew he could shapeshift into a cat. He never imagined Ye Lian could understand cat speech, much less that Ye Lian was a shapeshifter too.
The smile faded somewhat from the man’s face. He calmly lowered his gaze, looking at the tiny bundle—the little coal-ball-like kitten’s face was covered in tears. His heart twinged like it’d been pricked by a needle, an inexplicable ache welling up.
Reckless and unrestrained, treating everything as mere entertainment, he’d toyed with the human world for over thirty years… only to be done in by a kitten who wasn’t even that bright.
After a long, long time, he sighed in resignation. “Guess this is where I fall.”
