Chapter 14: Meow
“I’ll be there right away.”
If you asked what the kitten Mimi liked most, Jing Zhi might not be able to compare and answer immediately. But if you asked what the kitten Mimi hated most, Jing Zhi could give an answer very quickly: dogs.
Because he had wandered outside for a while, the kitten didn’t mind going out for a stroll occasionally. Every time they went out and met a dog, the kitten would dodge immediately. If the dog got a little closer, his fur would stand on end, and he would quickly jump into Papa’s arms.
So far, not a single dog had been an exception.
Sometimes when Jing Zhi watched dog videos on his phone and the sound of barking came out, the kitten would instantly become alert.
It seemed that after becoming human, Mimi’s hatred for dogs had continued.
As soon as the ride-share stopped at the entrance of the welfare institute, Jing Zhi couldn’t wait to rush out of the car. He grabbed the suitcase from the trunk and hurried into the welfare institute.
Mimi’s dormitory was on the third floor. Jing Zhi casually tossed the suitcase at the corner of the stairs on the first floor and ran up in one breath carrying the bag in his hand.
As soon as he arrived at the dormitory, he saw the little guy puffing up his cheeks angrily, and a torn drawing paper fluttering to the ground in pieces in front of him.
Another child, older than him, stood helplessly behind him, holding drawing paper and a pen.
The welfare institute staff stood between the two, looking helplessly at Jing Zhi who finally appeared.
The new kid was too stubborn; when angry, he ignored everyone.
Fortunately, it was just a one-sided quarrel. The other child was emotionally very stable. He didn’t get angry even when his drawing paper was torn; he just looked a bit confused.
Tearing up someone else’s drawing was naturally impolite, but having one’s own father drawn as the dog one hated most was indeed somewhat offensive…
For a moment, Jing Zhi didn’t know how to handle it.
Both sides definitely needed to be comforted.
Luckily, he had bought some fruits on the way here. Later, he could give them to that child as an apology and see if it could ease the relationship between the two little ones.
Seeing Papa, the anger in Jing Mimi’s heart gradually subsided. Like a little rocket, he swooshed to the door and hugged Jing Zhi.
“Papa…”
His voice was overflowing with grievance.
Jing Zhi put down the fruit in his hand, rubbed his little head, and picked him up in his arms.
Sitting in Papa’s arms, Jing Mimi felt much more secure and his mood improved a lot. Taking advantage of the elevated view, he looked down at the child not far away.
“My Papa is so good-looking, he’s not a puppy, he’s a kitten.”
Jing Zhi really wanted to say: He would still prefer to be a human.
The child’s dark eyes were bright. His lips moved slightly, and he explained with stable emotions: “Puppies can be very good-looking too.”
But it was just like telling someone who hated coriander that coriander could be cooked into many delicious food products—completely impossible to empathize with.
In Jing Mimi’s eyes, this person was just being unreasonable. First, he took the liberty of drawing his Papa as a dog, and then he praised the dog he hated most right in front of him.
When he was the stray cat Mimi, he had been bullied by many stray dogs. Every time, he could only jump onto a high place in a sorry state, tuck his little tail, and tremble while waiting for the dog to leave.
He hated, hated dogs the most.
Jing Mimi wanted to say something more, but he heard Papa holding him suddenly speak: “Mimi, the little friend meant no harm.”
“Just like Mimi likes kittens the most, the little friend likes puppies the most. In the little friend’s eyes, puppies are the best-looking in the world, so he drew Papa as a puppy.”
“Mimi might meet friends who like hamsters in the future, and they might draw Papa as a hamster.”
“Just because Mimi hates a certain kind of small animal, doesn’t mean you can stop other friends from liking them.”
“If Mimi wants Papa to turn into a kitten, draw Papa as a kitten yourself, okay? Papa will buy Mimi drawing pens.”
Jing Mimi would listen carefully to whatever Papa said.
This time was no exception.
Before he could fully digest Papa’s words, he heard the child’s voice not far away sound again: “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you hated dogs.”
Jing Mimi subconsciously met his gaze again.
Those dark eyes looked particularly sincere.
Jing Mimi clutched the clothes on Papa’s chest with his small hand, the remaining anger in his heart disappearing completely, and gave a muffled “Mmhmm.”
Jing Zhi finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Under Papa’s guidance, Jing Mimi learned to use a broom to clean up the paper scraps on the floor. He also gave some of the fruit Papa brought to that child and awkwardly apologized to him. After all, he had torn up his drawing paper.
However, Jing Mimi still didn’t like this child very much.
It was a feeling similar to “hating the crow because you hate the house” (hating someone because of their association with something you dislike).
He hated dogs, so he also hated people who liked dogs.
Not long after, the delivery runner Jing Zhi called arrived with the drawing paper and pens. Some were given to Mimi, and some to that child.
Jing Mimi couldn’t wait to draw a kitten Papa on the paper and presented it to Papa like a treasure.
Looking at the crooked lines on the paper that barely resembled a cat or a human, Jing Zhi praised insincerely: “It looks good.”
Ugly-cute was still cute.
It was the cub’s love for him.
“Papa likes it very much.”
The tip of the non-existent little tail behind Jing Mimi wagged happily.
Looking up, Jing Zhi found that the other child in the room had disappeared. The phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated.
It was a call from Fang Yuan.
“I’m at the gate of the welfare institute. Come pick me up.”
…
Jing Zhi took Jing Mimi to the gate of the welfare institute to pick up Fang Yuan.
From a distance, he saw a welfare institute staff member standing next to Fang Yuan, smilingly registering some information for him.
Fang Yuan had a teacher’s qualification certificate and was a high school Chinese teacher, exactly one of the types of volunteers most welcomed by the welfare institute.
The children in the welfare institute needed the irrigation of knowledge.
Fang Yuan smiled at the staff member, but secretly raged helplessly on Jing Zhi’s WeChat: [I’m really impressed. I finally looked forward to a weekend, only to be dragged by you to be some volunteer and continue working. After this, you must go see a psychiatrist with me.]
Jing Zhi replied with a “Kitten behaving obediently” emoji.
After registering, Fang Yuan took the storybooks and went to the activity classroom with Jing Zhi, who was carrying the fruit.
It was past nap time, and more children were moving around.
Jing Mimi held Papa’s hand tightly, curiously looking at the children passing by.
Many children in the welfare institute were abandoned because of physical disabilities. Some were in wheelchairs, some couldn’t hear, some had intellectual disabilities…
Cases like Jing Mimi and his dormmate were relatively rare.
Jing Mimi didn’t know this and even thought the children in wheelchairs having their own “small cars” was so cool.
Jing Zhi, however, felt a lump in his heart watching them.
These children in the welfare institute had experiences very similar to the kitten Mimi. They were all abandoned by their parents because of defects; they were all pitiful little guys.
The activity classroom was already arranged and full of children sitting down.
Jing Zhi found a corner seat for Jing Mimi and let him listen to the class with the other children. He had to go back to the staff dormitory to tidy up first.
Because Uncle Fang Yuan was there, and Papa would come back after tidying up, Jing Mimi nodded his little head obediently.
There was only one corner seat left in the back row near the back door. Jing Mimi sat there. Next to him was a little girl with no hair, a few years older than Jing Mimi.
Seeing Jing Mimi’s rare light yellow hair, the little girl frequently glanced at the top of his head.
Suddenly, Jing Mimi also turned his head to look at her.
Their eyes met, and the little girl quickly looked away, extremely nervous.
But she heard the child next to her speak, asking her, “Sister, do you want to touch my head?”
The little girl was stunned.
Not long after, the little girl touched the small head Jing Mimi proactively lowered.
Although the light yellow hair was very short, it was exceptionally soft and felt great to the touch.
Jing Mimi simply thought she wanted to touch his head because Papa always touched it, and the police uncles, care worker aunties, doctors, and nurses he met before also touched it. He was used to it.
As for this little human sister with no hair—Jing Mimi didn’t ask her why she had no hair because Sphinx cats among cats had no fur, so it was normal for some humans to have no hair. Nothing to make a fuss about.
Because of Jing Mimi’s action, the little girl opened her heart to him completely and said with a smile, “When your hair grows long, I’ll braid beautiful braids for you.”
Before chemotherapy, she also had beautiful long hair and was very good at braiding.
“Okay.” Jing Mimi looked forward to it a little.
But he was a shorthair cat; he didn’t know if his hair could grow long.
Soon, Teacher Fang Yuan on the podium began to tell stories to the children. Jing Mimi mimicked the little girl, sitting up straight and looking at the podium.
They were all interesting mythological stories.
For example, the legend of Nian—the Nian beast was afraid of red color, firelight, and loud noises, so during the New Year, people pasted couplets and set off firecrackers to drive away the Nian beast.
Time flew. December passed, and the New Year was approaching.
The New Year every year was always a particularly special time node.
Jing Mimi listened with relish at first. Suddenly, because the heating was on in the classroom and wearing a down jacket was too hot, Fang Yuan took off some clothes. Jing Mimi’s eyes widened instantly, filled with disbelief.
The clothes Uncle Fang Yuan wore underneath actually had a pattern of a puppy head on it!!
Disbelief gradually turned into anger.
Jing Mimi felt betrayed.
Having taught for a week and continuing on the weekend, Fang Yuan’s throat felt dry and uncomfortable. He paused, unscrewed the mineral water provided by the welfare institute, and took a sip. His gaze subconsciously swept across the classroom and suddenly stopped abruptly.
Not long after, Jing Zhi, who was still tidying up the dormitory, suddenly received a WeChat message.
Fang Yuan: [Jing’er, Mimi skipped class!!!]
Jing Zhi: […?]
**
On the other side, Jing Mimi walked aimlessly, wanting to find Papa.
He didn’t want to listen to Uncle Fang Yuan tell stories anymore; he wanted to listen to Papa tell stories.
Because he didn’t obediently follow Papa’s instructions to listen to the class in the classroom, the kitten felt guilty. He dared not talk to anyone or ask where Papa’s room was, searching on his own like a headless fly.
This building was full of classrooms and activity rooms. The building behind was his previous dormitory; Papa’s room might be there too.
In between, he would pass a large field planted with many plants and a vegetable garden, but because it was winter, everything was covered in white snow.
Jing Mimi was walking forward with single-minded focus when suddenly, a furry figure approached him straight on.
It was a big black dog.
Jing Mimi was so scared that he took to his heels and ran.
It would have been fine if he hadn’t run, but once he started running, the dog chased even more excitedly, its tail wagging rapidly behind it, obviously meaning no harm.
“Big Black!” The child holding drawing paper and pens shouted sternly, stopping the big dog.
But the chased little cub still quickly scrambled up the tree in front of him, hugging the trunk like a koala, trembling. Looking down at the dog and the child he disliked, his eyes gradually filled with tears.
“Woo…”
**
Author’s Note:
Mimi: [Crying loudly]
