Chapter 17: Meow
Finally arriving at the hospital, Jing Zhi, holding Jing Mimi, couldn’t wait to rush out of the car.
The welfare institute staff member accompanying them hurried to keep up.
The staff member was a thirty-five-year-old woman named Bai Ying. Because her two front teeth were slightly long, the children in the welfare institute affectionately called her Auntie Little White Rabbit.
Bai Ying was almost out of breath from running, but she barely managed not to lose Jing Zhi.
If she hadn’t been worried that running too fast and bumpy would make the little cub in his arms uncomfortable, given Jing Zhi’s long legs, she would have lost sight of him long ago.
After a series of checkups, it was almost dark when they finally reached a somewhat reassuring conclusion—the little guy was allergic to grapes and also a bit lactose intolerant.
Jing Zhi didn’t like eating grapes and rarely bought them. At most, he would buy some similar green grapes that didn’t need peeling. On the first day he came to the welfare institute, he subconsciously filtered out grapes when buying fruits.
Until yesterday, the welfare institute distributed some new fruits to the children, including a few grapes.
From childhood to adulthood, neither he nor the people close to him had allergic constitutions, so he was relatively insensitive to allergies.
Fortunately, grapes were an easily avoidable allergen, so it wasn’t a big problem.
As for lactose intolerance, it was even easier to avoid.
The welfare institute received donations from some milk suppliers, and milk was part of the children’s daily diet. Just avoiding milk products in the future would be fine. Jing Zhi had already ordered lactose-free milk and goat milk powder online.
When Mimi was still a kitten, Jing Zhi also kept lactose-free milk and goat milk powder at home because most cats were lactose intolerant and couldn’t consume milk products, let alone a kitten like Mimi with poor health and a fragile stomach.
These were not major issues.
What made Jing Zhi a bit angry was that Mimi had been feeling uncomfortable in his stomach a few days ago and had a bit of diarrhea, but he didn’t tell him. Because Mimi could use the toilet independently, Jing Zhi didn’t manage him too much. After all, he was no longer a kitten but a little human, and his sense of independence and privacy needed to be cultivated.
If he hadn’t been so uncomfortable today that he vomited directly, Jing Zhi wouldn’t even have discovered his lactose intolerance.
When he got carsick on the way to the welfare institute before, Jing Zhi had told Mimi that if he felt uncomfortable, he must tell him immediately. But Mimi still didn’t take his words to heart.
Seeing the little cub lying on the hospital bed with a pale face, Jing Zhi couldn’t say any words of admonishment right now. He could only touch his small hands and face with heartache and apply some ointment to the red spots on his body according to the doctor’s instructions.
When he recovered this time, Jing Zhi would definitely have a good talk with him. There couldn’t be a next time.
Because Mimi was too young, and with the combination of allergies and lactose intolerance, his body was weak, so they chose to hospitalize him for observation first.
“Eat a little, I bought dinner.” Bai Ying handed the lunch box in her hand to Jing Zhi.
Jing Zhi thanked her, took the lunch box, and ate quickly.
Because he had been busy with Mimi all day, he wasn’t in the mood to eat at noon and only asked Bai Ying to bring him a steamed bun to gnaw on. Now it was getting dark, and his stomach was empty again.
His stomach problem had only improved not long ago, so he didn’t dare to mess with his body casually. If he collapsed, he would be even less able to take care of the little guy.
Jing Mimi lay quietly on the hospital bed, watching Papa eat.
When the kitten Mimi was sick before, he would also watch Papa quietly like this. He wouldn’t think too much; as long as Papa was by his side, he felt very secure.
He didn’t deliberately hide the diarrhea from Papa a few days ago. The kitten Mimi had a fragile stomach, and diarrhea was a common occurrence. He was used to it and even thought occasional diarrhea was normal, not a sign of falling ill.
While Jing Zhi was eating, a new child was admitted to the ward.
He was a little boy about six or seven years old. Both his parents were with him. He looked gentle and quiet, and after being admitted, he leaned on the hospital bed reading a book.
His father also looked gentle, wearing glasses, sitting by the bed reading with the little boy.
His mother was much more outgoing and started chatting with Bai Ying.
But her first sentence confused Bai Ying: “Is this your child? He’s so good-looking, looks very much like his father, especially the eyebrows and mouth.”
Bai Ying doubted her ears. Realizing the other party had misunderstood, she hurriedly shook her head and explained, “He’s a child from the welfare institute. I’m a staff member of the welfare institute, and Little Jing is a volunteer there.”
“Oh, oh, sorry, sorry.” The child’s mother smiled apologetically. She thought it was an older-wife-younger-husband couple. Although uncommon, it wasn’t completely non-existent.
Jing Zhi also felt a bit awkward and didn’t interrupt, but the sentence the child’s mother said just now left a mark in his heart—looks like his father, especially the eyebrows and mouth.
He carefully examined the little cub, focusing on the eyebrows and mouth.
It seemed he really did look a bit like him.
This discovery improved Jing Zhi’s mood a little.
Although not his biological kitten, he was better than a biological one.
Jing Mimi felt a bit nervous being stared at by him and called out softly, “Papa.”
Seeing that his spirits were a bit better and lying dryly on the bed was boring—unlike the child in the next bed who could read books—Jing Zhi handed the phone from his pocket to him and said, “Do you want to play games for a while?”
Jing Mimi happily reached out his small hand and took the phone.
Ever since he was caught red-handed by Papa secretly looking through the phone contacts that night in the hospital, Papa rarely let him play with his phone.
But in the few opportunities he had to get the phone, he looked through the contacts several times again and indeed didn’t see Big Papa’s name.
The plan to secretly call Big Papa met its Waterloo.
He had to find another way.
Before he could come up with any new ideas, he suddenly fell ill.
After getting the phone, Jing Mimi played Happy Match for a while. When his stamina ran out, he stopped playing, switched to the phone’s home screen, and started exploring curiously.
The phone was like an island full of treasures; a few swipes would reveal some interesting new discoveries.
If it were anyone else, Jing Zhi wouldn’t easily let them look through his phone. After all, there was a lot of privacy inside, very personal things.
But Mimi was an exception.
Mimi couldn’t read much and knew little, so he wasn’t afraid of Mimi seeing some things.
Jing Mimi quickly clicked into the photo album and found many photos of himself.
Before, when Papa took selfies with him, he had shown him the photos taken, but this was the first time he clicked directly into the photo album on the phone.
There were so many photos inside; the kitten’s eyes were dazzled.
He saw a small album called “Mimi” inside. Clicking on it, it was full of photos of him in his kitten form.
All taken by Papa before.
There were photos of the kitten eating, sunbathing, burying litter, pressing on his papas… and some videos.
Jing Mimi looked through them with novelty for a long time and also saw some photos of Big Papa inside.
The more he looked, the deeper his longing for Big Papa became.
Jing Zhi sat by the bed, taking in Jing Mimi’s action of looking through the album, and also noticed that he lingered longer on photos with Jiang Suifeng in them.
Jing Zhi’s hand hanging by his side pressed his knuckles lightly.
This was a small habit he used when thinking.
Finally, as if making up his mind, he raised his hand, took the phone from the little cub, and under the cub’s puzzled gaze, tapped on it a few times before returning it to him.
The screen on the phone changed. It was a hidden album. If Jing Zhi didn’t open it proactively, the little cub would never find it.
The name of the album was “Jiang Suifeng.”
Jing Mimi’s eyes lit up instantly.
He finally saw Big Papa’s name in Little Papa’s phone!
Although not in the contacts, and he couldn’t get Big Papa’s contact information, it was full of Big Papa’s photos, so many of them.
Jing Mimi flipped through them quickly.
Jing Zhi pursed his lips by the bed, controlling his gaze not to fall on the phone screen.
Although he deleted and blocked all of Jiang Suifeng’s contact information, he couldn’t bear to delete traces related to him, only hiding them.
The former was because he wanted to let go, the latter because he still loved him.
It was obvious that Mimi had deep feelings for both fathers. During this time, he had been clumsily probing for Jiang Suifeng’s movements, obviously missing him.
He should be very happy to see Jiang Suifeng’s photos.
Anyway, when Jiang Suifeng came back from his business trip, he would arrange for them to meet.
Although Jing Zhi kept controlling his gaze not to fall on the phone screen, his peripheral vision uncontrollably caught the sliding images on the phone.
Suddenly, Jing Mimi clicked on a somewhat special photo and let out a “Huh?”
Jing Zhi couldn’t wait to look.
It was a photo of Jiang Suifeng when he was a child.
At that time, it was popular to take photos for the first birthday, full of studio style. Little Jiang Feng had a round red dot on his forehead, holding a bunch of prop plum blossoms in his hand, funny and cute.
When Jiang Suifeng sent him this photo, he saved it to the album casually, just finding it amusing. Now…
Jing Zhi looked at Little Jiang Feng in the phone, then at Jing Mimi holding the phone.
Inexplicably, he felt that Mimi’s appearance also somewhat resembled Jiang Suifeng, especially the nose and eye shape.
Jing Zhi shook those messy thoughts out of his head, thinking to himself: I must be losing my mind.
But there was still a voice telling him—Mimi used to be his and Jiang Suifeng’s cat-child; it was normal for a child to look like both parents.
Previously, he always thought Mimi’s soul had possessed the little cub’s body, or completely taken over it.
But there was another possibility: it wasn’t possession, but the kitten had gained a human body molded after his papas.
If that were really the case…
Just as Jing Zhi was brainstorming, the phone suddenly vibrated.
A few seconds later, Jing Mimi stumbled as he read aloud: “Little Jing, I… le… er… one…”
Jing Zhi: “?”
Jing Zhi immediately took the phone from Jing Mimi.
There were two new text messages.
One was from the morning, saying: [Little Jing, I’m getting ready to come back. Afternoon flight.]
The other one was just now, saying: [Little Jing, I’ve got off the plane. Where are you? Let’s meet.]
