Chapter 20: Meow
Jing Zhi ate the rest of his lunch as if chewing wax, deliberately slowing down, putting rice grains into his mouth one by one, his gaze lowered.
Because once he finished eating, he would be heading to the “guillotine.”
But the lunch box wasn’t Doraemon’s pocket; it couldn’t continuously generate new food. Before long, the last grain of rice disappeared.
The disposable chopsticks scraped carefully inside a few times, picking up nothing. Jing Zhi resignedly began to pack up the lunch box trash.
Jiang Suifeng had been chatting with Mimi, listening to him talk about the children he met in the welfare institute. Seeing Jing Zhi finish eating, he smiled and said to the little cub, “Little Papa finished eating. Big Papa and he are going out to buy delicious food. Mimi, be a good boy and take a nap. When you wake up, we’ll bring you a gift.”
Jing Mimi’s eyes sparkled, and he nodded his little head.
When he was still the kitten Mimi, Little Papa and Big Papa often went out hunting together and brought him gifts.
Jing Zhi: “…”
Jing Zhi gritted his teeth and packed up a bit more forcefully, making the lunch box packaging bag rustle loudly.
Originally, he planned to let Jiang Suifeng leave after meeting, but now, this guy played a little trick to secure a chance to come back.
As expected of a cunning capitalist.
After packing the lunch box, Jing Zhi stood up directly, went around to the other side to pick up Bai Ying’s lunch box, gave Jiang Suifeng a look, and walked out of the ward with him.
Jing Mimi turned over on the bed, watching the backs of his two papas leaving, in an excellent mood.
Although he could feel that his papas were still in the awkward period after an argument, with the kitten’s matchmaking, getting back together was definitely just a matter of time!
The kitten had already started fantasizing about the happy life after going home with his papas.
…
Just as they walked out of the ward, Jiang Suifeng couldn’t wait to hold Jing Zhi’s hand hanging by his side.
Inside the heated room, both their hands were warm, but the moment they touched, Jing Zhi broke free directly.
“Let’s talk outside.” Jing Zhi put both hands into his pockets and quickened his pace.
Jiang Suifeng hurried to keep up, the hand that had just held Jing Zhi’s curling slightly, savoring the touch he had been longing for day and night.
Walking into the elevator, in the small space with only the two of them, Jiang Suifeng couldn’t wait to speak: “What’s with the stomach illness? How was the gastroscopy result?”
Jing Zhi: “…” Finally here.
Jing Zhi: “Nothing serious. Forgot to eat, got hungry. Don’t worry.”
Jiang Suifeng: “You know I would worry.”
Jing Zhi was choked up and didn’t answer, staring at the descending numbers of the elevator, hoping the speed could be faster.
Jiang Suifeng obviously didn’t intend to let him go: “Little Jing, I missed you and worried about you every day during the business trip. You didn’t block my new number that night. Although you kept hanging up my calls, I was very happy. I slept my first good sleep that night.”
Jing Zhi: “…”
Jing Zhi decided to tell him the cold truth: “The one who hung up your calls that night wasn’t me.”
Jiang Suifeng: “?”
Jing Zhi: “It was Mimi. I was asleep at the time. He thought bad calls would disturb my sleep, so he guarded the phone, hanging up every call that came in until the phone ran out of battery and shut down.”
Jing Zhi added: “He doesn’t know how to block numbers.”
Jiang Suifeng: “…”
The smooth elevator wall reflected the indescribable expression on Jiang Suifeng’s face. Jing Zhi suddenly wanted to laugh and even wanted to draw a red nose on him.
The children’s inpatient department was on the lower floors. Amidst their conversation, they arrived at the first floor.
The moment the elevator doors opened, Jiang Suifeng’s voice sounded simultaneously: “What a filial cub.”
Jing Zhi couldn’t help but curl his lips slightly and strode out.
Sensing Jing Zhi’s improved mood, Jiang Suifeng talked about his grandfather again.
Their conflict this time was directly related to his grandfather’s text message. This matter had to be clarified.
Learning that the person who sent the text message was Grandpa Jiang, Jing Zhi’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and his mood, which had just lifted a little, fell again.
When Jiang Suifeng was young, his parents were busy with work, so he was always raised by his grandparents and had the best relationship with them.
When Grandma Jiang passed away, they had just gotten together not long ago, and he hadn’t told his family about his sexual orientation yet. Jiang Suifeng was sad for a long time. Jing Zhi accompanied him throughout the process and knew the weight of his grandparents in his heart.
Grandma Jiang died of illness, cancer. Grandpa Jiang’s body was still tough, but he was old after all. No matter how tough, he couldn’t resist aging and illness. Seeing his grandson approaching thirty, with a stable job and successful career, yet not only unmarried but also “messing around” with a man, he must be anxious.
Jing Zhi was afraid of a melodramatic plot where Grandpa Jiang threatened with his life, wanting to see his grandson get married normally before he died.
Now, the text message he received vaguely gave him such a sign.
Jing Zhi felt a heavy discomfort in his heart.
Fortunately, Mimi was back. Keeping the son and letting the father go was the best decision.
Both he and Jiang Suifeng could start better lives.
Although his mom couldn’t accept him being with a man and always nagged in his ear about wanting a grandchild, she hadn’t done anything substantial. She just tried to convert him like Tang Sanzang reciting the Tightening-Fillet Spell to Sun Wukong, which had no effect anyway.
Didn’t she want a grandchild? Just give her a big one directly, one who could talk and call her Grandma.
Stepping out of the hospital lobby, without the warmth of the heating, it suddenly became cold. Jing Zhi couldn’t help shivering.
Jiang Suifeng was still saying that he went back and scolded his grandfather, and received a text message from his grandfather softening his attitude at night. He wasn’t a completely unreasonable stubborn old man.
Jing Zhi, however, couldn’t listen anymore.
He knew what Jiang Suifeng wanted to express and knew Jiang Suifeng’s firm belief. But after experiencing Mimi’s life and death, his mindset had changed. Many things might not have a result no matter how hard one fought for them.
Just like the kitten Mimi’s illness, they could only choose euthanasia.
Just like their family and worldly views, perhaps they would never wait for the day of acceptance.
Miracles might exist, but they were too slim.
Mimi’s return might already be the greatest miracle given by heaven.
Even for Mimi’s sake, separation was the best choice. Mimi couldn’t be made to bear the pressure from the outside world with them.
Jing Zhi stopped abruptly. Jiang Suifeng was taller than him, so he had to look up slightly to meet his gaze.
Jiang Suifeng had a pair of peach blossom eyes and a handsome face. He should have easily attracted romantic debts, but he happened to be particularly obtuse in relationships. Coupled with his many hobbies and rich spiritual world, he had no dating experience until graduate school.
When he first met him, Jing Zhi was bewitched by this face and figure. Taking advantage of being close, he boldly took a step forward.
After getting together, they gradually discovered many incompatible points, but being together was a process of constant adjustment, and feelings grew stronger with friction.
Seven years, really hard to give up.
But life was still long; you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
Meeting his gaze, Jing Zhi said lightly, “I’ll send you off here. You go back. I’ll buy a small gift to take back and tell Mimi you had something to do and left first, and will come to see him next time. If you want to see him, you can…” go directly to the welfare institute.
Before Jing Zhi could finish, he was interrupted by Jiang Suifeng: “I didn’t bring my phone.”
Jing Zhi: “?”
Jiang Suifeng continued to explain: “I left my phone in the ward for Mimi to play with.”
The inpatient department was at the very back. They were now in front of the outpatient clinic. Going back to get the phone would take a long walk, but a few steps would take them out of the hospital gate.
Jing Zhi: “…”
Jing Zhi laughed out of anger.
Fine, fine, he couldn’t outplay the cunning capitalist.
Seeing Jing Zhi storming out of the hospital, Jiang Suifeng quickly followed, with a flattering and submissive expression on his face.
He guessed Jing Zhi would make him leave. He knew Jing Zhi too well, so he had prepared a backup plan long ago.
How could he coax his wife without playing some tricks?
There were usually snack stalls at the hospital entrance. Jiang Suifeng looked around and said to Jing Zhi, “I want to eat Jianbing Guozi (savory crepe).”
Jing Zhi walked grumpily to the Jianbing Guozi stall, ordered the most basic Jianbing Guozi for Jiang Suifeng, deliberately not adding his favorite small sausage, and paid by scanning the QR code with his phone.
Jiang Suifeng noticed but didn’t dare to make a request. He knew the difference between one meal with sausage and every meal with sausage.
The Jianbing Guozi was made quickly, and soon Jiang Suifeng was eating it hot.
He took a bite, swallowed, and commented, “Doesn’t taste as good as the one at our school gate. Do you want a bite?”
Back in university, there was a Jianbing Guozi stall on the food street at the gate of University A that made particularly delicious ones. They often bought one after evening classes, half for each, as a late-night snack.
It was the taste of first love, green and passionate.
Jing Zhi still said grumpily, “Eat it yourself.”
Dropping this sentence, he walked straight ahead.
Jiang Suifeng followed quickly with the Jianbing Guozi in his mouth.
Jing Zhi was going to buy a gift for Mimi, buy it quickly and go back. He didn’t want to be alone with this person whose mouth couldn’t be stopped even by food.
Coincidentally, there was a boutique store not far away. Jing Zhi pushed the door open and walked in.
Jing Zhi wasn’t very good at picking gifts for children. His gaze fell on someone who finally quieted down gnawing on the Jianbing Guozi after entering the store because there were quite a few customers. “You pick, I pay.”
Jiang Suifeng accepted the order immediately.
When paying at the end, the clerk barely managed to fit everything into the largest shopping bag.
Jiang Suifeng had finished the Jianbing Guozi. Seeing this, he proactively picked up the bag.
Jing Zhi was a game streamer and often used a keyboard and mouse, inevitably suffering from occupational tenosynovitis. In daily life, Jiang Suifeng would take more care of Jing Zhi in this regard to reduce the burden on his hands.
Jing Zhi didn’t stand on ceremony with him either. After paying, he gave him a look, and they left the boutique store together, returning to the hospital.
In winter, carts selling roasted sweet potatoes and rock sugar snow pear soup were everywhere, emitting a sweet and cloying smell.
Jiang Suifeng suddenly said, “Buy a cup of rock sugar snow pear soup for Mimi to taste.”
Jing Zhi glanced at him sideways. “You believe he is Mimi?”
Jing Zhi liked sweets and sweet drinks. In winter, he often asked Jiang Suifeng to bring back a cup of hot rock sugar snow pear soup after work or stew it himself at home. Kittens could eat a little pear, but the rock sugar stewed snow pear for humans had high sugar content. For the sake of the kitten’s health, they never let the cat taste it.
Several times the kitten curiously leaned over to sniff, but they took him away in time.
Now, the kitten had become a little human and could eat many things that kittens couldn’t but humans could.
Jiang Suifeng was noncommittal.
How to put it? Although they had only been together for a short time and he hadn’t found definitive evidence yet, the answer in his feelings was affirmative.
But in front of Jing Zhi, he couldn’t be too honest. Even if he believed Mimi was their kitten, he had to pretend, so he could have more excuses to cling to Jing Zhi.
He didn’t want to be “left behind while the son was kept.”
So, when Jing Zhi paid for the rock sugar snow pear soup, Jiang Suifeng said, “Let’s observe a bit more.”
Jing Zhi didn’t say anything more. Carrying the rock sugar snow pear soup, he walked into the hospital with Jiang Suifeng.
The hospital buildings were connected one by one, transparent from front to back. Jing Zhi was afraid of the cold, so he walked directly into the outpatient clinic to walk through the building and leech some heating.
Today was the weekend, and there were many people in the hospital. Jing Zhi was single-mindedly thinking about getting back to the ward quickly. Jiang Suifeng followed closely behind him, saying something to him from time to time. If Jing Zhi didn’t reply, he would change the subject.
Therefore, neither of them noticed a gaze that had been glued to them all along.
…
Xu Sumei’s eyes had been a bit uncomfortable recently, as if something was growing inside. Taking advantage of the weekend, she came to the hospital and booked an expert appointment.
Unexpectedly, as soon as she arrived at the outpatient department, she saw her son and his boyfriend.
She didn’t know much about her son’s boyfriend. She only knew his name was Jiang Suifeng, he went to the same university as her son, and they had been together for many years.
She had never been able to accept it, so her son hadn’t brought his boyfriend back to meet her. But she had seen his appearance on her son’s phone lock screen wallpaper, and met him a few times outside, though they didn’t speak.
Honestly asking herself, the other party was also a handsome young man with good conditions. If he were like Fang Yuan, just a good brother to her son, it would be even better.
She couldn’t understand why her son would like someone of the same sex. She reflected on whether it was caused by the single-parent family and lack of fatherly love, and tried to correct it, but nothing changed.
How could two men build a family and continue the lineage? She was a conservative and traditional person. She couldn’t figure it out and found it hard to accept.
She was still waiting to drink her son’s wedding wine and hold a grandchild.
Two men couldn’t even get a certificate, let alone get married. The gift money she gave out over the years couldn’t be collected back.
The two were carrying a big bag of things, not looking like they were here to see a doctor, but rather to visit someone.
Xu Sumei thought for a moment and decided to follow them secretly to take a look.
It would have been fine if she hadn’t looked, but one look gave her a fright.
Listening to the milky voice calling “Big Papa” and “Little Papa” from the ward in the children’s inpatient department, Xu Sumei felt like she was frozen in place.
The ward door was open. She took a peek inside while Jing Zhi wasn’t paying attention. The child was born very beautiful, like a porcelain doll, and his hair was light yellow.
It would be fine if he was just good-looking, but his appearance bore a resemblance to Jing Zhi when he was little, especially the eyebrows and mouth.
Now that Jing Zhi had grown up and his features had developed, it wasn’t so obvious. But she was Jing Zhi’s mother who raised him personally; she couldn’t be mistaken.
A terrible thought jumped into her mind.
Xu Sumei tremblingly opened her phone and sent a WeChat message to her son: [Little Jing, what are you doing now?]
Her son replied quickly: [Working. What’s up, Mom?]
Her son almost never lied to her.
Xu Sumei became even more convinced of the thought in her mind.
She hoped her son would get married and have children step by step like ordinary people, and she always nagged him about wanting a grandchild. But she never wanted her son to obtain a child through such immoral and illegal means.
She had heard a little about surrogacy before, the inhumane trading of women’s wombs, even forming a gray industry chain. She heard that eggs could also be selected. The child inside had light yellow hair, looking like foreign genes.
How could this be…
Although it was a single-parent family, she had instilled upright values in Jing Zhi since childhood. No matter how tired she was from work, she never neglected Jing Zhi’s education, not only in studies but also in ideology and conduct.
She felt her education wasn’t a failure, and her son had always been a person who respected women.
How could this happen…
Xu Sumei’s mind went blank, her chest heaving violently. She quickly handwrote a line on her phone screen: [Put down that little foreigner and come out.]
Inside the ward, Jing Zhi, holding Mimi with one hand and his phone with the other: “?”
Jing Zhi looked down at the little cub with light yellow hair in his arms, then looked up at his mother standing at the ward door, who appeared at some unknown time. Panic and confusion intertwined.
Little foreigner… Mimi?
***
Author’s Note:
Mimi: Grandma, I am a little foreign cat molded by the Cat God.
