Chapter 25: Meow
Jiang Suifeng thought his grandfather was impacted by his message, but he didn’t expect him to be hit by a double attack from both grandson and granddaughter.
For a moment, Jiang Suifeng didn’t know what to say, and even felt a bit unkindly amused.
Facts proved that a gradual approach was useless with his grandfather; otherwise, there wouldn’t have been no sign of loosening up in these years. Perhaps a shock might yield unexpected results.
Jiang Suifeng also told Jiang Yuanyuan about the text message he sent.
Jiang Yuanyuan replied with a sweating emoji: [We are truly filial grandchildren.]
Jiang Suifeng: [Who says we aren’t.]
Jiang Yuanyuan: [I thought you hadn’t come back from your business trip yet, so I didn’t tell you about Grandpa coming here. Otherwise, you could have discussed it with me in advance.]
Jiang Suifeng: [It’s fine. He came to City A suddenly probably to find me too. We have to talk it out anyway.]
If it were just to see a doctor, Grandpa Jiang wouldn’t have come alone without saying a word.
Jiang Suifeng was raised by his grandparents since childhood and knew Grandpa Jiang’s personality best.
Although he was old-fashioned and conservative in some aspects, he was a very good person.
There’s a saying that discord among children is mostly due to the lack of virtue in the elders. But the large Jiang family got along closely and harmoniously, gathering together every year to chat and laugh. This was all carefully managed by the older generation, and Grandpa contributed greatly.
A few days ago, he went back and had a big fight with him. Grandpa learned that Jing Zhi was already sad because of the kitten’s death and was further provoked by the text message he sent. Although he couldn’t accept him being with Jing Zhi in his heart, he also felt guilty.
Jiang Yuanyuan: [So what do you plan to do now?]
Jiang Suifeng: [Let him stay at his comrade-in-arms’ place for a while. Wait for him to contact me proactively.]
He had said everything he could say; there was nothing else to say.
He also knew Grandpa’s comrade-in-arms, so there was nothing to worry about with Grandpa staying there.
…
After leaving his granddaughter’s house, Grandpa Jiang walked on the street where light snow was falling, shivering as he called his old comrade-in-arms asking for shelter.
His old comrade-in-arms called a car for him without a second thought and stood at the door in the freezing weather to welcome him. Seeing him from afar, his face was full of a brilliant smile.
After arriving at his old comrade-in-arms’ house, Grandpa Jiang didn’t say much, just drinking several cups of warm tea in silence.
Seeing his low mood and not knowing what happened, his old comrade-in-arms could only advise carefully, “Oh my, Old Jiang, drinking too much tea at night will keep you awake.”
Grandpa Jiang smiled bitterly.
He wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight even if he didn’t drink.
He didn’t dare close his eyes now, afraid that as soon as he did, the images from the books on his granddaughter’s desk would appear before him.
“Did something happen?” The old comrade-in-arms asked cautiously again.
Grandpa Jiang shook his head, took another sip of tea, his voice sounding weathered by wind and snow: “Don’t ask… I’ll disturb you here for a while.”
“What disturb or not disturb between us? Stay as long as you want.”
The old comrade-in-arms was surnamed Chen, about the same age as Grandpa Jiang. The whole family was warm and polite to Grandpa Jiang.
Putting aside years of comradeship, many years ago, Grandpa Chen’s youngest son almost lost his life trying to save people in a fire rescue operation and suffered extensive burns. Grandpa Jiang lent him a large sum of money without a second thought, a kindness like sending charcoal in snowy weather.
The youngest son was named Chen Ankang. Because of his burned appearance, he hadn’t married and still lived with the two elders. However, after years of rehabilitation treatment, he had no problem taking care of himself in daily life.
The guest room Grandpa Jiang stayed in tonight was tidied up by him, cleaned, and laid with comfortable bedding.
Chen Ankang was a child born to his parents in their old age. Although he was a generation older than Jiang Suifeng, he wasn’t much older than him. When they were young, he even took Jiang Suifeng to play during the New Year. Since the two families didn’t live in the same city, Grandpa Jiang hadn’t seen him much after his accident. The deepest impression was still the bloody scene he saw in the hospital not long after the accident.
Now seeing him moving freely, Grandpa Jiang felt slightly better.
After getting old, besides those few hobbies, what he cared about most was the younger generation.
Thinking of his troublesome grandson and granddaughter, Grandpa Jiang pulled Chen Ankang to chat for a long time.
Chatting about his recent situation, his daily life, his plans… slightly diverting the shock brought by that pair of grandchildren.
Chen Ankang said, “Recently, the team has a public welfare promotion activity and wants to invite me to teach fire safety knowledge to children in the welfare institute.”
He was a firefighting hero. Although he couldn’t work normally due to physical reasons, his name was still listed in the fire brigade, and he kept in touch with former colleagues. They even raised a lot of donations for him back then.
Grandpa Jiang immediately encouraged: “Go, it’s a very meaningful activity.”
Chen Ankang: “…I’m afraid my appearance will scare the children.”
He actually liked children quite a bit, but he had scared a few children to tears when going out before. The children had no malice; his appearance was just really scary.
Over the years, he had undergone many skin grafting surgeries, but with such a degree and area of burns, it was too difficult to repair, and he didn’t want to throw more money into it.
Grandpa Jiang comforted: “They won’t be afraid after hearing your story.”
Chen Ankang’s expression relaxed slightly, but he only said, “Let me think about it again…”
Grandpa Jiang patted his shoulder gently.
After chatting about this and that, it got later and later. Grandpa Jiang wasn’t sleepy at all, but sensing the fatigue of his old comrade-in-arms’ family, he ended the chat and went back to his room to rest.
Back in the room, Grandpa Chen said to his wife, “It must be about Suifeng again.”
They naturally heard about Jiang Suifeng being with a man.
His wife sighed, “Can’t blame Old Jiang for not accepting it.”
Because of the extensive burns, their youngest son had suffered a lot of strange looks over the years and experienced a low period of staying indoors and refusing to see people. He only got slightly better in recent years. The two elders saw it in their eyes and felt pain in their hearts.
They knew deeply that the eyes of the outside world could sometimes be knives, stabbing straight into the heart.
But they hadn’t done anything wrong.
…
In the hospital ward, Jing Mimi was taken by Jing Zhi to wash up after finishing this episode of the cartoon.
Big Papa had gone back first because he had to work tomorrow and could only visit him when he had time.
When he was a kitten, in Mimi’s eyes, Big Papa always went out hunting to support him and Little Papa at home, while Little Papa spent more time with him.
After going to Planet Meow, he learned that Big Papa went out to work to earn money, and Little Papa worked at home to earn money.
Toys, snacks, and canned food were all bought for the kitten Mimi by his two papas working hard together.
When he grew up, he would also work hard to earn money to support his papas!
Coming back from washing up, Jing Zhi casually glanced at his phone charging.
As expected, he received a new WeChat friend request.
The name card was all too familiar, unchanged from when he deleted the friend.
Jing Zhi casually accepted the friend request and deliberately gave him a business-like full name remark.
Jiang Suifeng’s message was sent almost instantly.
Not text, but an emoji of a coquettish kitten tilting its head and calling “Wifey.”
Jing Zhi: “…”
Jing Mimi was placed on the hospital bed to sit. His line of sight was elevated, close to Jing Zhi, so he could see his phone screen.
Jing Zhi subconsciously raised the phone screen higher, not wanting the little guy to see this emoji, but quickly realized he knew very few characters and didn’t recognize the word “Wifey” at all.
Jing Zhi quickly replied to Jiang Suifeng: [Sleeping, do not disturb.]
Jiang Suifeng replied with an emoji of “Yes, Wifey”: [Goodnight.]
Jing Zhi turned off the screen directly, continued charging the phone, and sat on the bed.
Jing Mimi had watched many episodes of cartoons on the phone today. To protect his eyes, he couldn’t watch the screen anymore. Jing Zhi played with the toys bought during the day with him for a while, consuming some energy before going to sleep.
After both Bai Ying and Jing Zhi went to sleep, Jing Mimi suddenly opened his eyes in the darkness, carefully crawled out of Jing Zhi’s arms, and moved to the corner of the bed.
A small hand quietly reached out from under the quilt and accurately picked up the phone on top.
This time, Jing Mimi learned to be smart and hid the phone inside the quilt to play. The light from the phone screen wouldn’t wake Papa up, and he wouldn’t be caught secretly looking at the phone.
Under the quilt, Jing Mimi squinted his eyes, skillfully entered the lock screen password, and unlocked the phone.
Current smartphones automatically adjust screen brightness with ambient light. Although Jing Mimi knew little about phone functions, after being covered inside the quilt, the screen brightness automatically dropped to the lowest.
He didn’t want to watch cartoons. Although the Cat Hero was cool, he had agreed with Brother Xiao Tian to watch the next episode together tomorrow. He couldn’t peek, and cartoons had sound, which would wake Papa up.
He wanted to send a message to Big Papa.
He saw Big Papa’s name appear on Little Papa’s WeChat.
Through observation these days, Jing Mimi roughly knew that WeChat was software for contacting people.
Besides WeChat calls, one could also contact through messages.
Papa taught him to send messages to Uncle Fang Yuan on WeChat, but he couldn’t type, so he could only send voice messages or tap some emojis to send. Papa’s emojis had many cute kitten patterns.
The small hand skillfully clicked on the WeChat icon, quickly found Big Papa’s name “Jiang Suifeng,” clicked on the chat box with him, then clicked on the emoji icon in the lower right corner, and selected carefully.
Finally, he sent a “Kitten Kissing” emoji.
After becoming a little human, Jing Mimi learned many new human ways to express affection. Among them, kissing was the most intimate.
So, he chose this emoji.
The phone belonged to Little Papa. Combined with the fact that the first time he called and messaged Uncle Fang Yuan, it was misunderstood as Little Papa, the conclusion was—Big Papa would definitely think this emoji was sent by Little Papa!
The kitten just needed to pretend to know nothing.
The kitten worried his heart out for his papas’ reconciliation.
After doing all this, Jing Mimi quietly put the phone back in its original place, burrowed into Papa’s arms to find a comfortable position, and closed his eyes.
A good night’s sleep.
…
When Jing Zhi woke up the next morning, the little cub in his arms was still sleeping soundly, and Bai Ying hadn’t woken up either.
He got out of bed lightly, washed up simply, went back to the bedside to pick up his phone, and walked out of the ward to buy breakfast.
While walking, he turned on his phone and glanced at it casually.
The first WeChat message was an unread message from Jiang Suifeng. He could see the content without clicking in: [Baby, I want to kiss you too.]
Jing Zhi: “?”
Early in the morning, what kind of heat is this?
Also, what does this “too” mean?
***
Author’s Note:
Jiang · Knows who it is but plays dumb · Seizes the opportunity given by the cub · Pun intended · Suifeng: Want to kiss both babies [Kisses]
