Chapter 46: Meow
Jing Mimi rarely talked in his sleep; Jing Zhi had only heard it once.
It seemed to start after eating the fermented rice wine his mom made. The sleep talk at night was also meowing sounds, which quieted down after a while.
Because he slept curled up, his voice was soft and muffled, a bit different from his usual meows.
But… he remembered telling Jiang Suifeng about this the next day. Jiang Suifeng knew about it and even said he would record it next time Mimi talked in his sleep. Unfortunately, he didn’t hear Mimi talk in his sleep again after that.
Probably because he was scared by the zombie kitten in the horror game today, and his brain couldn’t react.
Jing Zhi smiled and patted his back randomly, comforting him: “Don’t scare yourself.”
Jiang Suifeng burrowed into Jing Zhi’s arms again. After a while, he muffled out a sentence: “I want to go to the toilet.”
Jing Zhi got up helplessly and accompanied him to the bathroom.
Because Mimi was still asleep, they didn’t turn on the lights, afraid of waking him up. The only light source was the flashlight on Jing Zhi’s phone.
The tall and sturdy Jiang Suifeng held Jing Zhi’s hand tightly, always feeling danger lurking around.
There might be a pair of eyes in the closet, something living under the bed, or hair suddenly hanging down from above… overthinking harms people.
Jiang Suifeng could only hold Jing Zhi’s hand tighter and press his body against him.
Fortunately, after leaving the bedroom, Jing Zhi turned on the big light outside. The surroundings brightened up instantly, and those breeding fantasies had nowhere to hide.
But Jiang Suifeng still didn’t let go of Jing Zhi’s hand, and Jing Zhi ignored him.
It wasn’t until they reached the bathroom and Jing Zhi led him to the toilet that he broke free from the hand that was gripped slightly red.
“Go ahead, hurry back to sleep.” Saying that, he yawned, his voice trailing off with sleepiness, and leaned casually against the bathroom wall, waiting for him to finish so he could continue meeting the Duke of Zhou (sleeping).
After the live stream tonight, he edited videos until very late and needed to catch up on sleep.
Jiang Suifeng obediently did his business.
Jing Zhi closed his eyes and rested for a while.
It was actually quite funny. He dared to reach out and catch terrifying bugs without batting an eye, bold in every aspect of daily life, yet afraid of such virtual, non-existent things.
But everyone has their own fears, which is normal, just like Mimi being afraid of dogs.
He actually quite liked the feeling of being relied on by Jiang Suifeng.
Only in front of him would Jiang Suifeng show his fragile side, and only he could provide Jiang Suifeng with a sense of security.
This feeling was wonderful…
When the sound of flushing ended, accompanied by an exclamation, a tall figure pounced straight at him.
Jing Zhi was caught off guard and knocked to the ground by him, his body hurting from the impact.
Turning his eyes, a blurry small figure suddenly appeared at the bathroom door.
He knew who it was without thinking.
Jing Zhi tried calling out: “Mimi?”
The little cub’s sleepy response came from behind the door: “Papa.”
Jing Zhi pushed the person pressing on him who hadn’t even put on his pants properly, really wondering how this person got scared.
Because of changing to a new small bed and not sleeping snuggled up with his papas, Jing Mimi slept a bit unaccustomed, which was why he talked in his sleep. His papas going out to the toilet together also woke him up. He also wanted to use the toilet a bit, so he climbed out of bed.
The bathroom door opened, and the barefoot cub holding the little fish doll appeared outside.
No wonder there was no sound at all.
Fortunately, the floor heating temperature wasn’t low; stepping on it was warm, and bare feet wouldn’t catch a cold.
But it wasn’t a good habit either.
Learning he also wanted to use the toilet, Jing Zhi picked him up, let him step on his instep, and educated him about wearing shoes.
Jing Mimi nodded his little head groggily.
Jiang Suifeng helped hold the little fish doll on the side, his gaze falling on a touch of red.
After Jing Mimi finished using the toilet, he took over the person, holding him and returning to the bedroom with Jing Zhi.
Not long after, Jiang Suifeng brought iodine cotton swabs from the living room.
The wound was on Jing Zhi’s forearm, scraped when he fell just now. The skin was broken, and a little blood oozed out, but it wasn’t serious.
Jing Zhi also felt it. Knowing Jiang Suifeng wanted to treat his wound, he didn’t stop him, just smiled at him and said, “Aren’t you afraid looking for the first-aid kit alone?”
Jiang Suifeng: “…”
Jiang Suifeng ignored his sentence and lowered his head to focus on treating the wound.
Jing Mimi sat on the small bed holding the little fish doll, looking at his papas worriedly.
After treating the wound, Jing Zhi smiled at him and coaxed, “It’s okay, small injury, will heal soon. Go to sleep.”
Seeing this, Jiang Suifeng tucked Jing Mimi in, also lay on the bed, and turned off the light.
Just as he was carefully avoiding Jing Zhi’s wound and preparing to find a comfortable position to sleep, his lips suddenly softened.
It was Jing Zhi’s lips pressing on his.
Don’t know if it was encouragement or reward.
Encouraging him not to be afraid, rewarding him for going to the living room alone to find the first-aid kit.
Like coaxing a child.
Jiang Suifeng deepened the kiss smoothly, his hand slipping into Jing Zhi’s clothes, hugging his waist.
Without Mimi sleeping in the middle, they could secretly do many things.
The small bed was so worth buying.
…
The next day.
The first thing Jiang Suifeng did when he woke up in the morning was to open the door and see if there were new notes or other traces at the door.
The result was as expected—none.
There were no suspicious figures in the surveillance last night either.
However, Zhu Shan opposite went out very early. While waiting for the elevator, he specially glanced at their door, probably checking too. Finding nothing, he left hurriedly when the elevator arrived.
The snow finally stopped today.
Melting snow lowered the temperature a bit instead.
After watching Jiang Suifeng leave for work, Jing Mimi turned around quickly and tidied up the cat room, moving all his favorite toys into the cat room.
Brother Qiuqiu was coming to be a guest at home today!
The cat room was his little room; he wanted to play with Brother Qiuqiu here.
While tidying up, he saw a somewhat familiar but very abrupt jar.
Jing Zhi was looking at fruit delivery from nearby chain fruit stores on the sofa.
His forearm was injured last night, not only the scraped skin but also a bruise, which still hurt a bit now. Plus the thick snow and slippery roads outside, he wasn’t reassured leaving Mimi alone at home, and even less reassured taking him out, so he didn’t go out, thinking of ordering delivery to buy some fruits to treat Qiuqiu.
He bought a lot of snacks when returning from the welfare institute; the snack rack and refrigerator were almost full, enough.
For lunch, order delivery from a restaurant. His arm hurt, and it wasn’t convenient to cook.
Just as Jing Zhi was choosing fruits, Jing Mimi suddenly ran over da da da holding a big jar.
Jing Zhi was startled.
The next second, Jing Mimi asked him excitedly: “Papa, what is this?”
He vaguely remembered the kitten Mimi seeing this jar before dying, but never before.
“…”
For a moment, Jing Zhi didn’t know how to answer.
This jar was specially purchased to hold the kitten’s ashes before deciding on the kitten Mimi’s euthanasia. The jar body was light yellow, dotted with several beautiful sunflowers, full of vitality.
And inside… it indeed contained the kitten Mimi’s ashes now.
Stared at by amber eyes without any impurities, Jing Zhi couldn’t think of any euphemistic explanation, so he simply threw caution to the wind: “Inside are ashes.”
Life and death are also compulsory courses in life.
Mimi had already experienced it once and must be stronger than they imagined.
In the future, he would experience much more.
“Ashes?” Jing Mimi tilted his little head, obviously hearing this word for the first time.
“After people and animals die, their bodies can be burned into ash. This is the kitten Mimi’s ash. Papa couldn’t bear for the kitten to leave, so I put it in the jar and kept it by my side, as if the kitten is still accompanying Papa.”
While speaking, Jing Zhi took the jar from his hand and opened the lid to show him.
Jing Mimi blinked his eyes, finding it a bit novel.
Like a pile of soil he dug when playing house with children in the welfare institute, but finer than soil.
So this was left by the kitten Mimi.
Similar to the cat hair left on the cat nest.
Now that the little human Mimi was back to accompany Papa, this thing was no longer needed.
Jing Mimi suddenly had an idea, raised his little head, and asked, “Papa, can this grow flowers?”
Jing Zhi, who was still pondering how to continue explaining, was stunned.
After a long while, he answered stammeringly: “…Should be possible.”
Ashes mixed in soil, growing flowers was definitely no problem.
Jing Mimi said happily: “Papa, I want to plant sunflowers in it!”
The welfare institute’s name was “Sunflower,” but because it was winter now, not the season for sunflowers to bloom, he had only seen this kind of flower on the cultural wall of the welfare institute.
The petals were deep yellow, growing towards the sun, very beautiful.
He liked sunflowers; he wanted to plant sunflowers.
He saw it; the pattern on this jar was also sunflowers. It was most suitable to plant sunflowers with this.
Jing Zhi couldn’t help but be speechless, his heart touched fiercely.
The originally awkward and weird situation was painted with warm fairy-tale colors by the little cub’s innocence.
Planting sunflowers with the kitten’s ashes…
“Okay, when spring comes, Papa will buy sunflower seeds.”
This will grow the warmest sunflowers in the world.
…
Jing Zhi and Jing Mimi moved the jar containing the kitten’s ashes to another place, placing it on the plant stand on the balcony where sunlight could reach.
When spring came next year, they could sow seeds.
Not long after, the doorbell rang.
Jing Zhi looked at the surveillance and saw Wang Qiuqiu holding a kitten balloon. He couldn’t help but curve his eyes and took Jing Mimi to open the door together.
The little guy would definitely be surprised.
The door opened. Seeing the scene outside clearly, Jing Mimi’s eyes widened in surprise.
Wow! Such a big cat balloon! It can float!
Seeing this, Wang Qiuqiu couldn’t wait to speak: “Mimi, Long time no see.”
This was English for “long time no see.”
During the time he left the welfare institute, he studied hard, especially English. He still remembered that Mimi would pop out an English word learned from games from time to time in the welfare institute, and was very happy after being praised by his Papa.
Because of the knowledgeable Brother Xiao Tian that Mimi shared with him after returning from the hospital, Wang Qiuqiu remembered it until now, so he couldn’t wait to show off his skills and make Mimi look at him with admiration too.
Unexpectedly, Jing Mimi frowned instantly upon hearing this and quickly reached out his small hand to cover his mouth.
“Brother Qiuqiu, let’s speak Chinese.”
***
Author’s Note:
Wang Qiuqiu: [Clown]
