Chapter 61: Meow
The scene of two grown men seriously learning to meow was indeed a bit comical.
Jing Zhi couldn’t help but recall the embarrassing experience of being punished to learn cat meows after failing a game stream with other streamer friends.
At that time, the kitten Mimi was attracted by his meowing and scratched the door outside the study with his little paws. Jiang Suifeng saw this and wanted to carry him away, but not long after, he came to the study door again, insisting on opening the door to find out what was going on.
However, Jing Zhi had a large number of viewers in his live stream and didn’t want to bring the kitten Mimi on camera. Jiang Suifeng knew this well and could only carry the kitten to the bedroom, meowing to play with him and divert his attention.
Now, the kitten Mimi finally had the chance to teach his papas the authentic kitten meow.
Seeing this, Shen Ziyuan couldn’t help laughing, saying: “This show is more precious than any gift.”
Jing Zhi and Jiang Suifeng, relying on their height advantage not to be seen by the little cub, gave him a fake smile.
Soon, Jing Zhi leaned over and put his arm around the little cub’s shoulder, looking at Shen Ziyuan and saying to him: “Mimi, teach Uncle Shen to meow too. After we leave, he has to continue coaxing the baby.”
Jiang Suifeng echoed: “Yes, must teach Uncle Shen.”
Shen Ziyuan: “…”
Jing Mimi thought Papa made a lot of sense, but he had more important things to do now, so he said to Shen Ziyuan: “Uncle Shen, let’s add each other as friends. I’ll teach you slowly on the phone later.”
Shen Ziyuan was very moved and agreed.
Just like that, he added the little cub’s phone watch as a friend.
Shen Luo let the baby lie on her chest, supporting her carefully with her palm, watching all this with a face full of smiles.
Not to mention, Mimi’s imitation was really quite like a kitten.
This should be one of the reasons why Jing Zhi and Jiang Suifeng chose to adopt him from the welfare institute.
The nurse on the side hadn’t left yet. Watching this scene, she couldn’t help but smile too.
After adding friends, Jing Mimi glanced quickly at the nurse who hadn’t left yet, walked da da da to the bedside, and said to Shen Luo: “Auntie Shen, can I see the kitten photos and videos you mentioned?”
Just now Shen Luo told the nurse that she often watched videos of Chestnut during pregnancy. Jing Mimi heard it, so it wasn’t strange to make such a request.
Shen Luo immediately said to Shen Ziyuan: “Open the Chestnut album on your phone and show it to Mimi.”
After speaking, she inexplicably felt a bit dazed.
Chestnut… Mimi… It had been two years since she called these two names at the same time.
At that time, the kitten Mimi was occasionally sent to their home for short-term care.
Strange to say, there were other friends’ cats entrusted to them for short-term care, but Chestnut didn’t get along well with them, only with Mimi. After getting familiar at the first meeting, she groomed him and didn’t mind him sleeping in her cat nest or eating her cat food.
If they were humans, one could ask why there was such differential treatment, but they were kittens, and humans didn’t understand cat language.
Unknowingly, the kitten Chestnut had been dead for two years, and the kitten Mimi had also left…
The phone on the bedside table was picked up, and Shen Luo came back to her senses slightly.
Not long after, several pairs of eyes fell on the phone screen in unison.
It’s Sister Chestnut! So many Sister Chestnuts!
Jing Mimi watched extremely seriously. After watching for a while, he remembered the mission belatedly and glanced at the nurse beside him who hadn’t left yet out of the corner of his eye.
Just now when teaching his papas to meow, during a short break, the Cat God’s voice suddenly sounded in his head, saying to him: “Mimi, the nurse in the ward now is Lin Pan’er from the mission. Mimi can seize this good opportunity to complete the mission.”
This was also why he didn’t teach Uncle Shen to meow directly—he had to do the mission first. The meowing teaching could wait; no rush.
Photos swiped past one by one like film strips. Suddenly a video appeared. Shen Ziyuan immediately clicked the play button of the video. Not long after, meowing sounds rang from the phone.
It’s Sister Chestnut’s voice!
Maybe to human ears, cats’ voices were hard to distinguish, but to Jing Mimi’s ears, the voice of every cat he had seen was different, just like human voices.
Suddenly hearing the familiar meow, Jing Mimi’s little heart trembled slightly, missing Sister Chestnut a bit.
The video was still playing unhurriedly. The nurse spoke abruptly: “Is this a… Tortoiseshell cat?”
Shen Luo smiled and answered: “Yes, Tortoiseshell cat, called Chestnut. Missing one ear, very cool.”
Cat owners are always extra enthusiastic and proud when introducing their cats to others. Every characteristic of the cat is worth showing off in their eyes.
In the few days after giving birth, Shen Luo also had a very good impression of this nurse named Lin Pan’er. She was a serious, gentle, and responsible nurse, treating the baby with love and liking in her eyes. It could be seen that she genuinely liked this job.
Lin Pan’er also had a very good impression of Shen Luo and Shen Ziyuan.
They were a responsible and loving couple of prospective parents.
Having stayed in the department for so long, she had seen too many indifferent families and “unfortunate” newborns. Some were disliked as soon as they were born, some families were already broken, some parents had indifferent feelings, giving birth just to complete a task…
Therefore, every time she saw a loving couple and a baby born in a loving family, she would be genuinely happy for them.
But at this moment, her attention fell completely on the cat in the phone.
It was a Tortoiseshell cat.
Actually a Tortoiseshell cat.
Seemed to be missing an ear too, not a sound Tortoiseshell cat.
Yet they loved it so much.
She knew long ago that some parents were born to be parents, whether the child was human or animal.
Seeing Nurse Lin’s expression was a bit wrong, Shen Luo asked: “What’s wrong?”
Lin Pan’er hesitated for a moment and answered: “Nothing, just… I used to raise a Tortoiseshell cat too.”
Shen Luo exclaimed softly: “What a coincidence. What was its name?”
Lin Pan’er: “Lin Meili (Beautiful).”
In human aesthetics, many Tortoiseshell cats didn’t look good because of the random arrangement of patterns, and were even considered “ugly.”
The name “Lin Meili” sounded somewhat related to this.
Before Shen Luo could say anything, Lin Pan’er added: “It has also passed away.”
Shen Luo felt a bit sad hearing this.
Compared to humans, cats’ lifespans were just too short.
Unexpectedly, the next second a childish voice rang out quickly: “They will meet on Planet Meow.”
The adults smiled at each other after hearing this, all thinking it was the little guy’s innocent remark.
Only Jing Mimi knew that Planet Meow really existed, a paradise for cats, where deceased cats would live happily.
Hearing the name “Meili,” looking at Sister Chestnut’s photo in the phone, Jing Mimi couldn’t help praising: “Tortoiseshell cats are really beautiful.”
The cat world considers rich fur colors as beautiful. Besides Calico, Tortoiseshell is also a cat breed with particularly rich colors, a great beauty in the cat world.
Lin Pan’er was stunned after hearing this.
Beautiful?
Maybe because her circle wasn’t big, among the people she knew, there were those raising cats of various colors, Orange cats, White cats, Calico cats, Dragon Li cats… but she didn’t know anyone raising Tortoiseshell cats.
Shen Luo and Shen Ziyuan were the first.
Because of human aesthetics, most Tortoiseshell cats were not considered beautiful, or even “ugly.”
Although she didn’t think so—she liked Lin Meili very much and didn’t think it was ugly—she couldn’t interfere with most people’s thoughts.
Some people thought Tortoiseshell cats were ugly-cute, abstract and lovely, while others held invisible discrimination and malice towards Tortoiseshell cats.
Many people’s cats gave birth to kittens, and those with Tortoiseshell colors were always disliked and discarded.
She used to be such a Tortoiseshell cat.
While she was dazed, Shen Ziyuan echoed the little cub’s praise: “Yes, the color patterns of Tortoiseshell cats are too special, like artist’s oil paint colors stacked together, particularly beautiful.”
Shen Luo also smiled and said: “I’ve always been curious about what kind of pattern arrangement Chestnut’s missing ear would be. Must be very beautiful too.”
As they were talking, the baby fell asleep on Shen Luo’s chest again.
Lin Pan’er’s heart beat faster inexplicably. For some reason, she suddenly felt her eyes a bit moist.
She thought of her and Lin Meili’s home.
And also thought of her own former home.
…
The Tortoiseshell cat Lin Meili experienced several owners.
The first owner took it from a cattery. Because it was “too ugly,” it was listed for free, but one had to buy a bag of cat food from the cattery to take it away.
The first owner chose the cheapest bag of cat food and it.
After returning home, the first owner named it “Meili” (Beautiful), but in human aesthetics, Tortoiseshell cats weren’t considered beautiful. Although the first owner gave it this name, in their heart, they also felt it wasn’t beautiful.
Not long after, the first owner abandoned it, but didn’t discard it, finding a new owner for it instead.
Its personality was very good, belonging to the category of peerless good cats. The second owner had a beautiful pet cat with a bad personality at home and always wanted to raise a cat with a good personality, so they adopted it.
It didn’t live well in the second owner’s home. The beautiful resident cat had a bad personality and always bullied it. The second owner couldn’t be impartial and would favor the beautiful resident cat more, even though it never caused trouble, was obedient and affectionate.
Soon, the second owner found a third owner for it because it couldn’t get along peacefully with the resident cat.
The third owner was a friend of the second owner. Because the child at home insisted on raising a cat, they took it home from the second owner for free.
The third owner abandoned it not long after raising it. The third owner’s child complained in its ear every day about why it looked so ugly, saying they didn’t want to raise such an ugly cat. The third owner didn’t want to raise a cat in the first place. Annoyed by the child, they threw it away directly.
Later, it met the fourth owner, Lin Pan’er.
It was picked up while wandering. Because it wore a tag with a name engraved on its neck, Lin Pan’er didn’t change its name but gave it the surname “Lin.”
Also because it wore a tag on its neck, Lin Pan’er thought it was lost and looked for its owner for a long time. In the process of searching, she learned about its first, second, and third owners and understood its bumpy experience.
No owner was willing to take it away, so she decided to adopt it without hesitation.
The fourth owner—its mother praised it every day, and from time to time complained in its ear about why those previous owners were willing to abandon it.
It could feel that Mom really liked it and didn’t think it was ugly.
This time, it finally had a home.
Mom lived alone and seemed to have no other family. Occasionally, she would stare out the window in a daze, looking somewhat lonely. It would snuggle up affectionately to accompany Mom.
Mom was a nurse in obstetrics and gynecology, very busy with work, often not coming back for a whole night.
However, Mom installed a surveillance camera at home to watch it from outside. The surveillance had a voice function. Every time Mom called its name through the surveillance, it would approach immediately, rubbing against the camera affectionately to respond to Mom’s voice.
Not long after, Mom took it to the pet hospital and said to it in surprise: “Meili, you are really pregnant with babies.”
Every owner didn’t raise it for long before abandoning it, and it had never been taken for neutering.
The first two owners were because its age and weight hadn’t reached the standard for neutering. The third owner simply didn’t want to spend money. Female cat neutering was expensive and troublesome. When it was in heat and couldn’t control its instinct to caterwaul, they found it annoying and discarded it.
Although humans thought it looked ugly, in the eyes of cats, its rich coat color made it a very beautiful cat.
During wandering, many male cats showed favor to it. It chose the most handsome one and spent the heat period with it.
Unexpectedly, it got pregnant with babies.
Mom was surprised, and it was also surprised.
With the addition of more kitten babies, Mom wouldn’t feel lonely anymore.
They were all Mom’s family.