Chapter 8: Meow
As the end of the year approached, Jiang Suifeng’s business trip was so busy he barely had time to rest his feet. However, precisely because of this busyness, the pain in his heart from Mimi’s passing was suppressed, leaving no room for it to ferment.
If he didn’t have time to think, it wouldn’t hurt so much.
What he worried about most now was Jing Zhi.
But he understood Jing Zhi’s temper. When his emotions were at their peak, he would be covered in thorns, sharp on both ends. Forcing closeness at a time like this would not only hurt himself but also hurt Jing Zhi.
After all these years together, he knew the best way to handle it was to cool off for a while.
But this conflict was different from all previous ones.
Their cat-child had left.
He was three years older than Jing Zhi and was about to celebrate his 30th birthday. The pressure from his family was growing.
He had never thought of giving up because he loved Jing Zhi very much.
He knew Jing Zhi loved him too, but Jing Zhi was prone to doing foolish things. Because he overly considered Jiang Suifeng’s situation, he occasionally felt that love meant letting go for the other’s sake.
So he never told Jing Zhi about the troubles at home. He didn’t want to add to his psychological burden and would try hard to balance and solve them himself.
But he didn’t expect that they would secretly send such a text message to Jing Zhi.
It was impossible for him to marry someone he didn’t like.
He and Jing Zhi had been together for seven years, almost seven years and one month. Their relationship spanned the best years of their lives. Instead of cracking under the friction, their feelings had deepened. Apart from Jing Zhi, he couldn’t fall in love with anyone else.
His parents were so loving; how could a child raised under their influence be willing to settle? They were just too confused.
Even if Jing Zhi said those words to push him away, he would still stand where Jing Zhi could see him and accompany him always.
They say the seven-year itch is a hurdle. Coincidentally, at this time, the kitten they had raised for many years passed away, and he was turning 30. Too many shocks came one after another, crashing against the fortress they had built bit by bit over seven years.
This time was different from all previous arguments, so despite his busy schedule, he got a new SIM card. He didn’t want to truly lose contact and cool off at a time like this.
Even if Jing Zhi found him annoying, he had to do this.
He was afraid something might really happen this time.
He had compressed the business trip as much as possible, but he couldn’t return to City A immediately.
Although Jing Zhi hadn’t streamed these past few days, according to his biological clock, he definitely wouldn’t be resting at this time.
He sent a text message, waited for a while, and then tried calling.
As expected, the first call was hung up quickly.
He hurriedly dialed a second time.
Hung up again.
But not blocked—that was good news.
The third, fourth, fifth call…
He dialed tirelessly, and the other party hung up tirelessly, but never blocked him.
Knowing it was him but not blocking him meant Little Jing still couldn’t bear to cut him off completely.
Jiang Suifeng’s mood inexplicably improved a lot.
Just like this, they silently accompanied each other through this subtle behavior.
But before Jiang Suifeng could be happy for too long, a notification suddenly sounded on his phone indicating the other party’s phone was turned off.
Looking at the call log, there were forty or fifty calls; indeed, a bit too many.
Under other circumstances, such a bombardment of calls would be annoying, but lovers occasionally did crazy things.
Moreover, Jing Zhi had deleted and blocked all his contact information. If he found it annoying, he would have blocked this new number long ago. Not blocking it meant he didn’t feel repulsed.
Jiang Suifeng typed another text message and sent it, then turned off his phone screen with satisfaction.
…
Because of those bad calls last night, Jing Mimi’s nerves were highly strung, and his little hand was sore from tapping. After falling asleep, he had many dreams, and when he woke up, the sun was already high in the sky.
A little human’s hearing wasn’t as sensitive as a kitten’s, so Papa getting up beside him didn’t wake him.
Jing Zhi went to bed early last night and woke up just as the sky was turning light today.
After waking up, he glanced at the little cub curled up beside him, reached out a finger to poke his soft cheek, and touched his light yellow hair.
His movements were cautious, afraid of waking the sleeping child.
This was the second peaceful sleep he had since Mimi left.
Both the first and second times, the little cub was by his side.
He was willing to believe that his kitten had returned.
Although absurd, impossible to prove to others, and even considered a sign of mental issues, as long as he believed it himself, that was enough.
No matter what, he and the little cub were destined.
Let’s wait for the results from the police today.
Jing Zhi got out of bed quietly to wash up. Going around to the other side, he found his phone was out of battery and turned off. He came to the hospital in such a rush this time that he didn’t bring anything, including a charger. Fortunately, the charger the care worker brought had the same Type-C interface as his, so he could borrow it.
Jing Zhi turned on his phone while charging it. After entering the lock screen password to unlock it, he found two new messages in the SMS inbox.
They were from the same strange number.
He knew without thinking it was Jiang Suifeng.
The first one was: [Little Jing, turn on the surveillance cameras at home. I’m worried about you.]
The second one was: [Little Jing, goodnight, rest well.]
There was a gap of more than ten minutes between the two text messages.
Jing Zhi vaguely sensed something was wrong. He exited the message interface and clicked on the call log, which showed a notification for missed calls.
He wouldn’t have known if he hadn’t looked, but one look gave him a fright.
What was with these dozens of rejected calls?!
Checking the time, they were all from last night after he had fallen asleep.
His phone had been on the bedside table on the other side last night…
He wasn’t stupid and quickly formed a guess. His gaze fell on the little cub sleeping sprawled out on the hospital bed beside him.
After he got up, the bed suddenly had more space. The little guy, who had been sleeping obediently pressed against him, started rubbing around the bed messily, showing no sleeping manners.
Just like a certain kitten.
…
When Jing Mimi woke up, he found Papa looking at him. Papa was holding his phone in one hand, and a long IV tube was connected to the back of his other hand, the drip falling drop by drop.
The care worker was eating breakfast on the bed to the side. Seeing him wake up, she put down her breakfast and stood up. “Little baby is awake. Auntie will take you to wash up. You can have breakfast after washing up.”
Jing Mimi yawned and sat up slowly, his brain still a bit fuzzy. He had already been picked up from the bed by the care worker auntie.
Because Jing Mimi didn’t like to talk and ignored people, the care worker had automatically treated him as a special needs child, taking extra care of him.
And Jing Mimi used to be a kitten well-raised by his Papa, accustomed to being taken care of by humans, so he didn’t reject being treated like this.
After washing up, Jing Mimi couldn’t wait to run back from the bathroom, as if afraid Papa would disappear.
And the phone in Papa’s hand was vibrating familiarly.
Jing Mimi curiously leaned in to look.
Jing Zhi didn’t handle the call, specifically waiting for the little cub to return. After he leaned in, Jing Zhi lowered the phone screen slightly to ensure he could see it clearly.
Jing Mimi’s eyes widened slightly.
It was that bad call from last night again!
After poking the phone screen so many times last night, he had already memorized the numbers of that bad call.
Numbers were as unfamiliar to him as words; he remembered them entirely by their pattern and shape. It showed just how deep an impression this string of numbers had left on him.
Jing Mimi immediately reached out his small hand and quickly pressed the hang-up button. The vibration stopped instantly.
Jing Zhi, who watched this scene unfold: “…”
Those calls last night were indeed all hung up by him.
Jiang Suifeng must have thought it was Jing Zhi hanging up… He wondered what his reaction would be once he knew the truth.
Meeting the raised eyes, Jing Zhi asked him, “Why did you hang up the phone?”
Jing Mimi, who was tilting his little head up waiting for praise, blinked his eyes. This question didn’t involve his identity as the kitten Mimi. He mustered up his courage and chose to answer: “Papa, sleeping time, ring, bad phone.”
Although he could smoothly pronounce some words now, he hadn’t spoken much after all. When saying some new words, he was still a bit mumbled and unclear, sometimes pausing, not very coherent.
But Jing Zhi heard it clearly.
Sure enough, he was afraid of disturbing his sleep.
An indescribable warmth flowed through Jing Zhi’s heart, like drinking a cup of sweet hot drink in the coldest part of winter.
In just one night, he had gradually gotten used to the little cub calling him Papa. Not only did he not feel repulsed, but he actually kind of liked it.
Jing Zhi couldn’t help but raise his hand and rub the little head tilted up at him.
Jing Mimi squinted his eyes happily.
Papa praised him just as he expected!
At this moment, the care worker also walked out of the bathroom. Seeing the little guy with Jing Zhi, she picked up the breakfast porridge prepared for him and walked over, saying warmly, “Come, Auntie will feed Little Baby the porridge.”
Jing Mimi, however, quickly grabbed Jing Zhi’s sleeve with his small hand and spoke again: “Papa feed.”
Only three words this time, but said much more fluently.
Hearing him speak, the care worker couldn’t help but be a little surprised. She hadn’t been present for the few times the little guy spoke from last night until today, so this was the first time she heard him speak.
Besides being surprised, the care worker subconsciously exchanged a glance with Jing Zhi and asked, “Is it convenient for you, Little Jing…?”
Jing Zhi couldn’t eat solid food for the time being and was relying on the IV drip to survive. The drip hadn’t finished yet, so the hand with the IV was definitely inconvenient.
But he still nodded and said, “You can put it on the table. I can feed him with this hand.”
So, just like yesterday morning, Jing Zhi fed the little guy porridge spoonful by spoonful.
Jiang Suifeng didn’t call him again but sent him a text message.
Probably because he knew Jing Zhi was grumpy when waking up, he didn’t dare bombard him like last night after the call was hung up.
The text message said: [Remember to eat breakfast, don’t let your stomach hurt from hunger.]
Jing Zhi glanced at the back of his hand receiving the IV drip out of the corner of his eye, feeling inexplicably guilty.
Fortunately, after saying let’s break up and going back that day, he turned off the surveillance camera in the living room. Otherwise, since the surveillance was connected to both their phones, Jiang Suifeng would know he wasn’t at home right now and hadn’t moved out yet.
That surveillance camera was originally bought for Mimi. Occasionally, when he and Jiang Suifeng went on short trips or weren’t home due to work and couldn’t bring Mimi along, they would check on it through the camera.
The kitten always squatted in front of the camera, staring eagerly at the lens. Sometimes it would fall asleep while staring, and kittens slept wildly; as it slept, its soft fur would completely cover the lens, blocking out all light.
Thinking of this, Jing Zhi took another deep look at the little cub obediently eating porridge. His heart began to waver because of Jiang Suifeng’s calls and text messages.
Should he tell Jiang Suifeng about this?
How should he tell him?
…It was bound to get more and more entangled.
Moreover, although he felt the little guy was related to Mimi, when he explained it to his childhood friend Fang Yuan like that, Fang Yuan only thought he was having mental issues. If he told Jiang Suifeng, what if Jiang Suifeng also thought he was having mental issues like Fang Yuan?
Jing Zhi pursed his lips and fed the little guy the last mouthful of rice porridge.
Better to wait until the police station had a definitive result.
…
When several police officers knocked on the door and entered, the little cub was seriously squeezing a tube of hand cream into his palm to rub on the handsome young man’s hand.
The drip on the young man’s other hand was almost finished. He lowered his smiling gaze, watching the little cub spread the cream evenly on his other hand.
The hand cream was brought by the girl in the next bed. There were several tubes in a box, palm-sized and very tiny, all with pleasant fruity scents.
It was dry in winter, and hands easily became rough and peeling. She had recently bought a box online, thinking her boyfriend didn’t pay much attention to skincare, so she brought it directly here, planning to apply some on him too.
Jing Mimi smelled the fragrance and curiously leaned over to look.
Seeing that he was born adorable and likable, the girl greeted him and squeezed a little onto the back of his hand too.
Jing Mimi mimicked her, spreading the hand cream. He raised his small hand, brought it close to his nose, and sniffed. He liked this fragrant smell very much, and his eyes curved into crescents.
When he was a kitten, his papas would also apply something similar to hand cream on his paws.
Every time, he would lie back in his papas’ arms, comfortably sticking all four paws in the air.
Thinking of this, Jing Mimi looked at Papa, who was sitting aside gently squeezing the IV drip bag in a futile attempt to make it finish faster, and then looked at the auntie who gave him the fragrant cream. He looked up eagerly with his small hand raised, wanting to ask the auntie for a little more hand cream to apply on Papa’s hand too.
The girl readily opened a new tube of hand cream and gave it directly to him.
Seeing the little guy’s eyes sparkling as he took the hand cream back like it was a priceless treasure, the emotional value at this moment exceeded the value of the hand cream itself.
Not long after, the scene the police saw when they knocked and entered unfolded.
The scented hand cream was spread evenly by the small hand. Jing Zhi raised his eyes and looked at the police officers who appeared.
They were all unfamiliar faces.
The care worker familiarly called out to the leader, “Captain Chen.”
Captain Chen nodded at him, looked at Jing Zhi, then at Jing Mimi, and said to Jing Zhi, “Mr. Jing, is it convenient to talk privately?”
Jing Zhi stood up. The hand with the hand cream grabbed the IV stand and pushed it towards the door.
Jing Mimi quickly followed with his short legs and hugged him, afraid Papa would disappear again.
Jing Zhi stopped and coaxed him with increasing familiarity: “You stay here obediently with Auntie Care Worker. I’ll be back in a while.”
Hearing Papa say he would come back, Jing Mimi released his small hand half-doubtingly.
Jing Zhi patted his little head again before turning to leave.
After Papa left, the remaining police officers tried to talk to Jing Mimi, but Jing Mimi didn’t want to pay attention to them. clutching the hand cream, he nestled back onto the hospital bed without a word.
The kitten’s habit of selectively ignoring people was engraved in his bones. People the cat didn’t want to deal with could be treated completely as air.
After finishing the porridge, he was fed some medicine according to the doctor’s orders. His body felt much better now, not as feverish, but the medicine inevitably made him sleepy.
But with Papa gone, he dared not fall asleep, afraid that he wouldn’t see Papa when he woke up.
He stared straight at the door, struggling against sleepiness.
After an unknown amount of time, the Cat God’s voice, which had disappeared for a long time, suddenly sounded: “Mimi, I’m back. This winter is exceptionally cold. Too many cats have died in this hemisphere; it’s really too busy.”
Seeing that things were progressing smoothly on Mimi’s side, the Cat God felt relieved.
“Mimi, your first mission has appeared.”
Jing Mimi instantly perked up.
The Cat God seemed to be in a hurry and didn’t exchange pleasantries, getting straight to the point: “It’s the wish of Sheriff Cow Cat.”
Jing Mimi remembered that tuxedo cat wearing a police hat.
At that time, the kitten Mimi’s tears had melted many small pits in the clouds of Planet Meow. Seeing this, that tuxedo cat refused to walk on the normal path and insisted on stepping into the small pits.
Not only did it disturb him by walking around in the pits in front of him, but its tail also slapped his face several times. It even told him to cry out a paw-path for Planet Meow, making him so angry he couldn’t cry anymore.
Seeing him stop crying, it leaned its face over again: “Really not crying anymore? If you cry again, you’re a puppy.”
The kitten Mimi angrily buried his head in the clouds and briefly swore never to cry again.
But later, unable to withstand the longing for his papas, he started shedding tears again.
No matter how the tuxedo cat harassed him, it was useless.
He wondered what the tuxedo cat’s wish would be.
***
Author’s Note:
Tuxedo Cat: Tail superbly and inadvertently wiping tears for the crybaby kitten.gif
