Chapter 96: Meow
Since raising that hamster, Fang Yuan had become increasingly out of control over the years. When one hamster died of old age, he would raise a new one, always feeling the office was empty without a hamster’s company.
Many students liked the furry little hamster balls and loved running to his office after class. Some asked about questions they didn’t understand, some chatted with him, and the teacher-student relationship became more harmonious.
It was clearly still inside when he came in the morning, stuffing the breakfast he fed into its cheek pouches, but it disappeared in just a short time.
The bottom tray of the hamster cage was acrylic. Because it was a bit old, the little guy’s sharp teeth chewed a hole in it, and it crawled out through the hole.
Fang Yuan searched the entire office immediately.
But didn’t find a single hamster hair.
The worst-case scenario happened—the hamster most likely escaped from the office and went outside.
Just as Fang Yuan was searching frantically, Jing Mi and Wang Qiyou suddenly appeared at the door of his office.
“Uncle Fang… Teacher, we caught a hamster.” After meeting eyes, Jing Mi raised his palm holding the hamster.
Fang Yuan rushed to the classroom door with glowing eyes as if hearing an imperial decree.
It was indeed his hamster!
To thank Jing Mi and Wang Qiyou for finding his lost hamster, Fang Yuan rewarded each of them with a thick set of study materials.
Jing Mi: “…”
Wang Qiyou: “…”
This kind of reward, better not to have.
Jing Mi never knew how to describe his feelings towards Uncle Fang Yuan.
Sometimes good, sometimes bad.
Now that he became his homeroom teacher, it would only get more complicated.
…
High school studies were much heavier than junior high school, especially in key high schools.
High school was also much farther from home than junior high school. Jing Mi and Wang Qiyou discussed and asked their parents to buy an electric scooter. Riding to school every day when the weather was good was more convenient for wandering around usually.
Actually, Jing Mi preferred motorcycles. The sound of the engine purring like the sound from a kitten’s throat, but he had to wait until adulthood.
He still remembered his childhood wish—to ride a motorcycle and take his papas for a ride when he grew up.
After graduating from high school, he would learn to ride a motorcycle.
More and more students in the high school class rode electric scooters to school, and DIYing the scooters suddenly became popular.
Some girls put on cute cartoon stickers, some boys installed a singing silly sunflower on the front of the scooter, and some capable people modified the scooter horn into various strange sounds, “meowing” once when pressed…
Once that guy showed off in school, circling the teaching building, honking the horn non-stop, happening to pass by Jing Mi and Wang Qiyou.
Only hearing the sound of “meow” “meow” “meow” from near to far and then gradually fading away.
Jing Mi: “…”
Wang Qiyou was about to speak, but Jing Mi quickly raised his hand to cover his mouth.
He knew what Wang Qiyou wanted to say.
When Mimi was little, he had said to Qiuqiu: Why can’t the car horn be meowing and woofing sounds? Beep-beep toot-toot is not as cute as meow-meow woof-woof.
The little cub Mimi might like such a car very much, but the grown-up Jing Mi… also liked it, but would still feel a bit embarrassed (cat claws scratching the floor).
Wang Qiyou wanted to say exactly this, but with his mouth covered, he could only swallow the words with a smile.
Jing Mi and Wang Qiyou didn’t modify the electric scooter fancy, just pasted two mini resin dolls above the rearview mirror on the front of the scooter, a beige Scottish Fold kitten and a German Shepherd puppy.
Later, once they went out for a stroll on the weekend holiday, parked the scooter casually in the parking line near the mall, and found both dolls on the mirror missing when they came back at night, leaving only a bit of glue mark.
Must have been stolen by someone with sticky fingers.
Jing Mi was furious but could do nothing. The electric scooter didn’t have a dashcam, and the two dolls couldn’t retrieve surveillance footage, so he could only suffer in silence.
Angry, Jing Mi raised his hand and scratched the tree trunk beside him.
—This was a small habit left by the kitten Mimi. Jing Mi liked to scratch things lightly with his nails when he was in a bad mood.
Wang Qiyou was emotionally stable. He opened the storage space under the scooter seat with the key, took out a box from under the neatly folded raincoat, and took out a pair of new cat and dog dolls identical to the previous ones from the box.
Jing Mi: “…?”
Under Jing Mi’s incredulous gaze, Wang Qiyou pasted these two dolls on the rearview mirror again.
Jing Mi took the box from his hand and found there were actually several spare pairs inside, not knowing what to say for a moment.
“Done.” Wang Qiyou pasted the two dolls, looked at Jing Mi, took the box from his hand, sealed it, and put it back into the scooter.
Jing Mi asked: “When did you buy this?”
Wang Qiyou answered: “Bought a lot at the beginning. This kind of thing is consumable.”
Thinking about it, he had anticipated this situation, very farsighted.
In Jing Mi’s heart, Wang Qiyou was the image of a steady and reliable brother, always like this since childhood, as if no matter what happened, he had the ability to turn the tide.
The negative emotions in Jing Mi’s heart due to the loss of the dolls were also swept away by him.
Putting down the scooter seat, Wang Qiyou handed a helmet to Jing Mi, put one on himself, and went home together.
Maybe because of the obsession with motorcycles, or maybe because the traffic in a big city like City A was congested and disorderly, Jing Mi didn’t like riding the electric scooter much, always letting Wang Qiyou take him.
Wang Qiyou obeyed traffic rules strictly, not rushing for those few seconds of red light even at night when no one was around. He rode very steadily and actively avoided pedestrians.
Jing Mi sat on the back seat, put on headphones, and listened to songs.
Oh right, Wang Qiyou didn’t wear headphones when riding, afraid of blocking his ears and distracting attention, otherwise Jing Mi would definitely share one with him.
But Wang Qiyou still often asked: “What are you listening to?”
Jing Mi would answer him the name of the song, and then hum a few lines close to his ear following the music in the headphones.
There would be wind hitting the warm breath, tickling the root of the ear slightly.
At that time, they were accustomed to it, unaware that feelings had long been spreading and growing.
…
When did they realize it?
It was a month before the college entrance examination.
That day, Grandpa Jiang transferred to a hospital in City A to continue treatment. It was cancer, controlled for several years, but he was old, and his body was at the end of its strength.
Actually, he had long seen through it. A person about to reach a hundred years old, what else couldn’t he see through?
But he still had a breath holding on. His little great-grandson was about to take the college entrance examination. He had to watch him take the exam and not affect his performance.
If possible, he also wanted to see him go to university.
Actually, it was just two or three months after the college entrance examination, but he didn’t know how long his body could last. But no matter what, he wanted to try.
Originally, Grandpa Jiang’s transfer to City A hospital was not intended to be known by Jing Mi. There was only one month left before the college entrance examination. At such a critical juncture, nothing should affect him.
But he still found out.
It was a wish released by the suddenly appearing Cat God that told him: “Mimi, there is a new wish from a black cat.”
It didn’t say the name of that black cat. Later Jing Mi guessed it; it should be Boss Black Cat.
Boss Black Cat didn’t want them to leave any regrets.
Great-Grandpa was a particularly stubborn elder. Although he had softened countless times over the years and accepted many new ideas, he would still stubbornly put Jing Mi’s college entrance examination first, never affecting him until the last moment. But life and death are too unpredictable. Who can be sure to really see their loved ones for the last time? Every last minute and second is important.
The Cat God: “The wish is: take a Little Dragon Man milk candy to the inpatient department on the 3rd floor of the First Hospital.”
It was during the long break between classes. Jing Mi was lying on the table catching up on sleep. Wang Qiyou was reciting the English vocabulary homework assigned by Jing Mi, making the final sprint.
Hearing the Cat God’s ambiguous words, Jing Mi asked back instantly: “Is it for Great-Grandpa, right?”
The Cat God hemmed and hawed, but finally gave an affirmative answer.
Couldn’t hide it.
Jing Mi stood up from his seat abruptly. The classroom was noisy. Wang Qiyou’s gaze fell from the vocabulary book to him instantly.
Jing Mi liked catching up on sleep when he had time, like a cat, basically sleeping until the class bell rang.
Wang Qiyou was his deskmate and would shake him awake on time when the class bell rang to prevent him from sleeping until the teacher lectured. Occasionally, he would rub his furry hair when he had nothing to do.
This long break was so long; how did he wake up so quickly?
Jing Mi panicked in his heart, looked at Wang Qiyou subconsciously, met his gaze, lips trembling, and said to him: “Brother You, Great-Grandpa’s condition might be bad, in the hospital.”
Wang Qiyou guessed that the Cat God might have said something, stood up too, put the car key in his pocket, and took Jing Mi’s arm. “Let’s go.”
Jing Mi was taken by him to sit on the electric scooter, driving straight towards the school gate.
…
The class after the break was Fang Yuan’s class. After finding Jing Mi and Wang Qiyou’s seats empty and no classmates knew where they went, Fang Yuan looked in the bike shed outside and didn’t find their electric scooter, so he called the guard.
Because of the relationship with Fang Yuan, the guard was also familiar with Jing Mi and Wang Qiyou, saying: “They just went out. Didn’t you write them a leave note?”
Fang Yuan: “…”
Mimi must have forged his handwriting.
This child learned to write from Grandpa Jiang and Jiang Suifeng since childhood, writing well, and was very good at imitating handwriting, but only imitated for fun, never causing trouble.
This was the first time.
Ending the call with the guard, Fang Yuan immediately sent a WeChat message to Jing Zhi to tattle: [Jing’er, Mimi skipped class!!!]
Strange forces at work, Fang Yuan actually felt this scene was somewhat familiar.
It seemed a similar situation happened many years ago.
At that time, he went to the welfare institute to teach the children. Mimi found out he was wearing clothes with the puppy pattern he hated most and skipped class directly.
Fang Yuan looked down subconsciously.
He wasn’t wearing clothes with a puppy pattern today.
