Chestnut now lives in the grassy area downstairs from the apartment building. There's a lot of greenery there, and humans rarely come in unless they're trimming the grass, but even then, they don't come very often.

This was also Xu Qiaoqiao's first time here. She watched as Jun Qi jumped in with practiced ease, then turned to look at her, as if waiting for her to jump in as well.

Outside the greenery, there's a ring of unidentified flowers. These flowers are about the height of an adult's calf, and they're quite densely packed together. If you just walked in like that, your body hair would definitely suffer.

However, this height isn't particularly high for a cat.

Xu Qiaoqiao smiled and then imitated Jun Qi's movements, slightly gathering her strength in her hind legs before jumping up and into the grass.

"Meow."

She couldn't help but let out a cry, licked her paws, and felt extremely satisfied with her performance just now; it was absolutely awesome.

"Meow." The kitten.

Jun Qi walked over, rubbed her head a few times, and then told her to come with him to find chestnuts.

There were quite a few cats sleeping here. Autumn had arrived, and the temperature had dropped a lot, so there were far fewer mosquitoes and other insects on the grass. There was no buzzing noise or the occasional small bug that would stick to you. Xu Qiaoqiao breathed a sigh of relief.

"chestnut."

Jun Qi quickly found Chestnut's figure. He was lying quietly in the corner, and the grass next to him was just tall enough to cover his body.

Xu Qiaoqiao and Jun Qi went up and found that Chestnut hadn't responded to Jun Qi's call. She frowned slightly, her tail wagging restlessly. Counting the time, it must have been half a year ago when she last saw Chestnut.

At that time, she hadn't noticed how heavy the weariness was on him. Perhaps it was because the weather was nice, and the bright sunlight was shining on him, shielding him from the gloom.

"Meow." Junjun, something's not right.

Xu Qiaoqiao felt uneasy. Could it be? Although Chestnut is old, she met with Junjun just yesterday. It couldn't be this sudden, could it?

She hesitated for a few steps forward, placed her paw on Chestnut's body, and breathed a sigh of relief when she felt the warm breath below. It was good that it wasn't dead.

Jun Qi looked at Chestnut. There was a heavy shadow under Chestnut's eyes, and his body hair had turned much whiter. He could see it much more clearly now than yesterday. Chestnut had really aged.

He suddenly sighed, unsure how to express his feelings, but a tightness in his chest remained.

Jun Qi walked to Xu Qiaoqiao's side, buried his head in her neck, rubbed against her a few times, and took a deep breath.

"Meow."

Xu Qiaoqiao called out and reached out her paw to touch Jun Qi's head. She was startled when she saw the change in Chestnut, and she understood why Jun Qi was so upset last night.

Because of the changes in Chestnut, it's really big. His fur has turned a lot whiter and lost its shine. Also, the way it felt when she touched it just now didn't feel right. It's thinner. And even now, lying down, you can tell that he's lost a lot of weight.

Chestnut must be about twelve or thirteen years old now. Once a cat is over ten, it enters old age and is at risk of dying at any time.

Xu Qiaoqiao and Jun Qi waited there for more than ten minutes before Li Zi slowly woke up. He opened his blurry eyes, raised his head, and subconsciously looked around. His nose twitched slightly, and he found Jun Qi and Xu Qiaoqiao standing nearby.

"Meow?" Jun, what brings you here?

Chestnut slowly got up from the ground, yawned, and her bright eyes, which were once sparkling, now looked much more hazy.

"Joe, good morning!"

After he finished speaking, he greeted Xu Qiaoqiao.

Xu Qiaoqiao didn't say anything else, but followed his lead and said, "Good morning, Chestnut too."

After Chestnut stood up, Xu Qiaoqiao noticed that he looked even thinner, and it seemed that his ribs were showing through his skin. The whole cat looked listless, and even the whiskers around his mouth looked particularly lifeless and much whiter than usual.

Jun Qi nodded slightly and hummed in response to Chestnut's greeting. He didn't beat around the bush and said directly that he wanted to know more about his master's past.

Of course, Chestnut wouldn't refuse this question. Lately, every time he went to sleep, he would dream about his master, about the time when they first met, when he was actually taken in by his master.

The owner is very kind-hearted.

Seeing that Chestnut was starting to reminisce about the past again, Xu Qiaoqiao quickly interrupted him: "Chestnut, were you in this city before?"

Chestnut shook her head: "I don't know. I don't know where the new owner lives. After escaping from his house, all I knew was to run as far away as possible, to a much farther place."

After he ran away, he wanted to find his master, but he really couldn't find where his master was.

Xu Qiaoqiao blinked, which meant that the owner of the chestnut lived in a larger place in another city.

"During the time you were with your owner, did your owner move house?"

"No." Chestnut said this with certainty.

If you've lived in the same place for seven or eight years, you might still be living there now. After all, you've lived there for so long, it can't be rented.

Xu Qiaoqiao then asked, "Has your master ever taken you out?"

Chestnut nodded.

"Where are we going?"

"The entrance to the community, the zoo, and so many other places, but I don't remember most of them." Chestnut patted its head; its memories were hazy. In fact, it had almost forgotten what its owner looked like.

But I still want to see him again.

"zoo?"

"Yes, the owner took a bag, put me in it, and then we went in together to see the animals. He even introduced them to me, saying there were poor lions, tigers, and so many others. The zoo also had something like a wheel that people sat in, and after it went around once, it returned to the ground."

Wheels?

Xu Qiaoqiao tilted her head. Could this be referring to a Ferris wheel? A Ferris wheel in a zoo? That's very rare.

Afterwards, Xu Qiaoqiao asked some more questions. Li Zi answered some of them, but forgot all of them and didn't even have a vague recollection of them.

Just as Xu Qiaoqiao and Jun Qi were about to leave, Li Zi suddenly called out to them.

"Jun, Qiao, thank you."

It's okay if we don't find it in the end; it's just his own wishful thinking.

Xu Qiaoqiao followed Jun Qi out, when suddenly a thought struck her. She looked back and saw that Chestnut was still standing there, her figure slightly hunched, watching Xu Qiaoqiao and Jun Qi leave.

But it was too far away to see the emotions in his eyes.