Chapter 25 Chapter 25 Take me away like a cat...

Lu Yanxi gave a self-deprecating smile: "That's true."

He was very attentive and humble, and quickly changed the subject: "How is your recovery? Sorry, I should have gone to visit..."

However, it is not easy for Mr. Lu to spare his time today.

The waiter knocked on the door and served tea. He seemed quite familiar with Lu Yanxi, the second-in-command, and wasn't surprised. Instead, he glanced at Cen Xue a few more times, but suppressed his curiosity and quietly withdrew.

"good."

Cen Xue opened the lid of the tea. He actually didn't have such elegant sentiments. He blew on the surface of the tea and watched the tea stems rolling inside. He found it very interesting and thought it must taste good.

So he took a sip and said, "Apart from having to walk slower, there's nothing else to worry about—hmm."

So bitter!

Cen Xue closed her eyes and mouth patiently.

A wrinkled face.

"What's wrong? Are you burned?"

Lu Yanxi first thought it was really cute, and then quickly poured him a glass of boiled water and handed it to him.

Cen Xue didn't hesitate and took it and drank it all in one gulp. She felt better only after filtering out the bitterness.

He said hoarsely: "It won't taste this bitter."

Lu Yanxi studied his tea, which had a strong, bitter flavor. "I was wrong. I should have introduced it to you in advance—"

"Stop." Cen Xue interrupted him.

"In a little over a quarter of an hour, you've already apologized three times," Cen Xue frowned slightly. "I'm meeting you today to accommodate your schedule. Let's get down to business soon, okay? I have things to do later."

He saw Lu Yanxi's panic at that moment.

And subconsciously want to apologize again.

But even though Cen Xue was so rude, he still remembered what Cen Xue said, forced himself to close his mouth and coughed twice.

The strands of hair on his forehead swayed and shook twice.

Lu Yanxi didn't do any styling today and went out with no makeup on. Her usual slicked-back hair was loose, forming a standard pattern of fluffy hair, with the skin on her forehead showing through the gaps, making her look very breathable.

If Yan Pei's facial features are sharp and aggressive, then his are just the right amount of dullness.

The slicked-back hairstyle also gives him a mature vibe, and with the smooth hair and face...

It has a unique and pure flavor.

He did it on purpose.

Cen Xue came to this conclusion while observing it.

But he is indeed very thoughtful, and this look is more like the seven-year period, without much sense of distance.

When I see him coughing apologetically, I hesitate for a second or two - was I too harsh on him?

Cen Xue put the lid back on the tea and took the initiative to say, "I wanted to ask you how the puffs were."

Reaching out: "Are there any photos?"

“…Puff.”

Lu Yanxi repeated these two words, as if it had been a long time since they had said them. These were the names they had given to the stray cats they had raised together.

Seeing Cen Xue ask this, he showed an expression of "Oh, that's how it should be".

His performance has always been very delicate and he never does anything meaningless. The implication of "Oh, that's how it should be" is "I understand, I put myself behind Puff because you value it more."

“There are photos.”

She was searching through the photo album on her phone in a hurry, afraid that the silence would last too long. But in the blink of an eye, Lu Yanxi handed the phone to Cen Xue, raised it slightly, and motioned him to take a look.

Complete trust, and you can do whatever you want with his phone.

Cen Xue took it.

Lu Yanxi still seemed not to have seen enough, and traced Cen Xue's outline with a restrained gaze.

To him, Cen Xue had changed a lot.

In the past, Cen Xue had a somewhat flamboyant personality, full of freedom and lightness.

That is also what Lu Yanxi envies the most.

Puff is a white long-haired cat with spotted patterns on her paw pads.

The crew was filming at the school for almost two months. This bad cat started out by eating at both ends of the table and making himself look very popular, but he ignored everyone except Lu Yanxi and Cen Xue.

On the day when the campus drama was finished filming, Lu Yanxi went to the place where Puff usually liked to stay the most as soon as she had some free time.

Generally speaking, you can also find Cen Xue sleeping soundly in bed with the cat.

He had two bags in his hands, one containing small bags of cat food and canned cat food, and the other containing a small cake sent by the crew, which he kept specially and didn't touch a single bite.

But this day was strange.

Lu Yanxi walked almost all over the school but still couldn't find them.

There was a hint of anxiety on his face, as if he had lost not one cat, but two.

Just as he was about to go back to the starting place, a figure jumped out and stood in front of Lu Yanxi.

"Clang clang," the lost cat came back by itself, "Are you scared?"

The puff that was being carried turned into a long cat strip, swaying in the air: "Meow!"

Lu Yanxi breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forward: "I thought..."

Cen Xue led the cat back. "Why? I'm warning you, don't take it lightly."

"I have the cat hostage in my hand. Hand over the cat in one hand and the thing in the other. If you can get today's cake, I'll spare your life."

Puff would never let anything fall through her fingers: "Mee!"

Lu Yanxi: "It was originally yours."

Cen Xue: "..."

"Tsk, that's boring."

Sitting down in a small pavilion nearby, Cen Xue opened a can of cat food, and Lu Yanxi opened a small cake, each preparing delicious treats for the cats in their hearts, while Puff rolled around on the stone table.

"Do you want to take the puff away?"

Cen Xue looked up and asked when she had dug half of the cake.

Lu Yanxi hesitated and agreed. He quickly explained, "Puff won't eat other people's food. I'm worried it'll go hungry at school. What if it gets bullied by a bad-tempered cat?"

"Hey," Cen Xue tapped Puff's forehead, "Did you hear that? You're going to marry into a wealthy family and become a cat princess."

But without giving Lu Yanxi a chance to respond, he quickly asked him, "So you're not interested in what I'm going to do next?"

"Interested."

Lu Yanxi swallowed, and her Adam's apple slid up and down anxiously.

The scenes at home were filmed in a studio, but this place was chosen because the No. 3 Municipal Middle School is Lu Fengjun’s alma mater, so the father and son did not stay in a hotel, but moved into the old house.

But Lu Fengjun has to go out of town to film another drama recently, so he is the only one at home.

Lu Yanxi was afraid that Cen Xue would misunderstand her: "I was afraid that you had other plans, so..."

Seeing him propping up his chin and squinting at her, Lu Yanxi became even more nervous. Unable to ask, she said stiffly, "Your mouth is stained with cream."

He pulled out a piece of paper and pretended to wipe it, but Cen Xue reacted faster. With a roll of her tongue, it was clean, leaving only a moment of crystal reflection.

The hot summer made the boy's mouth dry.

After a cicada chirped, the only noticeable sound was the smacking of Puff's lips. Cen Xue turned around and continued to savor the cake. It had crunchy pudding and coconut flakes, which he had never tasted before. He liked the texture.

Then he suddenly said, "Why don't you take me and Puff back with you?"

Cen Xue looked very reluctant to part with the cake, her eyes never leaving it as she continued, "My dad said I can't come home unless I give him my salary from the crew. How can I do that? Where's my tuition? You also promised to help me choose a phone. I can't bear to part with the puff either. Of course, if it really doesn't work out, that's fine. I still have a little over a month left. I'll find a part-time job with room and board..."

Lu Yanxi: "Well, I'll put you back."

"What did you say?"

"I'll put you back with Puff, but you won't share a cage with her." When he repeated it for the second time, Lu Yanxi's face was already red. He insisted, "Anyway, I live alone, will, will -"

Finally he made up his mind: "I will be afraid of the dark."

Cen Xue opened her eyes wide, afraid of the dark.

Is Lu Yanxi, who had a night play in the school woods a few days ago, afraid of the dark?

But he was happy in his heart, so he didn't find any flaws in Lu Yanxi.

The crew gave Cen Xue cash, and Lu Yanxi accompanied him to the bank to deposit most of it into the card.

Nowadays, you can’t make much money by being an extra, but Cen Xue has a whole episode of scenes, which is still quite impressive.

There was a wad of cash in the bag. Cen Xue asked, "Can you make video calls on your phone now? Is it expensive?"

Lu Yanxi remembered how much he had left, "It's definitely enough to buy a cell phone."

Cen Xue shook her head: "I want to buy two, but I'm not sure."

Seeing Lu Yanxi's puzzled expression, Cen Xue took a few seconds before taking the initiative to say, "The other one is for Mom. My mom is deaf, which affects her language system. If we use video calls, she can communicate directly with sign language."

I see.

Lu Yanxi realized later that this was the first time Cen Xue had talked to him about family matters.

Cen Xue was very strict about this matter, so he felt a little happy about being selected. He was flattered and helped with the selection even more attentively.

Later, at Lu Yanxi's house, he passed by Cen Xue and her aunt video chatting.

After the video ended, he curiously asked, "What is this gesture? It appears so frequently."

"Ah," Cen Xue, who was still called Xu Lin at the time, said embarrassedly after a long while, "It means 'Xue', my nickname. You can just think of it as 'Axue'."

"Really, Axue." Lu Yanxi changed the address smoothly.

Cen Xue threw a pillow at him: "How corny!"

"Hahahaha," Lu Yanxi couldn't help laughing, "But it sounds very nice."

…

At least now that Cen Xue is in her twenties, she won't just pick up a pillow and throw it at herself anymore.

Even if the tea is very bitter, I will force myself to swallow it.

When he saw Cen Xue again, the wind in his body had died down and he had settled down.

The more he realized this, the more guilty Lu Yanxi felt.

The way they got along back then was abnormal and wrong.

Cen Xue was a human being, not a puff that could be easily taken away. He had blurred the line between the two, unintentionally insulting Cen Xue's character and leading him down an even more ominous path.

Cen Xue: "Is this fun?"

The nasal sound and a hint of crying woke Lu Yanxi from her memories and introspection.

"You could have just told me directly that Puff was gone. You were always wishful thinking before. Can't you learn to be more straightforward now? Why do you have to hint at me and let me figure it out on my own?"

Cen Xue threw the phone back to the other side with some emotion.

Lu Yanxi caught it helplessly. The photo on the screen was no longer of Puff, but the desktop in his room.

No, this album is clearly full of puffs - I was confused at first, but when I saw the small and exquisite urn on the table, I suddenly understood.

"Axue...! Listen to my explanation!"

Cen Xue leaned back in her chair, her refusal obvious.

He said, "No wonder you didn't answer when I asked you how the puffs were. Do you think I'll blame you for not raising them well?"

Although he had been mentally prepared, Cen Xue was still sad that the precious thing he had been thinking about turned into a handful of ashes. But he felt a little regretful after questioning. He was not as rational as Li Murai, and his temper just now was really embarrassing.

He took a deep breath and said, "Sorry, I got a little excited."

"No," Lu Yanxi said anxiously, "Axue, please believe me."

He dared not breathe: "Puff is very healthy, an old cat who can still run and jump. Look, there is a physical examination report from last month."

Cen Xue: "What's that urn? Why did you prepare it so early?"

"That's... a long story. Later, I took Puff to get checked out. He had cryptorchidism, so I had him neutered."

Lu Yanxi was very heavy, "So Puff is a boy."

The two of them always mistakenly thought that Puff was a girl and always called her "princess".

The key is that the puffs are also super sweet.

"In the urn are its severed testicles, cremated in advance. I wanted it to pass away intact..."

Who would have thought that Mr. Puff would live so long? He is now over twelve years old. Two years ago, he ran out to fight with a stray dog ​​and blinded one of the dog's eyes.

"Also, seven years ago, I entrusted Puff to a relative to take care of it for a while. When I came back, it didn't recognize the name Puff anymore."

Cen Xue couldn't help but ask: "Then what do you want to admit?"

"Lu Chenggang."

"--What?"

"Lu... Lu Chenggang."

Lu Yanxi found that he always had a difficult time repeating himself the second time.

But Cen Xue just liked to ask him to repeat himself, sometimes out of teasing, sometimes because it had become a habit.

"It seems that it's because my relative's child is called Cheng Gang, and he always invites them to eat together, so he thought Lu Cheng Gang was calling him."

Cen Xue lay on the chair.

A little powerless.

Once a daughter becomes a son, it's easier to accept.

But this name—

Does he have to reach out to a super cute big-eyed long-haired cat in the future and then say "Cheng Gang, Cheng Gang, suck suck suck"?

Cen Xue's eyes went dark.

My emotions were up and down, and I felt a little short of oxygen.

Lu Yanxi didn't give up: "Would you like to go see it when you have time? It misses you very much."

"Let's talk about it when we have time..."

Cen Xue covered her eyes, her head aching. She was definitely going, because the less she saw the old cat, the less she saw it.

"Can we skip this topic for now? Speaking of which, you want to see me, what do you want to ask?"

Lu Yanxi took out a box from under the table.

No matter what Cen Xue said, he would agree unconditionally.

The crimson-purple jewelry box exudes luxury in every way. When it is opened, a plain chain is revealed.

There are no decorations such as pendants.

"I remember your birthday is coming soon," Lu Yanxi also calmed down and said softly, "I want to give this to you."

After the necklace chain was broken, Cen Xue never had time to replace it with a new one.

Besides, since it is already so valuable, he needs to spend more time and effort to choose it well.

As a result, Lu Yanxi seized the opportunity and acted quickly.

But Cen Xue was silent for a moment, then looked up and said sincerely:

"Lu Yanxi, my birthday has been changed. It's not that day anymore."