past

When Yun Jin skipped back to the living room to tell Shen Yi'an the good news, she found the living room empty.

"Shen Yi'an—" Yun Jin called out as she walked towards his room, "Where are you? How come you disappeared so quickly?"

When Yun Jin arrived at Shen Yi'an's room, the door opened before Yun Jin could even push it open. Shen Yi'an leaned out, holding a phone in one hand and making a "shh" gesture with his index finger in the other.

Yun Jin quickly covered her mouth, looking at Shen Yi'an, who had a serious expression.

Shen Yi'an smiled, then turned and went inside. Yun Jin could hear him saying into the phone, "Okay, I'll be right there."

Shen Yi'an hung up the phone and came out. Yun Jin then asked in a low voice, "What happened?"

"Something came up at the company, I have to go check it out, I probably won't be back tonight," Shen Yi'an said, his expression not looking good.

"Well, what you said and your expression are completely different," Yun Jin said, tilting her head as she sat on the sofa. "I don't know the details, so I can only wish you good luck."

“Thank you, Yun Jin,” Shen Yi’an patted her arm. “Then I’ll be going now. Don’t worry about me.”

With the soft thud of the door closing, the living room fell silent. Yun Jin remained in the position of watching him leave, muttering to herself, "How could I not worry?"

Now only Yun Jin is left.

Feeling utterly bored, Yun Jin lay on the sofa scrolling through her phone. The world is truly vast, and all sorts of things happen every day—happy things, sad things, things she feels powerless to change…

etc!

Yun Jin's hand moved too fast; by the time her eyes saw the three words "Xie Xinrou," her hand had already swiped across them.

Yun Jin quickly checked her browsing history to view the original video, but it had already been removed.

However, Yun Jin seemed to have a general idea of ​​what had happened, as the cover flashed by with the words "Xie Xinrou was beaten" written in large letters.

Shen Yi'an probably left in a hurry because of this, without even telling me.

Yun Jin tossed her phone aside, looked up at the ceiling light, and saw the swaying decorations flashing and making a crisp sound, a sound that was usually unheard in the noisy living room.

Shen Yi'an, oh Shen Yi'an...

The cat ears on Yun Jin's head suddenly twitched and stood up abruptly. There seemed to be some subtle motive at the doorway, as if someone or something else was there.

Who else would come at this time?

Yun Jin's heart skipped a beat. She swallowed hard, and a series of bad guesses flooded her mind: it might be a crazy fan, a reporter taking photos secretly, or... Xie Xinrou?

She tiptoed toward the door, held her breath, and cautiously peered through the peephole, but there was nothing there.

Did I hear wrong? Maybe it's because I'm all alone in the villa now, so I'm being paranoid.

Yun Jin let out a sigh of relief, preparing to go back to her bed to continue her melancholy.

Just as she was about to leave the cat's eye, a golden pupil suddenly loomed close! It almost filled the cat's eye's entire field of vision.

"Holy crap." Yun Jin was so terrified by the sight that she almost fell to the ground, her heart pounding.

But the next second, a familiar scent wafted from under the door, carrying the smell of earth and rain...

It's Qiqi!

The shock instantly turned into anger!

Yun Jin rubbed her heart, which was still pounding with fear, and yelled at the door, "Qi Qi, you bastard, what are you doing sneaking around the door instead of ringing the doorbell?"

"Open the door first, Yunjin," Qiqi said in a muffled voice.

Yun Jin pushed open the door and looked down to see Qi Qi limping in.

"What happened?" Yun Jin squatted down and examined his wound closely. There was a cut on his left foreleg, which had already scabbed over. "You were hit by a car again."

"No," Qi Qi replied listlessly, head down, as she slowly walked into the living room. "There was a little accident."

Yun Jin brought over the mat he had been sleeping on. Qi Qi was still covered in mud and water. He lay on it and licked his wounds with his tongue.

"Um... Qiqi," Yun Jin spoke first after a long silence, "Have you washed the sheets and duvet cover on my bed?"

Qiqi perked up one ear and drooped the other: "It's washed and dried. You can go back and see for yourself if you don't believe me."

"All right."

Yun Jin glanced at Qi Qi, then looked away. Why was she always the one who felt awkward?

"Say something, Qiqi." Yun Jin's hand tapped rhythmically on the black phone screen.

"Then this is a very, very long story..." Qi Qi adjusted his posture, but accidentally pressed on the wound, causing him to cry out in pain.

Seeing him wince in pain, Yun Jin felt a pang of pity, and her initial thought of "he deserved it" was dispelled by his sharp gasps.

"Okay, okay, stop howling. I'll bandage you up."

She got up, grabbed the first-aid kit, placed it on the ground, opened it, took out the alcohol spray, and pressed it a few times on Qiqi's wound to disinfect it.

The slightly painful touch made Qiqi shudder. He couldn't resist his canine instincts and wanted to stick out his tongue to lick it, but he forgot that Yun Jin was still operating in front of him.

Just as he lowered his head, Yun Jin pressed the spray button again.

Thus, the fine spray of alcohol successfully entered Qiqi's golden dog eyes!

"Ah—my eyes!"

Qiqi got sprayed in his eyes and immediately shook his head, trying to shake off the feeling. But because he had no support, he fell to the side and his head hit the sofa leg hard.

"Ah—my head!"

“This is an alcohol spray, you can’t get it in your eyes,” Yun Jin asked, puzzled. “You didn’t know that, did you?”

Yun Jin looked at Qi Qi with the kind of look one would give someone an idiot, and turned the dog's head to one side.

"An accident." Qi Qi took a deep breath.

Yun Jin took out a medical bandage from the medical kit and gently wrapped it around the wound several times. When she finally tied the knot, after several unsuccessful attempts, Yun Jin quickly and forcefully tied a knot.

"Ouch—it hurts! Be gentle!" Qi Qi felt the wound hurt even more and cried out with tears in her eyes, "Yun Jin, are you doing this on purpose? Are you getting revenge on me?"

Yun Jin packed her medical kit, glanced at Qi Qi, and said, "No good deed goes unpunished. I was just worried about not having enough bandages."

"Qiqi, you're a bad dog," Yun Jin said, standing up and summarizing the situation.

“Yun Jin, you…” Qi Qi hesitated before speaking.

The living room returned to its usual quiet. Yun Jin and Qi Qi sat facing each other in silence.

"Qiqi, say something," Yun Jin spoke up again, "otherwise it will be very awkward."

Qi Qi sighed and looked out the window at the courtyard. A gust of wind blew in, ruffling Yun Jin's hair. Several birds flew by, leaving behind a few shadows.

"This is a very, very long story, and it begins with my great-grandfather..." Qiqi raised her head, her expression serious.

"If this story is too long, could you please summarize it and focus on the key points?" A vein reappeared on Yun Jin's forehead.

If we start talking about Qi Qi, that old monster, from his great-grandfather's generation, it feels like we could talk about him until the seas dry up and the rocks crumble.

"No, I want to talk." Qi Qi was rebellious by nature.

"Alright then." Yun Jin sighed.

Qi Qi cleared her throat and adopted a solemn demeanor as if she were about to recount a family secret.

“In our family, spiritual practice is a very important and sacred thing. We will find a mission that we must complete in the long process of spiritual practice. However, this mission is hard to find, so our family is always on the road.”

"Until my great-grandfather was practicing his spiritual cultivation, he passed by a very wealthy family. This family recognized his abilities and insisted that he stay. Only then did my great-grandfather reluctantly agree to stay."

"At that time, a female dog with fur as white as snow and eyes as black as grapes fell in love with my great-grandfather."

Yun Jin put down her phone and couldn't help but chuckle. She then bluntly retorted, "Ha, why am I not quite right? This is just lust at first sight, and you're making it sound so mysterious."

"Cough cough cough," Qiqi coughed a few times, feeling a little embarrassed, and changed to a serious posture. "What do you know? I haven't finished speaking yet. Besides, cats like you without a family would definitely not understand."

Seeing Qi Qi's unreasonable behavior, Yun Jin was too lazy to argue with him, so she turned over and found a more comfortable position to lie down.

"Please get to the point, so I won't interrupt you."

"Okay." Qi Qi sighed, as if she had made up her mind, her voice becoming calm and serious, "Actually... I'm looking for someone."

"You should have said so earlier," Yun Jin finally looked up at him, her playful tone gone, and asked softly, "Who is it?"

Qi Qi's gaze became somewhat distant, as if she were lost in memories: "An... old rural teacher."

“Many years ago, I was on my way to cultivate myself when I passed through the very remote and poor village where he was teaching,” he said slowly. “I was accidentally captured and almost eaten. He paid money to buy me, but I was ungrateful and bit him and ran away.”

“A few days later, I contracted parvovirus and became very ill. I thought I was going to die and was waiting to die by the roadside when he picked me up and took me back.”

“He was a very frugal person, and his clothes were often patched. But when he saw that I was very sick, he carried me back and forth several times to take me to the city for treatment... In the end, I got better.”

"So in return, I stayed with him for several years. That place wasn't peaceful either, there were a few cunning old wolves. I took him to school every day, accompanied him back, and kept watch for him at night. This continued until he got too old to teach anymore."

The story pauses here for a long time, as Yun Jin waits patiently for him.

"He was going to take me away, but on the way... I don't know what happened, I was left behind at a gas station." Qiqi sniffed.

"I searched for a long time but couldn't find the car he was in. I could only follow a familiar but faint trace in my memory to find this city. As a result, I was hit by Yan Fei not long after I arrived... You know what happened after that."

He finished speaking and unconsciously scratched at the ground with his hands. Yun Jin listened quietly to him; this past experience was quite significant.