Xie Zhao was covered in cold rain. When Cheng Yaoyao threw himself into his arms, he shivered. Then he felt the warm and strong muscles under his clothes.

After walking through the yard for just a few seconds, Cheng Yaoyao was already soaked by the rain. Xie Zhao touched her wet hair, frowned, raised his hand and picked her up: "What's wrong?"

Cheng Yaoyao lay in Xie Zhaohuai's arms, and the fear she had just felt disappeared. She was too embarrassed to say that she was scared, and she looked at him with her peach blossom eyes and said, "Why did you come back so late?"

Xie Zhao said: "I brought you something.

Cheng Yaoyao's eyes lit up: "What is it?"

Before Xie Zhao opened his mouth, Cheng Yaoyao felt something warm pressing against his stomach, and it moved: "!!!!"

The thing moved more and more violently, and Cheng Yaoyao's face became hot: "What...what?"

Xie Zhao put Cheng Yaoyao on the ground and lowered his head to unbutton his jacket. Few people wear this kind of old-fashioned jacket nowadays, but Xie Zhao is tall and straight with smooth muscles, and he looks quite stylish in it.

Water drops flowed down his muscles, Cheng Yaoyao's peach blossom eyes widened, watching Xie Zhao unbutton his clothes, reaching into his arms, and taking out...

A...what the hell?

The little thing was no bigger than Xie Zhao's palm, its eyes were not open, and it was still wet even though it was hidden in Xie Zhao's arms. Its hair was stuck together in clumps, and it was gray and bald, with no color to be seen. Only its nose, mouth, and four small pads were pink. It suddenly left the warm embrace, and kept moving its limbs, closing its eyes and raising its head to cry, making a whimpering sound.

Cheng Yaoyao stared at the little thing doubtfully: "Is this a... cat? It looks too small..."

Xie Zhao brought the cat to Cheng Yaoyao and said, "It's a cat. It's not even one month old yet."

Cheng Yaoyao screamed: "Ahhhhhhh take it away!"

Xie Zhao looked at the struggling kitten in his hands with a bit of disappointment: "Don't you like it?"

"Like...like!" Cheng Yaoyao stroked her pounding heart, thinking it was a good thing she didn't ask if it was a mouse. She mustered up the courage to move closer to take a look. The kitten's nose and mouth were red, and it looked like it had flaming red lips, and its short limbs were stretched outwards.

Cheng Yaoyao gently touched the kitten's little pad with his finger: "Give it to me."

Xie Zhao gently put the kitten into Cheng Yaoyao's hands. Cheng Yaoyao held it carefully in both hands. The kitten was wet and cold, with only a slight temperature. The kitten was not sure if it was uncomfortable or what, but it started to cry and shiver.

Cheng Yaoyao said nervously: "It's all wet, it will freeze to death!"

Xie Zhao took off his coat and covered Cheng Yaoyao's head with it: "Let's go back to the house first."

Xie Zhao picked up Cheng Yaoyao and ran back to the hall through the rain.

Cheng Yaoyao found a clean towel, wrapped the kitten in it and wiped it gently. She felt the kitten's bulging belly and asked, "Did it eat anything?"

Xie Zhao wiped his face with his coat and squeezed out the water: "The female dog at the fertilizer factory had just given birth, and I fed it some milk."

"That's good. I was just wondering what to feed it so late at night." Cheng Yaoyao wrapped the kitten up so that only its head was exposed, and rocked it in his arms like a baby. However, the kitten kept whimpering no matter how he rocked it. "Where did you pick this up?"

"A garbage dump." Xie Zhao said, "Someone else's cat was born but they didn't want to keep it, so they threw it away."

Cheng Yaoyao: “…”

Cheng Yaoyao silently put the kitten into Xie Zhaohuai. Maybe it was warmer in Xie Zhaohuai, the kitten's whimpering became quieter. Cheng Yaoyao ran from under the eaves into the kitchen and brought out a bowl of ginger soup: "I've made it for you a long time ago, drink it quickly."

Xie Zhao took it, blew on it, and then put it to Cheng Yaoyao's lips: "Drink some, you've been caught in the rain."

Cheng Yaoyao took a sip from the bowl and said, "It's too spicy. Drink it quickly. I need to take a shower and give the kitten a bath as well."

Xie Zhao was skeptical: "Can such a small cat take a bath?"

Cheng Yaoyao stretched out his hand to play with the kitten: "Just wash it with hot water, it's frozen and keeps shivering. Just wipe it dry after washing it."

There was steam rising from the bathtub, and Cheng Yaoyao was soaking in the water comfortably with his hair loose.

The small wooden basin was also filled with steam. The kitten was pressed into the water and cried miserably. Xie Zhao held the kitten in one hand and gently splashed water on the kitten with the other hand. The kitten closed its eyes and cried in a loud and childish voice.

Xie Zhao couldn't bear it and said, "It keeps barking. Is the water too hot?"

Cheng Yaoyao lay on the edge of the bucket and said, "It's okay. The water temperature for a cat's bath is higher than that for humans. Wash its paws clean, it won't get dirty rolling in the garbage."

I don’t know if the kitten understood it, because it cried even louder: “Bing! Bing!”

Cheng Yaoyao stretched out his arm and pinched its tiny ears: "You are quite fierce."

A slender arm stretched out in front of his eyes, water dripping down the snow-white skin and onto the back of Xie Zhao's hand. The bathroom was filled with steam and the scent of roses, and Xie Zhao suddenly felt a little short of breath.

The kitten suddenly fell silent. Xie Zhao came to his senses and looked down. It was drinking the bath water! Xie Zhao quickly lifted it out of the water. The kitten was still making fierce and threatening sounds and struggling to get into the water.

Xie Zhao frowned: "Are you hungry?"

Cheng Yaoyao took his hand back, rested it on the edge of the bucket and said with a smile: "It looks like it won't be disgusted with taking a bath anymore."

Xie Zhao stroked the kitten twice from head to tail with his big hands, squeezed out the water from the sparse fur, and then wrapped a towel around it to absorb the water. Fortunately, the kitten was bald, so it dried up in a short while.

This kitten is younger than Xie Zhao expected, no older than half a month. It is a little bald, with a layer of sparse white fur covering its pink body. Looking closely, there is a hint of orange on its head, back, and butt.

"The big orange has been chosen." Cheng Yaoyao said with a smile: "Why did you pick it up? It will turn into a pig in the future."

The kitten struggled desperately in the towel, so Xie Zhao let it out and let it crawl to his chest. Hearing this, he said, "Don't you want to have a pet?"

Cheng Yaoyao curled his lips: "Didn't you say that I already have chickens?"

"...This one has white hair, just like a sheep." Xie Zhao's expression suddenly looked a little strange, and he lowered his head to take a look.

The kitten grabbed Xie Zhao's chest through his clothes and was sucking hard, with its little ears twitching with effort.

Xie Zhao pulled the kitten off his chest. The kitten's mouth was empty and it cried out again.

Cheng Yaoyao laughed so hard that he slapped the water: “Hahahahahahahahaha…”

Xie Zhao's face was so dark that water could drip out of it. He held the fluttering little kitten in his arms, not knowing what to do. The little kitten was only a tiny child, crying at the top of its lungs, and its childish voice was particularly heartbreaking.

"……younger sister."

Cheng Yaoyao wiped the tears from his eyes and suggested something bad: "Give it your finger."

Xie Zhao questioned, "Is it useful?"

Cheng Yaoyao swore: "Of course, I have raised cats before, so I have experience!"

Xie Zhao had no choice but to give it his finger. The kitten held onto Xie Zhao's finger with its four paws and sucked on it until it regained its composure. Xie Zhao said expressionlessly, "Give it away."

"No, I want to raise it." Cheng Yaoyao raised his chin and said.

Xie Zhao said: "Don't you think it's ugly?"

"I find it fun now." Cheng Yaoyao looked at Xie Zhao holding the kitten in his arms at a loss, and burst out laughing again, with tears in his eyes: "The cats I raised before were bigger than this one when I first brought it home. I have never raised a cat as small as this one."

Xie Zhao looked at her and asked, "What kind of cats did you raise before?"

Cheng Yaoyao said: "It's a puppet."

Xie Zhao: "Puppet?"

Cheng Yaoyao bit the tip of his tongue and said, "It's a very beautiful cat, snow-white, with long fur and blue eyes. It's a fairy among cats! It's a pity that I've been away from home for so long, and I don't know how it is doing..."

Cheng Yaoyao's long eyelashes drooped and he rested his chin on his arms in disappointment.

Xie Zhao hated to see Cheng Yaoyao unhappy, so he whispered, "I'll go home with you and bring it back."

There is no chance, I can only keep this ugly kitten. Cheng Yaoyao cheered up and said with a smile: "Okay, you go out first, I will help you after I get dressed."

Xie Zhao carried the kitten out, and before closing the door he said helplessly, "Hurry up."

Cheng Yaoyao laughed silently again.

There was still some goat milk left from today, so Cheng Yaoyao heated up the milk with the spiritual spring water and brought it into the house: "It's coming, don't worry."

The kitten was already a little irritable, struggling in Xie Zhaohuai and whimpering. When it smelled the fragrance, it immediately raised its head to look for the source of the fragrance and opened its mouth to cry.

Cheng Yaoyao put the goat milk on the table and covered it with an old towel. The kitten was put down and immediately dragged its soft limbs towards the goat milk and dived in to drink. It looked particularly fierce while drinking milk, making gurgling sounds in the air while drinking, and its four little paws were twisting and grabbing the towel.

Cheng Yaoyao found it interesting and gently tapped its head. The kitten turned its head and bit Cheng Yaoyao's finger with its toothless mouth. Cheng Yaoyao was shocked. Xie Zhao grabbed her finger and looked at it. The white fingertips were stained with some white goat milk, but the skin was not broken.

"You bite me before you even grow teeth." Cheng Yaoyao complained to Xie Zhao.

The kitten had no idea that it had done anything wrong, and buried itself in the plate, slurping its milk, its two little ears moving vigorously. Xie Zhao pulled the plate away a little, and the kitten came over, swearing, and bit Xie Zhao's finger.

Xie Zhao pressed the kitten with just one finger, and it became immobile. The kitten fell on its back with its four paws facing the sky like a turtle, and began to cry miserably.

Cheng Yaoyao couldn't bear it any longer: "Oh, don't bully it, it's still young."

"It needs to be taught a lesson because it is protecting its food," Xie Zhao said grimly, but when he saw the kitten's face full of goat milk and its four little paws struggling helplessly, he removed his fingers.

Cheng Yaoyao quickly turned the kitten over. The kitten burped and suddenly lay there motionless. Cheng Yaoyao covered his heart with his hands: "Ugly and cute..."

Cheng Yaoyao pushed the plate of goat milk back to the kitten. The kitten sniffed, lowered its head and started drinking again, making a smacking sound.

Xie Zhao picked up the kitten and touched its belly, which was bulging. "You can't drink any more."

The kitten was not happy and started to cry out again, looking at Xie Zhao with wet eyes that were not fully open. Xie Zhao looked at it indifferently and was unmoved. Cheng Yaoyao quickly grabbed the kitten and said, "Don't bully my cat."

Xie Zhao didn't let go and said, "If it drinks any more, it will die."

"Give it to me!" Cheng Yaoyao pried Xie Zhao's fingers apart with force.

The kitten was dangling in the two people's hands. Suddenly, it twitched and white milk gushed out of its mouth and nose.

Xie Zhao: “!!!”

Cheng Yaoyao: "!!!"

Cheng Yaoyao forced himself to remain calm and stuffed the kitten back into Xie Zhao's hands: "Here you go."

Xie Zhao looked at the kitten with cute wet eyes: "...This is not your cat?"

Cheng Yaoyao screamed, "It's already vomiting milk, and you're still fussing over this!"

As if in response to Cheng Yaoyao's words, the kitten twitched its paws and spit out a lot of milk. Xie Zhao hurriedly took a towel to wipe the kitten's mouth and nose to prevent it from choking.

Cheng Yaoyao was so anxious that she was about to cry: "What should I do?" "Don't worry, sister." Xie Zhao put the kitten on the table, stretched out his hand to gently rub its belly, and said: "Don't you have a cat? What do you usually do when a cat spits up milk?"

Cheng Yaoyao said without hesitation: "Send it to the pet hospital!"

"Hmm?" Xie Zhao uttered a syllable expressing doubt.

"It's... a veterinary clinic. You know, a place that specializes in treating animals." Cheng Yaoyao bit his finger and said, "There must be a way. There must be a way. Let me think about it..."

The kitten's belly was facing the sky, waving its paws and crying miserably. No matter how Xie Zhao rubbed its belly, it would not calm down. Xie Zhao said, "It vomited milk, but its belly is still so bloated."

Cheng Yaoyao suddenly had an idea: "I remember! Such a small cat can't poop by itself, you have to help it!"

Cheng Yaoyao used to hang out on forums and loved to go to various cat-picking posts to suck milk from kittens, so he had some theoretical knowledge on how to take care of kittens. Under Cheng Yaoyao's guidance, Xie Zhao used a wet cotton swab to help the kitten solve its need to defecate, and its bulging belly finally shrunk.

When Xie Zhao came back from washing his hands, the kitten was already fast asleep in the towel. Cheng Yaoyao propped up his chin and looked at the kitten: "Finally fell asleep."

Xie Zhao reached out and pulled her up, saying, "You should go to bed too. It's very late."

Cheng Yaoyao stood up obediently and then crawled into Xie Zhaohuai's arms: "What about the cat?"

Xie Zhao asked, "What should we do?"

Cheng Yaoyao looked at him innocently: "A cat this small can't sleep by itself, it will freeze to death."

Xie Zhao pondered for a long time: "...There are chickens in the yard, can I bring one over?"

Xie Zhao was strong and hot, and he usually slept with his upper body naked. But today, he wore a vest for the first time and lay on his back. On his chest lay a small, soft kitten, which was stepping on him with its little paws. Whenever Xie Zhao moved, the kitten would make a gurgling sound.

Xie Zhao didn't dare to move, staring at the ceiling, questioning himself why he had to bring this trouble back.

The next day, Xie Zhao was woken up by being stepped on. The little kitten woke up at some point and was crawling all over his face with its four short legs. It even nibbled his nose with its toothless mouth, leaving his face wet with saliva.

Xie Zhao had a gloomy face. He grabbed the kitten by the scruff of the neck, wiped his face hard with his other hand, then got up and went to the yard.

Xie Zhao threw the kitten into the bamboo basket hanging on the wall, then washed his face with a basin of cold water and rubbed it vigorously several times. The smell of milk still lingered at his nose.

The kitten pulled the bamboo basket to climb out, raised its head and wailed miserably. The goat milk last night must have been mixed with Jinshao, and the kitten's cry was so loud that Grandma Xie hurried out with her buttoned shirt on: "Where is the crying child?"

Xie Zhao was squatting in the yard brushing his teeth. He said "hmm" vaguely and continued brushing his teeth.

The kitten cried for a long time with no one paying attention to it, so it changed its cry: "Mee~Mee-wu~Ao~" I guess if it holds it in any longer it will probably let out a dog bark.

Grandma Xie followed Xie Zhao's line of sight and saw a small head popping out from the bamboo basket on the wall. There was sparse milk hair sticking up on the top of the head, and a pair of moist green eyes that seemed to be half-sleep.

Grandma Xie slapped her thigh and asked the same question as Cheng Yaoyao last night: "Where did the rat come from?!"

When Grandma Xie learned that the kitten was picked up by Xie Zhao to cheer up Cheng Yaoyao, she changed her tone and said, "Hey, kittens look like this when they are just born. They will be beautiful in half a month!"

After Xie Zhao rinsed his mouth, he pulled the towel off his shoulder and wiped his mouth: "...It's half a month old."

Grandma Xie kept smiling and immediately turned around and called out, "Xiao Fei, come and see what your brother brought back!"

Xie Fei and Cheng Yaoyao were both woken up and came out to see the cat with sleepy eyes. Cheng Yaoyao was fine, but Xie Fei was so happy when she saw the kitten that she shouted, "It's so cute! So small! I want to make a little skirt for it!"

Xie Zhao finally managed to save some face and said, "It's a male."

Cheng Yaoyao breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, it was a male. It was okay if it was a little ugly. But what if it was a little princess?

It was drizzling in the sky, and the cool air was filled with moisture. Xie Zhao didn't have to go to work, and the whole family watched the kitten.

The kitten twisted on the towel, raised its pink paws and stuffed them into its mouth, sucking with a sound of "tsk tsk". Xie Fei said, "It's hungry!"

Cheng Yaoyao said: "It drinks goat's milk."

When the goat milk was warm, it was thanks to Grandma's experience that she put a towel on her knees, picked up the kitten and made it look up, then dipped a clean gauze in goat milk and let the kitten suck it: "This way it will be less likely to spit up the milk."

The kitten drank with a slurping sound and stamped the air with its little paws. Soon its belly was inflated, but it did not spit up the milk like it did yesterday.

Cheng Yaoyao exclaimed: "How do you feed a cat?"

Grandma Xie smiled and said, "When I was at my mother's house, I had a cat. The cat gave birth to several kittens at a time, and the weak kittens couldn't get any milk. That's how we fed them."

After feeding the kittens, Grandma Xie searched through boxes and cabinets for old clothes. She happily took out an old cotton jacket and placed it in a shallow basket: "Here, this is Zhao'er's old jacket. This cotton is soft."

Cheng Yaoyao carefully moved the kitten into the basket. The kitten sniffed and found a familiar smell. Then he turned over softly, revealing his round pink belly.

Xie Fei and Cheng Yaoyao gathered around the basket and made a strange noise: "How cute!"

The little kitten felt comfortable, basking in the girls' loving gazes. He also knew that he was very lovable, so he twisted his waist, stretched himself, and occasionally made a baby sound, which in return was rewarded with gentle caresses.

Xie Zhao was left aside and sat under the eaves, cutting bamboo strips and weaving a cat nest for the kitten according to Cheng Yaoyao's instructions.

In the harmonious atmosphere, there was a sudden knock on the door. It was Lin Jiajun.

Cheng Yaoyao looked at Xie Zhao strangely. Why did Lin Jiajun come to see her?

Xie Zhao accompanied Cheng Yaoyao to the door and opened it. Lin Jiajun, wearing a raincoat, took out a package and a letter from his arms: "I went into the city today and saw your letter and package, so I brought them back for you!"

Cheng Yaoyao smiled and said, "Thank you."

Cheng Yaoyao did not go out today. Her hair was casually draped over her shoulders and she was wearing old homely clothes. Behind her was the rain curtain and the old blue brick house that looked like an ink painting. Only her beautiful face made people unable to take their eyes off her.

Lin Jiajun reluctantly turned his gaze away from her face: "Then... then I'm leaving."

"Goodbye!" Cheng Yaoyao waved to him, looked down at the package in Xie Zhaohuai's bag, and said with a smile, "I wonder what my dad sent me."

Xie Zhao weighed it and said, "It's a book."

The two returned to the yard, Cheng Yaoyao opened the package, and inside was indeed books and some canned food. Xie Zhao flipped through the books, all of which were review materials that were hard to find.

Xie Zhao said to Cheng Yaoyao: "Your father sent you a letter, don't you want to read it?"

"It must be telling me to study hard again." Cheng Yaoyao said as he opened the letter and took out a thin piece of paper. His expression changed after reading a few lines.

Xie Zhao noticed her expression and asked, "Sister, what's wrong?"

Cheng Yaoyao looked dazed: "My father is sick."

This father obviously has no blood relationship with her, but Cheng Yaoyao still started crying as she spoke.