Chapter 2 Love at First Sight

Uncle Zhao responded, helped the boy into the car, and then, with the boy's instructions, folded up the wheelchair and put it in the trunk. Finally, he hurriedly got into the driver's seat and drove to the nearest pet hospital.

We're all ordinary people, and if we saw a teenager walking alone late at night, we wouldn't interfere. But this teenager's situation is special, and it seems like we'd feel guilty if we didn't do anything about it.

Xia Zhen looked at the person next to her who kept his head down. He seemed to be deliberately keeping his distance from her, sitting as far away from her as possible.

She looked at the kitten in his arms, thought for a moment, took a small blanket from the car and covered the kitten with it. As she covered the kitten with the blanket, her fingertips inadvertently brushed against his fingers.

The boy's eyelashes fluttered slightly, and he turned his body slightly to the side while holding the kitten. "I'll pay for it."

Xia Zhen tilted her head to look at his face, and smiled with her eyes crinkling: "My time is priceless, you can't afford it."

He was speechless, as Xia Zhen's proximity forced him to press his entire body against the car door.

Suddenly, a tissue appeared in front of me.

He looked in the direction of the hand holding the tissue and saw a smiling girl.

“Your face is dirty, wipe it off.” Xia Zhen paused for a moment, then added with a smile, “This time I’m just being helpful, so you don’t need to ask.”

For some reason, he felt increasingly uneasy.

Fortunately, the pet hospital was still open at this time. Just like Xia Zhen when she first saw the boy, the people in the hospital couldn't help but take a second look when they saw him, since people with albinism are not common in daily life.

The boy was probably not used to talking to strangers; he held onto the kitten in his arms tightly, not daring to let go, and was full of vigilance.

When the vet was taking the kitten for a checkup, he kept his eyes fixed on the kitten, as if the kitten might be taken away and never come back if he blinked.

Before his hand even touched the wheelchair, someone had already pushed it from behind, leading him to follow the doctor.

The boy raised his head, and his clear, clean eyes, slightly obscured by the ends of his white hair, met the girl's face.

Xia Zhen tilted her head slightly, "Don't you want to go with us?"

He pursed his lips, lowered his head, pulled down his hood, and whispered, "Yes."

Xia Zhen then led him along with the doctor, accompanying the kitten through the entire examination. In the end, the doctor said that the kitten probably ate something wrong, which was why it was uncomfortable, and prescribed medicine for the kitten.

The boy took the sickly kitten home. When paying the bill, he took out a wad of crumpled bills from his pocket, mostly in small denominations.

Having lived the life of a pampered young lady for so many years, Xia Zhen felt a sense of nostalgia when she saw those five-cent and one-yuan banknotes because she hadn't seen them in so long.

While counting the banknotes, the cashier at the payment counter couldn't help but glance at the boy and Xia Zhen again. A boy who was ill and seemed to come from a poor family, and a beautiful and aristocratic girl. Why did this pair look so strange?

"She's the one who helped me." The boy's lips twitched slightly, and his hand, gripping the hem of his shirt on his lap, tightened slightly. "We have no relationship."

The toll collector was taken aback for a moment, then realized what he meant and gave a dry laugh: "Oh, I see."

He said, how could these two people from completely different worlds possibly have a relationship?

However, the toll collector was a little embarrassed because the young man had seen through his thoughts.

It was as if the boy himself had inadvertently discriminated against him, and the boy himself had discovered it. He felt a little uncomfortable. He absolutely had no intention of discriminating against anyone! He was just a little... a little curious.

Xia Zhen blinked. "We are related."

The toll collector asked in confusion, "Huh?"

The boy paused in stroking the kitten.

Xia Zhen smiled, "We are all successors of socialism."

The toll collector chuckled, "The young lady is so humorous and witty."

It seemed that with just those words, the awkward atmosphere in the air was completely dissolved.

The boy's slightly stiff hands relaxed. He kept his eyes lowered, quietly looking at the kitten in his arms, showing no change in his emotions.

Outside the pet hospital, the night wind was even colder.

Driver Zhao glanced at Xia Zhen's expression and then offered, "Let us take you home. Where do you live?"

"No need." The boy paused for a moment, then said, "Thank you, but I can take a ride home myself."

Uncle Zhao was about to say something when Xia Zhen spoke up, "Alright then, be careful on your way home."

The boy nodded slightly and whispered, "Thank you."

Before he left, Xia Zhen gave him the blanket that covered the kitten.

In the dead of night, the lonely moon hangs high, and the cold night wind dispels the traveler's sleepiness.

The boy pushed his dilapidated wheelchair with both hands, following the faint light from the streetlights, moving forward at a slow pace. Occasionally, joggers would stop and ask him if he needed help, but he always refused.

His journey was arduous, and his hands ached from the friction, but the kitten in his arms was well protected and slept peacefully the whole time.

A journey that would normally take twenty minutes took him more than an hour to reach the entrance of a residential area.

After the boy entered the residential area, a car slowly drove up to the side of the road.

While admiring the young man's remarkable perseverance, Uncle Zhao asked curiously, "How did you know he would walk home?"

Xia Zhen tore open the chocolate wrapper she had bought at the convenience store not long ago, took a bite, and said slowly, "I saw him spend all the money he had."

Uncle Zhao shook his head. "This child has a really strong sense of self-respect... I don't know what his parents were thinking. He has difficulty moving around and doesn't have much money on him. How could they let him run away alone?"

Generally speaking, when faced with such a special child, there will definitely be parents who keep a close eye on them.

But that's someone else's family matter, and outsiders have no right to interfere.

Uncle Zhao chuckled, "Miss usually doesn't like to meddle in other people's business, so why is she being so patient with this young man today?"

"I fell in love with him at first sight."

Uncle Zhao's smile faltered, and he quickly asked, "Was Miss bullied at the banquet?"

Otherwise, why would I make such a joke!

Xia Zhen didn't answer, but took a bite of the sweet chocolate and sighed with sadness, "Uncle Zhao, take me for a walk by the river."

Inside a residential building, a boy in a wheelchair silently looked out the window. When the car drove away and disappeared from sight, he lowered his head and his gaze fell silently on the small blanket covering the kitten.