Chen Yunqi spent the entire summer learning to paint from Liang Zhirou, while Chen Lu spent his days at home watching movies with Chen Muxue when he wasn't at the company.

"Not sitting in an air-conditioned room eating watermelon and watching movies in the summer is no different from wasting your life," he said.

The two lazybones at home spend all day lounging on the sofa like trash, a stark contrast to the mother and son next to them who are seriously studying and drawing.

It was early that morning.

Just as Chen Lu drove the dangerous Wanderer, he was suddenly shaken awake by Liang Zhirou.

He opened his eyes and saw Liang Zhirou looking at him nervously, her eyes slightly moist.

"What's wrong?" He sat up quickly, waking up in less than a second.

Liang Zhirou pursed her lips, "Duoduo is missing..."

Chen Lu shook his head vigorously, suddenly wondering if he was still dreaming.

How could that be? Duoduo has never run around all these years; she's a homebody just like him.

When we first brought it home, Duoduo was very careful when walking, afraid of breaking something.

This silly cat is so sensible, how could it bear to let them worry?

"Did you hide somewhere to sleep...? Have you searched under the bed, in the closet, and all sorts of random places?" Chen Lu mumbled in his sleep before realizing he had said something pointless. Liang Zhirou would never have bothered to wake him up if they hadn't turned the house upside down and still couldn't find him.

Sure enough, the girl nodded gently, and the water in her eyes gradually became glistening.

He reached out to wipe away Liang Zhirou's tears, then quickly got out of bed: "Don't worry, I'll go out and look for her."

When I walked into the living room, the two little ones were lying on the floor, holding flashlights and peering through the tiny gap under the sofa.

Clearly, they had been searching for a long time.

After fully waking up from his sleep, Chen Lu's mood gradually became more and more tense.

"Go out and look for it," he said softly.

After turning the house upside down and making sure all the windows were properly closed, the family of four had no choice but to leave together.

Chen Lu sighed inwardly, wishing he hadn't taught this silly cat how to open the door back then.

After a while, the sun gradually rose high in the sky, so bright that people couldn't open their eyes for a moment.

Chen Lu wiped the sweat from his forehead and stopped by the riverbank, thinking about where else he had taken Duo Duo for walks.

The surveillance footage shows that the silly cat did sneak out of the neighborhood last night... but they searched the entire area. Liang Zhirou even tried to look for the trash cans, but he stopped her.

"Can Duoduo swim?" Chen Muxue walked to his side, looked at the calm water, and suddenly asked.

"First of all, it's impossible for it to jump in." Chen Lu breathed a sigh of relief. "You and your brother didn't bully it, did you?"

He couldn't understand why Duoduo would run away from home when everything was fine.

"No, it's just that I was doing my homework when Duoduo came to play with me yesterday, so I didn't spend much time with it." Chen Muxue pondered for a moment, "But I secretly fed it a cat treat."

Duoduo is very magnanimous and never throws a tantrum over such things; she even seemed quite happy at the time.

This shouldn't be her fault...

Yesterday, Duoduo was sitting at her desk helping her with her homework, but today she's gone. Thinking about this, Chen Muxue suddenly felt like crying.

Just as her tears began to fall, her head was gently stroked.

When I looked up, I realized it was Lin Miaomiao.

"Don't cry, godmother will help you find it." Lin Miaomiao smiled at her with her eyes narrowed, her distinctive tiger teeth still adorable.

Still in a daze, Chen Lu looked over upon hearing the sound and saw Lin Miaomiao and Peng Leyun there. He couldn't help but ask, "Weren't you two going on a trip?"

“It won’t make a difference if we wait a day or two, we can just reschedule.” Peng Leyun waved her hand. “Or we could just say something in the company group chat and ask them to help us look for it.”

"Aside from those we're close to, who knows if they're on paid leave looking for their cats or on paid vacation?"

"...It seems so."

So, a group of people really did search for it all day long in a big way.

Nothing was gained.

As night falls and dusk settles, the city lights begin to twinkle.

Liang Zhirou sat in front of the sofa, gently comforting the two children.

Seeing her holding back her tears while trying to comfort the two children, Chen Lu inexplicably raised the corners of his mouth.

How can this silly girl be so cute? She's clearly the one who most wants to cry.

"At worst, I'll just spend some money." He reached for his phone on the coffee table. "If I can't find it, it just means I didn't spend enough money."

"How about we go back to where we stayed before and look for it?" Liang Zhirou suddenly suggested.

The girl's voice was very soft, as if she were testing the waters.

Chen Lu paused in his action of taking out his phone, his arm hanging in mid-air, looking at her with a slightly bewildered expression.

The place I lived in before...

This word seemed so distant to him that he didn't immediately recognize it.

You mean the rental apartment?"

Liang Zhirou nodded almost imperceptibly.

He wanted to say it was pointless, but he swallowed the words back down the next second.

The fact that this simpleton said he wanted to go is itself meaningful.

Liang Zhirou gave a soft "hmm," as if she could tell what he was going to say, and said with a sob in her voice, "I know it's impossible, I just... I just want to go back to the place where we found Duoduo and take one last look."

"Then go, don't cry."

...

A short while later, the car stopped at the entrance of the old residential area.

As soon as I got off the bus, a wave of heat hit me, followed by the sounds of various insects chirping and cicadas singing in succession.

Chen Lu looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar buildings in front of him and felt a little dazed.

Perhaps because it was originally very old, over the years, this place seems to have never changed.

He was also very familiar with these noisy insect chirps; he had listened to these sounds and slept with Liang Zhirou in his arms during those summer nights.

"Did Mom and Dad live here before?" Chen Yunqi asked softly.

Liang Zhirou reached out and gently stroked his head twice: "Yes, my dad and I found Duoduo here. We hadn't been together for long at the time."

Returning here again, memories of the past kept resurfacing in her mind, and after a day of sadness, she finally managed a slight smile.

Back then, Chen Lu would swear on his reputation as a virtuous gentleman every day to reassure her that she could take a nap here.

And then... their two children grew up like this.

Chen Lu then realized that the two little ones had been living in the new house since they were born.

He suddenly chuckled, “That’s how I gradually tricked my mother into becoming my wife… oops, I mean, coaxed her into marriage.”

"Hmph, you scoundrel."

The group chatted in hushed tones as they slowly walked to the entrance of the building.

Where did we find Duoduo?

"It should be this way..." Liang Zhirou muttered as she walked towards a pile of holly bushes.

Chen Lu followed behind, and although he had no expectations, his eyes still unconsciously searched around.

"Duoduo is really here!" Chen Yunqi, who always had sharp eyes, suddenly rushed forward excitedly.

Chen Lu's heart skipped a beat, and he was momentarily unable to breathe.