When the police arrived, they broke down the door and arrested the internet celebrity and his accomplices who were committing acts of cruelty, and rescued several cats that had been imprisoned and abused.
That cat abuse den has been completely shut down.
Evening, inside the abandoned pipes.
Little Tabby and several other rescued cats are temporarily settled here, with food and water provided by volunteers.
Li Yuheng and Shu Bai stood a distance apart, each cleaning themselves.
"Hey." Shu Bai suddenly spoke, breaking the silence.
Li Yuheng looked up at him warily: "What?"
“You,” Shu Bai’s tone was unreadable, “you did it on purpose, didn’t you?”
"What do you mean, intentional?"
"When you made that suggestion in the park, you were deliberately trying to see me fawn over humans."
Li Yuheng's ears twitched, but he didn't immediately refute.
He stared at Shu Bai for a few seconds before twitching his lips and saying, "So what if it is? Your pretentious act is quite amusing."
"And then what? Seeing that I did a good job, you couldn't resist jumping out to steal the limelight?"
"Who stole the spotlight? I was just annoyed by your slow pace! You're so slow, by the time you get people there, it'll be too late."
"Yeah?"
"Otherwise what?" Li Yuheng looked away and scratched the ground with his paw.
The air fell silent for a moment.
Shu Bai suddenly stood up and walked to Li Yuheng.
“Alright.” Shu Bai stared into his eyes. “This time, I’ll take it as you coming up with a quick and direct solution.”
"And by the way, let's settle the score for last time when you were eating in front of my house without knowing what was going on, and I scratched your butt without asking any questions."
Li Yuheng was already prepared to face another round of sarcastic remarks, and even subconsciously tensed his muscles, ready to retort.
Upon hearing this, he visibly froze.
The ears twitched in confusion at first, then gradually perked up.
Those dog eyes, which always shone with an unruly light, now showed a rare hint of clear astonishment.
He had no idea that Shu Bai would suddenly bring this up.
Even more unexpectedly, this stinky cat would define this as "repaying" in this way.
Li Yuheng opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to refute, to say that he didn't take that matter to heart at all, or that it was a completely different matter, or to continue to stubbornly insist that he didn't care at all.
But seeing Shu Bai's calm expression, the words stuck in his throat, ultimately turning into a muffled sound:
"...Who cares?"
"Whether it's rare or not is your business." Shu Bai turned around, his back to Li Yuheng. "I'm just informing you that the matter is over."
Li Yuheng stared at Shu Bai's back, and that inexplicable feeling welled up in his heart again.
That stinky cat... its actions are truly unpredictable.
He thought they would continue to be at odds, holding grudges against each other and seizing any opportunity to stab each other in the back.
Unexpectedly, Shu Bai used this method to unilaterally erase one of the old grievances.
This left him momentarily speechless.
Should we continue arguing? It would make him seem petty.
Should we accept it? That would seem like we'd lost face.
He shook his ears irritably; the area where Shu Bai had scratched them had scabbed over, but the itching was still there.
Li Yuheng subconsciously tried to scratch with his claws, raising them halfway up, but then stopped.
The itch isn't just on the wound.
It was more like it had taken root in his heart, quietly growing and spreading with Shu Bai's words, "It's all in the past."
A feeling of incomplete resolution and lingering uncertainty made him inexplicably irritable.
He didn't scratch it in the end, but just shook his head vigorously, trying to shake off the annoying itch.
It's useless.
The itch is still there.
Shu Bai stopped licking her fur and looked up at Li Yuheng.
“Of course,” he added calmly, “if you still have any complaints in the future, you can come and challenge me anytime.”
He paused, then flicked the tip of his tail slightly.
"Anyway, you can't beat me."
These words still sounded barbed, which is typical of Shu Bai's style.
But upon closer examination, it seems to subtly offer a step forward.
An unspoken excuse to keep this awkward relationship going.
Li Yuheng's keen ears picked up on the subtext of those words.
He immediately stood up: "I can't beat you? Whose tail hair did I pluck last time? Do you want me to help you remember?"
"That's because I was letting you win. I was afraid that if I hit you and made you cry, you would throw a tantrum and act like a spoiled child."
"Go easy on me? Ha!" Li Yuheng laughed exaggeratedly, taking a step closer. "You talk as if you're so great. If I hadn't gone easy on you, your cat face would have been disfigured long ago."
"You think you can beat me?" Shu Bai hunched his back, adopting a defensive stance, but there was no real hostility in his eyes. "You'll still lose even if we do it ten more times."
"Give it a try?"
Come on.
The two stared at each other, the atmosphere seemingly tense, but lacking the previous life-or-death ferocity.
Li Yuheng stared at Shu Bai's cat-like eyes, which were still bright even in the dim light, and suddenly tugged at the corner of his mouth: "Okay, I'll remember that. I'll come find you to stretch my muscles when I'm bored in the future."
It can be said that the terms "sparring" and "stretching out muscles" are acceptable to them for the time being and are in line with each other's personalities.
Shu Bai snorted, which was taken as tacit agreement.
He didn't say anything more, turned around, and resumed slowly grooming his fur as if the conversation had just been mentioned casually.
Li Yuheng also retreated to his previous position and lay down.
Silence returned to the pipes.
A temporary peace spread between the two sworn enemies.
They all knew perfectly well that this was by no means a true truce.
Given their antagonistic nature, there will be no shortage of friction and arguments in the future.
But at least, an invisible line has been redrawn.
That line meant they could continue to dislike each other, continue to fight and curse each other to their hearts' content.
Li Yuheng poked at a small pebble on the ground with his paw, and the inexplicable irritation in his heart seemed to dissipate a little.
He glanced at Shu Bai's back as it focused on licking its fur and thought: This stinky cat has a sharp tongue and a bad temper, but... at least it doesn't do things that are annoying.
The sparse white space allows the remaining light to sweep across the jade pendant.
This stupid dog, although not very bright, impulsive, and always saying things that deserve a beating, is... reliable in crucial moments.
Neither of them voiced this subtle acknowledgment.
Some things are better left unsaid.
Saying it out loud would seem pretentious and inconsistent with their usual style.
This friendship, built on a shared hatred of the enemy and mutual sparring, needs no words to confirm it.
It only needs to hold back some of its claws in a future sparring match.
In your next chance encounter on the street, let's try to reduce the amount of real malice in your insults.
When truly needed, we can set aside our prejudices and unite against external threats, as we did tonight.
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