Chapter 3: When I'm not by your side, you can't even eat properly
Twenty minutes later, she was standing in front of a pet store.
"Ring, ring, ring," the wind chimes at the door rang softly as she pushed the door open.
"Ms. Gu, you're here!" The shop owner came over enthusiastically. "Snowball was very well behaved today and knew it was time to go home."
The shop owner handed her an exquisite cat cage and said, "Snowball had a comprehensive physical examination these two days, and all indicators are good. You can take him home with confidence."
"Thanks."
The shop owner smiled and waved his hands: "This is what we should do. By the way, Mr. Feng has already prepaid for Xueqiu's vaccinations, physical examinations and beauty treatments for the next three years."
Gu Manman left the pet shop carrying the cat cage. The night wind blew in her face, and she subconsciously shrank her exposed shoulders.
She looked down at the cat cage. Snowball was curled up obediently inside, his blue eyes looking at her innocently.
The snowball was Feng Mingzhou's birthday gift to her last year. The moment she received the gift, she almost melted in his tenderness. She remembered that she was cheering like a child, throwing herself into his arms, and kissing his chin. He smiled and hugged her tightly.
She stroked the mesh of the cat cage and suddenly remembered the night when Snowball first came home. Feng Mingzhou squatted on the carpet in the living room and personally set up a cat bed for him, placed the food bowl, and even adjusted the angle of the toy bell to the "best position for the kitten to pounce on it."
Snowball meowed softly and scratched the cage door with his claws, as if he wanted her touch.
When they got home, Gu Manman let Snowball out. The kitten jumped lightly onto the sofa and started licking its paws.
She walked into the kitchen, boiled some water, and while waiting for the water to boil she stared at the screen of her mobile phone - still no new messages.
Snowball came over and rubbed her ankle. She squatted down and scratched its chin. The kitten squinted its eyes in comfort and purred softly in its throat. She suddenly remembered that Feng Mingzhou always laughed at her and said that she was gentler to cats than to him.
The TV was on, but the volume was turned down low. The anchor of the evening news opened and closed his mouth, but she didn't hear a word. She mechanically changed the channel and finally stopped at a variety show. The exaggerated laughter of the guests filled the room, which made it seem even emptier.
After taking a shower, she sat on the bed and wiped her hair. Snowball had already curled up on her pillow, curled up into a furry ball. She gently moved it to the side. The kitten "meowed" in dissatisfaction, but still gave up its position obediently. Before turning off the lights, she habitually glanced at her phone - the lock screen was clean, with no unread messages.
She lay down, and Snowball came over and pressed his arm against hers, his warm body temperature coming through her skin.
Finally, she turned over, buried her face in the pillow, and let the tears fall.
/
Feng Mingzhou hasn't contacted her for three days.
During these three days, she didn't write a single word of her novel.
She tried to numb herself with work, but the document always remained on a blank page.
Snowball spun around her feet, meowing.
"Silly cat, are you hungry?" She rubbed Snowball's little head, struggled to get up from the sofa, and dragged her tired steps towards the kitchen.
The phone screen suddenly lit up, and Gu Manman's heartbeat accelerated.
She almost staggered back to the living room, but froze the moment she grabbed her phone - it was just an email notification from the editorial department.
With her fingertips hovering above the screen, she twitched the corners of her mouth in self-mockery and turned to scroll through social media.
The headline news was clearly visible - "Feng Mingzhou, president of Feng Group, bought antique jewelry for 300 million yuan."
My fingers uncontrollably typed the three words "Lin Jinyun" in the search bar, and a few seconds later, an exquisite Instagram account appeared on the screen.
Gu Manman hesitated for a moment, but still clicked on it.
The latest update was published last night.
Lin Jinyun was wearing a dark green evening gown, and the sapphire jewelry around her neck and ears sparkled like stars under the light - it was the set of antique jewelry from the auction.
She stood smiling in a European-style garden, with a brightly lit banquet hall behind her.
The caption only had one simple sentence: "A night when memories come back."
Gu Manman's finger gently slid across the screen. In each photo, Lin Jinyun was either talking with celebrities from all walks of life or raising a glass and smiling.
When she scrolled to the last photo, Gu Manman's heart stopped for a beat.
At the edge of the photo, a blurry but familiar figure was looming - it was the silhouette of Feng Mingzhou. He was talking to Lin Jinyun with his head down, his eyes focused and gentle.
She exited the page numbly.
The doorbell suddenly rang.
Through the peephole, she saw Feng Mingzhou, who had not been heard from for three days.
He stood outside the door, his suit jacket casually draped over his arm, his tie hanging loosely around his neck, and the top two buttons of his shirt undone.
As soon as the door opened, she was pulled into his arms. Feng Mingzhou held the back of her head with one hand and closed the door with the other.
"Missed me?"
Without waiting for Gu Manman to answer, he pressed her against the wall of the entrance and kissed her fiercely, smelling of tobacco, until she pounded his shoulders as if she was short of oxygen, and then he slightly loosened his lips.
Feng Mingzhou's lips moved down along her jawline and he took a deep breath at the side of her neck.
"You look so haggard..." He rubbed his thumb over the dark circles under her eyes and suddenly chuckled, "You won't even sleep when I'm not around?"
Snowball had slipped to the door at some point and was rubbing against Feng Mingzhou's trouser leg affectionately.
"Silly cat." Feng Mingzhou bent down and picked up Snowball, his movements were familiar and gentle, "You always ruin my good things."
Feng Mingzhou walked into the living room and gently placed Snowball in the cat bed. Then, he went straight to the bedroom and took out the home clothes he usually wore from the closet and put them on.
"What do you want to eat for lunch?" Feng Mingzhou walked to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.
Feng Mingzhou looked around the refrigerator and saw only a few lonely eggs and half a bunch of vegetables lying limply in the basket. He turned his head and raised his eyebrows in dissatisfaction.
"Is this what you call life? You become so hungry after just a few days without me?"
Gu Manman leaned against the door frame, her eyes sweeping over Feng Mingzhou's back. His broad shoulders almost completely covered the refrigerator door, and the lines of his muscles could be vaguely seen under his shirt.
"I'm busy writing an article and don't have time to go to the supermarket."
Feng Mingzhou closed the refrigerator door, took out his cell phone, and dialed a number. The call was quickly connected.
"Li Xu, go to the supermarket." He leaned against the dining table and said in a low voice, "Buy some vegetables and send them to Manman's house."
There came a voice on the other end of the line asking about the purchase content.
"What to buy?" Feng Mingzhou frowned, "Just buy what Manman usually eats."
Feng Mingzhou hung up the phone, threw the phone on the sofa, turned around and put his arm around Gu Manman's waist. He lowered his head and leaned closer, lightly touching her nose with the tip of his nose.
"Can you please let me worry less?"
"You can't even eat properly when I'm not with you."
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