25 kittens
◎Being loved so much by a kitten◎
After a quiet meal, the two decided to stroll around a bit more.
The minor things are secondary; the main thing is to process the impact of the photos I just took.
"Lin Xu, if it's true... you'll give your blessing, right?"
"certainly."
Xu Huaihuai received an affirmative answer and breathed a sigh of relief. "Me too. Well... your parents would understand if they knew, right?"
Lin Xu nodded: "Yes."
“That’s great.” Xu Huaihuai thought for a moment, “I think we should tell Xuelu about our relationship. I promised her I would bring my ‘boyfriend’ to dinner next time, but I was too busy recently and we didn’t end up having dinner together. I’ll tell her on the phone now. Don’t stop me. I want to make it happen in one go, otherwise I’ll lose it all.”
The two stopped in front of a women's clothing store. The warm light shining through the glass window gave Xu Huaihuai great courage. She looked into Lin Xusheng's soft and gentle eyes and dialed Zhong Xuelu's number.
"Snow Deer, I have something to tell you."
Lin Xu stood quietly beside Xu Huaihuai, waiting for them to finish speaking.
"What's wrong?" Sensing Xu Huaihuai's serious tone, Zhong Xuelu joked on the other end of the phone, "You don't want me to inherit your estate, do you?"
“No, I meant to say that I slept with your brother, the one I mentioned before…” Xu Huaihuai spoke quickly and in one breath, then waited anxiously for Zhong Xuelu’s reaction.
"Oh~ that guy who asked you for a title before, that's my brother Lin Xu, right? Is that him?" Surprisingly, Zhong Xuelu's tone was quite calm and relaxed.
Xu Huaihuai, on the contrary, became a little uneasy. "You're not angry that I kept it from you?"
"Angry? Ha, why? If you're happy, and he's happy, then of course I'm happy too, since we're both best friends and sisters."
"Then why aren't you surprised at all? You... knew? When?"
"Hahaha..." Zhong Xuelu laughed for a long time before stopping. "How come you're so slow to realize this? Actually, after we went shopping last time, I went back to get something. I originally wanted to secretly scare you guys."
"It's a good thing I only opened the door a crack to scare you guys, otherwise I would have interrupted your office play. I then quietly slipped away. How about that, pretty considerate, right?"
"..." What office play? No way! We really just kissed, nothing else!
Xu Huaihuai wanted to explain, but felt that she would only make things worse, so she could only be moved by her best friend's sincerity first, "That's so kind of you, Weiwei."
“However,” Zhong Xuelu paused, “I also have something I haven’t told you about. Let’s have a proper get-together next time and we’ll talk about it then.”
"Okay." After Xu Huaihuai finished speaking, she heard a knocking sound coming from inside the glass display case behind her.
Lin Xu and Xu Huaihuai turned around at the same time.
What a coincidence. She and Lin Xu stopped outside the clothing store where Zhong Xuelu was browsing.
Through the glass, Zhong Xuelu stood inside the clothing store answering Xu Huaihuai's phone call, smiling broadly.
She breathed on the glass and drew a few fireworks.
It means blessing.
Xu Huaihuai saw her lip movements, and at the same time, her voice came through the phone held to her ear, "Be happy."
Feeling a little hot in her eyes, Xu Huaihuai drew a smiley face on the glass and said to the person on the other end of the phone, "You too."
Lin Xu reached out and drew a simple cat head next to the smiley face.
As night fell, the clothing store was pitch black after closing, with only the glass in the shop window faintly reflecting the streetlights and moonlight.
Since this clothing store opened, this glass has endured too much. With fireworks, smiley faces, and cat heads on its surface, the glass thinks to itself that it's lucky it's tempered glass, otherwise it would shatter into pieces if it got too emotional.
It started raining heavily outside. Xu Huaihuai watched the raindrops roll down the glass, making the lights in the night view outside the window appear mottled. If it weren't raining, you could see very far from Lin Xu's house.
Lin Xu placed the peeled oranges on the fruit plate and pushed them towards Xu Huaihuai.
I bought the oranges from a fruit stand I saw on my way back. They were bright orange-red and looked very sweet and juicy.
Xu Huaihuai used a fork to pick up a segment and put it in her mouth. The orange segment with the pith removed was left with only the sweet taste of the citrus.
"Aren't you going to eat? You only work and don't enjoy the fruits of your labor?"
Xu Huaihuai forked a slice for Lin Xu, who only took a small bite. "It's a bit sour."
"Really?" Xu Huaihuai put the remaining orange segments into her mouth. "I think it's quite sweet. Maybe everyone's threshold is different. Wait, you're peeling oranges too fast. Don't peel too many, I can't finish them."
Xu Huaihuai felt it was a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut when she watched the artist peel an orange for her.
"Okay, after you finish peeling this one," Lin Xu put the peeled orange into the fruit plate, "I'm going to wash my hands first."
The scent of citrus may be refreshing and pleasant to humans, but some small animals, such as cats, do not like it.
She thought of Bingbing again.
But in the end, she still lost Bingbing.
Xu Huaihuai unconsciously poked at the fruit plate with her fork, the metal fruit fork scraping against the ceramic bowl making a harsh sizzling sound, but she seemed not to hear it.
"Sister Huai, what's wrong?" Lin Xu grasped her trembling right hand. In a panic, she let go of her right hand, and the spoon she was holding fell into the ceramic bowl with a crisp clatter.
But no one spoke up for the abandoned spoon. Lin Xu took Xu Huaihuai's hand and gently shook her. "It's me. What's wrong?"
"Lin Xu, I miss Bingbing..."
"Bingbing? Like the 'bing' in 'cookie'?" Lin Xu seemed a little confused and asked her to confirm the name.
"Yeah, it's a very well-behaved orange cat, like a freshly baked cookie, so it's called Bingbing (Cookie)." Xu Huaihuai leaned against him, sniffing. "Cats don't have nine lives, right?"
The answer to this question is obvious.
Lin Xu was silent for a moment, then answered softly, "Cats are the same as us."
"Will the cat still feel pain if it goes to the cat kingdom?"
"No, it won't." His voice was soft but firm.
Doesn't it really hurt?
In the cat kingdom, will Bingbing be able to see again, and will her broken tail be restored?
Xu Huaihuai wanted to ask, but her throat tightened.
A chaotic scene seemed to appear before my eyes again.
Some people were shouting and cursing, while Bingbing lay paralyzed in a small pool of blood, her soft fur congealed in the blood.
Lin Xu felt his clothes were a little wet. Xu Huaihuai kept her head down so he wouldn't see, but he could feel the tears dripping onto his body without even looking.
The rain is still falling outside the window; the pattering sound of the rain is the best way to fall asleep.
Lin Xu helped Xu Huaihuai elevate the pillow a little, "Is your nose still bothering you?"
"It's okay." Xu Huaihuai blinked. "Aren't you going to sleep yet?"
"I'm afraid that if I fall asleep, Sister Huai won't be able to find tissues when she's making artificial rain."
"Lin Xu!"
Xu Huaihuai reached out and pinched Lin Xu's cheek. "Go to sleep! If you don't sleep, I won't have any stories to tell you to lull you to sleep."
Lin Xu turned to look at her, "Can you tell me about you and Bingbing?"
“A sad story…” Xu Huaihuai chuckled softly, her smile bleak. “What’s so good about a tragedy caused by a terrible master?”
Lin Xu sidled closer, and in the bedroom where only a little moonlight shone, his eyes shone exceptionally bright.
He looked at Xu Huaihuai and said very seriously, "No, you're not bad at all. It's not your fault either."
“You’re not Bingbing, you wouldn’t know how terrible I am.” Xu Huaihuai touched his face and sighed. “I once gave Bingbing away for adoption. It ran away. It was such a tiny kitten, only a few months old. I don’t know what a kitten has to go through when it wanders from one city to another, but it must be very difficult.”
"When I saw Bingbing again, I thought, this must be my destined kitten, a member of the cat family, and I want to take it home. It came home with me, but it wouldn't go inside the door no matter what, but it would eat the food and water I put at the door. It seemed like it was afraid of bothering me."
"So, I prepared a cat bed, litter box, food, and water for it at the door of my house. When I was at work, Bingbing would go out to play, and when I came home after work, Bingbing would always be waiting for me at the door. Bingbing is really smart; it remembers the way, it remembers the time, and it remembers me. During my most tiring days, I was loved so much by a little cat."
"As the weather gets colder, I let Bingbing into the house. It seemed to understand, but it came in very carefully, without scratching its claws or getting on the bed. How can there be such a well-behaved kitten? Bingbing only comes into the house at night. I bought it a tracking collar because I was afraid it would get lost during the day and not be able to find its way home. But Bingbing has never gotten lost and always comes back on time."
"The only time... the only time, after nightfall, Bingbing didn't come back. I found it by tracking its location."
Lin Xu grasped Xu Huaihuai's cold hand.
“Bingbing was captured by bad guys.” Xu Huaihuai said in a low voice, “They took their anger out on Bingbing, kicking and hitting it. Bingbing’s eyes were bloody, and its tail was broken off… By the time I found it, it was too late. Bingbing probably recognized me and cried out a few times weakly.”
"Right after those few cries, I lost my Bingbing forever. And I couldn't even do anything for Bingbing. I called the police, and those people... they said Bingbing was a stray cat, that Bingbing scratched and bit people first, and that's why they hit Bingbing. But how could that be? Bingbing was a very good-tempered orange cat, a kind-hearted orange cat that would even pick up oranges for people. How could she possibly attack someone..."
"If I hadn't let Bingbing roam freely, and had instead been more determined to keep her at home, would things have turned out differently...?"
“It’s not your fault, it’s the fault of the person who hurt Bingbing.” Lin Xu hugged her, who was heartbroken. “…Bingbing probably wouldn’t want to see you blaming yourself like this.”
"Bingbing, it must hate me. If I hadn't worked overtime that day, and if I had found it sooner, it wouldn't have been in so much pain."
"It won't." Lin Xu kissed the corner of her tear-stained eye and whispered, "Go to sleep."
The rain outside the window has subsided; tomorrow will be a good day.
Little did she know that from the moment she saved Bingbing from being buried alive by children, all the partings and reunions would slowly unfold in the gears of fate that had been pried open.
[Author's Note]
Don't kill me with that little cat knife! [crying emoji]
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