Chapter 113: I still like cats the most. Click to see someone's love...
Fang Xinai's parents are both freelancers. Their reason for visiting the mountain city wasn't just to see their daughter, but also to travel—the mountain city is beautiful and a favorite livable city in Country C. Leaving the puppy in someone else's care back home for a few days would be fine, but any longer wouldn't be acceptable, so they decided to take the road trip with them.
Because they were going to live there for a long time, they simply rented a three-story villa with a yard in a scenic area near Shancheng University. Now Fang Xinai was taking Chang Xile and the others to this villa.
"Hehe, the kitchen here is so big, I can let my parents show off their cooking skills to you. The vinegar fried chicken they make is amazing. I haven't been home for a long time and I'm so craving it!" Fang Xinai said as he pressed the doorbell on the fence outside the villa.
"My dear daughter, are you here? Are those classmates over there? Hey everyone, hello! I'll open the door for you." Fang Xinai's mother greeted everyone on the other side of the video doorbell and pressed the button to open the door. "Honey, take everyone for a walk. Mommy and your dad are still packing."
"Hello, Auntie—" Chang Xile greeted the camera obediently, and watched the big iron gate of the villa slowly open automatically.
The next second, Anping's ears twitched. He stepped forward, cautiously protecting Chang Xile behind him. They paused for a moment, only to hear excited gasps and the sound of running.
Fang Xinai smiled widely, squatted down, opened his arms and shouted, "Little cutie!!"
What they didn't expect was that the little dog named "Little Cutie" ran up to Chang Xile, tongue hanging out. It panted, its eyes bright as it looked at her, whimpering. If Anping hadn't stepped between them, Little Cutie would have jumped on Chang Xile.
"Wow! It's been so long, little cutie, and you're treating me like this, aren't you?" Fang Xinai complained, but she wasn't surprised. She explained to Chang Xile, "Maybe it's because of the flowers I gave you. Little cutie is particularly sensitive to the scent of flowers, so he wants to be close to you."
Chang Xile nodded in sudden realization. She picked a flower from the bouquet, took it out, squatted down and teased the little cutie. Only then did Anping purse his lips and move aside.
"Alright, alright, let's go inside first." Fang Xinai invited everyone in. Chang Xile then stood up and walked in. The little cutie, who had just been rolling on the ground with his belly exposed, immediately turned over and stood up and followed her.
There were many vacant rooms in this house, and Fang Xinai even asked if they wanted to stay overnight. "I'm not exaggerating! I think it would be more than enough to invite all the girls in our class to stay here."
Chang Xile waved his hands sheepishly, "I'm sorry to bother you." Besides, Fang Xinai wasn't very familiar with Anping, so Chang Xile must have been the reason he'd let him stay. The host was polite, but the guest still needed to be tactful.
"Hey, we don't care about these things in our family! My parents are very young in mind and they especially like my friends to come and play. They have been like this since junior high and high school. Sister Ren, can you help me persuade Xile?" Fang Xinai winked at Ren Qing.
"I won't stay either." Ren Qing said lightly.
"Why?" Fang Xinai wailed for a while, but when she saw she couldn't persuade them, she gave up. She stood up shakily and said, "You guys sit in the living room for a while. I'll go see how my parents are cleaning up." She wanted to call the little cutie over, but when she saw it still lingering at Chang Xile's feet, she left in frustration.
Chang Xile stroked the little cutie's chin, making a few "slurp" sounds. She thought to herself, "Well, dogs are truly man's best friends. So adorable." A person's life is nothing more than a house, a person, a pair of cats and dogs, and 3 billion in savings—that's enough for a life without regrets.
Anping stood aside, watching the interaction between the man and the dog with indifference. After a while, he said, "I'm going to the bathroom." Chang Xile acted as if he hadn't heard him at all. After a while, he realized what was going on and waved his hand, saying, "Go ahead. Can you find the way? Or I can ask Fang Xinai for you."
Although he expressed concern, his eyes never left the little dog. Anping gritted his teeth, smiled, and said, "No need for you." Then he left without saying a word.
Ren Qing sat in the other corner of the sofa, deep in thought. After a while, she followed An Ping and walked out.
Anping was leaning against the wall on the other side of the corridor, obviously not going to the bathroom.
Ren Qing walked over and asked, "Are you lost?"
Anping didn't look at her, but raised his hand and pointed to the side. Ren Qing looked and saw that the toilet was three meters away from them.
"Then why don't you go?" Ren Qing asked.
An Ping then turned his head to look at her: "Is there something wrong?"
"Are you a student of our school?" Ren Qing saw that he got straight to the point and stopped talking.
Anping was silent for a moment and told her, "No."
"Xi Le told us that you were from our school's fine arts department," Ren Qing said. "Did you lie to her?"
This incident had been a hurdle between him and Chang Xile, and the direct trigger for their breakup. Even though things had been discussed, An Ping subconsciously rubbed his eyebrows, his mood worsening: "She knows now."
Ren Qing raised an eyebrow. Seeing An Ping didn't deny the "deception" claim, she grew even more distrustful of this man of unknown origin who had troubled Chang Xile. Chang Xile had a very low tolerance for deception, yet she had managed to reconcile with him. This showed how cunning this man was. She wondered what tricks he had used. Furthermore, the incident at the hospital that day still lingered in her mind.
"Xile had almost no heartbeat or breathing on her own that day. You could say she had a near-death experience. Anyone who was close to her would have been worried about her, right? The counselor was out of town and wanted to take a taxi back. But you were leisurely outside the ward, constantly asking me some irrelevant questions. I couldn't tell that you cared about her at all..." Ren Qing continued to list examples.
An Ping sighed softly, barely audible. The story between him and Chang Xile was far too complicated, spanning over a decade. There was no need to explain it to anyone. Naturally, it was normal for Ren Qing, as Chang Xile's friend, to be dissatisfied with him. On a different note, if she weren't Chang Xile's friend, he wouldn't be here listening to her rant.
But he was in a bad mood today and really didn't want to listen to these long rants.
He rubbed his hair irritably, wanting to end the conversation as quickly as possible, and said, "Just say whatever you want to say."
"Okay. Then I'll be frank. Xile might not be able to figure things out clearly because she's involved, but I don't think you're sincere enough to her. You don't deserve her to like you so much." Ren Qing took a deep breath and told him, "So if you can't refute what I said, either you go and confess to her first, or I'll tell her everything I know. How she makes her decision after that is up to her."
An Ping didn't care what Ren Qing said to Chang Xile. Her first words kept repeating in his mind. He murmured, "Am I not worthy of her love?"
"How sincere do I have to be for her to like me?" he asked.
"Of course, we have to be honest and open with each other." Ren Qing was a little lost for words, confused as to why the man she was about to sue was asking her for advice. She had never been in a relationship before, and Chang Xile seemed to like him enough.
She looked across the hallway at Chang Xile, who was happily playing with her dog, and suddenly came up with a perhaps inappropriate but vivid example: "Just like why do people say dogs are man's best friends? It's because they are simple and express everything. They don't play tricks, and people don't have to guess what they are thinking."
"Many things are completely different when said by the parties themselves and when said through other people's mouths. Do you understand?" Ren Qing actually didn't have the habit of breaking up other people's marriages. She said this and then went into the bathroom first - to give them some space to be alone.
Anping looked at Chang Xile's back thoughtfully - Ren Qing seemed to have given a method, but how was he going to do it?
How can a cat force itself to become a dog? If he were more like a puppy, would Chang Xile like him more? But that kind of liking wouldn't be genuine either.
Anping sighed and slowly walked back to the living room.
The little cutie has never gotten over his love for Chang Xile. When Xile rubs his head and back, he becomes overjoyed, spinning in circles on the spot while burrowing into Chang Xile's arms.
Chang Xile was laughing so hard that he couldn't breathe. When he saw Anping approaching, he greeted him, "Are you back?"
Anping hummed in frustration. Seeing the dog leaping into someone's arms the moment they met, he silently commented, "This is simply immoral."
"What did you say?" Chang Xile only saw Anping's lips move. She looked at him, wanting to listen more carefully.
Anping didn't say anything, but silently grabbed the back of the neck of the puppy that kept trying to get closer to Chang Xile, preventing it from getting closer to Chang Xile.
Chang Xile thought Anping also wanted to play with the little cutie, so he looked at the happy (but actually tense) scene with a smile, thinking - this is the first time in his life that he has seen a cat petting a dog.
Anping helped Chang Xile hold the flowers for a while, and he also had the fragrance of flowers on his body, so the little cutie was not repulsed by him. He just looked up ignorantly, looked at Anping on the left, looked at Chang Xile on the right, and barked twice.
Chang Xile held her face in her hands as Anping softly asked, "Do you like this?"
She didn't think much about it and said sincerely, "Of course I like it! You're so enthusiastic like the sun, it melts my heart."
A few seconds after she finished speaking, Chang Xile felt someone gently grabbing her sleeve. She turned around and saw Anping with his head down, silent and seemingly doing some mental preparation.
"What's wrong with you...eh?" Chang Xile was a little confused at first, but then the scene in front of her immediately made her eyes widen.
Anping lowered his head slightly, then slowly rubbed his head against her neck, then looked up at her.
Chang Xile hadn't reacted yet, she just stared at him with wide eyes.
Anping pursed his lips.
Why didn't she laugh? The dog just barked twice and leaned into her arms, and she burst into laughter.
The kitten didn't understand jealousy, only a nameless rage rising within her. He blocked the dog's head with his backhand, gnashing his teeth and lowering his head, rubbing Chang Xile's shoulder like a bull. Chang Xile uttered a few "eh" sounds, and was pushed off balance by him, falling from a squat to a sitting position. Anping knelt across from her, still silent.
Chang Xile was baffled. She looked up, about to complain, but then she saw Anping's downcast eyes, a look of silent grievance. Then she turned her gaze to the cheerful little boy who had been circling around them, and suddenly she understood.
"Are you a little jealous?" Chang Xile asked. In her impression, many people who have more than one pet at home have encountered similar situations - pets competing for favor.
As a pet owner, you must strike a balance between the two. The so-called discord between children is mostly due to the lack of moral integrity of the parents. If you don't treat your children equally, conflicts and disputes are inevitable between pets.
But she still thought that a cat as enlightened as Anping had completely transcended the mundane realm... Besides, Anping couldn't be considered her cat. She didn't seem to have ever raised him, and he had never said that she was the master - analyzing from the perspective of Chang Xile's simple master-servant relationship.
"You..." Anping lowered his head, as if he had been holding back for a long time before asking, "Do you prefer puppies?"
Although it was a question, looking at Anping's forbearing expression, it seemed that if Chang Xile nodded and said "yes", he would turn around and reincarnate again.
Chang Xile's radar lit up - this guy... was clearly jealous!
It's amazing. Someone who is usually so cold and arrogant rarely acts like a spoiled child. It's so cute that it leaves people speechless.
"Ouch—" Chang Xile couldn't help laughing. She opened her arms and pulled Anping into her embrace. He was tall, so he could only hunch over awkwardly to accept her embrace. However, even in such an uncomfortable position, Anping showed no intention of resisting and simply let Chang Xile do what she wanted.
You might not believe it, because he was torn between his own conscience and his own desires—was he really going to give up everything and become a dog? But then he wouldn't be himself anymore, and the one she loved wouldn't be the real him... He wondered what was so good about dogs? They loved rolling around in the mud on rainy days, leaving muddy footprints all over the clean house, completely unhygienic. And this little dog wasn't at all as loyal to its owner as rumored. It followed Chang Xile without even a whimper, and it was actually trying to steal its owner. It was completely unethical!
He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't have time to analyze the meaning behind Chang Xile's laughter just now.
Chang Xile rubbed his hair lovingly. At this moment, she had no other thoughts. She said, "I just like cats! Especially cats like you!"
After hearing this, Anping stood up, observed her expression, and asked, "Really?"
"Really!" Chang Xile confirmed.
"No other dogs?"
“I didn’t raise one in the first place!”
"People can't lie." Anping said seriously, digging out a sentence from the pile of knowledge he had recently learned, "Be honest with each other!"
"Of course!" Chang Xile was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
These are the words Ren Qing heard when she came back from the bathroom. “Be honest with each other”, wasn’t that what she just said to An Ping?
Seeing Chang Xile smiling with tears in the corners of her eyes, it seemed that the two of them had talked it out. Ren Qing nodded with relief - her words were not in vain.
After a while, Fang Xinai and her parents also came downstairs.
"Are you hungry, kids? Your uncle and I will prepare dinner right away. If you want to eat anything other than fried chicken with vinegar, auntie will make it for you!" Fang Xinai's mother looked very cheerful. She nodded at the little cutie, and the little cutie, who had been neglected just now, immediately ran to its mistress and circled around her feet.
"Thank you, Auntie! I heard from Xiao Ai that your cooking skills are not inferior to those of Michelin restaurant chefs. We love everything you cook, right, Renmei?" Chang Xile was in a good mood and spoke even sweeter, coaxing Fang Xinai's mother until her face blushed with laughter.
Ren Qing was not good at socializing to begin with, so when he heard the topic being passed to him, he immediately nodded rapidly.
"Oh, I feel embarrassed by all the praise. Then I will cook my specialty. I must show you my skills today." Fang Xinai's mother walked towards the kitchen happily with her hands on her hips.
Anping blinked, still recovering from the shock.
"Why, are you so happy when you heard that we're going to have delicious food?" Chang Xile bent her index finger and scratched the tip of his nose, saying with a smile.
Anping was lost in thought and asked Chang Xile, "What are your family like?"
"It's hard to give a precise answer to this question, isn't it?" Chang Xile thought for a moment and said, "You should have been able to sense something when you heard us on the phone yesterday."
Anping asked again: "Does your mother like cats?"
Chang Xile stroked his chin and recalled: "I really haven't raised one before. I haven't heard her mention it before."
"Come visit my house when you get a chance!" Chang Xile pinched Anping's cheek and said, "My mom will definitely welcome you! Once you come, we can have a mahjong table all by ourselves, and she won't have to go around calling for help."
"Playing mahjong, what is that?" Anping didn't quite understand.
"It's a little puzzle game. I heard it can even prevent Alzheimer's." Chang Xile summed it up with what her mother often said, "It's very simple. You're so smart, you'll definitely be able to learn it right away."
After saying that, Chang Xile suddenly looked up and began to sniff. After a few sniffs, she realized that the sudden fragrance was coming from the yard. Outside, Fang Xinai's hearty laughter could still be heard faintly. She immediately suggested, "Okay! Let's go walk around the yard and see if there's anything we can help with."
Anping looked at Chang Xile's back and touched his chin.
He had to look for books specifically teaching people how to play mahjong.
This shouldn't be considered cheating, it's just prepping for the test, right?
Ren Qing saw Chang Xile running out alone and found an opportunity to talk to her privately. She was proud of herself for righting a relationship that had nearly gone astray, and she rarely teased, "The young couple's relationship is pretty good."
Chang Xile was a little confused. After thinking about it carefully, she said to Ren Qing, "It seems we are not a couple yet?"
Ren Qing was stunned: "Didn't you get back together?"
“No.”
"So he claimed to be your boyfriend outside the ward?"
"Is it to get the doctor to allow him to stay with me?"
“???”
Chang Xile looked at Ren Qing's angry expression and asked with some confusion: "What's wrong with you?"
It's not right to hug someone and do intimate things before getting back together but not being willing to justify the relationship and take responsibility!
Or is this just how couples get along these days? Ren Qing's brain, usually at its best at processing problems, faltered for a moment, unable to analyze whether this situation was a disadvantage or an advantage for Chang Xile.
"It's too complicated." Ren Qing murmured.
"What are you talking about?" Chang Xile looked at Ren Qing's expression of doubt about life, touched her forehead, and said curiously, "You don't have a fever."
"It's okay, let me think it over first. Anyway, you feel happy now, and if you are happy... it should be a good thing, right?" Ren Qing walked to the other side of the yard in a daze, and was pulled by Fang Xin'ei to burn firewood together.
"What's wrong with this kid lately?" Chang Xile scratched his head and looked back at Anping - he was already searching for mahjong tutorials on his mobile phone.
Even though there are countless worries in this world, and they are so tangled and tangled, at this point, let's put everything aside. Chang Xile stared at the big pot without blinking - because, what seemed to be the most delicious vinegar fried chicken in history was out of the pot! !
The evening stars climbed above the clouds, darkness fell, and a dog barked. In the courtyard, a large round table was gathered, where five people ate and chatted. Chang Xile often laughed so hard that she collapsed. She subconsciously turned to look into Anping's eyes, and saw herself through his gaze.
Has anyone ever told you that when everyone is laughing, the first person you look for in the crowd is the one you care about and like?
Chang Xile looked at Anping with a smile, and waited until Anping began to check whether there was sauce on his cheek in confusion, then he turned around and joined the battle for the fried chicken with a triumphant look.
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