inject
At five o'clock in the morning, Xu Yang was awakened by the sound of rain outside the window.
The curtains weren't drawn tightly, and raindrops crept in along the lines of the glass, leaving tiny streaks on the windowsill. He pulled out his phone to check the time, and when the screen lit up, it reflected the sky outside the window—lead-gray clouds hung low, like wet cotton wool, hanging heavily on the rooftop.
I made an appointment with Lu Jinyu to meet at the school gate at 7 o'clock last night. Now there are still two hours before the agreed time. The chat box on my phone is still filled with his message "It may rain tomorrow morning, remember to bring an umbrella", and Lu Jinyu's reply with an emoticon of a puppy holding an umbrella.
Xu Yang sat up and heard a soft sound coming from the kitchen. When he pushed open the door, he saw his mother putting sandwiches into a plastic bag. The morning light filtered through the screen window and fell on the white hair at her temples, making it more conspicuous than usual.
"It's getting cold today, so wear a coat." Mom handed him breakfast, her fingertips touching the back of his hand, which felt a bit cool from the refrigerator. "A teacher from the city's key university called to ask what you've thought about it."
Xu Yang's fingers tightened around the plastic bag, causing it to rustle slightly. "I haven't decided yet."
He looked down at the lettuce leaves on the sandwich, with a little mayonnaise on the edge, just like the yellow stain Lu Jinyu had rubbed on his textbook last time.
Mom sighed, the sound of water gushing from the faucet before being slammed shut. "Competitions are too risky," her voice carried through the misty glass. "Early admission is so secure, so many people beg for it."
Xu Yang didn't respond, turning back to his room to get his schoolbag. As he passed the desk, he saw the letter of intent for the city's key university still lying in the corner, a corner dampened by the rain drifting in from the window, leaving a small, dark mark on the gilded school emblem.
He reached out and stuffed it deep into the drawer, his fingertips touching the curve of the glass bottle - the three candies inside were like three stars that would never go out in the darkness.
At six fifty, Xu Yang stood under the sycamore tree at the school gate with an umbrella.
The rain was heavier than predicted, the umbrella was crackling against the ground, and the toes of my shoes were soon covered in mud.
He counted the bicycles coming from the intersection, and when he counted to the seventeenth one, he finally saw the familiar figure - Lu Jinyu, wearing a black windbreaker, the books in the basket were wrapped in plastic bags, and his trouser legs were rolled up to his knees, revealing his calves wet by the rain.
"Have you been waiting for a long time?" Lu Jinyu stopped under the umbrella with one foot on the ground. The hood of his jacket slipped down, revealing the ends of his rain-soaked hair. Water droplets dripped down his jawline. "On the way, I helped Aunt Zhang collect the dried vegetables hanging outside. It delayed me a bit."
Xu Yang handed over the sandwich in his hand. It was the ham and egg flavor his mother had made that morning. It was wrapped in two layers of plastic wrap and was not affected by any rain.
"My mom made an extra one." He watched Lu Jinyu untie the plastic bag, his knuckles turning white from the force, and suddenly remembered the gentleness of his fingertips when he fed the kitten next to the cat's bed yesterday.
Lu Jinyu took a big bite of the sandwich, and the heat mixed with the aroma of egg yolk overflowed from the corners of his mouth.
"Your mom's cooking skills are better than those in the convenience store," he mumbled. Suddenly, he pulled something out of his jacket pocket and stuffed it into Xu Yang's hand. It was a candy wrapped in tin foil, shaped like a curled-up kitten, still a little warm. "I forgot to give you this yesterday. It's orange flavored."
The tin foil shone silver in the rain and fog. Xu Yang pinched the candy and put it into his school uniform pocket. His fingertips touched the cellophane. The two different touches collided through the fabric, like two kittens rubbing against each other in his palm.
"Can we go to the veterinary hospital today?" He watched Lu Jinyu stuff the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth, with crumbs sticking to the corners of his mouth. "The rain doesn't seem to be stopping."
"I've already made an appointment with the doctor." Lu Jinyu wiped his mouth, the light in his eyes shining through the rain curtain, as bright as a little sun. "I brought a large cat bag to make sure they don't get wet."
When the bell for morning self-study rang, the rain suddenly got heavier.
In physics class, Teacher Li drew a circuit diagram on the blackboard. The chalk scratched through the damp and cold air, leaving a heavier mark than usual.
Xu Yang lowered his head to take notes when he felt someone elbowing the back of his hand - Lu Jinyu was pushing a piece of paper with a picture of an umbrella on it. Under the umbrella were two little people huddled together, one of them had his glasses blown askew by the wind.
Xu Yang couldn't help laughing and drew a puppy holding an umbrella on the back of the note, with a small resistor under its paw.
When the note was passed back, Lu Jinyu drew a lightning bolt next to the resistor with a red pen, like a blown fuse in a physics experiment class.
The break was cancelled and the classroom was filled with humid water vapor. Xu Yang was lying on the table doing homework, his pen tip calculating quickly on the draft paper, when he suddenly felt a light poke on his back.
When I turned around, I saw Lu Jinyu holding up an Introduction to Veterinary Medicine. On the page was an orange and white cat with its paw resting on a stethoscope.
"I'll borrow yours." Lu Jinyu pushed the book towards him. The cover was stained with cat hair. "I read it for half the night last night. It turns out that kittens need to be vaccinated three times."
Xu Yang opened the book and saw a line of crooked words on the title page: "Lu Jinyu's precious book", with a picture of a puppy with its tongue sticking out next to it.
His fingertips slid across the line of words, and he suddenly remembered the handwriting in Lu Jinyu's homework book. It turned out that when he wrote seriously, there was a bit of cute clumsiness hidden in the strokes.
During lunch break, the rain finally subsided. Lu Jinyu dragged Xu Yang downstairs, the hood of his jacket lifted by the wind, revealing a hoodie with a cat pattern underneath.
"Hurry up, the pet hospital opens at two o'clock." His running shoes stepped through puddles, and the splashes of mud fell on his trouser legs like small water droplets. "I asked Aunt Liu to help look after the cats' bed. She said we'll pick them up after lunch."
The cat bed at the entrance of the complex was set up in the sheltered corridor, covered with a mat made from Lu Jinyu's old school uniform. Three kittens huddled inside. When they saw Lu Jinyu squatting down, they immediately rustled over and placed their paws on the back of his hand to milk him.
Xu Yang stood by and watched, and found that the thinnest kitten had a tuft of white hair on its front paw, as if it was stained with some chalk dust that had not been wiped off.
"This one's called Diandian, the three-colored one is called Huahua, and the orange and white one is Fatty Orange." Lu Jinyu put the kittens into the cat bag one by one, his movements as gentle as if he were holding cotton. "We just came up with the names yesterday. What do you think?"
Xu Yang looked at the little fish pattern printed on the cat bag. The kitten's paws pushed out the round bulges, like three moving little balls of fluff.
"Very good." He reached out and touched Nodding's head, and Nodding's tongue licked his fingertips, leaving a warm and wet feeling.
The pet hospital is in an alley two blocks away. There is a faded wooden sign at the door with a picture of a rabbit holding a medicine box in its mouth.
When they pushed open the door, wind chimes jingled, and the smell of disinfectant wafted over. There was also an orange cat lying on the counter, which lazily raised its eyelids when it saw them come in.
"Lu Jinyu, right?" The doctor in a white coat pushed up his glasses and pointed at the examination table. "Weigh him first, then take his temperature."
Lu Jinyu put the cat bag on the table and when he unzipped it, Huahua suddenly meowed and scratched a shallow red mark on the back of his hand with its claws.
He didn't hide, but rubbed Huahua's chin with his fingertips: "Don't be afraid, it will be fine soon."
Xu Yang stood by to help support the cat. When the doctor gave Diandian an injection, the cat's claws dug into Lu Jinyu's sleeves, leaving a few small wet footprints.
Lu Jinyu lowered his head and coaxed it in a very soft voice, as if crushing the sound of rain and wrapping it up: "It won't hurt. You won't be sick after the injection."
When it was Fat Orange's turn, it suddenly broke free from the doctor's hand, jumped to Xu Yang's feet, and climbed up holding onto his trouser legs.
Lu Jinyu reached out to grab it, but accidentally bumped into the medicine shelf next to him. Several boxes of capsules fell down with a crackling sound. One of the boxes rolled to Xu Yang's feet. The label read "Probiotics for Cats".
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Lu Jinyu frantically picked up the capsules, but the doctor in the white coat smiled and said, "It's okay. This cat usually hides when it sees people. It's rare for it to be close to people."
Xu Yang bent down and picked up Fatty Orange. Its claws left a few gray cat paw prints on his school uniform, like small plum blossoms.
He suddenly remembered the kitten he had drawn in the physics textbook yesterday, with its tail curled into a smiling face. It turned out that the real kitten was softer than the one in the picture.
When they came out of the pet hospital, the rain had stopped. Lu Jinyu carried the cat bag on his chest, as if he was carrying a heavy treasure.
"The doctor said to come back in two weeks for the second shot." He kicked the puddle on the side of the road, splashing water onto Xu Yang's shoes. "Will you come with me then?"
Xu Yang nodded, looked down at the cat paw prints on his school uniform, and was reluctant to wipe them off.
The sun suddenly peeked out from between the clouds and shone into the puddle, overlapping the two people's shadows. The outline of the cat's bag bulged out a round arc on the shadows.
During the afternoon self-study class, Xu Yang held the cat's paw prints up to the sunlight, and the lines on the fur were particularly clear.
Lu Jinyu came over and drew a cat's paw on his notebook with a pencil, and wrote "Fat Orange was here" next to it.
"Once they're fully recovered, I'll send them to a shelter for adoption." He lowered his voice, as if afraid the kittens would hear. "But I've already agreed with the shelter to find homes for them where they can see each other regularly."
Xu Yang paused with his pen and drew a small house next to the cat's paw. "Why?"
"The three of them grew up together, so they'll be sad to be apart." Lu Jinyu's fingertips tapped the tabletop lightly, the rhythm like a kitten's paws kneading milk. "It's like... just like when you're separated from your best friends, you'll miss each other too."
The sunlight outside the window grew warmer and warmer, causing the pages of the notebook to curl slightly.
Xu Yang looked at the small house and suddenly remembered the letter of intent in the drawer. What would the gilded school emblem look like in the sun? Perhaps it wouldn't be as warm as a cat's paw print.
Before evening self-study, the class monitor suddenly posted a map of the physics rematch exam room distribution in the class group. Xu Yang's exam room was at the easternmost end of the third floor, and Lu Jinyu was in the classroom next door.
He handed the phone to Lu Jinyu to look at, and the other party suddenly drew a line between the two desks with a red pen and wrote "Alliance Hotline" on the line.
"Even if we're not in the same exam room, we're allies." Lu Jinyu returned the phone to him. The red line on the screen was like an unbreakable bridge. "Tomorrow I'll reserve a seat for you in the first row. It's close to the clock, so it'll be convenient for you to check the time."
Xu Yang looked at the red line on the screen and suddenly remembered the fuse that burned out in the experiment class. It turned out that some connections were stronger than wires.
After school, Lu Jinyu changed the cat's bed mat under the sycamore tree at the school gate. He bought the new mat with the pocket money he had saved for two weeks, and it had a fish pattern printed on it.
Xu Yang squatted beside and helped hold the cat bed. He saw Diandian sticking his head out of the cat bed and rubbing the back of his hand with his nose.
"Good luck in tomorrow's competition," Lu Jinyu said suddenly, and handed him a small bag tied with a red string. Inside was a pebble that had been polished to a round shape. "I picked this up by the river. I heard it brings good luck."
Xu Yang put the stone into the side pocket of his schoolbag and touched the cold glass neck of the bottle - the four candies inside looked like four small moons in the dark.
"Well, good luck to you too." He looked at Lu Jinyu's hands as he smoothed Huahua's fur, with some cat litter still stuck in the cracks of his nails. "Remember not to connect the wrong wires during the experiment."
Lu Jinyu smiled, bent down and picked up Fatty Orange, whose claws left another paw print on his jacket.
"Got it, Xu Daxueba." He put the cat into its nest and suddenly leaned closer to Xu Yang. "By the way, I'll take you to the secret base I mentioned last time after the competition. I guarantee there will be a surprise."
The evening breeze carries a hint of grass and trees' fragrance, making the leaves of the sycamore trees rustle.
Xu Yang looked at the three kittens huddled together in the cat's nest, and suddenly felt that the so-called surprise might not have to wait until the end of the competition.
Just like the cat's paw prints at this moment, the sunshine at this moment, and the people around you at this moment, they are already the best gifts.
When I got home, my mother was on the phone in the living room, her tone filled with calculated enthusiasm. "...Xu Yang is a down-to-earth kid. The competition is just practice. He mainly wants to get early admission..."
Xu Yang stood at the entrance without saying a word. The cat's paw prints on his school uniform were particularly clear under the light.
When he was changing his shoes, he saw an unfamiliar envelope on the coffee table. It had the emblem of a key city school printed on it. It was obviously just opened by his mother. A corner of the letter paper inside was exposed, and it said "Training Schedule for Recommended Students".
Mom hung up the phone and was stunned when she saw him. Then she walked over and wanted to take his schoolbag: "Are you tired? I made soup for you."
Xu Yang dodged sideways and walked straight into the room. Before closing the door, he heard his mother sighing behind him. The sound was like cotton wool wet by rain, heavy and heavy.
Sitting at the desk, Xu Yang poured four candies on the table. The orange-flavored one lay in the middle, like a small sun.
He picked up the admission ticket for the physics rematch. He saw himself frowning in the photo. He suddenly drew an upward arc at the corner of his mouth with a red pen.
The moonlight outside the window climbed onto the table, stretching the shadow of the cat's paw print very long. Xu Yang took out the pebble from his schoolbag, and it was shining warmly in the moonlight.
He opened the physics book. Next to the puppy drawn by Lu Jinyu, the kitten's tail was raised higher, and the basketball and cat's paw prints next to them were squeezed together, like a group of good friends who would never quarrel.
He took out his cell phone and sent a message to Lu Jinyu: "See you at the exam room tomorrow, remember to bring your admission ticket."
I received a reply quickly, an emoji of a puppy holding a trophy, followed by the sentence: "The alliance will win."
Xu Yang looked at the screen and smiled, then put the phone on the pillow. He didn't touch the envelope on the coffee table, nor did he think about the early admission anymore.
Tomorrow's competition is important, but at this moment he wants to know more whether Fat Orange's claws will be printed on someone's clothes again tomorrow, like a walking little plum blossom.
The light from the desk lamp fell on the four candies, dyeing them a warm yellow.
Xu Yang put the orange-flavored one into his mouth, and the sweet taste spread on the tip of his tongue, which looked more like the future than any plan or solution.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
