Chapter 24: Stray Orange Cat
In early January, a heavy snow blanketed the city in silver overnight.
At eight o'clock in the morning, He Hui stepped on the soft snow in front of the training hall. Heavy snow kept falling on the trees, as if they were about to bear crystal fruits.
When He Hui walked through the corridor and came to the ice rink, Kong Ziqiu had already arrived.
She was stretching, and when she saw He Hui coming, she just continued to concentrate on doing the splits without even raising her head.
He Hui glanced at the time on her phone. There was still half an hour before the provincial team gathered. Kong Ziqiu was indeed very hardworking. He did not forget to train even in such a short time.
So, He Hui also quietly joined the leg stretching group and quickly raised his legs to the height of the fence.
Sure enough, involution is the most contagious.
Just when the surroundings fell into awkward silence, a faint and pitiful "meow" sounded quietly in my ears.
They both turned back at the same time, looking for the source of the sound. Their sights met in the air, and then there was silence so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.
"Is it a stray cat?" He Hui was the first to speak up, breaking the silence. "It's too cold in this snowy day. Let's go take a look together?"
Kong Ziqiu hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded.
Before going out, He Hui carefully pulled his thick down jacket to the top, put on his hat, and wrapped himself tightly.
Two people who didn't know each other well set out on the stone road to look for the kitten. Because of the sudden snowfall, the stone road became extremely slippery, and He Hui walked very carefully, more cautiously than walking on ice skates on the ice rink.
After searching everywhere, the two found nothing.
Could it be that I was hallucinating? He Hui frowned.
"Meow~"
Another long, whimpering cat cry came from the foot of the opposite wall.
"Over there." He Hui whispered to Kong Ziqiu, and for the first time, the two of them tiptoed at the same time in tacit understanding.
The low bushes were completely covered by snow, and white became the main color of the world. Suddenly, a bright orange color rushed in. It seemed to be a ginger cat, thin and small, and probably not very old.
The kitten's body was also covered with snow. It was curled up in the corner and shivering. After discovering He Hui, it took a half step back. Finding that there was no place to retreat, it vigilantly hunched its body, squinted its eyes, and looked like it was ready to run away at any time.
"It's a bit difficult..." He Hui curled her lips, "I didn't bring any food."
Kong Ziqiu, who had been silent, suddenly stepped forward and squatted down.
When the little orange cat saw her, he visibly relaxed a little.
He Hui stared at Kong Ziqiu with eyes wide open in disbelief.
What's going on?! Does this cat know Kong Ziqiu?
"Come here, Xiaoju. I'll take you to a warm place." Kong Ziqiu whispered to the little orange cat. That tone was the gentlest He Hui had ever heard.
The kitten named Xiaoju hesitated for a moment, but eventually walked slowly towards Kong Ziqiu. Its paw pads stepped lightly on the snow, making a crunching sound.
Kong Ziqiu stretched out his arms, gently grasped the kitten's two front legs, and held it in his arms.
"So good." Kong Ziqiu touched the little orange cat's head and walked towards the training hall.
The venue is heated, which is a better place for the kitten to live than the ice and snow outside.
He Hui went to the locker room and found a clean towel, and handed it to Kong Ziqiu, "Be careful not to catch a cold."
"Thank you." Kong Ziqiu took the towel, wiped the kitten's body carefully, and placed the towel on the bottom of the cardboard box he found in the utility room before putting the kitten in.
"Meow~" The kitten finally calmed down and felt a little better.
He Hui: "Do you know it? I heard you call it Xiaoju."
"This is the name I gave it." Kong Ziqiu nodded, "I bring it some food every week, so I know it."
The topic between the two came to an abrupt end. Kong Ziqiu kept petting the cat while He Hui watched it all silently from the side.
When Kong Ziqiu mentioned Xiaoju, he became unusually calm.
Perhaps, small animals always have the inexplicable power to heal people.
The team members arrived one after another, and several of them looked at the new cat classmate curiously.
"What's wrong with it?" The person asking the question was Bian Jing from the men's singles youth group next door. He squatted down and observed for a while, then asked, "Is it the one that always wandered around our venue before?"
"Yeah." Kong Ziqiu nodded, "It's too cold when it snows."
"But our venue prohibits keeping cats and dogs, right?" Bian Jing scratched his head, looking distressed, "But it would be too pitiful to leave it outside in the heavy snow."
As soon as he finished speaking, team leader Zhu Jianyong strode onto the ice rink and asked loudly, "What are you all doing here?"
Everyone scattered like birds and beasts in an instant.
Only Kong Ziqiu and He Hui were still standing by the box, very stubborn.
"Cats and dogs are not allowed into the museum." Zhu Jianyong immediately noticed the orange cat in the cardboard box and had no intention of giving Xiaoju the green light.
But Zhu Jianyong was not completely unkind. He cleared his throat and said, "If anyone wants to rescue one, please remember to take it home later. Don't keep it in the zoo."
Kong Ziqiu's expression changed instantly when he heard this.
Zhu Jianyong continued, "Due to heavy snow, the flight was officially delayed to tomorrow half an hour ago. The coach is not here today, so everyone should train for a while and then go home carefully."
"Ah?" A cry of grief was heard in the venue, "Will we be late?"
At that time, the children of the provincial team followed the arrangements of the team in everything. When going out for competition, they only needed to bring someone with them, and rarely took care of other issues such as transportation and accommodation. Therefore, no one cared about flight delays or cancellations.
"Even though we're a day late, we'll still arrange training to get used to the venue," Zhu Jianyong reassured the players. "The weather forecast says the snow will stop tomorrow."
Only then did everyone quiet down.
As the competition approached, most people chose to practice for a while longer. But Kong Ziqiu, who had always been hardworking, did not go on the ice for the first time. She looked at the little orange cat with an expression that was hard to tell.
He Hui always felt that Kong Ziqiu would not be able to take Xiaoju home. Otherwise, if she liked kittens so much, she should have taken action long ago, right?
"Do you mind if I take it back?" He Hui asked, "Coach Zhu won't let me put it in the stadium."
He Hui's family does not have any pets at the moment, but based on her understanding of her parents in her previous life, they do not object to a furry child moving in.
Kong Ziqiu lowered his head and looked at Xiaoju in silence for a long time.
After a while, she took a deep breath, looked up and said to He Hui: "Then please take good care of Xiaoju."
"Of course!" He Hui raised the corner of his mouth, "I won't train anymore. I'll take Xiaoju home and settle him down first."
So, that night, a new family member appeared in He Hui's small villa on the hillside.
He Jianmu contacted the pet hospital and drove Xiaoju to get a physical checkup, bath and deworming. Lu Yanfeng specially asked the housekeeper to clean up a room for the cat and immediately arranged cat climbing frames, litter boxes and other supplies.
Lu Xing looked at Xiaoju who had returned home clean and tidy, and instantly started the kitten sketching activity.
The kitten happened to be standing in the sunlight projected from the window. Its light and dark orange patterns were glowing, and its pair of round, pearl-like emerald eyes were vigilantly examining the surroundings.
Lu Xing finished the sketch quickly.
Finally, she wrote a line of small words on the right side of the painting: Welcome~
*
Kong Ziqiu was a little absent-minded after seeing He Hui taking Xiaoju away.
After falling twice on the ice rink, she hurriedly packed her things, wrapped herself tightly in her down jacket, and waited for the bus home at the station.
"I don't know if He Hui will treat the kitten well." She paced back and forth, her mind in a mess. The bus didn't come no matter how long she waited, making her even more anxious.
Just when I was about to freeze to death, the bus finally arrived.
Kong Ziqiu squeezed onto the crowded bus and sighed.
It took almost an hour of staggering to finally get home.
However, the first question Kong Ziqiu faced was from his parents, "Why didn't you go to the competition?"
"The plane is delayed." Kong Ziqiu answered while taking off his shoes, "Coach Zhu said we can go tomorrow."
"Then why don't you train for a while longer before coming back?" The father on the left was the first to speak up.
Then the mother responded, "That's right! How much money did our family spend on your figure skating? Don't you know what the family's financial situation is like?"
"Are you being lazy again?" they both asked in unison.
"I didn't." Kong Ziqiu lowered his head and defended.
"Have you learned to lie?"
"There's still some lunch left, remember to wash the dishes after you finish eating."
Kong Ziqiu clenched his fists tightly, but only said "OK".
It happens again!
No matter how hard she tried to contact them, it was never enough in her parents' eyes. It was as if she had to be a donkey that kept pulling the millstone all the time, and it would be best if she never ate grass.
Kong Ziqiu glanced at the three slices of beef and two chopsticks of vegetables left on the table, lowered his head even lower, and just ate his rice mechanically.
While washing, Kong Ziqiu thought that if Xiaoju went to He Hui's house, she would probably be able to escape the fate of being despised all her life as a stray cat forever.
Really, it makes people envious...
Kong Ziqiu returned to his room with a wry smile.
She locked the door and completely isolated herself from any distractions before relaxing on the bed, lying in a spread-eagle position and calming her breathing.
She opened her phone and jumped aimlessly between several apps.
Perhaps the discussion in the figure skating forum was still focused on He Hui, and Kong Ziqiu somehow turned to the photos of He Hui with exaggerated expressions in his mobile phone album.
To be honest, for figure skaters, the jumping face is too normal to be worth attacking.
Kong Ziqiu's finger hovered over the delete key, without moving.
Somehow, Kong Ziqiu's mind emerged with the pitiful and thin appearance of Xiaoju in the snow, and he also remembered He Hui's promise to take the child home and take good care of him.
She sighed, pressed the delete button, and selected it again in the trash can, deleting the photo completely.
*
The next day, the heavy snow that had been falling for a day and a night finally stopped, and the flight of the B Province team originally scheduled to fly to J Province was finally able to take off smoothly.
We arrived in Province J a day late, and everything seemed a little cramped.
After team leader Zhu Jianyong let everyone settle down in the hotel, he took them to the competition venue for pre-match adaptation. Their various coaches also went with them, and a lot of people got on the bus in an instant.
When everyone arrived at the venue, players from other provinces were already there. According to the schedule, it was Province H's turn now, and it would be Province B's turn in half an hour.
The group simply sat down in the stands and observed their opponents.
As the No. 1 player in the men's singles of the youth group of Province B, Bian Jing, 15 years old this year, has already completed 3A difficulty. In the entire Chinese team's men's singles adult group, only Wang Gaozhuo from Province H can complete 4T, so he is also one of the candidates for the podium.
He looked at Wang Gaozhuo who had just completed a triple Axel and curled his lips, "I feel like this triple A is not as good as what Hui did."
Another female partner in pair skating also nodded in agreement, "Indeed."
He Hui was suddenly called and didn't know how to answer, so he could only say "thank you".
She watched the female players from Province H intently.
Province H, Province B and host Province J are the main forces in China's figure skating.
H Province currently has Zhu Xiangqing in the women's singles adult group. Currently 16 years old, she is the number one women's singles player in the Chinese national team. She has a high-level three-three reserve, and most of the places in major international competitions are reserved for her.
Especially after Tan Ling faced the problem of development barrier, Zhu Xiangqing became everyone's only hope. However, with the inevitable development barrier coming, Zhu Xiangqing will soon face the biggest challenge in her career.
But after He Hui appeared, the established pattern underwent subtle changes.
The emergence of 3A became a depth bomb, shaking the entire women's figure skating world.
Anyone who practices figure skating in China knows He Hui.
Zhu Xiangqing is no exception.
Zhu Xiangqing was completing 3Lz+3T on the court, and the quality was pretty good. She relaxed her body and continued to complete other jumps on the court, mainly to confirm the position of the jump and then find the feeling.
Soon, the time for handover between Province B and Province H arrived.
Zhu Xiangqing skated over from the ice rink and met He Hui's eyes. She was taller than He Hui, and stepped on the ice rink with her skates, which made her look even taller.
"I'm looking forward to fighting with you." Zhu Xiangqing took the initiative to greet He Hui.
"Me too." He Hui's voice was steady, but his heels were quietly lifted off the ground, trying hard to make himself look as impressive as possible.
The other team members also noticed He Hui who was about to go on the court and started discussing in a low voice.
"Wow, isn't that He Hui? She's so awesome!"
"I feel like it's not that easy for Senior Sister Zhu to win the championship."
"As expected, the women's singles youth group is more challenging."
These voices represent expectations for He Hui, but also pressure.
Two days later, she will compete with adult contestants for the first time.
He Hui blocked out the noisy sounds in his ears, adapted to the venue of Twelve Winter Sports Center, and completed a 3A in an empty corner as if no one was around.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
