Chapter 31 Lucid Dream "It still couldn't hold on until the reunion"...
Chapter.Thirty-first
It was half past six in the evening. Chen Qiudu sat on a chair in front of the glass window. When he opened the instant noodles, the hot steam and fragrance hit his cheeks.
The next moment, the door was pushed open, bringing in the coolness of the late evening. To prevent anyone from sneaking in, Chen Qiudu could only sit sideways by the glass window, his back to the window and his eyes facing the door.
The boy, who looked no more than seventeen, was wearing a hooded sweatshirt covered in dust and stains, overalls, and street vendor shoes that had been washed so much they were bleached white.
He casually took the bread of the brand that Chen Qiudu had eaten before and a bottle of the cheapest mineral water and walked to the cashier. He placed three yuan on the counter with familiarity, raised his eyes and glanced around, and finally his eyes fell on Chen Qiudu, who was looking down and silent.
The young man walked forward quickly, occupied the seat next to Shen Qiudu, placed the bread and water on the table, and sat down naturally.
This scene happens almost every Saturday.
The boy's name was Meng Xunque, and he was Chen Qiudu's partner on the construction site on Saturday. Together they had to move the remaining small bricks to the warehouse and then do the final cleaning.
So every time at this time, Meng Xunque would come to the convenience store during dinner, eat dinner with Shen Qiudu in silence, and then the two would go to the construction site to work together, and there would basically be no conversation on the way.
During his break, Chen Qiudu heard an uncle at the construction site mention Meng Xunque, saying that he was a good student, but unfortunately he was an orphan and his adoptive parents didn't have much money to support his studies, so when he reached high school, he was forced to drop out and work to save enough money for tuition.
He would not give up studying while working. He would teach himself high school courses almost every day, for fear that he would fall behind in school when he returned to school.
"Children like Meng Xunque, if they have the ability, will do everything they can to seize this opportunity to change their fate. So if I can help him, I will. He can do any job and can endure hardships. He has a bright future and is a good child. It's a pity that his life is so difficult."
These were the words of the construction site boss, but who among those from such a family background didn't have a hard life? So they were forced to grow up, mature early, and understand certain truths earlier than their peers in order to survive.
Chen Qiudu was the only person on the construction site who was about the same age as Meng Xunque, so he would sometimes help him to the best of his ability.
For example, after helping Meng Xunque fix the light bulb, he asked him to pay less. After all, Chen Qiudu would not be able to go to school in the future. At that time, he just wanted to work hard to support the family. Everything else was not important to him.
Thinking of this, Chen Qiudu lowered his head and ate instant noodles in a daze, not noticing the sudden coldness in Meng Xunque's eyes when he raised his eyes.
"Chen Qiudu." He suddenly spoke.
This was the first time Meng Xunque took the initiative to call out Shen Qiudu's name, which scared Shen Qiudu so much that he dropped the noodles he had just picked up.
"What's wrong? Is the bread expired?"
Apart from this, Chen Qiudu couldn't think of any other reason why Meng Xunque was so serious.
Meng Xunque frowned, his eyes fixed on a dark shadow outside the window. Chen Qiudu looked back and saw that under the dim street lights, there were only trees hurriedly being tossed by the wind, causing a swaying green tide. Apart from that, there was nothing else.
"nothing."
Meng Xunque averted his gaze, finished the bread in a few bites, drank the mineral water in one gulp, and then leaned back in the chair casually with his hands folded across his chest.
"You continue eating. We'll go to the construction site early today because there's a lot of work to do."
Chen Qiudu nodded, quickened his eating pace, then quickly packed up the convenience store, locked the door, and followed Meng Xunque to the construction site.
The construction site was in the most remote southwest corner of the slum. Chen Qiudu and his team had to pass through a long, dark alley where there were almost no residents. It was where some homeless and penniless vagrants slept at night.
In the past, he and Meng Xunque basically didn't care about these things and would just speed up their pace and pass by quickly. But today, Chen Qiudu always felt that Meng Xunque was weird. He stopped after walking a few steps and looked around vigilantly, as if someone was following them.
But when Chen Qiudu looked back, everything was calm again. The journey that should have taken ten minutes had taken them twenty. Fortunately, they had left early this time, otherwise they would have been late.
When Meng Xunque stopped again, they had already reached the deepest part of the alley. Chen Qiudu couldn't help but ask, "Meng Xunque, what happened?"
"Chen Qiudu, listen, I feel like someone is following us. I felt something was wrong just now at the convenience store."
Meng Xunque lowered his voice and motioned Chen Qiudu to follow him and stay close to the wall. He frowned and stretched out his hand towards the stick not far away.
Shen Qiudu tried his best to control his heartbeat, and holding his breath, he could indeed hear the sound of tiny footsteps and heavy breathing coming from the air from time to time.
The moment the sound was closest, Meng Xuncheng immediately protected Chen Qiudu behind him, raised the volume, and swung the stick in the air a few times.
“Who is it?!”
"Meow...Meow!"
A small cat stained with mud and water cried out pitifully. Its left leg seemed to have been broken maliciously and it could no longer move. The moment it saw the stick, it tried to escape in panic, but lost its balance and fell to the ground. It could only look at Chen Qiudu pitifully.
"Wait a minute, Meng Xunque, it's injured."
Chen Qiudu walked out from behind him, coaxing the cat to relax in a low voice, while taking out the sausage from his pocket and squatting down.
The cat seemed to like Chen Qiudu very much and was very friendly. Seeing him approaching it actively, its eyes lit up. It even slid on the ground with one leg a few times, rubbed the palm of Chen Qiudu's hand with its head, and then ate the ham sausage opened by Chen Qiudu quickly as if it was hungry.
"It's just hungry. The one in the convenience store just now must have been it. It followed us only because it smelled the sausage in my pocket."
Chen Qiudu softened his gaze, gently rubbed the cat's head, and checked the broken left leg. His heart ached, because the part was completely necrotic and could not be saved.
Meng Xunque stood to one side, stick still in hand. Seeing Chen Qiudu about to put all the snacks he had saved in front of Mao Mao, he subconsciously asked, "Isn't this what you use to fill your stomach after work? If you give it to him, what will you eat?"
"I can still hold on and go home to eat, but I'm afraid it doesn't even have a home, so I'll eat as much as I can."
Meng Xunque frowned. He really couldn't understand why Chen Qiudu, in such a poor situation, could still develop such inexplicable feelings for such a meaningless animal.
"It's just a dirty cat that might even have an infectious disease. I don't understand why you like them so much."
"They don't understand anything. Maybe they'll even come back to rely on you. Then will you have to starve and feed them your food?"
Chen Qiudu rarely smiled. After the cat finished eating, it whimpered a few times, then lay on the ground like a spoiled child, exposing its belly and letting Chen Qiudu caress it.
"It's just a kitten that's always friendly to people. Why should we ask it to understand those realistic principles?"
"But you are right. It is not good to rely on me." Seeing that the time was almost up, Chen Qiudu withdrew his hand and stood up. He looked at Maomao calmly, his eyes revealing a melancholy and loneliness.
He murmured softly, "Don't rely on me, don't look for me, otherwise if you are caught by that man, you will be sold."
"You have to flee from here quickly too. If you are discovered by others, you will be sold to a butcher's shop for money. Promise me, okay?"
The cat retracted its belly, stood up, and tilted its head towards Chen Qiudu.
The kitten doesn’t understand why people are reluctant to leave. The kitten doesn’t understand why it takes the initiative to get close to people but is still rejected, bullied, and has its legs broken. The kitten doesn’t understand that people are experiencing pain and despair.
But the kitten could smell that the good man in front of him had a bitter taste, and he needed the kitten.
But the man didn't want the kitten to follow him, so he loyally asked the kitten to sit down. However, as he watched the man's back getting farther and farther away, the kitten was reluctant to leave.
So the kitten decided to stand up and prepare to run to the person with its remaining legs, but it had only taken a few steps when it was suddenly picked up from behind.
"Mmm... Meow! Meow! Mmm..."
The kitten struggled desperately in his arms, and fear made it whimper intermittently, but Chen Qiudu and Meng Xunque had already left completely, and he could not hear the kitten's cry for help at all.
The sudden arrival of a warm embrace was the kitten's most feared memory, as if it brought it back to that night when he was also held in someone's arms. He thought he could have a home, but what he got was watching that person tie him to the ground with a malicious smile, venting his anger and dissatisfaction in life.
The kitten is scared, so it wants to run away, but it still can't bear to bite people, because biting people is not good.
Suddenly, a deep male voice coaxed the kitten in her ear: "Be good, kitten, I'm not a bad person."
The kitten stopped and thought that the person behind him smelled very good, like the white rice he had eaten before.
And his voice and gentleness, just like the man just now, made the kitten trust him so easily, just based on the smell, he stopped struggling.
The person behind him rubbed the kitten's head soothingly, offered him some water from his palm, and asked for his advice: "Kitten, will you come home with me?"
"I'm not afraid anymore when I go home."
Going home is what the kitten has been looking forward to for so many years. It didn't even drink water, but used its claws to grab the man's arm, as if it was afraid that he would go back on his word.
The boy behind him chuckled, picked him up and walked in the opposite direction.
"Meow..."
The kitten lay on his shoulder, looking in the direction where Chen Qiudu left, whimpering reluctantly. The boy noticed that the kitten was in a bad mood and looked back in the direction the puppy was looking.
He rubbed the kitten's head and whispered in its ear, "We'll definitely meet again in the future."
"Then we'll reunite with him in good health, okay?"
The kitten blinked its clear eyes and said excitedly: "Meow!"
*
Time returned to the present. Chen Qiudu immediately broke free from the man's grasp, looked up at him with impatience, and then vaguely remembered his name from his memory.
"Meng Xunque, he is the young master of the Wen family and your future partner, not a peeping Tom. I think you are mistaken."
"I can't!" Meng Xunque instantly lost his polite demeanor and pointed at Wen Jiangchu in anger.
"That's him! He's been following you around for a while, either sitting outside or inside the convenience store on Saturdays, or wandering around the construction site!"
"Qiu Du, do you remember the cat you met before? You kept looking for it after work but couldn't find it. He must have taken the cat away!"
"Qiu Du, don't you understand? He's done everything he can to you! He must have bad intentions! I don't want to work with such a scheming person anymore! I'm taking you away now!"
Chen Qiudu calmly dodged the hand extended by Meng Xunque and looked at Wen Jiangchu, who was looking at him with a sullen look. He slowly walked up to Wen Jiangchu.
"I don't want to listen to him, Wen Jiangchu, I want to listen to you."
"Tell me, are all the things he said true?"
Wen Jiangchu opened his trembling lips, but could not say anything. Facing Meng Xun's conclusive evidence, Wen Jiangchu was like a completely defeated soldier. The soft spots and weaknesses that he had hidden were completely exposed, making him feel ashamed.
He has always been afraid that these things would be discovered by Shen Qiudu, and he felt inferior because such despicable behavior would terrify Shen Qiudu and even make him run away from him.
So he chose another answer, silence.
But silence is also a silent acknowledgement.
Chen Qiudu swallowed his dry throat and felt a sore nose. It seemed that some idea flashed through his mind, but he didn't dare to think about it.
He closed his eyes and asked bitterly, "Then...where's the cat?"
"It was on the same plane as my parents, so it died in the plane crash..."
"The cat was very well behaved. It didn't cry or make any noise during the surgery. It stayed at home the entire time and was looking forward to seeing you again."
Wen Jiangchu took a deep breath and tried hard to suppress the bitterness and tears in his eyes.
"What a pity..." Wen Jiangchu was unable to speak the truth.
But Chen Qiudu knew what would come next—
It’s a pity that it still couldn’t reunite with the human being it fell in love with at first sight.
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