Chapter 23
Li Ying'an knew about my habit of wandering, although he still didn't quite understand why I would sleep in the park when I already had a job.
I was like a cat, my eyes rolled around, and evil thoughts kept popping up in my mind like bubbles from a fish in water.
I promised him again.
Following a familiar person, walking through a familiar street, the orange light of the setting sun hits my harmless face, making me squint my eyes comfortably.
I actually don't want to stay with Li Ying'an for a long time in human form. It makes me always think that I am still a cat. I don't want my disguise to be in vain and reveal my true colors in front of Li Ying'an.
But today's sunset feels really warm on my body, even though the evenings in this season are indeed a bit chilly. I half-closed one eye and stole a glance at Li Ying'an who was looking straight ahead beside me.
Li Ying'an walked without changing his expression, and the thin gold pouring down from the sky gilded his thin face.
I found that I have been overlooking one problem. Although Li Ying'an's appearance is not earth-shattering and can be regarded as acceptable at most, his facial features are very sharp and angular, which is why the first impression gives people the illusion of being too mature.
Now outlined by the warm light of dusk, the eye sockets under the brow bones are sunken in shadow, the high nose bridge arbitrarily cuts the light and dark colors on the face, and the slightly raised arc of the lips is just right in that half-warm color, which neither gives people a false feeling of pretense nor makes people think that it is easy to bully.
Unconsciously, I had been secretly watching him all the way, and by the time I realized he had lost control, we had already stopped at the door and were motionless.
I heard him mutter, "Where did Li Youzhi go to have fun again? He still hasn't come home yet..."
I turned my head and shaved my cheek.
This is the first time that Li Feng, as Li Ying'an, has visited his home since I met him.
I tried my best to be like a guest in this house, observing the layout of the house as a stranger, suppressing all the familiarity that could be shown on my face, and replacing it with restraint and politeness in treating everything.
There is no sofa in the small space, only a small table and two chairs next to the cat entertainment area.
I sat in one of the chairs.
"Are there any dishes or other foods that you avoid?"
Li Ying'an has been working non-stop since returning home. He prepared water and a fruit plate for me, and then went to the stove and tied on an apron.
A person who has been wandering since childhood basically does not have the habit of being picky about food, so I shook my head at his words.
When the food was cooked, Li Ying'an left the stove for a while. Naturally, I followed him and watched him walk up the stairs calmly and open the cabinet door beside him.
……clothing?
I roughly understood Li Ying'an's intention of inviting me home.
"I bought this at a wholesale store. The owner said buy one get one free, so I didn't look at it much. But when I got home, I found that one of the clothes was too small for me to wear. I thought it would be a shame to throw away clean clothes..."
As he spoke, an embarrassed look appeared on his face, and the words he was about to say were flowing in his gray eyes. I knew at a glance that he must be afraid that I would be disgusted and was considering whether to continue.
Without giving him any more thoughts, I took it without hesitation: I'll try it on, and if it fits, I'll take it away.
Anyone would feel a sense of joy if their good intentions were not misunderstood but appreciated by others.
"Go to the bathroom and try it on," he said, leading me to the bathroom and opening the door, "and see if it fits."
The moment I closed the door, I picked up the clothes I had worn for many years and took a look at them.
I have been wearing it since I became an adult. It has a cooling effect when the weather is hot and a warming effect when the weather is cold. In short, I don’t need to take it off intentionally, it will always stay clean and tidy, and I don’t have to waste energy on cleaning it.
After thinking it over again and again, I still didn't take it off. I used it as a base shirt and put on the clothes Li Ying'an gave me over it.
Just the right size.
I almost suspected that this dress was actually purchased by Li Ying'an specifically for me based on my figure.
As for why I didn't take off my underwear to try it on——
A light white long-sleeved shirt fell from the sky like a piece of cloth blown by the wind. Not only did it float down, but it also spread out the moment it touched the ground, if you ignore the small bulge in the middle.
Then, a round cat's head curiously poked out from the collar. This cat was not unfamiliar, it was me.
I came out of it, turned around and silently stared at the clothes spread on the ground.
This is why I don’t accept human clothes. I don’t know how many times I can turn from a human into a cat in a day. I can’t always find a place to hide my clothes after turning into a cat, right?
For me, who is wearing clothes, it really is like what humans say, that is, take off your pants to fart.
But now, I still have to put on the clothes and show them to Li Ying'an. After all, I can't refuse my master's kindness.
Li Ying'an said that this dress was tailor-made for me.
But no matter how nice he said, I couldn't wear it right now. It's not that I didn't appreciate it, but the temperature in this unheated room was not suitable for me to wear human clothes alone.
I folded it neatly and put it in a plastic bag.
"Come and have dinner." Li Ying'an put the food on the table and placed two sets of bowls and chopsticks on it. When he went to get napkins from the shelf at the door, he opened the door and looked in for a while.
I saw all his little movements, and I knew that although he pretended to be calm on the surface, he was already extremely anxious in his heart.
In my opinion, if the owner is not in a hurry to use the dishes, then I cannot eat. During this period of waiting, I saw Li Ying'an walking towards me. After he sat down, I deliberately poked his heart: Do you have a cat at home?
He subconsciously glanced at the place in the house filled with cat toys and food: "Yes, a kitten who has always been very humane."
Perhaps in order not to distract his attention from Li Youzhi who had not yet returned home, or perhaps because Xiaoju and I were only friends in words, and his adopted cat, Lihua, that is, I, met him at about the same time as Xiaoju, he told me the process of meeting, getting to know, and getting along with Li Youzhi.
I acted like a qualified observer, listening to these experiences that I will remember deeply, and couldn't help but smile.
The meal was filled with heartwarming stories.
"It's already eight o'clock," Li Ying'an confirmed again unsurely, "Why hasn't Li Youzhi come home yet so late?"
His voice sank a little, and there was obvious worry in his tone. He could hardly hold his butt on the bench, but he still insisted on being a host and was sitting here unwillingly to accompany me and forcing a smile.
At this moment, he was like a mother who couldn't wait for her child to come home, sitting at the table anxiously and thinking wildly.
I realized I'd gone too far with the joke, and I couldn't bear to see him in such a dilemma, knowing that both Li Youzhi and Li Feng were me. So I told him, "Let's go out and look for them. We can just take a walk after dinner. I can't sleep for a while anyway."
He couldn't wait to agree and answered very straightforwardly.
There is a cool breeze tonight, and it feels refreshing at first, but if it blows on your body for a long time, it will cause a tingling pain like the wind drilling into your bones.
The old-fashioned street lamps emitted a dim yellow light, and the surrounding plants and trees, as well as the buildings where residents lived, which were originally dark in color, were all made to look like ghosts.
Li Ying'an and I were walking on the deserted path in front of the building.
Li Ying'an said that he would respect Li Youzhi and let her out of the house when he went to work every day. Li Youzhi was as humane as he said and would be home before he got off work.
But today was a surprise.
After he finished speaking, he shouted names in all directions.
I followed silently. The dim light grew dimmer as we walked along the secluded path. The light passed through the crisscrossing branches of the sycamore trees and fell on Li Ying'an, then flickered with his footsteps, just like my uneasy mood at the moment.
I felt deeply sorry for him, and at the same time I was worried that he would teach me a lesson tomorrow, or that I would never be let out again.
But as we walked, Li Ying'an no longer focused on Li Youzhi, but on me, a living person.
He paused apologetically, "I'm sorry. I originally asked you to come here to celebrate the old man's birthday tomorrow. You worked hard all day, and I couldn't let you rest. Instead, I asked you to accompany me around looking for cats. I'm really sorry... I guess Li Youzhi has fallen asleep somewhere. How about we go back first?"
He said the last sentence probably with a sense of hope.
Instead of making a decision for him against his will, I might as well choose to walk around with him for a while to calm his anxiety: No, I still want to take a walk outside.
He must have been hoping that I would make this choice. Not only did he not treat me politely, but he also continued walking with me with a clear conscience.
This time he didn't bring up Li Youzhi, but rather casually brought up the old man's birthday the following day. There was nothing much to discuss, and Li Ying'an understood that, so he told me about the old man's missing daughter.
He lamented, "I guess the person the old man wants to see most is his little girl who has been missing for many years and still hasn't been found."
I asked even though I knew the answer: How did his little daughter get lost?
Li Ying'an shook his head dejectedly. "The old man only told me that he suddenly disappeared during his university years. I can't get through to him on his phone, and I've called the police but to no avail."
Missing person cases like this are as difficult to track down as online fraud. If you want to see a living person, you can only rely on the blessings accumulated in your previous life. Otherwise, it will be difficult to even see a corpse.
"Who's missing again..."
Suddenly, the scent of flowers filled my nose and a soft sound came to my ears, like an almost inaudible sigh.
I was so frightened by the sudden approaching voice that I stepped aside and took a few steps back until I saw Li Lan's face in front of me clearly again.
Although his feet stopped, his violently beating heart cooled down.
I didn't expect that I would be so unlucky to meet Li Lan tonight. I knew that we would inevitably discuss the mobile phone issue later.
When Li Lan finished speaking, she straightened her back and turned to look at me who seemed to be suddenly startled. I had already anticipated her action and lowered my head guiltily in advance.
But the teacher is worthy of being a teacher. He only met me once, and he could see the clues no matter how low I lowered my head.
She said in a crooked voice, "Li Feng?"
Now that I've been named, I can't continue to stand there pretending to be a dead body, so I raised my face and put on a fake smile.
"It's really you," she said, as if she had met an old friend she hadn't seen for many years, surprised and surprised, "You know each other!"
Li Ying'an didn't say a word from beginning to end, and he seemed to have not yet realized the fact that we knew each other.
After reacting, Li Ying'an simply repeated to us: "Do you two... know each other?"
Li Lan slapped his thigh and said, "Of course. Remember when I told you that I gave my phone to a younger brother? That younger brother is Li Feng!"
Then she changed the subject, even the person she was talking to, from the stunned Li Ying'an to me, "How's your phone? We're so lucky to meet, do you want to add me as a friend?"
I was speechless. After realizing that I had to cover up for Li Youzhi's lie about picking up the phone, my cheeks were still hot even though the wind tonight was cool on my face: the phone was lost.
Li Lan opened his mouth silently, and after a moment of stunned silence, he seemed to remember something and stumbled back to look at Li Ying'an.
Suddenly, Li Ying'an took out his cell phone.
Li Lan looked away in a friendly manner: "..."
Li Ying'an was somewhat at a loss: "..."
Once again, I chose to bow my head in silence.
The first person to break the silence was Li Ying'an, who had been with me the entire time. He didn't hide anything and took the initiative to approach me with his phone: "Look at this, does it look like you lost it?"
I stared at this familiar phone for a long time, making up many reasons in my mind, but finally shook my head in dejection.
"But I did pick up this phone," Li Ying'an added, "or Li Youzhi picked it up from a trash can."
"How do you know it was the spirit that picked up your phone from the trash? Did it talk to you after becoming a spirit?" Li Lan said with a smile, then turned to ask me, "How did you lose your phone?"
I did not tell Li Ying'an the reason for the lost phone in the identity of Li Youzhi. As a cat, Li Youzhi could not speak and did not offer to make up for the lie, so I became unscrupulous in continuing to lie: I was robbed by a gangster on the way home, so the phone ended up in his hands... If the phone in the trash can was really the one I lost, he probably threw it away because he was not satisfied.
There didn't seem to be any flaws, so I breathed a sigh of relief.
Sure enough, no one questioned what I said. Instead, Li Ying'an changed the subject: "It's not a spirit. When he brought the phone back, I asked him and he pointed to the trash can."
"It's not even a spirit yet, it understands what you're saying!"
Li Lan screamed in surprise, but she didn't take it to heart afterwards. "It's okay. No matter whose phone this is, it's An Ge's now. As for Li Feng, I have a lot of phones at home that I don't use. Why don't you come to my house and pick out a phone you like?"
A cell phone is a burden to me, so I declined her offer with this excuse: "Thank you, Sister Lan, for your kindness, but I don't need it right now. I'm already working, and my boss doesn't care about people with disabilities like us. If I need it, I can save up enough money to buy one myself."
Li Lan frowned, and her gaze instantly softened into a pool of warm water. Under the dim light, the warmth of pity lingered in her eyes, making people feel very warm. "You are so sensible."
I had nothing to say and just raised the corners of my mouth in a fake way.
"By the way, you said missing..." Li Lan frowned.
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