Chapter 9
Immediately, the old lady protected her: "Old man!"
The two nearly shrill female voices instantly sent me tumbling down to the bottom shelf. Through the hanging goods, I trembled with fear at the woman hidden in the old woman's arms. She covered her eyes, her body trembling, as if she was weeping.
I didn't understand why she suddenly responded until the old man's angry voice suddenly tore my eardrums like a thunder.
"Why is it you? How dare you come here!"
I was stunned and stretched my neck to look towards the door.
Li Ying'an's figure appeared at the door of the store at some point. Even facing the light, his face was not bright, but rather had a kind of helpless gloom, like the setting sun under the clouds.
He stood at the door, a few meters away from his mother. The woman, in a state of madness and agony, had her back to him. She didn't look at him, but she seemed to sense his presence, and she immediately huddled herself together in agony.
Is this the connection between parent and child? I stared at Li Ying'an. He looked extremely painful, yet he still maintained a smile.
"I'm not..." He tried to justify his presence, but his eyes couldn't help but glance at the woman nestled in her mother's arms. "I'm just here to buy something."
"I don't care if you buy anything or not, but you can't come here to buy anything from me in the future. You are never welcome here!"
As the old lady was helping her daughter upstairs, the old man walked up to Li Ying'an and gave him a hard shove, trying to lock him out of the shop. "Go away! Don't get in our way here! We beg you! You beasts! It's not enough that you've harmed my daughter, and now you dare to come here and strut around like that? Go away! Don't force me to hit you with something!"
In terms of strength, although Li Ying'an is thin, he can still push away an old man.
But he didn't. He just stood there blankly, allowing others to push him and make him stagger.
From a family perspective, I don't understand why, as Li Ying'an's grandfather, the old man hated the child from his daughter's belly so much. Thinking back on this family, it seems that no one likes Li Ying'an very much, and the woman is sometimes crazy. I racked my brains and could only think of one possibility.
The woman's husband treated her badly, so when her parents hated the man, they naturally implicated Li Ying'an.
It made sense when I thought about it this way, so I looked at Li Ying'an standing at the door again, and somehow I felt that he looked a little pitiful now.
I stopped standing by and watched, and took the initiative to run to him.
"Xiao Li?" he suddenly said.
There are tens of thousands of cats and dogs in the world, almost countless. Even people may look the same, not to mention that most tabby cats look similar. Unless they are kept by their owners for many years and have developed a liking for them, the possibility of them being remembered is higher, but this is only limited to the person who raises them.
Li Ying'an only fed me a few times and we were not very familiar with each other, so I was a little surprised that he remembered me.
When he shouted, not only was I stunned, but even the old man who was blocking him from entering the door was visibly startled.
The old man's suspicious gaze wandered between us, finally fixed on Li Ying'an's face with disdain, and pushed him: "Hurry up, hurry up! Don't think that cats and dogs can pity you, not even the king of heaven can!"
Then, Li Ying'an was pushed hard, nearly falling. Fortunately, he grabbed the door handle in time and avoided being thrown flat on his butt. Even so, his family's behavior was somewhat humiliating to him. His eyes, beneath his black lashes, grew increasingly timid, their grayness hazy, as if a strong wind or heavy rain was about to blow, and his pupils were about to shatter.
I looked up and saw his desolate gaze lingering on a floor tile, his emotions enveloped in gloom.
Just as the door was about to close, I quickly stuck my head out. The old man's hand stopped closing the door instantly and he looked at me in surprise.
"Little guy, what are you doing? Go out?" The old man was a little worried about me, but then he seemed to guess what I was thinking, "You're not going to follow him, are you?"
He pointed his hand mercilessly at the down-and-out Li Ying'an.
In fact, I shouldn't have responded to what humans said, but Li Ying'an's appearance made me feel sad. The kindness he had shown me and the incident with the orange cat made me feel that I should stand on his side.
So I walked over to Li Ying'an, raised my paw to pull at his trouser leg, and then nodded firmly.
Li Ying'an's shocked eyes focused on me: "..."
The old man was stunned: "...This is amazing."
I remained unmoved, my eyes fixed on the old man.
"Can you understand what people are saying?" The old man turned around and looked at the person walking up and down the stairs. "You want to go with him?"
From the old man's side, I saw the old lady standing on the stairs with her hands in her pockets, watching the dispute here with an expressionless face.
This time I didn't nod in response, but just moved slightly closer to Li Ying'an's trouser leg and looked at the person in front of me in a daze.
My actions speak for me instead of my mouth.
Finally, the old man sighed slightly and waved to me. As I entered the store, he told Li Ying'an, "Wait."
I followed the old man to the familiar cashier counter, and the old lady also walked down the stairs. But she was very confused as to why Li Ying'an was still standing outside the door. She was about to go and drive him away, but was stopped by the old man.
The old man touched my head and said reluctantly: "This kitten will also leave with him. I will get some things for him."
The old lady's eyes widened, she clapped her hands in disbelief and asked her husband, "How did you know it was going to follow him?"
"The kitten nodded on its own." The old man noticed that his wife didn't believe him, so he patted my head and asked me to repeat the action.
I looked at the target and nodded solemnly again.
The old lady couldn't help but mutter: "It's really a ghost..."
The old man called me in to give me some food. He kept rambling as he filled his bag. He explained that while he always fed me under the pretext of caring for stray cats, he hadn't captured me and sent me to a shelter. Instead, he had long since treated me like a domesticated cat. So now that I was leaving, he felt like a child on a long journey, a constant worry.
As he was talking, even the old lady beside him couldn't help but try to persuade me to stay. Her words were urging me to think it over carefully, and she didn't forget to belittle Li Ying'an a few more times.
When mentioning Li Ying'an, the old man thought for a while and decided to say what was hidden in his heart at the risk of his wife's anger.
"Let's not let that kid come over in the future. Let's give him something to eat and some money." The old man kept looking at his wife while he was talking, fearing that the other party would eat him alive.
Sure enough, the next second, after hearing her husband say such pitiful words, the old lady was immediately enraged, and her wrinkled face turned visibly red. "I think you've lived too comfortably! You old fool, have you forgotten how we cried and screamed for our daughter? Have you forgotten what our daughter has suffered in that godforsaken place all these years? Now you go and pity others, who will pity us, who will pity your daughter! The police still haven't found those traffickers, they are probably living happily now. What about us? We are going to be killed!"
As she spoke, the old lady's eyes filled with tears and she began to sob unconsciously. The old man realized that his words had hurt her, so he quickly stopped what he was doing and went to comfort his wife without thinking.
Faced with the sudden change, I was a little at a loss, and then looked at Li Ying'an who was still standing outside the door waiting.
Li Ying'an had his back to the glass, seemingly rubbing his hands. He had no idea what had just happened in the house because of him.
I didn’t make it difficult for myself before. I always came and went as I pleased. But now the old lady was crying so sadly that leaving abruptly would make the situation awkward and awkward. After all, they were an old couple who had been feeding me for a long time. Even if I couldn’t wait to leave, I had to pretend, so I just hummed a few times.
My voice interrupted them. The old lady's eyes rolled around, as if she thought of my cleverness. She quickly calmed herself down, pushed her husband away, and touched me twice.
"Cats have always been very clever animals."
She was mumbling something and suddenly blurted out these words.
"Forget it." She moved her hand away from caressing me, calmly tore off the plastic bag from the counter, walked to the shelf, grabbed a few things, and packed them up under the gaze of me and the old man.
Not only that, she returned to the front of the stage and took out five hundred-yuan bills from her safe and stuffed them all into the plastic bag.
The old man didn't understand her behavior: "You are..."
The old lady said that she would use these to break up with Li Ying'an.
She said that cats, like cats, are generally good people when they're recognized. Of course, she wouldn't just take this as evidence. Li Ying'an's mother was able to return to the old couple thanks to his help. Although his biological father's actions were truly unforgivable, the fact that he had safely returned the woman convinced the old lady to stop hating him and simply turn a blind eye.
"Go give it to him," she said stiffly, throwing the things on the table. "Don't let him come here anymore. I won't treat him well no matter how many times he comes. The money in my pocket isn't just for him. Since the kitten is willing to follow him, he should give it his all and treat it well. Send it away quickly."
The old man didn't respond, but turned to me and raised his arm, indicating that I should jump up.
I ignored him, turned around and jumped off the cash register, then took small steps towards the door and squatted down.
There was no sound when the door opened, but Li Ying'an still heard it with his sharp ears. He turned around and the old man happened to hand him something and told him his wife's words word for word.
"Thank you." Li Ying'an did not refuse those things.
Finally, the old man looked at me reluctantly and said, "Come whenever you want in the future. Remember to eat well and don't wander around aimlessly."
This time, I chose not to understand his advice. I yawned and scratched Li Ying'an's trouser leg, reminding him to remember to carry me on his shoulders when he left, so that I wouldn't have to waste any more energy.
Li Ying'an was also a person who couldn't bear to see me suffer. He didn't misunderstand my behavior at all and immediately grabbed me by the shoulders.
He finally smiled at the old man, but the old man did not smile at this blood-related grandson.
I followed Li Ying'an back to the scrapyard. The scenery remained the same, but compared to winter, the spring weather brought more life to the surrounding landscape. The sycamore tree in particular was already showing signs of sprouting. In the rising sun and gentle breeze, its tall and majestic presence offered a shelter to all.
Perhaps the orange cat under the tree nourished its roots, causing it to grow better and better and become a gentle orange cat.
Li Ying'an glanced over there before entering the door. I could only see the back of his head and I didn't know what he was thinking, but when the wind blew through his hair, I knew he was probably missing someone.
"Why did you buy so many things?" The old man at the scrap yard seemed to be off duty. He hadn't gone out early to collect scrap today. He was carrying a sack and was walking out. Suddenly, he glanced at me and noticed my presence. He smiled and said, "Isn't this the tabby cat that ran away earlier? Why is it looking for you again?"
Li Ying'an turned around, freed his hand and patted me: "We met on the road. We are destined to meet, so it followed me here. Uncle, are you free now? I want to talk to you about something."
"Yes," the old man put down what he was holding, "Come in, come in. I'll give you some of the tea my daughter gave me the other day."
Considering that it was inconvenient for Li Ying'an to carry things in his hands, the old man suggested going directly to Li Ying'an's house, which was exactly what Li Ying'an wanted.
"Hey, why is your room so clean?"
Li Ying'an bent down when he entered the room. If he hadn't put out his hand to protect my head, I would have hit the door frame directly.
In fact, before the old man spoke in surprise, I noticed that the layout of the house was different from yesterday. Because there were few things in it and it was an old-fashioned house, no matter how hard I cleaned it, it would never be spotless, so there were not many changes in the house.
But the most obvious thing was the bedding on the bed, which was neatly piled in a transparent plastic bag, and the bags at the door were also neatly stacked together.
"Sit down first." Li Ying'an didn't answer him. Instead, he took me off his shoulders and placed me carefully on the ground. He then turned around and got a stool for the old man, and finally took out a drink from his pocket.
I jumped onto the bed and squatted on the edge, watching Li Ying'an give the Red Bull drink that the old lady had given him to the old man at the scrap yard. The old man pushed the drink back, saying he couldn't drink it.
But Li Ying'an was a very stubborn person. He insisted on not accepting the things that had been given away and stuffed them back in.
After going back and forth, the old man had no choice but to put the drink in his pocket.
Li Ying'an pulled out another stool from under the table. After he sat down, all eyes were on him, and he couldn't help but cross his fingers, feeling uncomfortable.
His eyes swept over me gently, but didn't linger for long, as if he was just checking to see if I was being naughty. Then he turned away, and after trying to cheer himself up, he told me why he had invited the old man into the house. "Uncle, you've seen what's going on in the house, so there's no need for me to keep it a secret from you any longer. I plan to leave here today."
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