Chapter 47 He was clearly jealous, but he had to pretend to be...
The starry sky hangs low, day and night intersect.
The moment Jiang Muzhou's hand touched Su Cheng's wrist, her heart seemed to skip a beat.
Immediately afterwards, the sounds in my chest became rapid and heavy, thump, thump, even my eardrums were vibrating.
What's going on today? Is this a fan meet-and-greet?
Su Cheng looked up blankly and met Jiang Muzhou's slightly furrowed brows.
He suddenly leaned closer, completely blocking the already dim light inside the car.
Suddenly, everything went dark, and Su Cheng was stunned for a moment.
The dim streetlights lit up one by one, and the light shone through the car windows.
In the dim light, she noticed several thin red marks crisscrossing on the back of her right hand, as if scratched by a sharp branch, with tiny spots of blood seeping out in a few places.
I guess I accidentally scratched myself when I reached into the bushes to stuff cat treats. At the time, I was only thinking about catching the little cows as soon as possible, and I didn't notice the injury at all. Now that I've calmed down, I can feel the wound throbbing and twitching.
Jiang Muzhou had gotten even closer without anyone noticing.
Suddenly, she felt a chill on the back of her hand.
The minty breath brushed against her skin like a feather, sending a shiver down her spine.
The faint, almost imperceptible aura caused her fingertips to involuntarily curl slightly.
With his rosy, thin lips slightly pursed, he gently blew on the reddened area on the back of her hand.
The cool breath brushed over the wound, and the burning pain was miraculously reduced.
Jiang Muzhou held her hand steadily, feeling the warmth in his palm, as if he were holding a piece of warm jade.
Her wrist bone was so thin it could be grasped in one hand. His thumb gently pressed against her pulse, and he could feel the faint tremor of blood flowing through it.
He silently counted down the seconds in his mind.
Lin Yang held her hand for two seconds, so he wanted three seconds, four seconds...
Only when only his warmth remained on her wrist, and when all the scents that didn't belong to him were covered and erased, did her reason gradually return.
He let go of her hand, took out a tube of ointment from the glove box, and handed it to her.
The lingering warmth in his palm made him feel that his behavior was somewhat despicable; he was clearly jealous, but he had to pretend to be concerned.
"Be more careful next time." He turned the steering wheel onto the main road, deliberately keeping his tone calm.
Su Cheng squeezed out a small amount of milky white cream, her eyelashes fluttered twice, and she secretly glanced at the driver's seat out of the corner of her eye.
His profile was partially obscured by light and shadow, making it impossible to discern his expression.
She was somewhat dazed. Was this concern his usual gentleness, or something unique and special?
Noticing the probing gaze from Su Cheng, his fingers gripping the steering wheel tightened involuntarily.
He twitched the corners of his mouth, trying to make his tone sound as natural as that of an ordinary business partner. "If the heroic story of the Cat God being wounded in his first battle were to spread throughout the cat world, the cats would laugh at him."
"This was purely an accident," Su Cheng replied softly, her eyelashes drooping, casting two small shadows on her fair cheeks.
She looked down at the ointment she had just applied to the back of her hand; it felt cool, but for some reason, she felt it wasn't as effective as the gentle breath Jiang Muzhou had just blew on it.
After leaving the school gate and turning two corners, the sign of the pet hospital shines warmly on the street.
This "Anxin Pet Hospital" is the closest pet hospital to Linda University, about a ten-minute walk away.
Stray animals rescued by the community often come here for medical treatment because the medical team consists of alumni of the Linyi University College of Veterinary Medicine, who can professionally handle everything from basic physical examinations to complex cases.
What's most heartwarming is that they offer very affordable medical care for stray animals, basically only charging for the medication and waiving all other fees.
The Land Rover pulled over and came to a stop. Su Cheng, carrying the pet carrier, pushed open the glass door of the pet hospital.
Jiang Muzhou didn't get out of the car. He felt he couldn't be of much help, so he decided to wait for her quietly in the car.
He rolled down the car window, and the night breeze carried the smell of disinfectant.
Looking through the floor-to-ceiling glass, Su Cheng followed the doctor in the white coat into the examination room.
On the silver stainless steel inspection table, the door of the flight case popped open, and a little cow, wearing a black mask that had been turned into an Elizabethan collar, timidly poked its head out.
A small section of the mask near its right ear had collapsed, probably from scratching its itchy eyes while rubbing its head in the flight case.
Su Cheng squatted down beside the examination table, the cold white light shining on the cat-ear bun on her head, the fluffy hair strands shimmering with a fuzzy sheen, making her look exceptionally soft.
She reached out and gently stroked the kitten's head, her fingertips moving lightly and softly, her eyes filled with tenderness and affection.
Just like four years ago.
That night, the rain poured down.
Her school uniform jacket was completely soaked and clung tightly to her back.
The rainy night in late spring was particularly cold and gloomy, but the little orange kitten in her arms was curled up peacefully against her chest, wrapped tightly in the dry lining of her school uniform. She bent over, using her chest and arms to shield the kitten from the rain, and hurried across puddles towards the vet.
She was thinner then than she is now, her short hair was wet from the rain, clinging to her cheeks in strands, water droplets dripping down her hair, but she didn't bother to wipe them away, she just stared intently at the kitten on the examination table.
Just like now, he was quietly gazing at her through the floor-to-ceiling glass.
Similar scenes overlapped before my eyes.
Her tearful voice still seems to echo in my ears.
"If only I had lots and lots of money... I could save so many homeless children."
At first, he couldn't understand why the burden of the stray animal problem, which should be shared by society, ultimately fell on the shoulders of a group of kind-hearted people.
Without legal constraints on uncontrolled breeding and indiscriminate abandonment, even if all rescuers went bankrupt, they still couldn't save all the stray cats and dogs on the streets.
Ironically, even though the number of stray cats and dogs waiting to be adopted is thousands of times greater than the number of qualified adopters, most people's first reaction when they want to get a pet is still to go to a pet store and spend money to buy one.
Kindness is like light trapped in a maze; it accumulates more and more, yet it cannot shine out.
He might not fully understand Su Cheng's persistence, but he would fully support her in whatever she wanted to do.
She wanted to rescue stray animals, so he worked hard to earn money and become her strongest support.
He started taking commercial photography jobs from his freshman year of college, which was the most direct and lowest-barrier way to make money for him at the time.
Later, he got lucky and his documentary account took off, becoming a top performer on the platform, and he even started his own company. The savings he accumulated over the years were enough to spay and neuter all the stray cats in the area and buy mountains of cat food.
He knew how to be tactful. Giving her money and taking care of everything directly would weaken her autonomy, so he tried to help her in other ways. He let her earn extra money under the guise of feeding the cat at her home, and helped her quickly gain followers by leveraging the popularity of their on-screen couple.
Since raising Yuanbao, he has gradually come to understand that feeling.
Because of having a kitten, I've developed a slight bias towards all the kittens in the world.
He began to understand those who persisted in rescuing animals. They knew they couldn't save all the stray animals, yet they still felt compassion, thinking that feeding them one more meal could save one more life, and spaying or neutering them one more time could reduce the number of stray animals.
But while in Beijing, he heard that a rescuer had devoted all his resources to adopting hundreds of stray cats and dogs, but a sudden fire not only took the life of this kind person, but also left those furry children who had just felt warmth back on the streets.
This incident made him realize that such help is ultimately only a temporary solution, and that goodwill, without sustainable support, will one day turn into a sharp blade that pierces him.
So when he learned that the shelter was running out of funds, he not only donated money, but also began to think about longer-term solutions.
He wanted to support Su Cheng in realizing her dreams, but he hoped even more that she could protect herself and not be swayed by kindness, thus losing herself.
As it turned out, he underestimated Su Cheng.
She was more clear-headed and had a longer-term vision than he had imagined.
Saving lives is important, but it is even more important to instill the concept of "adopt, don't shop" and to spread the message of "if you don't love someone, please don't hurt them" further.
Her short videos now have millions of views each. Although they can't compare to those internet celebrities with tens of millions of followers, in terms of real-world influence, it's equivalent to making the whole city hear her voice.
He opened his phone and looked at the sales data of the Pet Star flagship store, comparing the changes before and after her live broadcast. In just three hours, the sales of cat treats featured in the live broadcast surged by 10,000 orders, and the sales of other products also climbed in tandem.
At this rate, more and more businesses will seek to collaborate with her in the future, quickly creating a virtuous cycle. With sufficient funds, she can do more: expand the scale of the shelter, broaden cooperation channels, and organize offline adoption events…
His gaze unconsciously drifted to the glass window again, but what he saw was not Su Cheng.
Lin Yang and Wu Xin had already arrived, pushing a flatbed cart.
Long, slender fingers tapped lightly on the steering wheel.
Sitting and waiting is a bit boring, so why not go inside and take a look?
The cat dad and cat mom are snuggling together in the cat trap, while the four calves are placed side by side on the inspection table.
Su Cheng looked at the four little ones lined up in a row and couldn't help but laugh out loud.
When I looked at them separately, I didn't notice much difference, but now that they're all neatly arranged together, it's like they were copied and pasted.
The vet had just finished drawing blood, and while waiting for the test results, the group discussed the kittens' future.
Although Linda University is very friendly to stray animals, the best choice would naturally be to find them a good home so they can live a happy and prosperous life for fifteen years.
The kittens haven't been weaned yet and haven't been vaccinated, so we'll have to wait at least another month before they can be adopted.
After the live stream ended, Su Cheng received many collaboration offers, and some even asked her to do live-streaming sales.
She thought that if the kittens were all healthy after the tests, she would let them work at the rescue center to pay off their debts, especially the white one with the left ear, which had ate two cat treats from her in one go, so it would have to work hard to make up for it.
The kitten with inflamed eyes has been fitted with a mini Elizabethan collar specially made by the veterinary hospital, and its original black mask has been removed and placed aside.
Su Cheng thought of the mask's owner, wondering when the test results would be available and whether he would get bored waiting in the car.
She pushed open the door to the consultation room, intending to go to the car to talk to Jiang Muzhou.
As soon as the door opened, she saw that familiar figure at the front desk.
A cream-colored Cocker Spaniel was circling around his feet, its little black nose constantly sniffing his trouser leg, its fluffy tail wagging rapidly.
Look up along the leash around your neck.
She's a cute girl with a ponytail.
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