Nan Zhi continued picking clothes for him. Other than that set just now, he probably still needed another set to change into—this time she bought a hoodie and sweatpants.
After changing his clothes a few times, she more or less figured out what size he needed to wear. At worst, she could flip through the tag on that black coat she bought before and use it as a reference.
As for the pants, no need to consider the length—so long as the waist could fit, it was fine.
He was skinny. As long as it wasn’t a ridiculously wrong size, he could basically wear it.
The reason he couldn’t wear her clothes was because she was also skinny, and on top of that, there was a big height difference. In short, he could usually wear normal men’s sizes.
After Nan Zhi finished picking, she felt that the weather had been changing too fast lately—he still needed thinner ones. What she was buying him now was fleece-lined, and the outdoor jacket had an inner lining, very thick.
She had her eye on two thinner sets, but hesitated when it came time to pay.
She had been spending a bit too much lately—her wallet was kind of holding up poorly.
Nan Zhi belonged to the typical “three rooms and one car1“three rooms and one car” (三房一车 ): slang for someone who owns three real estate properties and one car, indicating they have big assets.” type, but had no savings. One, she had just graduated and was interning, still very young, and would have plenty of chances to earn money later—not in a rush. Two, because she didn’t lack big things, like a house and so on, she didn’t need to save money, so her daily expenses were high.
Usually when she was bored, she’d go eat good food, goof off and play around—basically couldn’t save any money.
Now she actually kind of regretted it. Not long ago she went to a private restaurant and spent over a thousand yuan. If she had saved that money, she could’ve bought three or four sets of clothes for him.
Nowadays the economy isn’t doing well—three or four sets of clothes might even be pretty decent quality.
While Nan Zhi was still hesitating, suddenly she saw a WeChat message pop up at the top of her phone. The name looked very familiar.
It was from “Youmao Ni Pet Shop.”
Nan Zhi only then remembered—she had gone to buy a cat before she brought Song Qing back. Speaking of which, this guy only replied to her after two days—that was way too much.
At first, Nan Zhi had still felt a bit guilty for breaking off the transaction, but now that the “Youmao Ni Pet Shop” owner took two days to reply to her, that was even worse, okay?
So she confidently tapped into the message and saw it.
[Youmao Ni Pet Shop: The deposit is five thousand, dear. Sorry, things have been a bit busy lately, that’s why the reply is so late. T^T]
Nan Zhi felt a little better.
[I Also Want to Sniff Hakimi: Babe, I can’t buy anymore lately.]
[Youmao Ni Pet Shop: What happened, dear? (˙.˙)]
Nan Zhi tried to be honest. She typed half the message, then deleted it and retyped.
[I Also Want to Sniff Hakimi: Babe, I picked up a stray cat recently. It’s sick and also disabled. I spent over ten thousand on him, no money left.]
She wasn’t really lying. She did pick someone up and spent all her money. The only difference was that it was a person, not a cat.
Nan Zhi saw the “typing…” indicator appear at the top of the chat from Youmao Ni Pet Shop—and it stayed there for a long time.
She couldn’t help but worry—was the other party writing a long paragraph to scold her?
Before she could back out, the message arrived.
[Youmao Ni Pet Shop: Stray cats have fleas, dear. You must do proper deworming. Check for ringworm. Keep it isolated from your original pets for now. Don’t raise them together yet. Many stray cats carry infectious diseases—you have to make sure it doesn’t before putting them together.]
Nan Zhi was a little surprised, staring blankly at the chat window.
[Youmao Ni Pet Shop: Also, when a stray cat just arrives at a new home, it’s quite cautious. If it hasn’t had vaccines, don’t forcibly hug it or touch it. Just put out food and water properly. Don’t mind it, don’t look at it, and don’t go looking for it. Just make sure it doesn’t go outside. It’s very normal for it to hide in a corner and not come out at first. After a few days, once it feels there’s no danger, it will come out by itself to eat, drink, and patrol its territory.]
Nan Zhi couldn’t help but have the image of Song Qing pop up in her mind.
When she first brought Song Qing back, what was she doing?
[I Also Want to Sniff Hakimi: Didn’t touch or forcibly hug, but did go look at him.]
She told the truth.
[I Also Want to Sniff Hakimi: Only looked four or five times.]
[Youmao Ni Pet Shop: ……]
[Youmao Ni Pet Shop: Four or five times is not few. You definitely scared it. Cats can’t take being startled, they can have a stress response.]
Nan Zhi remembered the last time she went to look at him last night. Before, when he heard her come downstairs, he would sit up. If she found he wasn’t asleep, she would ask about his well-being. That last time, he had his head covered, back facing out, not a single movement. She didn’t know if he was asleep or really got scared by her.
Four or five times in one night… really did seem like a bit much.
Luckily, his adaptability was still pretty good. No stress reactions appeared.
As someone who studied nursing, she unavoidably had learned about this. Actually, not just cats—humans could also have stress responses.
Humans also can’t take being startled.
[Youmao Ni Pet Shop: From now on just be careful not to startle it again. By the way, how many cats do you have?]
Nan Zhi answered while agreeing.
[I Also Want to Sniff Hakimi: I only have one cat.]
She just picked up a Song Qing.
[Youmao Ni Pet Shop: Only one cat, huh. If you go to work, one cat will feel a bit lonely. I’ll send you one more cat, do you want it?]
She sent over a video. It was a very large flat cage, filled with cats.
Besides stray cats of all sorts of coat colors, there were also breed cats—blue chubby ones [蓝胖子 – slang for British Shorthair], ragdolls, and so on.
[Youmao Ni Pet Shop: Lately I’ve been busy with this—together with some others we stopped a vehicle over here. Right now there are more than three hundred cats with no place to be fostered. I’ll pick a pretty one for you, clean, and a little smaller. Raise it together—just right for two cats to keep each other company.]
Nan Zhi clicked on the video. She heard lots of meowing. Most of the cats looked sluggish—who knew how many days they’d been caged up, how many days without food.
The video was very short, just over ten seconds and it ended quickly. Nan Zhi clicked to watch it again, and again.
After repeating several times, she made a decision.
[I Also Want to Sniff Hakimi: Send me two. I can still raise two more.]
One cat doesn’t eat much. If she economized a bit, she could afford it.
[Youmao Ni Pet Shop: That’s great. Thank you.]
[I Also Want to Sniff Hakimi: I should be the one thanking you.]
So it turned out, the owner of Youmao Ni Pet Shop was the one who truly had great love.
So many cats—how would they be dealt with?
[I Also Want to Sniff Hakimi: Do you have a phone number? I’ll post a Moment on WeChat to see if anyone wants to adopt. They can contact you directly then.]
[Youmao Ni Pet Shop: Great kind person.]
What followed was a long string of phone numbers. The owner of Youmao Ni Pet Shop also took a few cat photos. It was obvious that they had specially picked good-looking ones to boost appeal.
Nan Zhi saved all of them and assembled a nine-picture grid to post for adoption.
As for her own cats, the owner of Youmao Ni Pet Shop said that since they were in the same city, it was too late today, but they’d arrive tomorrow.
Nan Zhi was thrilled.
She was going to have cats!
And two at that—just didn’t know what kind of cats would be sent.
No matter what, this was news worth getting excited about.
Nan Zhi sat straight up from bed and ran to the window, shouting down below:
“Song Qing, I have cats now!”
In the small living room on the first floor, Song Qing had still been worrying—was she really angry?
Usually someone who loved to talk, she hadn’t said much to him after the incident today, and kept a straight face.
He sat on the sofa bed, already regretting it for a long while because of this.
If he’d known earlier, he would’ve listened to her.
If he’d known earlier, he wouldn’t have relaxed or made a sound.
He thought the noise was small and it wouldn’t matter, didn’t expect Nan Zhi would still hear it and even notice.
Maybe she had already started suspecting him for a while. After all, she was a nurse and had relevant experience.
He was still thinking about whether to take the initiative to apologize—when over there, Nan Zhi spoke to him first.
Did that mean she wasn’t angry anymore?
Song Qing got down from the bed, sat onto the wheelchair, pushed himself outside, and saw Nan Zhi upstairs leaning against the window ledge, her whole face filled with excitement.
“They’re sending them over tomorrow. If it’s during the daytime, remember to help me open the door for them.”
Song Qing nodded. “Okay.”
Maybe because she had something else to be happy about, she’d already forgotten what happened just now.
No matter what, it meant she wasn’t dwelling on it anymore—that was great.
“I already paid for the cat food and cat litter and the litter box. Those will be delivered together. Your body can’t do much physical activity for now, so I’ll ask them to help open and pour it out. You just help me watch the cats so they don’t run out.”
Song Qing raised his head, carefully observing her expression. She was still concerned about him—she didn’t seem to mind what happened earlier at all.
Song Qing nodded again. “Okay.”
Nan Zhi held her phone and went back to curl up in bed with satisfaction. After a while, she remembered something and leaned back toward the window.
“Tomorrow there’ll also be someone coming to take down the light fixture. Tell them there’s a cat inside the house—don’t let it get out, okay?”
Song Qing nodded again. “Okay.”
Once Nan Zhi had explained everything, she returned to the bed, picked up her phone, and continued chatting with Youmao Ni Pet Shop.
The owner of Youmao Ni Pet Shop sent her another message.
[Youmao Ni Pet Shop: So nice. The little kittens have met the god with a soft heart.]
Nan Zhi raised her eyebrows.
[I Also Want to Sniff Hakimi: ……God?]
That was a title she didn’t dare to reach for.
God? Used to describe her?
[Youmao Ni Pet Shop: Yeah, you spent over ten thousand yuan on stray cats, and even took in a disabled stray cat. If you’re not a god, then who is? You’re its soft-hearted god.]
Nan Zhi opened her eyes wide.
I’m… its soft-hearted god?
Would he recognize this title?
[Youmao Ni Pet Shop: It definitely thinks you’re amazing to death. You snatched it back from the hands of the god of death.]
Nan Zhi: “……”
It’s not that exaggerated—she felt that someone like Song Qing, even without her, would still live just fine.
His strong survival instinct wouldn’t allow him to rot or decay.
But this was the first time Nan Zhi realized—
Turns out, I’m doing something really great.
I saved a person. Gave him a home.
I’m not so useless after all. The owner of Youmao Ni Pet Shop thinks I’m amazing to death.
Whether or not he felt the same, Nan Zhi didn’t know—but she also felt that she was amazing to death.
Raising a person—this wasn’t something just anyone could easily make up their mind to do, let alone actually dare to carry out.
She did it.