Nan Zhi was hurrying on the road, and took advantage of the red light time to order food. After all, there was only one hour of lunch break at noon. Going back and forth already took up half an hour, only half an hour remained to stay—couldn’t cook.
After going home, just randomly eating a bit would be fine, the main purpose was to see ‘wife’ and ‘children’.
Watching through video was still a bit blurry after all. Not being able to see clearly was one reason, the other was—Big Cat only filmed Little Cat, didn’t film his self.
Big Cat, she also had her thoughts.
Maybe it was because she was too expectant. All the way rushing non-stop, she only spent about fourteen minutes to reach downstairs of her apartment building.
Considering she would still have to drive later, she didn’t go into the apartment’s internal parking lot. Just casually found a parking spot inside the flowerbed outside. When it’s time to go to work, just drive off directly.
She happened to be just on time—above the sidewalk was a supermarket. Not too big, but not small either. When Nan Zhi passed by, she thought for a moment and changed route to go in. Wanted to buy some things.
The cat was a gift. Cat food and such still needed to be bought separately. She previously forgot to buy one cat toy—laser pointer.
This thing is a cat-teasing divine tool.
She remembered this supermarket had it.
Nan Zhi didn’t want to waste time after going in, went straight to the place where she remembered cat food and cat toys were displayed.
When she arrived at the shelf and took a look—it was just as she thought. Not only was there cat food and cat toys, there were also cat snacks.
Nan Zhi didn’t have time to look closely. Once she saw the price was suitable, she swept it all into her shopping cart in one go. The laser pointer of course she also took. She also grabbed two dumbbell-shaped collars.
When leaving, she remembered something and stayed for a while longer, choosing things Big Cat needed.
Big Cat also needed snacks. How could she only think of Little Cat?
‘Wife’ is very hardworking.
Nan Zhi walked around for a bit and didn’t find anything suitable for Song Qing. Felt like he probably didn’t eat snacks.
She swept over the shelves back and forth a few times, still didn’t make up her mind. Seeing that time was running out, she finally gathered her things and left.
After paying, when she returned to her doorstep she still felt a bit regretful—she actually knew so little about Song Qing. She wanted to gift him something but didn’t even know what to buy.
Nan Zhi was rushing to see the cats, so she didn’t dwell on it for long. Pressed her fingerprint, didn’t even call out a greeting, went straight into the house. Only had time to change into slippers, then rushed like fire toward the sofa—to see her ‘children’.
Just arrived and saw the ‘children’ frightened and jumping off the sofa to hide.
—
Inside the kitchen, Song Qing, who was busy wiping the oven and fireplace, heard the sound and came out—only to discover it was Nan Zhi.
He took advantage of the moment when Nan Zhi was lying on the ground looking for the cats to put the rag in his hand aside, then went back to close the oven door.
The oven had been used yesterday. Nan Zhi said she only baked some bread and told him not to worry about it. But he felt that if it went on like this, the little traces left behind would become hard to clean, so he wiped it anyway.
He had just started when Nan Zhi came back.
Why would she come home at noon?
After staying here for two days, he was very clear that Nan Zhi only had a little time for lunch at noon. Under normal circumstances, it wasn’t worth the round trip. She’d barely sit down before needing to leave again. But he quickly thought—she must have been too eager to see the cats.
The cats didn’t recognize her, and she was too enthusiastic, scaring the two cats so much they hid under the sofa and refused to come out. Song Qing pushed his wheelchair over—maybe hearing a familiar sound, the bolder of the two cats came out, naturally jumped onto his wheelchair, and sat on his remaining leg.
Strangely enough, when he followed the instructions of the person who sent the cats, completely ignoring them the whole time, they very quickly started chasing after the wheelchair, as if thinking they were playing with them. Not long after, they jumped up, playing and tumbling on him.
The whole morning, feeling bored with nothing to do, he took all of Nan Zhi’s dirty clothes placed at the entryway and washed them—including the clothes she had casually thrown on the sofa after changing.
The cats were a bit dirty too, and he caught them one by one and wiped them down. However long they had been running around, the cats followed him for that long. They seemed to think he was someone harmless and trusted him very easily.
Song Qing also very easily caught one and handed it to Nan Zhi to hold.
But Nan Zhi didn’t hug it—she only pulled out a white collar and slipped it around the neck of this black cat. After buckling it, the corners of her lips curled high. “So pretty.”
Song Qing guessed that the white cat probably had one too, so he called out twice, tricked the white cat to come out, and after catching it, gave it to Nan Zhi to put on the collar.
Nan Zhi followed the same pattern, fitted it on, then started digging things out from the shopping bag she brought back. As she took them out, she said: “Look what good things I brought for you.”
What she took out were dried small fish, canned cat food, and the like.
Song Qing sat to the side watching. The sight triggered feelings, and he couldn’t help but think back to when he was a child—Dad driving the big truck, Mom working in the fields, and him at home making food, waiting. What he looked forward to the most was for Mom and Dad to come home and bring him good food and fun things.
If the money others gave had odd cents left, Dad would buy him snacks. Sometimes others would give them to him casually, and he wouldn’t want to eat them—he’d bring them all the way back from far away, to share with him and Mom as “treasures.”
Mom would also pick wild jujubes, houttuynia, wild strawberries, etc., from the fields and put them in a vegetable basket, and on the road, she’d pull foxtail grass from both sides of the path to weave animals for him.
His childhood was filled with these, and they were also the most beautiful memories of his life.
Song Qing had attended university and had seen modern young men and women. They liked raising cats and dogs as their own children. Thinking about it, Nan Zhi probably also saw these two cats as treasures, and was preparing to cherish them dearly.
Perhaps eager to build a good relationship with the cats, she crack—opened a can. A thick, strong seafood smell wafted out. The two cats followed the scent and came over to ask for food, already willing to let her touch them.
Song Qing, aware, pushed his wheelchair back a bit to give them space. Just as he turned, his hand was caught—someone tugged him from behind, even turning him from facing away from the sofa to facing toward her.
Song Qing paused slightly, not knowing what she was going to do, but he also stopped moving and let her smoothly turn him around.
Nan Zhi had been staring at him the whole time.
Song Qing thought for a moment, then silently sat in the wheelchair, waiting for her to arrange something.
She didn’t do anything else—but dug around in the shopping bag again, pulled out a hat.
After opening it in her hands, she directly put it onto his head.
“Yesterday when I saw you wearing a hat, you looked pretty good in it, so I bought one too.”
She hadn’t managed to buy any snacks suitable for him—but did buy a hat that suited him.
His features were exquisite. After putting on the hat, all of his short hair was pressed down, completely revealing his facial features.
Looking this good, he should show it off for people to see.
Song Qing was stunned.
I… I have one too?
Pa!—on the table, the cat that had finished eating the canned food flipped sides and acted unfamiliar, immediately jumping to the sofa to clean the corners of its mouth.
One cat ran away, the other hadn’t had the chance yet. Song Qing happened to be positioned at just the right height for it to step on. As the cat stepped over, he reacted quickly and grabbed it, then held it up toward Nan Zhi, motioning for her to hold it.
But for some reason, she still didn’t take it. Instead, she bent down and suddenly leaned in close to him.
Song Qing practically watched her enlarge in front of him, so close that he could see her eyelashes, clearly separated one by one, and could notice her every movement.
He saw Nan Zhi stretch out both hands, reaching over this way.
He instinctively thought she was going to hug the cat, so he lifted the cat in his arms a bit higher—but Nan Zhi still didn’t hug the cat. Instead—she hugged him.
This hug, just like before, came suddenly. He hadn’t even figured out why yet and was already tightly held by Nan Zhi. Her pair of hands passed under his arms, gathering behind his back, as usual, gently patting.
The cat was squished between the two of them, perhaps feeling uncomfortable, escaped out. Song Qing wanted to grab it, but the cat slipped through his fingers, and because he was being tightly held by Nan Zhi, he couldn’t break free—could only watch the cat run off.
Perhaps because there was no longer the cat’s slightly fragile body in between, Nan Zhi had no concerns at all and hugged even tighter.
Song Qing, in her embrace, with his chin stuck on her shoulder, hesitated for a moment and asked: “You’re not petting the cat?”
Petting, ah.
Aren’t I petting right now?
Nan Zhi let go of him, and in his confused and puzzled gaze, forcefully rubbed his cheeks.
Pinched them into round, then squished them flat.
As expected, waiting until the cats are familiar before petting them is something only a living bodhisattva would do—she was a living King of Hell.
She just loved forcibly twisting melons, force-hugging him, force-petting him when they weren’t even familiar yet.
He adapted quite well.
Three cats—and only this one was closest to her.
Nan Zhi wasn’t blind. And since the signs were so obvious, it was easy to see. Since that was the case, of course she would dote on him the most.
She had hugged, and she had petted—Nan Zhi, satisfied, went to the storage room to find the cat teaser toy she bought earlier, ready to play with her ‘children.’
It had to be said, the store owner was still awesome—the ones chosen for her were all lively and energetic.
As soon as the cat teaser toy was unfolded, the two cats swiftly chased after it. She only spent a short time before she became familiar with them.
During this, the food delivery arrived, the doorbell rang, and Song Qing finally snapped out of that hug and face-pinching moment.
While going to get the delivery, he thought: Why didn’t she hug the cat, but hugged me?