Chapter 32: The Cat’s Messenger

As soon as the bell for the big break rang, a crowd of students squeezed in through the back door. Before long, Lu Nan’s seat was surrounded.

Fortunately, it was break time, and neither Song Wenwei nor Tang Jiu was at her desk. Otherwise, the classmates wouldn’t have even been able to sit down comfortably.

“Look, look.” Tang Jiu cracked melon seeds with a gleeful, trouble-stirring expression. She bumped Song Wenwei with her left hand.

“They are…?”

Song Wenwei stood on the podium, looking down at the crowd. She roughly counted about a dozen people—they must have come from other classes.

“Oh right, you’ve only been here a few days, so you haven’t seen them yet.”

Tang Jiu offered the melon seeds to Song Wenwei, who waved them off in refusal. Tang Jiu continued munching on her own. “Some of them are Lu Nan’s junior high classmates, and the others are students from the neighboring classes who’ve all been helped by Lu Nan at some point.”

“You don’t know this, but Lu Nan is like the living Lei Feng of our school. I’m not being sarcastic—there was even a saying going around: ‘Trouble at school? Find Lu Nan. Trouble off-campus? Still find Lu Nan.'”

“Back in her first year of high school, Lu Nan helped some classmates at the school gate and shot to fame overnight. Later, when everyone learned about her family situation, they started giving her stuff from time to time.”

Everyone had thought Lu Nan’s personality made her unapproachable, but with that face and her actions, she won over both boys and girls. The whole class even benefited from the extra snacks and treats that overflowed from her stash.

At that moment, Song Wenwei finally understood what a “girlfriend squad” meant. “Girlfriend” wasn’t about gender—it was an affectionate, teasing term.

Some brought yogurt, others chips. They piled the desk haphazardly, and one even sneaked a jianbing guozi into Lu Nan’s drawer amid the chaos.

Then a seaweed rice roll slipped in unnoticed, followed by four braised eggs and two ham sausages…

Song Wenwei watched it all clearly from the podium. Her movements as she erased the blackboard clearly paused.

So everyone was treating Lu Nan like a daughter, feeding her like this? No wonder her desk had been piled high with food on the first day.

She stood on the podium, watching the bustling crowd below.

A girl held up a textbook and asked with concern, “Lu Nan, I heard you got hurt. Are you okay? Let me see…”

“Was it from smashing that vat?”

“Can I touch it?”

“Me too, me too!”

“I’ll go first!”

“Get lost! I get first dibs…”

“#%#%+…”

The group chattered noisily, giving Lu Nan a bit of a headache.

“Quiet down.”

As soon as Lu Nan spoke, the crowd fell instantly silent.

She raised her injured arm. “It’s fine. See?”

Lu Nan wore the school’s long-sleeved uniform. She gently tugged the zipper all the way down with her fingers, revealing a black sleeveless top underneath and her right arm, which was already bandaged.

The bandages were wrapped thickly around her arm.

The girl asked, “How did you get this injury?”

“Just a minor wound.” Lu Nan gave a curt two-word reply.

She didn’t want to say it was from being hacked at. If she did, her reputation for toughness would really stick, and outside school, she’d be mobbed for fights.

That would only bring more headaches down the line.

“This must be the injury you got helping a classmate, right? I saw you that Wednesday.”

Lu Nan didn’t deny it, even though the wound wasn’t from that day. She said flatly, “Yeah. Everyone, be careful out there.”

“Wahhh, Little Nan baby, you be careful too, wahhh…” A female classmate hugged Lu Nan’s arm, sounding heartbroken.

“Don’t cry! I want a hug too!”

“…”

Someone else joined in the fun, slurping rice noodles while squatting in the back to eavesdrop and spice up their meal.

A male classmate slurped his noodles and asked the new student beside him, “How’s that?”

“Th-this… is?” The new student looked momentarily terrified.

The male classmate flashed a row of white teeth and patted the new student’s back. “Hahaha, this is Class 2’s traditional show!”

“Cough cough…” The new student nearly choked from the pat and quickly gulped down some soup to wash it down.

“So funny, it’s like watching a skit.” Tang Jiu grinned widely, laughing uproariously.

Song Wenwei set down the blackboard eraser. “This is pretty nice.”

—

After school, Song Wenwei packed her bag and waited at the back door for Lu Nan.

Lu Nan stuffed the remaining items into her bag willy-nilly—one compartment for test papers and textbooks, the outer one bulging with wrapped snacks.

Song Wenwei wasn’t surprised about the snacks, but why was the half-eaten breakfast item in there too?

As Lu Nan approached, she asked curiously, “Your bag is so stuffed—what are you up to?”

“Feeding cats. I’m taking these to feed the big cats. There’s a litter of newborn kittens near my house, just this big.” Lu Nan cupped her hands to show the size. “Tiny things. I still have to feed them goat milk when I get home.”

She said it with a smile, her tone free of complaint—only bright, gleaming fondness, like showing off a treasure.

Song Wenwei’s eyes lit up at the mention of feeding cats.

She ventured tentatively, “Your hand isn’t healed yet, and big movements might be tough. It’ll be hard to feed them alone—want me to come with you?”

Lu Nan turned her head in surprise. Feeding cats wasn’t simple; those kittens bared their teeth, had strong paws, and scratched.

She was about to refuse, but then she saw the hopeful sparkle in Song Wenwei’s eyes.

“Sure.” Lu Nan agreed on impulse.

Only after saying it did she remember she had to walk Song Wenwei home after school, and with a detour to her place for the cats, it’d be late—and unsafe at night.

Song Wenwei bounced with excitement as they descended the stairs. “Yay! I get to pet kittens too. My dad’s allergic to cat hair, so I’ve never touched one from childhood till now.”

Fine, a little later it was. Lu Nan thought.

Song Wenwei suddenly remembered the unopened can of milk powder at home. “Oh right, I have some goat milk powder. Do you need it?”

“It’s been sitting around too long at home—expires in a few months. Dairy makes me break out, so it’s just gathering dust. I’ll grab it for you later.”

Lu Nan nodded with a smile. “Okay.”

“Hey, what about the big cats? The kittens’ mom and dad.” Song Wenwei asked.

If there were kittens, there must be cat parents—so why was Lu Nan feeding them goat milk? Had they abandoned them?

Lu Nan’s grip tightened on her backpack strap. “They’re dead. I buried them. These are all that’s left…”

Song Wenwei’s heart skipped. She hadn’t expected that answer— no wonder Lu Nan was feeding the kittens.

If Lu Nan hadn’t noticed, they’d have died alone in some corner, turning into cold, lifeless bodies covered in bugs…

Lu Nan gazed melancholically at the autumn leaves at the school gate, her eyes following the drifting, falling foliage.

The joy had faded from her tone. She said, “It’s autumn now. Winter’s coming soon. The cats will starve or freeze to death.”