“Let’s go this way.”
Lu Nan pointed at the alley around the corner. “We’ll feed the big cats first. The kittens are over by my place.”
Song Wenwei nodded in agreement and followed her steps.
As they neared the alley’s bend, Lu Nan was blocked by a pair of pristine white arms.
The girl wore a light yellow backpack. Song Wenwei immediately noticed the necklace around her neck—a new release from some luxury brand just a few days ago—paired with an aura of nobility that radiated from inside out.
“You’re Lu Nan’s front desk mate, right?” the girl asked.
She tilted her head up slightly, looking just like a cat Song Wenwei had once glimpsed at the cat café: a proud, aristocratic Ragdoll.
Song Wenwei nodded and turned to Lu Nan with a puzzled look.
Lu Nan stepped forward, blocking in front of Song Wenwei. Seeing her so guarded, the girl smiled and said, “I’m not going to do anything to her. She’s my classmate too.”
“Wait here for me a bit. I need to talk to her.”
The girl pulled Lu Nan’s arm and walked deeper into the alley mouth. Song Wenwei, feeling uneasy, followed a little closer.
Why did it feel so weird between these two?
“I heard you got hurt. It was A Feng who accidentally injured you the other day, right? This was my fault. Here’s an SVIP card for a private hospital—take it.”
“No need. Thanks.”
The girl held out the card, persistently pushing it toward Lu Nan.
Lu Nan sidestepped, refusing to take it no matter what, her face still distant and unapproachable.
“He injured you, so I’ll cover all the medical fees,” the girl said, a hint of resentment in her tone.
“He didn’t injure me.” Lu Nan spoke like a machine answering questions one by one. “He was just too sneaky.”
“Will you take it?”
“No.”
The girl gritted her teeth in frustration. “You blockhead!”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah, my ass! Lu Nan, is it really that hard for me to be your friend?”
In a fit of anger, the girl flung her backpack at Lu Nan. Lu Nan staggered back from the hit.
She hooked her foot and flicked the strap upward, sending the backpack flying into her hand.
“I’m telling you, Lu Nan, can you stop being so cold to me?” the girl fumed.
Lu Nan looked up into the girl’s eyes and said word by word, “Xia Zhengyun, your senses are deceiving you.”
“Impossible! Then what about you? Why did you save me?! Why me specifically?”
“I’d save anyone.”
Lu Nan felt there was no point in continuing the conversation. She turned to leave.
The girl still called out to stop her. “Why?”
“I don’t need friends.”
“Then what about Tang Jiu and Song Wenwei? Aren’t they your friends?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Aaah!” The girl let out a near-breakdown shout.
Lu Nan paused her steps and eventually stopped. She pulled two tissues from her pocket and held them out.
She sighed and said nothing more. “It’s getting late. Call your driver to pick you up. Things have been chaotic these days.”
After a moment, Xia Zhengyun took the tissues. She didn’t wipe the tears from her face but just sat there with red eyes.
Lu Nan stood silently in front of her, waiting for a response.
She seemed to calm down. Closing her eyes, she said, “Got it.”
Soon, Lu Nan emerged. The quiet alley echoed only with her footsteps.
“Let’s go.”
The girl’s cool voice drifted over. Song Wenwei looked up and caught the helplessness in Lu Nan’s eyes.
—
Lu Nan twisted and turned seven times, entering a grove. Ahead was a garden, behind many bamboo and big trees.
In front of them were two plastic bowls: one with water, the other empty, but traces in the bowl showed the food had been eaten clean.
Lu Nan set down her backpack, took out food, and poured it into the bowl. She stepped into the woods.
“There are a few more bowls up ahead. Don’t worry—these big cats don’t hurt people.”
“Meow~”
An orange cat approached from nearby, taking small steps straight to Lu Nan’s feet and rolling around in front of her.
Lu Nan reached down to scratch its belly and stroked its round, soft head.
“Didn’t you say you’ve never petted a cat?” Lu Nan tilted her head toward her. “Go ahead. It’s very friendly.”
“She won’t run off, right?” Song Wenwei’s eyes sparkled. “Kitty~”
The orange cat meowed and leaned against Lu Nan. Rustling came from the bushes, and soon several kittens surrounded them, all colors and patterns.
Lu Nan pushed the food box toward the later arrivals. As the kittens started eating, she said, “Now you can pet as many as you want.”
Song Wenwei neared the plump orange cat. It wasn’t afraid of her and took a small step forward.
The moment her hand touched it, her heart burst with joy: Finally! She’d only dared to look at cats from outside the enclosure at the cat café before, never going in, let alone petting them.
The fur felt fluffy and soft under her fingers. The kitten rubbed against her hand, meowing, and squinted its eyes in comfort.
So this was what petting cats felt like!
Song Wenwei wished she could take them all home to pet every day. After going through all of them once, she still wanted to keep playing.
Seeing time getting late, Lu Nan stopped her. “Let’s go. It’s about to get dark. We’ll take a shortcut to feed the kittens.”
“Okay.” Song Wenwei glanced back at the playful group of cats, still reluctant to leave.
They made a few more turns.
Song Wenwei admired Lu Nan’s sense of direction. The paths here crisscrossed everywhere—one wrong turn led to a different place entirely—yet she remembered it all clearly and even knew shortcuts.
Lu Nan stopped at a corner. In front of her was a large cardboard box with holes.
Inside were five tiny kittens, padded with thick clothes and a layer of thin white cloth. Lu Nan was fully equipped—half her backpack held study materials, the other half cat-feeding tools.
She took out a new pad, lifted each kitten out one by one, relaid the padding, and pulled out pre-mixed goat milk from her bag.
“I’ve gotten my vaccines, so don’t come anymore. These kittens flail around—don’t let them scratch you.”
“Okay, I’ll just watch.”
The kittens really were tiny, no bigger than Lu Nan’s palm, eyes still closed, tumbling blindly in the box.
“How old are they?”
Lu Nan fed them one by one with a syringe, her movements gentle. “Six days. Just born six days ago.”
“I’ve seen those cat-feeding gadgets online—a little bowl that can feed several at once. Holding your arm like that all the time isn’t sustainable.”
“Really?”
Lu Nan didn’t go online much and had never heard of it. She only knew the old-school methods.
At first, she’d put it in a bowl for them to drink, but the kittens just stumbled around, spilling all the milk in no time. That’s when she learned to use a syringe.
“For real. I’ll send you the link when I get home.”
Lu Nan nodded. Looked like she’d have to get online more—otherwise, she’d stay ignorant.
Once the kittens were full, huddled together snoring in their sleep,
Lu Nan closed the box. “Let’s go. I’ll walk you home.”
The sun had set, the sky in that dim in-between, like the boundary between day and night, with lingering sunset glow above.
“If it’s possible… after school, walk a little farther with me…”
