Chapter 42: They All Deserved a Cat That Could Not Be Killed Part 1

Getting into the passenger seat and seeing the storage box in front of her stuffed with strawberry-flavored Alps lollipops, Ji Qingyou thought:

So, it wasn’t just the Alps that were theirs. They also had Alps lollipops.

So, how difficult would it be to find a friend like this in the world? Would it be harder than making the Alps belong to her?

She really wanted to know the answer to this question, so her gaze involuntarily drifted to Yu Qinjiu’s profile.

Noticing her look, Yu Qinjiu lightly lifted her chin, pretending to be childish. “Would that friend you’re bringing camping buy you so many strawberry-flavored Alps lollipops? Would they buy this many?”

Ji Qingyou took a sip of the mocha without cream, hiding her slightly lifting lips behind the coffee cup. “She probably wouldn’t.”

“Exactly.” Yu Qinjiu’s brow carried a smile. “Who else knows all your little quirks besides me? Coffee is only mocha without cream. Candy is only strawberry-flavored Alps. You tie your shoelaces with a double cross. You always mess up the knot on your scarf…”

Ji Qingyou listened quietly. This was probably why she often thought Yu Qinjiu was the person who understood her best in the world. Because for these little quirks and habits of hers, Qinjiu discovered them even before she did herself.

Like now, when Qinjiu pointed it out.

Only then did she realize that she had always been tying her shoelaces with a double cross.

The setting sun was being chased down the mountain by the surging traffic. When she got to “preferring tea over drinks,” Yu Qinjiu suddenly stopped. Instead, she brought the cool car to a halt at a red light and asked again, “So, what kind of friend is it?”

Ji Qingyou realized she was still waiting for her answer, just like the vibrating 【Camping Family】 WeChat group.

But on this question, she wanted to answer Yu Qinjiu first.

“A friend who wouldn’t buy me Alps lollipops, wouldn’t say ‘Yay’, and hasn’t made a pact with me to go to the Alps.” After thinking for a few seconds, she gave this sincere answer.

And so, before the red light ended.

This cool car turned into a lighthearted one, like a child chasing the sunset. She heard Yu Qinjiu ask with a relaxed tone, “So, just an ordinary friend, then?”

“Mm, an ordinary friend.” Ji Qingyou said.

Yu Qinjiu’s eyes instantly curved in a smile. She repeated softly, “Got it. An ordinary friend. Do I know them?”

“You’ve met them. You should know…” The pomelo-colored sunset swayed between them. The noise of cars blared. Ji Qingyou softened her voice and added, very clearly, “She’s different from you.”

“Different how?” Yu Qinjiu seemed not to understand.

Ji Qingyou took another sip of the mocha without cream, then slightly raised her coffee cup, gesturing to her. “She’s an ordinary friend.”

Yu Qinjiu was stunned. After a few seconds, she burst into laughter amidst the surging traffic. Her soft voice was scattered by the wind within the sunset. “I get it. We’re not ordinary friends.”

–

As long as there is a certain expectation, the days leading up to it feel both very slow and very fast.

A slowness born from the excitement of wanting that day to arrive.

A speed born from the reluctance to prolong the farewell.

These days, Ji Qingyou often ran into Lin Yingxiang by chance. Yingxiang would always find ways to remind her:

She was the only one who could make Yu Qinjiu stay.

But Ji Qingyou never said the words “Do you want to stay?” in front of Yu Qinjiu. She never asked Qinjiu about her decision to stay permanently in the UK.

As she spent day after day with Yu Qinjiu, she found her longing piling up. But when she was actually in front of Qinjiu, she found it very hard to say those words.

And so, it was the day of the camping trip. The other members of the 【Camping Family】 only then discovered that the friend Ji Qingyou mentioned was Ji Xiruan. They all rode in a large camping RV together, and on a spring day full of cheer, they made a grand entrance into Nanwu Park, which was covered in blooming tangli pear trees.

Ji Xiruan, who had an RV license, was driving. Qin Shuangchi, who was suddenly feeling carsick today, sat in the passenger seat. Everyone else was in the back.

Bright sunlight rolled backwards in waves.

Lin Yingxiang was sharing with Qin Bailan her experience of being asked for her phone number while playing chess in the residential park yesterday. Qin Bailan raised an eyebrow in disbelief. Yingxiang dragged Brittany to testify. Brittany had recently fallen in love with sleeping in. She was yawning first thing in the morning, nodding her head to say, “Yes, yes, yes, it’s true. A handsome old man.” She got a pat on the head from Yingxiang and corrected herself, “Not an old man. He had white hair, but he looked maybe just over forty.” Li Nanli, who had quickly bonded with everyone, laughed so hard she was swaying, saying, “No wonder she’s the mother of Yu Qinjiu, who gets over a dozen love letters just by playing a game of volleyball. She gets picked up by a handsome older guy just by playing chess!”

Ji Xiruan was driving, her serious and focused demeanor as if she were facing a major surgery. But every time she passed a traffic light, she would look worriedly at Qin Shuangchi, who was squinting in the passenger seat. Every stop, she would ask, “Dr. Qin, are you okay?” And every time, Qin Shuangchi would patiently reply, “I’m fine.” Until, at a certain traffic light, she beat Xiruan to it, lifting her eyelids first to say, “I’m fine.” Then, seeing Xiruan’s stifled expression, she couldn’t help but laugh, saying, “Dr. Ji, do you have to be this cute?”

Watching all this, Yu Qinjiu, who had stayed up late last night working on a project, was nestled sleepily on Qingyou’s shoulder, covered by the Peppa Pig blanket Brittany had bought while shopping. She barely lifted her eyelids and laughed. “Dr. Ji is really cute.”

Ji Qingyou glanced sideways at her, noticing the lingering gaze on Ji Xiruan. She paused for a few seconds, and hummed nonchalantly, “She is quite cute.”

“I’ve only seen Dr. Ji in the hospital before. But now that she’s out of her white coat, she seems like a completely different person. So cute. She talks in a flustered way. Turns out she’s a sweet girl.” Yu Qinjiu never stinted on praise. Her words were as sweet as honey.

“Is that so?” Ji Qingyou followed her lead absentmindedly, her gaze on Ji Xiruan like a torch, as if trying to bore a hole into the tense, straight-backed Xiruan and ask through that hole, “So you like sweet girls?”

“Hmm?” Yu Qinjiu raised her eyes lightly. The bright white beams of light from the window slid past her eyes. She stared at Qingyou, her eyes curving into a smile, her tone very light. “Don’t you like sweet girls?”

Ji Qingyou glanced at her, answering the question indirectly. “I like cats.”

Yu Qinjiu tilted her head again, her expression turning adorable in an instant. “Then I’ll like cats too.”

Ji Qingyou found it amusing. “Don’t you like sweet girls now?”

Yu Qinjiu laughed along with her. “Who said I like sweet girls?”

Ji Qingyou found herself completely unable to handle Yu Qinjiu. “Fine. Then you can like cats too.”

“Like.” Yu Qinjiu nodded seriously, her head moving slightly on her shoulder. She added slowly, “Actually, I like older sisters.”

Ji Qingyou’s fingertips trembled. Her eyelashes drooped. Amidst the fragmented chatter and arguments of the four people in the front, she repeated in a very soft voice, “Mm, got it. You like older sisters.”

Yu Qinjiu seemed not to have heard her clearly. She looked up, blinked, and was about to say something, but was interrupted by Qin Shuangchi, who was so amused by Ji Xiruan that she had forgotten her carsickness.

“Hey! Who was it that said they liked cats just now? I suddenly remembered something. A friend of mine has a black cat that just had a litter of little coal balls. They’re looking for someone to adopt them. Anyone interested? If you are, I’ll contact my friend. Cats are less trouble than dogs. It’s fine even if you’re busy with work.”

Ji Xiruan perked up her ears. “I’m a bit interested.”

Qin Shuangchi nodded. “Alright, I’ll send you pictures later. We can go check them out together sometime after our camping trip today.”

Ji Xiruan nodded contentedly. “But I wasn’t the one who said I liked cats just now.”

“It was Debby and Ji.” Brittany chimed in at the right moment.

“That’s right.” Li Nanli, who was closest, had already had her face scrunched up by the acidity of the conversation just now.

“Is that so?” Qin Bailan looked at Qingyou suspiciously. “You like cats? Since when? Why don’t I remember?”

The matter of the blue and white British shorthair being taken away in their childhood wasn’t something Qin Bailan or Qin Shuangchi knew much about, because Qingyou never revealed such things to them.

At that time, she never thought that Qin Bailan and Qin Shuangchi could help her. She always refused to put herself in a position where her preferences could be considered.

Because she was terrified that revealing her likes would make them see her as a difficult, picky child who made too many demands on her parents.

Even now, so many years later.

Qin Bailan and Qin Shuangchi had never known about these things.

When asked “Do you like cats?”, Ji Qingyou was still a bit dazed. But Yu Qinjiu, who was by her side, noticed her mood. She gently squeezed her fingers and answered for her. “Yes, she really likes them.”

Qin Shuangchi was lost in memory. “Oh, right. I remember when we were very young, Little You picked up a cat, didn’t she? She gave it to Uncle’s family. I thought Little You didn’t really like them.”

Qin Bailan’s memory was slower. “Is that so? Did that happen? What breed was it?”

Ji Qingyou lowered her eyes and hummed in response. Beside her, Yu Qinjiu grabbed her wrist, soothing her with an incredibly gentle force, answering for her. “Blue and white. Very cute. Only a few months old.”

“I kind of have a vague memory.” Qin Bailan squinted slightly.

Lin Yingxiang glanced at Qingyou, then at Qinjiu. She thought for a few seconds, then turned her gaze to Qin Shuangchi in the front. “Actually, our Little Jiu also likes cats quite a bit. Can we have one?”

“We can—” Qin Shuangchi’s mouth was faster than her brain. But then she suddenly realized. “But, Auntie, you guys…”

She hesitated, glanced at Qingyou, and finally rested her gaze on Yu Qinjiu. “Aren’t you leaving soon? It wouldn’t be convenient to take a cat with you, would it?”

“It is inconvenient.” Lin Yingxiang repeated, then smiled and patted Brittany’s head. “But our Little Jiu and Brittany both like them. So we’ll keep one. If it really doesn’t work out, we can entrust it to Little You next door. They both like cats, so it would be nice for them to raise one together.”

Understanding the underlying meaning in Lin Yingxiang’s words, Qin Bailan tugged at Qingyou’s sleeve, signaling her to speak.

Ji Qingyou pursed her lips, looking at Yu Qinjiu, whose eyelashes drooped slightly. She suddenly couldn’t bear to throw the question back to her again. “How about I raise one and keep it at your place for now—”

Before she could finish, she felt a stronger grip on her wrist. Then, Yu Qinjiu slowly lifted her eyes, pushed aside the thin blanket covering her, and met Lin Yingxiang’s gaze for a few dozen seconds. Finally, she smiled harmlessly at Yingxiang. “It’s okay. We can raise one first. When we go back to London, we can entrust it to Ji Qingyou.”

Lin Yingxiang clutched Brittany’s hand, trying to avoid Qinjiu’s gaze. Her expression was pained. “Alright, I understand.”

“I suddenly want one too.” Li Nanli spoke up.

Ji Xiruan cooperated. “Getting a cat is fine, but you need to rest well recently. No bouncing around.”

“I know!” Li Nanli said, then secretly glanced at Ji Qingyou and Yu Qinjiu.

In the camping RV heading towards spring, beams of morning light, wrapped in the colors of dawn, slid past their shoulders pressed together. The gentle breeze outside the window blew softly.

Ji Qingyou looked at Yu Qinjiu, her expression almost gentle.

Yu Qinjiu leaned lightly against Qingyou’s shoulder, her eyes gently closed, not sure what she was thinking. But her face was no longer as relaxed as it had been just a moment ago. In an instant, it was marked with fatigue and fragility, as if the previous conversation had exhausted all the energy she had accumulated this morning.

Watching for a while, Li Nanli looked away.

She still wasn’t clear why Yu Qinjiu had gone abroad ten years ago, nor why she still didn’t want to stay here now. Perhaps it wasn’t unwillingness, but a very stubborn attitude.

But she sensed: