After insisting a few times, Ji Cunli finally left, and Lu Yao let out a sigh of relief as he leaned back against the door.
The medication worked quickly. After fashioning a simple little nest for Lili out of his own clothes, Lu Yao collapsed onto his bed and fell soundly asleep.
He slept straight through until the afternoon of the next day, waking up only when Lili batted at his face with her paws.
Opening his eyes heavily, Lu Yao pinned down Lili’s restless paws and grabbed his phone from the nightstand. The WeChat lab group chat was filled with a flurry of firecracker stickers, and scrolling up, Lu Yao spotted a user named [Ji] who had just joined the group chat.
Along with that came a friend request.
Lu Yao tapped to accept Ji Cunli’s request, typed out a message thanking him for taking care of him and letting him know he was fine now, and sent it over.
Ji Cunli didn’t reply right away. Figuring he might be busy, Lu Yao didn’t think much of it, poured Lili a bowl of milk, and leisurely opened up his QQ app.
The group chat titled [Don’t Want to Live Anymore] was buzzing with activity, already showing 999+ unread messages.
It was a community group he had joined when he first entered the fandom. Nearly ten years had passed, and the mainstream folks had mainstreamed, the retired folks had retired, and some people had migrated over to WeChat.
Only seven of them remained to occasionally get together. Calling them friends was more accurate than calling them internet strangers.
Lu Yao tapped in and happened to catch the newest message.
[Haitang Shizun is the best]: Family members, I’m retiring from the fandom! Thank you all for the company. I’m leaving the group first, let’s keep in touch via WeChat if anything comes up.
One stone stirred a thousand ripples. Everyone lurking was instantly summoned, and after a brief silence, they flooded her with well-wishes.
The retiring user’s fandom name was Chichi. Lu Yao remembered she had been pulled into the group by Song Zhizhou five years ago and had always been very active.
The face of the little girl who liked wearing twin tails and Lolita fashion flashed through his mind. Lu Yao stroked Lili, who was lying across his lap, stared expressionlessly at the ceiling, and sent a comforting hug sticker in the group chat.
[Song Zhizhou]: Wow! Little Rabbit! Haven’t you spoken in ages?
[Zhou Jing]: Probably busy.
[Qingmei Zhuma Broke Mirror Reunited TXT]: No, he’s admiring male models.
[Out and About Acting Like a Weirdo]: No, he’s being a weirdo.
After Lu Yao dropped that line, the group was greeted with another string of question marks before they started discussing a gathering for that evening.
Several people agreed right away, but Lu Yao didn’t reply. Taking a sick day was rare for him, and normally he wouldn’t hesitate, but right now he lowered his gaze to look at the ball of black fluff in his lap, locking eyes with its round, bright eyes.
Two minutes later, Lu Yao posted a photo in the group. In the picture, the man’s messy bangs fell across his forehead with a deadpan expression, and the kitten in his arms wore a look that matched his perfectly.
[Out and About Acting Like a Weirdo]: Suddenly became a dad, gotta feed milk.
The group exploded, everyone telling Lu Yao to bring his good son along. Not long after, Cheng Sheng posted a neon invitation card with yellow text on a red background in the group chat, bearing bold characters:
[Sincerely invite Mr. Lu and his beloved canine son to grace my humble abode]
[Out and About Acting Like a Weirdo]: Do you have species recognition disorder?
Despite saying that, Lu Yao ultimately decided to attend the gathering because Zhou Jing mentioned he was bringing over some leftover cat strips and daily necessities from home, which Lu Yao happened to need.
With a pleasant expression, he negotiated with Lili: “Daddy is going to a friend gathering tonight. You can take care of yourself while you’re alone, right?”
“I’ll be right back. Drink milk when you’re hungry, drink milk when you’re thirsty, and Daddy will bring you cat strips to improve your diet when he gets back.”
“Meow.”
Just as Lu Yao was bargaining with Lili, his phone buzzed. Picking it up, he saw Ji Cunli had replied.
Ji: Alright, as long as your fever broke. How is the cat?
Lu Yao: He has great energy. I’m negotiating with him about going out tonight, and he agreed.
Ji: Where are you going?
Lu Yao: A classmate gathering.
Ji: Then you can leave him with me to take care of. I have a cat bed and cat litter left behind by the landlord at my place.
Lu Yao wanted to refuse, but cat litter was far too tempting. He hadn’t had a chance to buy any yet, meaning Lili would have to go on the floor. He could already picture the random little presents waiting for him on the floor when he got back.
After thinking it over for a moment, Lu Yao asked: I’ll be out for about three hours. Will it be too much trouble for you?
Ji: No, but you have to treat me to dinner.
Ji Cunli’s reply actually put Lu Yao at ease. He hated owing people favors the most.
With that settled, Lu Yao spent the afternoon drawing manga. At seven o’clock in the evening, he picked up Lili and got ready to drop her off at Ji Cunli’s apartment, but right before leaving, he suddenly stared down at Lili and fell into deep thought.
“Baby, do you know the saying matching outfits isn’t scary, whoever is ugly gets embarrassed?”
“I’m not saying you’re ugly, it’s just that you really aren’t pretty.”
“Let’s put ourselves in each other’s shoes. Wouldn’t you feel inferior if you saw Ji Cunli?”
“It’s not that I’m looking down on you, Daddy is just afraid you’ll develop a complex.”
“Should Daddy change your name? How about Maomao? Alright, looks like you don’t like that one.”
“Xiao Hei? Xiao Bai? Cong Yin Wei Lai…”
“Lili.”
“Meow.”