“No, I have to go find Qin Yi!”
Realizing this, Qin Huizhu grew anxious.
She could tolerate Qin Yi storming off in anger.
But she could never tolerate anything happening to Qin Xiaofeng!
“Second Sister, are you crazy?”
Qin Xueying quickly grabbed her arm. “If Qin Yi wants to leave, let him. Who cares what he does? You saw how he acted just now—an ungrateful brat!”
“No, that’s not it!”
Qin Huizhu explained in a rush, “I’m afraid he’ll lose control. While we’re all busy with work and unable to look after Xiaofeng, what if he sneaks back and does something to him?”
“He wouldn’t dare!”
Qin Xueying scoffed coldly. “Tomorrow, I’ll arrange for someone to guard Xiaofeng. If Qin Yi dares come near him, I’ll have his hands broken!”
…
…
Under the night sky.
Qin Yi wandered alone through the dark streets with no destination in mind.
He didn’t know how long he had walked—only that hunger and exhaustion had swept over him like waves, gradually draining all his strength.
He hadn’t eaten a single bite since morning.
With each step forward, and as time dragged on, Qin Yi felt his body becoming weaker and heavier.
He had considered looking for something to eat along the way.
But maybe this area was too remote—or maybe it was just too late.
Not a single shop was open, and he hadn’t seen another soul on the street.
The night wind blew through his thin clothes, spreading cold through his body. It reminded him of the hopelessness he’d felt in his past life—when he lay helpless, waiting for death.
Qin Yi thought to himself, In this awful situation… I might be about to die again.
But he didn’t regret his outburst at the Qin family earlier.
As long as he could escape that suffocating nightmare of a home, as long as he could be free from those disgusting people, even if it meant dying alone out here, he would be willing.
After all, no one cared about him.
Qin Yi no longer hoped for anyone’s concern.
Dead is dead.
Might as well die somewhere more peaceful.
“So sleepy…”
Eventually, his legs gave out and he could no longer walk.
He slumped against the side of the road, under a streetlamp. The light fell on his pale skin, making him look even more sickly.
The rope always snaps at the thinnest point. Misfortune always finds the most wretched soul.
The sky, which had been clear moments ago, suddenly started to drizzle.
The cold raindrops falling on his head made the exhausted Qin Yi feel even more miserable—both physically and emotionally.
Rainy nights always brought back memories of the suffering he endured in the home he once lived in.
Summoning the last of his strength, Qin Yi tried to drag himself under the overhang of a closed shop for shelter. But as if even the heavens wanted to torment him, the drizzle instantly turned into a downpour.
By the time he managed to get himself under the eaves, he was already soaked to the bone.
The wind cut into him like a blade.
He curled into a ball, but still couldn’t shake the cold. His whole body trembled uncontrollably.
His vision began to blur, and his consciousness flickered like a candle in the wind, on the verge of going out.
Sleep…
If I could fall asleep and never wake up… that might not be so bad…
That was his last thought as his eyelids grew heavier and heavier.
But just as he was about to shut his eyes completely, a meow broke through his fading thoughts and pulled his mind back to reality.
He opened his eyes again.
At some point, a calico cat had appeared under the overhang.
“Meow~~”
The tri-colored cat sat in front of him, gazing at him curiously with gemstone-like eyes.
Qin Yi stared back. For a moment, he thought he saw something—concern—in its gaze.
He had heard that people often hallucinate before death.
Qin Yi figured he must have been so starved for affection that even a random cat was enough to trigger a delusion.
Yes…
Maybe this cat wasn’t even real.
Exhausted, Qin Yi closed his eyes again.
But the soft meowing continued.
Before he could react, something warm and fluffy burrowed into his chest.
He opened his eyes to find the calico cat had climbed into his arms and was curled up in his lap, still looking at him with those clear, unblinking eyes.
A strange warmth spread through his chest.
And the cold didn’t seem quite so unbearable anymore.
Qin Yi’s nose stung.
He couldn’t help but hug the cat closer.
He had never imagined that the care he couldn’t find from people could be felt through a cat.
How ironic…
Those so-called family members weren’t even as kind as this cat he met by chance.
“…Thank you…”
“Really… thank you…”
Qin Yi murmured. His eyelids began to droop again.
But the calico cat seemed to understand his condition. It kept meowing, softly and repeatedly, keeping him from losing consciousness.
Then, voices called out in the distance.
“Puffy!”
“Puffy, where’d you run off to this time?”
The voices sounded urgent. Qin Yi could tell they belonged to someone looking for the cat in his arms.
With a name like Puffy, it must be a pet, Qin Yi thought. No way that belongs to a person.
“Your family’s looking for you. You’d better go back. Don’t make them worry.”
Qin Yi gently set the calico cat on the ground, patting its head and urging it to leave.
The cat seemed to understand. It hesitated for a moment under the overhang, gave him a deep look, then darted out into the rain, calling loudly as it ran toward the voice.
As it passed beyond the light of the streetlamp, the darkness quickly swallowed its figure.
With the warmth now gone, the biting cold returned. Qin Yi’s fading consciousness began to slip again.
Only a few hundred meters from the streetlamp.
The calico cat pushed through the rain and found the one calling it.
“Puffy! There you are again, running all over the place! I had to come looking for you in the rain—my socks are soaked!”
“And you just had a bath yesterday, now you’re covered in mud again!”
“You’re sleeping in the living room tonight as punishment!”
A woman holding an umbrella squatted down and poked the cat’s round head with her pale, slender finger.
“Meow!!”
Puffy didn’t seem to care about her irritation and just sat there, meowing loudly and insistently.
“What, you’re complaining? Too bad. Home. Bath. Now.”
She reached to grab Puffy by the scruff, but the cat twisted away like a slippery eel, darting around behind her feet, biting at the hem of her long skirt and tugging it in a certain direction.
“What are you doing?”
The woman was startled by her pet’s odd behavior. She paused and tried to figure out what Puffy wanted.
The cat let go, ran just outside the umbrella’s cover, then turned and looked back at her—as if telling her to follow.
“Where are you going now? Get back under the umbrella. You’ll catch a cold! And your vet bills are way more expensive than mine!”
She rushed after Puffy, but before she could reach it, the cat had already bolted farther ahead.
“Hey! Hey!”
“Slow down!”
One woman and one cat dashed through the rainy night.
It didn’t take long for Puffy to return to the overhang from before—leading the woman to find Qin Yi curled up, barely conscious.
“There’s someone here?”
“Hey! Can you hear me?”
“Oh my god… why is this kid so thin?”
In the blur of his fading awareness, Qin Yi heard a beautiful voice beside his ear.
He struggled to open his heavy eyelids.
The woman stood before him, holding an umbrella, her back to the streetlamp. He couldn’t see her face clearly.
But her figure seemed surrounded by a faint white glow.
Qin Yi couldn’t tell if it was the streetlight or something more.
She looked… divine. Beautiful. Like something from a dream.
“…Are you… an angel?”
“Huh?”