Wei Changli froze, his hand holding the empty water glass suspended in mid-air for a long time before finally placing it back in its original spot.
He slowed his breathing and squatted down, looking at the familiar kitten before him as memories flooded back. On that rainy night when he and Yan Xu reunited, he had been cornered in a deep alley by a group of people and had discovered a litter of kittens by a trash can. Yan Xu had used them as a condition to get him into the car. By the time he woke up after the effects of the drug wore off, the kittens had already been sent to a rescue hospital.
Later, due to his falling out with Yan Xu, Wei Changli never asked about them again.
The kittens, which were once the size of rats, had grown quite a bit.
But… was this the only one left?
Wei Changli’s eyes flickered as he hesitantly reached out a hand.
The black-and-white kitten tilted its head, its damp nose twitching as it sniffed the air.
In the next moment, Wei Changli felt the warm little life nuzzle against his palm.
The cat’s fur was soft and smooth as it brushed against his fingertips. It propped up its thin, still-scantily-furred tail and let out a friendly meow at this strange human who had intruded into its territory in the middle of the night.
Outside the window, the moonlight, wrapped in the sound of the wind, spilled through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows of the first floor, draping over them—a silent witness to another small reunion.
Wei Changli noticed a name tag hanging around the kitten’s neck, engraved with “Mia.”
“Mia,” he repeated the name in a low voice, asking softly, “Did he name you?”
Mia couldn’t understand him, but she boldly batted at his pant leg. Wei Changli reflexively picked her up. The kitten squirmed a few times in his arms before finding a comfortable position to nestle in and go still.
Wei Changli looked at her for a long time, scratching her furry chin.
If.
If… this kitten, born into a rainstorm and having escaped death, could survive, did that mean Mischief wouldn’t reach a dead end either?
Wei Changli’s heart gave a long-absent, vivid throb.
The wind outside grew louder.
Ultimately, Wei Changli did not leave without saying goodbye like last time; instead, he returned to the room.
He thought that even if it were only for the sake of this kitten—whom he had saved but whom Yan Xu had raised so well—he should give the man a proper farewell.
However, what Wei Changli didn’t expect was that while he didn’t leave in the early hours, by the time daylight came, it was no longer easy to leave at all—
“Under the influence of the ‘Polar Effect,’ the winter storm ‘Cyclamen’ forming at sea is gradually approaching our mainland. Meteorological experts point out that ‘Cyclamen’ is the largest winter storm in nearly 230 years and is expected to cause severe impact on the areas it passes through. The Central Meteorological Observatory issued hurricane, blizzard, and cold wave warnings simultaneously at 4:00 AM today. Citizens are requested to be prepared, reduce travel, and avoid going out unless necessary…”
On the large television screen, a news anchor was explaining a “super cyclone” cloud map. Wei Changli sat on the sofa in Yan Xu’s house holding Mia, staring fixedly at the screen.
The phone beside him suddenly gave a “ding” as a message from the PREME brand popped up. Wei Changli set the cat down and picked up the phone; it was a remittance notification and a “work suspension notice.”
The staff member in charge of coordination first warmly inquired about his health, promising that all medical expenses would be paid in full by the company and pledging a work injury subsidy. They then notified him that due to the weather, the commercial shoot was temporarily canceled, with the specific resumption time to be announced later.
Under normal circumstances, fainting from hypoglycemia without subsequent injury usually wouldn’t fall under “work injury,” but PREME was quite considerate, directly depositing 8,000 yuan into Wei Changli’s account.
Wei Changli had never felt that these four digits on his phone looked so real; he stared at the screen for a long time.
“The scope of this storm’s impact is very large. Most enterprises in Ningcheng should have suspended operations as per the requirements.”
Yan Xu approached with a steaming cup of calming tea and placed it before the young man. He didn’t ask when the other had seen the kitten, only saying:
“Ningcheng almost never sees snow. The municipal government currently lacks the core capability to handle blizzards. Major road segments are being closed, and subway and intercity transportation have already stopped. It’s likely difficult even to call a taxi now. You…”
The man paused before saying: “Do you want to wait until the blizzard passes?”
“Cyclamen” was expected to take 3 to 5 days from landfall to passage. Wei Changli pondered in silence, weighing in his mind which was more inappropriate: risking the return trip or staying in the same house as Yan Xu under such ambiguous terms.
Yan Xu, reading him like a mirror, said timely: “If you feel it’s inappropriate, you can pay. We can go by the price you set.”
Wei Changli pursed his lips and lowered his head to play a paw-holding game with Mia. When the kitten tried to hook his finger, he mischievously pushed her over on the sofa.
Mia let out a series of “aow aow” cries and scurried away, wiggling her little cat butt.
Wei Changli first gave a small smile, but then his gaze darkened with worry: “A blizzard of the century… what will happen to Mischief?”
Yan Xu’s brows knit slightly.
He seemed worried that Wei Changli would decide to rush out into the snow to find the cat the very next second.
“It’s very dangerous,” he said.
Yan Xu didn’t specify what behavior was dangerous, but both of them knew.
Going out in such extreme weather to find a cat that hadn’t been found for months was an act of borderline insanity.
Wei Changli picked up the hot tea and took a sip, the rising steam hiding the gloom on his face in a mist.
The young man then stood up and walked to the semi-circular floor-to-ceiling window in the living room, reaching out to push open the casement leading to the garden. The dry, cold outdoor air rushed toward him; the sky looked ready to snow, and as far as the eye could see, even the birds were sparse.
Yan Xu walked up behind him at some point, watching the ashen-gray sky with him. On the far northern horizon, a layer of thick, dark fog was pressing down.
“Actually, Ningcheng is very big. In this vast world, I don’t even know where Mischief might have run to.”
Wei Changli spoke, his eyes containing a hint of struggle and lostness.
A jackdaw flapped its wings across the sky and perched on a nearby eave—the tired bird returning to its nest.
Wei Changli turned around. He suddenly asked Yan Xu: “Would you stop me?”
The man looked down at him. After a long while, he shook his head.
Wei Changli didn’t know what had come over him, but he asked again: “Then would you accompany me to find him?”
Yan Xu’s long brows remained furrowed, yet he replied, “I will.”
Now it was Wei Changli’s turn to be speechless. Even though he didn’t know how absurd a promise Yan Xu had just made regarding “finding a cat in a blizzard,” he was still shaken by the indescribable emotion in the man’s eyes.
It was as if no matter how crazy or obsessed he was with a dead-end path, the man would only silently carry a lamp by his side, accompanying him to explore the entire road ahead.
Wei Changli moved his lips as if to say something, but in the end, he remained silent and simply shut the window tight.
Yan Xu watched him close the window. He should have let out a sigh of relief, but his expression did not relax at all.
Wei Changli stared silently out the window, his entire being seemingly imprisoned by the jet-black window frames.
Standing behind him, Yan Xu couldn’t even bring himself to say comforting platitudes like “Mischief is smart, he’ll find a place to stay warm when it snows.” Keeping the truth hidden was already a deception; weaving more lies would only reinforce this cage.
“Mischief… he is very well-behaved, and very smart.”
These words were eventually spoken by Wei Changli himself. He leaned toward the floor-to-ceiling window, exhaling a breath onto the fogged glass, and used his finger to draw a proud little kitten wearing a crown.
“He won’t let himself freeze. Perhaps… he’s already been taken in by a kind person? Living a life where he doesn’t have to worry about the cold or heat, just like before.”
He seemed to be talking to Yan Xu, yet also seemed to be convincing himself. In the transition, the little misty kitten drawn by his finger blurred again.
Wei Changli sat back on the sofa and finished the remaining half cup of calming tea.
“Even if we go out,” Yan Xu said, not wanting him to dwell on it further, “your stomach can’t handle too much irritation right now. It’s better to eat small, frequent meals. Would you like millet or yam porridge?”
Hearing this, Wei Changli leaned back against the sofa and looked at him for a long while before suddenly saying:
“You don’t have to be like this.”
Yan Xu returned his gaze with a gentle look.
“You make me feel…”
Wei Changli’s gaze passed through the man, watching the first snowflake of the storm drift down quietly outside the window—so light and soft, not looking at all like the beginning of a disaster.
He paused before saying: “You make me feel like we’ve reconciled, Yan Xu.”
The man remained quiet.
Wei Changli asked: “Have we reconciled?”
Yan Xu still didn’t speak. He only looked at the snow outside and traced over that crown-wearing kitten born of the wind and snow.
Wei Changli stopped looking at him.
This question was too aggressive and involved various “landmines” from three years ago that hadn’t been cleared. He didn’t expect to hear a reply from Yan Xu… even the fact that he asked the question contained elements of recklessness and impulse.
In other words, he wasn’t prepared to hear Yan Xu’s answer either.
However, just when Wei Changli thought he wouldn’t respond to the question at all, Yan Xu drew a peculiarly shaped little bird next to the kitten. He wrapped a kite-string-like line around its claws, letting the cat hold the bird.
Yan Xu said: “I just want you to know, I am always yours.”
Wei Changli was startled. He had just been leaning on the sofa, but at this moment, he felt inexplicably as if he were floating above the clouds—an unstable, restless sense of weightlessness swept over him.
This weightlessness was too familiar; it had followed them like a shadow since they were together three years ago. Yan Xu was standing before his eyes right now, yet Wei Changli felt that he would eventually disappear.
He didn’t know how to respond to fend off this feeling, so he could only let a cold laugh escape his lips.
Yan Xu remained silent. He didn’t pursue the topic further, going into the kitchen alone to take out an earthenware pot. He prepared a portion of millet porridge and a portion of yam porridge. When the grains began to bloom slightly, he finely sliced sea cucumber into one portion and added an appropriate amount of flat beans to the other.
A warm, rich aroma drifted from the vents of the clay pot into the living room.
Wei Changli hadn’t been incapable of resisting hunger, but perhaps because his eating habits had been too neglected lately, the moment he smelled this fragrance, his idle stomach immediately surrendered.
He didn’t want to go over and lose face, thinking of filling his stomach with tea, only to find that the water in the cup had also been finished.
Wei Changli gave Mia’s head a stroke and walked toward the kitchen with dark eyes, but lightened his footsteps at the door. He saw Yan Xu occupying a cutting board, chopping something.
Yan Xu’s long hair was unbound, held casually to one side by a long hairpin to keep it out of the way; when he lowered his head, it revealed his snow-white nape. A plain apron, the kind that could be bought anywhere, was tied around him, loosely outlining his narrow waist beneath his sweater. As he chopped things briskly on the board, the knife rose and fell; the muscle lines on the man’s arms were powerful, connecting upward to broad, firm shoulders.
If Wei Changli hadn’t walked over of his own accord, he would have almost suspected Yan Xu was deliberately seducing him.
Yan Xu seemed completely unaware of the person behind him. He washed the small pieces of chopped ribs, blanched them in the pot with cooking wine and ginger slices, waited for it to boil before skimming off the foam, then drained them and put them into a stew pot.
Wei Changli cleared his throat. Seeing him turn around, he took the initiative to soften the mood: “Do you need help?”
Yan Xu thought for a moment and handed over some lotus seeds that had been softened in water: “Help me remove the lotus cores. There are a few more morel mushrooms in the house; I plan to stew a soup with the ribs.”
Wei Changli took the task, which required almost no effort, and stood by the sink to split the lotus seeds, remove the cores, and place them in a clean empty bowl.
The first floor of Yan Xu’s house was equipped with two kitchens: a larger open-plan Western kitchen and a closed-off Chinese kitchen. The area here was relatively small; it would be enough for the part-time housekeeper, but with two tall men standing together, any large movement would result in them practically touching.
Wei Changli tried his best to ignore the presence of the person beside him. His movements were small and he focused intently, treating the lotus seeds in the bowl with the care one would give an infant.
Unfortunately, Yan Xu had to reach through him occasionally to get things from the cupboards, and stray strands of hair would sometimes brush against Wei Changli’s face.
Wei Changli caught the faint scent of Epiphyllum in his hair, and his nose suddenly felt a bit itchy.
Even though he was the one who came over, he now wanted to escape.
Wei Changli quickly finished peeling the last few lotus seeds, shook the water off his hands, and turned around. Just as he was about to say he was leaving, he ran straight into Yan Xu, who was coming over to put away the cooking wine.
The distance between the two suddenly became very close, as if even their breaths had entangled ambiguously.