Xiaoran’s parents were both retired teachers. When they first heard that a cat was being brought to their home, they refused.
“If you dare bring it here, I’ll throw it out tomorrow!”
They said that in the morning, but by the evening, they were already vying for the cat’s affection.
The elderly couple dug out Xiaoran’s old toys and created a few simple obstacle courses. Every time Qilan jumped over one, they would burst into enthusiastic applause.
“Our Fupo is such a smart cat!”
In a video call, Xiaoran’s mother said excitedly.
“You couldn’t even jump over these when you were little. Look at you, you’re not even as good as a cat.”
Xiaoran said helplessly, “Mom…”
It was a very loving family. Qilan had originally considered running away, but the warmth of an ordinary family made it hard for her to make up her mind.
Just as she was reminiscing about the few happy moments of her childhood under her parents’ care, her circumstances suddenly changed.
Xiaoran’s parents decided on a whim to join a senior tour group to Xinjiang for a few days. They packed their bags and caught a flight on the evening of the 17th. Since the house would be empty, they let a cousin from the countryside and her pregnant daughter-in-law stay there.
The fifty-year-old country woman always acted like she adored the cat during video calls with Xiaoran’s parents. But as soon as the call ended, her demeanor changed the moment she came out of the room.
Her daughter-in-law was even worse. Since they arrived, Qilan hadn’t been allowed on the sofa. Anywhere Qilan had been, the woman would clean with disinfectant. Even when Qilan was just lying quietly, not bothering anyone, the old woman would suddenly appear and hit her.
Qilan didn’t know what was affecting her, but after the elderly couple left, she woke up on the morning of the 18th feeling very unwell. So when the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law mistreated her, she didn’t have the energy to fight back. That afternoon, when the pregnant woman kicked her in the stomach for blocking the way, Qilan couldn’t take it anymore. She jumped up, fierce, and scratched the old woman who came to help, drawing blood. The old woman then called Xiaoran’s parents via video, falsely accusing Qilan and extorting money for a rabies vaccine.
If Qilan had known she would encounter such awful people, she would have run away long ago. But before she could formulate an escape plan, the old woman locked her out on the balcony.
The elderly couple lived on a high floor, so Qilan couldn’t escape by jumping. She tried to call for help, meowing to attract the neighbors’ attention, but her throat was sore from being sick, and her hoarse, weak cries couldn’t alert anyone.
That night, Qilan’s condition worsened.
She was breathing rapidly, feeling dazed, when the balcony sliding door opened.
Qilan struggled to open her eyes, and then a large sack was thrown over her.
She tried desperately to claw her way out.
Tired of Qilan’s resistance, the old woman gritted her teeth and hit her twice, hard, then tied the sack tightly with rope.
As Qilan grew weaker, barely breathing inside the sack, she vaguely heard voices from outside.
“Mom, is what they say online true? Can cats cause fetal deformities?”
“Better safe than sorry. If a cat dies, it’s no big deal. But if it harms my precious grandchild, what then?”
“Will Xiaoran blame us for killing her cat?”
“Just say it ran away, that it got out when we opened the door, and she couldn’t chase after it because of her condition. Besides, it’s her own fault. Other strays aren’t this precious. If she’s this sick, we can’t hide that we locked the cat out on the balcony. Xiaoran would make our lives hell.”
“That’s true. But the cat’s still alive, isn’t it?”
The old woman thought for a moment. “If we just let it out, this cat is clever; it might find its way back. How about this: there’s a game restaurant at the market eight kilometers away. I’ll sell the cat there. It’s fat enough to fetch a good price by weight. We can use the money to nourish your body.”
The old woman carried the sack out and got into a car. Not long after, there was a pounding at the door.
The pregnant woman thought it was her mother-in-law returning. She heaved her heavy body up and opened the door.
“Mom, did you forget something?”
Instead of her mother-in-law, two tall men in black stood at the door. They wore masks, and their gazes were terrifying.
The pregnant woman trembled and stepped back. “Who… who are you looking for?”
The two men pushed her inside without a word and slammed the door shut.
The taller one searched the house, rifling through furniture, cabinets, and desks, checking every room. He returned and shook his head at the shorter one.
The pregnant woman, her mouth covered, tears streaming down her face.
The men showed no sympathy for the woman in her final month of pregnancy. The one who had done the searching glared at her, teeth clenched, and demanded, “Where’s the cat?”
The pregnant woman was terrified, sobbing so hard she could barely breathe. “It’s gone… it’s not… not here with me…”
Seeing how frightened she was, the man knew he wouldn’t get anything more out of her. But that was enough.
“Don’t tell anyone we were here, or I’ll stab your belly!”
The two men left in a hurry. The pregnant woman could no longer hold herself up; she slid down the wall and wept in despair and helplessness.
ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ
At the same time Qilan was being locked in a cage, the pregnant woman at home was bleeding on the floor, just as helpless as Qilan had been when locked out on the balcony, with no one to answer her calls. Meanwhile, her in-laws were laughing as they counted the money from selling the cat.
ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ
Xiaoran was carrying specialty fish she had brought back from her trip, imagining the cat happily munching away, and walked home with a joyful heart.
Since her video call with her parents, she had been so busy she hadn’t had a moment to rest. After getting off the plane that night, she eagerly called them.
“Mom, let me hear Fupo’s meow! I miss her so much.”
Her parents, who had just arrived in Xinjiang, slapped their foreheads, remembering they hadn’t told her about their trip. “Ranran, we came to Xinjiang for a vacation. Our memory isn’t what it used to be; we forgot to tell you. But don’t worry, Fupo is being taken care of. Your aunt came and is staying at our place.”
A sense of dread washed over Xiaoran. “Isn’t her daughter-in-law pregnant? What about my cat?”
“They really like cats. Every time we video-called, your aunt kept praising how good our Fupo is.”
Xiaoran: “Did she ever show you the cat on camera?”
Parents: “No, not really. Why?”
Xiaoran frowned. She felt something was wrong. She quickened her pace and hurried home.
ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ
At the hospital in the early morning, a woman was in difficult labor. Doctors rushed in and out, and the situation seemed dire.
The old woman had returned from selling the cat to find her daughter-in-law in premature labor due to extreme fright. After calling an ambulance and arriving at the hospital, the doctor’s expression was grave after the examination.
“Save the baby! You must save the baby!”
A nurse pulled her aside. “That’s impossible. The protocol is to save the mother. What’s wrong with you?”
Time passed minute by minute. The screams from the delivery room gradually shattered the old woman’s nerves.
Finally, unable to bear it any longer, she collapsed to her knees and confessed everything to Xiaoran.
“It must be that cat seeking revenge! It must be that cat…”
Through the old woman’s fragmented account, Xiaoran learned the cruel truth.
Xiaoran’s pupils contracted in disbelief. “What did you say? You sold the cat… to a restaurant?”
Even now, the old woman was fixated on her grandchild. She muttered tearfully, her mind elsewhere, “Cats carry parasites. They cause fetal deformities. I had no choice.”
Xiaoran completely broke down. Sobbing uncontrollably, she shook the old woman. “But that’s my home! If you were worried, you could have rented a place outside! Why did you have to kill my cat!”
Xiaoran had a fiery temper, and when it came to her cat, she lost all control. She grappled with the old woman, causing a huge scene. Four security guards had to intervene to pull them apart.
Exhausted from the confrontation, Xiaoran walked to the hallway. Summoning all her strength, she finally dared to pick up her phone and dial a number.
“Mr. Liang, there’s something I need to tell you…”
ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ
In the VIP ward, Liang Jianshi pulled out his IV, grabbed a coat, and headed out. The doctors and nurses who had just arrived tried desperately to stop him.
“Mr. Liang, your condition can’t be delayed any longer. The wound has only just stopped being inflamed. Your fever hasn’t gone down!”
Liang Jianshi’s gaze was fixed on a distant point in the void, his voice ice-cold, as if barely containing something. “Move.”
When he truly wanted to leave, no one could stop him. The head of security was a Russian fluent in Mandarin, an expert driver. In less than ten minutes, they arrived at the game restaurant that the old woman had confessed to.
Also arriving were police cars with sirens blaring.
The restaurant, which had been illegally selling wild animals, was surrounded. Everyone inside was arrested.
Xiaoran stood beside Jingwei, who had just returned from the suburbs. Both of them were in a terrible state.
“I took a flight today, and you came back from the lab today. We were going to pick up Fupo together. I never thought this would happen… My mom had barely left, and they killed my cat. How could they? Didn’t they hesitate for even a moment? It wasn’t even a full day!”
Jingwei clenched his jaw. “And Mr. Liang… how are we going to explain this to him?”
That day when he saw Xiaoran carrying the cat in the car, Liang Jianshi had told Assistant Wu to chase after them, but his driving skills weren’t good enough, and he lost them in the morning rush hour traffic.
Still, Liang Jianshi had quickly obtained Xiaoran’s contact information.
When she first got Liang Jianshi’s call, Xiaoran had been skeptical. Also, driven by a selfish attachment to the cat, she couldn’t bear to return it.
After rejecting several of his calls, his people had personally tracked her down while she was on a business trip in another city.
After some discussion, Xiaoran learned that the man who had been “harassing her like a scammer” was actually a major corporate chairman. Moreover, the cat on the pet hospital medical certificate he showed was undeniably her Fupo.
They had agreed that Xiaoran would take the cat for a DNA test after returning from her trip. But Jingwei, upon hearing this, scratched his head sheepishly and said it wasn’t necessary.
The day he found the cat, there had been a car accident on the road, but he hadn’t connected the cat to the accident.
Knowing that Liang Jianshi had been injured for the cat’s sake, Xiaoran felt guilty about how she had treated him before.
But just as she had reconciled herself to returning the cat, this happened.
“Why didn’t I give the cat back sooner… If I had, this never would have happened…” Xiaoran cried so hard her chest ached.
A car blocked the intersection ahead. The door opened, and a man with dark circles under his eyes ran through the police line.
Seeing that Liang Jianshi was still injured, Xiaoran and Jingwei ran to stop him but failed.
Watching his back, Xiaoran’s face filled with worry. “Wasn’t Mr. Liang in a coma just yesterday? Will he be okay in this state…”
ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ
Hidden in the woods behind the restaurant was a secluded factory. Liang Jianshi was searching through hundreds of caged cats, looking for Qilan one by one, when a white figure ran past on the path outside.
Just two seconds, they crossed paths, then quickly passed each other.
An hour earlier, Qilan had mustered all her strength to escape from the chopping board. After hiding for a long time, she had finally shaken off the chef and his assistants.
Now free, she felt the exhilaration of a narrow escape. The world seemed vast and open.
Gritting through her weakened state, gasping for breath, she ran.
She was exhausted, but her heart was full of hope and strength.
“Liang Jianshi, I’m coming to find you. Will you still want me?”