Is Su Tang running a fever again?
Li Xingchuan waited for quite a while, but there was no more movement from Su Tang’s side.
Li Xingchuan turned over, blankly staring his eyes wide open in the dark.
At this moment, it was clearly pitch-black before his eyes, but the pitiful look Su Tang had when covering his mouth just now seemed to linger and refuse to fade away.
——He had insomnia again.
When he had insomnia, he occasionally thought of his mom.
How long had it been since he last thought of Mom?
And this time, what was the reason he thought of her?
His mind was a mess; for a moment it was Su Tang’s watery eyes, and the next… it somehow turned into a greyish-black cat whose fur looked dull due to the passage of time.
The gates of memory were pried open a crack by some kind of emotion—
It was a deep winter afternoon, the sunlight was thin, and the indoor heating was very adequate. A young Li Xingchuan sat on the carpet, spending an entire afternoon until he finally embedded the very last Lego brick seamlessly into the cruiser’s deck. He stood up, put his hands on his hips, and admiringly scrutinized his masterpiece. A mixed emotion of a sense of accomplishment and control just welled up in his heart…
“Meow——!!”
A piercing, shrill shriek suddenly erupted outside the window!
Immediately following that, a furry, greyish “cannonball” smashed through the ajar window gap, carrying cold wind and panic, and slammed straight into the room, landing right on target—smack into the cruiser that had just been completed.
“Crash——!”
The meticulously constructed hull instantly fell apart. The brightly colored parts scattered like festive confetti, bouncing and jumping, rolling all over the floor. Li Xingchuan could even clearly see a few fragments tracing parabolic arcs in the air.
He froze in place, maintaining the hands-on-hips posture, his mind completely blank for a few seconds.
Then, a negative emotion of being violated, being ignored, and being destroyed, mixed with a deeper sense of helpless bewilderment, surged fiercely to the top of his head. He felt that his invisible “boundary” had been ruthlessly torn apart by that stray cat.
What should he do next? What would a normal person do when encountering this kind of situation?
His chaotic thoughts began searching for samples. His father would expressionlessly punish the subordinates who made mistakes, making them pay a price; his uncle would use a more direct method, throwing out the person who offended him and “reasoning” with his fists.
Right, reacting like a “normal person.”
Thus, Li Xingchuan began chasing that panicked grey shadow darting around among the expensive furniture.
He felt he had to do something, must make this audacious intruder suffer punishment—at least, give its butt a hard smack.
That cat fled blindly, and amidst a crisp “clatter” sound, his mother’s most cherished potted orchid was also knocked to the ground, pot and all.
Li Xingchuan calculated quickly in his mind: the cruiser, one smack; the orchid, plus another smack.
He was just about to close in on the “criminal” shivering under the heavy oak dining table…
“Chuan Chuan?” Mom’s soft voice came from the doorway.
Li Xingchuan looked back and saw Mom standing there, making a “shh” gesture at him, signaling with her eyes for him not to move. Then, she produced a cat treat from goodness knows where, tore it open, squatted down, and softly called out: “Be a good boy, come out, don’t be afraid, there are good things to eat…”
The stray cat inched out from under the table bit by bit. It was scooped up into Mom’s arms in one go and hugged tightly.
Li Xingchuan stood in place, waiting. Waiting for Mom to raise her hand and give that cat, which had caused such a huge disaster, the two smacks it deserved.
Yet there was none.
Not only did Mom not hit it, but instead she rubbed her cheek against the cat’s dirty top of the head, her fingers gently combing through its matted fur, her voice still just as soft: “Was Bebe scared by something? Running in such a rush. Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, Auntie is holding you, it’s fine now…”
She even held the cat, rocking it gently from side to side just like coaxing an infant.
Li Xingchuan was extremely puzzled. He watched for quite a while, until he finally couldn’t help it, and used the tone of stating a fact rather than telling on someone to remind her: “Mom, it destroyed my cruiser. It smashed your orchid.” He emphasized the “crimes,” trying to pull the derailed track back to the normal path he understood.
Only then did Mom free up one hand and also rub his stiff hair crown. Her palm was very warm, and there was an understanding and tolerance in her smile that Li Xingchuan couldn’t comprehend at the time.
“Silly Chuan Chuan, why bother arguing with a little cat.”
Her voice was like a feather brushing past his ear, “You can argue with people, but with a little cat, there’s no need.”
She looked down at the cat in her arms that gradually stopped trembling and even began to emit a faint purring sound, her expression unimaginably tender.
“Little cats, you see, are meant to be loved.”
“Such a tiny little thing, even if it does a little something wrong, so what?” She said, even giving a light chuckle, carrying a bit of peculiar pride. “Besides, look, it even managed to ‘sink’ our Chuan Chuan’s cruiser, ‘defeat’ Mom’s big orchid… how formidable. Shouldn’t we praise it?”
……
Li Xingchuan opened his eyes wide in the dark.
He suddenly understood where that inexplicable restlessness of his came from.
——He had scolded his own little cat.
He used a blunt “I’m very sleepy” to shut off those sparkling eyes full of curiosity and reliance, making that tiny little ball curl up, not even daring to breathe loudly.
But Mom.
Li Xingchuan thought with a muffled feeling in his heart: you haven’t told me yet, what should one do when they accidentally scold their own little cat?
Fumbling to turn on his phone, Li Xingchuan put on his pajamas and walked out of the bedroom.
At the very end of the second-floor hallway was an arched floor-to-ceiling window.
To the left of the window was the spiral staircase leading to the third floor.
Walking through the corridor, Li Xingchuan went upstairs on a whim and knocked on the butler’s door on the third floor.
He waited for a minute, but the door didn’t open.
He only then realized what he had done; he suspected he was sleepwalking.
Just as he was about to leave, the door opened with a “click.”
Li Xingchuan raised his head and met the butler’s surprised eyes: “Young Master, what’s the matter?”
Li Xingchuan paused for a moment and said, “Buy a few sets of seasonal clothes tomorrow.”
“For Su Tang to wear.”
The butler took his phone out of his pajama pocket, tapped open an interface to glance at it twice, and said with difficulty, “But… you have insufficient balance.”
Li Xingchuan raised his eyes.
Li Xingchuan said, “What about my trust fund? Hasn’t this month’s come in?”
He had a trust fund that belonged only to him, one left behind by his mother.
It stood independent of the massive Li family wealth system, operating like a small satellite dedicated to him. Every single month, punctually and precisely, a sum of money would be wired into the account that belonged only to him.
The limit grew along with his age.
When he was one year old, there was ten thousand yuan per month; at eight years old now, it was thirty thousand per month.
The butler said, “It went to pay off debts.”
Li Xingchuan’s brows furrowed even tighter: “Pay off what debts?”
“The vases you smashed when you were angry last time.”
“Have you forgotten?” The butler looked at him and reminded him slowly, “Last month, you had a dispute with Mr. Li. You said at the time that you wouldn’t spend a single cent of the Li family from then on.”
“Mr. Li said, ‘Fine, I’ll make a note of it.'”
“Starting that day, Mr. Li had me start keeping a tab for you.”
Li Xingchuan was silent for a few seconds.
Speaking again, his voice was lower: “What about my previous ones? Weren’t there any left over?”
“All paid back, Young Master.”
“And it’s still not enough… From now on, when your monthly trust fund arrives, it will automatically make transfers to repay the debt.”
“Until it’s all paid off.”
“How much is lacking?”
“Five hundred thousand and one thousand seven hundred yuan.”
When Li Xingchuan walked downstairs, his footsteps were very heavy.
When he reached the floor-to-ceiling window at the second-floor corner, Li Xingchuan finally felt that the rain was falling even harder.
They pattered against the glass, making such a loud sound.
Perhaps it was this environment that gave Li Xingchuan a trace of exhausted coolness, or perhaps his tossing and turning had finally made him sleepy.
Fumbling to push open the bedroom door, he took off his moisture-stained bathrobe and lay straight down under the covers.
This time, he fell asleep quite quickly.
When he was woken up by a fit of coughing in the morning, Li Xingchuan thought it was already dawn.
Fumbling to grab his phone and take a look, it was only six o’clock.
He turned back over to continue sleeping, but the moment he closed his eyes, he was abruptly startled awake by a thought—Su Tang was coughing again.
Li Xingchuan instinctively reached out to look for Su Tang, and his hand touched a damp, scorching little face.
Li Xingchuan hastily turned on the bedside nightlight and flipped Su Tang’s face over.
He saw that the pretty little face was covered in fine sweat and tear tracks.
Su Tang’s little mouth was slightly open, as if the air in his nasal cavity wasn’t enough, and he was using his mouth for disordered breathing.
Listening carefully, he could even hear a small “hum, hum” low cough from Su Tang’s throat, as well as a trembling “Brother.”
Li Xingchuan squatted down, looking at Su Tang, and reached out to touch his face.
His body temperature was so hot.
“Su Tang?”
Li Xingchuan called out.
Su Tang gave no response, only unconsciously rubbing his scorching face against Li Xingchuan’s palm, his voice trembling: “Hum, hum… Cold~”
Li Xingchuan froze for a split second, becoming nervous.
——Was Su Tang running a fever again?!