The summer breeze blew, carrying the moisture from the riverbank, which felt pleasant on the skin. Xu Qing protected Little Black with one hand while clutching onto Pei Shiyu’s shirt with the other.
This was experience gained from riding Lu Xinyu’s small electric scooter. However, Xu Qing clearly failed to distinguish the difference between a standard electric scooter and Pei Shiyu’s lightning-fast motorcycle. The speed was not in the same league, and sitting in the back seat, he felt a sense of being disconnected from the ground and losing control.
To avoid falling off with Little Black, Xu Qing wrapped his arm around Pei Shiyu’s back.
Pei Shiyu stiffened at the sudden heat against his back.
“I am afraid of falling. You do not mind if I hold on tighter, right?” Xu Qing’s voice came muffled through the helmet.
I mind, but are you letting go?
At the entrance of the pet hospital, Pei Shiyu got off the bike with a cold expression, not saying a word.
Looking at Pei Shiyu’s face, Xu Qing regretted bringing him along. Admittedly, he found Pei Shiyu’s handsome face quite pleasing to the eye, but the silence the entire way was incredibly awkward.
Xu Qing lightly tapped the tip of Little Black’s nose. “Does he dislike you, or does he dislike me?”
Little Black meowed at Xu Qing with dissatisfaction, as if saying: I am so cute, how could anyone hate me?
Xu Qing smiled and pulled Little Black into his arms. “You have spirit. I get it; it is me he hates.”
Pei Shiyu’s footsteps faltered. He looked back at Xu Qing. How can I get the feeling of being implicitly mocked to my face?
Xu Qing carried Little Black to the veterinarian on duty for a check-up.
Perhaps due to a cat’s natural sensitivity toward doctors, Little Black kept shivering, and Xu Qing whispered comforting words to it.
After the basic examination, the doctor spoke: “The kitten is in good condition, with no problems other than the injured leg. However, Little Black is only a few months old, and its survival skills in the wild will weaken after the injury. It is best if someone can adopt it.”
A look of difficulty appeared on Xu Qing’s face: “Does it need adoption?”
It was not that he did not want to raise it, but his grandmother was allergic to cat fur. No matter how much he liked them, he could only feed the stray cats and dogs casually.
At this moment, Pei Shiyu, who had remained silent, spoke up: “I can raise it.”
Xu Qing raised his eyebrows in slight surprise, observing Pei Shiyu’s expression. So, it was not that he disliked Little Black.
With Pei Shiyu as the adopter, the subsequent matters were much easier to handle. Xu Qing followed behind the pet doctor, filling out forms and handling various tedious procedures. He had expected Pei Shiyu to interrupt with impatience at any moment.
After all, he had seen Pei Shiyu’s heroic 1v4 stance on his first day in Bo Teng City. Even though they had been in contact for quite some time, while Pei Shiyu’s temper was not as bad as he had imagined, it was not as good as he had fantasized either.
Pei Shiyu patiently listened to all the doctor’s instructions, asking for repetitions whenever he did not hear or understand something clearly.
Xu Qing, who was holding Little Black, followed behind Pei Shiyu like a pendant, serving as a qualified cat carrier.
The doctor said: “You can leave a phone number for follow-up appointments and changing dressings.”
Pei Shiyu leaned over to sign.
The female doctor, who did not look very old, joked with Xu Qing, who was standing to the side: “The family member can leave their contact information too. If you need to come back for dressing changes, either of you can come when you have time.”
Xu Qing thought that made sense and left his number as well, though he did not know why, the way the female doctor referred to them as “family members” felt strange.
He quickly decided he was probably overthinking it.
After all, he was currently indeed a family member of Little Black.
Pei Shiyu and Xu Qing left with the newly purchased cat bag.
“Do you plan to let the club adopt Little Black?”
Pei Shiyu finally spoke his first words since entering the clinic: “Hmm. The club has space.”
“Is it convenient to adopt a few more?”
Pei Shiyu paused with the cat bag, turned his head to look at Xu Qing, and felt a strange sense of being schemed against.
Xu Qing smiled innocently, revealing a small canine tooth.
An hour later,
Pei Shiyu was carrying Little Black’s cat bag in one hand and Little Black’s brothers and sisters in the other. Under the principle that raising one cat is the same as raising two, Xu Qing had entrusted Little Black’s entire family to him.
Xu Qing looked at Pei Shiyu with damp eyes: “Little Black is only a few months old; you would not bear to see them separated, right?”
It is not his family being separated, so why should he care about pears, apples, or strawberries?
But seeing the pile of hungry cats meowing at his feet, he ultimately did not refute.
He put them all into one large bag.
At the Break of Dawn Club,
Wan Yi and Wan Li, who had just finished a match, gathered around when they saw Pei Shiyu returning with the cats.
Wan Yi asked: “What is this, Captain? Are you changing careers to be a nanny?”
Pei Shiyu glared at Wan Yi, but since he was currently being used as a giant human cat tower, there was really no intimidation factor.
Since then, the Break of Dawn team officially gained four new members, the non-human version.
Little Black’s family now outnumbered the human members of the team.
Fortunately, their club was quite large, and they were able to clear out a room for Little Black’s family.
However, they lacked experience in raising cats. Cats, as it turns out, are creatures that never listen to arrangements. They clearly treated the entire Break of Dawn club as their territory, roaming around every day.
“Since we got these cats, do you not feel like our team has become a lot gentler?” Wan Yi leaned on Wan Li’s shoulder with a bottle of cola.
Pei Shiyu was sitting on the windowsill in the back, the sunlight falling on him. There was a cat by his left leg, and he was only sitting on the front half of the gaming chair, leaving the back space for a cat, with another cat on his lap.
His black T-shirt had turned greyish-black, covered in cat hair.
Wan Yi drank his cola and pondered: “How does that saying go? That adjective… what is it called?”
A voice came from behind him: “Husband material.”
Wan Yi suddenly realized and shouted: “Right, right! That is it! It is called husband material!”
As soon as Wan Yi finished speaking, he saw Pei Shiyu throw a cold glare at him.
Wan Yi shrank his neck, stubbornly defending himself, and pointed backward: “It was not me! It was Xu Qing! Xu Qing said it!”
Pei Shiyu looked at Xu Qing, who was standing behind him carrying Boss Cai’s meal.
Xu Qing tilted his head innocently: “Did I say something just now?”
Seeing Xu Qing’s expression, Wan Yi thought he had misheard. He could only awkwardly change the subject and rummage through the meal Xu Qing had brought: “What stir-fry did I order today?”
Xu Qing replied: “Yours is Kung Pao Chicken.”
Wan Yi took out his takeout and saw a box of boiled shrimp in one of the other containers: “Who ordered this shrimp? Who is so thoughtful to know I was craving this?”
He was about to open the shrimp: “Why is there no soy sauce? Boiled shrimp must be paired with soy sauce.”
Xu Qing took the box of boiled shrimp from Wan Yi’s hands: “This is not yours.”
Xu Qing took the boiled shrimp out and made “kissing” sounds at the cats on Pei Shiyu. The kittens tumbled over, meowing milkily at him.
Wan Yi “wailed” dramatically to the side: “I cannot go on like this! I am living worse than a cat…”
Xu Qing said: “Inside there is the braised shrimp and roast chicken I bought for you.”
Wan Yi immediately stopped: “I knew you were the most beautiful, the kindest, the most adorable, Little Qing…”
He even started singing unconsciously.
Wan Li could not stand his brother’s “demon voice”: “Stop singing! Are you calling for spirits?”
Wan Yi made a gesture across his lips: “Little mouth, no talking.”
Xu Qing could not help but laugh, his eyes meeting Pei Shiyu’s, who was watching him.
He still had that immovable face, paired with sharp features that made people subconsciously feel he was difficult to approach.
But looking at the cat hair on Pei Shiyu, and the fact that he had not exploded even after being called “husband material,” Xu Qing realized that besides the sharpness he showed in the alleyway on their first meeting, Pei Shiyu had a surprisingly good temper.
The mother cat was on the balcony behind them, watching her kittens eat shrimp with lazy arrogance, her tail flicking.
For a moment, the mother cat’s image overlapped with Pei Shiyu’s.
Perhaps because Xu Qing’s gaze was too direct and intense, Pei Shiyu raised an eyebrow and spoke coldly: “Is something the matter?”
Xu Qing shook his head: “No.”