Mom
315 was picked up by Situ Yuwan.
Three months ago, the twenty-seven-year-old Situ Yuwan was still not an unemployed drifter. Back then, she was a city woman who had graduated from a top university and worked at a big company. Every day she walked into the CBD in the heart of Nanhai, a first-tier city, coffee in hand, and reported to a well-known design firm that led the industry, a white-collar worker in a proper office job.
The people in the office were always gossiping, talking about one thing or another every day, and the area around her desk was lively too.
Aria was a woman who loved wearing a deep red, body-hugging knitted hip skirt. Her perfume was strong, and whenever someone passed by her, a sweet, pungent scent would linger in the air. Evelyn had naturally curly long hair, but her hair quality was terrible and she had very little of it, like dry strands withering on her head. Her voice was high and thin, and when she laughed it came out in a cackling burst, a little grating.
One day, Situ Yuwan was sitting at her desk staring at her computer when she heard the two of them talking behind her again.
“Yesterday after work I ran into someone abusing a cat downstairs.”
“Ew, who was it?”
“No idea which floor they were from. Those guys were still wearing suits too, looked so respectable, and then after work they went and burned the fur of those stray cats in their nest. They were even poking at their eyes and legs and stuff, oh man, it was bloody as hell!”
“Ew, that’s terrifying!”
“Ugh, it made me feel awful just watching. I even walked faster so I wouldn’t have to deal with it. What a nightmare.”
“Tsk tsk tsk! In broad daylight, they should be rounded up and dragged away. But there really are a lot more stray cats around lately, huh?”
“A cat shelter nearby shut down. A few days before it closed, they did a clearance event and gave them out for free adoption. When the lease ran out, the shop owner stopped caring too. The landlord renovated the place and pushed all the cats out, leaving them on their own, so there have been a lot more feral cats lately. Miserable timing, running straight into a bunch of stressed middle-aged men.”
“That’s true, but whose fault is that? Even when they’re free, nobody wants to keep them. To put it bluntly, they’re unlucky because nobody likes them.”
“Oh, I remember. Isn’t that old witch afraid of cats?”
“So funny, she said she was bitten by a cat when she was little and was terrified ever since, and now she even forbids her daughter from watching Hello Kitty. Hahahahaha.”
“What a pain in the ass.”
Then at lunch they told Helen, Helen-jie, there are so many stray cats around the company lately, you should be careful when you’re coming and going.
Helen told them not to worry, she took the underground garage, didn’t go on the ground level at all. Evelyn cackled and cackled.
On the day she resigned, when she came out of Helen’s office it was noon. Situ Yuwan returned to her desk and wordlessly handled the files on her computer, face blank. Rain began to fall outside the window. She logged into OA, deactivated her account, shut the machine down. There was almost nothing on her desk. She put her water cup, charging cable, and a thin cold-weather blanket into her commuter tote bag, and when she looked closely there was nothing else.
By the time it was dark, she had the slightly bulging brown leather shoulder bag slung over her back as she passed Aria and Evelyn, who were secretly watching her. She took the elevator down and opened her umbrella at the entrance.
She was on her way to the subway when Situ Yuwan saw that calico under the sorting trash bins. It was curled up on the ground, very small, not fully grown, with sparse fur. The white patches on its body were dirty and had turned gray, and its tail was a bare strip of flesh-colored skin, burned off.
Situ Yuwan stood there for a moment, waiting until people gradually started coming out of the office building at six. In the end, she walked over and crouched in front of the trash bin.
The cat did not see Situ Yuwan. It was shaking with its eyes closed.
At that moment, someone called her. Situ Yuwan did not look at the caller ID and answered directly, holding the phone to her ear. She knew who it was.
The next second, Evelyn let out a sharp howl: “Situ Yuwan! You turned all the company files into layers!”
Situ Yuwan’s reply was calmer than the rain: “Why not? I made them all.”
Evelyn said, “Do you have any professional ethics? You clearly promised Helen you’d hand over the files. Why are you being so vicious?”
Situ Yuwan said, “Didn’t I hand them over?”
She had.
Helen’s condition was that she submit every file she had made over the past two years. Her intent was obvious. She no longer wanted the person, but she still wanted to keep reusing the work. So-called turning the layers into barriers meant those files could no longer be edited or retrieved for reuse. The files she was demanding were worthless.
In the past, she worked and got paid, and that was fine. But that work should not continue on for free just so someone else could get paid for it. No one was going to take advantage of anyone else.
There was a brief silence on the other end of the call, then someone else took over. Helen said, “Situ Yuwan, you’re determined to tear things apart, aren’t you? No one in our company has offended you, so why make such an ugly scene? Hand over the backups.”
Situ Yuwan said, “I don’t have any.” In truth, she did.
Helen said, “I really underestimated you. You’ve been putting on an act these past two years, haven’t you? I’m telling you, this circle is only so big. If you dare to challenge us here today, you won’t want to stay in the industry anymore, right?”
Situ Yuwan said, “Challenge you, how polite of you to put it that way. What, are those few files enough to make your company unable to function? Is there a corporate crisis?”
“You really do dare.” On the other end, not another word was said. Helen hung up directly.
It was quiet now, leaving only the sound of rain and footsteps at the periphery, the soft clicks of leather shoes and high heels stepping through puddles.
Why wasn’t this cat opening its eyes yet? Situ Yuwan thought of the judgments about it.
They had said tsk tsk tsk, unlucky because nobody likes it, and they had also said, look at Situ Yuwan, stupid as a pig, hahaha.
The tip of the black umbrella dripped water in streams. Under the trash bin, the filthy water had soaked the ground into a sea.
Situ Yuwan pitied the cat in front of her, just as she pitied herself.
She took the thin blanket from her bag and used it to wrap the stray cat, then carried it away.
Too bad there was no one who could take her home for the time being.
At four-thirty on Friday afternoon, Liang Zishu heard the knock on the door right on time.
The seat in the consultation room faced the door. Lin Qiang came in first and called out, Dr. Liang.
Behind her was a young woman, wearing sweatpants, a dark inner layer, and a light-colored shirt. She looked a little stiff. Both hands were tense in front of her as she held a cat carrier.
Lin Qiang turned back and pointed to the chair across from Liang Zishu. “You can sit there.”
She left quickly and closed the door behind her.
The consultation room was left with two people and one cat. Situ Yuwan set the carrier on the table and sat down too.
Dr. Liang was wearing her work uniform, light blue scrubs, with an ID badge on her chest, a formal photo and her name. She wore a mask of the same color, revealing only the bridge of her nose and her eyes. Her long hair was neatly and crisply pinned up. She looked especially professional, especially beautiful.
That was detailed enough, right? At any rate, Situ Yuwan had stared at her for two minutes straight.
During those two minutes, Liang Zishu was typing on the computer. Midway through, she looked up and met the patient’s family member’s eyes for a moment. It was a little strange. She withdrew her gaze and pulled up the case file in the system.
“315…” She looked at the screen and read 315’s name. She didn’t find it strange, didn’t find it funny. She simply read it out flatly, as if a spring had flowed through her ears.
Liang Zishu looked at the registration record in the system and continued in an official clinical tone, “First shot of the cat triple vaccine, how old is it?”
“Hiss… uh…” Situ Yuwan didn’t know either, after all, she wasn’t the real mother.
Liang Zishu didn’t lift her head. “Adopted?”
Situ Yuwan squeezed out, “Mm…”
Liang Zishu said, “Picked up.”
Situ Yuwan said, “Mm.”
Liang Zishu said, “How long has it been at home?”
Situ Yuwan said, “A few months, three months.”
“Has it been bathed recently?”
“It was bathed once when it came home, not after that.”
“Any deworming?”
“Yes, yes, dewormed. A month ago, at home. It should be fine, right?”
Liang Zishu said, “Any stress reactions?”
Situ Yuwan rested both hands on her knees and answered, “Not after coming home. Oh, last week I came in for a visit. It was pretty stressed around Dr. Lei, does that count?”
Liang Zishu said, “Dr. Lei?” Her tone lifted slightly, with a hint of confusion.
Situ Yuwan said, “Oh, I came here last week too. I had booked your slot, but then you went into surgery. Dr. Lei saw us after that, but 315 was pretty stressed. So I didn’t let him do it.” Let you do it.
She added, “He’s Dr. Lei, Lei-Lei Doctor.”
Liang Zishu looked up at her, and they met eyes again. Her delicate brows seemed to rise very slightly. Whether that counted as a faint smile or not, there was no sound, and the mask covered it, so it was impossible to tell.
Her gaze shifted and landed on the cat carrier. Liang Zishu moved a little closer, reached out, and unzipped it. 315 was still in the corner.
“315?” Liang Zishu called softly, even gentler than when she had first read the name just now. The tone of her voice was like a lullaby.
It was as if an early childhood teacher had changed careers to become a vet. Why didn’t hospital doctors these days greet the patient’s family properly? So rude.
Liang Zishu said again, “315.” She observed 315’s reaction in detail, waited a while, then reached out, lightly and slowly, trying to land a hand on his head.
315 didn’t hiss. His pupils contracted, and he stared with amber eyes at that clean, delicate hand drawing closer and closer.
Liang Zishu’s fingertips touched 315. She waited. 315 closed his eyes. Liang Zishu studied him for a moment, then gradually curled her fingers and let her palm cover him.
He had accepted it.
A miracle worker, Situ Yuwan didn’t dare breathe.
315 was afraid of people. When she first brought him home, she had to take him to a pet hospital near the company, no, near her former company, to bathe him. 315 was so scared his fur bristled. The doctor said if they got any closer, this cat might go into cardiac overload and keel over. In the end, Situ Yuwan took him home and washed him in the bathroom, tuft by tuft, then carefully dried him with a hair dryer.
For three months, Situ Yuwan had always thought 315 could not accept anyone else. It seemed Dr. Lei had confirmed that idea too. She felt they were the same, a mother and son clinging to each other in solitude, until another person appeared and was also accepted with ease.
Why was that?
But she was his real mother, no, not really the real mother, and 315 could accept Situ Yuwan, so why couldn’t he accept Dr. Liang?
It was funny. She suddenly realized she had brought her child in for a checkup, only to end up feeling inexplicably sour. She was the one with the problem.
Liang Zishu lifted 315 out and placed him on the exam mat on the table. She didn’t inject him right away, but carefully checked his eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and limbs, then weighed him and took his temperature. After that she opened a drawer, took out a small booklet, and began writing in it with a fountain pen.
315’s medical record book had the cat’s name, “315,” the weight, “3.9kg,” the health status, “good,” the visit record, “first shot of the cat triple vaccine,” and the date, “June 6.”
The record book was turned around and pushed over. Liang Zishu tapped on the computer, and the printer spat out a vaccine consent form. She pulled it out and set it on the table, filled it in first, then turned it around and pushed it back over again.
“Here, sign here.” Liang Zishu put away her fountain pen and gave a slight look toward the black ballpoint pen standing in the pen holder on the desk.
Situ Yuwan obediently picked up the pen and signed her name, then turned it back around and laid it flat with both hands, returning it.
Liang Zishu glanced over casually, without looking too closely, and put the consent form into the drawer. Then she put on rubber gloves. Situ Yuwan watched her own hands, fingers spread, long and bony, the gloves clinging tightly to her skin, the rubber making a crisp sound against her flesh.
Situ Yuwan sat opposite her, watching her hands the same way, not blinking once, her gaze a little stuck, her head a little unable to turn.
Then Liang Zishu said, “Hold him for a moment.”
Situ Yuwan blurted out, “Huh?”
So sudden? Was that appropriate?
Liang Zishu looked up at her again. This time her brows and eyes were curved even more, and Situ Yuwan was certain she was smiling.