The big raccoon cat had lived as a stray and could adapt quickly anywhere.
No one would have expected that it wouldn’t even have time to settle in at the seaside mansion before moving again. After arriving at Ran Fan’s home, it hadn’t even warmed its spot before it had to relocate once more.
On the second day after Ran Fan returned home, the real estate agent he had contacted came knocking. Measurements were taken, photos snapped, the mortgage situation confirmed and the property details supplemented.
By common sense, buying and selling a house was usually a long process. Even with a price cut, it depended on timing and luck yet that very evening, the agent called him to say that someone was interested in the property and could sign the contract immediately, with the transfer procedures to be completed the next day.
After hanging up, Ran Fan sat there in a daze for a while, then opened his contacts and scrolled to Li Yang’s name.
He typed for a bit, deleted everything and finally called Li Yang instead.
The call connected quickly. Li Yang showed not the slightest surprise. “Mm.”
Ran Fan asked, “Mr. Li, is it you who wants to buy my apartment?”
“Not me,” Li Yang replied.
Ran Fan’s mind went blank for a moment, caught off guard.
Then he heard Li Yang continue, “I thought the apartment was quite good, so I recommended it to one of my employees. He bought it. It’s a genuine need for him.”
Tracing it back, there wasn’t much difference. Ran Fan fell silent.
Li Yang asked, “Are you reluctant to part with it? As long as you are, you can get it back at any time.”
It was hard to say whether this carried an element of Li Yang’s forceful push, nudging him toward a decision.
In the end, Ran Fan still met the buyer with the agent and signed the sales contract on an ordinary, calm evening, no different from any other.
At the moment he signed his name, he couldn’t describe how he felt.
There was sadness but not the kind of overwhelming pain that could drown his heart as before.
He sat alone in the apartment for half the night. The next day, he completed the transfer procedures.
The new owner greatly approved of Jiang Minyu’s aesthetic taste and paid extra to keep all the furniture. What Ran Fan needed to take with him were only his personal belongings, the big raccoon cat and the flowers and plants he had carefully tended.
With the house gone, the mortgage was gone too. Ran Fan achieved a kind of financial freedom. He could casually rent a small place sufficient for his own living and move in.
At this moment, Li Yang appeared at just the right time and suggested that Ran Fan not look for a place yet but wait until after the trip. During this period, all his belongings could be stored with Li Yang.
The reasons were given thoroughly:
“You can take the cat with you to travel but you can’t take the flowers and plants. They need someone to look after them and it’s not good to trouble the neighbors every day. If you’re worried I won’t take good care of them, you can message me anytime and tell me what to do or I can find a professional to handle it.”
“I have plenty of space and many rooms here. Storing some things won’t be a problem. You don’t need to worry about owing me a favor. I already owe you far too much for letting you get pregnant.”
Ran Fan couldn’t refuse Jiang Minyu and gradually realized that he couldn’t refuse Li Yang either. He followed his suggestion and stored his things.
Not only that, because the apartment sold so quickly, he himself stayed at Li Yang’s seaside villa for several days.
During those days, he slowly finalized the places he wanted to visit, several domestic destinations and several abroad.
Li Yang didn’t appear during the day. He came over in the evenings after finishing work, helping him refine and supplement his travel plans, with meticulous detail and sincere concern.
Because of this, Ran Fan hesitated for a long time before finally saying, unable to hold it back, “Mr. Li… This time… I plan to travel alone.”
At the time, Li Yang was writing notes by hand, recording the pronunciations of minor languages Ran Fan might need. His handwriting was very beautiful, with sharp strokes quite different from his overall impression.
Hearing this, he suddenly smiled.
He smiled from time to time when facing Ran Fan but this time the smile lingered longer. “I won’t go with you.”
“You want to be alone to think quietly. How could I disturb you?”
Ran Fan’s face flushed all at once, tinged pink like a streak of color in the evening glow outside the window.
Then Li Yang said, “But I’m very worried. Can you send me messages every day? At the airport, when you board, when you land, when you check into the hotel, which attractions you visit, what you see, who you meet, what you experience, I hope you can share all of it with me.”
“Even if I don’t go, being your sounding board would still make me feel at ease and happy.”
The man looked at him intently. Ran Fan couldn’t give a refusal and replied, “These things are very trivial. They don’t really mean much.”
Li Yang said, “I hope you can send them to me.”
“And preferably,” he added, “allow me to reply as well.”
On the tenth day after resigning,
Ran Fan set out on his journey. He bought a wheeled carrier suitcase for the big raccoon cat. One person and one cat, traveling together.
Ran Fan was truly someone who feared loneliness. From childhood, he had been especially afraid of being alone. When his father didn’t come home, he would toss and turn in his room, unable to sleep.
That was why Jiang Minyu’s appearance back then had been like timely rain to him.
He had prepared himself mentally for the possibility that he might feel unbearably lonely and lose all interest after finishing just the first destination.
Unexpectedly, it felt… quite all right.
Because he had the big raccoon cat and Li Yang.
He tried sending messages to Li Yang, talking about himself. Passed security. Got on the vehicle. The hotel’s complimentary fruit plate had apples and watermelon cut into shapes like little rabbits.
Li Yang replied to every single message and also shared what he himself was doing.
It was very simple, really but this was how connections between people were formed. Whether someone truly cared or not could flow naturally through repeated exchanges.
Even if two people were mismatched in identity, status or age, through this kind of repeated communication, sentence by sentence, day by day, they would still break through layers of barriers and gradually become familiar with each other.
Ran Fan went to see the famous salt lakes in the country, a clear, translucent blue.
He went to see ancient architectural complexes, with carved beams and painted rafters, craftsmanship so exquisite it seemed almost unreal.
He went abroad to see grand cathedrals, listening to people sing hymns beneath statues of angels.
Da Li became a cat who had seen the world and Ran Fan became someone who lived inside a dream.
He marveled, felt joy and when everything finally settled into moments of calm, he felt half-asleep, half-awake. Whenever that happened, Li Yang would send him photos of flowers and plants late at night or send him rental listings that suited Ran Fan’s financial situation, gently pulling him back down to solid ground.
A month passed in the blink of an eye.
That day, at an overseas airport, Ran Fan ran into some trouble.
The flight he was supposed to take with Da Li suddenly ran into a procedural issue and no longer allowed him to bring the cat onboard. This flight was connected to another one and the unexpected change threw all his subsequent plans into chaos. Ran Fan was stuck at the airport, growing increasingly anxious.
Li Yang happened to message him around that time. When Ran Fan didn’t reply after a few minutes, Li Yang called.
After the call connected, Li Yang immediately heard that something was off in his voice and asked what was wrong.
Ran Fan said it was nothing and Li Yang hung up.
But just as Ran Fan was negotiating a refund with airport staff, he was suddenly informed that the procedural issue had been resolved and that he could bring the cat along as planned.
After taking two consecutive flights, Ran Fan landed in Country A and hurried to a famous national waterfall scenic spot to watch the sunrise.
The waterfall was white like the Milky Way, the first light of dawn appearing between the mountains.
In that moment, suddenly, clearly, he thought: If only someone could be here with me to watch this sunrise.
Right at that instant.
He dragged the cat along to take the cable car, no longer planning to finish watching the sunrise.
He stood there in a daze when someone entered the cable car. The man was wearing a dark brown overcoat, his forehead slightly damp, bringing the chill of the morning wind with him as he stepped into the enclosed space.
Ran Fan stared at the man across from him, frozen, unable to speak for a long time.
The man said, “I just arrived. I didn’t follow you.”
Then he added, “This is the last stop anyway, so don’t count it as me going back on my word.”
Ran Fan smiled.
The cable car descended, without interfering with the rising sun. He looked outside, the blazing sun hung unsteadily at the edge of the sky, light surging forward, falling over the two of them.
“Mr. Li,” Ran Fan said.
“Hm?”
“I haven’t cooked in a long time. Later on, I’ll make something, let’s eat together.”
✦ ✧ ✦
Fleurveil
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
Behind every translated chapter is someone who probably needs caffeine.
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
← PreviousNext →
ChaptersChapter 1 · Let’s break upChapter 2 · A hand landed on Ran Fan’s backChapter 3 · Jiang Wenyu’s biological fatherChapter 4 · Li Yang kissed him againChapter 5 · Could you come to the hospital?Chapter 6 · I hope you can give birthChapter 7 · Are you bothered by the fact that I am Jiang Wenyu’s biological father?Chapter 8 · Don’t you think I’m ordinary?Chapter 9 · Don’t consider it me going back on my wordChapter 10 · You are a truly remarkable personChapter 11 · Would you say you’re cold-hearted towards Ran Fan?Chapter 12 · Dr. Ran resigned several months ago.Chapter 13 · Can we meet up?Chapter 14 · You also know the child’s fatherChapter 15 · You are the most important to meChapter 16 · Extra 1Chapter 17 · Extra 2Chapter 18 · Extra 3