Chapter 146

Chapter 146

Chapter 146 – First Published on Jinjiang Literature City

“I can run.”

The little milk cat, who hadn’t frolicked in a long time, flailed his paws, wanting to do parkour in the living room.

This time, Xie Chen didn’t indulge him. Since it concerned the milk cat’s health, he was especially attentive.

“Be good, Lili. Let’s go drink some soup. Uncle Xie made pork rib soup and pig trotter soup for you—your favorites. There are also freshly made pastries.”

Faced with food, the milk cat struggled for a few seconds before obediently letting Mister carry him away for feeding.

During the time he’d been sick, he’d visibly lost a lot of weight.

Now that he was finally doing a little better these past few days, his older brothers, Mister, Uncle Xie, and even the kittens had all been grabbing chances to feed him.

The milk cat’s physique was such that he gained weight quickly when he ate well, and now when touched, he already felt pleasantly chubby.

Xie Chen kneaded the soft, squishy little belly, feeling his mood improve along with it.

“Lili, do you smell the delicious scent?”

Uncle Xie saw them approaching and asked with a beaming smile.

Bai Li sniffed, his beautiful amber eyes sparkling: “I smell it!”

The soup Uncle Xie made had been simmering over a low flame for hours. The moment the ceramic pot lid was lifted, the fragrance burst out.

Bai Li no longer needed Xie Chen to hold him. He ran back to his room on his own, transformed, and came out to start eating seriously.

While Bai Li ate, Uncle Xie pulled Xie Chen aside.

“Mister, have you prepared the gifts for Lili’s family?”

Uncle Xie was extremely concerned: “I heard from Lili’s brothers that there are many elders on their mountain who really dote on him. When you go there, you need to be careful.”

Xie Chen nodded and patiently listened to Uncle Xie’s reminders.

“I know.”

He replied calmly, “I’ll make a good impression.”

“That’s good.”

Uncle Xie patted his shoulder, his eyes full of expectations for Xie Chen.

To see Xie Chen find someone he loves in his lifetime—and that someone just happened to be the Lili he liked more and more—Uncle Xie felt a warm satisfaction in his heart.

While Xie Chen was preparing the gifts for returning to the mountain, Old Master Lang, who had been guarding a great formation, also sent word back.

The formation had loosened, and he could now bring Xie Chen’s parents out.

Upon receiving the news, Xie Chen rushed over overnight.He left at night.

In the late afternoon, he had told Bai Li that he was leaving. Bai Li didn’t say a word and immediately began packing his things.

“Lili, that place is cold. You can’t go.”

Xie Chen pressed down on his little paw, stopping him from continuing to pack. “Wait for me at home. I’ll bring them back and come straight home.”

When Bai Li heard this, his cat face instantly fell.

“I want to go too.”

The place Xie Chen was going to was far, unlike the company or hospital, which were all close to home.

Bai Li didn’t want to be apart from him for that long.

Xie Chen kissed the top of his head, gentle but firm in his stance. “No, you need to stay home and take care of your health.”

Bai Li shook his head, refusing to listen.

“I can bring the medicine.”

He said, “If I bring the medicine, I won’t get sick.”

“It’s too cold there. Even with medicine, it won’t do.”

The man and cat fussed over the matter of going or not going for quite a while.

Right up until Xie Chen left, he hadn’t managed to coax the little milk cat into accepting it.

He didn’t say when exactly he would leave, only that once night fell, he calmly lulled the milk cat to sleep.

Once the milk cat was asleep, he quietly slipped out of the bedroom.

Bai Si, who loved sleeping with his little brother in his arms, was waiting at the door.

“You’re leaving?”

“Mm. Once I’m gone, please look after Lili.”

Bai Si snorted. “Isn’t that obvious? If I don’t look after my little brother, who will?”

As he spoke, he urged Xie Chen, “If you’re leaving, go quickly. Don’t wake Lili up.”

Xie Chen turned back and looked at the little milk cat curled up on the bed one more time, reluctant to part. Only then did he set off.

He didn’t bring a driver. After loading his luggage into the trunk, he drove off alone.

The route had all been planned in advance.

Determined to go and return early, Xie Chen barely stopped along the way.

The next day during daylight.

Sunlight filtered in through the window, warmly spilling across the large bed.

Bai Li stretched his body, yawned, and slowly opened his eyes.

“Meow.”Sir.

He called out to Sir in his usual clingy tone.

But after calling several times, there was no response from Sir.

“Meow meow.”

“Good morning, Lili.”

A meow came from above his head. Bai Li froze and looked over to see that his Fourth Brother had somehow appeared beside him and even licked his fur.

Fourth Brother's eyes weren’t even fully open, just half-squinting. He instinctively pulled Bai Li into his arms and pressed him down, intending to continue sleeping.

Bai Li: “???”

Bai Li kicked his little paws and meowed, asking, “Fourth Brother, where’s Sir?!”

Bai Si stretched lazily and replied languidly, “He left.”

Bai Li was stunned upon hearing that.

It took him a while to react before he blankly said, “Sir left secretly.”

And didn’t take him along.

Knowing how attached Bai Li was to Xie Chen, Bai Si didn’t stay in bed any longer. He sat up to comfort his little brother.

“Xie Chen told me he’s only going away for a few days. He’ll be back right after that.”

“These few days, whatever you want to do, whatever you want to play, Fourth Brother will do it with you.”

Always fond of sleeping, Bai Si even raised the stakes: “I can even take you to the amusement park.”

“Don’t want to.”

Bai Li gloomily crawled out of bed, jumped to the floor, and walked out.

Seeing this, Bai Si also jumped down from the bed.

The big and little cat padded along, with the big cat occasionally nudging his little brother and letting out a few meows.

But the little cat wasn’t moved at all.

Outside, Uncle Xie saw the two cats and smiled so widely his wrinkles piled up on his face.

“Xiao Si, Lili.”

Uncle Xie picked up one cat in each hand, so happy he nearly fainted from joy. “You two go wash your paws, and then we’ll eat?”

Bai Si: “Meow.”

Okay.

Bai Li drooped his head, leaning silently against Uncle Xie’s shoulder.

Uncle Xie knew Xie Chen had left and the milk cat would be unhappy, so he considerately didn’t mention him.

After breakfast—Bai Si stayed glued to his little brother, afraid he might pack up and head out to find Xie Chen.

Uncle Xie didn’t want him sulking at home, so he simply took both cats to the cat café.

As luck would have it—

Brother Blackpaw was at the café too.

“Brother Hei!”

Bai Li jumped out of Uncle Xie’s arms and pattered over to find Brother Hei.

Brother Blackpaw was playing with the little wolf. When he saw Bai Li coming, both the wolf and the cat came to greet him.

“Kitten, are you feeling better now?”

Brother Blackpaw knew about the kitten’s condition, so the first thing he did was ask about his health.

Bai Li obediently replied, “I’m already better. Now I just drink some medicine every day.”

With Fourth Brother and Fifth Brother—one working on the prescription, the other preparing the decoction—Bai Li couldn’t help but get better.

Brother Blackpaw reached out and patted the kitten’s head, then led him up to the cat tree to play.

Bai Si watched for a while, and after seeing his little brother playing happily with the other cats, crawled into a cat bed to keep sleeping.

“Brother Hei.”

Seeing Fourth Brother asleep, the snow-white kitten on the cat tree poked Brother Blackpaw: “I have something I want to tell you.”

“What is it?” Brother Blackpaw leaned in.

The kitten pressed close to his ear and whispered, meowing softly: “I want to find Sir.”

Brother Blackpaw: “……”

Brother Blackpaw glanced at him. “Don’t even think about it. You can’t go out.”

“I miss Sir.”

The kitten continued to plead with little meows: “Sir’s been gone too long. I want to see him.”

Brother Blackpaw pondered for a few seconds, then turned and fetched a phone.

He opened a WeChat video call.

Brother Blackpaw pointed at the screen. “Kitten, now you can see Sir.”

The kitten looked at Sir in the video...

Just moments ago, he had been telling Brother Blackpaw how much he missed Sir. Now, upon seeing him, he suddenly turned around, leaving only a chubby backside for Sir to see.

Xie Chen pulled his car over to the roadside and, looking at the sulking kitten on the video call, apologized straightforwardly and sincerely.

“Lili, won’t you talk to me?”

Bai Li didn’t want to acknowledge him.

“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have left without saying anything.”Xie Chen first explained the reason for his apology, then, ignoring the other cats around the kitten, spoke softly to coax him.

Brother Blackpaw glanced at the pair, licked his paw, and jumped onto another cat tree.

The video call had been going on for about half an hour.

The sulking kitten no longer had any anger left. He looked longingly at Sir on the screen, who he could see but not touch, and meowed, "Sir, next time you go out, take me with you."

“Okay.”

Xie Chen agreed quickly, but whether he would actually bring him was uncertain.

Bai Li checked the time and voluntarily hung up.

He didn’t want to disturb Sir anymore. The sooner Sir left and came back, the better.

After obediently waiting at home for two or three days, Bai Li grew more and more anxious.

The signal where Xie Chen was was poor.

Originally, Sir called back every day, but for over a day now, Bai Li’s WeChat messages had gone unanswered.

“Lili, I’ll take you out for a bit.”

Tan Yi, returning from outside and seeing his bad mood, took him to the hospital.

Bai Rong was recovering well; Gong Zhe was still in her ward.

The two were discussing something, and Bai Rong’s expression looked different than usual.

There was sadness and anger—her emotions were complicated.

“Second sister, I’m here.”

Bai Li had been transformed into a cat and brought by Tan Yi. Upon entering the ward, Tan Yi handed him over to Second Sister.

As for Gong Zhe beside them, Tan Yi glanced at him but said nothing.

“Second sister, I’m going with Xiao Yi to get you something to eat. You and Lili wait here for us.”

“You go yourself, I—”

Before she could finish, Tan Yi was dragged out by Gong Zhe.

“Damn, let me go.”

Tan Yi was pulled outside, annoyed, and bit Gong Zhe: “If you’re going to buy stuff, why drag me along?”

“Your second sister has something to tell Lili.”

Gong Zhe ruffled his hair, soothing the flustered cat: “We’ll go back in soon.”

Tan Yi frowned: “What does second sister want to say to Lili?”

“Give me a kiss, and I’ll tell you.”

“No kiss, screw off.”

Outside the ward, the impatient Third Brother was yelling. Inside, the tiny kitten sat on the bed, listening to Second Sister talk to him."Jin Jin, Jin Jin is gone," Bai Rong said, her voice a little hoarse.

Time seemed to freeze for a moment.

Bai Li blinked and asked, "Second sister, what did you say?"

"I said, Jin Jin is gone. He didn’t make it out of that forest."

The forest.

In Bai Li’s mind, images of Jin Jin’s bleeding leg and the way Jin Jin urged him to escape appeared...

How could this be?

Bai Li couldn’t believe it. He shook his head: "No, Jin Jin is really good at fighting. He wouldn’t die."

Although Jin Jin had taken him away for Second Sister’s sake, putting him in danger,

Jin Jin also came to save him.

He was one of the few people Bai Li considered a friend. Bai Li didn’t want him to die.

"I’m not lying. I heard his wound got infected and he didn’t get timely treatment, so he didn’t survive."

With every word Bai Rong said, Bai Li’s heart clenched tighter.

He had imagined his own death—after all, he had been a sickly cat since he was young—but he had never faced the death of someone close.

Especially since Jin Jin wasn’t much older than him.

He was healthy and could have lived a long, long time.

“Lili.”

Bai Rong looked at the teary-eyed kitten and picked him up: “Don’t be sad. I’ll bring Jin Jin’s body back for a proper burial.”

She hadn’t seen the body herself yet. She only got the news and hadn’t personally confirmed it.

Her emotions were hard to calm.

The siblings stayed in the ward for a long time. Bai Li’s eyes were wet, his head buried in Bai Rong’s arms, unable to lift it for a long while.

He was very sad.

“Jin Jin said we’d watch a movie together.”

That promise—he never imagined it would never be fulfilled.

Bai Rong patted his back repeatedly, comforting him, as if to calm herself too.