TAM 21

Tian Shen had just come out after ordering when he saw Si Yuan riding away with Mo Yao on the back seat. He looked confused. “What’s going on?”

Mo Yao said, “Something urgent. I’ll treat next time. Wait a bit.” Then he urged Si Yuan to go.

When they reached the girls’ dorm area, they found a crowd gathered at the gate.

Li Yahan stood waiting at the entrance. When she saw Mo Yao, she came up to him and pointed at the people catching cats. Mo Yao saw the same short-haired girl from before. But this time there was also a man in his twenties wearing thick, long gloves, fully equipped.

They were catching the big male cat that had roamed the school for years bullying smaller cats.

Mo Yao instinctively wanted to step forward, but Li Yahan grabbed his arm and said, “But they’re not cat abusers. They look like they’re from some kind of rescue organization.”

The young man had a sign pinned to his shirt. It did have some words on it, but from the distance, Mo Yao couldn’t make it out. He seemed very skilled. He used a can of cat food to lure the cat over. The stray cats on campus were not afraid of people. When they came to eat the canned food, the young man picked up the male cat and stuffed it into the cage.

The short-haired girl breathed a sigh of relief.

Mo Yao walked closer and stood in front of the man. “What are you taking this cat for?” While he spoke, he read the words on the badge and saw that it really said Animal Rescue.

The young man looked up at him and said nothing. The short-haired girl took a step closer and said, “Take it to be neutered.”

“Neither?” Mo Yao’s tone was hostile.

The man finally spoke. “We’re taking it for neutering.”

Mo Yao realized what that meant. “You mean cutting off its thing?”

The girl said, “Male cats have their balls removed.”

Mo Yao subconsciously glanced at the cat in the cage. Thinking that it was going to be castrated, he didn’t know whether to breathe a sigh of relief first or to pity it.

Then he remembered something important and asked the girl, “Did you catch all the strays on campus? Was there a black cat and a fat gray one?”

The girl thought for a moment and said, “We’ve caught three or four. There’s a black cat and a mixed-breed that looks like a British shorthair. Are you talking about these two?”

Mo Yao finally knew the whereabouts of the two cats, but he couldn’t calm down. “Did you castrate them all?” After saying this, he couldn’t help but look back at Si Yuan.

Si Yuan was still on his bicycle, one foot propped up on the ground, watching them silently.

The girl said, “Not yet. I’ll do an examination first, and the surgery will be done tomorrow.”

Mo Yao, thinking about what they were going to do to the cat, suddenly felt sympathetic and distressed. He said, “That’s my cat. Don’t you touch it!”

“Your cat?” The girl widened her eyes. “You abandoned it?”

Mo Yao said, “No,” then tried to come up with an excuse. “I’ve been feeding it. I just haven’t had time to bring it home.”

The girl looked annoyed. “You feed strays and don’t sterilize them? How’s that okay?”

Mo Yao couldn’t understand her logic. “Why not?”

“They keep breeding kittens. There’ll be more and more strays. No one adopts them. They ruin the environment, and many kittens die after leaving their mothers. They don’t survive winter.”

Mo Yao thought for a moment and said, “Okay.” Actually, he wasn’t feeding the cat either; he was simply trying to survive as a cat. Of course, it wasn’t convenient to say these things.

The man lifted the cage and walked toward a nearby van.

The girl stepped back. “We’re leaving.”

“Wait,” Mo Yao said. “Can you take me to see those two cats?”

The girl didn’t agree right away. “What do you want to do?” She clearly didn’t trust him.

“We want to adopt them.” Si Yuan, who hadn’t said a word until then, spoke calmly.

The girl looked at him, still doubtful. “You live on campus. How will you raise them? Letting them wander isn’t raising them.”

“We can rent a place,” Mo Yao said.

As soon as he said it, the girl frowned. “You two are renting a place together to raise cats?”

Mo Yao and Si Yuan looked at each other. Neither spoke.

The man catching cats was already in the van and honked.

The girl turned back. “I have to go.”

Mo Yao said, “Wait. Don’t do anything yet. Let me see them tomorrow.”

Maybe because he sounded serious, the girl hesitated. “I’ll add you on WeChat. I’ll contact you tomorrow.”

They exchanged contacts quickly. The girl turned and got into the van.

Mo Yao stood there, watching the van drive away. The change was too sudden for him to accept.

When he turned back, he saw Si Yuan still holding his bike and waiting, while Li Yahan stood farther away, watching curiously.

Mo Yao thanked her, then left with Si Yuan.

Si Yuan pushed the bike as they walked slowly along the sidewalk.

Mo Yao’s thoughts were still tangled. He stopped and grabbed Si Yuan’s arm. “We’re just letting them neuter the cats?”

Si Yuan said, “Huh? Why not?”

“Wow, you are so emotionally stable. It doesn’t matter if someone else castrates you?”

“That’s not me.”

“But when it comes back, don’t you still enter its body at night?”

Si Yuan thought seriously for a moment. “Honestly, I’m not sure. But even if I do, it’s no big deal.”

“No big deal when your balls are gone?” Mo Yao stared at him wide-eyed.

“Then what are you planning to do with its balls?”

Mo Yao was speechless.

“First, you don’t even know if you’ll still have that strange situation after they come back. Second, the cat is the cat, and you’re you. You can’t stop others from neutering it just because you take over its body at night. I think they’re right. Stray cats should be neutered.”

Mo Yao tried to think of something. “Then what if I adopt them?”

Si Yuan didn’t answer.

Mo Yao was already thinking about looking for a place to rent.

Si Yuan said, “Then you can consider that.”

Mo Yao glanced at him.

They walked slowly toward the school gate again.

Mo Yao looked at him once more.

“You have something you want to say?”

“Nothing.” For a moment, Mo Yao wanted to ask Si Yuan if he wanted to rent an apartment with him, but he quickly realized he was being too presumptuous. Their relationship wasn’t that close.

But the thought of renting a place and raising two cats by himself made Mo Yao worry that he didn’t have the ability.

He had never really thought about what to do with the strays before. He had always assumed they’d just keep living around campus. But now he wondered what was really best for them. If he didn’t have the means to adopt them, then he had no right to stop others from neutering them.

When they returned to the restaurant outside campus, Tian Shen was still standing there, looking bewildered.

After dinner, Mo Yao rushed to pay the bill and said the surveillance check wasn’t necessary anymore. He had found the cats.

Back at the dorm, Si Yuan went to park his bike. While Mo Yao waited outside, a kitten ran to his feet and meowed at him.

It wasn’t familiar. It looked young, maybe not even fully grown. Mo Yao crouched down and petted its head. “Where did you come from?” He suddenly remembered what that girl had said earlier about stray kittens not surviving the winter.

Mo Yao said, “Do you want to come with me? I’ll get you something to eat.”

The kitten couldn’t answer. It only meowed.

Si Yuan came out and crouched beside him, brushing the kitten’s head with the back of his finger.

Mo Yao tried to pick it up. When it didn’t resist, he held it and went with Si Yuan to the small shop outside the dorms.

“They only have sausage here. No cat food,” Mo Yao said. He set the kitten down and broke the sausage into small pieces to feed it.

The kitten ate and then walked away. Mo Yao and Si Yuan sat by the shop door, watching it disappear.

Mo Yao had been at the school for years. He had seen many strays and even fought with some, but he had never thought about their fate.

He couldn’t say he had liked cats before. Even now, he couldn’t say he liked them much. But for the first time, he felt genuinely sad for one.

“Then raise it,” Si Yuan said suddenly.

Mo Yao looked at him. “What?”

Si Yuan leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “If you want to, then do it. Once this phase passes, you might not have that kind of reckless desire again.”

“But I’d have to rent a place.”

“I can share the rent with you and help ease the cost.”

Mo Yao suddenly thought about how hard Si Yuan worked every day. He must not have much money. Living in the dorms was clearly the cheapest option for him.

“Forget it,” Mo Yao said, but after a moment, he added quietly, “I’ll think about it.”