TAM 22

The short-haired girl’s name was Yu Zhenzhen. Mo Yao only learned that the next day.

It was Saturday. Mo Yao woke up before his alarm. He was worried about the two cats and afraid Yu Zhenzhen might go early, so the first thing he did after waking up was send her a message.

They agreed to meet at the cafeteria entrance.

When Yu Zhenzhen saw him, the first thing she asked was, “Why are you alone? Where’s that handsome guy who was with you?”

Mo Yao looked at her. “Why?”

“Why didn’t he come?”

“He’s busy today.”

“Oh.” Yu Zhenzhen sounded a little disappointed.

Mo Yao didn’t understand. How much better looking could Si Yuan be than him? Why did every girl seem to remember him more? Mo Yao didn’t think he was any worse.

That morning, when he woke up, Si Yuan was already out of bed.

He sat up and lifted the mosquito net. “You’re going out?”

“I’ve got work today,” Si Yuan said.

Since it was the weekend, their other two roommates were still asleep, so they both kept their voices low.

“You’re not coming to see the cats?”

Si Yuan shook his head. “I couldn’t get leave.”

Mo Yao watched him open the door and leave. He understood that Si Yuan had to put work first, but he also realized that Si Yuan didn’t seem to feel as strongly about the cats as he did.

He remembered what Si Yuan had said about sharing an apartment.

Someone like Si Yuan, who was always calm and detached, had offered to live together and raise cats with him…

“Hey!” Yu Zhenzhen called him.

Mo Yao came back to himself and realized he and Yu Zhenzhen were on the bus heading to the animal hospital.

Yu Zhenzhen said, “Did you hear what I said?”

“What?”

“I said even adopted cats have to be neutered!”

Mo Yao thought for a moment. “They’re both male. They can’t get pregnant.”

“But they’ll go into heat. They’ll yowl, spray everywhere, get aggressive, and try to run off to find female cats.”

“No way?” Mo Yao couldn’t imagine that calm little black cat doing something like that. But then he thought about it again. The black cat he had seen was Si Yuan, not the real one. Without Si Yuan, it was just a normal black cat. It probably would chase female cats.

His mind wandered. Did black cats like white cats? Would their kittens be gray? Or black and white?

“Stop’s here!” Yu Zhenzhen said, cutting off his thoughts.

The animal hospital was crowded that day. The rescue group had booked several surgeries.

Mo Yao saw the two cats in cages. They had been denied food and water, ready for the operating table.

Those two little guys were going to lose their balls today. They wouldn’t be little guys anymore, but little eunuchs.

Mo Yao realized that men could easily empathize with this kind of thing. He couldn’t help looking around, thinking whether he could grab the cages and run.

But when he saw all the staff and volunteers moving around, reason won over emotion.

He went to the gray cat’s cage, bent down, and said, “This is for your own good.”

The cat looked exactly like the one from his dream. Its fur was gray-white and fluffy, its face round and soft. It crouched in the corner of the cage, frightened by everything around it. But it had always been timid.

It stared at Mo Yao for a long time but didn’t move closer.

Mo Yao turned to the next cage.

The black cat had been lying down with its eyes half closed, dozing. When it noticed someone near, it suddenly opened its eyes, alert.

It was on guard, but unlike the gray cat that shrank back, it stood its ground and watched everything warily.

When Mo Yao saw it, it felt like he was looking at Si Yuan. He said softly, “Hey, do you still remember me?” They should have been very familiar by now.

The black cat stared at him for a while, then moved closer to the edge of the cage.

Mo Yao hesitated and stretched out his hand.

“Hey!” someone called out nearby. “Xiao Hei’s fierce. Be careful, it’ll scratch you.”

Mo Yao turned and saw a woman in her early thirties.

Even after hearing her warning, Mo Yao still instinctively slid his fingers through the gap in the cage.

The black cat didn’t attack him. It leaned forward and brushed its head against his fingers.

The woman looked surprised. “Oh, it likes you.”

“Yeah.” Mo Yao thought that was only natural.

Yu Zhenzhen walked over and said, “Sister Lin, he’s from our school. He’s the one who said he wants to adopt these two cats.”

The woman called Sister Lin straightened up and smiled gently. “That’s great. Thank you, handsome.”

“Thank me for what?” Mo Yao didn’t understand.

Sister Lin said, “For giving them a home.”

The black cat rubbed against Mo Yao again, then lay down quietly.

Mo Yao said to Sister Lin, “But they’re free at school.”

Sister Lin smiled. “Stray cats fight over territory and food. No matter how big the world is, each of them only wants to guard its own little place and hope for enough food. Especially that British Shorthair mix. It may not be purebred, but it was definitely a house cat before. When cats like that are abandoned, they can barely survive outdoors.”

Mo Yao listened quietly.

Sister Lin asked, “You’re still an undergraduate, right?”

“Yes.”

Sister Lin sighed softly. “Then it’s not a good time for you to keep cats. You haven’t settled down yet. Even if you rent a place, you might leave this city after graduation. You’ll have to find a job and move again. Two cats could be a burden.”

Mo Yao suddenly realized he hadn’t thought about any of that. It sounded distant, yet it was only a year or two away.

“Why think so far ahead?” Yu Zhenzhen suddenly stepped up. “How many cats can a person truly love in one lifetime? If you miss this, you might never meet them again. If it were me, I’d keep them. When I move, I’d just take them in the car. It’s no big deal!”

Sister Lin smiled at her.

Yu Zhenzhen said, “It’s like falling in love. You might not meet true love your whole life. But if you do, shouldn’t you hold on?”

Mo Yao said, “You’d make a great salesperson.”

The two cats were taken into surgery one after another. Mo Yao anxiously waited outside.

Sister Lin was busy, she was a volunteer at the rescue center, caring for several cats. Besides her own, she fostered many strays waiting for adoption.

When she finally had a moment, she came over and asked, “You’re from C University too?”

Mo Yao looked up at her.

Sister Lin smiled. “Me too. Though I graduated years ago.”

“Senior!” Mo Yao quickly called her respectfully.

Sister Lin said, “Our school has a lot of stray cats.”

“Yeah,” Mo Yao said. “A lot of girls like feeding them.”

“When I was in school, there was a campus story. They said a stray cat used to attend classes with the students every day. Everyone loved it. But one morning, some girls came to class and found it hanging dead from a tree.”

“Huh?” Mo Yao already felt sick hearing that.

“After that, students who studied late at night said they often saw a cat run through the classroom, but when they looked, there was no cat. People got uneasy, so the principal at that time had a little shrine built for the cat, just the size of a small altar. After it was honored, the school became peaceful again.”

Mo Yao found it eerie and asked, “Was that real?”

Sister Lin smiled. “Probably not. No one’s ever seen a shrine for a cat at school. And a university wouldn’t do something superstitious like that. That’s why I said it’s just a story.”

But Mo Yao still asked, “Did they find who killed the cat?”

“No one mentioned that. If it’s just a story, maybe that person never existed. The senior who told me said only this ‘Don’t mess with the campus strays. They’re protected by the cat’s spirit, and anyone who hurts them will get punished.’”

Mo Yao’s skin prickled. He thought of that first night when he had accidentally knocked the cat off the balcony.

I didn’t mean to! he said to himself.

Both cats’ surgeries went smoothly. When they woke up, they were put back into their cages for observation.

Mo Yao went to see them again.

Sister Lin said to him, “These two are reserved for you. Come get them later.”

“What if I don’t?” Mo Yao asked.

Sister Lin said, “Then we’ll post their adoption online. If no one takes the black cat, we’ll release it. The British Shorthair mix won’t go back. It wouldn’t survive long, so we’ll try to find it a home.”

Mo Yao sighed. “I understand.”