Gu Kaifeng sent Lin Feiran a picture of the four kittens. Their fur looked clean and fluffy, and was likely blown-dry with a hair dryer. They were kept in a large cardboard box, in the corner of which was a round object that looked like a hand warmer wrapped inside a gym tank top. One curious kitten had placed a small paw on it.
Gu Kaifeng sent another message, “The cats are very lively, don’t worry okay?”
Lin Feiran took advantage of the teacher turning her back to write on the blackboard and moved his mobile phone behind the tall stack of books on his desk. He composed the message, “Where’d the cardboard box come from?”
Gu Kaifeng replied, “When I got back, the dorm supervisor was inspecting our room. He gave it to me.”
Lin Feiran was slightly surprised. “He didn’t confiscate the cats?”
Gu Kaifeng sent a self-satisfied emoji and said: “I took the initiative to hand them over. After turning them in, I gave Uncle a bunch of precautions: I said these kittens were just twenty days old; they had to drink a powdered milk formula specific for kittens; that they must be fed by syringe; that they must be fed every few hours; and that careful attention had to be paid to make sure they are kept warm. If not done properly, they would probably make a ruckus at night. I wasn’t even done speaking and Uncle was already apprehensive. When I assured him again that they would definitely be sent off this weekend, he gave the cats back to me.”
Lin Feiran imagined Gu Kaifeng looking like a nagging granny and felt the urge to laugh. He asked, “Uncle deducted points from the room, right?”
In their school, each dorm room began the semester with ten points. Points would be deducted for a dirty or untidy space, use of prohibited electrical appliances, secretly keeping pets, and the like. If the dorm room had zero points left before the end of the semester, then the students living in that room would be responsible for cleaning the dormitory’s hallways for one month.
Gu Kaifeng answered, “Uncle wanted to deduct points. However, I informed him that I am not doing this for my amusement but to save four lives, and deducting points would be like encouraging students to disregard those in need. Uncle got fed up with my prattling and didn’t deduct points.”
Lin Feiran recalled Gu Kaifeng’s roguishly handsome expression when speaking nonsense to others, and his heart felt inexplicably itchy.
At this time, Gu Kaifeng sent over another message, “But you accumulated a lot of unwashed underwear and socks. Uncle saw them and deducted one point.”
Lin Feiran’s face instantly flushed with embarrassment. “I only accumulated two or three pairs each, not an awful lot ah. I was planning on washing them tonight.”
This Young Master Lin was accustomed to being fed when he opened his mouth and dressed when he held out his hands. It had not even been two months since he began to live at this boarding school and he still had some habits that needed to be fixed. When it came to doing chores, he had the tendency to be a little lazy. He felt shamed to death from Gu Kaifeng speaking so openly about it.
As he was blushing, Gu Kaifeng sent the message, “Don’t worry. I’ve already washed them for you.”
Gu Kaifeng washed my underwear?! There was a rumbling in Lin Feiran’s head and he exploded on the spot. He almost jumped out of his chair. As he was trying to reply, his Yin-Yang eyes unexpectedly started to act up. A sinister cold air emanated suddenly from right in front of him. Lin Feiran was caught off-guard when a deathly pale half-face filled his vision out of nowhere — it was unknown how long the school founder with half a head had been standing next to Lin Feiran. He had stuck the remainder of his head in the gap between Lin Feiran and his mobile phone, the extent of his hatred of iron for not becoming steel fully written on his half-face. Because this action required him to tilt his head, sticky brain matter and blood leaked uncontrollably from the bisection of his head and dripped onto Lin Feiran’s mobile phone screen, Chinese literature and language textbook, and arm…
“Ah…” Lin Feiran was completely unprepared and could not help letting out a short cry in alarm. He hastily bumped Gu Kaifeng’s chair leg with his foot and used the chair’s residual Yang energy to suppress the Yin-Yang eyes.
“Lin Feiran, stand up!” The Yin-Yang eyes had just disappeared when the Chinese teacher’s shout came from the front of the classroom.
Lin Feiran hung his head and stood up, pushing his mobile phone under his textbooks. After suffering through a lecture, he had to stand miserably until the noon dismissal. He was embarrassed enough he almost died on the inside and, with the combined pressure of the school founder and the Chinese teacher, he did not dare take out his phone for a single glance until class was dismissed. He could only string up and whip the stinky rogue, Gu Kaifeng, eight hundred times inside his heart.
When the noon dismissal bell rang, Lin Feiran impatiently took out his cell phone, preparing to severely condemn Gu Kaifeng for washing another person’s underwear without permission.
He had already finished composing an eight hundred character outline in his mind, and even practiced using phrases like “You went too far”, “You have no shame”, and ”I am very angry.” Such four word idioms contained much literary elegance.
Correct, these are four word idioms!
However, once he accessed the chat window, Lin Feiran — who had been filled with fighting spirit — was dazed from the surge of new messages.
Gu Kaifeng: “The underwear felt really good.”
Gu Kaifeng: “Why aren’t you scolding me?”
Gu Kaifeng: “Is Baby angry? I was playing with you. I didn’t wash them. I didn’t even touch them. If you don’t believe me, you can check when you get back. Uncle also did not deduct any points. He didn’t even look in that direction.”
Gu Kaifeng: “I was wrong. Baby, pay attention to me.”
Gu Kaifeng: “I will handwrite an eight hundred character self-reflection, okay?”
After reading the unread messages one by one, Lin ‘The Little Fighting Cock’ Feiran gradually softened and returned to being Lin ‘The Little Sticky Cake’ Feiran…
Lin Feiran was not that angry at Gu Kaifeng’s deceit. As he walked, he lowered his head and earnestly texted, “I just saw it. You don’t need to write a self-reflection.”
Gu Kaifeng: “Finally you are willing to pay attention to me.”
Lin Feiran: “The teacher punished me and made me stand. I didn’t dare look at my phone after.”
Gu Kaifeng instantly replied: “So, you weren’t actually angry with me?”
He obtained a cheap advantage and is bragging that he is well-behaved! Lin Feiran quickly strode out of the school building and tapped open voice chat indignantly. He vented his anger through a swallowing the sun and moon attitude and shouted into his mobile phone, “Angry! Of course I am angry!”
“… Startled me to death.” A second later, Gu Kaifeng’s voice drifted over from behind him.
Lin Feiran was stunned. Before he could look back, an arm appeared around his waist and his entire body was dragged backwards. After a moment of weightlessness, he fell into a firm embrace.
“I’ve been following you the entire time.” Gu Kaifeng’s deep voice suppressed a smile. “Sending me a message so seriously? You didn’t lift your head the whole time.”
Lin Feiran’s heart trembled as if he had been electrified. He urgently pushed aside Gu Kaifeng’s hand and struggled free, asking, “Weren’t you in the dormitory?”
Gu Kaifeng shook the bag he was holding in his hand. “I went to the infirmary for two syringes to feed the kittens.”
Lin Feiran extended his head to look into the bag. He found it also contained a few cartons of milk.
Gu Kaifeng explained, “Given the age of the kittens, they should be drinking milk powder specifically for kittens. However, there’s no pet store near the school. It’s okay for us to make do with Shuhua milk for now; it’s specially made for lactose intolerant individuals, so the kittens can drink it too.”
“Okay.” Lin Feiran had never raised a pet and did not know anything, so he could only nod his head obediently.
Gu Kaifeng bumped Lin Feiran’s shoulder lightly with his own and said in a low voice, “Don’t you feel I am particularly gentle, considerate, responsible, and worthy of being relied upon?”
Lin Feiran’s eyes shifted uneasily from side to side as he said with a deadpan expression, “No.”
Shifty eyes, he’s lying again. Gu Kaifeng could not help but reveal a knowing smile.
By this time, the rain had already stopped. Lin Feiran found a life teacher, borrowed a shovel from the storehouse, and went around to the back of the school building. Since it just finished raining, the ground was soft and muddy. Gu Kaifeng gave the bag in his hand to Lin Feiran and grabbed the shovel. Shortly afterwards, he dug a hole near the base of the wall that was not too shallow. Lin Feiran placed the cat’s corpse in it and Gu Kaifeng filled it evenly with soil.
The entire burial process was carried out in a somewhat sloppy manner, but Lin Feiran knew that there was an eighty percent probability that the cat had already reincarnated and likely would not care. After filling in the soil, he returned the shovel, went to the cafeteria to pick up two meals to go, and rushed back to the dormitory with Gu Kaifeng.
The four kittens in their room were huddled together as they slept next to the hand warmer. Upon hearing the sound of two people entering, one of the kittens cleverly stood up. Lin Feiran used a finger to carefully stroke the fluffy fur on the kitten’s forehead. The kitten gave a soft meow. Because it was unstable on its legs, it stumbled from Lin Feiran’s touch.
Lin Feiran was overcome by this weak and delicate creature, and his smile kept getting bigger. He turned excitedly towards Gu Kaifeng, eyes sparking, and exclaimed in admiration, “The kittens are too adorable!”
Gu Kaifeng opened a carton of Shuhua milk and sucked some into a syringe. “Yes, very adorable.”
Lin Feiran sat in front of the cardboard box and watched the kittens, his hands braced on the chair seat between his legs. As if he were infected by cat poison, he rocked side to side as he repeated incessantly, “How could the kittens be so adorable? I really want to raise a kitten. After I graduate from college, I must…”
Gu Kaifeng was amused by Lin Feiran and started laughing out loud. He walked over with the syringe and the rest of the Shuhua milk. Copying Lin Feiran’s tone, he said, “How could RanRan be so adorable? I really want to go steady with RanRan. After I graduate from high school, I must…”
“Gu Kaifeng!” Lin Feiran’s face flushed red with anger and he protested, “You, stop speaking!”
Gu Kaifeng obediently became silent, but the corners of his mouth still held a smile. He lifted a kitten and used the syringe to feed it milk. Lin Feiran watched eagerly from his side, an expression of longing on his face!
Lin Feiran commented, “You are quite skilled at feeding it.”
“I fed Xia Xia when he was young,” Gu Kaifeng said, and placed the first satiated kitten back into the box. He refilled the syringe and gave it to Lin Feiran before picking up another kitten and placing it in Lin Feiran’s embrace. “You try. It’s not hard. It’s okay as long as you depress the syringe slowly and don’t let it choke.”
“I won’t!” Lin Feiran hastily expressed his determination and carefully used the syringe to feed the kitten, his face filled with a fatherly love as steady as a mountain!
“These three kittens are all in your care,” Gu Kaifeng said, and opened the take-away cafeteria meals. He picked up a piece of meat with chopsticks and, bringing it to Lin Feiran’s mouth, said, “You feed the kittens. I feed you.”