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Chapter 30: A Heavy Metaphor
Only after he gave away his drawing did Yue Zhishi feel like it was drawn extremely terribly. He slightly regretted giving it away and wanted to take it back, but it was obvious how asking for it back would go.
Song Yu would never give him a chance to fix up his work.
But Song Yu’s map was honestly well-drawn — it was beautiful in a very clean, scientific way, and Yue Zhishi actually wanted to frame and hang it at the head of his bed.
After such a long period of stress, he finally fell into a deep sleep. In his dream, he was feeding little kittens with Song Yu when he heard a familiar cat noise behind his back. Yue Zhishi turned around, and an indignant Orange was standing behind him, catching him red-handed.
Meow——
What a nightmare.
It wasn’t easy surviving until the monthly break, and yet they were given only one day to rest. Yue Zhishi was woken up bright and early by Orange stepping on him, and Lin Rong just happened to be calling him down for breakfast. He blearily carried Orange downstairs with him and saw Song Yu changing his shoes at the front door. Yue Zhishi’s mind cleared up immediately and went over in his house slippers. “Gege, you’re leaving the house so early?”
Song Yu nodded as he tied his shoelaces. “Yes, I have something to do.”
“Can I go with you?”
Song Yu didn’t really answer him, only saying, “You should stay at home and do your reviews.”
Yue Zhishi understood Song Yu’s way of speaking too well. If he didn’t say he couldn’t go, then that meant he could, as long as he tried hard enough. “I want to go, can you bring me too? My productiveness will be much higher after we come back, truly.”
Yue Zhishi sounded a bit pitiful. Song Yu raised his head and met his eyes for a while. Yue Zhishi sorrowfully opened his mouth again and said, “Gege, please. I already gave my drawing to you.”
Song Yu gave up.
“I’ll give you ten minutes to change your clothes.”
“No problem!”
As he waited, Song Yu sat at the front door and played on his phone. He saw Xia Zhixu’s WeChat message and replied while he was there.
It was early morning, the temperature just right and the air fresh. Yue Zhishi was in an extremely good mood at not having to go to school and being able to go out together with Song Yu. He sat on the bench as they waited for the bus, and Song Yu pulled out a pink lollipop from his pocket and gave it to him.
“You put this in my bag, right? It’s too sweet. Eat it yourself.”
It’d been so long since he’d snuck the candy into his bag, and yet Song Yu still hadn’t eaten it yet.
But it made sense since Song Yu hated sweets.
Yue Zhishi took the lollipop and tore open the wrapper without really thinking about it. He’d just placed the lollipop into his mouth when the bus arrived, so he immediately stood up and got onto the bus with Song Yu. The bus drove extremely quickly, and Yue Zhishi fell asleep also extremely quickly, swaying and wobbling about until he ended up on Song Yu’s shoulder. He stayed there until he was woken up to get off the car.
Standing at the bus stop, Yue Zhishi reached up his arms and lazily stretched. The bus drove away, and a tall, beautiful girl across the street waved at them. Yue Zhishi slowly pulled down his arms, glancing at the Song Yu standing next to him, and saw him nod in her direction.
What is this?
It was hard enough to have a break. They left the house early in the morning only just to come and meet a pretty older sister. Yue Zhishi felt like something wasn’t quite right — this really didn’t fit Song Yu’s usual behaviour.
The pedestrian lights turned green, and Song Yu walked across the street. Yue Zhishi abruptly felt grumpy and stuffed his hands into his pockets, the lollipop still in his mouth as he followed behind.
Gege had never interacted with a girl in private before.
The girl appeared very friendly and looked to be a bit older than the two of them. She warmly greeted Song Yu, “Have you had breakfast yet? What a coincidence, I only just arrived when I saw you too.” She glanced at Yue Zhishi after she finished speaking and looked back at Song Yu. “This must be your younger brother.”
Song Yu nodded. Seeing he was mentioned, Yue Zhishi politely greet her as well and introduced himself.
“Hello hello, I’m Feng Yue.” She checked her watch. “The car should be here soon.”
Are they going somewhere? Yue Zhishi specifically looked over her outfit. She was wearing very comfortable casual clothing, long sleeves, long pants and flat sneakers.
Could they be going to somewhere like Happy Valley? Or maybe going on an outdoors trip somewhere?
He thought about how Song Yu had initially not wanted to bring him along.
Feng Yue’s phone suddenly rang, and she apologised before stepping away. “Yes, right now we’re at…”
Since she was far away, Yue Zhishi touched Song Yu’s arm and stood very closely to him. He waited until Song Yu leaned his head over, and abruptly asked, “Are you going on a date with her?”
Only Yue Zhishi would ask something like that so directly.
But the moment the words left his mouth, even Yue Zhishi felt it was a bit strange to ask. His mood didn’t improve at all.
Song Yu lifted an eyebrow. “Why would I take you with me to a date?”
That one sentence knocked Yue Zhishi awake.
That’s right.
Since Song Yu didn’t refuse to let him come along, he shouldn’t be going on a date with a girl. Besides, who would bring such a big lightbulb onto a date, especially one who could easily go home and tattle on him to their parents?
If Song Yu really was going on a date, Yue Zhishi might actually tell on him. He truly was slightly unhappy.
He was just about to ask Song Yu what was the real purpose behind this trip, but Feng Yue happened to finish her phone call and return back to where they were. The car she mentioned earlier arrived in the next thirty seconds. It was a very large white car with a lot of empty space inside.
They got on the car together, and there were already two other young men sitting inside. The road was very smooth, and Yue Zhishi was very curious about where they were going — unexpectedly, the road became more familiar the longer they drove, until the car finally stopped at Peiya’s side entrance.
Why’d they come to school?
There were a bit too many people around, so Yue Zhishi didn’t really speak. Song Yu exited the car and walked by himself to the security guard, providing him with his student identification and approval letter from the school before the security guard let them through.
After he returned, the car went straight into the school, driving on the road through the side entrance until it reached the cafeteria. It continued past until it stopped nearby the old school buildings near the back of the cafeteria.
“Time to start working.” The young man wearing a cap got off the car first and rolled up his sleeves.
Yue Zhishi was a bit stunned. He thought about a video he’d once seen online, where people caught and killed stray animals. He grabbed Song Yu’s arm without thinking. “What are they doing? Are they going to kill all those cats?”
“No.” Song Yu lightly patted the back of his hand. He then said to the other people, “I’ve already had the cats neutered.”
Feng Yue, pulling on some gloves, was surprised. “Did you pay for it yourself? It couldn’t have been cheap. You must’ve also spent a lot of time as well, since there’s no way you could’ve neutered all of them at the same time.”
One of the men also said, “Honestly, it’s enough if you’ve already neutered them all.”
Song Yu shook his head and pulled out a key he’d borrowed from the school’s management to open the iron fence. “I’m graduating soon.”
Yue Zhishi understood the words he’d left unspoken.
“I see. That’s fine then, just leave it to us. You don’t have to worry anymore.” Feng Yue nodded and started to work with everyone else. “Hopefully today will go smoothly.”
“Are you trapping them?” Yue Zhishi started to follow them. “Let me help you.”
Song Yu seized his wrist. “Don’t follow us.”
Obviously, Yue Zhishi didn’t listen to him. “I’m really good with animals.” He then said a bunch of other reasons, and since Song Yu didn’t want to outright reject Yue Zhishi in front of so many outsiders — it would’ve depressed him — he reluctantly allowed him to come along. He found a pair of gloves for Yue Zhishi and told him to put it on well.
Catching cats required a lot of effort and time. Luckily Song Yu was there, as the cats were familiar with him and were a bit easier to catch than usual.
But they never expected Yue Zhishi’s words to actually be so accurate — animals were naturally attracted to him. It wasn’t clear if it was because they were curious, but some cats subconsciously walked closer to him. The other workers could then very quickly pick them up from behind.
Yue Zhishi was like living catnip, a fantastic way to lure in the cats.
But as soon as he wanted to reach down and either touch or catch a cat, Song Yu would stop him.
After working for almost two hours, they finally managed to transfer all the stray cats in the area into cages, placing them one by one into the car. Some of the worried cats kept meowing, and they didn’t calm down until Song Yu fed them their usual food.
One kitten was particularly small and stayed in a large cage with his mother. Yue Zhishi kneeled down to look at him, and the kitten weakly gazed back.
“I counted eight in total, just like you described.” Feng Yue gave Song Yu a document. “Once you sign here, we’ll take them back and clean them up.”
Yue Zhishi listened to them speak, and only then learned that Feng Yue worked in the local area’s largest stray animal rescue shelter and specialised in bringing back stray animals to prepare them for adoption. Song Yu had requested them to make this particular trip.
“Good thing you were here. I think this might’ve been the easiest trap job in history — we used to be scratched all over our bodies in previous jobs until we mentally collapsed.” Feng Yue looked over at the cats in the cages and smiled towards Song Yu. “They listen to you quite well. Looks like you’ve spent a lot of time with them.”
“I didn’t do anything.” Song Yu glanced at the cats and, after a silent moment, brought out a little notebook the size of his palm. “This notebook has all of their personalities and habits. Maybe it’ll help you guys in the future.”
The rescue shelter’s workers once again expressed their gratitude and even wanted to give him a rescue certificate, but Song Yu kept denying he’d done anything to help. He even declined their offer to drop them back home on their way back, and he stood at Peiya’s side entrance with Yue Zhishi and sent off their car.
As he watched those cats disappear into the distance, Yue Zhishi couldn’t help but observe the side of Song Yu’s face.
Sure enough, he was someone who was unable to show his emotions.
He may’ve kept saying he did nothing at all, but it was likely he’d started taking care of the cats from his first year of high school.
“Wouldn’t you miss them?” Yue Zhishi asked.
Song Yu lowered his head and booked a car on his phone. “There’s nothing to miss. This is the best choice.”
The car he’d booked stopped right in front of them, and the two of them got on, Yue Zhishi vividly describing to Song Yu the dream he’d had last night of them feeding cats together. He didn’t mention the end though, where they’d been caught by Orange, and then complained, “I didn’t get to feed them even once. I didn’t expect last night’s dream would be a sign of what would happen.”
“Simply feeding stray cats is actually nothing more than unchecked kindness.” Song Yu’s words were a bit harsh, and yet they were very realistic. “If you only feed them and leave them alone to continue roaming around, you might end up damaging the surrounding ecology. To these cats, from the day they’re born until the day they die, how many times can you actually feed them?”
He looked out the window after he finished speaking. “It would be better if they were given a chance to have a home.”
Yue Zhishi thought about what Song Yu had once said — people must be responsible for their own actions, even if those actions had come from kindness.
He started to understand why Song Yu would do these things silently, without notifying anyone else. Once other people learned about the cats, the news might spread — and since Song Yu had a lot of people chasing after him to begin with, the situation would then be even harder to control.
Yue Zhishi knew he often didn’t consider things carefully or deeply enough, but more than anyone else, he hoped Song Yu’s wish would come true.
“Those little kittens could definitely be adopted by some good people,” he said, smiling. He then very naively, very heartlessly added, “Just like me. I can give to them all of my experience and good luck.”
Song Yu didn’t like hearing him say those kinds of words, and even felt a bit unhappy.
He flicked a dissatisfied look at Yue Zhishi before he frowned and looked ahead again. He said, a bit coolly, “Your experience is useless as a reference, and you don’t really have any luck at all.”
“Who decided that?” Yue Zhishi was very discontented. He thought he’d been very lucky.
Song Yu continued, “Just because they’re at the shelter doesn’t mean they’ll definitely be adopted. And even if they’re chosen, it doesn’t mean they’ll be adopted by a responsible family. This could always be an endless, random wait, truly dependent on luck.”
His words initially sounded very hurtful, but Song Yu’s tone changed. “You’re not like them.” Then, with a very calm expression on his face, he said something highly absurd. “You suddenly fell from the sky.”
Yue Zhishi frowned. “Am I a pie?”
Song Yu turned his face over and met his eyes. Yue Zhishi saw a glowing spot of light in his dark pupils, as well as his own face.
“Even apples could fall and hit someone.”
Song Yu used a cryptic, old metaphor, and even attempted to use a well-known scientist’s story to hide his own ulterior feelings.
“Oh,” Yue Zhishi merely said, his mind only thinking about Newton’s large curly wig in his portrait. He didn’t consider Song Yu’s words further.
But no matter what Song Yu said, Yue Zhishi secretly decided to transfer his own good luck over those stray cats, hoping each of them would have a safe and peaceful future.
Once they arrived home, Lin Rong asked them where they’d gone. Song Yu said the bookstore, and Yue Zhishi naturally acted along. Except when he’d left the house, he’d worn black clothing, and now they were very obviously covered by cat hair.
“I’m really warm, I’m going to shower,” Yue Zhishi said and ran upstairs.
Lin Rong pulled out the stuff she’d bought for her son, showing off the completely full climbing backpack she’d prepared for him. It was stuffed until bursting, and someone might’ve thought she was participating in a competition to see who could store more items into one bag.
“Look, all of these things are all very useful. Ah yes, and this pack of medicine. You have to bring this too.”
“So much stuff. Am I leaving to establish new territory?”
“Xiao Yu! How can you make fun of the great maternal love?”
“……”
Yue Zhishi went back to his room. He felt inside his pockets when he changed out of his clothes, and pulled out a wrinkled lollipop wrapper. It was from the lollipop Song Yu gave him earlier that morning.
Before he threw it away, Yue Zhishi casually flipped over for a look and frowned, accidentally discovering something.
“Strawberry milk?”
Weird.
The one he’d bought was clearly raspberry flavoured.
The author has something to say:
‘You’re the apple of my eye.’
This sentence can be traced back to the Old English period. It really is old, Shakespeare used it often. But it feels romantic in a very classical sense (at least I think so hhh)
I’m not alluding to Adam and Eve hhh (and besides, the Bible actually never said what the forbidden fruit was, later generations mistakenly turned it into apples)
I think everyone is reading too closely into the quote as love talk. It actually isn’t, Song Yu just didn’t want Le Le to see himself as a stray cat adopted by someone. He’s very very precious to the entire family, so that’s why he said it (of course, if you want to read it as spoken out of romantic love, you can! Since it’ll be hard if this pair doesn’t end up married in the future!)