The night had fallen.
Jasmine was a bit hungry. It circled around Lu Yiyun’s feet and rubbed her legs, reminding her that it was time for food.
Lu Yiyun rubbed her eyes and yawned. After seeing how late it was, she quickly saved her unfinished painting and started to pack things.
“Wang Qian, Li Kun, let’s call it a day,” she said.
Wang Qian and Li Kun were usually gone before this hour; however, they were still hanging around the shop––sitting together and playing mobile games––in order to keep Lu Yiyun company.
After hearing this, they stretched themselves and looked at the time. “Master should be on the plane now, right? If he didn’t send a message, then everything should be fine and his phone must be off.”
“Maybe,” Lu Yiyun said hopefully.
The three of them worked together and cleaned up the shop with ease. In fact, there was not much to clean, anyway.
After cleaning, Wang Qian and Li Kun left. Lu Yiyun carried Jasmine in her backpack and put the graphic tablet under her arm, then pulled the shutter door down with a quick motion. She locked the door while singing the theme songs from the latest episodes of the animation gently, then walked towards the residential area on the other side of the road with light steps.
After a day of tiresome work, some of the commuters went straight home, while others went in groups to grab a drink. Sporadic laugher could be heard throughout the street.
The smell of cooking food, which drifted from the kitchens of the residents, filled the old school residential area. The residents were replenishing their energy for their hungry stomachs, as well as providing strength for the hard work that awaited them the next day.
Everything seemed normal.
With or without Zhang Zian, Binhai City was operating as usual; hardly anyone had noticed that he had left at all.
Lu Yiyun returned to her rental house, fed Jasmine, and continued on with her painting.
Time flew by.
******
Uncle Li and Aunt Li closed their restaurant door with satisfaction. The couple sat together, calculating how much money they had made that day.
******
On the plane, Zhang Zian put on an eye mask and tried to sleep.
Famous had some trouble adapting to the oxygen chamber and was feeling hungry. Sleepiness came anyway, however, and it closed its eyes.
******
Lu Yiyun yawned and looked at the time. She turned off her computer and went to shower as she began getting ready for bed.
******
Everything seemed normal; however, in a suburb of Binhai City, a flash of a dark shadow passed by in a hurry.
The shadow’s eyes were shining bright under the moonlight, resembling a cat.
A savvy person could recognize right away that this was a skinny, stray Siamese cat that just reached adulthood. Its body was filthy, as if it often scavenged for food in the garbage and had not bathed in a long time.
Most stray cats were mongrel, but recently, some pedigree cats had become strays, all of which came from the Love Lovely Pets breeding base. Most of the escaped cats and dogs had found new homes, but a few unlucky ones had never found favor in anybody’s eyes––that, or they were never found by people for other reasons.
As spring approached, these new stray cats were copulating with the local stray cats. In two months time, many new kittens were about to be born, which would further expand the stray cat family of Binhai City.
This Siamese cat came from Love Lovely Pets. Not long ago, it followed everyone in the night to escape the breeding base without knowing any better. After entering the city, it went astray.
It had a chance to be picked by someone, but the experience at Love Lovely Pets–– where it had been starved, beaten, and scolded for no reason––made it scared of people. It didn’t like human contact and was always trying to avoid people at all costs.
After the cat-picking fever in the first few days had passed, fewer and fewer people were picking up cats. People who wanted to get free pedigree cats gathered online, then waited to pick one up in the city forum. Some people had caught several cats at once, and they might give them––either at a low price or for free––if they could not handle them. Those who had successfully found cats via the online forum were so satisfied, as if they had found ten billion dollars on the street.
The hungry Siamese cat came out of its hiding place and scavenged the garbage nearby every night for food.
It had become a stray and it was fine to be that way. It had the big, wide world all to itself. Although it didn’t have food available all the time like a regular pet cat, it was spared from being castrated.
It had slowly adapted to the life of a stray, in which it searched for food in the garbage at night, bathed in the sun on the roof during the day, and fought for territory with other stray cats.
Binhai City was a rich place, and now it was Spring Festival time. There was a rich variety of food in the garbage––almost enough for a full table of Manchu Han Imperial Feast. It didn’t really need to fight for territory, but it was part of their ancient instinct.
In a few short days since its escape from the breeding base, it had even harvested love and impregnated a white mongrel cat. It had become a father without even knowing about it.
Life was supposed to continue peacefully like this; however, the garbage in which it had been scavenging was now occupied by a fat, orange cat. The Siamese cat was too skinny to fight the fat, orange cat, and it was quickly chased away from its old territory.
The cat was fine. This was the jungle rule in the wilderness. Since it could not beat the intruder, it had to change its spot. Before it had time to say goodbye to the white mongrel cat, it continued on its journey.
Gradually, it realized that most of the people in the world were good; there were often chubby housewives that tossed food to the roof to feed the cats, and young university students also bought cat food and put it where the stray cats gathered.
These hot spots had already been occupied by other stray cats, though, and they were very sensitive to intruders of their territory. The Siamese cat was often chased away before it could finish even a few bites. At night fall, it snuck back quietly and picked up some left-overs to feed its hungry stomach.
It had a few bites of cold and dry cat food bits on the roof. It lifted its head suddenly and saw another Siamese cat glancing at it through the window of the third floor apartment in the residential building nearby.
That Siamese cat looked just like itself––maybe it escaped from Love Lovely Pets as well. The fur coat of that cat was clean and tidy, though, and its figure was plump. It yawned out of boredom and stared at it with curiosity and a hint of pity, as if it was wondering why it was eating the trash.
A silhouette flashed by the window. A pretty, young girl carried the Siamese cat in her arms and took out two cans of cat food of different flavors, asking it to pick. The Siamese cat chose the salmon flavored cat food with a bored expression on its face.
It was an adopted cat, no doubt, and lived a fancy life with good food and a warm house. It didn’t know what cold and hungry meant.
The Siamese cat outside the window bowed its head with humiliation and looked at its filthy and stinky body. It was still hungry, and the last bits of the cat food on the roof was already gone. Its left eye was aching with blurry vision. It seemed to be infected and was oozing pus.
Separated by the window, the two cats seemed to be in two different worlds.
It suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of regret. Why was it avoiding people? If it embraced them bravely in the beginning, it would have become the cat with fancy food in a warm house…
It had been proven, as a matter of fact, that most people in this world were good…. right?
Therefore, it changed its mind and decided not to be a stray cat anymore. It craved human affection. How bad could castration be, anyway? It had already passed down its genes, so it had nothing to lose.
It jumped off the roof and ran up the street happily. It went over to each person that it came across and tried to play cute like the other Siamese cat. It hoped that one of them would take it home so that it could eat a good meal, take a bath, and get the left eye treated.
It was not very presentable at this moment, though––it was filthy and stinky. Except the people who were savvy in cats, nobody could recognize that it was a pedigree cat. Even if they did, they might hesitate as soon as they saw its infected left eye and pictured the expensive medical bill.
People avoided it out of disgust and were afraid of getting their New Year’s new clothes dirty. They intimidated their children by saying, “Don’t touch that stray cat. It’s carrying nasty germs, and it will bite you!”
After struggling for most of the night, nobody was willing to pause in front of it. It was getting even hungrier.
Whatever. Just let it be…
It bowed its head out of despair. Since nobody was willing to take it home, it would have to fight for territory with other stray cats.
“Mimi! Mimi! Mimi! Come here. Mimi!” Somebody was making a strange sound not too far in front of the cat. He seemed to be mimicking a cat meowing.
The cat found it kind of funny. Was this guy a fool? What kind of cat made a “mimi” sound?
The aroma of salmon came from the same direction as the sound. It seemed to be a high-end, canned fish, maybe the same one that the Siamese cat was eating at home.
It lifted its eyes to look forward. It was a friendly-looking young man, squatting on the ground with an opened cat food can in one hand. He to it gently. “Mimi, come here! I have good food for you.”
Was this a dream?
It could not believe its eyes. Was it hallucinating because of its infected left eye?
Even if its eye was hallucinating, could its nose and ears be precepting hallucinations, too?
It hesitated, but could not resist the temptation of food. It ran towards the man with big paces.
The man laughed, took out a piece of salmon from the can and waved towards it. “Come, mimi. Come here if you want some.”
It grabbed the salmon fillet with its teeth and swallowed it after chewing it a few times.
Yummy! So yummy!
It had never tasted such great food, even in the the Love Lovely Pets breeding base.
It stared at the canned fish in his hand, and its vision blurred a little.
“Do you want more?” The man stayed in the same squatting position, and lifted his eyes to glance through the crowd with the same smile on his face. “If you want more, come here.”
He stood up, took another fillet of salmon in his hand, then turned back and walked a few steps to lure it.
Actually, he didn’t need to do this, as the cat had already decided to go with him. It hoped that he could adopt it. Even if it could not live a fancy life, at least it wouldn’t be a stray any more.
The cat followed the man in obedience and left the busy street. After a few turns and detours, it entered a dark and secluded alley.
The young man waited for it every few steps and waved the fish fillet to make sure that it didn’t get lost.
Finally, he stopped and turned back with a smile. The gentleness in his eyes was gone, and they turned cold.
“Look. Here is another one,” he said.