The cat stood on tiptoe and breathed on the glass, the white mist forming a round cat face outline.
When her fingertip poked out triangular ears, the calico cat lying beside her suddenly looked up and meowed, startling her so much that she pressed her nose tip against the cold glass.
The puff of air happened to add a pink nose to the kitten in the picture.
The streetlamp cast the shadow of her eyelashes onto the window, and six trembling whiskers grew out from the mist.
Su Li stood quietly behind the cat, not disturbing her.
She watched the cat write both her own name and Su Li’s name on the edge of the window.
Then she began to write the names of the cats at home.
Even the smallest cardboard box, the cat did not leave out.
This year’s snow came earlier than usual. Because the house had underfloor heating, it wasn’t that cold inside.
The cat had recently learned most of the commonly used Chinese characters.
She was no longer the illiterate cat she used to be.
She could even type by herself and communicate normally with Su Li.
She had become a hardworking typing cat.
【Su Li, it’s snowing】
Su Li’s phone vibrated. She looked at her phone, opened Chi Qingyao’s picture, and took a look.
A tilted firewood door had snowdrifts like cream piled up on it.
Icicles hung from the clothesline, and sparrows left plum-blossom paw prints on the edge of a snow-covered pickle jar.
Gray-blue cooking smoke drifted from the chimney of the old house, blurring the dried persimmons airing behind the window lattice.
A red lantern swayed into a blur at the edge of the frame, and half a frozen-red finger showed in the bottom right corner of the shot.
Chi Qingyao had already gone back.
Even though she had wanted to come to the vocational school near their school, Chi Qingyao still didn’t stay too long in S City.
She only said that when winter break came, she would come to S City again to play with Su Li.
Of course, Su Li hadn’t taken her to visit S City this time.
Chi Qingyao said she didn’t have much cash on her this time, and after she went home and got more money from her parents, she would definitely have a good time next time.
When the cat found out Chi Qingyao was leaving, she was a little regretful.
Of course, it wasn’t because the cat and Chi Qingyao had a particularly good relationship.
She just regretted missing an opportunity to help Su Li make money.
The bentos she made, sold for fifty yuan at lunch every day, were quite profitable.
Compared to when she used to work part-time, fifty yuan was still a lot.
After all, she prepared lunch for Su Li and herself every day.
Making one more portion was just a matter of convenience. It didn’t actually take much effort.
In the end, under Chi Qingyao’s probing, she gave the chance to sell bentos for fifty yuan a day to Chi Qingyao.
Under the cat’s expectant and somewhat nervous gaze, Su Li still agreed to it.
Getting along with Chi Qingya wasn’t a difficult thing.
Especially now. She didn’t owe Chi Qingya anything.
The two of them weren’t even in a transactional relationship.
The person she had a transaction with was Chi Qingyao.
As long as she received the money, it was fine.
As for whether Chi Qingya was satisfied, it had nothing to do with her.
However, towards the meals the cat made, Chi Qingya had clearly become much less picky.
Su Li didn’t know if it was because the cat’s cooking tasted better than her own.
But she didn’t care about this matter. Nor did she think too much about it.
Overall, Chi Qingya hadn’t done anything to mess with people’s minds.
Su Li wondered if it was because Jin Xiangxiang and the others were no longer around.
The three of them, as if they had planned it, all took a leave of absence and didn’t come to class.
“Want to go buy some clothes you like?”
Watching the words the cat had written on the glass, which were already covered by white mist, Su Li asked.
Even though the cat knew that the words she wrote could only stay on the glass briefly, she was still very happy.
“It’ll cost a lot of money, won’t it?”
In her free time, Su Li had already helped her take care of the household registration matter.
She had also gotten her an ID card and a bank card.
She was no longer the lonely, solitary person in this world.
She also had her own identity now, in this world.
Although Su Li sent her salary on time on the first of every month, the cat was still the same as before, very reluctant to spend money and a bit unwilling to use it.
She worried that the simple company she and Su Li had started would go bankrupt.
After all, the cat felt that she was idle every day, basically just taking Su Li’s money.
She didn’t do much work either.
“No, it won’t.”
Su Li ruffled the cat’s little head.
She had prepared a wardrobe for her before, and there were some winter clothes inside.
But Su Li still hoped that the cat could be like an ordinary girl.
Earn money, spend money. Buy many little skirts she liked. Have a hobby of her own.
However, looking at it now, the cat’s hobbies could barely be categorized as saving money and eating cat food.
“Can we not spend money? The wardrobe Su Li prepared for me still has so many clothes I haven’t worn.”
“I actually think it’s a waste of money to buy new clothes.”
The cat said softly, hanging her head and hiding her small hands behind her back.
Although Su Li had prepared a bank card for her, the cat had kept it in her little box and hadn’t taken it out until now.
After all, with Su Li’s help, now whenever she wanted to buy something, she could pay directly with her phone, without the trouble of using cash like before.
“Okay, then shall we go out for a walk?”
Su Li looked at the cat and said. The cat nodded obediently, let out a sigh of relief, and happily followed behind Su Li.
Actually, when the two of them went out for a stroll, there wasn’t much to do.
They just went wherever the road took them.
If they wanted to go home, they could just take a car back.
Sometimes they could even find sick or injured stray cats.
Last time they met the cardboard box, it was when they were strolling aimlessly with Su Li.
The cat still very much wanted to use her money to help stray cats.
Of course, it was the money she earned herself.
If Su Li needed money, she would spend it on Su Li without hesitation.
But for now, it seemed Su Li didn’t need her money.
Regarding helping stray cats, Su Li actually didn’t care much.
Although the cat couldn’t read Su Li’s emotional changes, she always felt that Su Li seemed a bit more relaxed.
Although she didn’t know why Su Li had taken in so many stray cats, the cat believed that if Su Li did it, she must have her reasons.
In her past life, after the poop-scooper had picked her up, she never brought any other stray cats home.
Sometimes she had a few cats to keep her company. Sometimes she was alone again, just her one cat.
The cat noticed that since she came to Su Li’s home, Su Li seemed to rarely take care of the little cats anymore.
Of course, Su Li still fulfilled her duties as the poop-scooper.
The cat sometimes wondered: if the poop-scooper took in other stray cats, would she, like Su Li, assign the task of taking care of the other kittens to her?
But she didn’t dislike this; on the contrary, she was very happy.