Chapter 1 Fu Linglong and the Soul Binding Cage 1
It was a clear sky yesterday, but today a dark cloud came from nowhere and covered the entire city.
The temperature dropped several degrees in a drizzling rain, but I didn't feel cold because I had already run across the entire street. Although I took a shortcut, I was still so hot that I was about to catch fire.
If I hadn’t been thinking about translating that short article, I wouldn’t have encountered such a big traffic jam... What bad luck!
I was breathing heavily and couldn't help complaining to myself in my heart.
“Meow——”
A miserable cat cry caught my attention. It was unreasonable for a kitten to be outside in this weather. I hurriedly stopped and looked around for the kitten. Finally, I found a cardboard box in the gap between the electric pole and the wall. On the side of the cardboard box facing outward, there were a few big words "Please take me home". Inside was a shivering kitten who had just been born. It stood in the rain without any shelter, and I didn't know how long it had been standing there.
"Damn it, who on earth would leave such a cute kitten in a remote alley in this weather?" I couldn't help but curse, took out a tissue, squatted down and tried to wipe the kitten dry. The kitten seemed to feel the heat from my approach and called out obediently: "Meow——".
I sighed: "Oh, how could anyone be willing to abandon such a good child?" The light rain had gradually soaked my hair. The raindrops gathered on my eyebrows dripped into my eyes. I shook my head randomly and looked at the alley less than 20 meters away from me.
Walk out of this alley and walk less than 50 meters to the right, and you will reach my original destination for today - Wall Supermarket. There is a dinner special there today, and chicken wings, ham, vegetables, and bread will be half price.
Only now… I looked down at the kitten in the cardboard box again. Through the tissue, it was rubbing against my hand happily and purring with satisfaction.
"Forget it, it's just a week's worth of food. At worst I'll have to eat instant noodles for a week!" I got angry and took off my coat and covered the cardboard box with it. I tucked the umbrella under my arm and ran towards the direction I came from, carrying the cardboard box and the kitten.
Compared with being hungry and bringing a kitten home, it's nothing! Goodbye, my chicken wings and ham this week...
"Don't be afraid, we'll be there just around the corner."
Looking at the kitten's little head sticking out from under the clothes, I coaxed it gently, freeing one hand to gently pull up the clothes to cover its little head.
As I was speaking, I had already arrived at my destination - Kangbei Pet Hospital.
The fact that a pet hospital can be opened in a small detached house like this in the city center shows that the owner must be either rich or noble.
"Fu Lingmiao! Are you going to die? I've told you so many times not to come to my house unless necessary. Do you know that you are allergic to animal hair?"
As soon as the glass door opened, a boy with a shaved head rushed out, blocked my way, pointed at my nose and cursed at me.
He is the son of the owner of this pet hospital - Zhou Mian.
With his tall stature and cheerful personality, he looks like a passionate boy from a boy's comic. I don't mind Zhou Mian scolding me like this because he is an important friend of mine.
"I know, I'm here for something, don't be so nervous."
"How can I not be nervous? Forget it, it's you who is allergic, not me, and it's you who is swollen like a pig's head, not me!" Although he said that, Zhou Mian would not really ignore me.
Seeing that he was only wearing a thin shirt, I knew that he must have rushed over to me the moment he saw me, and he did not forget to take off his coat that might have been stuck with animal hair.
"In all these years, the only time I was swollen like a pig's head was when you first met me, right? The young lady will not die, don't worry."
I smiled teasingly and patted Zhou Mian's shoulder gently to ask him to relax.
When I first met Zhou Mian, he was just like he is now, so nervous that his whole body was stiff and he looked like he was about to cry, as if the person with the swollen pig head was him.
When I was six years old, I ran two blocks with the puppy I picked up that had a fever, and rushed into the place where the cook said the puppy could be saved - Kangbei Pet Hospital.
Zhou Mian, whose height just reached Uncle Zhou's thigh, tightly grasped Uncle Zhou's white coat, stared straight at me, whose whole body was swollen and red due to animal hair allergy, and whispered to Uncle Zhou: "Will my sister die? I don't want my sister to die."
Although I didn’t quite understand why six-year-old Zhou Mian thought that I, whose head was swollen like a pig, would die because of this, but compared to other kids who didn’t want to play with me because of this, Zhou Mian was really adorable.
Zhou Mian, who was stimulated by the "young lady", jumped up, rubbed his hair desperately, and paced back and forth in frustration: "Hey, hey, hey, Fu Lingmiao! Didn't you say you would never mention it again? Didn't you also cry at the top of your lungs while holding the puppy and shouting "I don't want the puppy to die"? "
"Haha, I never thought that I would transfer to another school and become your classmate, nor did I expect that we would become friends."
After hearing what I said, Zhou Mian seemed to be frozen in place, and curled his lips in dissatisfaction: "Tsk, what do you want to talk to me about?"
"I almost forgot, it's because of this!" I lifted the clothes covering the cardboard box, revealing the kitten inside, "Quick, say hello to Brother Zhou Mian."
"Meow meow--"
The kitten, feeling the light, stretched out its little head and called out in cooperation.
"Ahhh! Fu Lingmiao, do you really want to die?"
Holding the torn half of the cardboard box in my hand, I stood at the door, holding my breath, secretly lifting my foot, and trying to take a small step forward.
"Fu Lingmiao! Letting you in is my bottom line! If you move one millimeter further, I will throw you out!"
Zhou Mian seemed to have eyes on his back. He shouted loudly, completely stifling my actions.
He held a hair dryer in his hand and skillfully blew the kitten dry. Then he used a syringe with the needle removed to feed the kitten Isatis root powder.
The kitten made comfortable sounds under his hands and rubbed Zhou Mian's hand from time to time. The man and the cat were so harmonious that there was no room for another person.
I curled my lips, feeling a little unwilling. I squatted on the spot, fiddling with the half of the cardboard in my hand out of boredom, studying the words "Please take me home" on the cardboard.
I didn't expect that there are still people who would write like this. Are people who write like this trying to reduce their guilt for abandoning kittens?
If you clearly don’t want it, why do you ask others to take it home?
"Hey, Fu Lingmiao, don't be so depressed."
I don't know when Zhou Mian walked up to me, holding a cup of Isatis root powder in his hand, and tapped my head.
I dropped the cardboard box and happily took the glass and mask from his hand. Every time he reluctantly agreed to let me get close to the small animals, he would give me a mask like this.
A golden object the size of a thumb knuckle flew out of the fallen cardboard box, drew a perfect parabola, and landed on the tiles at my feet without making a sound.
I bent down curiously to pick it up. When my fingers just touched it, I was surprised by the cold touch of metal. I muttered to myself: How can a piece of metal not make a sound when it hits the tile? When I picked it up, I found that this was not an ordinary piece of metal, but a very delicate gold sculpture. The exquisite carving can be compared with the Walnut Boat in the Walnut Boat Record.
"Such an exquisite thing, whether it is made of gold or not, must be very valuable, right? Who put it in here?" I muttered to myself as I stared at the golden carved palace in my hand, my eyes almost becoming cross-eyed.
"What are you doing? Don't you usually rush over to see your beloved kitten?"
Zhou Mian turned around to heat up milk for the kitten and looked at me who was not coming closer, and couldn't help but ask me curiously.
"Look at this! I found it in a cardboard box. It looks very valuable."
I happily walked over and handed the golden eagle palace in my hand to Zhou Mian like offering a treasure.
The kitten felt me approaching, stopped drinking milk, raised its little head and called me sweetly.
I was startled and glanced at Zhou Mian cautiously. He was studying the golden eagle palace and didn't look at me.
What a good opportunity! I secretly stretched out a finger and gently touched the kitten's head. I felt it! A furry little head!
Just as I was about to withdraw the finger that had committed the crime, the kitten tilted its head and gently licked my finger with its wet tongue with small fleshy thorns. The slight pain was transmitted from the skin to my heart.
I stared at my finger, my mind going blank: "I'm going to name it!"
"Ah? I say, give me this thing to pay off my debt!" Zhou Mian looked at me with a sly smile, holding up the golden eagle palace. "It looks very valuable. You said how many abandoned kittens and puppies you have sent to my house since you were little, and I took care of them for free every time. Now it's time for you to repay me."
"I want to give it a name! It's small, so let's call it Linglong, Fu Linglong! How about calling it Fu Linglong?"
I put the fingers I had used to commit the crime behind my back and looked straight at Zhou Mian, hoping that he would agree to my excessive request.
Since I was little, every time I saw abandoned kittens and puppies, I couldn't just ignore them. But my damn animal hair allergy didn't allow me to have too much contact with them, so the only way was to take them to Zhou Mian's pet hospital.
Kittens and puppies that are well groomed will always meet someone who likes them and be taken home.
All I did was bring it here, and I never overstepped the line. But this time, the kitten seemed to be unexpectedly close to me, which made me a little shaken.
"Ah? You want to give this thing a name? Soul Binding Cage? Even if you have to name it, it should be a palace or a hall... something like a cage?"
Zhou Mian looked puzzled. He looked at me, then at the golden palace in his hand. Finally, he scared me with a wicked smile: "Maybe there really is something strange locked up inside. Do you think this floor tile looks like a talisman? It's so tight. Are you scared?"
"What? It's just a kitten. My dear friend, are you obsessed with playing games? This game is not suitable for Africans like you."
I rubbed my fingers, which had just been licked, vigorously with my hands behind my back.
"I got it!"
Zhou Mian's eyes suddenly lit up, and he turned his back mysteriously and lowered his head to busy himself. I couldn't guess what he was doing, so I had to wait patiently for him to show me what he had done.
After a while, Zhou Mian turned to look at me with a smug look on his face and stretched out a fist towards me: "Dangdang! Look, do you like it? It has been disinfected, you can wear it as a pendant."
Zhou Mian opened his fist and a red rope hung down. Two rows of symmetrical flower knots were woven in the middle of the rope, and the golden eagle palace was hung at the bottom.
"Don't you mean to pay off a debt?" I was a little slow to react. I took the red rope in a daze and held it in my hand.
Zhou Mian waved his hand nonchalantly, lowered his head and began to stroke the kitten's fur: "Forget it, you can never pay me back what you owe me. Wake up! I'll pay you back slowly in this lifetime."
I pursed my lips, held the red string tightly in my palm, and nodded solemnly: "Yes."
"What are you doing? I was just kidding." Zhou Mian didn't even look up. He wrapped one finger around the kitten's tail and twisted it to play with it. "Are you saying you want to name the kitten? I thought you wanted to name this golden eagle, hahaha. Linglong, Fu Linglong, I'm calling you, meow."
"Meow——" Linglong seemed to understand and called out in a very obedient manner.
Zhou Mian and I were surprised, looked at each other, and laughed at the same time. It seems that Linglong and I are indeed destined to be together.
"Okay, say goodbye to Linglong. You've been here for twenty minutes, so hurry back home. Have you finished translating the documents for Nie?"
After Zhou Mian glanced at the time, he pulled me towards the door without saying a word, as if I would die if I stayed there for another second.
I didn't dare argue with him, so I had to let him push me out the door.
To be honest, although I've almost gotten used to it and I understand his worries, I still feel a little unhappy inside... really just a little bit.
