novelraw Chapter 296
Chapter 296
Chapter 296: The Curtain Will Always Fall
Years later.
The pet hospital, which had been in preparation for half a year, finally opened.
The pet hospital was named ‘Dragon Dragon Loving Pet Hospital’.
This name was given by Lucia.
Xia Li reminded her that if she wanted to use the words ‘loving heart’, she had to bear certain social responsibilities.
Such as animal rescue, arranging for stray cats and dogs to be neutered, and so on.
Lucia clapped her hands and said, “Isn’t that perfect!”
Xia Li thought about it, and it was true.
This dragon loved small animals so much, although small animals didn’t like her very much, but that was the nature of dragons. In the future, their pet hospital would be half business and half welfare.
Anyway, they were not short of money.
A small loss is not a loss.
As the ribbon-cutting ceremony ended, flower baskets symbolizing the opening of the new store lined up in two rows at the door.
Xia Li didn’t have many friends after graduating from university, but his childhood playmates had always kept in touch. These flower baskets were arranged by Peach, Monkey, and Round.
They said they had to make the scene grand for Xia Li, so the three brothers bought two pairs each, just enough to fill the doorway.
Looking at the confetti and fireworks all over the sky, Xia Li stood with the ‘rich second generation’ Qin Chuan.
Qin Chuan’s face was filled with relief, as if he had finally completed half a year’s work and could finally deliver it.
As for Xia Li, he had a blank expression.
To be honest, Xia Li didn’t feel anything about it.
Most of the decoration and equipment here were purchased by Qin Chuan, Xia Li was only responsible for swiping his card and making decisions, even the documents were run by Qin Chuan, Xia Li would only leave the dragon’s lair when he had to, wander around outside, and then rush back home with delicious roast duck and roast chicken to feed his wife.
So, in the blink of an eye, the pet hospital was actually taking shape and preparing to open, Xia Li was still not mentally prepared.
“Dean, please.”
Qin Chuan took a work badge with the words ‘Dean’ printed on it and hung it around Xia Li’s neck.
Xia Li came back to his senses and looked at the work badge on his chest.
Then, he took off his work badge and casually hung it on the head of Wuqi, who was licking his paws and washing his face at his feet.
“Meow???”
Wuqi was full of question marks.
『Brother, what are you doing!!』
“Dean Wu, let’s go.” Xia Li said, looking down.
Wuqi, the stray cat who was suddenly hung with a work badge, widened his golden eyes.
『No, guys. 』
『I still have a date with Xiaohua, I don’t want to be the dean!!』
“What Xiaohua Xiaohua, that’s the dean’s wife. I’ll leave a room for you later, you can bring your girlfriends in to live when you’re free, I’ll provide you with food and water, so you don’t have to go to Qin Chuan’s house every day, the two couples over there are kissing and hugging every day, how inconvenient it is for you.”
Xia Li squatted down and petted the cat, his voice was very low, others only thought he was talking to himself.
“Meow???”
Hearing this, Wuqi’s mood, which had been wanting to refuse, suddenly took a big turn.
He looked up in surprise, his eyes at Xia Li had changed.
『Really, brother??』
『Can I bring Xiaohua and Li Jie over together??』
“The premise is that you have to be the dean.”
Xia Li was afraid that if he said too much, Xiao Xia and Old Xia would hear him, so he stood up and added finally.
“I’ll send you the things you need to do on your watch later.”
Anyway, Xia Li thought it was quite interesting to let Wuqi be the dean.
The identity of ‘Dean’, if placed on a certain person, would invisibly put pressure on people, but it was different when placed on a cat.
Where did a cat get moral constraints? The guests who came to the pet hospital were all animal lovers, the cat dean would be praised for doing well or badly, maybe in the future, Wuqi, the dean cat, could become an internet celebrity.
Xia Li had already thought about it, in the future, he would open a live broadcast of Dragon Dragon Loving Pet Hospital and let Wuqi perform his talents in the live broadcast room.
This way of bringing goods, wouldn’t it be ten or a hundred times stronger than those online ‘family members, three, two, one, link’?
“What are you standing there for, go and see your son’s shop.”
After the fireworks were over, Fang Xia pulled Xia Yuanjun, who was beside her, into the house.
The only pets the couple had ever raised in their lives besides Xia Li were goldfish in a fish tank. After Xia Yuanjun entered the shop, he looked around, always wanting to say something, but didn’t know where to start.
After strolling around the reception room and the consultation room, Xia Yuanjun went to the laboratory to touch and look around, and finally squeezed out a sentence.
“This is good, this is good…”
“…”
Fang Xia glared at her old man and dragged him out of the house.
“What are you doing staying in here, don’t break anything, the hygiene conditions here are very high, you don’t change your shoes or wear gloves, get out.”
“It’s okay, Mom, we’re not going to start the equipment until a few days later, today is just a trial run, mainly recharge and get a card and deworming medicine or something.” Lucia followed the two old people and explained.
Seeing that her daughter-in-law had followed, Fang Xia hurriedly dropped the old man’s arm and went to hug Lucia’s wrist.
“Xiao Lu, let’s go out, there’s formaldehyde in here after the renovation, don’t stay inside for too long.”
“Mom, Xia Li has done whole-house formaldehyde removal several times, we only take in sick and weak small animals here, the environmental requirements are very strict…”
Lucia explained enthusiastically as she followed Fang Xia out.
Xia Li did not accompany the old couple to visit his shop.
He discussed some things with Qin Chuan at the door, and then called a group of cheap and easy-to-use college students.
Stuffing stacks of thick leaflets into the hands of these college students, Xia Li handed each of them a cup of milk tea, and then told them that if customers actively added the WeChat official account, they would get a commission.
Most of these college students were doing part-time jobs for the first time, not only did they get a free cup of milk tea, but after hearing that there was a commission, they were even more excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood.
“No problem, boss!”
“Boss, if I ask my classmates to add your official account, can that count as a commission? My classmate has cats and dogs at home, she will definitely need it.”
“Boss, do you provide lunch, if so, we’ll come back in the afternoon!”
“Yes, no problem, even if you pull your eighty-year-old grandma to add our official account, I’ll count it as a commission. You must have lunch, I’ll treat you to KFC.” Xia Li said kindly.
“The boss is so generous!”
For this kind of small part-time job, it was rare to meet such a nice boss. A group of college students were clamoring and left with more than ten pounds of leaflets on their backs.
Their own lively way of publicity was very effective, just standing at the intersection, some people looked over curiously.
Xia Li looked at their leaving backs and couldn’t help but sigh, it’s good to be young.
He used to be like this too.
“Xia Li, Mom asked you what kind of activities you have for the opening today, she wants to help you promote it in her WeChat Moments… Mom said she has a lot of friends in Qingcheng City.”
Turning his head, Xia Li saw the big-bellied dragon had bounced over.
She hugged Xia Li’s arm, not at all diminishing her lively mood because of the weight of her body.
Lucia was wearing a long, wide, off-white down jacket, the reflective fabric of the down jacket made her small face look white and soft.
She took out a small biscuit from somewhere and stuffed it into Xia Li’s mouth, Xia Li was caught off guard by the bite of the biscuit.
Xia Li mumbled with his mouth full and led Lucia into the house by the hand.
“The activities are all on the flyers, wait a minute, I’ll send her the electronic pictures.”
Xia Li went into the house to drink water, his office was in the innermost room, as soon as he pushed the door open, there was a leisurely and elegant decoration, the smell of sandalwood wafted into his nose.
Although Xia Li at this age had not yet reached the point of returning to nature and appreciating the Chinese style, this low-key but elegant tone was just right for use here.
“Boss’s wife, don’t be polite, come and sit down.”
Xia Li sat down on the boss’s chair and patted his thigh imposingly.
Seeing this, Lucia was not polite and sat directly on it.
“Do you want tea or snacks?”
Xia Li asked casually and pulled open the drawer under the table.
Generally speaking, when the boss’s drawer is pulled open, it is either contracts and seals, or cigarettes, alcohol, and tea.
But Xia Li’s drawer was full of snacks.
No other reason, all prepared for Lucia.
Xia Li was worried that this dragon would be hungry every day when she came to watch him work, so he prepared a full drawer of snacks for her.
Lucia had been here twice before, today was the first time she discovered the snacks in Xia Li’s drawer.
Her eyes lit up, as if she had discovered a treasure, she opened her mouth and let out a long “Wow~~” sound.
“I also have self-heating hot pot here, but I can’t eat it today, Xiao Xia will be mad…”
“Son, you have a lot of equipment in that lab, the last time I had a physical examination, the doctor said my cholesterol was high, and I haven’t had a recheck since then, why don’t you ask Xiao Liu from your shop to test it for me.”
Fang Xia was also not polite when she entered the boss’s office, seeing the words ‘Xia Li’ hanging on the doorplate, she pushed the door and came in, talking as she walked.
“…”
Lucia was still sitting on Xia Li’s lap, her hands hanging around his neck, acting coquettishly.
Suddenly, her mother came in, she had nowhere to hide, her cheeks flushed red.
In the past, she could still forcefully throw the ‘blame’ on Xia Li, but today her posture was too active, even if she wanted to be coy and blame Xia Li for kissing and hugging in the office, it wouldn’t make sense.
Xia Li looked down and saw the evil dragon’s blushing little face, he couldn’t help but smile.
They’ve been an old married couple for so long, and they’re still so shy.
Kissing her smooth forehead, Xia Li put Lucia back on the chair and went to the door to greet Fang Xia.
“Mom, this is veterinary equipment, the accuracy is not high, you should go to the hospital to check it out, I’ll accompany you.”
“I’m not going, it’s normal for us to have some old problems at our age, it doesn’t matter if it’s not convenient here… but I’ve made an appointment for Xiao Lu’s prenatal checkup the day after tomorrow, you have to make time to take her there.”
“I know.”
The door closed with a creak, Xia Li gave Lucia a look as he left.
There was a water dispenser in the corner, if she wanted to eat self-heating hot pot, she could go and get it herself, but be careful not to burn herself.
Lucia blinked at Xia Li and secretly took out a small hot pot from the boss’s drawer.
◈◈◈
Before going to the formal People’s Hospital for the prenatal checkup, Xia Li actually used the equipment of the pet hospital to test Lucia’s blood.
He had this plan from the beginning, because he was always unsure what the difference was between Lucia’s blood and human blood, so he had been trying to find an opportunity to test Lucia.
Some time ago, he happened to hear Qin Chuan say that he wanted to take some samples to test the accuracy of the instrument, Xia Li slapped his thigh, wouldn’t this be the opportunity?
A total of five blood samples were taken, Xia Li, Lucia, Cotton, Wuqi, and a ‘volunteer’ kitten downstairs in the apartment complex.
The results showed that Cotton, Wuqi, and the volunteer kitten’s blood values were all within the reference range for cats, while Lucia and Xia Li’s were within the reference range for humans.
And, Lucia’s various hormone indicators were all within the range of human pregnant women.
Only then did Xia Li feel relieved and turned around to agree to the prenatal checkup that Fang Xia had been putting off.
What made Xia Li even more relieved was that the prenatal checkup went smoothly.
The baby in Lucia’s belly was very healthy.
And, it was a complete human form.
Xia Li had heard Lucia talk about the dragon race’s way of gestation.
If a dragon cub was conceived in the form of a giant dragon, the dragon egg would have to be carried in the belly for two to ten years, and from the time the egg was laid to the time it hatched, this was another very long process, the dragon cub born in this state would have a natural advantage in strength.
And conceiving offspring in a human body only took ten months.
Ten months, in such a short period of time, was simply not enough for the dragon cub to develop the horns and dragon wings that symbolized strength, so the offspring conceived in human form were human cubs.
Only after absorbing enough magic power in the future, and the body undergoing secondary development, would the cub slowly grow the physical characteristics of a giant dragon.
Therefore, even if the most advanced ultrasound was used to give Lucia a prenatal checkup, the child in Lucia’s belly would look like a human cub.
However, modern doctors would not tell the sex of the child.
For Xia Li and Lucia, whether it was a daughter or a son born, it was purely a blind box.
As the day got closer and closer, Xia Li had prepared maternity and baby supplies.
Diapers, ear thermometer, baby pillow, baby bottle, milk powder, baby bottle sterilizer, constant temperature kettle, baby bottle brush, food processor…
The list that Fang Xia made for Xia Li was more than thirty items long. Xia Li ran to all the maternity and baby stores around his house, and finally resorted to online shopping to get everything in one go.
As for the style and color, Xia Li defaulted to pink.
Xia Li had already thought about it, no matter whether it was a son or a daughter, he would raise it as a daughter for two years first, and enjoy being a daughter’s father first.
In April of the same year.
The due date the doctor had set for Lucia was in early May, and now there were less than twenty days left until the due date.
The pet hospital business was still in full swing, Xia Li went out early and came back late, thinking about his wife at home, and also thinking about the newly opened shop, he was so busy every day that he wished he could split himself into two pieces and take care of both sides.
The pet hospital at this stage was just starting to operate, the doctors and staff hired were still a loose group, it wouldn’t make sense for Xia Li, as the boss, not to show up every day.
Not only did he have to go, but he also had to go several times, have a meeting when he had nothing to do, at least he could unite everyone.
This kind of team-based service method was the most challenging in terms of the word ‘harmony’. Harmony between employees, harmony between employees and customers, harmony between employees and the boss…
As long as the atmosphere was created, then the service and word of mouth would naturally follow.
Fortunately, Xia Li started the business with the mentality of ‘making a loss-making business’, so he had nothing to say about employee benefits, often paying out of his own pocket to organize team building activities for employees, and during holidays, he would generously give out cards and money, which made the employees full of energy and enthusiasm for their work.
When the employees are happy, the customers will be happy, when the customers are happy, the boss will be happy.
A virtuous cycle, a conscientious cycle.
No wonder many young people now complain about work and are unwilling to work, sometimes they have to find the reason in the boss.
When work benefits are improved and people are taken care of, no one wants to go to work with a sad face every day.
“Boss, this is last month’s financial report.”
In the office, Xia Li was chatting with his wife and sending sweet messages, he was recording a kiss and flying kiss when the office door was knocked on, Xia Li pressed his pouting lips several times before he managed to suppress them.
Sister Wang, the sales manager who entered, seemed to be accustomed to the lovey-dovey picture of their boss and his wife. She put a document on the table and summarized.
“Now more and more people are recharging their cards and spending, accounting for 80%, most of these 80% are attracted from live streaming group purchases, which proves that our conversion rate is high, and the stickiness is also high, this is a good start…”
Sister Wang reported last month’s turnover in a few words.
She had been engaged in marketing and sales promotion for more than ten years, this was the first time she had handled such a worry-free business.
She didn’t even have to work hard, the customers just kept flowing in.
A boss who was willing to spend money, a shop in a prime location, and a live broadcast room that could easily break 10,000 online viewers every day.
It could be said that they had mastered the traffic password.
Especially their dean.
That cow cat was also strange, every day when the live broadcast room was opened, it would start to show off its talents in various ways, under its amazing crazy performance, it attracted a lot of tips, not to mention the people who came to visit in person.
There were even fans who came from other provinces, they didn’t bring their pets, but they still spent five hundred yuan to get a membership card and buy some random pet supplies back, the purpose of doing this was to be able to pet their dean openly.
However, there were also haters who deliberately said that Dragon Dragon Loving Pet Hospital abused and trained cats, and that Dean Wuqi was so funny because he was abused and trained.
These rumors were debunked after more and more fans came to visit and verify.
Dean Wuqi didn’t have any injuries on his body, he was not only healthy and slightly chubby, but also not afraid of people, these performances were not at all like those of an abused animal.
On the contrary, those haters who deliberately smeared Dragon Dragon Loving Pet Hospital were found out to be peers, and ended up getting burned.
“Good, good.”
After reading the financial report, Xia Li casually took a picture and sent it to Fang Xia.
Xiao Xia had been working hard at home to accompany Lucia instead of Xia Li, Xia Li naturally wanted to make her happy when something good happened.
“I said before, if we make money, we’ll share the dividends, this month’s performance bonus will be increased by 1,000, we’ve only been open for a few months, it’s the time when we need everyone to spread their passion and build a good reputation, I don’t know what everyone likes, so I’ll just give out money.”
Xia Li waved his hand, Sister Wang’s expression on her face lifted a few more points.
She was entrusted with the important task of knocking on the boss’s office door, just to get this result.
“Boss, I heard that the boss’s wife is due next month, we pooled our money to buy a baby chair… no other meaning, just think that when the madam brings the baby to play, the baby can have a special place to sit, hehe, everyone loves small animals, naturally also love children… you see, why don’t you put the baby chair in your office.”
This was Sister Wang’s second task today, she said with a gentle smile.
Xia Li was holding his phone, just after sending the financial report to Fang Xia, the phone flipped back to Lucia’s chat window, he was sending Lucia kissing emoticons.
Coming back to his senses and hearing Sister Wang’s words, Xia Li first finished typing two lines.
Summer Dawn: Wife, colleagues bought you a baby chair!!
Summer Dawn: Do you want to bring the baby to play here in the future, and accompany Dad to work by the way, wuuwuuuwuu.
Calmly clicking send, Xia Li looked up again, the expression on his face was still the dignified look a boss should have.
“Okay, just put it here.”
After saying that, he took a picture with a click and sent it to Lucia.
Summer Dawn: Wife, wife, shall we put the baby chair next to my chair?
Sister Wang closed the door gently as she left.
The corners of their boss’s mouth were almost crooked into a war god’s smile.
This couple was a model couple in the company.
Sweetness, it’s nice.
◈◈◈
Xia Li always felt that taking good care of the employees’ emotions was also the responsibility of a boss.
For these employees recruited from the talent market and through referrals from friends, it was inevitable that there would be a running-in period and an adaptation period.
And in order to shorten these two periods, Xia Li chose to use the power of money.
It was like, giving the horse more grass to eat, and then letting the horse run faster.
A very conscientious capitalist.
However, the power of money was indeed a superpower in modern times, but it was not universal.
For example, on Dean Wuqi.
Apart from providing him with enough food and water, and giving him a single room to flirt with female cats, Xia Li didn’t seem to be able to do anything else.
Wuqi worked diligently for eight hours a day, playing cute and acting silly in the live broadcast room, attracting countless customers.
Among the customers who recharged their cards and became members of Dragon Dragon Loving Pet Hospital, more than half were attracted by Wuqi, and then these customers were impressed by the attentive service and advanced equipment here, and finally successfully converted into regular customers.
It could be said that Wuqi contributed greatly to the smooth sailing of the pet hospital since its opening two or three months ago.
Based on the principle of ‘long-term flow’, Xia Li decided to give Wuqi a few days off.
He was also afraid of tiring the cat out.
After all, it was a cat’s body, and it was a cat that had been neutered, Xia Li was afraid that he would not be able to handle it physically.
“Meow!!”
『Who said I can’t handle it, I can handle it very well!』
『I work during the day to earn cat food, and at night I take the cat food to flirt with girls, it’s beautiful!』
In the break room, Xia Li turned off the live broadcast and lay on the sofa with Wuqi, one person and one cat resting.
Xia Li opened a can of cat food for Wuqi, Wuqi ate two bites and then licked his paws, jumped off the sofa gracefully, and went to drink water in the corner.
This hard-working live broadcast performance really tired him out.
◈◈◈
The key is, he’s a big tomcat who has to act cute in front of the camera to satisfy his fans’ quirks.
Fortunately, Wuqi is a veteran of acting cute and coquettish, so he didn’t lose face in front of his fans.
Wuqi is still very confident in this aspect.
If he really gets going, those sweet little female cats won’t stand a chance.
“Meow.”
『 Seriously, I wasn’t even this dedicated during my college entrance exams. 』
Wuqi sighed. Canned cat food wasn’t satisfying enough for him; he still preferred crunchy cat food.
A real tomcat should eat hard stuff!
“I gave you a day off, and you’re really not taking a break?”
“Meow.”
『 No break. 』
Wuqi flatly rejected Xia Li’s kindness.
Xia Li thought to himself, this cat is really strange.
Wuqi is considered half-human, who actually loves work and refuses to take a break?
Xia Li was very worried about Wuqi’s current mental state.
Could he have really gone crazy from doing live streams…?
Even though Xia Li usually liked to exploit Wuqi, he still felt a little guilty seeing his cat brother working so hard for his career.
“Come on, don’t you like to go out for a stroll? You haven’t been out for months. It’s okay to go out and relax, don’t just stay in this live stream room all the time,” Xia Li persuaded.
『 Who says I haven’t been out? I go out every night to pee and solidify my status in the cat world! 』
Wuqi retorted forcefully.
Although the cat’s tone was sarcastic, he actually appreciated Xia Li’s kindness.
『 Honestly, I used to think I was just a cat, with no self-worth in human society… 』
Wuqi’s tone changed, suddenly becoming gentle.
He confessed.
『 But during this time doing live streams, I realized that I can actually be a ‘person,’ a creature recognized by society. 』
『 Hehe, there are actually people who need me… This feeling is pretty good. 』
Wuqi finished speaking to himself, then raised his head, looking at Xia Li with a mix of pride and sophistication.
『 You wouldn’t know, but last month a little girl sent me a private message. She wrote me a long message, saying she was a mental health patient, always feeling that the world was meaningless and had no energy for anything, not knowing why she lived every day… But after watching my live stream, she said she became interested in life, and her greatest joy every day was waiting for my live stream in the afternoon. She said she loved watching my live streams the most, that I was the one who helped her out of her predicament, and that she would work hard to engage with society, work and save money, and come to Sichuan Province to see me. 』
As he spoke, Wuqi proudly raised his neck.
He truly felt great from the bottom of his heart.
It turns out, even a neutered cat can be needed by someone.
『 I replied to her private message, and she didn’t believe me when I told her it was really me! 』
Wuqi said, holding his head high.
Xia Li laughed after hearing this.
“No normal person would believe it, you’re just a cat in her eyes.”
『 Yes, I am a useful cat. 』 Wuqi nodded.
Xia Li hummed in agreement.
He thought so too.
Being recognized by society, this was what Wuqi, who had been a cat for twenty-two years, truly desired.
『 Oh, right. 』
Wuqi waved his paw, scrolling through his smartwatch.
When he was live streaming with his assistant by his side, Wuqi didn’t dare to show himself as too human. Only when he was alone, or when he was alone with Xia Li, did he have the opportunity to take out his watch and look through the private messages in his account’s backstage.
The colleagues at the pet hospital all thought that these accounts were managed by the boss, but in reality, Xia Li had long since thrown the accounts to Wuqi.
After quickly flipping through the watch interface a few times, Wuqi couldn’t find what he was looking for, so he jumped onto the coffee table, unlocked a tablet with his paw print, and continued to browse his account on the larger screen.
『 Look at this. 』
“What about it?”
Xia Li thought he had something important to say, so he quickly leaned over to look.
The screen displayed Wuqi’s personal account favorites. He opened the favorites and clicked on the first video.
Soon, a string of gibberish that Xia Li couldn’t understand appeared.
The video content was the daily chatter of a rural family, nothing substantial, probably just casually filmed to record life. The video only had two likes, one presumably from the creator themselves, and the other from Wuqi.
“What about this video? I don’t understand it.”
Xia Li watched for a while but couldn’t make sense of it.
In his opinion, it was just an ordinary short video.
『 Listen to the voices. 』
“I don’t understand it.” Xia Li shook his head.
Wuqi’s eyes lit up.
『 You don’t understand, right? That’s right! 』
『 I understand it! 』
Wuqi’s tone was a little excited, and Xia Li looked at him suspiciously.
He seriously suspected that this cat was really having mental problems.
『 Didn’t I tell you, I’m from Jiangsu Province! The dialect spoken in this video is obviously from our area! 』
“You mean…”
Xia Li finally understood. He held the tablet upright and watched it more carefully this time.
“Your hometown is here?”
“Meow!”
『 Yes! 』
『 I’m sure, the dialect in this video is from the place where I used to live! 』
As Xia Li listened to him, he opened the video creator’s interface.
As Wuqi said, the creator’s IP address showed Jiangsu Province.
“I’ll ask for you.”
As Xia Li spoke, he directly clicked on the private message interface.
He had previously offered to help Wuqi find his hometown.
But at that time, Wuqi flatly refused Xia Li’s kindness.
Wuqi said that he was now a cat, even if he really found his hometown, what could he do? The fact that he became a cat could not be changed.
Instead of searching for those things that belonged to memories, it was better to be a cat happily.
It would only add to the sadness.
However, in Xia Li’s opinion, Wuqi was not mentally prepared at that time.
He was from the 1980s.
He was not ready to face today, forty years later.
But now, Wuqi should be ready.
Xia Li opened the private messages.
He found that Wuqi had already contacted the creator.
The other party was also a warm-hearted person. After hearing that Wuqi was a child who had been lost from their town, they generously sent the detailed address.
Jiangsu Province, Anhai City, Qitang Town.
『 Brother… 』
Wuqi appeared in front of Xia Li at this time.
His black and white cat face, with its yin and yang sides, blocked the tablet in Xia Li’s hand.
To Xia Li’s ears, his aging voice sounded hoarse and choked with sobs.
『 I, Wuqi, have never begged anyone in my life… 』
『 But, please take me back to have a look. 』
『 That way, I won’t have any regrets in this life. 』
◈◈◈
After Xia Li sent Lucia a message saying, “Wife, I won’t be back for dinner tonight,” he booked a flight to Jiangsu Province for that day.
Qingcheng City itself had two large airports, so it was very convenient to take a direct flight from here.
He didn’t have much luggage to bring: a two-way magic teleportation scroll needed for the return trip, a jacket, a pet carrier, and an excited cow cat.
Checking in the pet took a little time.
Fortunately, Wuqi himself worked at the pet hospital, and Xia Li often grabbed him for check-ups as a test subject, so Wuqi’s vaccination registration and quarantine procedures were quite complete, and he directly handled the pet check-in at the counter.
It was noon when they landed in Jiangsu Province, and it was already 5:00 p.m. when they arrived in Qitang Town, Anhai City.
The light of the setting sun gradually faded from fiery red to soft, and the entire sky was enveloped in a warm and layered glow.
Along the way, Wuqi was as excited as if he had been injected with chicken blood.
『 Don’t tell me! 』
『 Don’t tell me! 』
『 I can understand the dialect here, meow hahaha!! 』
The cat was so excited that even his meows were affected, showing how excited he was.
『 Hello, big sister, hello! Big sister, you look like my long-lost aunt. 』
『 This old man, you really look like my grandfather! 』
『 Meow haha, I must have seen this dog on the ground before! 』
Wuqi looked around from Xia Li’s arms.
Xia Li held the cat in one hand and the pet carrier in the other, and couldn’t even free up a hand to look at the phone navigation.
He didn’t want to discourage Wuqi, but at this time Xia Li really wanted to say to the cat: You’re forty years old, counting your cat years and human years, and you’ve been away from this town for twenty-two years.
That’s enough time for a dog to live two lifetimes, and your aunt couldn’t possibly be this young.
Xia Li held back his words, not wanting to dampen Wuqi’s enthusiasm.
Following Wuqi’s memories of the town’s streets, the two of them went around and finally stopped at an intersection.
This road led in all directions, with a total of five forks. Due to the constant traffic of large trucks, the asphalt road surface was bumpy. On both sides of the widest road stood a five-story red brick building and a four-story blue brick building.
It was a very iconic intersection.
Wuqi said he had some impression of this place.
However, after all these years, this place had long since changed, and Wuqi only had a deep memory of the red building, and couldn’t remember anything else.
Xia Li made up his mind at the intersection and took Wuqi to the red building.
The buildings in the town all had one characteristic: the first floor was a shop, selling food and daily necessities, and the residential units started from the second floor.
Xia Li remembered that Wuqi had told him that his family was well-off and had a computer in the year 2000, and Wuqi played the game Meteor Butterfly Sword at home.
It seemed that they were a wealthy family.
So Xia Li went directly to the snack shop on the first floor that occupied two storefronts.
He bought a bottle of water, unscrewed it and took a gulp, then casually asked the middle-aged man watching the shop,
“Boss, is there anyone named ‘Wuqi’ around here?”
“Wuqi? Never heard of him.”
The middle-aged man quickly gave Xia Li a definite answer.
“It’s Wu as in the mouth of the sky, Qi as in strange,” Xia Li continued.
“I really haven’t heard of that. How old is he? Is he from our town?”
The middle-aged man spoke in Mandarin mixed with the Jiangsu dialect, which Xia Li found a little difficult to understand.
“There are many people in our town, why don’t you go to the next intersection and ask around?” The man pointed to the street ahead.
Xia Li shook his head and said, “No, it’s just around here, and they should be living in one of the units upstairs.”
“Hmm…”
The middle-aged man took a breath and pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it.
Although there were a total of fifteen families living in their building, there was very little personnel turnover, and since houses in the town were rarely sold and transferred, it was basically the same people coming and going.
“I’ve been running this shop here for almost twenty years, and I’ve never heard of anyone named Wuqi… However, there is a family named Wu living upstairs.”
“Meow!”
The middle-aged man took a drag of his cigarette and exhaled a plume of white smoke.
Wuqi in Xia Li’s arms couldn’t sit still, he was so excited that he wanted to pounce over.
The man glanced at the strange cat and continued,
“I bought my shop from that family. It was the male owner’s sister who sold it to me… That family’s situation is very special.”
In the end, the middle-aged man didn’t say much, just gave Xia Li a location and let him go see for himself.
Xia Li wanted to ask which floor and unit it was, and if he could go up from the iron gate to see the situation, but when he saw the location address, he hesitated.
“If you’re forty years old, shouldn’t your parents be around sixty?”
No ride-hailing service was willing to go to that location, and there were no shared bikes in this town, so Xia Li could only choose to walk there.
On this road, Wuqi, who had been in a state of excitement, suddenly fell silent.
He became quiet, looking at this familiar street, as if reminiscing about something.
Wuqi didn’t answer Xia Li’s question. Xia Li wanted to find a topic to chat about casually, but some words got stuck in his throat and he couldn’t say them.
By the time they arrived at their destination, it was completely dark.
The light pollution in the town was not as serious as in the city, and walking on this single-lane road, you could even see faint stars twinkling in the sky.
Qitang Town Cemetery.
Xia Li finally found the tombstone he was looking for.
To be precise, three tombstones.
The tombstone with the words ‘Wuqi’ on it lay quietly in the middle.
『 I’ve always envied you guys… 』
Wuqi’s voice went straight to Xia Li’s mind.
In this dark and gloomy cemetery, his hoarse voice didn’t sound scary to Xia Li at all, but rather touched him.
『 I envy you and Qin Chuan. 』
『 We’re all transmigrators, why are you humans, and I’m a cat? 』
『 Watching you guys fall in love, do what you want with your hands, and eat human food so easily… I can’t describe how much I envy you. 』
『 I also want a human body… But I’m forever trapped in this cat body. Why? If I’m a cat, then where did the real me go? Has someone replaced my life? 』
『 I’ve been avoiding going back to Jiangsu Province because I don’t want to face these facts. I’m really afraid that someone has replaced me, and I’m also afraid of seeing my parents grow old, or even pass away. 』
『 I’m afraid to face these things. 』
『 It wasn’t until I accidentally saw that video a few days ago that I felt like it was fate, and I should face reality… 』
Xia Li didn’t speak.
He quietly listened to Wuqi talk. Wuqi was usually crazy, and he rarely confided in Xia Li like this.
Listening to this chaotic voice tremble more and more, Xia Li looked down and saw tears welling up in Wuqi’s golden cat eyes.
He sniffed and continued,
『 Now, I understand. 』
『 Actually, I’m very lucky. 』
『 Brother, you know… 』
『 Actually, I died a long time ago. 』
Even though he was mentally prepared, Xia Li was still surprised when he heard this answer.
He looked down at the cow cat in his arms and listened to him continue.
『 When that middle-aged man sent you the location just now, I remembered… 』
『 When I was in my senior year of high school, my parents and I went to play on a mountain behind Qitang Town. It suddenly started raining halfway up the mountain, and we went down the mountain as fast as we could, but the collapsing mountainside swallowed us up like a flood… 』
『 I think, I was buried in the landslide with my parents. 』
『 Maybe God felt sorry for me and wanted to compensate me, so he gave me a chance to live again. 』
『 No wonder I can predict the future, meow haha… 』
『 And no wonder you guys are body transmigrators, and I’m a soul transmigrator… Because my body is long gone! 』
Wuqi laughed dryly twice.
After two laughs, he couldn’t laugh anymore.
Jumping down from Xia Li, Wuqi sat in front of his own grave for a while.
Then he wandered around and picked up two leaves.
He placed one leaf in front of the left tombstone and the other in front of the right one.
『 Fortunately, I didn’t have to send off my parents before their time… Until the end, my parents were by my side. 』
After doing all this, Wuqi’s tone was somewhat relieved.
He flicked his tail and jumped back onto Xia Li’s body.
『 Wuqi, what a good name… 』
“Meow~”
He murmured twice.
The clear meow echoed in the dark cemetery.
『 Thank you for giving me a new name. 』
『 From now on, my name is Wuqi! 』
Wuqi’s human life had already ended.
What remained was his cat life.