With the violin, Xie Lan had never been afraid of anyone.

“I play pretty well.” He frowned at Dou Sheng. “Can’t even get to know your friend?”

“No,” Dou Sheng shook his head decisively. “Private collection, sharing declined.”

Xie Lan curled his lip. “You won’t share food, and now even friends are for private collection?”

“I always share food with you. The Second Cat privilege is already huge.” Dou Sheng put his phone away. “Alright, principles are principles. Let’s get back to the fight.”

“……”

Xie Lan felt that Dou Sheng had a lot of strange little quirks. Food wasn’t shared, friends were hidden, camera stickers were off-limits, and a few plane tree leaves were treated like treasures, only parting with one reluctantly because someone had a nightmare.

By this logic, he should be quite stingy, but he was also very generous. For example, he accepted him, this “Second Cat” that fell from the sky, as a matter of course, and took him along everywhere.

It was as if this person drew a small circle in his life. No one could touch the few things inside the circle, but everything outside the circle was free for the taking.

After waiting for a long time, Yu Fei finally came out holding the cat.

His expression wasn’t good. Standing at the door of the consulting room, he said, “You two come listen too.”

The doctor looked at the examination results and said, “Pyometra (uterine infection). Surgery is mandatory. It can’t squeeze other organs.”

“But she can’t be operated on,” Yu Fei frowned. “Right here at your place, she went into shock from anesthesia.”

Dou Sheng added in a deep voice, “Last year, we brought her for sterilization. Something happened right after the first shot of anesthesia. After resuscitation, the surgery couldn’t be done. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have let her keep having kittens until she got pyometra now.”

It was somewhat quiet in the consulting room, save for the occasional click of the mouse as the doctor checked the computer. The cat lay by Dou Sheng’s hand, eyes closed, resting. Dou Sheng gently scratched her chin.

Xie Lan looked at that hand and felt that being scratched like that must be very comfortable; even a wild cat was purring.

“Found the record. Heart rate accelerated after half the injection back then. Woke up normally after saline dilution. Doesn’t count as shock,” the doctor pondered. “The cat is an adult now. I suggest trying again with inhalation anesthesia, given little by little. But there is indeed a high risk she won’t wake up after surgery. Go back and discuss it.”

The little black cat was kept temporarily for hospitalization. Yu Fei said he would come back tomorrow with a decision.

After saying goodbye to Yu Fei, Dou Sheng’s tone was a bit down. “Mimi means a lot to the few of us, especially Yu Fei. This cat is basically his daughter living in exile, just that his family absolutely won’t let him raise her.”

After a while, he looked up and let out a long sigh. “Still have to do it. Not doing it means death too. Humans have human difficulties, cats have cat calamities. Just keep her company.”

It was almost four o’clock. It was the darkest time of night, and Xie Lan started to feel sleepy.

He yawned. “Going home?”

“Yeah. I’ll call a car.”

Dou Sheng lowered his head to tap his phone, then suddenly froze after a moment.

“What’s wrong?” Xie Lan turned back to ask.

Dou Sheng rarely showed such a dazed expression. “Done for.”

“Hm?”

“Didn’t bring the elevator card.”

Xie Lan paused for a second, his sleepiness instantly vanishing.

“Didn’t bring the elevator card??”

Dou Sheng hissed, looking at him without hope. “Perhaps, did you bring it?”

“……”

Xie Lan didn’t even have that thing.

Dou Sheng’s home had a private elevator for each household. Without the elevator card, forget it; they couldn’t even enter the stairwell.

At 4 AM, Big Cat and Second Cat tragically lost their home.

Xie Lan said helplessly, “Find a hotel?”

“Did you bring your passport?” Dou Sheng asked.

Xie Lan shook his head. “Who brings a passport to a fight?”

“Convenient for registration after beating up police or something… forget it.” Dou Sheng couldn’t keep making things up and sighed. “I didn’t bring my ID either. Hotels, internet cafes, can’t go anywhere. There’s only one place that can take us in.”

Xie Lan asked curiously, “Where?”

At the end of the West Gate Snack Street, there was a barbecue shop called “Top Scorer BBQ”.

The frontage was extremely small, sandwiched between a milk tea shop and a fried chicken shop, and was almost missed.

The shop door was locked, and it was pitch black inside. Only a few small stools and Styrofoam boxes were scattered outside the door.

Dou Sheng sat down heavily, hooked another stool over with his toe, and signaled Xie Lan to sit too.

Xie Lan looked up at the sky, then down at the ground.

“You’re kidding me, right?” he said. “What’s the difference between this and standing on the street?”

“The difference is there are stools to sit on.” Dou Sheng pried open a Styrofoam box. “And leftover beer we can drink before they clear it away.”

“……”

Pop, Dou Sheng opened a can with one hand, took a big swig, then opened another.

“Big Cat’s treat, you drinking?”

“Where’s your face (shame)?” Xie Lan took the beer speechlessly. “Did you pay?”

“Pay tomorrow.”

Dou Sheng pulled a piece of tissue from somewhere and wiped the round stool surface.

“Sit, Young Master.”

The stool was very low; he had to stretch both legs out to be somewhat comfortable.

Xie Lan looked at the pitch-black street and couldn’t help asking, “Until what time do we sit here?”

Dou Sheng thought for a moment. “My mom should wake up around six. Mainly, I don’t want to bang on the door in the middle of the night.”

Xie Lan gave a hum of acknowledgment.

Very sleepy, to be honest.

So sleepy that after drinking half a can of the unfamiliar-tasting beer, he suddenly felt the bitterness and astringency of the alcohol.

Xie Lan was about to check what beer it was when his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket.

Messenger, silent for several days, had activity. It was Xie Jingming, typing in Chinese this time.

• Time to calm down. If you want to come back, I’ll book the ticket for you.
• Elizabeth also wants to chat with you.

The first message was okay, but seeing the name Elizabeth, Xie Lan was furious and uninstalled the app without a word.

Dou Sheng glanced sideways at him. “Your dad?”

“Mmh.”

“Rushing you to go back?” Dou Sheng said with a faint smile. “Just say you met a maverick Big Cat and decided to hang with him.”

Xie Lan couldn’t smile. He was silent for a while before tapping open Instagram and clicking into Xie Jingming’s profile.

The latest post was from three hours ago. Xie Jingming posted a photo on the beach. There was a pair of footprints on the smooth white sand, the relationship self-evident.

With a numb face, Xie Lan uninstalled Instagram too.

A low chuckle came from beside him. “If you keep this up, your phone will only have WeChat and Bilibili left later.”

“And Taobao.” Xie Lan said coldly. “Nothing wrong with that.”

Dou Sheng finished the beer in a few gulps, crushed the can, and tossed it into the trash. He bent his long legs, rested his head on his knees, and turned to look at him.

A very relaxed posture, as if he could fall asleep the next second.

“Let me guess. If you don’t want to talk, you don’t have to look at me,” Dou Sheng whispered. “Your conflict with your dad isn’t just about returning to China, right? So… your dad is dating?”

Xie Lan looked up abruptly. “What dating?”

In his Chinese system, “dating/tan lian ai” implied a very definite relationship. And Xie Jingming—at most, he would admit he was dating (in the English sense) a woman.

Dou Sheng smiled faintly. “Then how do you want to define it? Dating? Seeing each other?”

“I don’t want to define anything.” Xie Lan said coldly. “He’s ungrateful and treacherous (forgot kindness/betrayed righteousness). What is there for me to say?”

“Ungrateful and treacherous…” Dou Sheng savored the words, his face resting on his arm, long eyelashes drooping, seeming a bit sleepy.

After a long time, he said, “So you decided to run away rebelliously, come to my house to be Second Cat, to show your resolve.”

“Stop being weirdly sarcastic here,” Xie Lan said coldly.

“Pfft.” Dou Sheng laughed. “Stop copying how I talk. Put that in your essay and see if Old Qin comes for you.”

The surroundings quieted down, and Dou Sheng gradually closed his eyes.

“I’ll sleep for a bit, you keep an eye out,” he whispered. “Be careful of people stealing kidneys on the street at midnight.”

“……” Xie Lan asked faintly, “Is it the kidney I’m thinking of?”

“Mmh,” Dou Sheng said. “They specifically pick young, handsome boys with good bodies to steal from. You protect me well.”

Xie Lan: “……”

How about I just cut it out for you first?

This person was just ridiculous.

Xie Lan looked at his sleeping profile and sighed.

“I just feel aggrieved for Mom. She followed him to the UK, obeyed his education for the child, always waited quietly, but he was always busy, didn’t even make it for the last moment. Now he is passionately pursuing that woman, but he was never passionate towards my mom.”

Feelings between people are hard to explain. Xie Lan couldn’t say these words to friends he had known for many years in the UK, but he could say them to Dou Sheng. Perhaps because Dou Sheng was far enough from his past life.

Didn’t know if Dou Sheng was asleep or if he could hear.

Whether he heard or not didn’t matter.

Dou Sheng suddenly muttered, “You saw twenty years of marriage. Maybe they were passionate before.”

Xie Lan was stunned. “Are you asleep or not?”

Dou Sheng sat up straight and stretched his shoulders, sighing, “I heard my mom talk about when they were young. Back in high school, when your mom confessed to your dad, she made a loving bento box. Your dad ate it, reported to the hospital in the middle of the night, missed the exam the next day, and almost got held back a grade.”

Xie Lan was dumbfounded.

“Your grandpa found the bento box and came to demand an explanation. Your mom was so scared she almost cried. But do you know what your dad said?”

Xie Lan: “What did he say?”

“He said your grandma’s cooking was too tasteless. He saw your mom eating the bento and got greedy, so he stole it. Didn’t expect to get poisoned just once. After going home, he got beaten up by your grandpa. Living in the same alley, my mom remembers the sound of that broom hitting flesh vividly.”

Xie Lan was listening in a daze.

“And then?”

“That’s it. If you want to know more, go ask my mom.” Dou Sheng closed his eyes again. “I just wanted to say, regardless of whether your mom was passionate or not, that’s between them, and it’s all in the past. You are powerless to change it, so why add to your troubles? Since you’re back in China, just pursue what you want and make yourself a bit more relaxed.”

Xie Lan clutched his phone. After a long time, he whispered, “But she’s my mom.”

“Just a suggestion.” Dou Sheng turned his head to the other side and muttered, “Summarized by a friend of mine: it’s better to know less about parents’ love and grudges. Knowing only makes you uncomfortable and won’t change anything.”

Xie Lan paused. “Friend? A classmate from Class 4?”

Dou Sheng didn’t reply. This time, he seemed to have really fallen asleep, breathing evenly and long.

Two drunks walked past across the street, hair messy, looking like bad news.

When Xie Lan looked up, they looked over too, and even whistled provocatively.

Don’t tell me they really have their eyes on a kidney here.

Half-asleep, half-awake, Dou Sheng turned his face the other way and muttered, “Whistle at your grandpa.”

Xie Lan: “……”

After the two disappeared at the end of the street, Xie Lan yawned and re-downloaded the two apps he had just uninstalled.

While waiting for the download, he casually opened Twitter, which he hadn’t logged into for a long time.

Xie Lan’s Twitter handle was SilentWaves, the same as his YouTube. Even though he stopped updating for two years, he still received messages from fans on his list from time to time.

At the top of the list was an ID called “QZFXR”. This person basically came to ask about his current situation every two weeks.

Xie Lan was sleepy too. Fighting the rising drowsiness, he barely managed a reply.

…

At the first light of dawn, the two people on the small stools in front of the barbecue shop were in a light sleep.

There were voices of pedestrians on the road. Dou Sheng woke up hearing the movement, stayed dazed for a while in the dim morning light, then took out his phone to check the time.

The bluebird app, which hadn’t lit up for a long time, suddenly pushed two notifications.

His eyes lit up, and he tapped open immediately.

SilentWaves: Changed to a new environment, met a new friend. It’s okay.

SilentWaves: If the mood stays good, I might go back to making videos. Wait for it.