The taxi stopped at the entrance of the residential complex, its wheels making a soft hissing sound as they rolled over the wet pavement.
Although the rain had let up a bit, the wind was still laden with a cold dampness, making the trees lining the road shiver and rustle.
Su Yuqing paid the fare and almost half-carried Bai Wanxue out of the car.
The girl still clung tightly to her, as if she were the only piece of driftwood in a storm.
She held her folded small parasol in her arms like a protective amulet.
“We’re here. This… is where I live now.”
Su Yuqing pointed to the residential building nearby, its silhouette blurred by the curtain of rain.
Her voice carried a hint of exhaustion and an uneasy feeling, as if she were inviting a wolf into her home.
She took a deep breath of the damp, chilly air, trying to calm herself.
She turned to Bai Wanxue, who was following her every step, and whispered instructions.
“The wind and rain are heavy out here. Wait for me in this stairwell for a moment to take shelter. I… I need to go inside and scout things out first.”
She used the term ‘scout things out,’ which felt both ridiculous and pathetic to her.
Returning to her own home felt like being a thief.
Bai Wanxue raised her clear, light-red eyes, which still shone in the dim light.
She looked at her quietly, then nodded obediently and softly replied, “Okay, meow.”
The voice was soft and sweet, filled with total trust.
It made Su Yuqing’s heart soften for a moment before tightening again.
She walked quickly toward the familiar entrance alone.
As she inserted the key into the lock, her fingertips trembled slightly from a mix of nervousness and the cold.
The door opened to a heart-pounding darkness and silence.
She fumbled for the living room light switch.
The warm yellow glow instantly dispelled the darkness, illuminating the familiar furnishings.
Everything seemed the same as when she left, yet there was an unusual sense of emptiness lingering in the air.
Like a scout, Su Yuqing cautiously checked the living room and the kitchen.
Finally, she took a deep breath and pushed open the slightly ajar bedroom door—it was empty.
The bed was relatively tidy.
There was no sign of the figure she had expected to see lounging on the bed, glaring at her with glazed, liuli-colored eyes while making sharp demands.
“Hmm… it looks like…”
Su Yuqing breathed a sigh of relief, but the feeling wasn’t complete.
Instead, her heart felt a bit hollow, and a complex emotion welled up.
‘My… “stinky cat” really did go out tonight.’
She walked to the window and watched the crisscrossing rain streaks on the glass.
Outside, the wind howled, and the trees swayed under the storm’s assault.
“But it’s so windy and rainy out there… The weather is terrible. She’s alone, and her foot is injured. In the middle of the night… where could she have gone? What is she trying to do…?”
She muttered to herself, her tone uncontrollably revealing a genuine worry she hadn’t even noticed.
Even though Zhi Ai was willful, bossy, and extremely controlling, the thought of her being alone in the storm with an injury made Su Yuqing’s heart ache.
Just then, a slight rustling sound came from behind her.
Su Yuqing snapped out of it, remembering Bai Wanxue waiting in the stairwell.
She turned around quickly to see the silver-haired girl had already walked in on her own.
She was standing at the entryway, timidly observing the completely unfamiliar environment.
Her gaze swept across the living room before finally landing on a spot near the shoe rack.
Sitting there was a somewhat old but clean and tidy house-shaped… small cat nest, painted in bright colors.
It was something Su Yuqing had specially prepared a long time ago for that “evil” Silver Shaded British Shorthair named Mantou.
Bai Wanxue’s gaze seemed drawn to it like a magnet.
She slowly walked toward the cat nest.
Then, under Su Yuqing’s surprised watch, she actually crouched down and tried to curl her body like a real cat, attempting to crawl into a space that was clearly too small for her current human teenage form.
“Ugh… I—I can’t fit…”
She let out a small whimper of frustration and disappointment.
Half of her body was stuck at the entrance of the cat nest, her long silver-gray hair scattered across the floor.
The scene was both comical and heart-wrenching in a way that was hard to describe.
“Huh…? What are you doing trying to crawl into that small cat nest?”
Su Yuqing hurried forward, feeling both amused and helpless.
She reached out to pull her out.
“This is too small. It’s for a kitten, not for you as you are now…”
“Because of this place.”
Bai Wanxue suddenly looked up, her light-red eyes staring straight at Su Yuqing, filled with a sense of confirmation.
“This is Wanxue’s home. For the past few years, in Wanxue’s heart, she has always, always felt that this is home.”
Her voice was soft, but it carried an undeniable firmness.
“Your… home…?”
Su Yuqing froze, her outstretched hand hanging in mid-air.
An absurd but increasingly clear thought flashed through her mind like a bolt of lightning, making her breath hitch.
“Ah! No, no, no!”
She shook her head violently as if trying to shake off that terrifying and unbelievable idea.
Her tone became hurried and chaotic, filled with a defensive edge that bordered on a breakdown.
“I think… there must be some mistake between us! This cat nest… it belonged to a cat I used to have! Her name… her name was ‘Mantou’! She was a silver tabby with a foul and stubborn temper! She wasn’t affectionate at all, and no matter how long I fed her, she never warmed up to me! She… she ran away a long time ago!”
She almost shouted these words, as if the louder she spoke, the more she could deny the truth that was about to surface.
However, the response she received was a very soft apology from Bai Wanxue that exploded in her ears like a clap of thunder.
“I’m sorry… meow.”
Su Yuqing’s entire body jolted as if she had been flash-frozen; her blood turned to ice.
She widened her eyes and looked down at the girl still curled up by the cat nest in disbelief.
“I… I’m sorry…?”
she repeated, her voice as dry as sandpaper.
“Why… why are you apologizing?”
Bai Wanxue lowered her head slightly.
Her long silver eyelashes trembled like butterfly wings, hiding the emotions in her eyes.
Her voice carried a sob and deep guilt.
“I’m sorry… Master. Mantou… Mantou shouldn’t have… ignored you all the time back then… I shouldn’t have been so cold to you… not answering when called, not letting you pet me…”
She raised her hand and pointed at the stormy night sky outside the window.
“Staying in the dirt at the park… it’s really cold… especially at times like this, when it rains… meow…”
Those words were like a key, suddenly unlocking the box in the depths of Su Yuqing’s memory that had been sealed with guilt and regret.
That afternoon after the typhoon, the dirty little kitten under the willow tree; the days she tried to get close only to be met with indifference; that white figure that had been suddenly thrown out the window, which she ultimately had no choice but to bury…
Every image, every detail perfectly overlapped in this moment with the cat-eared girl before her who called herself “Bai Wanxue”!
“Ah! Wait! Wait!”
Su Yuqing felt like she was losing the ability to think.
The sheer amount of information was causing her brain to overload.
She asked incoherent questions, trying to grasp the last straw of logic.
“So… so tell me, is your name… is it really Bai Wanxue? Or… or is it that name I gave you… ‘Mantou’?! What on earth is going on?!”
Bai Wanxue looked up at the nearly crumbling Su Yuqing.
She gazed at her earnestly with those pure, light-red eyes and answered clearly, word by word, “Bai Wanxue… is the name my mother gave me. It’s my original name. Meow.”
She paused, seemingly lost in thought, before adding, “But… ‘Mantou’… is indeed the name you gave me later, Master. Both… are my names.”
“Ah… this…”
Su Yuqing opened her mouth but found she couldn’t make any meaningful sound.
A massive wave of shock, realization, and a complex mix of grief and finding something lost washed over her like a tsunami.
She looked at this being before her, both familiar and strange, and for a moment, she didn’t know what to do.
“So… Master?”
Bai Wanxue tilted her head slightly, a cautious look of expectation appearing on her face.
She asked Su Yuqing timidly, “Do you… prefer to call me ‘Mantou’… instead?”
It was as if the belonging of that name represented some kind of important validation…