Did My Wife Break Up With Me Today? - Chapter 37

Chapter 37: “It’s Dr. Xu’s cat and mine—our kitten.”

“What did you say?” Ling Xiao’s eyes widened, the pupils in those phoenix eyes shrinking abruptly.

“Is it that hard to understand?” By then, Xu Jingmo had already risen from his seat, smoothing the wrinkles on the front of his clothes. “Chen Kongqing is waiting for me to come home for dinner.”

“Xu Jingmo, you’re really something.” Ling Xiao quickly composed his shocked expression, though his lips trembled uncontrollably. “I won’t believe it.”

“You don’t have to believe it, but I’m going back to eat pork trotters. He said they don’t taste good once they’re cold.” Xu Jingmo’s brows remained arched in a provocative tilt as he turned and walked away.

Several seconds passed.

It took that long for Ling Xiao to snap out of the provocation in Xu Jingmo’s final glance, only to fall straight into the words the man had spoken.

Pork trotters.

Chen Kongqing used to make pork trotters for him all the time.

[“Ling Xiao, when are you coming back?”] [“I made pork trotters.”] [“Today they’re braised, and I added the quail eggs you like…”] [“And the oil-braised prawns you love…”]

The “sponge’s” soft, warm words seemed to echo in his ears. It felt as if the sponge had never truly left him. Ling Xiao sniffed, pulling himself out of the memories, an anxious mist suddenly welling up in his eyes.

He pulled out his phone and tapped on the chat with Chen Kongqing. The screen was entirely green—not a single white speech bubble in sight. The man typed irritably on the keyboard: [Where are you living now?]

He hit send immediately. A red exclamation mark glared back at him.

[Message sent, but rejected by the recipient.]

The man’s pupils contracted again, his fingertips beginning to shake. Impossible. This is impossible… How could Chen Kongqing block me… He couldn’t even bring himself to change his profile picture.

…

Chen Kongqing was in the kitchen chopping vegetables when he heard the kitten meowing. Holding a carrot, he leaned his head out. He saw Xu Jingmo returning, looking wind-blown in his overcoat.

“Dr. Xu, you’re back. I haven’t finished stir-frying yet, you’ll have to wait a moment,” he said, quickly speeding up his carrot-dicing.

“It’s fine, no rush.” Xu Jingmo took off his coat and mask and walked into the kitchen. “What are you making?”

As he spoke, the man pushed up the sleeves of his light-colored inner shirt, casually rolling them up twice to reveal forearms corded with straight, thick veins.

“Dicing carrots.” Chen Kongqing kept his head down, focused on the task. “I’m making a vegetable soup… the pork trotters in the pressure cooker are ready. I’ve also got stir-fried greens and mushrooms in the pan; we can eat as soon as I dish them out.”

Xu Jingmo’s eyes didn’t care about the pork trotters or the pressure cooker, nor did they see the bright, oily Bok Choy. He could only see the “rabbit” wearing the light gray apron he usually wore.

The rabbit had his head down, dicing carrots with great focus. His hair sat soft and smooth against his forehead. From any angle, his face was graceful and pleasing to the eye. His lowered gaze fully exposed those thick, long lashes—curled and trembling slightly every time he blinked.

The man’s Adam’s apple rolled. He reluctantly withdrew his gaze and reached for the sink to wash his hands. “Then I’ll dish out the food.”

“I’ll be quick. You can just wait at the table after you’re done dishing,” Chen Kongqing said. He finished dicing the carrots, brought out another pot, and started the oil—his movements as fluid as water.

As Xu Jingmo plated the vegetables, he watched the rabbit adding ingredients in an orderly fashion. “Did you start cooking for yourself when you were very young?”

“Yes, I enjoy researching recipes.” Chen Kongqing smiled. He added a rich bone broth he’d prepared earlier to the soup, and now he was dropping in small meatballs made from lean meat.

Xu Jingmo didn’t say more; he just watched the rabbit quietly. This rabbit who had always been living his life so well.

Before long, the dishes were on the table. Chen Kongqing scooped out a bowl of perfectly braised red-cooked pork trotters from the pressure cooker. This was one of his signature dishes. Actually, he didn’t know how to make them originally. He learned because Ling Xiao liked them. After making them over and over again, it became his specialty.

“Dr. Xu, try this.” He placed a piece of the trotter tip into the man’s bowl, his eyes filled with anticipation. “How does it taste?”

“Okay.” Xu Jingmo looked at the enticingly colored pork and took a bite. He then met the youth’s expectant gaze.

“It’s delicious. Better than any pork trotters I’ve ever had.”

Hearing Dr. Xu’s words, the rabbit suddenly thought of Ling Xiao again.

[“These trotters are a bit too mushy.”] [“Put more salt next time, it’s too bland.”] [“How can you be so slow at cooking a single dish…”]

The rabbit couldn’t help but purse his lips, a trace of loneliness flickering in his eyes. Xu Jingmo wasn’t blind; he clearly saw the rabbit’s momentary sadness. “What are you thinking about, Student Chen?”

“Ah…” Dr. Xu rarely called him that. Chen Kongqing froze for a second. But… having Dr. Xu use that title felt quite… nice. Many people had called him that, but coming from Dr. Xu, it sounded different.

“Hmm?” Xu Jingmo saw the rabbit dazing off and prompted him.

“No… it’s nothing.” Chen Kongqing regained his senses and smiled. “I just suddenly thought of Ling Xiao.”

He didn’t think too much of it, letting the name slip out. The loneliness in the rabbit’s eyes seemed to flow into Xu Jingmo’s own. The man lowered his gaze slightly, mechanically chewing his food.

After a few seconds, the man asked, “What did you think of regarding him?”

“I thought about how he always said my cooking wasn’t good,” the rabbit said. His tone wasn’t sad; it was actually quite calm. “One moment he’d think it was too bland, the next too salty. But he always finished everything every time.”

“I see.” Xu Jingmo picked up some greens, adding nonchalantly: “So… do you still miss him?”

“Miss him? Miss what about him?” Chen Kongqing couldn’t help but chuckle.

“I thought you still…” Xu Jingmo let out a silent breath of relief. “It’s good that you don’t. It’s better for your condition.”

Chen Kongqing was puzzled. “Why would you think that, Dr. Xu?”

“Just from hearing you mention him, and…” the man paused intentionally. “And, I saw your WeChat profile picture is a Trumpet Creeper?”

Chen Kongqing swallowed his rice. His brain worked for a few seconds.

Oh, right. His profile picture was still the Trumpet Creeper. It wasn’t that he was keeping it on purpose; he had completely forgotten about it.

The rabbit put down his chopsticks and felt his pockets for his phone. The whole process took less than half a minute.

“There, I changed it.” Conveniently, he had taken several “glamour shots” of Black Cat Detective this morning, and they were perfect for the job. He wanted to tell everyone he had a cat!

Xu Jingmo remained steady, even though his heart skipped several beats at the rabbit’s words. He suppressed a smile and asked seriously, “What did you change it to?”

“To Black Cat Detective! I just took some photos; he’s so cute and photogenic!” Chen Kongqing pulled up his album and turned the phone toward Xu Jingmo. “Look, Dr. Xu…”

“He looks good. He’s quite cooperative.” The man looked at the photo of the kitten reaching out a pink paw toward the camera. “He probably knows he’s your cat and likes you a lot. He used to meow all night when you weren’t here, but he didn’t make a sound last night.”

Hearing this, Chen Kongqing pursed his lips and corrected him: “But you’ve been the one taking care of him, Dr. Xu. If you hadn’t taken him in, I wouldn’t have been able to keep him. So, he’s not just my cat. He’s… Dr. Xu’s and mine—our kitten.”

Our cat.

Xu Jingmo felt his heart, which had just returned to normal, being tickled by a strand of soft cat fur. His throat felt itchy. “Yes. Our cat.”

Chen Kongqing had replaced the Trumpet Creeper picture. He used “their” cat as his new avatar. The man’s long-suppressed smile finally broke through into a bold arc.

…

After dinner, Chen Kongqing went to his bedroom while Xu Jingmo went to his study.

He didn’t write many lines of the case study on his computer before his mind wandered. He opened his phone and clicked into a certain green app. Since the moment he got the rabbit’s WeChat, the chat had been pinned. But he had never set a nickname for him.

He hadn’t known what to call the rabbit. Nothing seemed quite right. But now he knew. Or rather, he was allowed to. He could go back to calling this rabbit “Xiao Man.” Just like before.

Once upon a time, there was a soft, doughy rabbit with drooping ears who would cautiously approach him and say in slightly unpolished Mandarin:

[“Big brother, my real name is Chen Kongqing. My grandma says it’s a very beautiful stone! So I’m a very beautiful stone!”] [“But big brother, I’d rather you call me by my nickname.”] [“My nickname is Xiao Man—the ‘Man’ that means fulfillment. But I don’t know what fulfillment is yet. Grandma told me the moon on the fifteenth is fulfillment, but I still don’t quite get it. But I know… you definitely understand, big brother.”] [“Big brother, call me Xiao Man from now on.”]

Fragments of the past crashed into his mind. The soft voice of the rabbit’s youth, those soft little hands, and that fair face tinged with pink—he had never forgotten any of it. That was the first time he met the rabbit. The rabbit was seven, and he was fifteen.

Back then, he didn’t know he would fall for that slightly dazed rabbit. It was only after he turned eighteen, during the gloomy, rainy nights in London, that he became more certain day by day. He was thinking of that rabbit. And he knew, day by day, what his own definition of fulfillment was.

The man’s finger tapped the nickname interface and typed: Xiao Man [Carrot Emoji]

Xu Jingmo’s lips curved upward unconsciously as he looked at the nickname and the rabbit’s new avatar next to it. That avatar was, as the rabbit said, “Our kitten.”

Suddenly, the phone vibrated. He tapped into the chat and saw new messages from the rabbit.

Xiao Man [Carrot Emoji]: [WeChat Transfer — 1000 Yuan] Xiao Man [Carrot Emoji]: [Dr. Xu, here is the rent for this month.] Xiao Man [Carrot Emoji]: [Should I start calling you ‘Landlord Xu’ now?] Xiao Man [Carrot Emoji]: [Or ‘Boss Xu’, haha.]

Who wants to be a landlord… And who wants to be ‘Boss Xu’…

The man looked at the messages, his smile abruptly fading as his expression darkened.