How Can Two People From Different Sides Ever Fall in Love? - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

◎ Small animals are often very perceptive ◎

“You Niannian!”

In the bathroom, Raven’s hands were resting on his waistband. His downward pull stuttered as he turned his head, staring big-eye to small-eye with his cat cousin.

Between the two pairs of eyes, Niannian had the small ones.

The cat cousin seemed to have familiarized herself with her new name. Hearing Raven call her, she stood obediently on the spot, tilting her head and letting out a confused meow.

Raven laughed out of irritation: “Acting cute won’t help. How many times have I told you, don’t come in while I’m using the toilet.”

Niannian gazed at him innocently.

Raven sighed, stepping forward to shoo her out.

No wonder Li Lan insisted on locking the rooms.

However, when he went to engage the lock, he hesitated for an instant before safety eventually won the upper hand.

A girl she may be, but she was also a kitten.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to lock the door; it was simply that the doors here had left him with a bit of a shadow.

Calling it a “shadow” was actually a bit of an exaggeration; it was merely that the bathroom door suddenly wouldn’t open while he didn’t have his phone on him. It just so happened that there was no one else in the villa besides him.

The incident occurred in the morning.

That day, Raven had gotten up to wash. After finishing, he pressed the door handle, but it only made a clicking sound and wouldn’t go down.

The unexpected change caused his hazy morning thoughts to briefly snap into focus. Raven realized he was locked in the bathroom.

Dazed, Raven sat on the toilet lid, resting his chin in his hand like a version of The Thinker, pondering a solution.

But with his brain not yet fully powered, he was in a muddle for a while. The first solution he thought of was to call someone for help.

The optimal solution in most cases, provided he had brought his phone.

You Junyu’s discipline of Raven was quite strict. Since he was a child, she had taught him that no matter what he was doing, he must focus intently. Naturally, playing with a phone on the toilet was not allowed.

Over time, at home, Raven developed the habit of not taking his phone into the bathroom.

A smooth path was blocked by a good habit. Raven continued to sit dazed on the toilet lid for a while. After a moment, his gaze drifted toward the window. He thought that if he waited for a passing person by the window and shouted loudly for help, what would the probability of rescue be?

Probably not high.

The window faced the back of the road, a lush green area with a good view, where the probability of encountering a squirrel was higher than a human.

However, the window could count as an escape route… right?

Raven walked over slowly, leaning against the window frame and looking down.

The second floor was quite high. What would happen if he jumped?

The probability was high that he wouldn’t die, but not necessarily that he wouldn’t be maimed.

Raven retracted his hand and rubbed his chin. His mind was a total blank; having exhausted two ideas, his remaining energy was clearly spent.

While hovering between dying of boredom or being crippled by a fall, the door handle clicked, and Li Lan pushed the door open with her usual whirlwind energy.

“Are you alright, Xiao Gu?” Her voice was equally vigorous, instantly seizing Raven’s meager attention.

At the bathroom door, Li Lan was clutching a black bobby pin. Seeing Raven by the window, her expression hardened, and her tone immediately shot up: “What are you doing? If you can’t get out, you want to jump out the window?!”

Raven’s current mental capacity was limited; he hadn’t even figured out how she opened the door before being counter-accused.

“Ah?” His IQ had departed, taking his EQ with it. Raven said inappropriately, “To jump out a window, isn’t it a bit too low here?”

Li Lan’s eyes widened. At her age of presbyopia, her eyes shone as brightly as two balls of fire.

“I didn’t!” His IQ finally returned, and Raven hurried to explain, “Laolao, don’t misunderstand. I was just observing if anyone was passing below so I could call for help. I wouldn’t jump, nor do I have any such intention.”

It wasn’t long since You Junyu had passed away; one couldn’t blame Li Lan for let her imagination run wild.

Seeing Li Lan’s expression calm down, Raven walked over and tested the handle. He continued, “Strange. It wouldn’t open just now, and now… it’s fine?”

“Don’t you go closing it only for it to get stuck again.” Li Lan brushed Raven’s hand away. “This lock is older than you are; it’s aged, useless, it needs to be replaced.”

Raven didn’t want to discuss new layouts or renovations for the villa.

Old things were indeed in disrepair, but they carried both the present and the past. Now that the person was gone, their imprint could be everywhere because of these old objects.

“By the way, Laolao,” Raven gave a bitter smile that vanished in an instant, “how did you open the door?”

“There, with this.” Li Lan waved the bobby pin in her hand, then pinned it back into her hair.

Raven didn’t mean to be offensive, but he still couldn’t help his surprise: “That actually works?”

Unexpected, yet not that unexpected; after all, he had seen it in movies.

“Traveling the world without a skill to your name—you think this is a game?”

Li Lan had no intention of telling Raven how hard it was for a single mother to raise a child during war-torn times. Certain “unorthodox” techniques would sometimes become life-saving measures.

To a child raised in peaceful times, it wasn’t necessarily needed. She brushed it off: “Don’t just mention me. Junyu could show a little skill too, she just wasn’t as fast as me.”

Raven was shocked once again.

You Junyu had once been a young lady of a prominent family; every frown, smile, movement, and stillness carried the imprint of that era and status.

Many of Raven’s current habits were deeply influenced by her, perhaps even more than by his parents.

Li Lan was joking, surely? His refined “grand lady” of a grandmother also knew her version of “unorthodox techniques”?

But he couldn’t ask. Ever since You Junyu passed away, he had never been able to mention her as naturally as Li Lan did.

Raven’s Adam’s apple rolled as he swallowed the rising sob.

“By the way, Laolao, how did you know I was trapped inside?”

Li Lan didn’t reply to him immediately.

She put her hands behind her back, turned, and went downstairs. Standing in the living room on the first floor, she pointed at You Si, who was sprawled on the carpet, looking so relaxed he seemed not to care about anything that happened.

“There, you should thank your uncle for this. He’s the one who ran to get me.”

“He did?” Raven was so shocked his mouth forgot to close, and the sorrow brought by the separation of life and death dissipated.

Li Lan looked at him askance: “What’s with that tone? Not only is he your uncle and your elder, but all things have spirits. Small animals are often very perceptive; they can see things humans can’t.”

Raven gave a start, his mind beginning to wander.

It had been some time since You Junyu passed. He couldn’t say whether he wanted to see things humans couldn’t.

However, no matter how bizarre the matter was, Li Lan had no reason to lie to him. Even if she wanted to lie, she likely couldn’t invent a story about “a kitten uncle saving his stranded human nephew.”

“You’re right. I really should thank him properly. I’ll give him an extra can of food later.”

Triggering a keyword, the leisurely Uncle You Si finally raised his head, letting out a “Meow” in that raspy voice of his.

Truly smart. The last trace of doubt in Raven’s heart vanished completely.

Back to the present, Raven finished a “combat-style” trip to the toilet and opened the door quickly before his hands were even dry.

There was nothing at the door. He patted his chest, but before he could breathe a sigh of relief, a wet palm print appeared on his shirt.

Raven: “…”

Coming out of the bathroom and sitting on the sofa in the living room, the vanished cat cousin reappeared, jumping up beside Raven and nudging his hand with her head.

Raven picked her up and put her in his lap: “If you were human, I could lock the door.”

Like Hollis last night; Raven had locked the door with a clear conscience.

Just as he thought of this person, the person’s call arrived.

Raven answered and said, “What a coincidence.”

“Hmm?” Hollis was understandably stunned. “You were going to call me too?”

Raven was non-committal: “I was thinking of you.”

Hollis knew Raven’s sweet words came easily, but his heart couldn’t help but pound violently.

When he spoke again, his throat felt as if it held a pair of rusty scissors; his words were fragmented and disjointed: “Are you, tomorrow, coming back?”

Raven hadn’t expected the call to be about this. He paused for two seconds before answering: “Tomorrow probably won’t work.”

Hollis was about to follow up when a strange noise came through the receiver.

In the villa, Niannian in Raven’s lap was reaching out her claws to bat at his phone. Helplessly, he held it high while using his other hand to pin down Niannian’s paw.

Niannian, unable to struggle free, began to meow frantically out of frustration.

“Don’t be naughty.”

“What’s wrong?”

Seeing that he couldn’t hide it, Raven had to turn on the speakerphone and bring it to Niannian’s mouth: “Alright, alright, I’ll give it to you. Come on, little Niannian, say hello to big brother Hollis.”

In less than a day, the cat cousin already knew “Niannian” was her new name. Hearing her cousin call her, she immediately gave a response: “Meow.”

“A cat?” Hollis asked in surprise. “Aren’t you at your grandmother’s house helping a relative look after a child?”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing.”

Hollis burst out laughing: “The child is a kitten.”

Raven shrugged, letting out an “Um-hum” from his nose.

On the other end of the line, Hollis said almost tenderly: “You and the kitten are relatives, so you’re a kitten too?”

Raven corrected him: “At my age, I should be a ghost cat.”

Hollis laughed out loud at his joke. As the laughter came through, Niannian looked at Raven in confusion: “Meow?”

Raven reached out and stroked her head, as if apologizing on Hollis’s behalf for causing her confusion.

“By the way,” Hollis finished laughing, the lingering mirth making his voice sound a bit husky, “what did you just ask Niannian to call me?”

“Big brother.”

In an instant, an unharmonious sound echoed in the living room. Raven was confused, but Hollis responded with a smile: “Mm.”

Raven laughed in spite of himself: “How old are you?”

Taking advantage like that—how childish.

Childish Hollis knew Raven wouldn’t mind, but he had never been one to let Raven suffer a loss. Having taken his advantage, he wanted Raven to take one back: “An age where I can be called big brother by little Niannian Uncle Raven.”

Uncle Raven’s mind went blank for a moment. It took him a while to figure out that Hollis had gotten the seniority wrong—he thought Raven had called him “big brother” earlier to tease him.

Little did he know, calling him “big brother” was perfectly fine; he hadn’t spoken incorrectly at all.

This time, it was Raven’s turn to laugh until he shook against the phone.

“Is it that funny?”

Raven wiped a tear from the corner of his eye: “To you, it might not be funny.”

Hollis vaguely felt something was off, but he couldn’t figure it out. While he was pondering, he heard Raven say: “By the way, you sent the clothes to the dry cleaners today. Did you take the clothes that were already cleaned back home?”

The “home” here referred not to Raven’s rented apartment, but to Hollis’s own house.

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