Speaking of this, Stephen Chow became a little irritable: "My grandmother's health is not good, and she's afraid she won't make it, so she's urging me to go back. Otherwise, I wouldn't want to leave."
Shen Wuqiu: "So, when are you planning to leave?"
"I'll check the tickets later, tomorrow at the latest." Zhou Xingxing held Er Mao's little hand, not wanting to talk about such a heavy topic of life and death. He looked up at Shen Wuqiu, then glanced behind her. "Huh, where's your wife? That's strange, she didn't come down with you today?"
"They're probably still washing up in their room," Shen Wuqiu replied casually.
Zhou Xingxing didn't ask any more questions. He looked down at Er Mao in his arms, then, as if remembering something, asked her, "By the way, did you hear the cat meowing last night?"
Shen Wuqiu's heart skipped a beat, but she didn't even blink. "No."
"No?" Zhou Xingxing asked, puzzled. "Last night, the sound seemed to be coming from your direction."
Shen Wuqiu: "You misheard."
Hearing everyone say this, Zhou Xingxing was also a little unsure whether the meowing she heard last night was a dream. Holding Er Mao's little hand, she was still puzzled: "Could it be that I really misheard?"
Shen Wuqiu continued to lie through his teeth: "You must have misheard. None of us heard anything."
Anyway, she won't admit that she made a certain cat meow loudly last night.
Seeing how certain she was, Zhou Xingxing stopped dwelling on it and instead said, "I'm not kidding. There are a lot of stray cats in the countryside, and male cats really lose their feline instincts when they're in heat. You'll have to find ways to get the nursing mother cat into heat quickly. You'll need to take good care of the kittens... Of course, if you can't manage, I don't mind taking them back for you to raise..."
As she spoke, she teased Er Mao in her arms. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the red string on Er Mao's hand. It seemed that Er Mao had been so excited this morning that he had loosened the knot in the red string, and it had now been untied.
Without thinking much, she glanced at it and took off the red string. "The red string on Er Mao's wrist is loose..." she said to Shen Wuqiu as she prepared to give her the red string so that she could tie it back on Er Mao.
No one expected this to happen.
By the time everyone present realized what was happening, all they saw was Stephen Chow holding a red string, and then Er Mao transformed into a fur ball with lightning speed.
"..."
The sudden silence was somewhat eerie.
Stephen Chow was completely stunned, still holding the child in one arm and reaching out to Shen Wuqiu with the other.
The innocent kitten, Er Mao, nestled in her arms, stretched its body slightly with ease. Then, its large, innocent eyes scanned everyone present before it tilted its head and meowed blankly, "Meow~~"
A note from the author:
Yesterday I helped my mom dig sweet potatoes in the field. I didn't know beforehand; I only found out these last two days that there were still a lot of sweet potatoes left to dig.
Then, yesterday's update, not counting the pairing of Stephen Chow and his brother, nor the secondary pairing, is actually not my thing. I don't really like writing secondary pairings. Especially this one, it feels like I could write about it forever, it's just a very ordinary conversation.
Finally, I've read all the comments. Some readers mentioned that the story focuses too much on domestic matters and doesn't delve much into the protagonist's romance. As you can see, the protagonist's love life is actually quite smooth, without many dramatic ups and downs. It mainly revolves around domestic issues, raising children, and farming in the spring—that's what I consider a typical farming story. Therefore, I'll try to highlight the farming or domestic details in the later chapters with specific titles so you can choose which ones to read.
That's all for today's update.
Goodnight everyone.
Chapter 107
It all happened so suddenly.
Shen Wuqiu looked at Zhou Xingxing nervously, her eyes constantly glancing at Er Mao in her arms, afraid that the other woman might drop her precious daughter in a panic.
"Star……"
After a long while, Zhou Xingxing blinked, his cautious gaze slowly turning to Shen Wuqiu. He swallowed hard before managing to stammer, "I...I'm numb..."
"???"
"I can't move." Zhou Xingxing looked at Er Mao, who was still swaying and taking small steps in her arms, with a look on her face that looked like she was about to cry. "If she walks any further, she will fall."
Shen Wuqiu then realized what was happening, quickly reached out and pulled Er Mao over, then prepared to help her up.
"Pinch me."
Shen Wuqiu was puzzled, but he still reached out and tentatively pinched the arm holding the red rope.
The slight pain stimulated his numb nerves, and Zhou Xingxing withdrew his hand. His eyes quickly swept across the faces of the people in the hall, finally landing on Er Mao, who was with Shen Wuqiu.
Er Mao, who had been confined by her mother for so many days, missed her fluffy self so much. She had climbed up her mother's arm and onto her shoulder, squatting there and licking her little paws very seriously. After licking them a couple of times, she would painstakingly smear them on her face.
Perhaps it was Stephen Chow's gaze that was so intense, for the little kitten Er Mao, who was diligently washing its face, looked at her again and meowed.
The baby cub, which is only a month old, doesn't have very bright eyes yet, but its large, dark blue pupils almost fill its entire eyeballs. When it looks up at people, it looks incredibly cute.
Zhou Xingxing stared blankly at Er Mao, then pinched his thigh with his free hand, showing no mercy whatsoever.
The pain was very distinct.
"I'm not dreaming..." Her voice trembled slightly.
Shen Wuqiu thought she was frightened and stammered, trying to explain.
Stephen Chow then spoke up again, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was willing to stay and be a cat owner for life, so please don't kill me off, okay?
"???what's on your mind?"
Zhou Xingxing finally managed to tear his gaze away from the kitten Er Mao. "Those videos online aren't lying. Kittens really are treasures of the world. How can they be so cute?"
Shen Wuqiu watched her gradually becoming excited, unable to keep up with her train of thought for a moment, "Xingxing, are you... alright?"
Zhou Xingxing nodded, paused, and then asked her again seriously, "Please don't kill me, okay? I promise I won't tell anyone. I swear right now, if I utter a single word about what happened today, may I be struck by lightning—no, may I be struck by five thunderbolts… In short, may I die a very, very, very terrible death…"
"Stephen Chow!" Shen Wuqiu interrupted her oath with a raised voice, "What nonsense are you spouting?"
"I just accidentally stumbled upon your secret..." Zhou Xingxing swallowed, then secretly glanced at Er Mao, who was still sucking his little paws. He gritted his teeth and decided to go for it. "Now can I see the other little hairs?"
"..."
Shen Wuqiu looked at her with a complicated expression, "Don't you have anything else to say?"
Zhou Xingxing hesitated for a moment, then said, "Yes. Now that I know you're not human, can you tell me what kind of cat you are?"
"..."
This child is so carefree...
Everyone present was at a loss for words.
Shen Wuqiu habitually pinched her brow bone and asked her in return, "Aren't you scared?"
“A little…” Zhou Xingxing nodded, but quickly added, “If it were anyone else, I would be terrified, but with you, I don’t think I’m that scared…”
Shen Wuqiu asked her again, "Then if I'm not human, can you accept that?"
Stephen Chow countered, "Why can't you accept it?"
"..." There's no way to communicate with someone who doesn't have a normal thought process, so Shen Wuqiu gave up.
Stephen Chow thought she didn't believe him, so he went out of his way to explain, "Your best friend isn't human, tsk... isn't that kind of cool...?"
"That will disappoint you," Shen Wuqiu interrupted her. "I am a human being."
Zhou Xingxing blinked, staring blankly at the kitten on her shoulder. "Then why isn't the kitten you gave birth to human? No, I mean, why is the kitten..."
As she spoke, she suddenly realized something, covered her mouth, and looked at Daiying and her husband, "So...so, your wife isn't human?"
Shen Wuqiu remained silent.
Zhou Xingxing's expression shifted unpredictably, and Dai Ying teased her, "Are you scared now?"
Zhou Xingxing nodded, then shook his head immediately, as if thinking of something.
Daiying chuckled, "Really not afraid? Who was it that just said cats are ferocious creatures?"
Who knew there was a bunch of cats sitting next to her? If she had known, she would never have shown off her meager knowledge cobbled together from the internet in front of a group of cats.
Seeing her face turn bright red, Daiying stopped teasing her: "Alright, I was just kidding."
To show his sincerity, Stephen Chow reiterated, "Auntie, don't worry, I definitely won't go around saying anything."
Daiying nodded her chin nonchalantly: "So good."
The incident of Er Mao being exposed has, for the time being, passed without serious danger.
Shen Wuqiu originally thought she would have to use a lot of words to explain to people that her child was not human, but it turned out that she had worried too much. Zhou Xingxing was even more heartless than she thought.
Su Yunzhi then called everyone to have breakfast. After they finished, she realized that the cat hadn't come down yet, which puzzled her. She asked Shen Wuqiu, "Why hasn't Lingyu come down yet? Is she feeling unwell?"
"Maybe I'm not hungry," Shen Wuqiu said rather unenthusiastically. "Let's eat first."
Upon hearing this, Daiying sensed something was amiss: "Did she upset you again?"
"No." Shen Wuqiu shook her head, then looked down at Er Mao, who was climbing up her trouser leg, and picked her up.
After being picked up, Er Mao raised his little head to look at the table, and struggled to push his little feet forward, trying to climb onto the table.
Seeing his granddaughter's curious expression, Mr. Shen immediately reached out and took her from Shen Wuqiu's arms, affectionately leading her to the table: "My dear granddaughter, what would you like to eat?"
"Dad, don't spoil them too much. It's not good for them to develop this habit." Shen Wuqiu quickly picked Er Mao up and tapped her forehead, saying, "Baby, you can't do that."
"Meow~" Er Mao was a little dissatisfied, but still wanted to move closer to the table.
Shen Wuqiu pulled her closer to the table, asking, "What do you want to see?"
Er Mao approached the table, and her two little feet instinctively grabbed the bowl in front of her, then stuck out her little tongue and licked the bowl.
It licked it to taste it, and then buried its entire cat head in the bowl.
"..."
Everyone stared at Er Mao, who had started eating, and after several seconds, they began to chatter amongst themselves:
"Qiuqiu, is your breast milk supply insufficient?"
"Our Er Mao is so great, he can actually eat by himself."
"If I had known the kids were old enough to eat solid food, I should have had them prepare a carp to introduce them to meat..."
"Should we bring the other children down and feed them something?"
"Go ahead, it just so happens that I made fish and millet porridge today. Er Mao ate it so happily, so everyone should like it..."
Before Shen Wuqiu could speak, Su Yunzhi went upstairs eagerly.
Upstairs, Gu Lingyu lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, feeling utterly hopeless. Da Mao and San Mao lay beside her, blowing bubbles and playing, while Simao, the lazy cat, slept alone in the rocking cradle.
The door wasn't locked from the inside. Su Yunzhi knocked once, then pushed the door open. Seeing Gu Lingyu lying lazily on the bed in a daze, she paused for a moment, then asked, "Lingyu, are you feeling unwell?"
Gu Lingyu shook her head and said weakly, "No."