Sunday.
When Lin Yuan woke up, it was almost noon. The fat cat had kept him awake throughout the night. It would climb out from the cat bed and onto his bed then lay on his chest or move up to his face. It felt like a large stone was crushing against his heart.
So when Lin Yuan got up he was relieved to breathe properly again, but when he looked around the room he couldn't find the fat cat anywhere.
"Baobao, are you here?" He called out a few times but there was no response.
"Did it leave?"
Lin Yuan couldn't help but be a little sad.
After he showered and washed up he went downstairs to the living room.
Lin Yuerong, surprisingly, was dressed up and was drinking coffee on the couch while watching tv. When she saw him, she turned down the volume and complained, "You're finally up! Why did you wake up so late, hmm…"
"Wait?! Were you doing naughty things Lin Yuan?!" Lin Yuerong stood up exaggeratedly and pointed at him.
"..."
Lin Yuan just sighed absentmindedly, even his silly sister couldn't cheer him up.
Seeing Lin Yuan didn't respond she sat back down without any embarrassment and continued unabated, "By the way, I'm going to Ning Qing's house, do you want to come along? We can bring Baozi with us as well, Xiaoyao was worried about him in the group chat."
"Baobao is gone." Lin Yuan said in a low voice.
"Huh? What are you talking about? He's in the backyard."
The backyard wasn't a large space, but they had a grass turf and some reclining chairs that Lin Yuan would sometimes sit in and bask under the sun while reading a book.
When Lin Yuan came outside, he saw that Baozi was running nimbly across the grass chasing after a butterfly. In fact every few seconds his round body would lay panting on the ground and then rise again when the precocious butterfly would fly around his paws to tease it.
Lin Yuan secretly got out his phone and began taking pictures.
After a while, Baozi seemed to notice him. The fat cat cast a resentful glance into the air and lay flat on the ground raising his paws slightly at Lin Yuan.
"Do you want me to carry you Baobao?"
Lin Yuan walked over, "You're too fat, hehe."
"Meow!"
"The vet said you need to lose weight. Look how tired you are. Come on, let's go inside."
…
…
…
When Lin Yuan got to Ning Qing's house it was almost 1 pm.
Apparently Ning Qing and her grandma had prepared a large lunch for them to celebrate Lin Yuerong's game being launched. Lin Yuan was actually quite surprised, he knew his sister was close to Ning Qing but he didn't realise she was this close to their whole family. He realised he didn't really know what was going on in her life these last few years.
"Grandma! Qingqing! Xiaoyao! I'm here!" Lin Yuerong announced as she entered the courtyard. Lin Yuan followed with Baozi at his heels. He felt embarrassed, they didn't bring anything with them.
There was only Ning Yao out in the veranda, the others must have been inside. She was wearing a pink sweater, and pink cotton shorts. Even though the sky was clear it was still a little chilly.
When she saw them, her eyes beelined to Lin Yuan's feet.
"Mr Moonlight." Ning Yao came to them, avoiding Lin Yuerong's arms, and squatted down next to Lin Yuan.
The fat cat whose coat had returned to its previous pristine white colour, also saw the familiar figure. He dashed out to avoid Ning Yao's encroachment, and ran inside the house.
"Ah, he doesn't like you. Don't worry Xiaoyao, he doesn't like me either haha!" Lin Yuerong felt better that she wasn't the only one.
"..."
"Mr Moonlight is just shy." Ning Yao said stubbornly.
"You guys are here."
At this time Ning Qing came outside carrying Baozi in her arms.
"Hey, hey, look, he seems to like Ning Qing just fine." Lin Yuerong pointed out without any emotional intelligence.
Ning Yao's face was bad, but she still insisted, "He's shy."
Hearing this Lin Yuan glanced at Ning Qing evasively. I think it's more that he's a pervert…
Lin Yuerong came to Ning Qing's side, trying to pet that cat that was lying comfortably against her chest, "By the way, where's grandma? Is she inside?"
"She's in the kitchen." Ning Qing pointed her head slightly toward the house, "You guys are a little early so everything is still being prepared."
"Preparations?!" Lin Yuerong was excited, "I'll go see grandma!" With that she tossed off her shoes and sprinted into the house.
"..."
Lin Yuan looked at his sister's disappearing back.
It was a little awkward to be here alone.
Even though he had become quite familiar with Ning Qing now, it was still strange to see her in this context, completely outside of lessons.
This time she was wearing a lightly coloured dress with long sleeves, and her dark brown hair was braided into a ponytail. Especially under the sunlight her hazel eyes were even more vivid.
Ning Qing was also looking at him.
"You're wearing your uniform, did you have school?" She was confused.
"No. I usually wear this."
Actually, Lin Yuan didn't like to think about what to wear, and because his mother had brought a lot of spare uniforms, he usually just wore the same long sleeved white shirt and dark pants whenever he went outside.
"Ah, I'm surprised, I thought you would be wearing something similar to what you were wearing yesterday…" She thought back to that discordant image and chuckled, "Haha, that was a really interesting outfit!"
"..." Nevermind, the familiar feeling was back. "My sister bought that."
"You changed your hair." Lin Yuan felt like he should go on the offensive, but as soon as the words came out he felt it was weak.
Ning Qing also seemed to think so, as her eyes curved into a smile, "You noticed? Does it look bad?"
"...It's fine."
"Haha, well thank you!" Ning Qinq chuckled softly.
"..."
At the side, Ning Yao glanced at the two people and felt strange but then she shook away her thoughts and turned to Ning Qing, "Sister, cat."
"Oh sorry, Xiaoyao." Ning Qing slowly lowered the fat cat back to the ground.
Baozi was upset at being cast down. He kept pawing at Ning Qing's long skirt and meowing, ignoring Ning Yao who was trying to get his attention.
Ning Qing was familiar with this sight so she turned to ask Lin Yuan, "So you are keeping it?"
Lin Yuan looked at the fat cat who was now circling around Ning Qing's legs, "I'm not sure. We'll keep him as long as he stays."
Actually, Lin Yuan thought the fat cat was still scared and that's why it was staying near him. Lin Yuan didn't know whether it would leave again after a while.
"By the way his name is Baozi." Then Lin Yuan thought of something and added, "His full title is Heavenly Emperor Bao Ziyuan. But you can call him Baozi."
"..." Ning Qing's face twitched.
Before she could even think of a reply, Ning Yao spoke first angrily.
"No. His name is Mr Moonlight!"
"It's Baozi." Lin Yuan stared back at Ning Yao's gaze without breaking.
He then bent down and put his arms out, and beckoned the fat cat, "Baozi come here."
"No, Mr Moonlight, come to me, I have food." Ning Yao followed.
"Baozi!"
"Mr Moonlight!"
The fat cat lazily looked at the two pathetic creatures and yawned. Even though it wasn't as comfortable as before, laying in the shade was not too bad.
Seeing as he was being ignored, Lin Yuan decided to change it up, "Emperor Baozi!"
This time the fat cat perked up its ears and then slowly got up and began approaching Lin Yuan, but it was still loitering.
Lin Yuan glanced at Ning Qing who was looking at the two of them with interest.
"Baobao, come on." Lin Yuan's voice was soft.
Seeing his evasive eyes, Ning Qing was incredulous. You're embarrassed to say Baobao but not Emperor Bao Ziyuan? Also why did you add your name to it?
Still it seemed to work, as the fat cat dashed towards Lin Yuan, sniffed his legs a few times, and then curled up beside him.
"See." Lin Yuan was very proud. Lin Yuan looked at the short girl and turned his mouth up. Ametuer.
Ning Yao was upset. "Childish!"
"Hahaha!"
Lin Yuan couldn't help but laugh when he saw her pouting face, she reminded him of his older sister in a way, those same chubby cheeks. He rubbed her head and said with a bright smile, "Don't be angry! Ahahaha…"
"..."
The laughter died quickly when Lin Yuan noticed that two of them were staring at him with wide eyes. He quickly retracted his hands, and coughed, "Ahem, sorry about that…"
Ning Yao snapped out of it the earliest, she fixed her ruffled hair, and squatted down to focus on the fat cat who was looking up at them from its curled up position.
"Don't mess up my hair." Ning Yao said quietly. Lin Yuan couldn't see it but her face was a little red.
Lin Yuan felt awkward standing there, he glanced down at Ning Yao who was busy with the cat, and then at Ning Qing who was still silent. Did he do something wrong…
"Um…Sister…Sister Qing? Is something wrong?"
His voice seemed to bring her out of her absentmindedness. She didn't explain but instead teased with her signature smile, "I thought you said you weren't going to call me that anymore."
"Oh. Sorry."
"Haha, no more apologies, remember?"
Lin Yuan listened to her chuckling and was embarrassed. Right, no more apologies.