Feeding an Abandoned Cat

Content warnings

1. Yu Jingheng is loosely based on a Siamese cat: he has cat ears and a tail, and inherited his mother's reproductive organs.

2. The personalities are a flirtatious top x a melancholic bottom.

3. Written in first person.

4. Yu Jingheng grew up in a poor family and has eight or nine illnesses. He could die at any moment.

5. I'm not a top stan! I'm not a top stan! I'm not a top stan!

6. No real-life inspiration! No real-life inspiration! No real-life inspiration!

There will be a cameo from the neighboring story, To the End of the Light.

Hope you enjoy reading, everyone! It's just a short story, about forty chapters (^O^)/

"Love is nothing more than 'feeding a forgotten cat.' You'll never know whether it needs the warmth of your palm more, or your palm needs its warmth more."

--Pei Jiming

One warm afternoon, Pei Jiming, a young master raised in privilege by his parents, who had never seen the dark side of the world, fell into an abyss.

The kidnappers' sack, the jolting van, the darkness and fear swallowed him up. Just as he was about to despair, a figure appeared at the mouth of a shabby alley: a boy even smaller and thinner than him, with messy hair and a pair of dirty Siamese cat ears, strangely alert and completely at odds with his circumstances.

The fight in the alley ended quickly. The cat-eared boy fought like a crazed little leopard, using his nails, teeth, and a reckless disregard for his own life to drive away kidnappers far bigger than he was. He walked over to Pei Jiming, who was cowering and trembling in the corner. Backlit, his expression was impossible to make out. He only held out a hand so thin it was all bones and said curtly, "Come on."

He took him home, to a cramped, damp, bare room that could hardly be called a home. The air was thick with cheap disinfectant and the lingering smell of medicine. The boy searched for a long time before finding half a bottle of milk, frozen with ice crystals, and a rice ball, already a little dry, carefully wrapped in a clean handkerchief. He silently pressed them into Pei Jiming's hands, then turned his face away, though his Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily.

"Eat." He was still stingy with his words.

It was the most unforgettable meal of Pei Jiming's life. The icy milk made his teeth ache, and the dry, hard rice ball was difficult to swallow. But that precious sharing, offered in the midst of desperation by another child trapped in the same mud, burned with a warmth that seared itself into his soul.

The next day, the cat-eared boy silently took his hand and led him through a maze of streets to a place where he could see the police station. He gave him a push to urge him forward, then turned to disappear into the shadows.

"Wait!" Little Pei Jiming spun around and called out urgently. "What's your name? How can I find you later?"

The boy stopped and turned around. For the first time, sunlight fell clearly on his face: skin far too pale, delicate features, and a pair of beautiful eyes as empty as glass beads. He looked at Pei Jiming, his cat ears twitching almost imperceptibly. He seemed to think for a moment, but in the end he shook his head.

"I forgot," he said. "Go."

Those were the last words Pei Jiming ever heard him say. His parents rushed over and hugged him tightly. When he looked back, the cat-eared guardian who had appeared and vanished like a stray cat was gone.

He took all of Pei Jiming's fear with him, leaving behind a warm, bitter mystery forged from icy milk and rice balls.

Ten years of searching, then a reunion in high school. Pei Jiming recognized the cold, antisocial school bully Yu Jingheng at a glance. But Yu Jingheng seemed to have long since forgotten the story of his salvation, along with most of the warmth and color in his life, in the fog of memory.

But that's all right, Pei Jiming thought.

This time, I'll find you and protect you. Until you remember, or until you're willing to accept again the lifetime supply of icy milk and rice balls I've prepared for you.

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