After the Divorce, My Wife and I Were Both Reborn
Chapter 84: I Want a Hug Too
Watching the people come and go in the night market, Jiang Xia didn’t know what to do. Forcibly jumping into the bushes would only stress the kitten more, and if it fled somewhere else, they’d never find it.
"Are you two looking for a cat?" the man at the nearby grill stall asked, glancing at them.
"Yes, yes! Sir, have you seen one? A very pretty calico cat." Lin Yanwan immediately nodded, her eyes filled with hope.
"Nah, can’t say I have. There are plenty of strays around here, but they don’t usually come out when it’s this crowded. You could try luring it out with food."
As he spoke, the stall owner pulled out one of his ham sausages, a salesman’s smile spreading across his face. "Want a ham sausage? A buck fifty each."
"Yes! But not a ham sausage. Sir, do you have any unseasoned meat skewers?"
"Only the lamb skewers are unseasoned. Large ones are three yuan, small ones are one-fifty. Which kind do you want?"
"A large one. But sir, you have to make sure it’s skewered on there really securely."
"No problem."
Lin Yanwan paid without hesitation. She had no idea if this would work, but what if Yuyuan was hungry and could be lured out by the smell of food?
The lamb was already on a long skewer. Jiang Xia’s arms were longer, so he bent over and slowly extended it toward the spot where they had heard the meow.
A minute passed, then two, with no response. But neither of them was anxious. They knew cats were patient, and kittens were especially vigilant; the slightest disturbance could send it fleeing.
After about two more minutes, Jiang Xia suddenly felt something tugging on the lamb skewer in his hand. The pull was surprisingly strong.
He winked at his wife and whispered, "Got a bite."
"Don’t rush it. Pull it out slowly," Lin Yanwan whispered back, her heart pounding in her throat with nervousness.
"I’ll try."
Jiang Xia tried pulling the lamb skewer back, little by little. Perhaps the kitten had gotten a taste of the meat and didn’t want its meal to get away, because it kept biting down and pulling back with all its might, hissing while it tugged.
They both held their breath. When Jiang Xia finally pulled the skewer all the way out, they saw a skinny little kitten clamped onto the meat for dear life, easily "fished" into mid-air.
Seeing this, the stall owner was stunned. He had just been making a casual suggestion, hoping to sell the couple an extra skewer. He never thought they would actually catch a cat with it.
"Yuyuan, it’s really Yuyuan!"
Staring at the little calico, Lin Yanwan was so excited she nearly shouted. The kitten looked to be only two or three months old, but the patch of black fur under its neck—an inverted triangle that looked just like a necktie—was identical to Yuyuan’s!
Before Yuyuan could size up the situation and bolt, Jiang Xia’s reflexes kicked in. With just two fingers, he deftly lifted the kitten by the scruff of its neck.
The kitten instantly went stiff, as if petrified, hanging motionless in his grip. Its eyes, the blue film of kittenhood not yet gone, stared blankly at Jiang Xia. Only its striped tail curled up, shyly tucking around its bottom.
"Well, little fella, didn’t see that coming, did you? We meet again. This is what you call fate, you know?" Jiang Xia grinned. Of course, he also recognized it as the cat he had raised for ten years.
’The Buddha says it takes five hundred glances in a past life to earn a single chance encounter in this one,’ he mused. ’Yuyuan was with us for ten years in our past life, so in return, we get to meet two years earlier in this one. That’s two fewer years it has to suffer as a stray.’
"Don’t you dare let go. It’s too crowded here. Let’s go somewhere else first," Lin Yanwan said.
Jiang Xia nodded. He walked over to the entrance of a closed shop. Bathed in the glow of a streetlight, the area wasn’t too dark.
He carefully placed Yuyuan on the ground, watching closely in case it tried to flee. But surprisingly, now that they were away from the clamor of the night market, the kitten seemed less afraid. It just lay on the pavement, staring blankly up at the two giant humans before it.
"Do you think Yuyuan recognizes us? It doesn’t seem that scared anymore."
Lin Yanwan stroked the kitten’s head. Its fur was all puffed up on its tiny body, but it started rubbing its head against her hand, letting out a rumbling purr.
"Yuyuan wasn’t reborn like we were, how could it recognize us? It was probably still in its mother’s womb back then, not even born yet."
"But what if? They always say cats have a sixth sense, you know~"
Lin Yanwan was in no mood to bicker with him. Having been so lucky to find the cat they once raised, her eyes were filled with nothing but joy.
"I always wondered if Yuyuan might have survived that earthquake," she murmured to herself, happy tears welling in the corners of her eyes. "Even though it was so old, it was still a cat. It had nine lives, right? It should have been able to hold on until the rescuers arrived."
"Meow~"
Yuyuan meowed as if in reply, then walked over to rub against Jiang Xia’s legs, just like the time it first scammed its way into their lives.
Jiang Xia stroked its fur. "It doesn’t really matter anymore, does it? The fact that we found it in both lifetimes... this is the fate heaven arranged for us."
"Mhm!"
Lin Yanwan nodded emphatically. She took the lamb skewer from Jiang Xia’s hand and began tearing off small pieces to feed the kitten.
"Go on, Yuyuan, eat up. You must be starving, huh? When you meowed right as we were leaving, was it because you recognized us then? Why were you hiding from Mommy and Daddy instead of coming out?"
"The first time you scammed us in our last life, you were so dirty and scrawny. I had no idea you were this cute as a kitten."
"You don’t have to suffer outside anymore~ As long as Mommy has food to eat, you’ll have food to eat."
Watching her chatter away at Yuyuan, Jiang Xia didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ’Why can’t she ever be this nice to me?’ he thought. ’Am I seriously less important than a cat?’
Yuyuan, for its part, was gobbling up the lamb, its purr growing louder and louder until it sounded like a tractor engine.
"So, that brings up a question. Am I taking care of Yuyuan for now, or are you? How about we do it like last time, and I take it home with me first?"
In their past life, when they first found the cat, Jiang Xia had been the one to look after it. At the time, his wife’s family factory had gone bankrupt, and she didn’t have the spare energy to care for a cat. Later, when the school semester started, they brought it to the apartment they rented together.
"We’re closer to my house, so of course I’m taking it."
Lin Yanwan hugged Yuyuan tightly, unwilling to let go. ’The cat from our last life definitely came back this time to repay our kindness.’
"Will your parents agree?"
"It’ll be fine. And even if they don’t agree, I still have Xiao Man on my side."
"That’s true."
Jiang Xia saw how content Yuyuan looked in his wife’s arms and felt a pang of jealousy.
"I want a hug too."
"You’re not a kid anymore."
Lin Yanwan mumbled but still opened her arms and gently hugged him.
...
(Sorry, went out and got caught in the wind today, had a headache all day. The update is late. Good night.)