He Chuzhou estimated that the kitten was only a month old. It was so small and thin that it could lay in the palm of his hand.

But after taking it to the clinic for a checkup, the veterinarian said that the little guy was more than two months old, and its thinness was due to malnutrition.

“There’s an injury to the hind leg, which looks like it was caused by a blunt-force blow. This is probably why the mother cat chose to give it up.”

The veterinarian showed them an X-ray: “Fortunately, no bones were injured and it’s only a flesh injury. It will need to be treated with anti-inflammatories and bandaged with medicine, and an infusion may also be needed…..”

As he spoke, the kitten lay on its side in a well-behaved manner, its injured and shaved hind leg hanging out. As if it knew they were helping it, it didn’t cry or make a fuss.

The process of adopting a stray cat was very complicated and cumbersome. In addition to the wound, it needed to be bathed, dewormed, and given nutrient and anti-inflammatory solutions.

Because the kitten was so thin and had a bad immune system, an emergency may occur, and professional medical staff were needed to check on it at any time during these processes.

The vet: “If you decide to adopt it, my suggestion is to leave it here for a day and wait until its condition stabilizes, then take it back tomorrow.”

Pei Xi placed a finger next to the kitten’s tail. The kitten tilted its head weakly to look at him, then moved its tail to wrap it softly around his fingertip.

Pei Xi’s expression shifted slightly. He raised his head and looked at the veterinarian: “How long will it take tomorrow?”

The vet: “Hm…..around six or seven o’clock, the same time as now—”

“Can it be done the day after tomorrow?” He Chuzhou asked abruptly.

Pei Xi looked at him in confusion.

He Chuzhou explained: “I have something to do tomorrow and may not be able to come over in time. How about the morning after tomorrow?”

The vet nodded: “That works. It also happens to be more conducive to its recovery.”

“Okay, then I’ll trouble you.”

He Chuzhou took the bill and gently scratched the kitten’s ears before leaving: “Be good and rest. We’ll pick you up the day after tomorrow.”

After the fee was paid and they left the pet hospital, Pei Xi asked He Chuzhou in the car: “Is there a lot of work tomorrow?”

He Chuzhou was evasive: “Something like that. Are you cold? Do you want the heat turned on?”

The other didn’t want to talk about it, and it was difficult to ask further questions, so Pei Xi could only leave it there.

When they got home, He Chuzhou took an extremely quick shower, then went to the study and dealt with work nonstop.

Pei Xi saw how busy he was and wanted to help, but he knew nothing about the progress of his work. He would inevitably have questions in the process of understanding it, and going back and forth like that was a waste of time.

Forget it.

He left a wall lamp on in the hallway, touched He Xingxing’s head, then turned and padded softly back to the bedroom.

Pei Xi’s hope was that he would be more sensible tomorrow and not cause further trouble for He Chuzhou.

. . . . . . 

“Where are you going?” Pei Xi sat blankly on the bed and looked at He Chuzhou, who was changing into non-formal clothes. “Are you going home?”

“Why go home in such nice weather?”

He Chuzhou was wearing a black jacket with a white inner layer, along with a pair of loose, straight trousers.

It wasn’t as noble and dignified as a suit and leather shoes, but instead gave off a youthful and energetic air.

Even more fantastically, these two words were not at all out of place when describing a man nearly thirty years old.

Incredible.

He took out a set of clothes in the same style of his own, but smaller in size, and handed them to Pei Xi: “Let’s take advantage of today’s free time to go have fun at the aquarium.”

Those were the right words. Pei Xi’s expression brightened slightly: “The aquarium?”

“Yep, the aquarium,” He Chuzhou drawled, then said with a smile: “You take your time getting ready. I’ll walk the dog, and we’ll head out when I get back.”

The weather was indeed better than usual today, with crisp autumn air and cloudless skies.

The sun was just a bit dazzling.

Pei Xi wasn’t accustomed to wearing sunglasses, so He Chuzhou put a dark peaked hat on his head.

The exact same outfit looked flamboyant on He Chuzhou, but put off a cool air on Pei Xi. Like a college student who had just entered society, a little well-behaved, a little cool, and a little naive.

“Aiya, my wife is so good-looking.”

He Chuzhou proudly raised the Polaroid camera hanging on his chest, pointed it at Pei Xi, and clicked.

After waiting for the photo to come out, he admired it for a moment. Then he passed it to Pei Xi and took his other hand: “Remember to follow me closely.”

“All prepared and ready to go on an autumn outing~”

He Chuzhou didn’t drive for once. After checking the morning route, he deliberately avoided the morning rush out and took Pei Xi to the subway station.

It was no exaggeration to say that it was Pei Xi’s first time here, and he had no knowledge of the signs labeled A, B, C, D, and E. He could only follow He Chuzhou like a little tail the whole time as they wound up and down the security checkpoints.

But…..it was a very novel feeling. 

Although it was troublesome to change routes midway, he wasn’t impatient at all.

After more than half an hour, they finally arrived at the entrance of the aquarium. Looking at the blue-themed aquarium gate a short distance away, he unexpectedly felt a subtle sense of satisfaction that his long-cherished wish had finally come true.

It was really magical. He really…..loved it.

“Let’s see, we need this QR code to check in.” He Chuzhou fiddled with his cell phone for a moment, took him through the ticket gate, and smoothly obtained a simplified map of the aquarium.

The 16 themed venues of the aquarium were marked on the map. There were 6 performance halls, 6 seating areas, restaurants, a photo studio, a souvenir sales area…..

Pei Xi felt dizzy: “Are we going to all of these?”

He Chuzhou also thought it was a bit much. The aquarium was so big that it would take quite a while to traverse the entire venue, which would be tiring.

“Choose what you like first, and the rest will all depend on the situation. If we get tired, we’ll come back again. The aquarium won’t run away.”

With their heads pressed together, the two of them looked like primary school students discussing important matters. “This one, this one, and this one are all recommended by the guide. Which one do you want to go to first?”

After careful consideration, Pei Xi poked the map in the order of one, two, and three. He Chuzhou noted down the route. He then put away the map and confirmed the direction, leading Pei Xi to the whale and dolphin exhibit.

Today was a workday. The crowds were sparse, and the guest flow was much less than on weekends on holidays.

Pei Xi entered the arched glass passage and the temperature seemed to drop.

The exhibit was surrounded by water on three sides. Small fish gathered in schools, and from time to time, a huge beluga whale passed overhead or beside them. Its two fins stirred the water, silently creating a long, slow, striking scene for its viewers.

It was completely different from what could be seen on TV, a vast beauty that could only be experienced by being there.

Classmate Xiao Pei was completely entranced. He raised his head and stared intently at the big whale as it slowly swam through glimmering currents.

He Chuzhou’s gaze was on him from beginning to end. Seeing this, he raised his camera to record the scene in its entirety. 

There were mostly children among the tourists, and many of them seemed to have just learned to walk. Led by their parents, they leaned against the glass with their eyes wide open, watching in wonder, or cupped their hands around their mouths and shouted to the fish inside.

The beluga whale was drawn to a child and turned its tail fin, swimming over leisurely with a smiling expression on its face. When its big head cutely approached —

It caught the child by surprise by abruptly opening its mouth.

“Whaaaaaa!”

The child was frightened to tears. He turned around and threw himself into his mother’s arms, causing a wave of laughter around him.

Seeing that Pei Xi’s gaze was also drawn toward it, He Chuzhou suggested: “Shall we go take a look?”

Pei Xi nodded at once.

He Chuzhou: “You’re not afraid you’ll get scared?”

Pei Xi’s expression was speechless: “I’m not a child.”

The naughty whale hadn’t swum away yet.

Pei Xi approached it, and after gazing at it for a while, he couldn’t help but exclaim: “It actually looks like it’s smiling.”

He Chuzhou placed his hand on the glass and made a circle. Surprisingly the whale cooperated and turned around, laying on its back with its belly up. He Chuzhou made another circle, and it also turned back.

Pei Xi was astonished: “How did you do that?”

He Chuzhou: “Hm…..just with a hand? You can try it too. Beluga whales are very smart, and can understand things. It’ll be very happy to play with you.”

Pei Xi was eager, and imitated He Chuzhou by putting his hand close to the glass. He Chuzhou raised his camera to take pictures.

Just as Pei Xi was about to move his hand, the white whale abruptly opened its mouth. He was so frightened that his breath shook, and his eyes immediately widened.

There was a click next to him, and photo that perfectly captured his frightened expression was printed out.

He Chuzhou held up the photo, trying not to laugh: “Not a child?”

“……”

With red ears, Pei Xi silently took the photo from him and walked away.

When they got to the shark exhibit, they happened to catch a mermaid show.

In the small minority of people who had never seen acrobatics, even though he knew these underwater performers were utmost professionals, Pei Xi still sweated for them.

“Don’t worry.”

He Chuzhou could tell what he was thinking from his expression, and squeezed his hand while reassuring him in a low voice: “The sharks selected here are relatively small, and their food intake is controlled. Humans aren’t a natural food source for sharks, and they generally don’t attack humans.”

The performance wasn’t long, and was over before the music ended. The mermaids had a simple interaction with the tourists, then swam upward and left.

But for one exception.

She wasn’t in a hurry to leave after the performance. Instead, she gazed in Pei Xi’s direction for a moment, as if trying to discern something.

Then she swam over, swung her tail, and put on a special performance in front of Pei Xi. She made simple, playful movements, blew out a string of bubbles, and made a love heart with her fingers.

Pei Xi stared blankly. As if realizing something, he suddenly turned around.

He Chuzhou responded quickly, putting his phone away at lightning speed as he gave him an innocent smile: “What is it?”

Pei Xi raised an eyebrow: “What were you doing behind my back?”

“Taking pictures, ah, what else would I be doing?”

As he spoke, he raised the camera and pressed the shutter as if to prove himself, taking a photo of Pei Xi and the mermaid.

The mermaid quickly left the venue after the encore. He Chuzhou handed the photo to Pei Xi and said seriously: “It is said that people who are favored by a mermaid will have good luck throughout the year. Congratulations, Classmate Xiao Pei, you’re going to have great luck.”

Pei Xi: “Where do they say that?”

He Chuzhou thought about it: “The sea?”

Pei Xi: “But Gege, this is an aquarium. There are no mermaids, only fishkeepers.”

“……”

He Chuzhou was silent for a moment, then tried to press his case: “At least the water here is regularly transported from the sea. It kind of counts.”

“Okay.” Pei Xi said: “At sea, how long is the approximate sentence for lying that today’s my birthday to trick a mermaid into performing?”

He Chuzhou was greatly alarmed: “How did you know?”

Pei Xi smiled faintly. He hooked his fingers on He Chuzhou’s sunglasses and pulled them down, meeting his eyes: “Silly. The mermaid was wearing reflective goggles.”

He Chuzhou: “……”

Damn, I was careless!

After exiting the shark exhibit, Pei Xi took his penitent follower in a circle around two small restaurants and a neighboring photo studio.

Then they went directly through the passage at the back exit and entered the jellyfish exhibit, which was said to be the most popular.

He understood that there would be many girls inside, since it was in a girl’s nature to be attracted to beautiful things.

But why were there also so many old men holding long and short-focus cameras?

“The pursuit of beauty is in the nature of all human beings.”

He Chuzhou stuffed photo paper into the Polaroid camera: “When men reach retirement age and have nothing to do with their pensions, they always develop some hobbies to kill time.”

Pei Xi considered this, and thought it made sense: “You mean they’re all very professional?”

“No. On the contrary, they may only be more professional than you, who’s never touched a camera.”

He Chuzhou said firmly: “When you go out, be careful not to fall under the lenses of these uncles. Otherwise, you’ll be too late to know regret.”

Pei Xi: “Why?”

He Chuzhou: “Because their equipment is high-definition. They also won’t add filters to beautify their photos of you before putting them on their elderly social platforms and subjecting you to an unending public execution.”

Pei Xi: “How do you know?”

He Chuzhou: “When He Aiyue was fifteen, she came back from a spring outing at a botanical garden. In the middle of the night, she saw a series of ugly photos of her on the account of an uncle on a certain platform, and cried for three days and three nights.”

Pei Xi: “……”

Okay. Got it.

He dodged away.

The jellyfish exhibit was worthy of being the most popular. Various jellyfish in beautiful shapes and colors were placed in different areas, floating and dancing through the water in a dreamlike scene.

As soon as he walked in, Pei Xi felt his breathing unconsciously slow to match the rhythm of the jellyfish as they swam.

He had no idea that the breathing of the person watching him had also slowed.

Light refracted irregularly through the water onto his face and neck in a thin layer of blue. Soft, umbrella-shaped forms spread out in ripples, scattering watery light as it all fell into his eyes.

The filter of favoritism created breathtaking beauty in all that came into view.

He Chuzhou felt the raucous beating of his heart, and overwhelming affection practically overflowed within his chest.

He raised the camera and took slow, careful steps backward, then pressed the shutter button, reluctant to stop. Under the sound of continuous clicks, he tried to preserve every subtle change forever.

In the next second, the person under the camera turned his head and looked over.

The moment their gazes connected, He Chuzhou felt as if a hundred strings of jellyfish and shell wind chimes rang out in his head.

But the person in the camera didn’t seem able to empathize, and couldn’t connect with him. Even his expression was becoming stiff, and his eyes seemed to be asking for help.

Fortunately, his love brain wasn’t to the point of having no cure, and it soon became clear to him that something was wrong.

He put down the camera and turned around to look—

At some unknown time, a circle of old men had appeared around him, all pretending to be professional cameramen as they crouched in horse stance with their cameras aimed at Pei Xi.

Some of them had even set up tripods, and called to Pei Xi: “Young man, raise your head a little higher and turn your head a little further. It would be good to remove your hat. The photos will look better!”

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Chapter 48 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 50