The Boss Coal cherished two things most: his jewel-like feathers, black with a hint of blue, and his food. Although there was no braised pork knuckle for him today, he would never allow a cat to steal his food.
"Hey, your food's on the ground," the Boss Coal said, pointing to the cat food on the ground with the tip of his wing.
The little orange cat meowed at him and rubbed its head against his feathers.
The Boss Coal disgustedly stepped aside, and the cat seized the opportunity to snatch a piece of meat from the bowl, tilting its head and munching on it with smacking sounds.
The Crow finally lost its patience, spread its wings and swooped down to the cat's head, grabbed the fur on the back of the cat's neck with its claws, picked the cat up, and threw it to the ground, Guagua angrily a few times.
Qingmu said, "Be gentle! Your claws could tear the crocodile's skin!"
"Is it that powerful?" The Crow raised its paw in disbelief, admiring itself for a moment. Just then, the cat leaped up again.
The Crow stretched out its leg and pushed the cat down.
The little orange cat meowed pitifully a few times on the ground, then changed direction and jumped up from the other side of the table. Once on the table, it rubbed against the Crow's feathers, as if trying to get close to him.
"Oh, I hate cats, quack!" The Crow covered its eyes. "Why are you looking for me? Why don't you bother that person across from me? That guy brought you back, not me, quack!"
The kitten continued circling the Crow, but this time it didn't try to steal any food from the bowl.
Seeing its pitiful state, the Crow used its beak to pick up a piece of meat and placed it next to the cat, saying, "Alright, alright, eat it quickly, and don't bother me after you're done!"
The cat, as if it had received a reward, happily ate the meat on the table, and then continued to meow and rub against the Boss Coal's feathers.
The Boss Coal ate the meal without getting angry. Faced with a sickly cat that might not live much longer and was trying so hard to please him, the Crow simply couldn't bring himself to kick the cat out.
"If it weren't for how skinny you are! If it weren't for how short-lived you are! Hmph..." The Crow stretched out its claws and flapped its wings, looking indignant and ready to fight.
Qingmu laughed and said, "If it weren't so skinny, you might not be able to beat it."
The Crow craned its neck, stunned. It looked at the cat on the ground, then down at itself. "Well, this is the tenth greatest unsolved mystery in the world and the Book of Mysteries. But I'm sure I can easily take it down in my dreams; even if it were a hundred times stronger, it would be a piece of cake."
Qingmu suddenly remembered the white cat and said, "There's a cat you might want to get to know."
"What? Cats again?" The Boss Coal shook his head frantically. "No, no, I hate cats!"
"Okay, we'll talk about this later," Qingmu said. "Eat quickly, then go home and sleep."
The Boss Coal suddenly remembered something, glanced at the cat beside him, and cautiously asked, "Where does this thing sleep?"
Qingmu said, "It will sleep at my place until its owner takes it back."
"Oh my god! You want it to live in the same house as us?" The Crow cawed loudly, then stopped after a few caws and looked at Qingmu, saying, "What did you say? Its owner? So you're not its owner? It's just staying here temporarily for a few days?"
After receiving confirmation from Qingmu, the Crow happily sang in its particularly magnetic voice. "We old northerners are so happy today, we old northerners are so happy today..."
Hearing the Crow's song, the orange cat meowed beside it, seemingly cheering it on.
That evening, Bi Shenghua came to ask Qingmu if he had bought cat litter. Qingmu asked what cat litter was. Bi Shenghua her eyes at him, then went to get a plastic basin, filled it with soil and sand, and said, "You dare to raise a cat if you don't know anything? This is for the cat to poop, just make do with it for now."
Qingmu looked completely bewildered and said, "Shouldn't you go to the toilet to poop?"
The Crow Guagua and laughed, "You think it's me? It's a cat! Foolish cat!"
Bi Shenghua retorted, "What's so great about you, you dead Crow? When you first came here, you were pooping all over my room too!"
"Emmmm... Ruhua... There's an outsider here, have some face!" The Boss Coal shyly covered his face with his wings and softly hummed, "Don't mention the past, life has already been full of storms, even if memories can't be erased, shit and pee should all go down the drain..."
The orange cat then started meowing again, encouraging the singing Crow.
Bi Shenghua laid a blanket in each of the two corners of the sofa and said to the two little animals, "Each of you sit in one corner. No making a fuss tonight. If either of you dares to make a fuss in the middle of the night, I'll stew you both tomorrow!"
The kitten seemed to sense the sharp and fierce tone in Bi Shenghua's voice, which didn't sound like a pet owner joking at all. It meowed in fright, slowly retreated to a corner of the sofa, and quietly lay down, a hint of fear showing in its big eyes.
Bi Shenghua stepped out, the Crow, like a seasoned prison guard comforting a new inmate after the warden's departure, patted the little orange cat's head with its wing and said, "Don't worry, if that tomboy had taken it seriously, I would have been stewed a hundred and eighty times over."
Whether the cat understood the Crow's words or felt the comforting warmth, it meowed and then rubbed its head against the Crow's feathers.
"Hehehe, stop fooling around!" the Crow cawed. "Go to sleep, go to sleep." Then it jumped to another corner of the sofa and lay down on the blanket that Ruhua had laid out for it.
The Boss Coal was very proud of his sleeping skills. Unlike other birds, he could sleep standing up, lying down, or even sprawled out on his back.
But just as he finished sleeping, the cat came over, lay down next to him, and curled up as if it were about to sleep.
"Hey, hey, your bed's over there!" the Crow cried, jumping up. Seeing the cat unmoved, it said helplessly, "Fine, fine, if you like this side, you can have it."
As he spoke, he jumped to the other end, and just as he lay down, the cat came over and snuggled up close to his body.
" Guagua, damn it!" the Crow cursed, then suddenly remembered Bi Shenghua's warning and quickly covered his mouth. He could show off in front of the new kitten, but he dared not actually go against Bi Shenghua.
The Crow ran to one end, and the cat followed; it ran to the other end, and the cat followed again. Finally, the Boss Coal, exasperated, had no choice but to spend the night alone on his bird stand, relying on his superb one-legged stance. And the orange cat didn't sleep on the sofa, but rather on the Qingmu desk closer to the bird stand.
Two days passed like this until Hu Xing drove over with Yu Meiren. When the Boss Coal heard that the little girl was the cat's owner, he was overjoyed, exclaiming gratefully to Hu Xing, "Thank you so much! You saved my bird's life!"
Hu Xing came to see Qingmu: "Why didn't you tell me you were going to see my grandfather? I could have helped you arrange a time."
Qingmu said, " Li Wei follows Elder Xia around all day, which is more convenient for him than for you."
Hu Xing said, "Tch, you never even thought about me, and now I'm the one who has to come pick you up!"
Qingmu asked, "Where is Li Wei?"
Hu Xing said, "They've gone to pick up Professor Mei. Alright, let's go too."
Qingmu looked at the Beauty and said, "What about her?"
Hu Xing said, "Let's go together. I'll introduce her to Xia Tian and let them become friends."
The Beauty, holding a cat in her arms, asked, "Aunt Xing, may I bring the cat? It's so pitiful all alone!"
The Crow fluttered and landed on Qingmu's head, cawing defiantly, "Caw, I'm so pitiful too!"
Hu Xing said, "Okay, everyone go!"