Before going home, Mu Wan and Lin Wei stopped at a pet store.
Mu Wan had never raised a cat before.
She knew absolutely nothing.
The sales assistant enthusiastically recommended one thing after another, and Mu Wan accepted every suggestion without question.
By the time they finished, they had filled two large boxes.
Once everything was packed, Lin Wei followed one of the employees outside to load the boxes into the car.
When she came back, Mu Wan was still at the register.
Lin Wei rested both arms on the counter and watched her swipe her card.
“You haven’t even gotten married yet, and you’re already a mother.”
The cashier was a young woman.
She laughed.
“What’s strange about that? Everyone who works here has a cat.”
“You all like them that much?” Lin Wei asked.
“Of course.”
The girl smiled, her eyes brightening as though she had remembered something especially pleasant.
“Your kittens are still tiny now, but wait until they grow up. When you come home and open the door, they’ll be sitting there waiting for you.”
Her smile widened.
“They’ll meow the second they see you, like they’re welcoming you home. And once you have pets around, the house doesn’t feel so lonely anymore.”
“Mine have a long way to go before that.”
For a moment, Mu Wan pictured it.
Three cats sitting side by side near the door.
Waiting for her.
The image felt strangely distant.
She could not quite imagine what that would feel like.
It had been a very long time since anyone had waited for her to come home.
Besides, this was her first time raising cats.
At the moment, she barely knew what she was doing.
“Cats grow quickly,” the cashier said. “Give them less than two months and they’ll be running all over your house.”
The receipt printed.
Mu Wan accepted it with a smile.
“Thank you.”
Then she left with Lin Wei.
After Lin Wei dropped her off at home, someone from her studio called and she had to leave.
Mu Wan carried the kittens inside and placed them carefully on the sofa.
Then she opened the two boxes.
Cat bed.
Goat milk formula.
Feeding bottles.
Blankets.
Everything the sales assistant had persuaded her to buy.
Once she had mixed the formula and settled the kittens into their new bed, Mu Wan finally went into the bathroom.
She had not been home in two days.
The room was still a wreck.
The water that had mixed with her blood had long since dried, leaving dark, brittle stains across the floor.
Mu Wan stood there for a moment.
She lived alone.
Even if an ambulance came to take her away, even if doctors treated her wounds, even if she recovered and eventually came home, the mess she had left behind would still be there.
Waiting.
There was no one else to clean it.
She turned on the faucet.
A strong stream of water hit the floor, splashing loudly against the tiles as she began washing away the dried blood.
Then, through all that noise, she heard something.
A tiny meow.
Mu Wan shut off the water almost instantly.
A few remaining drops slipped from the faucet.
They struck the floor so softly that the bathroom seemed almost silent.
“Meow.”
This time, she heard it clearly.
Something seemed to wash straight over her heart.
Mu Wan hurried out.
She had placed the kittens in her bedroom, tucked into a corner near the foot of the bed.
They were so small that she had bought the smallest cat bed available.
Even that looked enormous around them.
Three tiny bundles of fur lay inside it like three little stars adrift in their own universe.
Their eyes had not opened yet.
At the sound of Mu Wan’s footsteps, they raised their heads blindly.
Tiny pink paws pressed over one another as they struggled upward, searching for something they could not see.
Mu Wan quickly picked up the bottle of goat milk formula.
They had only just eaten.
Yet the moment she brought the nipple close, the kittens began sucking eagerly.
Mu Wan frowned.
Could they eat too much?
She pulled the bottle away.
All three immediately began to meow.
They pushed and climbed over one another, protesting with everything their tiny bodies had.
Mu Wan hastily gave the bottle back.
By the time the feeding ordeal was over, she was completely flustered.
She had started out crouching beside the bed.
Eventually, she gave up and sat directly on the floor.
The tiles were cool beneath her.
Mu Wan, however, had worked up a thin sheen of sweat.
The three kittens were from the same litter, but none of them looked alike.
One was orange.
One was mostly white with orange markings.
The third was black and white.
The orange kitten had the largest head and looked stronger than the others.
Mu Wan decided he must be the oldest.
The orange-and-white kitten had a white face and body, with two orange patches along its back and tail.
The black-and-white kitten had a dark marking that began on its forehead and split neatly down the middle, as though someone had carefully given it a center part.
Mu Wan considered the three of them.
Then she assigned them an order.
And names.
The eldest was Datou.
The second was Ertong.
And the youngest was Zhongfen.
Once the naming ceremony was complete, Mu Wan put the bottle away.
Their stomachs were round with milk.
The three kittens lay inside their bed, lifting their tiny heads and meowing faintly.
Mu Wan slipped one hand inside.
They sniffed her first.
Then, one after another, they slowly rested their little heads against her palm.
And fell asleep.
The bedding beneath her hand was soft.
The three heads resting on top of it were warm.
Outside the window, the light gradually brightened.
For the first time in days, the sky cleared.
Somewhere deep inside Mu Wan, something quiet began to grow.
She looked down at the kittens.
Suddenly, the scene the pet store cashier had described no longer felt so impossible to imagine.
Three cats sitting in a row near the door.
Waiting for her to come home.
In some ways, she and these kittens were remarkably alike.
They had never known a father.
Then their mother had died.
And suddenly, they were alone.
Mu Wan’s fingers moved gently beneath their heads.
Her lashes lowered.
“But you three are luckier than I was.”
Her voice was soft.
“I had nothing.”
She looked at the three kittens curled together.
“You have each other.”
A faint smile touched her lips.
“And you have me.”
Mu Wan considered that for a second.
“Your... stepmother.”
She was the first to laugh.
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