Chapter 6 (2/2)
Part 2: The Taoist’s Cat and the Home-Cooked Noodles
Mu Wan’s fingers tightened slightly on the edge of the cat bed. The blanket over it had already slipped back, and beneath it, Datou and Ertong were moving around and meowing.
“Thank you.” She put on the slippers after thanking him.
They were clearly his, because they were a little too large for her. Her pale, narrow feet disappeared into the light brown cotton-linen slippers. The soles were somewhat firm, yet unexpectedly comfortable.
Liu Qianxiu said nothing more. He picked up the box and headed toward one of the rooms. Mu Wan followed, but before he even opened the door, something dark slid across the tops of her feet.
She stepped back.
“Zhouyi.” Liu Qianxiu’s gaze settled. He called the name once.
Mu Wan looked up. A black cat, sleek from head to tail, with vertical golden pupils, was standing beside the low table watching her. When Liu Qianxiu called, it answered with a short “meow.”
“This is your cat?” Mu Wan asked.
The black cat had something uncanny about it. Even in broad daylight, it still felt faintly intimidating. And a name like Zhouyi (The Book of Changes)... Well. It was exactly the kind of name a Taoist priest would give his cat.
“Mm,” Liu Qianxiu replied, opening the door.
It was a dedicated cat room. Inside, it connected to a floor-to-ceiling balcony. Soft carpet covered the floor. The cat tree was large and branch-like, and the cat bed, litter box, and drinking fountain were all spotless. Near the windows, a smaller glass-walled room had been built into one side of the space, almost like a nursery. It was clearly meant for kittens.
Inside the glass room, everything needed to care for newborns was already in place. Mu Wan set down the cat bed. Liu Qianxiu moved quickly, mixing formula and feeding the two hungry kittens, who were already crying themselves hoarse.
Crouching beside the bed, Mu Wan watched him feed them with smooth, practiced hands. All of her earlier worry and suspicion now seemed completely unnecessary. Experience really was experience. Liu Qianxiu was taking care of them far better than she had.
Now that she could finally relax, Mu Wan was ready to leave. She looked down at Datou and Ertong, then thought of Zhongfen, and slowly drew her hand out from beneath the two tiny bodies.
The moment she pulled her hand away and was about to get up to say goodbye, her stomach growled over the sound of the kittens sucking at the bottle.
She had come straight home from the set to care for Zhongfen, then rushed to the pet hospital, and after that came here. She hadn’t eaten dinner at all.
The sound was neither loud nor soft. Mu Wan’s lashes flickered once.
Liu Qianxiu had already looked over. His mouth flattened into a straight line. He lowered his eyes to the bottle, pulled the now-empty one away, and then asked, “You haven’t eaten?”
What had been slightly awkward a second ago became easy the moment he asked so directly. Mu Wan smiled instead, light shifting in her eyes, and nodded without embarrassment.
“No. I’ll just head back and—”
“Do you want noodles?” Liu Qianxiu asked.
Mu Wan was cut off. Her lips parted slightly. Under her long lashes, surprise moved across her beautiful eyes like light over water. “You’re going to cook for me?”
“Mm.”
“Yes.”
The answer slipped out before she could think.
Then Mu Wan froze for half a beat, staring at Liu Qianxiu.
She had just eagerly agreed to stay for a home-cooked meal in a single man's apartment. The way she had blurted it out felt entirely too intimate, as if she had just accepted a completely different kind of invitation.
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