Chapter 6 (2/2)
Once Zhongfen was settled, Liu Qianxiu drove Mu Wan back to her apartment.
Datou and Ertong were still in the bedroom. Mu Wan went in to get them while Liu Qianxiu waited in the living room.
The apartment was small, decorated in a simple, comfortable style. On the coffee table sat a single cup. Near the dining area, a single chair was pulled out. It was unmistakably the home of a woman living alone.
A few moments later, Mu Wan came back out.
Her slender arms held the cat bed, covered with a thin blanket. Beneath it, the two kittens shifted in small wriggles. She looked up at Liu Qianxiu, her eyes large and bright.
“I’ll come with you and drop them off. Otherwise it’ll be hard for you to drive and hold them.”
She also wanted to see where he lived. That way, if she came by later, she would know how to find the place. And besides, Liu Qianxiu had only said he had experience with cats. Who knew whether he could actually take proper care of them?
The expression on the man’s face did not change. His dark eyes remained calm and unreadable.
“All right,” he said simply.
At once, Mu Wan felt that perhaps she had been a little petty in the way she’d argued with him.
Besides the cats and the cat bed, she packed up quite a few more things, enough to fill half a box. One of them carried the cat bed, the other the box, and the two went downstairs one after the other.
On the way down, they ran into the woman from across the hall. Her eyes paused on Liu Qianxiu for quite some time before she finally looked away and greeted Mu Wan.
Mu Wan was not especially close with the neighbors. She smiled, nodded back, and then headed toward Liu Qianxiu’s BMW X5.
Lin Wei had said that as a doctor, Liu Qianxiu probably earned about the same as Mu Wan, an eighteenth-tier actress.
But there were still differences.
At the very least, even by the time she reached Liu Qianxiu’s age, Mu Wan wasn’t sure she’d be able to afford an apartment in Nanfeng, let alone the X5.
It was Mu Wan’s first time entering the home of a man who lived alone.
She didn’t feel much need for caution. In truth, there was no need. Compared with an ordinary man, Liu Qianxiu felt much more like a Taoist priest.
Apartments in Nanfeng were expensive, and the building Liu Qianxiu lived in was one of the best in the complex, with an especially open view. The apartment itself was enormous—well over two hundred square meters. The moment she stepped inside, she caught the faint scent of agarwood, the fragrance winding straight into her mind. It was white kyara, worth more than gold.
Mu Wan’s own place was already simply decorated, but Liu Qianxiu’s home was simpler still. Yet within that simplicity, there was unmistakable refinement. The lamp, the low table, the rug—none of them looked like ordinary work or materials. Just from the apartment alone, one could imagine the temperament of its owner.
Detached from desire.
Unworldly.
Elegant to the point of luxury.
Liu Qianxiu bent down and set the box in his arms on the floor. Then he took out a pair of new slippers and held them out to Mu Wan.
“Wear these.”
He was inviting her in.
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 high 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...
Well. It was exactly the kind of name a Taoist’s cat would have.
“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’d cook for me?”
“Mm.”
“Yes.”
The answer came out before she had time to think.
Then Mu Wan froze for half a beat, looking at Liu Qianxiu.
Something about what she had just said... sounded a little off.
0 comments:
Post a Comment