I Start with a Mysterious Island

Chapter 346 - 267: An Agreement and Common Ploys

A girl and two cats, the three of them crouched under a large tree by the road in their residential complex, murmuring back and forth as if in conversation.

CLICK, CLACK, CLICK...

Xia Qing, wearing low-heeled sandals, was returning to the complex after buying a bag of salt. From a distance, she saw her daughter squatting in front of a black and a white cat.

She had often seen these two kittens in the morning when she went out to buy groceries. She’d also heard from other parents in the complex that they weren’t residents’ pets, but strays. They’d said the cats had terrible tempers and frequently fought with each other.

They had warned Xia Qing to keep a close eye on her child and not let her get near the two strays, lest she get scratched.

"Tongtong!" The thought that these two strays might scratch Tongtong made Xia Qing’s heart leap into her throat. Anxious for her daughter’s safety, she cried out and hurried toward her.

The Little Black Cat and Little White Cat, who were in the middle of their third sausage, were startled by a human’s shout.

They immediately lifted their heads and looked toward the sound. Then they saw the shouting human running quickly in their direction.

Always wary of humans, the two cats bolted in an instant, diving into the dense, leafy bushes where they had hidden before.

"Mama..." Zhou Tongtong stood up and spoke to her mother, who had just reached her. "Why were you running so fast? You could’ve fallen..."

"Hah..." Xia Qing was a little out of breath from her sprint.

She glanced at the half-eaten sausage the two escaped strays had left on the ground and immediately understood what was happening.

"Tongtong, you shouldn’t be feeding those strays. I heard they have terrible tempers and might scratch someone."

Zhou Tongtong shook her head. "Mama, are you sure you’re not mistaken? The two kittens seemed really gentle to me..."

"Gentle? I’ve heard from a lot of people that those two strays are always fighting with each other somewhere in the complex.

You have to stay away from strays that love to fight so much, Tongtong. Do you understand? If you get scratched, Mama would be heartbroken..." Xia Qing said.

"Uhm..." Hearing her mom say the two kittens liked to fight, Zhou Tongtong remembered that the very first time she saw them, the two little creatures were, in fact, fighting. She was suddenly at a loss for words to defend them.

Seeing Zhou Tongtong falter, Xia Qing knew it would be next to impossible to get her daughter to stop feeding the two strays.

So, she relented and said to her daughter, "Sigh... honestly, sweetie. If you really want to feed them, I suppose it’s not entirely out of the question.

But you have to promise Mama that when you do, you won’t get too close. Just toss the food to them from a distance, okay?"

Seeing her mother relent, Zhou Tongtong’s worried little face instantly brightened. "Okay!" she said cheerfully. "From now on, when I feed them, I’ll keep my distance."

"It’s getting dark. Let’s go home. For dinner, Mama will make your favorite seafood curry rice."

With the matter of the two little strays settled for now, Xia Qing took her daughter’s hand, picked up her bag of groceries from the ground, and they headed home, chatting about what to make for dinner.

"Mama, when you make the seafood curry rice later, can you add extra jumbo shrimp?"

"Of course. I’ll be sure to put in a few extra."

"Mama, I’m going to eat two big bowls of seafood curry rice tonight..."

"Two whole bowls? Are you sure you can eat that much?"

"I can! My tummy is totally empty right now. Two bowls will be a piece of cake."

The sound of the mother and daughter’s cheerful chatter faded as their figures receded into the distance.

Not long after they left, the Little Black Cat and Little White Cat, who had fled earlier, crept out from the dense, leafy bushes once more.

They glanced left and right. After confirming that there were no humans around, they leaped out of the shrubbery, snatched the half-eaten sausage from the ground, and scampered off.

* * *

DING.

The elevator doors slid open, and out stepped Xia Qing, carrying a large bag of groceries, and Zhou Tongtong, wearing a cartoon backpack.

Just as Xia Qing was about to pull her keys from her pocket to open the door, she suddenly remembered something. The plate of dumplings she had prepared for her next-door neighbor yesterday was still in the fridge.

She stopped fumbling for her keys and turned to her neighbor’s front door instead.

DING-DONG...

The doorbell chimed, but after a moment, no one answered.

"Mama, do you think Lin Li went on a trip?" Zhou Tongtong asked, looking up at her mother.

"I don’t know," Xia Qing said.

"Mama, I remember you and Lin Li exchanged numbers, right? Why don’t you send him a text and ask?" Zhou Tongtong suggested.

"Oh, right! I completely forgot about that." The reminder jogged Xia Qing’s memory. She pulled her phone from her pocket and sent Lin Li a text.

"Lin Li, are you home?"

After sending the message, Xia Qing and her daughter went back to their own apartment.

Far away in another city, Lin Li and Su Yue were just leaving a restaurant after finishing dinner.

"I’m so full," Lin Li mumbled to himself, patting his stuffed stomach.

"Lin Li, I feel like your appetite has shrunk," Su Yue remarked from beside him.

’Of course it has. The side effects from eating that magical little fruit have finally worn off, and my appetite is back to normal,’ Lin Li grumbled to himself. He then turned and spoke to Su Yue, who was looking at him, puzzled as to why his appetite had shrunk.