Revenge of the Garfield

       Wen Chun neither agreed nor objected, and seemed to acquiesce to Li Jianglin’s words.

       It was a pity that Li Zhenruo couldn’t see Li Zhenzi’s reaction, but he thought that even if Li Zhenzi really had something with Wen Chun, he probably wouldn’t show any reaction. He believed that Li Zhenzi couldn’t have any serious thoughts about Wen Chun. Like all his women, she’s just for fun.

       After dinner, Li Jianglin asked Li Zhentai to send Wen Chun home.

       He went to the study by himself and called Li Zhenran in.

       Li Jianglin had just come home, so Li Zhenzi did not dare to run around and went up to the second-floor room to rest.

       Li Zhenruo was a little curious about what Li Jianglin and Li Zhenran were going to say, so he went around the door and jumped to the window sill outside the study to eavesdrop.

       In the end, as he just jumped up, he was seen by Li Zhenran.

       Li Zhenran happened to be standing by the window, and immediately noticed the movement outside. When he saw the cat jumping up, his reaction was calm and quick. He stretched out his hand and pushed him down mercilessly.

       Li Zhenruo was cursing inside his heart, but he was still able to react very quickly. His front paws were on the windowsill and so his whole cat body didn’t fall off.

       At this point, he felt something pulling his leg underneath.

       He made a great effort to turn his head. Li Zhenruo was horrified to discover that it was Zhu Kai’s Erhuang who was holding his leg underneath and trying to pull him down.

       Li Zhenruo grabbed the window sill tightly with his two front claws, kicked his legs and tried to shake Erhuang away, but he was unsuccessful. He was pulled off by Erhuang and fell on the grass under the window sill.

       Erhuang loosened his mouth and looked at Li Zhenruo excitedly. With his long tongue sticking out and panting, he approached Li Zhenruo to smell him.

       Li Zhenruo turned over and ran forward.

       Erhuang was stunned for a moment, then happily ran after him.

       Li Zhenruo turned in the corner in front and ran towards the front yard. He knew that if he entered through the front door, Erhuang would definitely be stopped by someone, but he did not expect to be stopped by Zhu Kai just after entering the house.

       Because he was so focused on watching out for the dog behind him, he didn’t notice that Zhu Kai grabbed his collar and lifted him up.

       Zhu Kai saw Erhuang who was chasing after him, and said, “You bullied my Erhuang?”

       Li Zhenruo thought to himself, Bullshit!1 He raised his claws towards Zhu Kai’s face mercilessly.

       Zhu Kai also react quickly and threw Li Zhenruo away in a curve to the sky. Li Zhenruo finally fell next to the large vase in the living room, almost knocking the vase down.

       Wang Ma heard the commotion and hurried forward to stop Zhu Kai, “What are you doing, don’t bully your brother’s cat!”

       In fact, in terms of seniority, Zhu Kai was actually Li Zhenran’s little uncle, but Wang Ma watched them grow up and always thought that Zhu Kai was Li Zhenran’s younger brother. Zhu Kai himself sometimes addressed people by names regardless of his seniority.

       At this moment, Zhu Kai was about to say something when the door of Li Jianglin’s study opened, and Li Zhenran came out and glanced at him faintly.

       Li Zhenruo moved very fast. He ran to Li Zhenran’s legs and scrambled up to his pants, and finally was held in his arms by him before he breathed a sigh of relief. Then he gave Zhu Kai a look of challenge.

       Li Zhenran rubbed Li Zhenruo’s head and carried him upstairs.

       Zhu Kai pouted and whistled out of tune, touched the top of Erhuang’s head, and said to it, “Go play by yourself.”

       It was annoying enough to have Li Zhenzi in the house, but now Zhu Kai was added. Li Zhenruo couldn’t help scratching the top of his head with his claws.

       Li Zhenzi was actually fine, as long as he was not drunk. If you don’t provoke him, he won’t provoke you. But Zhu Kai was different. Sometimes Li Zhenruo thought that Zhu Kai was just a lunatic and should be sent to a mental hospital to be prescribed some medicine for good.

       Li Zhenran kept carrying Li Zhenruo back to his room before putting him down and said, “If I’m not here and only Zhu Kai is at home, it’s best to stay away from him.”

       Now he was sure the cat could understand him. But it could only understand, and there was no way to communicate with him.

       Once Li Zhenruo was alone with Li Zhenran, he suddenly recalled what happened last night. He raised his eyelids to look at Li Zhenran, and couldn’t help but secretly moved his feet a little further away from him.

       He still doesn’t know what Li Zhenran’s thoughts are because Li Zhenran has not expressed his thoughts to him, as if nothing happened last night.

       Maybe Li Zhenran was too drunk at that time, and he forgot everything when he woke up this morning, or maybe Li Zhenran didn’t care at all. Although he seemed to have a clean private life, maybe in reality he didn’t put too much thought into sleeping with someone like that.

       Of course, Li Zhenruo would not have taken it so seriously, if that person wasn’t Li Zhenran. He sighed, feeling that his current state of mind seemed a little dangerous.

       Li Zhenran sat beside the bed, and although Li Zhenruo didn’t say a word, he kept looking at Li Zhenran.

       Later, Li Zhenran reached out and touched the top of his head. Seeing that he was not moving, he grabbed one of his paws and pulled him closer.

       Li Zhenruo was lifted by Li Zhenran’s two paws to face him. Because he was too close to be looked at like this, Li Zhenruo felt uncomfortable and couldn’t help turning his head away.

       Li Zhenran suddenly said, “Let’s go find Luo Fei.”

       Li Zhenruo was stunned for a moment and looked at him, but Li Zhenran didn’t continue talking. He put down Li Zhenruo and got up and walked to the bathroom.

       He left Li Zhenruo lying beside the bed. Li Zhenruo began to think about why Li Zhenran said he wanted him to go to find Luo Fei. When Luo Fei was mentioned, Li Zhenruo remembered the phone call that was supposed to be made to Song Jun. If it hadn’t been interrupted by Li Zhenran’s call, he might have already met the person named Song Jun.

       As he thought of this, Li Zhenruo couldn’t help but feel a little regretful. If Song Jun knew something according to what Feng Junyuan said, maybe he also knew how to maintain his human form. It’s just that he didn’t expect to be beaten back to his original form so quickly at that time, and now it was not that easy to find Song Jun again.

       He could only hope that Li Zhenran would take him to Luo Fei.

       Luo Fei must also know something.

       But whether Li Zhenran wanted to go or not depends entirely on Li Zhenran’s mood, and he couldn’t control it at all. Now that he couldn’t even speak, what he could do was really too limited.

       In the evening, Li Zhenruo slept beside Li Zhenran’s bed. After sleeping for a long time, he automatically rolled into Li Zhenran’s arms. He was hugged by Li Zhenran and placed on his shoulder and continued to sleep soundly.

       The next morning, Li Zhenran set the alarm clock and got up early.

       Although he just came back from Qijiang yesterday, these few days were Li Zhenran’s busiest days. First, the investigation on Qijiang still needs a detailed report. Although he did not write it, he would definitely supervise it in person because of his character. The second was that since Li Jianglin was back, he would definitely go to the company today. Not only Li Zhenran, but he was afraid that even Li Zhentai and Li Zhenzi would also follow Li Jianglin to the company’s board of directors early. There was still a lot of work to be reported to Li Jianglin.

       Only Zhu Kai and his dog were left at home.

       Li Zhenruo dawdled on the third floor without any intention to go downstairs until he saw from the window that Zhu Kai drove out by himself. He was relieved and went down to the living room on the first floor to lay on the back of the sofa chair.

       Erhuang wandered outside the gate several times a morning. He stared at Li Zhenruo making a whimper and wanted to play with him.

       But Li Zhenruo has not degenerated to the point of playing with a dog, he still decided to coldly ignore it and continue to nobly lie on the sofa.

       That afternoon, Wang Ma answered a phone call, then stood up and stretched and said, “Oh, you won’t come back for dinner.”

       In the end, no one in the Li family came back for dinner that night, including Zhu Kai.

       Li Zhenruo thought that it must be because Li Jianglin had just returned, so there was some social function outside, and the sons accompanied him.

       Li Zhenran didn’t come back, and Li Zhenruo had been lying on the sofa bored, wondering when Li Zhenran would be able to take him to meet Luo Fei.

       Later, the first person to come back turned out to be Zhu Kai.

       As soon as Li Zhenruo heard that Zhu Kai was back, he immediately slipped off the sofa and hid in the corner behind the sofa, thinking that he would wait for Zhu Kai to leave before coming out to continue waiting for Li Zhenran.

       Zhu Kai entered the room and went to the refrigerator to get a bottle of water to drink. As he stood in the dining room drinking water, Li Zhenzi came back from outside.

       “Daniel,” Zhu Kai said and Li Zhenzi greeted back.

       Li Zhenzi asked, “Went out to play today?”

       Zhu Kai said, “I met a few friends.” After he said that, he threw a bottle of water to Li Zhenzi.

       Li Zhenzi took it and said thank you.

       “By the way,” Zhu Kai asked when he saw Li Zhenzi drinking water, “Why did Aunt Wu, who cleaned up before, leave?”

       Li Zhenzi replied, “Well, she quit.”

       Zhu Kai felt it was very strange and asked, “Why? It’s been so many years.”

       Li Zhen had drunk water and planned to go upstairs. As he heard Zhu Kai’s question, he simply sat down beside the dining table, gently pressed the bottom of the water bottle on the table, and said, “A few days ago, something strange happened in the fourth child’s room.”

       Li Zhenruo sneaked out from behind the sofa and came closer wanting to see Li Zhen’s expression when he spoke.

       Zhu Kai frowned upon hearing this, and he sat down on the dining table. If Li Jianglin saw it, he would definitely scold him, “What strange things?”

       Li Zhenzi looked up at him with a half-smile, “When Aunt Wu was cleaning, she saw blood-stained toilet paper in the fourth child’s room.”

       “Blood-stained toilet paper?” Zhu Kai stared at Li Zhenzi with wide eyes, then suddenly laughed without warning, “What’s so strange about that, I thought she saw blood-stained sanitary pad!”

       Li Zhenzi played with the mineral water bottle with his fingers, “You must know that after the fourth child died, the room has been unoccupied.”

       Zhu Kai thought for a while, “That must have been a prank. Could it be that you think there is a ghost?”

       Li Zhenzi shook his head, “That I really don’t know.”

       Zhu Kai thought thoughtfully, “Then why did Aunt Wu resign?”

       When he asked this question, he looked at Li Zhenzi suspiciously, but Li Zhenzi didn’t speak, and also looked at him.

       Zhu Kai lowered his voice, got closer to Li Zhenzi, and said, “Do you think Aunt Wu was feeling somewhat guilty?”

       Li Zhenzi put the fingers of his right hand on his lips, as if he was thinking carefully, and said to Zhu Kai, “It sounds really possible, otherwise why would she run in such a hurry?”

       Zhu Kai suddenly glanced left and right and whispered in Li Zhenzi’s ear, “Maybe, Jason was killed by someone. No one knows if Aunt Wu has seen a ghost or it was because she was guilty of something, right?”

       Li Zhenruo obviously noticed that Li Zhenzi’s face sank, but when Zhu Kai left his ear, Li Zhenzi resumed his careless smile and said, “Let this talk be between us, don’t let Dad hear it by all means. Be careful, or he’ll spank you.”

       After Li Zhenzi said this, Zhu Kai made a rude face without warning. He looked at Li Zhenzi coldly, turned around and walked towards his room.

       Zhu Kai’s room was on the first floor. It used to be a guest room. He owned a house outside himself and didn’t always live inside Li’s house. Later, he often stayed here for a while, and the guest room on the first floor was packed into his special room.

       Not long after Zhu Kai returned to the room, Li Zhenruo saw that Li Zhenzi also stood up, almost deformed the plastic water bottle in his hand, threw it in the trash can and went upstairs.

       Li Zhenruo stood silently in the same place, thinking about the conversation between Li Zhenzi and Zhu Kai just now. He always felt they were testing each others, but testing what? To test who killed Li Zhenruo, and who knows what?

       The closer he got to the truth, the more afraid he became, and Li Zhenruo couldn’t even tell why.

       He didn’t jump on the sofa, but lay on the carpet in front of the coffee table, and stretched out his limbs in a daze. There was only a small lamp left in the living room, and the light was dim.

       After almost an hour, Li Zhenran and Li Zhentai came back from outside with Li Jianglin.

       As he heard Li Jianglin come back, Wang Ma brought another aunt to hand out slippers and pour some water.

       Li Jianglin seemed to be drinking some wine, and his breathing sounded heavy. Li Zhentai was going to help him back to the room, but he walked over to the sofa and sat down.

       Li Zhenruo stood up and took a few steps back.

       Li Jianglin was sitting on the sofa with the ebony crutch stood straight in front of him, and his hands rested on it. He seemed to be tired and was still drunk. Li Zhenruo listened to him take a breath, and it sounded very heavy.

       Wang Ma put warm tea in front of him.

       Li Jianglin picked it up and took a sip, put down the teacup, raised his hand and said, “You all, go up.”

       Li Zhentai couldn’t help persuading, “Dad, let us help you go back to your room to wash first.”

       Li Jianglin laughed when he heard the words. His laughter was a little cold, “I’m not that weak yet.”

       At this time Li Zhenran said, “Dad, you rest early, I’ll go up first.”

       Li Jianglin nodded.

       Li Zhentai saw Li Zhenran walking upstairs, so he could only say good night to Li Jianglin, and turned to go upstairs.

       Li Zhenruo looked at Li Jianglin and even forgot that he was here waiting for Li Zhenran, and did not follow him up.

       After a while, Li Jianglin asked Wang Ma to rest as well.

       Wang Ma was a little worried about him, so she could only say, “Then call me if you need anything,” then turned around and went back to the room.

       There was still only a small light on in the living room, Li Jianglin sat there alone without saying a word, only the sound of his heavy breathing could be heard.

       Li Zhenruo couldn’t help but slowly took two steps towards him.

       Li Jianglin suddenly turned to look at him. The movement startled him, and he stopped quickly.

       But then, Li Jianglin stretched out a hand towards him. Li Zhenruo was slightly startled and then walked towards him again until he stopped at his feet with his body pressed on his leg.

       Li Jianglin bent over, and it seemed that he was going to reach out and touch the top of his head. Li Zhenruo saw that his movements were slow, so he straightened up and put his front paws on the edge of the sofa, with his head close to Li Jianglin’s knees, so that Li Jianglin could reach out and touch his head.

       When he felt Li Jianglin’s rough and old palms touching the top of his head, Li Zhenruo suddenly felt sad. If in the past, Li Jianglin would touch the top of his head so gently, how happy he would be.

       Whether it was Li Jianglin or Li Zhenran, they could only show their gentle side to a small animal without any qualms, but they are unwilling to treat their relatives like this.

       After touching Li Zhenruo’s head for a while, Li Jianglin took his hand back.

       Li Zhenruo retracted his front paws, sat down at his feet, and looked up at him.

       Li Jianglin seemed to smile slightly, then closed his eyes and put his hands on the crutch. He maintained the sitting posture with his back straight for a while.

       Afterwards, Li Zhenruo saw him stand up and walked towards the stairs.

       Li Zhenruo followed him, thinking he was going upstairs.

       But Li Jianglin stood at the entrance of the stairs and did not move, he had no intention of going upstairs, he just raised his head and stared at the corner of the stairs leading to the second floor, where there was a large picture, his wife Zhu Yun’s wedding photo.

       Li Jianglin looked at his wife in the photo and showed an emotion that could be called vulnerability.

       As he looked at his expression, Li Zhenruo suddenly remembered his own mother, Zhao Yuqiong, who died of illness. Even if she was a mistress with a child, she would never be able to compete with his wife who had never had children in her life in the slightest.

       At this time, from upstairs came the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs.

       Li Jianglin stood still and saw Li Zhenran walking down the stairs.

       Li Zhenran saw Li Jianglin when he walked around the corner and couldn’t help but slow down his steps, “Dad?”

       Li Jianglin nodded his head, “Still awake?”

       Li Zhenran said, “I came to look for the cat.”

       Li Jianglin smiled, turned his head to look at Li Zhenruo, who was staying by his side, and said with a laugh, “Not doing your job.”

       Li Zhenran did not respond, but walked over and picked up Li Zhenruo.

       Then Li Jianglin said, “But this cat is very well behaved, it suits your temperament.”

       Li Zhenran asked him, “Shall I accompany you back to your room?”

       Li Jianglin waved his hand, “No, I’m going to bed.” After saying that, he slowly walked towards his room with his crutches.

       Li Zhenran held Li Zhenruo and stood in place until Li Jianglin closed the door to his room, then he turned around and went up the stairs.

Notes:
It’s so sad… I feel like this Li family have so many misunderstanding within their family member ( •́ω•̩̥̀ )