DILLYH Chapter 25

TL: Hua

Chapter 25: Chicken Wings Stuffed with Rice

The little kittens downstairs were meowing loudly, hungry. Two hours had passed since the last feeding. Zhou Zhizheng didn’t know if Yu Haozhou was still angry and didn’t dare to leave immediately, but he was also afraid the kittens would faint from hunger.

Yu Haozhou glanced at him, intentionally teasing: “Go do your thing, Daddy Zhou!”

Zhou Zhizheng leaned down and kissed his lips, his nose touching Yu Haozhou’s nose. He reached out to stroke the hair fringe on Yu Haozhou’s forehead: “Not mad anymore?”

A pink tinge colored Yu Haozhou’s ear. He drove him away with a blank face: “Your cat sons and daughters are starving to death.”

Zhou Zhizheng tentatively invited him: “Do you want to come down together? They’re very cute.”

Yu Haozhou refused decisively: “No.”

Tolerating Zhou Zhizheng keeping these little creatures was already his biggest concession; he wasn’t going to wait on them.

“Come on, Zhouzhou.” Zhou Zhizheng had listened to some of what he said and knew to ask for his opinion now. “Just come look, okay? You can just sit on the side.”

As he spoke, he rubbed his nose against Yu Haozhou’s, which felt exactly like he was wheedling.

Yu Haozhou’s heart was racing from being flirted with, his toes curled up, and he mentally shouted: Holy cow! Zhou Zhizheng has finally figured things out?

His face was completely flushed now, and he stubbornly turned his head away, refusing to succumb to the gentle assault, though his voice was a little softer: “I need to sleep.”

Zhou Zhizheng looked disappointed: “You’re really not coming?”

Yu Haozhou couldn’t resist any longer. He opened his mouth, just about to give in.

But Zhou Zhizheng had already stood up, making Yu Haozhou think, Oh, well, forget it…

But the next second, Zhou Zhizheng scooped him up in a bridal carry and headed downstairs.

Yu Haozhou exclaimed in surprise, his emotions full of ups and downs: “Zhou Zhizheng, I have legs; I can walk myself!”

Zhou Zhizheng held him steadily and smiled: “I’m afraid you’ll get lazy and burrow back into the quilt.”

Yu Haozhou scoffed but didn’t argue, resting his head naturally on Zhou Zhizheng’s shoulder, a sneaky smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

…

There were six kittens, three males and three females. Even though they hadn’t opened their eyes yet, Zhou Zhizheng had already bought a pile of kitten toys that arrived via express delivery. They were stacked against the wall, almost as tall as a person.

Zhou Zhizheng’s habit of frugality hadn’t changed much after moving into the Xie family’s house. But when it came to treating the kittens, he finally had the feeling of a CEO spending a fortune for love.

Zhou Zhizheng moved a beanbag chair for Yu Haozhou, letting him sit on the side and watch, or sleep if he was tired.

In the carefully prepared nesting box, the six orange kittens wriggled aimlessly. The one picked up for feeding would initially cry.

Once the nipple was placed in its mouth, the two little ears started twitching frantically, as if they were imbued with divine power, making the kitten exceptionally adorable.

Yu Haozhou propped his chin on his hand, touched by this healing scene, and couldn’t help but smile faintly.

Lately, he had been idly surfing the internet. Perhaps his phone was monitored or something, because the algorithm started pushing cat-related videos to him. Slowly, he learned some things about cat habits and how to distinguish different breeds, and he also learned a funny meme.

For example, the term ‘Chicken Wing Stuffed with Rice.’

When a kitten is full after drinking milk, its stomach swells up, looking like a stuffed chicken wing.

The first time he scrolled past it, he laughed for a long time like an idiot, even though he didn’t quite know where the joke was. But seeing a ‘Chicken Wing Stuffed with Rice’ being pinched and shown off in someone’s hand felt truly hilarious.

Just then, the kitten in Zhou Zhizheng’s hand finished feeding, and its belly puffed up. As Zhou Zhizheng was about to put it down, Yu Haozhou exclaimed, patting his shoulder, “Zhou Zhizheng, hand me that chicken wing stuffed with rice.”

“…….” Zhou Zhizheng seemed so speechless he laughed and handed it over. “You even know about that.”

Yu Haozhou raised an eyebrow. The small creature in his palm was so soft. He held it like something precious, afraid to move his hands carelessly. He extended his index finger and gently poked the ‘Chicken Wing Stuffed with Rice’ belly. The kitten, which was about to fall asleep, was displeased at being disturbed and let out an impatient “meow,” revealing a small, pink, almost translucent tongue.

Yu Haozhou leaned closer to look: “This little thing is strangely cute.”

Zhou Zhizheng, whose hand motions for feeding hadn’t stopped, turned his head to look at Yu Haozhou’s efforts to get close to the kitten. At this moment, he felt that Yu Haozhou was even cuter than the kittens.

After feeding all six, Zhou Zhizheng set an alarm and decided to sleep directly in the kitten room.

Yu Haozhou came in barefoot and naturally stayed in the room. The lights were turned off, and it was so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.

Yu Haozhou, however, found it difficult to sleep. He felt strangely excited, perhaps a residual effect of the alcohol.

Zhou Zhizheng’s breathing behind him was already steady.

He didn’t know if he was truly asleep.

Yu Haozhou felt a little itchy in his throat; he wanted to talk to him. He tentatively moved his feet, but there was no reaction.

Yu Haozhou then deliberately rested his ankle on Zhou Zhizheng’s ankle.

The person behind him didn’t even change the rhythm of his breathing. Yu Haozhou had no choice but to withdraw his foot and force himself to sleep.

In the dead of night, Zhou Zhizheng suddenly spoke: “Can’t sleep?”

His voice carried a heavy tiredness; he must have been woken up by Yu Haozhou.

Yu Haozhou “Mhm’d”: “Go to sleep.”

Zhou Zhizheng turned over, his hand skillfully wrapping around Yu Haozhou’s slender waist, and he took a deep, deliberate breath into his neck: “Do you want to chat?”

Yu Haozhou’s eyes opened wide. A feeling he couldn’t suppress was pounding fiercely in his chest.

Emotions always grow quickly in the dark, making it easy to fall into confusion and unreasonableness.

Yu Haozhou even had an impulse right now; he wanted to kiss Zhou Zhizheng, but he managed to control himself well.

His throat felt tight: “Sure. Let’s talk about your first cat, Juzi.” He wanted to try and understand his past.

Zhou Zhizheng paused before recalling the memory: “Juzi was later poisoned to death by a malicious person.”

Yu Haozhou was stunned: “Huh?”

He had thought that with Zhou Zhizheng’s careful nurturing, Juzi would live out its natural life, or maybe it would run off and disappear during its heat cycle. He had never imagined it would be maliciously poisoned to death.

“Yeah,” Zhou Zhizheng said calmly. “When I found her, her body was already stiff.”

“At the time, Grandma had a conflict with a neighbor over a piece of land. The neighbor took advantage of us being away and fed Juzi poison disguised as a poisoned mouse.”

That was one of Zhou Zhizheng’s most devastating and helpless days. He tore open a fully healed wound just to show Yu Haozhou: “When I was digging a hole for Juzi, the neighbor purposely came over to taunt me. Perhaps knowing that killing a cat wouldn’t result in any punishment, he was unrestrained, and his attitude was arrogant. He told me about Juzi’s struggle before death, told me how she kept painfully meowing and looking in the direction of the house. The cement floor was covered with the blood she shed while struggling.”

“The neighbor purposely didn’t wash away the dried blood. He knew how much I loved Juzi.”

Zhou Zhizheng spoke with the composure of someone telling someone else’s story. “He grabbed my collar, shoved me towards their doorstep, and made me look at the bloodstains on the cement floor. He told me viciously that if we continued to fight over the ownership of that land, next time it might be my grandmother and me who bled.”

“Holy sh*t.” Just hearing these words made Yu Haozhou furious. How could anyone be so malicious? “What happened after that? How did you resolve it?”

Yu Haozhou desperately needed a satisfying conclusion. “Did you beat him up? Or did you get the land back?”

Zhou Zhizheng said, “No. He had connections in the village. If I had used force, it would have only been worse for Grandma and me.”

Yu Haozhou turned over, suddenly feeling a pang of sympathy for the past him.

Zhou Zhizheng was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and shouldn’t have had to go through any of this—neither the business rivals of Mr. Xie and the others nor the non-cooperative neighbor of his grandmother. It shouldn’t have had anything to do with Zhou Zhizheng, but in the end, the conflicts of the previous generation were resolved by his sacrifice.

Zhou Zhizheng did nothing wrong.

Yu Haozhou, guided by instinct, touched his face: “Did you ever get another cat after that?”

Zhou Zhizheng was surprised by his tenderness at the moment. Finding a source of comfort, he rubbed his face against his palm: “No. I didn’t dare.”

However, Zhou Zhizheng had always had a habit of rescuing stray cats. When he saw small cats that were bullied and unable to survive in the wild, he would take them to the clinic, pay for their treatment, and after they healed, he would have the clinic staff help screen qualified adopters.

After doing this many times, the people at the clinic all knew him and admired his spirit. Many times, when they encountered difficult cases requiring high medical costs, they would symbolically offer a discount.

However, ever since Zhou Zhizheng returned to the Xie family, he bought the pet clinic, increased investment to expand the premises, and even built a cat café next door. Cats that were not suitable for adoption would generally stay at the cat café for retirement.

The two caretakers he hired this time were two employees from the cat café.

“Then let’s keep them,” Yu Haozhou said. “Have you thought of names for them?”

“Not yet…” Zhou Zhizheng was slightly hesitant to ask, “Zhouzhou, are you feeling bad for me?”

Yu Haozhou pursed his lips and didn’t say anything, just hugged his head: “How about we call them Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and so on¹The words for Monday to Sunday in Chinese started with 周 (zhōu), the same character as Zhou Zhizheng surname.?”

Zhou Zhizheng broke into a tearful smile: “Why not let them take your surname?”

“Because you’re their dad.”

…

After Yu Haozhou’s reluctance towards the kittens lessened, he often joined Zhou Zhizheng, learning to feed them, stimulate their bowel movements, and so on.

Watching them grow day by day, Yu Haozhou felt a strange sense of accomplishment, truly like caring for his own children.

Finally, the day they opened their eyes arrived. The kitten raised its upper body, its little paws gripping the blanket, and stared at him with two round eyes. It was unbelievably cute.

Zhou Zhizheng had gone to work, so Yu Haozhou was the only one who could enjoy this sacred moment. He recorded many videos and sent them to Zhou Zhizheng.

He was like a new parent, eager to show off the kids he was raising. He even posted some kitten videos in his friend group. The replies were a queue of single question marks.

Yu Haozhou: [My six new kids, aren’t they adorable?]

Han Jin: [Did your account get hacked?]

Yu Haozhou: [Go away.]

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  The words for Monday to Sunday in Chinese started with 周 (zhōu), the same character as Zhou Zhizheng surname.