After Confessing To My Childhood Friend - Chapter 39
Chapter 39: Photo Album
◎ Busted by Mom. ◎
The first floor had the heating on. As soon as Chen Mengyin stepped inside, the warm air hit her like a wall, making her nose itch from the sudden heat. She eagerly took off her coat at the entryway and called out as she walked further into the house, “Mom, is there anything to eat? Zhirou and I are starving!”
Neither Chen Mengyin’s family nor Xie Zhirou’s had a habit of watching the New Year’s Gala. The TV in the living room was playing traditional opera, the singsong melody echoing cheerfully throughout the room. Hearing Chen Mengyin’s voice, Li Ran paused from munching on sunflower seeds, raised her chin toward the dining room, and said, “It’s in the dining room, just heated up. You two eat first, come join us afterward.”
“Got it! Good evening, Auntie, Uncle!” Chen Mengyin greeted Tang Jingxue and Xie Yunzhao enthusiastically. Xie Zhirou, following behind her, sweetly greeted, “Mom, Dad,” and the two of them sat down at the table to eat.
Li Ran brushed the seed shells from her hands and handed a slice of watermelon to Tang Jingxue. Taking another for herself, she bit into it and hollered toward the dining room, “Where’s your dad? Why didn’t he come in with you?”
“He went to park the car,” Mengyin replied, placing a peeled shrimp into Zhirou’s bowl. “He told us to go ahead and come inside first.”
Li Ran didn’t question it further. She and Tang Jingxue resumed whispering to each other about the opera on the screen. Beside them, Xie Yunzhao, unable to join their conversation, quietly sat beside Tang Jingxue, peeling sunflower seeds for her. Once he had a handful, he placed them in her palm. She casually accepted them and shared half with Li Ran. The two women continued chatting warmly, while Xie Yunzhao sat beside them like an extra piece of furniture.
Xie Yunzhao: …
Half an hour passed, and there was still no sign of Chen Lin. Li Ran glanced at the clock. It had been over thirty minutes since Mengyin got home. No matter how bad Chen Lin’s parking was, it shouldn’t take this long.
“What’s going on with Old Chen? Still not done parking?” she frowned. “That’s it. I’m calling him.”
Just as she pulled out her phone, the front door opened. She turned and saw Chen Lin walk in, his face pale from the cold. He held his coat in his arms rather than wearing it, and was carrying a bag in one hand.
“In the dead of winter, and you’re not even wearing your coat properly. Aren’t you afraid of catching a cold?” Li Ran stood up and walked over while calling to Mengyin, who had just finished eating and was washing dishes, “Mengyin, bring out a bowl of soup.”
“On it!” Xie Zhirou quickly took over the dishwashing duties, letting Mengyin go serve the soup.
Chen Lin stood in the entryway, letting Li Ran brush the snow off his shoulders. His lips were purple from the cold, and his voice trembled slightly. “I’d rather freeze than let these two little ones suffer.”
“What little ones? You brought someone back?” Li Ran was puzzled.
“No, no. These.” Chen Lin carefully opened the coat he had wrapped up. Inside, two tiny kittens were asleep, no more than two months old. Their orange and white fur was damp, and they made soft mewing sounds. One look at them and Li Ran’s heart melted.
“Where’d you get these little ones? They’re so tiny.” Li Ran, who had never raised cats before, was at a loss when faced with two unweaned kittens. “Why are they all wet? Are they going to get sick? Should we use a hot water bottle?”
Chen Lin had no experience either. He brought the kittens into the living room. Just as Mengyin emerged with the soup, she saw the kittens in his coat and immediately handed the bowl to her dad, then squatted down to the couch to pet the kittens. “Where did these kittens come from?”
Tang Jingxue and Xie Yunzhao were also curious. The couple looked toward Chen Lin in unison. Even Zhirou, who had just come out of the kitchen, quietly peeked over.
“I found them while parking,” Chen Lin explained after sipping some hot soup and warming up. “They were huddled in the bushes, crying pitifully. It’s snowing and freezing—if I left them there, they might not survive the night. I was worried they might be sick, so I took them to the nearest pet hospital. Thankfully, they’re fine. I bought kitten formula and litter on the way back. That’s why I took so long.”
“How old are they?” Li Ran asked. “Go take a shower first. We’ll look after them.”
“About two months old. I’ll go now,” he replied obediently and headed upstairs.
The kittens stirred in their coat nest, mewling for milk. None of them had raised cats before, but both Li Ran and Tang Jingxue had raised children. While Mengyin and Zhirou stood there helplessly, the two moms swiftly divided tasks. One went to the kitchen to make the formula, the other took out two syringes, drew milk, checked the temperature, and gently fed the kittens.
Mengyin looked on, envious. She wanted to help too, but one sharp glance from Li Ran made her retreat and sit with Zhirou, watching quietly.
“They’re so cute,” she murmured, pulling out her phone to snap a photo. The little kittens, their fuzzy paws resting on the hands feeding them, sucked eagerly, heads bobbing with each gulp. Soon their bellies were round and full. Worried they might overeat, Li Ran and Tang Jingxue took the syringes away, ignoring their whines.
With Li Ran’s tacit approval, the kittens were temporarily adopted by the Chen family. The one with the white-tipped tail was named Chen Zhaocai (Bring Fortune), and the one with white “gloves” was named Chen Jinbao (Bring Treasure)—Mengyin’s new kitty sisters.
Zhaocai was more playful. Mengyin teased her with a cat toy, the kitten barely larger than a palm bouncing across the couch in pursuit. Jinbao, full and sleepy, curled up on Zhirou’s lap.
When Chen Lin came back downstairs, Li Ran and Tang Jingxue were instructing Yunzhao on assembling a cat cage and nest. Chen Lin, seeing the luxurious two-story cage in the living room, asked, “Where’d this come from? I didn’t have time to buy a cage—only managed to grab a nest.”
“Oh, we used a delivery service while you were in the shower,” Mengyin replied cheerfully. “By the way, the kittens are already registered! The one with the white tail is Zhaocai, the one with the mittens is Jinbao. Don’t mix them up, Comrade Chen Lin.”
Li Ran called Chen Lin over to help finish setting up the cage. Under her instructions, he and Yunzhao placed it by the wall, added the cat bed, slipped in a hot water bottle, and covered it with a folded towel to prevent burns.
“Let them sleep here for now,” Li Ran said, placing the kittens inside and closing the cage door. “Mengyin, help me take the litter box and bowls to our bedroom.”
“No problem,” Mengyin replied. She carried the litter box and litter upstairs with Zhirou, poured in a generous amount, clipped the bag shut with a hairpin from Li Ran’s dresser, and tucked it in a corner.
Zhirou filled the bowls with purified water and kibble. Since there were two kittens, Chen Lin had bought four bowls, now neatly lined up in a row.
“I’m finally not a catless wild woman anymore,” Mengyin sighed as she shut the bedroom door. “I always wanted a cat in high school, but I had no time to care for one. Now I do. I have cats! Ha!”
She beamed with joy, already planning to buy toys and treats the next day to win over her “cat sisters.”
“Congrats,” Zhirou chuckled. “Only a month until winter break—you’ll get to spend lots of time with them.”
“Yeah, and once it’s warmer, I can even walk them in the yard!” Mengyin giggled at the thought.
After a busy evening, there were less than thirty minutes left before the New Year countdown. Li Ran turned off the opera and switched to the local station’s New Year’s program.
The adults drank and chatted while Mengyin and Zhirou curled up on a small sofa, flipping through an old photo album filled with baby pictures of Mengyin.
A chubby little baby beamed at the camera, her eyes nearly squeezed shut from smiling.
Zhirou pinched Mengyin’s arm. “Where did all this baby fat go?”
Mengyin leaned in and whispered in her ear, “You don’t know where it went?”
Then she playfully touched Zhirou’s waist, her eyes full of mischief.
Zhirou remained expressionless but gave her a sidelong glance. She was already planning how to “punish” her cheeky little girlfriend later that night.
Li Ran and Tang Jingxue clinked glasses. As Li Ran tilted her head back to take a sip, she caught sight of the two girls giggling and leaning into each other. The closeness, the way they looked at one another—it hit her all at once: they looked like a couple in love.
The realization startled her. She quickly took another sip of wine and told herself she was overthinking it. They’re just close friends, that’s all.
But once the seed of suspicion is planted, it’s impossible to ignore.
Li Ran drank distractedly, peeking over the rim of her glass. She saw her daughter look around the room furtively, then quickly kiss Zhirou on the cheek, her face glowing with sweetness and joy.
She also saw Zhirou kiss her daughter gently by the ear, laughing as they talked.
There was no denying it now. Li Ran closed her eyes, trying hard not to let anyone see her reaction.
“Why’d you go quiet?” Tang Jingxue nudged her.
Li Ran was staring blankly in one direction. Following her gaze, Tang Jingxue saw the girls with their heads together, holding a photo album. “What are they looking at so intently? I want to see too.”
“Wait—” Li Ran tried to stop her, but it was too late. Tang Jingxue walked over and asked what they were looking at.
Zhirou pointed at the album. “Photos of Mengyin when she was little. Mom, wasn’t she adorable?”
Tang Jingxue looked at the photo of baby Mengyin in a Super Mario outfit and smiled. “Aww, what a cute kid! Li-jie, your daughter looked like a New Year’s doll—so sweet.”
“Wait, this background looks familiar,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before.”
She called Yunzhao over. “Doesn’t this place look familiar? I think I’ve seen it.”
He studied the photo and said, “Isn’t that from Springtime Photo Studio in Luan?”
Mengyin had no idea where the photo was taken. She looked up to ask her mom and froze when she saw Li Ran’s thoughtful expression. Her heart skipped a beat—had her mom seen something just now?
“Mom, was this photo taken at Springtime Studio?” she asked carefully.
Tang Jingxue echoed, “Li-jie, come take a look—is it?”
Li Ran was still haunted by the image of her daughter kissing Zhirou. She looked into Mengyin’s cautious eyes, then forced herself to smile and walked over to take the album.
“Yes, it was Springtime. Why?”
“What a coincidence! We had Zhirou’s one-year-old photo shoot done there too,” Tang Jingxue said. “We hadn’t moved here yet. A friend recommended it—great quality, fair price. We did quite a few outfits.”
Li Ran, still rattled, forced a smile. “Such a coincidence. All of Mengyin’s baby photos were taken there. If we had met then, maybe we’d have become friends sooner.”
“Yeah,” Tang Jingxue agreed. “Back then we lived across the river—Zhirou had to travel just to play with Mengyin.”
“We almost knew each other as kids,” Mengyin whispered to Zhirou. They were used to being close, so huddling together didn’t seem odd to them. But to Li Ran, who had just seen them kiss, her eye twitched in fear that her friend would notice something was off.
At that moment, the host on TV began the countdown.
“Ten… nine…”
Tang Jingxue put down the album and held hands with Yunzhao. Li Ran, still distracted, was asked by Chen Lin what was wrong, but she just shook her head and told him to focus on the countdown. Mengyin glanced at her mother, then secretly held Zhirou’s hand beneath the coffee table.
“… seven… six… three… two… one! Happy New Year!”