Dear Chen Jiu

Since leaving Jiangzhou, my life has completely embarked on a new track.

I changed to a new major to study finance. In addition to studying, I have to work part-time every day.

After finishing my undergraduate courses, I applied to the school to continue my graduate studies.

That's it, education is important.

The card my mother gave me before I went abroad has enough money for my life and study in the past few years, but in addition to paying the high tuition fees, most of the remaining living expenses and rent are earned by myself, so I feel pretty good about being self-reliant .

"Hey, Rick, come to my house for BBQ on Saturday."

Michael invited me while arranging supermarket shelves.

"No, I'm catching up with the thesis."

"Come on, it's only due next Wednesday, what a fart you are."

Well, I admit that I just simply don't want to socialize.

"Let me tell you, there is a new barbecue restaurant on the main street, and the new store has a [-]% discount..." Michael threw a bottle of lemon tea to me, "I heard that the taste is very authentic."

***

On Saturday, I took the light rail to the main street to find Michael. In the past six months, due to the epidemic, many restaurants on this street have closed down.

I also lost several part-time jobs, but the landlord Sophie kindly lowered my rent, so the income from part-time jobs can barely support part of my living expenses.

The barbecue tasted good. I drank some wine, took a photo and sent it to Moments. After posting it, I realized that I used the original WeChat account...

I haven’t used this account for a long time. When I first went abroad, I sent Chen Jiu a message every day. From rambling about my daily life, it was shortened to sending good morning and evening every day.

Not surprisingly, not a single reply was received.

I think Chen Jiu should have changed his contact information, and Lao Xiao and I also lost contact.

Later, after changing to a new mobile phone, I simply registered a new account with the new number.

Some time ago, I even heard about Lao Xiao's engagement on the phone from my mother.

It seems that they have reached the age of marriage, and friends are starting to get together to hold weddings.

"Rick, my roommate has returned to China, it's not worth it for me to live here alone, let's move to live with you."

"You can also go home."

"Farewell, now you have to be quarantined when you go back, air tickets are still expensive, and online classes are inconvenient if the VPN is not stable..." Michael poured me a glass of beer, then looked up at me suddenly, "What's the matter, you want to go back?"

I took a sip of the cold beer and didn't reply.

"Don't, you can't leave anymore, once you leave, I will be the only one left.

You said that we studied in the language class together, five years of friendship, do you have the nerve to leave me alone? "

I stared blankly at the projection screen in front of me.

"Besides, what will your son do if you leave?" Michael handed me a bunch of pork belly.

I waved at him, losing my appetite.

After a BBQ with Michael, I bought some cat food at Coles and headed home.

"Nizi, do you miss me?" I yelled casually.

It's just a rite of passage home, the fact that my silly son only shows up when he's hungry and can't find it otherwise.

I shook the bag in my hand, and sure enough, when I heard the sound, my silly son stepped on the sofa in my room with his tail up and jumped out, calling out 'meow'.

'Son' is a white cat with different eyes that I picked up on a rainy day. The left eye is blue and the right eye is orange. All the skill points of the cat's birth are used to exchange for this beautiful little face.

I'm not a caring person, especially when I first went abroad, I was very irritable, basically I belonged to the kind that if anyone looked at me too much, I wanted to beat him up.

It was raining very hard when I went to class that day. I saw this thin and dirty cat on the lawn beside the road. It was drenched and I didn't know where to hide from the rain.

I knelt down to look at it, and it also looked at me, but it didn't recognize me.

I held out a finger, and it brought its head close to me to pet it.

"Would you like me to take you home?" I asked curiously.

It made a 'meow' sound, and I became a shit-shoveling officer after that.

However, when this rebellious son grows up, he is no longer clingy to others when he was a child. We, father and son, basically get along without disturbing each other under the same roof.

I took it to the veterinarian for an examination, and it can't hear in the ear over the blue eye, but it depends on the situation.

For example, if I simply call it its name to amuse it, it basically ignores me.

But when I want to take out cat food, it responds quite quickly.

I helped it pour the cat food, it walked over proudly, and I stroked its head.

"Would you like to take you home?"

My son looked up at me, and he rarely paid attention to me.

"Do you want to go home with me?" I asked again.

This time it seemed to really understand, it didn't eat the cat food, and started to meow around me.

I sat next to its rice bowl, "I won't leave you behind."

My son got the promise and started to eat with peace of mind, and I also started to sit on the sofa and check the flight status.

The air ticket back home is really expensive, starting at [-], and I still have a cat.

...

Waking up from a nightmare on Sunday, I opened my eyes to find my silly son bouncing between the closet and me.

It is rare to see it so excited, is it because I want to take it back to China?

It shouldn't be, why is it a foreign cat happier than me when it comes to returning to China?

***

After the ten-hour long-distance journey is over, there is a long medical examination and isolation...

When I finally returned to this city with my cat in my arms, I was filled with emotions.

"Drip-drip-"

I took out my phone and it was my mother calling.

"Xiao Zong, why didn't you tell us when you came back? I want Lao Wang to come pick you up?"

"No need, Mom, I submitted my resume online, and I will attend a few interviews first."

"That's fine, you live in the apartment in Beiyuan first, and I'll send the code lock to your phone."

"Ah."

When I opened the house, there was a smell of dust, and my son jumped out of the cat bag and jumped up and down the room.

I opened the window for air, rolled up my sleeves and started cleaning.

In the past few years of studying abroad, my self-care ability has skyrocketed. It seems that I have a disorder phobia, and I can't see a little mess in the house.

After tidying up, I took a shower and took my cat to go out for food.

Passing by a tall cat shop downstairs, my son yelled at the door.

All right, let's go in and have a look, it happens that the new home lacks a cat litter and a cat box.

"Welcome, what do you need?" The young waiter looked at me and the cat in my hand with a smile.

The son is quite good-looking, and he has always been very popular when he is taken out.

"Wow, what a beautiful cat, what's its name?"

"Safety."

"Ping...an...uh, very creative."

I walked around the store, and after buying everything I needed to buy, I was ready to leave safely.

When I turned around, I yelled for peace, but I didn't see the shadow of the cat.

"Your cat is in the cat table hole in the glass display case."

The waitress kindly reminded me.

It was only then that I noticed the beautiful glass cabinet behind me. Inside, there was a giant Lego sheet made up of many pieces of wood. Each piece of wood was designed in a different shape and could be arranged and combined at will.

"This is a cat table. It won an award in the design competition last year. It is a cat table design that cats like very much."

The waitress saw that I seemed interested and introduced me.

I glanced at the small stand on the cat's desk, which read: NC Architects.

Unexpectedly, the current architect is still in charge of designing this.

"Peace, back home."

I knelt down to summon it.

Ping An hid in the table hole and ignored me.

"Your cat loves this table."

The waitress stood behind me and said with a smile.

"Are you taking this apart and selling it?"

If I buy such a pile of wood back, I really can't take it back, but it's okay to buy one for my son to play with.

"Sorry, this is not for sale. Our boss and the boss of this firm are friends, and we just borrowed it for a few days to exhibit."

"Did you hear that, safe, let's go, come home with me."