Chapter 109: Little Tabby’s Spaying

Chapter 109: Spaying Little Tabby

Little Tabby's heat was torturing Su Lichen's eardrums—and all the neighbors' too, creating a racket. Su Lichen was afraid someone would complain, so he had to spend time every day calming her down and distracting her.

Su Lichen was run off his feet every day, and he couldn't sleep well at home because of Little Tabby's heat, giving him dark circles.

Finally, on a weekend after Little Tabby's heat ended, Su Lichen immediately took her to get spayed.

When they got back from the hospital, Su Lichen ran into a new problem.

He needed to take care of her after the surgery, but he was out the door early and didn't get home until late. Little Tabby was way more sensitive after the surgery, and strangers couldn't even set foot in the house.

Lately Su Lichen had been so busy he just couldn't clean. He wanted to hire a cleaner, but Little Tabby absolutely refused to let any strangers set foot in the house.

Now the house had not been cleaned for over a month, and it was a mess.

The robot vacuum could only clean the floor, but other areas still needed to be cleaned by hand, so Su Lichen had never bothered to buy one.

With no other option, Su Lichen sent a message to Xu Moxing.

After deciding to quit and start his own business, Su Lichen no longer had time to use the cat as an excuse to contact Xu Moxing.

It wasn't that he didn't want to stay in touch; he was dead tired every day and didn't have the energy to talk to anyone.

"Mo, Little Tabby just had spay surgery and needs someone to take care of her for a while, but I've been very busy. Could you help take care of her? She's really against strangers coming into my place. I figured since you were the one who picked her up, she might not mind you as much."

Su Lichen sent Xu Moxing some recent photos of Little Tabby, all taken at night, including ones of her wearing an Elizabethan collar and a recovery suit.

Xu Moxing was at home studying for a certification. Seeing Su Lichen's message, he replied, "Sure, if you're swamped, I can take care of her for a while."

After sending the message, Xu Moxing scrolled through the photos one by one.

Xu Moxing didn't doubt Su Lichen at all because the photos made it obvious Su Lichen had been crazy busy.

In the photos, the background looked messy, and the sofa was piled with clothes.

Su Lichen quickly responded, "Could you come over? Little Tabby might have a hard time moving to your place. I can barely get her out the door. She just had surgery, and I'm worried she might get stressed out in a new place."

"I have time now. I can come over and see if she'll let me near her."

"Okay, I'll be waiting for you at home."

Xu Moxing took the subway to Su Lichen's place and went straight to his door.

Xu Moxing knocked, but Su Lichen didn't hear him because he was asleep.

He'd been so exhausted lately, and after that trip to the hospital earlier, he'd been on edge worrying something might go wrong. The second he finished texting Xu Moxing, he passed out.

After about thirty seconds, "Hello?"

Su Lichen's voice on the other end sounded deliberately controlled, but Xu Moxing could tell he'd just woken up.

When Su Lichen was woken by a phone call, he made a habit of answering a little slower to pull himself together, so the other person wouldn't realize he had been sleeping. It also gave his brain enough time to wake up.

It was a force of habit from work.

Most people would buy it, but Xu Moxing knew him too well. The moment he spoke, Xu Moxing knew he had just woken up.

"Hey, woke up? Open up, I'm at your door."

"Okay, coming."

Su Lichen, still in his pajamas, got up and answered the door.

Xu Moxing hadn't been over in ages, and he hadn't seen Su Lichen in a long time either.

"Where's Little Tabby?"

Earlier, when she heard the noise, Little Tabby had run to the door, ready to show her claws the second the door opened, but when she heard it was Xu Moxing's voice, she hid instead.

Su Lichen waved Xu Moxing in, closed the door, and led him to the kitchen to find the cat.

"She's wearing an Elizabethan collar, so she can't get under the sofa. Otherwise, she would have already hidden there."

Xu Moxing stood at the kitchen entrance, observing the cat's state. Seeing that she didn't seem to mind him, he followed Su Lichen inside.

"Meow-meow... do you still remember me?"

Xu Moxing crouched down. "Meow-meow" was what he'd called both cats at first—a generic name.

"Meow."

Apparently Little Tabby wasn't bothered by Xu Moxing.

Xu Moxing carried the cat and followed Su Lichen to the sofa to figure out the details of taking care of her.

Su Lichen casually tossed the clothes that had been on the sofa back into the bedroom, and Xu Moxing pretended not to notice.

"Alright, I'll come over every day after work and head back around nine."

"Okay, sorry to put you out. I'm just swamped right now."

"No worries."

Xu Moxing shook his head, put away the key Su Lichen had given him, and said, "I'll head out then."

Seeing how tired Su Lichen looked, Xu Moxing stopped at the door and couldn't help but add, "You... get some proper rest."

"Mm, bye."

Starting that week, Xu Moxing came over every evening after work to take care of Little Tabby—putting iodine on her wound, giving medicine, playing with her a bit—and then left before Su Lichen got home.

Although Su Lichen never actually saw Xu Moxing, he could feel the changes around the house.

His succulents, which had been looking sad because he forgot to water them, were plump again. The clean clothes that had been piled on the sofa were now on the bedroom bed, so Su Lichen would remember to put them in the closet. The dried laundry on the balcony had been taken down promptly.

Su Lichen had been thinking about buying a combination washer-dryer because he was too busy to do laundry.

Washing and hanging them was already a chore he forced on himself every day, but he had no time or energy to take the dry clothes in.

Xu Moxing never mentioned doing these things either.

Given his personality, if he went to a friend's house and touched anything, he would normally inform the friend and ask for permission.

But this time, he didn't tell Su Lichen. Su Lichen didn't ask him either. They both played dumb about it, like an unspoken agreement.

Two weeks later, Little Tabby's wound had mostly healed, and the cone and the surgical onesie could be removed. Xu Moxing stopped coming over.

Su Lichen was still very busy, but Xu Moxing would occasionally text Su Lichen, asking how Little Tabby was doing and for pictures.

"It's getting more and more mischievous. It's shredded the sofa and curtains into tassels. I figure I'll wait a few years till it calms down before replacing stuff; otherwise, I'm just throwing money away."

"Haha, sure. You could put it in a crate, but you can't bring yourself to."

"I can't bear it, my heart won't allow it. When I first got it, I was like, I'll definitely keep it in a crate so it doesn't destroy everything, but once I had it for a while, I couldn't do it."

Xu Moxing was amused by Su Lichen's words and sent a Little Tabby sticker. He had made many stickers from the photos of Little Tabby that Su Lichen had sent him.

Su Lichen saved every sticker he saw and replied with stickers of his own.

The two went back and forth with Little Tabby stickers for a bit, then silently called it quits.

Su Lichen had been busy for two and a half months, and in September he went straight to Zhou Chengzhi to hand in his resignation.