Chapter 45: Fostering Daylight
The next day, as Liu Man started to pack up for her “Business trip,” Zhang Pei suddenly thought of something and came into the room, “Oh, yeah, Man Man? I’m going to visit your grandparents during the break. What should we do with Daylight? I can’t just bring her there.”
Her question stumped Liu Man.
The smart Daylight came into the room as if knowing what the pair were thinking about, and she rubbed against Liu Man and Zhang Pei’s legs, letting out a coquettish purr.
Liu Man knelt and took Daylight in her arms. She rubbed Daylight’s head as she pondered for a moment before suggesting, “We can leave Daylight at the pet clinic.”
“Do they even care for the pets during the New Year?”
“Let me ask.”
Liu Man sent Yu Zhan a WeChat message and waited. He did not respond.
She then found Yu Zhan’s phone number from her contacts. The phone rang several times before Yu Zhan picked up, “What happened? Is Daylight sick?”
Yu Zhan knew a lot about Liu Man. He knew she wouldn’t contact him unless it was about her cat.
“She‘s doing fine. I just wanted to ask if your pet clinic provides foster care services? I have to leave the capital city for about twenty days, and there would be no one to take care of Daylight.”
On the other side of the call, Yu Zhan went silent for two seconds, as if he was considering something. After a moment, he said, “You can leave her with us. When are you leaving?”
“The plane will leave at eleven tomorrow.”
“You can send Daylight over tonight.”
“Okay, thank you. One more thing, about the fee…”
“It will cost 20 RMB per day,” Yu Zhan quickly gave a price.
Liu Man did not know much about the pricing of foster care services. What Yu Zhan didn’t tell her was, during the holidays, the usual fee was 200 RMB per day.
After dinner, Liu Man put Daylight into the pet box, filled in some cat food, and walked toward Yu Zhan’s pet clinic.
New Year break was starting soon, and the pet clinic was getting busier. Most pet owners appointed body checks for their pets before the break to make sure they were doing fine.
It was past seven o’clock, and there were still many customers lining up with their pets.
Yu Zhan had already informed the front-desk nurse, so she called out to Liu Man the moment she saw her, “Sit here for a moment, I’ll go find Dr. Yu.”
She then walked into the inner rooms and walked out with Yu Zhan five minutes later. Yu Zhan was still wearing his green medical isolation uniform.
There was an obvious sign of exhaustion on his face, but it was immediately covered up by a grin as he saw Liu Man. He walked closer and naturally took the pet box and the cat food bag from her, ”Follow me upstairs.”
And that was when Liu Man learned there was a second floor to this shop, and that the stairs at the end of the corridors.
The pair went up the stairs one in front of the other. The nurse went into a trance as she watched their silhouettes. Someone suddenly tapped on her shoulders, and she jumped out of surprise. As she turned around, she saw that it was a familiar client. She didn’t dare to get angry, and could only helplessly say,
“Mr. Ye, you almost scared me to death.”
“Well, you were snooping on your boss. You’re scared someone would catch you, huh?”
“I’m only curious.”
“I’m also quite curious, to be honest. Is that girl your boss‘s girlfriend?”
The nurse frowned, ”I don’t know. She came once to buy cat food, but we don’t even sell cat food! I told her that, and Boss randomly decided to scold me… He said if it was she who wants to buy the cat food, then we do sell cat food. I was literally speechless.”
Mr. Ye jokingly laughed. He was wondering why Yu Zhan was suddenly impatient back then when his cat was getting a body check. Yu Zhan was usually very meticulous and patient.
So, it was actually because his beloved girl was here.
He also saw the girl’s appearance. She looked very pretty and matched with Yu Zhan. However, through the nurse’s words, he could tell Yu Zhan still had not got Liu Man to like him. Yu Zhan was not exactly skillful at this…
There was a lot of space upstairs. One room was turned into the storage room, another was a place for rest, and the last one belonged to Paul. Yu Zhan brought Liu Man to Paul’s room.
“I always bring Paul over when I come to work. Sometimes, I walk him around the neighborhood.
Liu Man nodded. No wonder she always seemed to bump into Yu Zhan and Paul near her house.
She looked around, Paul’s room was nicely decorated, she could see that careful devising was put into his room. It contained a bed for dogs, dog toys, and enough dog food.
Seeing Liu Man, Paul was happy, too. He walked closer and licked her palm. Liu Man then patted his head and ears.
Yu Zhan put the pet box and cat food in one of the corners of Paul’s room. Daylight had never seen Paul before. The timid Daylight hid in the box, for she was a bit afraid. Yu Zhan didn’t open the box but instead pet her comfortingly outside the box.
Yu Zhan had an almost magical power when interacting with animals. Soon, Daylight wasn’t quite as afraid anymore. She “meowed” and laid in the pet box, her two front legs bent to keep the warmth. The posture was very cute.
Seeing just how much Daylight liked Yu Zhan, Liu Man was even more relieved. She asked him, “Will you just keep Daylight here?
“No, after we close, I’m taking her and Paul back home. Cats are more delicate, so it’s better to keep her in the house. She and Paul also need more time to get used to each other; I can’t just put them together in a room.
“Will that be too troubling for you?” Liu Man never even thought Yu Zhan would take Daylight home. It must be very inconvenient
Yu Zhan smiled as he shook his head, “I’m already caring for a dog, and it’s just one more cat. Also, aren’t you just going away for twenty days? The shop’s closing during the break, and I will have nothing to do.
“Aren’t you going home for the break?
“My family members are outside of the country. Everyone’s living all over the globe, and it’s not easy for everyone to gather in one place. During the past years, we would only visit each other and just have dinner. This meal isn’t important, for there is no way for everyone to be there. It’s not a big deal for me if I don’t go.
It was the first time Liu Man heard Yu Zhan mention his family. She thought Yu Zhan’s words were really formal, and it lacked the emotion between family members. She thought this was because Yu Zhan had stayed in America for such a long time that he had got used to the western culture.
“Won’t your parents miss you?”
“My parents passed away when I was just a child.
Liu Man was shocked. Her face wrinkled a bit, for she regretted mentioning this topic.
On the contrary, there was no sadness to be seen on Yu Zhan’s face. He was actually the one comforting her, “There’s nothing bad about it. Everyone would go someday. They are just going to heaven earlier than usual.
Liu Man was silent, afraid of speaking about the wrong matter again.
At this moment, Yu Zhan asked her with much curiosity, “Where are you going to for these twenty days?”
“I’m going to Shanghai.”
“For vacation?”
“No, I found a part-time job. I’m going to be working there for 20 days.”
Yu Zhan frowned, and asked with a stern expression, “What kind of job requires you to travel that far? Are you going by yourself?” In his mind, he always thought of Liu Man as an ingenuous girl. Just like how Zhang Pei first thought, he was scared she had met a fraud.
Liu Man said honestly, “It’s a job one of my school professors recommended to me. I’ll be acting as an extra in a movie. Tomorrow, after I arrive in Shanghai, someone will pick me up at the airport.
“What movie?
Liu Man hesitated before saying, “The name of this movie is ‘The Sound of the Wind,’ I cannot tell you anymore information for now.”
Aside from the job contract, Liu Man also signed another contract to keep this information from disseminating before it gets released to the public. She couldn’t leak any information about the film, not even the movie’s name. Liu Man only told Yu Zhan because she trusted him.
Yu Zhan nodded and stopped asking more questions. Yu Zhan was not surprised at the news Liu Man could be an actress. In his eyes, Liu Man’s appearance and temperament were better than many superstars nowadays.
He said, “Anyways, you are traveling alone, so be careful at everything. Safety is the most important thing. After you got there, make sure to send me your location on WeChat so I can know where you are. Don’t worry about Daylight either; I will take care of her.”
Yu Zhan’s concern for Liu Man was straight from the bottom of his heart, and Liu Man felt some warmth in her chest.
She wanted to say thanks, but her eyes locked onto his eyes. His soft gaze contained a hint of something she could not understand.
Credits: Sydney & Puppxteer
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