Having the supernatural ability to understand cat language isn't always a good thing.
Like right now, if Lin Lan couldn't understand what the kitten was crying about, she might have chosen to give up upon learning the treatment cost. After all, the amount was not small, and most importantly, the desired outcome wasn't guaranteed.
But it was no use; she had heard it, and she understood.
"Doctor Liu, please proceed with the treatment." Holding Snowflake, Lin Lan looked at the sickly little cat ahead and sighed, "Whether it survives after this depends entirely on its own will."
With her word, the veterinary clinic immediately sprang into action. After checking that the kitten had no external injuries, they started by cleaning it.
"It has quite a bit of ringworm, and some of its fur is completely matted and difficult to untangle, so it's best to shave it all off. We'll apply the medicine and let it all grow back together. During this period, we'll keep it in a temperature-controlled oxygenated incubator for isolation, to maintain its body temperature and lung health, and also prevent it from transmitting feline viral rhinotracheitis to other cats..."
Doctor Liu occasionally explained parts of the treatment process to Lin Lan amidst his busy work. After being shaved, the kitten only had fur left on its head, legs, and tail. Its already tiny body, which could be held in one hand, looked terrifyingly thin and frail without its dirty coat of fur, appearing so fragile that it wouldn't be surprising if it stopped breathing at any moment.
"Just... do what you think is best." Lin Lan's heart ached watching it, her brows unconsciously furrowed tight. "How long do you estimate it will take to recover?"
"That depends on its subsequent recovery," Doctor Liu explained. "Fortunately, aside from the previously diagnosed issues, it has no other complications. The pneumonia isn't severe either. If the recovery from feline viral rhinotracheitis goes well, you can take it home in a week for continued care. Your Snowflake once had a bald patch from ringworm too, you know it takes some time for the fur to grow back."
Lin Lan fell silent. It was already a blessing that despite having several ailments, none were severe. The chances of survival should be higher. After this, it really would depend on whether this kitten was a fighter or not.
After paying a hefty bill and leaving the kitten there, Lin Lan walked out of the clinic door with Snowflake in one arm and the four-digit receipt in her other hand, scanning the itemized list.
While her wallet ached, she suddenly couldn't help but admire Qian Xuan's courage and determination to spend lavishly on her beloved pet. That girl's salary was only mid-range in West City, neither poor nor rich, and she was somewhat biased against local cats, but she was truly good to her own cat, the type willing to live frugally to raise it.
Thinking this, Lin Lan's slight resentment towards her gradually faded away.
But it also strengthened her ironclad principle that cat meals must be meticulously prepared in the future—investing more thought into food now would save a lot of trouble in other areas later.
"You too, Snowflake." Lin Lan tapped the little head of the cat in her arms, warning it with a serious face. "Don't go crawling into dirty, messy places from now on. Otherwise, you just saw what happens—if you get sick and go bald, you'll have to be shaved and confined."
The white cat instantly tucked its head in, its originally pointed ears flattening against its head like airplane wings. It covered its head with its paws and let out a weak meow: "Meow..." (Lan Lan, I won't run around or get sick from now on, please don't shave my fur!)
Its fearful reaction made Lin Lan pause, then she couldn't help but laugh and rubbed its head again. "Don't worry, as long as you stay healthy, no one would ever want to shave off your precious fur."
This fluffy, soft texture was every cat owner's favorite, something you could never get enough of even by cuddling it several times a day.
While carrying Snowflake home, she ran into a nervous-looking Lin Youyu. Seeing Lin Lan come out of the veterinary clinic with a cat, he rushed straight over. "What's wrong? What's wrong? Suddenly taking Snowflake to the vet, is Snowflake sick?" He exclaimed while reaching out to take Snowflake. "Wasn't it fine this morning?"
Lin Lan didn't avoid him, letting her dad take the cat, and explained, "No, Dad, Snowflake isn't sick. It found a sick little kitten and had me take it to the clinic."
"Oh." Upon hearing it wasn't their own cat in trouble, Lin Youyu instantly relaxed. Then he started holding the cat up and shaking it a little. "Good, good, it's not our baby who's sick. Just a false alarm." Muttering to himself, he hugged the cat close again. "Come on, Grandpa will take you to have some dried fish to calm your nerves."
He looked like a doting, silly grandfather spoiling his grandson.
By the way, Snowflake is a male cat, turning five this New Year's Eve.
"Dad." Lin Lan felt it necessary to stop her father, who was about to walk off with the cat, and reiterate what she had just said. "I said I picked up a little stray cat and took it to the clinic for treatment."
"Treat it then." Lin Youyu still wore an indifferent expression, replying casually. "It's not like it's my... You picked up a cat to treat!?"
He finally caught on. Muttering to herself, Lin Lan nodded seriously at her wide-eyed, astonished father. "Yes, and it was Snowflake who made me pick it up. Which means our family will soon have a second cat coming in."
The middle-aged man with a slight paunch blinked a couple of times, lowered his head in thought for a moment, and said, "Alright then, we'll raise it if we're raising it." Saying this, he lowered his head and handed Snowflake back to Lin Lan, then started walking towards the veterinary clinic. "I'm going to Little Liu's place to see what the new kitten looks like."
"Hey, Dad!" Lin Lan couldn't stop him in time; her father had already run off. "The new kitten is really ugly right now..."
Sure enough, when the visually offended Father Lin returned, his expression was complicated, and he seemed to hesitate to speak to his daughter.
"Dad." Knowing what her old father was thinking, Lin Lan quickly said, "Snowflake made me pick this one up. The kitten is sick now, so of course it doesn't look good. It'll look better once its fur grows back, just wait. Think about it, Snowflake wasn't good-looking when we first picked him up either, right?"
The white cat at home was quite good-looking, with a well-proportioned and elegant figure, snow-white fur without a single impurity, glossy and smooth to the touch, and a very pleasant meow. It could definitely be called a top-quality cat among local cats. This had made the Lin family rather picky about other cats. The excited father, unprepared for the second cat member, was understandably shocked. Lin Lan wasn't surprised he felt an impulse to back out and could only try to reassure him and dispel his sudden notion.
"Sigh, alright then." Since he had agreed without thinking it through, Lin Youyu could only consent upon hearing his daughter's words. "But my agreement alone isn't enough; we still need to see what your mom thinks."
Having been married for decades, Lin Youyu knew that Wang Xiuzhi, though she wouldn't say it, actually liked pretty cats just as much as he did. Now that the newly picked-up kitten was so ugly, the outcome really wasn't certain.
"Then let's tell Mom now."
Father and daughter went together to the tobacco and liquor shop. Within minutes, Lin's mother, who was minding the store, repeated her husband's earlier actions, returning with an identical expression of being appalled by the ugliness.
"Mom! Snowflake made me pick it up! Snowflake did!" Lin Lan had to pull out the same line again, even holding the white cat up in front of her. "Snowflake is lonely and wants a companion!"
"You're just pulling my leg!" Wang Xiuzhi directly rolled her eyes at her daughter. "Do you think I've raised cats for years without knowing their nature? Has it ever looked lonely all these years amusing itself?"
A mother is indeed hard to fool, but Lin Lan wasn't afraid. She kept a straight face, looking sincere: "Mom, I'm serious! If you don't believe me, look at Snowflake! That's how it told me it wanted a companion! Snowflake, go on, rub against your grandma, beg her with some affection!"
Having already fallen for the kitten's cute and affectionate act once in the morning, Mrs. Lin suffered another blow in the afternoon. Her stern boss-face was completely toppled by Snowflake's continuous meowing and cheek-rubbing attacks, replaced by a doting grandmother's expression as she hugged the cat, stroking it while cooing "my sweetheart, my precious."
"Alright, alright, fine, we'll get another one then." Placing Snowflake on her lap and stroking its fur over and over, Wang Xiuzhi was clearly enjoying it, but her eyes drifted towards Lin Lan. "But let's be clear, Lin Lan, kittens are much harder to take care of than grown cats, not to mention that one's sick. If you want to raise it, you take care of it yourself. Your dad, your grandma, and I won't be helping."
That sounded familiar.
"I'm telling you, you're the one who picked up the cat. If you don't want to abandon it, then you raise it yourself. No one at home will raise it for you. You think it over carefully!"
Oh, right. That's exactly what Mom said four years ago when she first brought Snowflake home and said she wanted to keep it. And now?
Looking at the white cat comfortably swishing its tail on her mom's lap, Lin Lan mentally scoffed but nodded her head vigorously on the surface: "Absolutely, absolutely. I'll do it all myself. No need for your help."
And so, after informing Grandma Lin about it during dinner, the matter of the family getting a new kitten was officially approved by the whole household.
A week later, Lin Lan pushed open the door of the veterinary clinic excitedly, carrying a cat carrier: "Doctor Liu, I'm here to pick up the kitten!"
Since it was just a matter of going upstairs and downstairs, Lin Lan would visit the clinic whenever she could, making it very convenient to check on the kitten's condition. Naturally, she quickly learned that it was recovering very well.
Life is tenacious. This little kitten had survived. Although currently shaved, ugly, and skinny, it was gradually overcoming its illness and getting healthier by the day.
Lin Lan felt genuine joy about this.
Great. The hard-earned money didn't go down the drain.
However, when she pushed the door open, she didn't see the veterinarian idly sitting behind the desk as usual. Instead, she saw him and his assistant over at a small medical bed, holding down a Border Collie, seemingly treating one of its hind legs.
The fur on the dog's upper thigh near its buttock had been shaved. There was a cluster of dense puncture wounds in that area. As the doctor treated it, the muzzled Border Collie hung its head listlessly, looking utterly dejected.
The dog's owner stood nearby, his face anxious, wanting to help but afraid of getting in the way.
"It's done, it's done, all the spines are out." Putting down his tools, a sweaty Doctor Liu patted the Border Collie's head, comforting it. "You're a good, obedient boy. We'll apply some medicine in a bit and you'll be better soon."
The dog owner also breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank you, Doctor Liu. Star was trying to steady me when I fell and ended up getting pricked by the potted cactus I was growing. It really scared me."
"Don't mention it, it's my job." Wiping his sweat, Doctor Liu also felt this job wasn't easy, looking at the dog owner with a hint of helplessness. "Be more careful when playing next time. Don't roughhouse with your dog near potted plants and flowers."
"Ah, yes, yes. It won't happen again!" Facing the veterinarian's subtly reproachful gaze, Cheng Fengyang nodded with an embarrassed smile. "This... this was really an accident! Star, you agree, right?"
He even tried to seek forgiveness from his dog at the end, but the Border Collie ignored him completely. Instead, the dog looked sorrowfully at the forced bald patch on its buttock, letting out a whimper that sounded like crying.
That utterly miserable and woeful reaction was something anyone could translate as the dog's inner thoughts: It had become ugly, bald, and was no longer a pretty little pup!
After all, it's not just cats; dogs also care deeply about their fur.
The Border Collie's human-like sadness made Cheng Fengyang even more embarrassed. "Star, don't be so sad. The fur will grow back soon. Once it does, you'll be the coolest pup in the whole neighborhood again!"
The grieving dog didn't want to deal with him and turned its head to the other side. The owner, knowing he was at fault, had no temper left at all.
Lin Lan found it amusing and couldn't help but take a closer look at this unfamiliar young man. He appeared to be in his twenties, wearing casual jeans, with neat, short hair and a handsome face—definitely the type to make girls turn their heads on the street. However, right now, that handsomeness was largely undermined by his undignified, comical attempts to coax his dog. The funniest part was that all his coaxing wasn't working.
Focused on comforting his dog, Cheng Fengyang didn't notice Lin Lan's scrutiny, still fully committed to the journey of trying to win back his Border Collie's favor with words.
Doctor Liu had already outright ignored this customer, letting him coax his dog over there. He started attending to Lin Lan instead: "You're here. The kitten has recovered very well. Come pick it up."
