My Ghost Lover Is Too Annoying

50

50. Coal Ball

Chen Ming didn’t care about it, and quickly denied, “No, no, no, it’s not a kitten.”

Eventually, he was convinced by the salesman and bought the bag of adult cat food for 100 yuan.

After leaving the store, Zhou Nan immediately came up, like a child waiting for snacks, to see what Chen Ming had bought. He was quite surprised, because he knew that cat food in such a store would not be too cheap. However, before he could ask, Chen Ming preemptively said, “If your cat doesn’t eat it, I’ll pull all of its hair out!”

Zhou Nan knew he was joking, “No way, Coal Ball is not picky.”

Coal Ball?

“How could you give a cat such a name?” It was in the middle of the night, and there was no one on the street. Chen Ming no longer had any concerns, and started to chat with Zhou Nan.

“Because it’s… black.” Zhou Nan’s reason was pretty simple, “I didn’t think much about it. Do you want to change to another one?”

“Forget it. The cats with simple names are easy to raise.”

Zhou Nan smiled, “Just feed it once. It doesn’t matter if it’s easy to raise or not.”

Chen Ming didn’t say anything. It seemed that he intended to be silent.

The two of them stopped talking to each other. Zhou Nan led the way, took Chen Ming into the community and stopped somewhere under his apartment building. He looked up and stared at his own window. For a while his eyes were filled with unexplainable sadness. At his foot, there was a small iron bowl that had been filled with the last bite of the meal for Coal Ball before he left, and it was already empty.

Zhou Nan tried to call twice, but there was only silence, and no trace of the cat.

“By the way, can the cat see me?” Zhou Nan only knew poodles could.

Chen Ming paused for a moment before answering, “Yes, most animals can.”

After hearing this, Zhou Nan felt a bit down.

According to the older generation, it seemed impossible for cats to be as loyal as dogs and wait for their owners to return at a place where they had nothing to eat or drink.

“I… I’ll just look around again…” Zhou Nan didn’t want to give up.

“There’s no rush.” Chen Ming didn’t want to pressure Zhou Nan. So he sat on a bench by the crosswalk.

Zhou Nan looked around a little further and disappeared under the dim light of the street lamps.

Everyone knew that it was hopeless.

Chen Ming put the cat food beside him and felt suffocating. It was so stifling that he couldn’t even sigh.

Just then, a slight sound came from beside his body, like something soft fell on the chair. He turned his head to look back and saw a pair of bright blue eyes. He carefully distinguished the black body of the owner of those eyes from the darkness of the night… It was definitely a black cat.

It was not afraid of strangers. It tilted its head against the edges of the cat food bag with its beard trembling, and there was a gentle purr coming out from its mouth.

“Hey, hey, hey, this is not for you.” Chen Ming reached out his hand under its armpits, picked it up and placed it on the ground. In the process, he could see clearly that there was no white color on the cat’s body from head to toe, not even its hairs. It was as black as a coal ball.

Wait, coal ball…

Chen Ming let it go. The cat took the opportunity to jump onto the chair again, and sat on his lap. It held its head up and yelled softly at him. He glanced at the direction where Zhou Nan left, thinking that the black cat could just be the Coal Ball that Zhou Nan wanted.

But it was in the middle of the night, yelling loud under someone else’s house might make others throw slippers at him. Thinking of this, Chen Ming just left the bench to look for Zhou Nan with the black cat in his left arm and the cat food in his right arm.

Zhou Nan didn’t go too far, so it didn’t take a while for Chen Ming to find him. He saw Chen Ming coming and thought that Chen Ming was here to call him back to the flower shop. His eyes looked even sadder, and he turned around, “I’m sorry, just give me a few more minutes… please.”

“I’m not rushing you. I’m here to confirm with you,” Chen Ming raised the cat in his left arm and shook it roughly towards Zhou Nan, “Is this Coal Ball?”

The cat had a good temper and didn’t struggle at all, allowing Chen Ming to shake it around.

Zhou Nan then noticed that there was a cat, with irrepressible surprise in his eyes. Chen Ming knew that this was definitely Coal Ball. The cat owner ran back quickly and said to the cat, “Do you remember me, Coal Ball?”

The black cat responded with a knowing cry and rubbed its head against Zhou Nan’s face.

Chen Ming didn’t want to interrupt the reunion of these two old friends. But he really couldn’t help sneezing several times. When he finished, he explained awkwardly, “To be honest, I’m allergic to animal hair.”

It was like with Hu Yuelan’s tail.

Zhou Nan opened the cat food package, grabbed some and put it on the ground.

Fortunately, Coal Ball was really not picky. It ate all happily. That was a relief for Chen Ming, and a little solace to his weak mind after he spent so much money.

Zhou Nan squatted down, caressed the hair of Coal Ball, and muttered, “I haven’t seen you for a month. It seems that you have found a good home. You have been eating and drinking well, and didn’t suffer.”

Chen Ming was not in the mood for teasing the cat. So he walked aside, put a bristlegrass in his mouth, and hummed a tune, leaving the man alone with the cat.

After taking a few handfuls of cat food, Coal Ball was full. It squinted its eyes and started to wash its face with the claws. It seemed that it felt quite satisfied with the priceless dinner.

Zhou Nan looked at it lovingly and knew that it was time to part. He scratched Coal Ball’s chin with his hand and said goodbye, “I’m leaving. Please stay safe and healthy.” In the end, he even sobbed a little bit.

Then he sealed the cat food, stood up slowly, and turned around with great determination. He didn’t dare to look back and said to Chen Ming, “Let’s go.”

Chen Ming had nothing to be awkward about, so he just replied and prepared to leave. But he seemed to have thought of something, so he turned around and asked, “Why are you taking the cat food home without the cat?”

The sudden question made Zhou Nan a little confused: “Then… how about this?” He was stunned and then he put the cat food back on the ground.

But Chen Ming asked again, “I spent so much money on the cat food. It only took two bites and you’re throwing it away?”

“Ah?” Zhou Nan was at a loss.

“What? Take the cat with you!” Chen Ming felt that Zhao Nan was too indecisive, so he took the initiative to go over and grabbed Coal Ball into his arms.

“But, aren’t you allergic?” Zhou Nan was so happy and couldn’t believe it. He dared not get too excited, because he was afraid to ruin this dreamlike fact.

“It’ll pass.” Chen Ming waved his hand indifferently, “We’ll decide after it finishes all the cat food. Otherwise my money would be wasted.”