Chapter 10 – Owed
Lin Yan took Meiqiu to the nearest hospital.
It was still early, and many places hadn’t opened yet.
Luckily, just as Lin Yan parked the car, he saw the doctor at the door, about to open the clinic.
“What’s wrong?” The doctor opened the glass door, went inside to put on a white coat, buttoned it up, then came back out to ask Lin Yan.
Lin Yan followed him into the hospital.
“The kitten has been feeling unwell since this morning.”
The doctor lowered his head to glance at Meiqiu.
“Come with me.”
Lin Yan followed the doctor into the examination room.
The disinfectant smell in the pet hospital was strong. Lu Heng disliked the smell, and his small body wriggled restlessly in Lin Yan’s arms.
“Name?” the doctor asked.
“Lin Yan.”
The doctor raised his eyes to look at Lin Yan, then lowered his head and continued typing on the computer.
“The pet’s name.”
“Oh— Meiqiu.”
The doctor glanced at the cat and muttered quietly, “It’s not even that black.”
Lin Yan ignored the comment. His brows were tightly furrowed as he looked down at Meiqiu, filled with worry.
Meiqiu drooped his head, still lacking energy. The little one let out a soft sigh.
Lin Yan’s heart was in his throat. When he himself got sick, he could deal with it casually—take some medicine, wrap himself in a blanket, sweat it out overnight, and he’d be fine the next day.
But a cat was different. A cat couldn’t talk. Lin Yan didn’t even know where Meiqiu felt unwell.
“What symptoms?” the doctor asked.
“He vomited a puddle this morning, yellow-green in color.”
“Any food residue?”
Lin Yan shook his head. “His stool is a bit loose, quite watery.”
“Anything else unusual?” the doctor asked again.
“He’s listless. He’s never been like this before—he was fine until this morning.”
The doctor continued typing.
“How old is the cat?”
Uh…
That question caught Lin Yan off guard. He didn’t know.
“I don’t know. I picked him up a few days ago.”
“Oh.”
The doctor took Meiqiu from Lin Yan’s bag.
Lin Yan held his hands underneath, afraid that the doctor’s movement might hurt Meiqiu again.
The doctor placed Meiqiu on the table, gently opened his mouth and looked at his teeth.
“About four years old.”
“Four? He’s that old?”
“If he were human, he’d be about your age.”
Lin Yan listened quietly, then asked, “Doctor, what’s wrong with my cat?”
“You said you picked him up, so he’s probably been a stray for some time.”
“That’s not certain.”
“His fur is smooth and shiny, his bone structure is large, and his muscles are firm.” The doctor ran his hands over Meiqiu as he spoke.
Meiqiu let out a small, aggrieved sound.
“Meow~” Don’t touch me!!!
The doctor smacked his lips. “He was probably raised by someone and accidentally ran away.”
Lin Yan’s heart skipped a beat.
So… had he caused Meiqiu to become like this?
“From what you just described, we can’t rule out feline distemper, but we’ll need to run tests to be sure.”
“Okay.”
“Help me hold him and calm him down. I’ll go get a swab.”
Lin Yan gently stroked Meiqiu, from his head down to his tail.
I’m sorry, Meiqiu. I’ve made you suffer.
The doctor returned with the cotton swab and opened the test strip, preparing to insert it near Meiqiu’s little backside.
Meiqiu had his eyes half closed. When he realized where the swab was headed, his eyes flew open and he kicked hard at the doctor’s hand.
The swab barely brushed his fur when Meiqiu, as if sensing danger, suddenly struggled free from Lin Yan’s hold.
The doctor’s hand was scratched, leaving a red mark from Meiqiu’s claws.
The next second, Meiqiu accidentally fell off the table.
The table was nearly a meter off the ground.
Meiqiu’s small body hit the floor with a painful thud. He lay there quietly.
“Meow.”
Lin Yan was terrified. He reached out to stop Meiqiu from falling, but failed to catch him. Instead, he bumped him, causing Meiqiu to tumble to the other side.
“Ah, Meiqiu!”
Lin Yan immediately picked him up and gently patted his back.
“It’s okay, it’s okay.”
Meiqiu hated this kind of examination.
Couldn’t they just go home?
My lifetime reputation cannot be ruined here.
Lu Heng had used every ounce of strength just now to escape that horrifying table. If Lin Yan hadn’t blocked him, he would have already made it outside.
One misstep leads to eternal regret.
Lu Heng’s legs were numb at this point.
“Doctor, I’m really sorry.” Lin Yan looked at the doctor’s hand, then lowered his gaze to Meiqiu, completely at a loss for what to do.
“It’s fine.” The doctor picked up the cotton swab again.
“I’ll try once more.”
Meiqiu began struggling frantically again. Fortunately, Lin Yan held him down this time, preventing another fall.
“Hey, Meiqiu…”
Lin Yan hugged Meiqiu tightly, not letting him move even a bit.
“The kitten is quite resistant,” the doctor said.
“Doctor, is there another way?” Lin Yan didn’t want Meiqiu to suffer, but he was also worried about his condition. He couldn’t let Meiqiu keep feeling miserable.
“Then we’ll draw blood.” The doctor set the swab aside.
Lin Yan could clearly feel Meiqiu let out a sigh of relief.
His body finally relaxed.
“Okay.”
The doctor told Lin Yan to hold Meiqiu firmly. He needed to draw blood from the cat’s leg. The doctor shaved off a small patch of fur and then inserted the needle.
When the needle went in, Meiqiu flinched slightly, but he was unusually cooperative. He stopped struggling and obediently let the blood be drawn.
Lu Heng: As long as you don’t touch my butt, everything is negotiable.
The doctor raised the vial of blood and pressed the cotton swab from earlier against the puncture site.
“Press here,” he told Lin Yan. “The results will be ready in about fifteen minutes. Please wait.”
Lin Yan did as told. He held Meiqiu close, his heart aching, his mind echoing with the doctor’s earlier words, leaving him slightly dazed.
“Your cat looks pretty high quality,” the doctor said casually, passing the time while waiting for the results.
“I don’t know what breed he is. I just picked him up and started raising him.”
“Tsk.” The doctor smacked his lips. “The original owner must have taken good care of him. It’s rare to see a cat with fur this smooth.”
Lin Yan mulled over the comment. Does the doctor think I stole the cat?
So he explained, “I posted about him online the night I found him. No one has come looking.”
“Oh, I see.”
A short while later, the doctor brought out the test report — a long, narrow strip, like a grocery receipt from the supermarket.
Lin Yan had never seen a test report like this before. The length of it alone made him worry that there might be bad news.
“Come over here.”
Lin Yan was still holding Meiqiu, unwilling to let go. Meiqiu nestled quietly in his arms.
The doctor glanced at them. Probably not a cat thief.
Cats, after all, don’t allow people they dislike to touch them — especially not when they’re sick.
Lin Yan leaned in and looked down at the report.
“See here — some enzyme levels are elevated. This indicates inflammatory stress. Combined with what you said about the vomiting…”
The doctor continued, “What has he been eating these past few days?”
Lin Yan thought carefully. He hadn’t fed Meiqiu anything unusual. Yesterday, he had given him two cans of food, and Meiqiu had eaten both.
“Just cat food and canned food.”
As he spoke, Lin Yan pulled out his phone and showed the brand of canned food to the doctor.
The doctor squinted at the screen and immediately concluded, “No wonder. This brand contains feeding attractants.”
Food affects everyone differently. Some people like something, others don’t — and cats are the same.
But some manufacturers, wanting every cat to like their product, add attractants to force the food to be appealing. That increases sales.
Most responsible companies don’t add too much, afraid of harming pets and ruining their reputation.
But some bold manufacturers dump it in without restraint. To them, a pet’s life doesn’t matter.
“Really? I saw that he liked it, so I gave him two cans yesterday.”
“This kind of canned food doesn’t have much impact if eaten occasionally. A cat can metabolize it on its own,” the doctor explained to Lin Yan.
“But if he eats too much at once, it can cause a reaction like this. And from what I can tell, this cat was well cared for before — he probably hasn’t eaten this type of food before and couldn’t adjust to it all at once.”
Lin Yan put his phone away and quietly looked at Meiqiu, his heart filled with mixed emotions.
“I was originally planning to do a CT scan, but now that we’ve found the cause, there’s no need. The test results don’t show any other abnormalities,” the doctor said, glancing at the report again before adding, “It’s acute gastroenteritis. I’ll prescribe some medication. Take him home and observe him.”
Lin Yan nodded. His gaze drifted to the shelves in the hospital, filled with all kinds of cat carriers, while Meiqiu was squeezed into the small bag Lin Yan had brought.
Love is often accompanied by a sense of owing.
Even after giving everything he had, Lin Yan still felt it wasn’t enough.
With the medicine the doctor prescribed and a beautiful, stylish new cat carrier, Lin Yan took Meiqiu home.
…
At the office, Zhao Ming had just sat down at his workstation when he logged into the system and saw a leave request — from Lin Yan.
He approved it.
Lin Yan was an honest kid. He never took time off casually. After all, taking leave meant losing the perfect-attendance bonus. Zhao Ming couldn’t help wondering whether Lin Yan was sick or dealing with something urgent.
In the past, even when Lin Yan was ill, he wouldn’t take leave — all for that 500-yuan full-attendance bonus.
Zhao Ming wiped down his desk, picked up the project draft Lin Yan had written yesterday, and headed to President Lu’s office.
He knocked on the door for a while, but there was no response. The secretary wasn’t there either.
Zhao Ming twisted the door handle, preparing to go in.
“Director Zhao.”
Someone called his name from behind. Zhao Ming withdrew his hand and turned around.
“Oh, Secretary He. I came to look for President Lu.”
He Lingchen had just returned from the break room with a cup of coffee. Seeing Zhao Ming, he said, “President Lu isn’t in for the next few days. If there’s anything, you can leave it with me.”
“Then I’ll wait until President Lu returns.”
Zhao Ming took the documents back to the department. He looked at Lin Yan’s empty workstation, thought for a moment, then slowly lowered his gaze.