It's the students' fault if they are too popular.

Tong Yao's face suddenly became hot. The way this child spoke... was too pitiful, wasn't it?

"It's just a phone call..." She whispered, "If you like, I'll call you often in the future."

"Okay!" Ruan Qian smiled. "Thank you, Teacher Tong. It's a deal!"

Finally, we said goodbye to the little girl as she acted coquettishly.

She stared out the window in a daze. This Spring Festival, she was too idle to do anything. She only saw her relatives every day as a formality, and stayed in the study the rest of the time. Wu You hadn't come for several days, and Tong Yao didn't urge him, after all, he might be busy visiting relatives.

In February, the coldest days finally came to an end. After months of severe cold, a slight warmth was quietly reviving. The intermittent snow stopped, revealing the mottled gravel road under the snow. Tong Yao stood in the yard, stepping on the soft snow, writing on the ground with her shoes. After a while, she wrote a row of mathematical formulas.

"Teacher Tong."

No one in this family calls her teacher.

She turned around and saw Wu You standing at the gate with traces of crying in the corners of his eyes.

"Why are you here?" She was stunned for a moment, then asked quickly, "Did you encounter any problems?"

"Teacher Tong..." Wu You sobbed, "The cat is gone."

-

-

Wu You named the kitten he picked up Miaomiao.

She likes to talk to the kitten alone, asking and answering questions, and no matter what she says, the kitten will obediently say "wonderful".

On the New Year's Day, she brought the kitten home with a panic-stricken heart, fearing that her father would throw the kitten away again, so she vowed to study hard as soon as she entered the house, and her only request was to keep the cat. Her father sneered and ridiculed her for making conditions before she had finished her studies, but acquiesced to the existence of the kitten.

Until the kitten vomited on the sofa.

He was furious, and it was his sister who pleaded for the kitten and prevented Miaomiao from being thrown out on the spot.

Wu You studied even harder, wishing she could take a test right away to prove her progress. She studied all day, and when she was taking a break yesterday, she wanted to play with the kitten for a while, but she couldn't find it anywhere in the house.

She panicked and asked her father where Miaomiao had gone. Her father said nonchalantly that someone came to deliver a takeaway at noon and the door was open for a while and was forgotten to be closed, so she might have run out.

At that moment, her hands and feet were cold, and she looked so indifferent, as if her father had never believed that she would try hard from the beginning to the end.

She almost collapsed:

"It barks all the time. Why didn't you tell me when it ran away?"

The father was dissatisfied and slammed the remote control on the table:

"Isn't it just a cat? If you do really well in the exam, I'll buy you a new one. I don't know what virus this wild cat has, and it's filthy as hell. Try to avoid contact with it and don't bring anything home."

"I want this one!" she yelled uncontrollably, "You just don't believe I can learn! You don't care how much I like this cat!"

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Her father glared at her. "A cat is more important than your dad? Your sister is so outstanding and she never asked me for anything, but you want to keep a cat while you're just wasting your time? You're flattering me! We're both my daughters, and one is ashamed of you!"

Wu You was stunned. She stood blankly in the living room, speechless after being yelled at by her father.

Yes, her elder sister is very good. The two sisters are very different in age. She doesn’t know how her elder sister did it, but she just has no self-control and no one cares. She was raised in a free-range environment. Her father’s educational philosophy seems to be that just giving money is enough. She doesn’t know the meaning of hard work until she gets what she wants.

Compared to her sister, she is indeed nothing.

"But..." She stammered, holding back tears, "I'm trying..."

"Then wait until you have achieved results through hard work."

Wu You wiped her tears and suddenly put on her shoes. Her father asked her what she was doing. She sniffed and said:

"Looking for a cat."

The lost cat is most likely still nearby, perhaps hiding under a car.

She was not wearing much and kept calling "Miao Miao" in the community. She was shivering with cold. She vaguely heard the meowing of a cat and did not dare to leave for fear of missing it.

She searched from ten o'clock in the evening to two o'clock in the morning, and finally returned home with nothing.

When she came to Tong Yao, she actually didn't know what she wanted to do.

Study? That energy is like a balloon, it bursts as soon as it is poked, and it is gone in an instant.

"Aren't you going to look for it anymore?" Tong Yao asked calmly after hearing what happened.

Wu You lowered his head and said:

“I can’t find it.”

"Then do you want me to help you look for it?" Tong Yao asked again.

Wu You was stunned, hesitating and refusing to answer.

Of course she wanted Teacher Tong to look for it with her, but... she didn't have the nerve to do so. She was not a good student before, and she knew it very well.

"You don't want Miaomiao anymore?"

"How could it be!" Wu You said anxiously, "I have been looking for it for a long time, but..."

She paused slowly, and then stopped talking.

“It’s easy to give up when you’re alone,” Tong Yao exhaled, “I know.”

Looking for a cat that has run away from home is like a chase that never ends. Cats are not people. The girl you can't catch may tell you that you have no chance, but cats can only make people feel helpless and hopeless.

"Will it take up a lot of Teacher Tong's time?" the girl asked in a low voice.

"It's okay, I'm free." Tong Yao smiled, "Actually, I am also your sister, so you don't have to be so polite."

Wu You pinched the corner of his clothes and suddenly became absent-minded.

"Mom, I have to go out for something. Please help Wu You find the cat."

She got into the car, said something to Jiang Wu, and then asked Wu You to get in.

"I don't have much experience in finding cats," she said, giving some warning, "I may not be able to find one."

"Yeah." Wu You said softly, "I'm very grateful to Teacher Tong."

"What if the cat is found and your father still doesn't let you keep it?" she asked.

"I...I begged him," the girl bit her lip, "If he doesn't agree, I'll give him to someone else, or keep him outside. When the exam starts, if I do well, he...will agree."

Tong Yao glanced at her and sighed in her heart, this is a cat slave.

Could that little creature really be that powerful?

It was broad daylight, the snow hadn't melted much, and I didn't know where the cat was. Wu You's neighborhood was a high-end apartment complex with good greenery and many places to hide. When I came, I naturally had to visit first. The relationship between father and daughter was a bit cold and distant, but Wu You's father was also Tong Yao's uncle. After a few pleasantries, when he knew that Tong Yao was here to help his daughter find the cat, a hint of embarrassment appeared on the father's face.

"Let's put some cat food downstairs," Tong Yao suggested.

"I did," Wu You pursed his lips, "I didn't move all night yesterday."

"Cats are very timid, especially when they are in unfamiliar environments. There are many people around during the day, so Miaomiao might hide and not dare to come out." Tong Yao said, "Let's take a chair and sit downstairs. You call it more often, it will be familiar with you."

Wu You nodded.

Thus, a wonderful scene appeared in this high-end residential area.

A beautiful girl was sitting on a chair like a security guard, with a pile of cat food and fish at her feet, giving off a faint fishy smell; another beautiful girl was shouting "Miao Miao" all the time, swaying in the grass here and strolling downstairs there. People passing by thought she was a lost child.

"What are you looking for?" asked an aunt.

"Cat." Wu You asked as soon as he caught someone, "Auntie, have you seen a small, orange cat?"

"I didn't see it," Auntie waved her hand and smiled, "If the cat runs away, don't even think about finding it. This kind of animal doesn't recognize its home."

It would be better if you didn't see it, but you still poured a basin of cold water on me.

Wu You clenched his fists, moved to another place, and continued to call Miaomiao's name.

Reality is blatantly cruel, but everyone has the right to be stubborn.

"Miaomiao——"

Suddenly there was another shouting voice.

Wu You was stunned for a moment, then turned around and found that Teacher Tong was imitating her, calling "kitten" in each area.

When you feel like you can't hold on any longer, it's great to have someone to help you. You'll find that you seem to have regained your strength and can hold on any longer.

Because there is more than one person as stupid as you.

Time passed like this, evening came.

The two of them ordered takeout for lunch and dinner, and finished their meals in a hurry. Tong Yao looked at the time. It was nine o'clock, and Miao Miao still hadn't shown up.

"Teacher Tong..." Wu You had a worried look on his face, but he still advised her, "You go back first, I'll look for it myself. Thank you very much today."

"Hey, it's okay," Tong Yao said carelessly, "A cat will come out when it's cold and hungry. If we keep shouting, it will know we are here to save it. The possibility of it responding to us at night is definitely higher than during the day."

Wu You was stunned, watching Tong Yao walk towards the bushes in the distance. She suddenly ran up and said:

"Teacher Tong...I'm sorry."

"Huh? Why do you say that?"

"I was... such a jerk."

Tong Yao turned around and saw Wu You standing in the shadow of a tree with snow grains on his shoes.

"When you came to our class to substitute for the class before... many girls were actually jealous of you and deliberately made noises." Wu You whispered, "I also..."

"Jealous of me?" Tong Yao couldn't help laughing. It had been so long, she no longer cared. "What about now?"

"Now……"

Wu You swallowed and pursed his lips.

"Meow-"

Chapter 89: Suggestion for Debut

Life is full of surprises and shocks.

Tong Yao was ready for a protracted battle, but the hungry and cold little orange cat came out on its own, rubbing its buttocks against their legs shamelessly without any sense of worry, and then buried its head in eating.

Wu You was almost crying with joy.

In the end, perhaps for Tong Yao's sake, Wu You's father reluctantly agreed to keep the cat until the exam results came out.

"Teacher Tong," Wu You said goodbye to her, holding the cat in his arms, "Thank you."

“You’re welcome.” Tong Yao waved handsomely and drove away in a hurry.

Leaving behind the girl standing in the moonlight.

Tong Yao turned the knob, played a song, and drove slowly on the highway. She had plenty of time, and even if she squandered it by herself, it seemed inexhaustible, because when she was alone, time was really too long.

She hopes this winter vacation will be over soon.

-

-

Ruan Qian's grandparents lived in the suburbs of the county town. They left Ruan Chen a sum of money and this independent small house. The house is more than 20 minutes' drive from the city. The walls are a bit old, and the outline of bricks can be seen on the weathered walls. In such a place, a house like this can be built for more than 100,000 yuan.

But Ruan Qian likes it very much.

Her father gave her the key. The room was clean and tidy, with a grey cement floor. There was also an old-fashioned sewing machine in the bedroom. She vaguely remembered that she liked to play with it as a bicycle when she was a child.

She spent half a day cleaning the house, and the well-lit living room became her studio.

She will have her own studio from now on.

Living on a budget is a matter of life. She didn't have much money, and after lending it to her aunt, she only had a little money saved from one semester and the income from comics and comic exhibitions in the early days. In addition to the water and electricity bills, she also had to change the gas, take care of her own lunch and dinner, and take the bus home every half an hour in the evening.

After taking care of the chores, she felt a sense of accomplishment. She couldn't help but send a few photos to Teacher Tong and received a reply immediately.

[Teacher Tong]: Living alone? I’m worried.

[Ruan Qian]: Everyone around here is familiar to me. I’ve known each other since childhood. I take the bus home in the evening.

She thought about it, but couldn't hold back and teased:

"If you're still worried, Teacher Tong can move in with us."

Then, Teacher Tong sent a "knocking on the head" emoticon.

Ruan Qian giggled on the other end. She already knew what kind of jokes Teacher Tong could accept. Love is like a bottle of beer. They just opened the lid a little and tasted the foam that overflowed from the bottle. This was intoxicating enough.

According to Teacher Tong, she is not yet an adult and cannot drink alcohol.