Reluctantly Willing

Translator: Larbre Studio  Editor: Larbre Studio

An Xiaoyan did not answer. Gu Jun’s behaviour surprised him somewhat. Where is Gu Jun, who used to be violent and cruel?
“Eat it quickly. It’s not as delicious when it gets cold.”
“Gee. The acidic smell of love!” Da Zhou muttered.
“If you have the ability, you should find someone to spoil you.”
An Xiaoyan took the fish and nibbled at it. Wonton smelled the fragrance of the fish and kept meowing, and staring at the fish with its big eyes.
“You can only take one bite, or you might fall ill.”
He tore a piece of meat from the fish’s belly and threw it to Wonton. Wonton ate in large mouthfuls.
“To tell you the truth, I thought you may like An Xiaoyan.” Da Zhou whispered in Ji Lin’s ear.
“Bullshit, I’m straight,” Ji Lin had never entertained such a thought. He just felt that An Xiaoyan was good-looking, and in appreciation of his beauty, he took better care of him. “Don’t talk nonsense. He already has someone, how could you compare him to us, wanderers? Besides, look at the rich man over there. That guy’s outfit is more expensive than my car. Stop joking about this.”
Honestly, Ji Lin had never entertained such a thought. In fact, he was glad that he hadn’t. Even if he did like An Xiaoyan, there would be no way that he could compete with that other guy.
The three of them intentionally went to one side and left some space for Gu Jun and An Xiaoyan.
“Do you like chicken wings? Let’s barbecue some chicken wings. This squid looks good too.”
In the eyes of outsiders, the two of them were definitely good friends even if they were not lovers. But in the eyes of An Xiaoyan, that wasn’t the case. Gu Jun must have done all these with a purpose.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m just here to see you and see if you’re doing okay.” With one hand, he was still flipping the chicken wings, and the fragrance permeated the air again.
“Gu Jun, I beg you, please don’t.”
Gu Jun did not reply and went on barbecuing. After a while, he heard sobs.
When he looked up, An Xiaoyan was already full of tears.
“Why are you treating me this way? Before, you treated me so cruelly. I begged you and you refused to let me go. Now, you say that you are here to see if I am doing okay. Can you understand how I feel? You proclaimed that you like me, but why are you driving me to the brink? Do I have to love an enemy? I have planned to be single all my life. Anyway, I have no family and friends.”
It took an enormous amount of courage to say these words. Gu Jun listened to these words quietly and put the cooked meat that he was holding on a plate.
“I understand it now. I’ll leave right away. You remember to eat the meat while it’s hot. It’s not so delicious when it gets cold.”
When he walked to Ji Lin, he did not forget to say, “I have placed a sum of money in the store. Next time, when you guys come for a barbecue again, you don’t have to pay. It’s my treat to all of you.”
After saying those words, An Xiaoyan felt good. After eating the food which Gu Jun barbecued, he sat on the reef with Wonton in his arms.
The afternoon weather did not feel as hot as in the morning, and the summer heat had already dissipated, which made it more pleasant than noon.
Ji Lin and the others did not dare to go forward and ask what had happened. They simply looked at the back view of An Xiaoyan.
“There seems to be a great emotional dispute between them.” Da Zhou took a bite of the barbecued squid and expressed his opinion.
“Let’s not stick our noses in. Go and ask how much money the rich man placed at the store,” Ji Lin instructed Lin Nian. “Somehow, I have a feeling that it is not a small sum.”
Lin Nian came back soon after he left, and gestured with his ten fingers.
“One hundred?” Da Zhou guessed.
Lin Nian shook his head.
“One thousand? If not, ten thousand. It can’t be more than that. How costly can a meal of seafood cost?”
Lin Nian put down his hands and said, “It’s one hundred thousand.”
One hundred thousand dollars for a seafood meal?! This person seemed too generous. Ji Lin lamented, “This amount is enough to have a lifetime of seafood. Being rich must be so nice.”
An Xiaoyan sat on the reef and stretched his feet into the ocean water, looking out into the distance.
He felt so useless to cry in front of so many people. But he could not help it, and the grievances he had suffered were vented out all at once.
Wonton stood on the reef and beneath the surface of the water lay a small sea hare. It wanted to grasp it with its claws but did not want to go into the water. He could only look at it with his claws touching the surface of the water.
An Xiaoyan reached out to pick up the sea hare and put it on the reef. Wonton hit it directly with its claws.
Gu Jun was also feeling melancholy. He sat in the car and recalled his behavior over the past few days. It all did seem a little impulsive.
The initial loss made him feel uneasy and panicked. After he finally found An Xiaoyan, he was too eager to approach the man, which proved to be counterproductive. An Xiaoyan’s hostility to him was still there. It was akin to facing a tortoise. The closer you get to it, the more frightened it is. Finally, it can only retreat into its shell and behave indifferently towards you.
Fortunately, the day could still be considered fruitful since he was able to determine that those people had no connections to An Xiaoyan.
“Chen Chen, how is the company doing?”
“Everything is normal, but old Mr. Gu seems to be a little dissatisfied. After all, recently, you have been making up excuses and saying that you are on a business trip. He thinks that you are trying to avoid Miss Xiu and are ignoring your work.”
“Don’t worry about that for now. Is Guo Guo doing fine?”
“Young Master is doing well. The nanny said that he has been asking for Mr. An every day.”
He was neither a qualified father nor a qualified lover.
In the past, he was filled with boundless enthusiasm, and many things were done according to his wishes. Recalling the year he had spent with An Xiaoyan, his temper was much more restrained, as if he had grown up overnight.
A house had already been purchased here, and now as long as An Xiaoyan does not leave, he could be here to accompany him.
Initially, they planned to go home before dark, but since An Xiaoyan was in a bad mood, Ji Lin decided to take An Xiaoyan to enjoy the sea breeze to make him feel better.
It was his first time walking on the beach at night and many small animals had crawled up onto the beach. This side of the beach was a semi-natural ecosystem. Those little creatures were not afraid of people.
“What do you do for work?”
“I’m working at the front desk for a hotel.”
Ji Lin nodded and said, “Do you want to consider coming to work at our hospital? We are currently short-handed with just the three of us. You can be in charge of documenting the cases of the sick little animals and their meals. As for your salary, I will not pay you less than the hotel front desk. Moreover, you have so much love for animals, this job won’t be any worse than your job in the hotel.”
An Xiaoyan quickly refused the job offer as he was not professionally trained. What would he do if something happened to the animals?
“I know your apprehension. But you just need to help bathe the animals, sell some kibble and so on. There are all simple things. As long as you are willing to learn, you’ll be able to master the job within a year. After all, no one is self-taught.”
An Xiaoyan was a little moved as leaving the hotel’s front desk would mean he could avoid bumping into Gu Jun. Besides, being with animals would probably make him happier.
“Come on, you can see how busy the three of us are. In fact, I was about to look for an apprentice.”
After some hesitation, An Xiaoyan agreed.
Everything seemed to be on track again.
On the first day of work at the pet hospital, An Xiaoyan got up very early, watered the flowers, and hurried to the hospital.
However, the pet hospital was not open yet and he had to wait outside. Da Zhou was the first to arrive and he opened the door, and then went to wash his hands.
“You should come and wash your hands too. Many pets here are sick and it’s easy to infect them if we don’t wash our hands. Just last week, we’d sent away a batch and now we are expecting a new batch of sick pets again.”
Subsequently, Ji Lin and Lin Nian arrived and Ji Lin gave An Xiaoyan a key to the main door.
Although it was a Tuesday, it was quite busy. First, a little female cat was brought in and had a B-ultrasound to find that she was pregnant. Fortunately, the owner was very happy. Da Zhou used the instruments to perform a checkup on the cat while An Xiaoyan pressed down the cat’s leg and Lin Nian document the case at the side.
“She is already two weeks pregnant. During this period of time, try not to take it out and let it wander around. It would be bad if she were to be frightened. Come back again for a review in two weeks’ time.”
After paying the fees, the owner went away happily with the kitten in his arms.
The whole morning was filled with people who brought along their pets and An Xiaoyan, a new worker, was tired out. One moment, he had to help out with the checkups, another moment he had to help document the cases. Some came specially to buy cat equipment.
“In the afternoon, people from the rescue group will come over. If there are customers, Da Zhou and I will take care of them. Lin Nian and Xiaoyan will take care of the cats from the rescue group.”
At noon, they ordered takeout. An Xiaoyan ate slowly as usual, and ate very little at that. Da Zhou reminded him, “Quick, eat more. In the afternoon, we will be busy like hell.”
When the afternoon came, An Xiaoyan was glad that he had listened to the words of Da Zhou.
The rescue group drove over with a car full of pets. There were about a dozen cats and more than ten dogs.
“What happened to these animals?”
“These are stray cats and dogs, as well as abandoned ones. We will do our best to check them every Tuesday afternoon, free of charge. There are still many people who do not cherish animals in this society.”
The cats and dogs from the rescue group were usually kept in the yard. They follow people around constantly. An Xiaoyan used to be afraid of being scratched by the cats, but he was no longer scared of this anymore.
“Usually after we bathe them, they will be put in an adoption drive the next day. People who are qualified will be able to adopt them for free. But most of the time, people still feel that the animals from these rescue groups are not clean, and many people will prefer to go to the pet shops to buy the breed they most desire instead of adopting a pet.”
An Xiaoyan could not help but sigh. If these people chose to adopt instead of buying, they would be helping to give a dog or a cat a warm home. Moreover, buying a pet costs a lot of money.
The bathtub in the pet hospital was large and could pack a lot of animals at a time, but cats generally do not like to bathe. When they bathe the dogs, An Xiaoyan and Lin Nian would bathe one at a time.
An Xiaoyan took a dog out from its cage. Lin Nian said that it was a little Kirky dog and it looked very lovely. An Xiaoyan put the dog under the shower head and it moved about excitedly, causing him to become completely soaked.
“Bathe the dog with the bath lotion. There’s a big hair dryer over there. Just blow it dry inside the bathtub.”
An Xiaoyan bathed one after another, and his whole waist could not straighten up after washing several animals.
Lin Nian knew that An Xiaoyan had not gotten used to it as it was his first time bathing the animals. With concern, he suggested, “Later on, when you bathe the cat, you can place it directly in a tub instead of using the bathtub.”
It was the kitten’s turn to bathe. Initially, An Xiaoyan was afraid that the cat might scratch him. In fact, it turned out that he had over thought it. Although the kitten was afraid of water, the water temperature made it feel very comfortable. Moreover, after so many days without bathing, the cat seemed to know that it would be clean after a bath and let An Xiaoyan clean it up. Besides, with the rubber gloves on, An Xiaoyan was even less worried about being scratched.
They operated like a production line in a factory, with one person bathing the animals while the other would blow them dry. Three hours had passed until all the animals had been bathed.
“Later, we’ll have to help them to remove ear mites. Get Da Zhou here, this is his job.”
An Xiaoyan took off his gloves and he felt as if his waist was going to be broken. He went to the front and called for Da Zhou.
Seeing that there were not many customers left, Ji Lin chatted with An Xiaoyan, “Are you tired out? Before you were here, the three of us would bathe the whole batch of animals. By the time we’d be finished, we’d feel as if we had bathed half our life away.”
“It’s indeed very tiring, but we did a good deed. Um… Won’t bathing them for free increase our expenses?”
“In fact, these things do not cost much money. Veterinarians are also doctors. We feel that saving lives and treating injuries are our duties.”
This remark reached An Xiaoyan’s ears, but it touched his heart.
During his internship in his school days, a cardiologist once told him that many people in the world were after money and profit, but did they ever think that such a life was precious? With such a money-driven system and high medical costs, many people did not die of sickness, but poverty.
“In the future, I’ll bathe all of them. These animals are rather pitiful.”
“Okay, time’s up, you are off duty now. You can clock out while the rest of us will finish up the pending work. The professional stuff, you can’t be of any help.”
An Xiaoyan packed up his things and left, not forgetting to look back at the lovely animals.