The Flower Of The High Mountain Turns Into A Cat And Is Picked Up By A Human Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Looking through the peephole, the expected masked raincoat monster or empty hallway scene did not appear.

The reason for the strange knocking was also found.

The old woman was holding a basin, and the weight made her posture awkward. She had to use one hand to knock, which was clearly difficult for her.

When Heng Yuze saw that the person knocking was a kind-faced old woman in a dark floral shirt, the terrifying images in his mind instantly vanished.

Afraid of tiring the old woman, he didn’t dare to delay. He immediately turned on the light and opened the door. Heng Yuze mustered his courage to speak, but was interrupted.

“Oh, you finally opened the door!”

The old woman spoke first, showing no sign of guilt for knocking late at night. Instead, she started rambling in a matter-of-fact tone.

“I heard a young person who teaches cooking moved onto this floor, so I thought I’d bring you some fruit. They’re all home-grown and fresh.”

Heng Yuze was flustered by her enthusiasm and froze for a moment.

Although the light in the entryway was bright and white, it illuminated the grapes in the basin the old woman held, making them look plump and round. Their purplish-black skins were clean and fresh, so tender they looked like they were dripping water.

Heng Yuze was pleasantly surprised.

“Thank you, Auntie.”

She must be the new resident downstairs.

She probably spent a long time settling in and only now had time to visit, and she even remembered him, bringing him grapes of such good quality—the kind he hadn’t been able to buy.

What kind of farming master could grow such grapes? How could every single one be so perfect?

Immediately after, these perfect grapes began to roll out from a hole in the bottom of the damaged basin.

In an instant, the floor was covered with grapes the size of eyeballs. It was somewhat chilling, feeling as though he was being stared at by countless dense pupils.

Heng Yuze was startled.

The culprit squatted on the ground, looking down at one of the black grapes.

Bai Chendeng was truly well-behaved.

And very smart.

But it had suddenly clawed through the bottom of the basin. The basin didn’t look like a cheap knockoff, yet under those soft, adorable paws, it was torn open with a crack the size of a human head, as if it were made of paper.

Elderly aunties wouldn’t tolerate cats or dogs, so fearing Bai Chendeng might get hit, Heng Yuze quickly scooped it up and held it in his arms.

“I’m sorry, Auntie…”

A basin of grapes requires a lot of effort just for picking, transporting, and washing, not to mention how much sun and rain the delicate Grapevine had to absorb and how much wind and weather it had to endure to produce such large fruit.

Heng Yuze, whose mind was running through a small essay, sighed, suddenly feeling sorry for the grapes scattered all over the floor.

The old woman’s irises were unusually large.

She stopped smiling, craned her neck forward, and stared intently at the uneasy man.

Although it was unbelievable for a grown man to be intimidated by a small, hunched old woman, Heng Yuze instinctively took half a step back. Feeling something was wrong, he secretly placed his hand near the door, then moved it to the doorknob.

The old woman didn’t seem to notice his small movements. She pulled back the wrinkled skin around her lips, revealing yellowed teeth and a dark red tongue, letting out a series of grating, harsh laughs.

“This cat…”

What about the cat? She didn’t finish her sentence.

Blue eyes met her pitch-black, bottomless pupils.

There it was again.

The sound of “chew-goo, chew-goo.”

Viscous, slimy, like something squirming and twisting. The sound drilled into his mind like pollution.

Bai Chendeng remained unmoving, still confronting the old woman.

Even if Heng Yuze was slow, he sensed that something was seriously wrong.

At once, he forced himself to say, “Auntie, I apologize, but I have a headache. Let’s stop here for today. I need to go rest.”

It was clearly an excuse.

And it didn’t work.

The old woman completely ignored Heng Yuze, still staring intently at the white cat.

Fear suddenly surged in Heng Yuze’s heart.

She was crazy, she must be crazy.

Using his height advantage, he bent down and shielded Bai Chendeng.

All Bai Chendeng could see now was the peanut-patterned pajama top, clearly illuminated by the white light, with its beady eyes. As Heng Yuze moved, the beady eyes on the peanut seemed to come alive, as if they had gained sentience.

The old woman’s neck, as if welded in place, suddenly twisted. She abruptly shifted from staring at the cat on the ground to looking up at him.

Heng Yuze’s hair stood on end. He kept his face rigid, trying to close the door.

There were still grapes on the floor. If he closed the door directly, the scene would be quite spectacular.

But Heng Yuze couldn’t worry about that now.

Just then.

Something blocked Heng Yuze’s movement, stopping him from closing the door.

He followed the resistance downward and saw that Bai Chendeng had somehow slipped past his feet to the side of the door, blocking the door panel.

The cat let out a “Meow.”

Strangely, although he had heard Bai Chendeng’s voice countless times, this time was different.

The voice was still soft and delicate, as expected of a cat. But now, it carried a hint of coldness, and perhaps something else—a clear, unrestrained quality that reminded him of the bright moonlight spilling onto his bed.

A sticky sound, like something soft and rotten being churned, suddenly rang out after the cat’s meow, and Heng Yuze caught it.

Heng Yuze belatedly looked toward the old woman.

Perhaps it was the sound of the old woman’s tongue moving in her mouth?

It seemed to be coming from higher up.

The moon shifted, its light intensifying. The building was embraced by the moon, and the end of the corridor faintly brightened. Moonlight surged in like liquid.

The old woman’s throat made a gurgling, indistinct sound.

Heng Yuze tried to decipher it. She seemed to be saying, “Night… panic?”

Bai Chendeng ignored the old woman, still looking at the grapes scattered everywhere.

But the corridor was growing brighter.

The light carried a cold sharpness.

Perhaps sensing that she was unwelcome.

The old woman slowly retreated two steps in the brightly lit corridor.

Her withered body stood against the wall, truly resembling a strangely shaped branch growing in the Remote Mountains and Forests, or perhaps a chilling ghost shadow. The moonlight could not illuminate her face, let alone the eyes hidden in the darkness.

Finally, the old woman left.

She shuffled away, as if enduring some pain.

The moonlight was like a knife, cutting deep into the bone.

Heng Yuze was already terrified by the strange encounter late at night.

What on earth was that?

After the tension subsided, his mood was somewhat low.

Sleepiness was completely gone.

At his feet, Bai Chendeng was still looking at the round grapes.

The grapes were also strange; looking at them suddenly, they resembled rolling, pitch-black eyeballs.

Heng Yuze scolded himself for having such an absurd thought. Grapes didn’t smell like eyeballs.

Seeing that Bai Chendeng, apart from confronting the old woman, barely raised its head and kept staring at the grapes rolling all over the floor, he felt incredibly sorry for it.

“You like grapes that much, huh?”

He sighed, resignedly beginning to clean up the grapes by his door late at night.

The image of the old woman leaning against the wall still made him uneasy. Moreover, after the old woman left, the corridor seemed to revert to its pitch-black state, dark and gloomy, hiding who knew what.

He found a basin and quickly gathered the grapes. Then, Heng Yuze hurriedly closed the door, sealing the corridor’s chill outside.

Bai Chendeng seemed to have a special attachment to those grapes, squatting motionless beside the basin.

“Good boy, I’ll take you to buy bigger and sweeter grapes tomorrow. We won’t eat these ones.”

Fearing the cat might eat the grapes of unknown origin, Heng Yuze gently advised it, not knowing if it worked, and carried the cat back to the bedroom.

When he lay down on the bed, Heng Yuze proactively offered his hand.

After a moment, Bai Chendeng voluntarily settled on his hand and then closed its eyes.

After an unknown period, Bai Chendeng, sensing movement from the person beside him, broke free from its thoughts and saw a face furrowed with anxiety in the faint moonlight.

Heng Yuze was trapped in a nightmare.

The man was timid and subservient to outsiders, but very talkative, even a bit flirtatious, online or toward animals.

He was generally a cheerful and optimistic person.

Now, he, an ordinary person, was being dragged into danger because of him. If he knew the truth, he might regret saving him and bringing him home.

Bai Chendeng curled up, reached down, and touched Heng Yuze’s arm.

Its nose lightly brushed the skin of his arm, bringing a subtle sensation like a passing breeze.

The moon had somehow descended from the unreachable deep sky. Looking out from the bed, the clouds drifted erratically, leaving only shallow traces. Only that bright lunar shadow seemed finally willing to bestow a bit of attention, arriving at the window.

Light and darkness flowed.

Heng Yuze rubbed his hair, waking up from the familiar numbness in his arm. He stretched lazily, then turned on his side to look at the cat still curled up and sleeping soundly.

“Morning, good boy. I hope you had a good dream too.”

Despite being startled awake by a terrifying old woman in the middle of the night, experiencing the absurdity of picking up grapes all over the floor, tossing and turning unable to sleep after everything ended, and finally falling asleep only to have a nightmare.

But the nightmare suddenly turned into a sweet dream.

He couldn’t recall the specific content, only the exhilarating joy remained, leaving him with a lingering pleasant feeling.

A basin of grapes sat neatly on the table. Heng Yuze put on gloves, preparing to inspect them, but noticed something unusual when he leaned closer.

Perhaps the light was poor yesterday, or his mind was foggy after waking up in the middle of the night, but when Heng Yuze moved the basin into the sunlight, he saw tiny black maggots, smaller than grains of rice, near the grape stems.

These dark-colored worms were almost invisible under the cover of the grape skins, only becoming clear when placed in the bright sun.

Heng Yuze was thoroughly disgusted by the wriggling maggots. He immediately took off his gloves and prepared to bag the grapes.

As soon as he turned around, he saw Bai Chendeng walking in from the doorway.

The cat no longer seemed to have the unusual obsession with the grapes it had last night. It found a comfortable spot where the sun shone, tucked its paws, and narrowed its eyes.

Heng Yuze found the sight adorable.

It was as if the sunlight not only danced on the cat’s fur but also climbed onto his own skin, bringing a dry, warm sense of security.

After dealing with the grapes, the two ate a hearty cat meal.

Heng Yuze wanted to sit on the sofa for a while, but the cat tugged at the corner of his peanut-patterned pajama top with the beady eyes, leading him back to the bedroom.

When he was pulled by the sleeve, his palm laid flat in the sunlight, he suddenly realized.

Why was this action exactly the same as when the cat used him as a cushion to sunbathe under the moonlight at night?

So, he had to sunbathe not only under the moon but also under the sun?

Heng Yuze recalled the heartbreaking numbness from the morning, which almost overshadowed the lingering happiness of the sweet dream. Still feeling apprehensive, he simply exposed his entire body, except for his face, to the sunlight.

“Anywhere but the hand is fine!”