“It accompanied me for two years. It was my family member. Yet, when I woke up one morning, I just couldn’t find it. I searched the whole yard. Ye Bao asked me what I was looking for. I was very afraid of him back then and said I was looking for my cat. Ye Bao smiled and told me that my cat was dead. He told me that it was on the steps of the backyard. I ran to the backyard and saw someone throwing my cat down from the fourth floor. It fell to its death on the steps. Its legs were cut off, and it fell down just like that to its death. Its blood and flesh were a blur.”
Shen Qianshu held his hand tightly and felt as if she had a deep cut in her heart! She could not control herself from imagining how he must have felt. He was such a small child and only had a cat to accompany him through the years. He had treated his pet as his family member and his closest little companion. However, one day, it had died so cruelly in front of him. Back then, he was a weak child—helpless, young, and immature. Even if the British shorthair had died, he could not do anything about it.
Ye Ling seemed to be so immersed in his memories that he could not get himself out of there. “I was terrified and felt very miserable. I could not go to sleep and felt very ill. My father did not have any choice, and he brought back another little orange cat for me. It was a life. When it was gone, it was gone. He brought back another cat, but that was not the original cat. I suffered an even greater blow and did not dare to get close to the orange cat. One day, in the night, I carried it and threw it in a garden nearby.
This became his forever pain when he was young.
Everything had a soul.
A pet was also a life. It was his only family member when he was young.
“Master, if you don’t like it, then don’t keep it.” Shen Qianshu held his hand, gently pinching his palm. “Master, times have changed. You are no longer the three-year-old child. You are capable of protecting yourself and protecting your own things. You don’t have to fear anything. The more you resist or avoid, the more the things that you are afraid of will follow you like a shadow. Fear is a part of human nature. We fear abusers, we fear raiders, and we fear separation. These are all parts of human nature. We cannot run away from it, and we can only face it. Master, at this moment now, is there anything that can make you fear in this world?”
Ye Ling looked at her heavily. “You!”
Shen Qianshu was startled. She had never expected it.
What was it about her that was fearful? Was it possible that she made others feel uneasy and fearful?
She was obviously as beautiful as a flower, and she was always charming with light or heavy makeup.
“We fear abusers, and we fear raiders. Hence, you have also been fearing me in your heart??”
“Yes!”
Ye Ling suddenly flew into a rage. He held back her hand tightly. His eyes had a tinge of blood-red like he had been agitated. He was so cruel that he wanted to devour everything. He wanted to devour her, who appeared so little in front of him, and put an end to it.
We are the demons in each other’s hearts.
The demons in our hearts are our fears.
“When a person is born, he has no love or hate and is in an empty state. He is filled with curiosity and feels adventurous about the world. When we are born, we are too weak. When our parents’ voices are slightly louder, we will be fearful. The sound of a heavy object hitting the ground may make us cry up to an hour. But, so what if we are fearful? We are still filled with curiosity, and we cannot control ourselves from going near it. When Tong Hua was young, he was especially afraid of dogs. One day, while I was pushing him out for a stroll, he was scared out of his wits by a husky in our neighborhood and kept crying. The owner was extremely apologetic and told us repeatedly that the husky would not attack him. While Tong Hua was feeling afraid, he put out his hand to touch the husky’s head. On one hand, he was feeling afraid, yet on the other, he was smiling. After then, he played quite well with the husky,” Shen Qianshu said. Her gaze was gentle and wise but low. “Master, you see… this is how we are by nature.”