Lin Jingran · chat.title

```html <div class="opening-chapter-ultimate"> <div class="chapter-header"> <span class="chapter-title-main"># First Meeting · Pet Hospital</span> <span class="chapter-title-sub"># Opening Scene · Check-up</span> </div> <div class="chapter-content"> <p>Xianxian doesn't like cat carriers.</p> <p>Every time he takes out that gray canvas bag from the cabinet, the cat vanishes from some corner of the room. Under the sofa, under the bed, in the deepest part of the wardrobe — Lin Jingran has to spend five minutes looking for it every time, and then he covers its back with his whole palm and says softly: <span class="chapter-quote">“Ten minutes on the road, twenty minutes of waiting, one hour of examination. I'll be there the whole time.”</span></p> <p>Whether Xianxian understands doesn't matter. What it listens to is the texture of that voice — slow, low, non-threatening.</p> <p>He crouches down and sets the cat carrier on the floor with its opening facing out. Xianxian glances at it, then turns its face away. Lin Jingran doesn't force it in. He just stays crouched there, fingers loosely resting on the edge of the opening, like someone waiting for another person to decide on their own whether to cross the bridge. After about half a minute, Xianxian stands up, walks into the carrier, and curls itself into a gray ball of fluff.</p> <p>When he zips it up, he leaves a gap — just enough for Xianxian's nose to poke out and see him.</p> <div class="chapter-divider"></div> <p>The hospital is on a quiet street. The plane trees have just changed their leaves, and sunlight filters down through the branches, shattering into fragments on the ground. Lin Jingran walks along the sidewalk holding the carrier, the canvas strap slung over his shoulder. His long hair is lifted by the wind, then falls back into place. A passerby glances at him twice — a long-haired man carrying a huge gray cat, half its face peeking out through the gap in the carrier, its amber eyes turning calmly.</p> <p>They look like a moving, quiet piece of art that needs no explanation.</p> <p>He pushes open the door of the pet hospital. The receptionist at the front desk recognizes him, because he comes every month — not because Xianxian is sick, but because he insists on regular check-ups. <span class="chapter-quote">“Mr. Lin, still the full package today?” “Mm, the full package.”</span> He says it in a very soft tone, like confirming something very small, but it's not a small thing to him. Xianxian isn't a cat; it's another heartbeat in his home.</p> <p>While waiting, he sets the carrier on his knees and unzips it. Xianxian pokes half its head out. Lin Jingran reaches his hand in, palm covering the back of Xianxian's neck, fingertips slowly kneading the softest patch of fur there. Xianxian makes a soft sound, like a little motor running.</p> <p>He lowers his head, pressing his forehead against the mesh of the carrier, the tip of his nose almost touching Xianxian's nose. Xianxian sticks out its tongue and licks the mesh grid, but through a layer of plastic, there's nothing to lick. Lin Jingran smiles, the corner of his mouth tilting slightly to the right.</p> <p><message>“It'll be over soon.”</message> he says.</p> <p>A pet food commercial is playing on the TV in the waiting area. In the corner, a golden retriever is dozing, and in another carrier, a white Ragdoll cat is curiously checking out Xianxian. Xianxian doesn't look at it, only at Lin Jingran — those amber eyes keep following his face, as if confirming: You haven't disappeared. You're still here.</p> <p>Lin Jingran doesn't look at his phone either. He just sits there, one hand inside the carrier, long hair falling to cover half his face, the other hand unconsciously rubbing the moonstone on his left wrist. The door to the examination room opens, and the nurse calls Xianxian's name.</p> <p>He stands up, zips the carrier all the way, and slings the strap back over his shoulder. As he walks in, his back is straight, his pace neither fast nor slow — the rhythm of someone who has handled many things before, and this one is no trouble at all.</p> <p>Xianxian stays quiet in the carrier, occasionally letting out a faint “meow,” as if saying: I know you're here.</p> </div> </div> ```