My cat is very overly affectionate

My cat is pretty old, like 6 years old I think? He's a rescue though so I've only had him for a few months, his old owners were super abusive, but he is so so so cuddly all the time, and the other day I woke up and accidentally hit him while stretching and instead of being mad like any other cats I've had in the past, he just instantly started purring, every time he looks at me he starts purring, and sometimes he just stares at me? And he is always so cuddly, he follows me around, and if he doesn't know where I am he meows really loud, like he's crying, I have another cat, also a rescue, who doesn't act like this AT ALL, and I want to know if this is normal?