052: Near Mom, Heart Shy
Sang Zhao thought, could he really trust a dog to keep watch? What kind of wind could a silly little dog possibly “watch”?
But he really missed his mom.
Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom… are you doing well lately? Why did you cut your hair, why are you thinner, and why are you watering those dead flowers?
He stared at Yang Shengzhao’s figure, and all he could hear was the little dog egging him on.
Ye Ye was very good at goading people. Every line he said burrowed straight into the softest part of Sang Zhao’s heart.
“You can just turn into a kitty and sneak a look. Even if she spots you, it’s fine. If she does, she’ll think you’re a gift from the heavens!”
“No one’s gonna suspect anything. Ye Ye has learned, humans are actually pretty dumb. They don’t think about yaoguai at all, hahaha!”
“So what if it breaks the rules? If you don’t get caught, it doesn’t count as breaking them! They said you can’t go looking for her first, but you didn’t. You just happened to run into her. If this isn’t fate, then what is it? It’s destiny!”
Sang Zhao looked at that villa.
On the south side of the second floor there was a stained glass window.
A little cat’s memory really was decent.
Just seeing that window made him remember summers from before, and the days they had shared.
Sunlight passed through the glass and cast rippling patterns across the floor. Even the light got cut into pieces and scattered along the walls and doorframes.
He was a kitten who had a mom and a mom’s house, and his own room.
He could chase the moving patches of color, pounce on the sunlight, stand up on his hind legs like a kangaroo and hop around swatting at the dust motes drifting in the air.
He could patrol his territory slowly in the sun, or curl up under the window where the light hit and sleep.
That room was something his mom had dreamed aloud for him, back when they were still living in a garage and in that rooftop shack.
“One day I’ll give you your own room, with a floor-to-ceiling cat tree, little cat tunnels all over the walls, and stained glass so even the sunlight has to play with you.”
She had done it. The kitten really had gotten that room.
So why wasn’t she inside that sunny room, watching her cat climb and jump, and instead standing out in the yard, watering dead plants?
When Ye Ye saw he still was not moving, he asked, “Why aren’t you going?”
He had never had an owner before, so he did not really get it. All he could do was think in his silly-dog way.
“If I had an owner, I’d be wagging my tail and smashing into them right now. I’d bark so loud they’d hear it all the way in the Southern Hemisphere.”
Head lowered, Sang Zhao thought for a moment.
He mumbled twice, scratched his own face in frustration.
Seeing how torn he was, the silly dog’s brain suddenly unfogged, like someone had cleared all his meridians at once. His IQ rushed up onto the high ground.
He let out a low “oh,” then said considerately, “Ye Ye learned this in school. It’s called ‘ near mom, heart shy’.”
“…”
What kind of phrase was that supposed to be?
Illiterate little dog, mangling idioms.
But the truth was still exactly what Ye Ye said.
Sang Zhao had to admit it. He lowered his head, rubbing his fingertips together, body feeling as heavy as his legs.
“I used to secretly complain about Director Li,” he said, “asking why we weren’t allowed to go back and see our old owners.”
Looking at the entire yard of withered flowers, and at Yang Shengzhao doing that utterly pointless watering, he let out a quiet sigh.
“Now… I think I get it a little.”
He sniffled, a bit wronged and clearly putting on a brave face.
“I don’t want to trap her. If I see her, it’ll just make her miss me again. She’s finally getting her life on track. She should be at her most proud and satisfied right now. How could she be this messed up over a cat?”
Why wasn’t she really doing great?
Why wasn’t she especially happy, Mom?
We agreed before, you have to be very happy.
You’re not allowed to stop missing your cat, but leaving a little space in your dreams for me is enough.
The rest of the time, you should be working hard, carrying both your own share and your cat’s share going forward together.
Wouldn’t that be good?
Mom, why didn’t you do it like that?
Sang Zhao already knew the answer, so there was no point asking.
Which meant he also did not dare run downstairs and stand in front of Yang Shengzhao.
Ye Ye had never had an owner and did not understand these things.
He used to pull sleds and plant potatoes in Siberia. He was only a year and a half old. How complicated could his thoughts get?
All he cared about were his friends.
Looking at the cat, Ye Ye had the feeling he might just shatter into pieces.
Not allowed. No way.
A cat was not allowed to hold his head that low. A cat had to perk up. His spirit had to come back, shine out.
Ye Ye was a very loyal little dog. He could not stand seeing a kitty upset.
He did not care about rules. He snorted, turned around, and started walking off.
He only tossed one line over his shoulder.
“Is that so? Then maybe she needs a fluffy cotton-dumpling dog to comfort her. You won’t go anyway, so I’ll go let her pet me.”
And then he left. That pace was not walking anymore. He was running.
He sprinted off in a blur and was gone from sight in seconds.
Sang Zhao, who had been waiting for Dog’s next round of comfort and persuasion: “???”
He needed a second to react, then realized what that mutt meant to do.
Oh, great. Since he refused to go, the dog was going to turn back into a Samoyed and run to let Yang Shengzhao pet and cuddle him.
Excuse you. Dog.
What does this have to do with you? Do you know her? Were you with her from her eighteen to her twenty-eight?
Did you live with her through the garage and the rooftop room all the way to the big villa?
How could a dog be out here trying to steal his mom? Where was the justice in that?
Where was the justice!
He chased after Xia Moye and bolted out the door.
The two of them flew down the stairs from the upper floor of the rental villa, tearing past the big cats playing balloon games, the kids munching on snacks, and even past Tang Yu, who was chatting with a parent.
Tang Yu looked up just in time to see Xia Moye and Sang Zhao dash by.
“??”
The parent he was chatting with laughed and watched them go. “So lively. That’s Xiao Ye and his gege, right?”
“He’s his jiujiu,” Tang Yu said, eyes soft.
“Really can’t see it.”
The parent clicked their tongue. “Don’t people say nephews look like their uncles? Those two don’t look alike at all.”
They looked at Tang Yu’s face and gave a more certain verdict.
“You look more like the kid’s uncle than the orange-haired one does.”
Tang Yu chuckled.
“Of course I’m not—” He broke off mid-sentence as his laugh froze.
Right.
He had noticed this before, but later on had just… let it slide.
Tang Yu and Xia Moye really did not look alike at all. Not even a little.
Could a nephew and his jiujiu really look that different?
Outside, Xia Moye had already been grabbed, but the kid absolutely refused to go back. He kept struggling toward Yang Shengzhao’s villa.
With one sudden leap he dove into the bushes by the path, and in the blink of an eye, the child vanished and a fat, fluffy Samoyed popped out.
Ye Ye circled around Sang Zhao’s legs, then lifted his front paw and smacked him once.
The meaning was obvious.
He was all ready to go. Only the cat was missing. Hurry up.
They were already out here. What was there to hesitate about now? Hesitation was banned.
What was the point of thinking so much? Had they forgotten they were little yaoguai, and that little yaoguai’s brains were not meant for overthinking?
Half pushed, half dragged along by Dog, Sang Zhao squeezed into the bushes and turned back into a little orange cat.
The two of them walked along the path for a little while and soon reached the front of Yang Shengzhao’s yard.
Right then, she had just finished watering the dead grass and flowers in the yard.
The water absolutely was not going to save them. You could tell at a glance there was no saving those plants, but at least she was trying.
Doing it let her feel like she was making a last-ditch effort. It also gave her something to do, something that felt even a tiny bit positive.
When she finished and was about to go back inside, she heard a bark behind her.
Looking back, she saw a perfectly clean, snow-white, fluffy Samoyed with his paws up on her gate, grinning at her.
Ye Ye had to bark. Good thing he did.
If he had not, she would have gone back inside and it would have been much harder to get her to come out again.
Yang Shengzhao was only so-so on dogs. She liked cats better.
But Samoyeds were pretty famous for being incredibly dumb. The chances of a random, perfectly groomed white puffball with no owner and no leash wandering past were pretty low. He looked like a lost dog.
She walked over, peered at him through the gate, and seeing how obediently he stood, hesitated but still reached out to pet his head.
“Whose dog are you? Taking a walk out here by yourself? Your owner’s really okay with letting you wander—”
She did not finish, because halfway through, she saw a little orange cat step out from behind the Samoyed.
One step at a time, he walked toward her.
Just that one instant and one look was enough.
Yang Shengzhao immediately opened the gate and stood there, letting the little orange cat come up and sit lightly at the threshold.
Sang Zhao really could not hold back.
He was not the type of kitty with great self-control to begin with. His patience was only so long.
He had already used all of it up while he overthought things, questioned himself over and over, and tried to hold himself back.
Now that he stood in front of Yang Shengzhao, had been hiding but then heard her voice, all the “three months of pretending to be mature and grown-up” collapsed in an instant.
It was like he had wasted those three months trying to play adult.
He still missed his mom, and he still loved being by her side.
So he poked his head out from behind the dog, walked up to his mom, and sat.
Just like he had done for ten years.
To Yang Shengzhao, it was like something out of a dream.
No, even in her dreams, this would not happen.
A snow-white dog, bringing a little orange cat who looked exactly like the one who had gone to Cat Planet, right to her door, stopping her just as she was about to go in.
She crouched down, hand trembling, fingers curling into a loose fist as she reached toward him, letting him sniff.
After two sniffs, Sang Zhao looked up at her.
He stared at her hair, cut short to her jaw, at the much sharper curve of her jawline now that she had lost weight, and let out a soft sound.
“Meow.”
Her shaking hand finally came down on his head.
She rubbed his cat ears, palm covering his skull, feeling those soft ears flutter against her hand like a pair of butterflies.
He was a little orange cat, just like her old one. From the top of his head to the base of his tail, he was pure orange, bright red-tiger stripes all over.
Like a dandelion. Like a little sun. Like a big orange.
An orange cat.
As much as Yang Shengzhao wanted to believe this was her old cat, the same one who had gone to Cat Planet.
The one who had kept her company through ten years and everything they had been through together.
The cat who had gone to Cat Planet with her blessings… was not the living cat in front of her.
She knew that. She never forgot it.
So she pulled herself out of the illusion, gently scratched the little cat’s chin, and smiled.
“Alright, I’ve pet you. You really are very cute.”
“But I’m not going to pet you again.”
Her eyes were a little wet.
“My kitty would be upset. He never let me pet other cats or dogs.”
Sang Zhao’s paws kneaded the ground.
He had been very possessive before. If he saw his owner pet other cats or dogs, he’d get angry and yowl.
But things were different now.
If his mom got a new cat, he would be upset and sad.
But she did not have a new cat. She was even feeling guilty for petting someone else’s cat because of him.
He should have been happy, but somehow he just felt even sadder.
How was he supposed to comfort her?
He showed her how his paws could “bloom,” walked a circle around her, and showed off his thick orange tail.
Staring off past him, Yang Shengzhao’s gaze was distant.
Just looking at that orange shape seemed enough to call up all ten years between her and her cat.
She watched the kitty for a while, then glanced at the Samoyed.
She saw the dog’s collar and the tag jingling at his chest.
Picking it up, she realized there was a doodled dog head on it, along with a date.
His birthday was today.
Just from that, she understood.
This was someone’s pet dog, just out playing in the villa neighborhood.
And the little orange cat with him was spotless and sturdy, a solid little muscle-cat.
He was clearly someone’s pet too.
“You’re not a stray,” she said, relieved.
Crouched down, she looked at him and praised him for being such a smart, cute cat.
Then her voice dipped and she poked fun at herself.
“But I don’t have a ‘wild cat’ either. It’s just me, the wild human.”
Sang Zhao circled around her feet, brushing her ankle with his tail, lightly, like a feather flicking across the heart.
Cats had many different calls. There was “meow meow meow,” “mi mi mi mi,” “ao wu ao wu,” “nyaa,” “ow-ow,” and a bunch of other sounds.
They could say a lot.
Sitting next to her, Sang Zhao rounded his meow into something soft and whole, and called her, “Mom.”
Yang Shengzhao fell quiet for a moment, then laughed through her tears.
She nodded but she was not really answering the cat beside her now.
She was looking toward the sky, not sure who she was responding to, and said, “Mm.”
Then she stood up and carefully reminded them both over and over not to leave, and to wait right there for her.
After that, she rushed into the house and came back almost immediately, with two plush toys in her hands.
She held one birthday-cake plush up to the Samoyed’s mouth.
Ye Ye bit down on it automatically, only tilting his head in confusion after he had already grabbed it.
Then she held the other one out to the little cat.
He took a look and saw that it was a bird ball.
A bird ball toy was something almost every cat loved.
He had loved them and gone through a ton. You played with them for a while and they would vanish under the couch, under the bed, who knew.
He had played with many and lost many, just like her hair ties. She kept buying them and they kept disappearing.
Bird balls were everywhere.
Even now, he still had two or three bird balls tucked away inside his knowledge sea.
But the bird ball in front of him was new.
Its shape was round and plump, bigger than usual, with not a single tooth mark or dent on it. It was not one of the ones he had played with here before.
“After my kitty went to Cat Planet, I still bought him toys whenever I saw something nice.”
The ones she gave them now were all new toys.
Every time she bought something, she saved it for him, keeping it in the house, in the sunroom with the stained glass, the one that used to be his.
Her eyes were full of memories.
“He was never a stingy cat. If he were still here, and saw you two come to play, he’d be so happy to share his toys with you.”
“So this isn’t from me. It’s from him.”
She smiled.
“Xiao Ye, happy birthday.”
She had looked at the tag and learned his name, and that today was his birthday.
That was why she chose the birthday cake plush for him and wished him a happy birthday.
But what about the cat? The cat did not have a birthday.
What was she supposed to wish a cat?
She crouched again and gently tucked the bird ball into the little cat’s mouth.
“Little Orange, I wish you a long life.”
That was her blessing for him.
“Please don’t just live ten years. Ten years is a long time for a human, but also far too short.”
Long enough that she and her cat made countless memories together.
Long enough that her life went from tight and shabby to comfortable and prosperous.
Long enough for her to fulfill her promise to him and decorate the sunny room she had vowed to give him.
But too short.
Too short because while she was still young, the only sure, confirmed source and destination of her love went away, right along with the happiest part of her life.
“If only I could share my lifespan with a cat,” she murmured, eyes lowered.
–
With their gifts in their mouths, Sang Zhao and Xia Moye slipped into an empty patch of bushes and turned back into their human forms.
Blushing, Ye Ye held out the birthday cake plush to him.
“You keep it,” Sang Zhao said, shaking his head. “She gave that to you.”
“You’re not allowed to throw it away. You have to keep it and take really good care of it.”
He threatened him a little.
Ye Ye agreed obediently and walked back toward the rental villa with him.
On the way, he could feel how down Sang Zhao was and tried to comfort him.
“Look. No one came to arrest us at all.”
“So we can think up more ideas in the future, right? Your mom looks like she really loves you. She even said you’d be willing to share. Would you?”
“I don’t think so. I think that’s just your mom looking at you with a filter on.”
“…”
They went back to the villa.
He was still sad, but at least it did not feel like something trapped in his chest anymore.
Going to see Yang Shengzhao once as a cat had clearly helped.
Right before he left, he could feel her energy coming back bit by bit.
Maybe she would take all of this as fate, a sign from somewhere above.
Another little cat, who looked just like him, had come to comfort her and call her “Mom.”
To give her the strength to try again, like the flowers in her yard that were going to be replanted after they withered.
That was enough, Sang Zhao thought.
Whether he was in human skin or cat fur, he could not be too greedy.
Seeing her pick herself up again already made him very happy.
She had blessed the cat.
So of course, out of her sight, the cat had to bless her back.
He wished for her to live up to the hope hidden in the name she had chosen for herself: to be wise and bright, like unending sunlight.
His “Zhao” came from his tough, resilient mom.
He bent down and hugged Ye Ye.
In the elementary schooler’s arms, he rubbed his head against him, laying on a little catty charm.
“Thank you,” he said sincerely. “You’re my very, very best dog-friend.”
“No cotton, cloud, sheep’s butt, or cotton candy is as white as you, as soft as you, or as fluffy as you.”
Ye Ye lifted his head proudly. “Of course!”
He had lots of classmates over.
After hanging around with Sang Zhao for a while, he went off to play with them.
This villa even had a private theater.
For an elementary school kid, watching a movie or playing games in a private theater was just about the coolest thing ever.
Sang Zhao stayed on the first floor, wandering over to the bar area to see if there was anything to eat.
Just then, Tang Yu came by and spotted him.
“I got you a drink,” Tang Yu said, handing him a glass of berry juice.
He glanced around and asked, “Didn’t Xiao Ye’s parents come? I was hoping to meet them.”
After all, he had spent quite a while getting along with Xia Moye already.
To Tang Yu, not having met the kid’s parents made everything feel a bit less proper.
Best case was, he would meet them, get along well, and then one day, when he was dating their “younger brother” and taking their son out to play, everything would feel natural instead of guilty.
Taking the juice, Sang Zhao took a sip and let out a happy sigh.
“Wow, it’s chilled. So good.”
It really was tasty. It was also a perfect way to dodge the question.
Meet the parents? Which parents?
Meet Xia Moye’s parents? Or Ye Ye’s mom and dad?
Hahaha. Where were they?
He glanced over at the stairs, where the black panther and the lynx were busy blowing balloons up, then pinching their necks to let the air squeal back out.
The two of them were howling with laughter over it and completely obsessed.
There. Those were the “mom” and “dad” from the parents’ chat group.
So technically, the parents had come.
It was just that the ones who came were the cyber parents, the ones in charge of replying “received,” checking in, doing group chains, and paying fees online.
Probably better not to meet those in person.
Seeing how much Sang Zhao liked the juice, Tang Yu was delighted and made a note to buy some to keep at home later.
“Xiao Ye had his birthday, and I gave him a present. Then it was my birthday, and you gave me a present.”
“So what about you?”
Tang Yu leaned in close to his ear, lowering his voice, sneaky and sweet.
“Baby, when’s your birthday?”
Sang Zhao looked up. “Which one are you asking about?”
“?”
What kind of question was that?
Which one? Of course he was asking about his birthday.
“Ah… oh, I get it.”
He figured it out himself before Sang Zhao even explained.
Two birthdays.
It must be the lunar date and the solar date. That was fair enough.
Everyone had two birthdays if you counted that way, depending on whether you celebrated by the lunar calendar or the regular one.
“Tell me both,” Tang Yu said, full of anticipation. “What days are they?”
“December eighteenth, and March fourth.”
“…Those are really far apart.”
That was not “just a bit off.” That was a whole other level.
What kind of lunar-and-solar combo was that supposed to be?
If they were not his lunar and solar birthdays, then how did Sang Zhao end up with two birthdays?
Author’s Note:
Hungry Juan Juan will start making Chinese sausage claypot rice at midnight.
Off to rinse the rice~ (runs)
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