053: My Little Boyfriend Is So Cute I Could Die
Tang Yu thought about it for a while. Then thought about it some more.
But… hm.
Something was still off.
No matter how he tried to think it through, it just did not make sense.
He tried again. “Is it because the birthday on your ID isn’t your real birthday, so you celebrate both dates?”
But then, why not just pick one? Just celebrate the real one?
And anyway, how could there be that big a gap between them? That was just wrong.
Tang Yu was struggling to find logic and reason in the yaoguai world, trying his best to help Sang Zhao explain things.
But he was completely on the wrong track. There was no logic to be found in a yaoguai’s logic to begin with.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Sang Zhao looked over at Tang Yu’s crinkled-up “thinking too hard” expression and pressed his lips together in a smile.
Watching Tang Yu try so hard and still not find an answer with that top-student kind of obsessive stubbornness was so fun that his chest didn’t feel quite so heavy anymore.
It was actually pretty entertaining how Tang Yu refused to give up on thinking like a normal human being even while surrounded by yaoguai.
But he still had to give him some kind of explanation.
…Could humans even have two birthdays?
A birthday was the date you were born. How many humans did he know who had been born twice? Having two birthdays sounded strange.
But this little cat was all about keeping the peace.
His name was Sang Zhao: “Sang” from He Sangchi, “Zhao” from Yang Shengzhao.
He had taken one character from each of his two moms. So of course he had to celebrate both birthdays.
And that was with him only having been a pet cat twice before he started cosplaying as a human.
If he had stayed a cat longer, he probably would not be called “Sang Zhao” anymore.
He would probably be called something like: Sang Zhao Liuli Anjelina Yuyan Bingling Meng Kewei Leixue Lian…
Facing Tang Yu’s expression that mix of concern and cautious curiosity, like he was tiptoeing around him, Sang Zhao’s heart went soft.
He really liked how gentle and worried Corn Bean looked when it came to him. It made him feel like he would always be this important to Tang Yu.
So, after hesitating a bit, he decided to pretty things up and give Tang Yu a half-true, half-made-up answer.
He took a sip of the berry juice Tang Yu had brought him and downed half the glass in one go.
The remaining half he held in one hand as he looked at Tang Yu, watching his face carefully while he spoke.
Putting on a pitiful tone, he said, “Actually… I’m an orphan.”
As he spoke, he lowered his eyes just a little and then looked up at Tang Yu from beneath his lashes.
That angle made him look a bit pitiful, a little wronged, like a helpless, nervous little rabbit, all soft fluff curled up there, saying nothing more and only watching how Tang Yu would react.
Of course Tang Yu reacted.
He froze for a moment. His heart hurt immediately.
But halfway through that ache, shrill cheers from the elementary schoolers upstairs rang out.
The noise snapped him back, and he turned to look at the kids running up and down the stairs, Xia Moye among them.
Carefully, he asked, “Then your jiejie…”
…Right.
He still had a jiejie.
After all, if he didn’t, where would the nephew have come from?
Sang Zhao stalled. He stumbled over his words, then rushed to patch things up. “His mom…”
How would a cat know about a dog’s mom? That dog did not have a mom. He came from pulling sleds and eating potatoes, a wild-raised Samoyed. There was no such thing as “Mom” for him, only a very tough heart.
But this kind of problem did not stump Sang Zhao anymore. He was good at being human now.
If humans did not have hard proof, they would not suspect him.
Which meant he could stretch the truth all he wanted. That was the ultimate survival wisdom of a little yaoguai in human society.
“That’s my adoptive mom,” Sang Zhao said, mixing truth with lies. “Originally, I didn’t have any parents.”
Everything he said after that, though, was exactly what he wanted to say.
“But I have two adoptive moms. They weren’t sure when I was actually born, so each of them just used the day they found me as my birthday.”
He raised his head and looked at Tang Yu.
“So that’s why I said I have two birthdays.”
“They’re both really important to me. And I miss them a lot.”
“It’s just that, because of some special reasons right now…”
He paused for a moment, then continued quietly, “But really, even if my mouth always says things before my brain catches up… even if I can’t say what’s really in my heart… I really, really love the moms who picked me up and brought me home.”
Tang Yu’s heart just about shattered.
He took in a deep breath, his expression turning complicated as he cried out inwardly:
Ah… damn this world, to hurt such a beautiful, honest kid like this.
When he spoke, there was a faint furrow between Sang Zhao’s brows.
That faint crease added a bit of sorrow to his eyes and took away the usual silly, carefree kitten look.
Tang Yu could tell he must be remembering the past.
He wanted to comfort him. He wanted to slice open his own chest and lay his heart in Sang Zhao’s hands to make him feel better.
He reached out and quietly took hold of Sang Zhao’s wrist.
In the noisy bustle of people coming and going, Tang Yu carefully and gently wrapped him in his palm.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“???”
That one sentence stunned Sang Zhao.
He had no idea what Tang Yu was apologizing for.
He was a yaoguai; he had been picked up by his mom; he had faked his death at ten to hide his abnormally healthy checkups as a “senior” cat, then left and gone wandering again…
All of that had happened before he met Tang Yu. None of it had anything to do with Tang Yu.
There was no need for him to apologize.
What was he apologizing for? And right now, who was he apologizing to?
Tang Yu’s tone was incredibly gentle, like he was trying to protect a snowflake that was just about to slide off the edge of a petal.
Even though Sang Zhao was not that fragile and did not need this level of syrupy care, he still looked at him and waited to hear what Tang Yu would say next.
“I’m sorry I didn’t notice earlier,” Tang Yu said.
He blamed himself.
He felt like, as a boyfriend, he should have taken better care of him and never asked a question like that.
He stubbornly believed that even if he did not know, he should find ways to figure it out, instead of pestering Sang Zhao to explain.
Leaning closer, Tang Yu slipped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him into a firm, solid hug.
An affectionate hug in the middle of the crowd, full of a friend’s concern and a boyfriend’s tenderness.
“Then we’ll just celebrate both birthdays,” Tang Yu said briskly.
“We’re doing fine. Two birthdays is nothing. If you had seven or eight, we could celebrate all of them.”
Right then he really did have that “bossy CEO” aura going, waving his hand like everything he said was final.
With Sang Zhao in his arms, acting like a little cat shrieking and meowing for more pampering, the two of them really were a perfect visual match.
“Really, gege? Then will you give me two birthday presents?”
“Of course.”
“And you’ll buy me two birthday cakes too?”
“Yes, I’ll buy them. We’ll buy them all. Who says you can only eat cake on your birthday? If you want cake, I’ll buy you cake.”
He had not bought anything yet, but he had said it.
And that was enough to make Sang Zhao weirdly happy.
He had not gotten any cake yet, or any presents either, but that was fine. He could be happy ahead of time.
He raised his eyebrows and laughed softly next to Tang Yu’s ear, his breath brushing Tang Yu’s earlobe, making it itch and making Tang Yu’s heart itch too.
Tang Yu sighed inwardly.
Look, Sang Zhao was so much younger than him. Five, six years younger. His situation was hard too. How could Tang Yu not feel bad for him?
No wonder he had barely studied before starting work. He really was like a pathetic little kid.
Holding his wrist, Tang Yu lowered his head and gently squeezed his fingertips.
“You’re still so young,” he thought aloud. “I’ll find someone to help you look into it later. Aren’t there ‘self-study’ universities? You could review and try to take the college entrance exam, go to college.”
“Me?” Sang Zhao pointed to his own nose.
Tang Yu nodded. “Yeah.”
It was not just that he had not gone to college.
He had not even gone to elementary school.
Calling that “review” was ridiculous. That would all be brand-new. That was pre-viewing, okay?!
How was he supposed to study? How was he supposed to take exams?
There was no way.
“I’m a guanxi hu, gege,” he said, face drooping pitifully.
Even saying “guanxi hu” sounded a little stiff and unnatural on his tongue, obviously something he had picked up from somewhere else.
Tang Yu paused and, half amused, asked, “Who taught you that word?”
“They all say that about me.” Sang Zhao was perfectly confident.
“I might not have had much pull before, but now I’m your boyfriend. That makes them right, doesn’t it?”
Yeah.
What better “inside connection” could you have than being the boss’s boyfriend?
Tang Yu raised a hand, smoothing down the bit of hair at his temple that was sticking up.
Right now his heart was surging.
On one hand, he felt like: He’s already my boyfriend. We could just go on like this. Why push him to study? I can just feed the kitten, let him play and be happy.
On the other hand, he criticized himself.
He was much older than Sang Zhao. He should be thinking about Zhao Zhao’s future for him.
Learning more, having a diploma, those were never a bad thing. Otherwise he would be stuck doing odd jobs and feeding cats forever, and that was exhausting too.
Hugging Tang Yu’s arm, Sang Zhao shook it hard and deliberately asked, “Calling you gege isn’t enough?”
“I get it,” he said, eyes lighting up as he leaned in close to Tang Yu’s ear.
Tang Yu went blank for a second.
Ah.
He’s going to call me “mom” again, this clingy barnacle.
But instead, Sang Zhao rubbed his nose lightly against his ear and murmured, round and full: “Kiss.”
Then smacked a loud kiss right on his ear.
Tang Yu stood there holding the half-finished berry juice that Sang Zhao had been drinking.
For a moment he just froze, one hand still holding the cup, the other coming up to cover his face.
…This was giving him a headache.
His little boyfriend really was cute enough to kill.
So cute he wanted to clutch his chest and collapse on the spot.
So cute that whenever he tried to think, his brain filled up with pink circles and little hearts.
So. Cute. He. Could. Die.
Just as they finished talking, the other side of the room had reached the climax of the birthday party.
As the birthday star, Xia Moye was being shoved around by the black panther and the lynx, surrounded by humans and yaoguai, clapping as he waited for his birthday cake.
The manul cat pushed out a little cart with a giant five-tier cake on top. It was so huge that the kid could probably dive in headfirst and spin around, eating like he’d stuck his neck through a giant donut.
Circles and circles of candles ringed the cake: pink, blue, purple, green…
Countless bright, curious gazes interwove around it, making the scene dazzling and colorful.
“What a huge cake,” Tang Yu said.
Of course it was.
Sang Zhao was very proud of it.
He had to buy Ye Ye a big cream cake like this.
It was the little dog’s first birthday. He had to spend it full of joy, full of excitement, big and bright and shining, to celebrate his very first birthday properly.
Xia Moye’s classmates and friends all gathered around.
The manul cat lit the candles one by one with a lighter until every last one was burning.
Even though the little dog was clearly very happy, he suddenly started looking around anxiously like he had lost something.
When he saw Sang Zhao, his eyes lit up.
He ran over with quick little steps and threw his arms around Sang Zhao’s waist.
“You have to stand next to me. Why are you over here?”
Ye Ye yanked and tugged, wanting to drag him over.
“There are too many people,” Sang Zhao protested. “Too many people. I’m fine over here. I can see from here. I can see everything.”
“No.”
“I already pushed the cake over, and you already gave me my present, so why are you still dragging me over?”
With those puppy-wet eyes, Ye Ye stared stubbornly at him.
“No. No. If you’re not there, it’s no good.”
Sang Zhao sighed. “Fine.”
Only then was Ye Ye satisfied.
Still smiling, he pushed him along and also grabbed Tang Yu by the wrist, hauling the two of them to the middle of the crowd right next to him.
Then, at last, he put his hands together and closed his eyes.
The people around him clapped to the rhythm and started to sing the birthday song.
“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…”
But there was no way Sang Zhao was just going to sing it straight.
Standing beside the eyes-closed Xia Moye, he matched the tune of the birthday song and sang a dog-bark version just for him.
“Woof woof, woof~woof~woof woof! Woof woof, woof~woof~woof woof! Woof woof woof woof, woof woof! Woof woof woof woof, woof~woof~”
Tang Yu held his forehead and could not stop himself from laughing.
He really thought there was a kind of prankish cuteness to Sang Zhao.
But Ye Ye did not laugh.
Not only did he not laugh, the very first thing he did when he opened his eyes at the end of the birthday song was not blow out his candles.
Instead, he threw himself at Sang Zhao with a wail and hugged him tight.
He was moved to death.
What was this?
This was a kitty singing a doggy birthday song for him.
Ye Ye had seen it in videos before: a real dog should have a birthday song that was full of woofs from head to toe.
And his was sung by his cat.
If he had a tail right now, he would have been wagging it hard enough to drum.
He would have wagged his fluffy tail like a crowbar, smacking Tang Yu’s shins blue and purple beside him.
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