Chapter 6

Chu Xiaoxiao didn’t want to run into Chu Xiaoyi again, so she simply took advantage of the last bit of daylight and ran into the small courtyard to get some air. Great-Auntie on her maternal side had originally been inside taking care of Grandma. Seeing the little girl in the courtyard through the window, she reminded her, “Xiaoxiao, don’t go outside now.”

The house had a small courtyard with an iron gate. Chu Xiaoxiao often ran out through that gate to play and never liked using the front door.

Chu Xiaoxiao replied, “I’ll just stay in the courtyard.”

Only after hearing her promise did Great-Auntie relax and slowly draw the curtains closed. With nothing to do, Chu Xiaoxiao hopped around a few times, then stuck her head out to look beyond the iron fence, passing the time outdoors.

It was currently the Spring Festival period. Most residents in the neighborhood had gone home for the holiday. Combined with the fact that the residential complex already had extensive green spaces, there was hardly anyone to be seen. Chu Xiaoxiao used to see people walking their dogs, but now she found the surroundings empty except for the warm yellow streetlights gradually lighting up.

A short while later, Chu Xiaoxiao finally spotted the first person walking a pet. However, he wasn’t walking a dog—he was walking a cat.

A delicate-looking boy of six or seven years old stood beneath a tree wearing a black down jacket and a white scarf, holding the leash of a black cat. The black cat was being led by its little owner. It too wore a dark-colored outfit. The exposed black fur was glossy and pure in color, while its paws were snow-white, as though it were wearing white gloves.

It was the first time Chu Xiaoxiao had seen someone walking a cat, and she couldn’t help staring at the little boy. He turned his head, seeming to sense her gaze, and stared right back at her.

The two children looked at each other through the iron fence for a long time, as though aimlessly daydreaming, yet also cautiously testing each other. Neither spoke.

The black cat squatted on the ground and washed its face with a paw. It was the calmest presence in the silence, casually glancing around.

After observing the little boy for quite some time, Chu Xiaoxiao noticed his brilliant golden emotional color and found it quite novel. In her understanding, warm colors meant the other person was in a good mood and had a high degree of friendliness toward her. Yet they hadn’t even spoken to each other before, and he was already radiating goodwill, which surprised her a little.

Once Chu Xiaoxiao determined he wasn’t a bad person, she simply broke the silence first and asked, “Why are you looking at me?”

The little boy tilted his head and answered, “Because you were looking at me.”

Having successfully established communication, the little boy led the black cat over to the iron fence, approaching Chu Xiaoxiao in the courtyard. The black cat was quite cooperative. It looked like a fully grown adult cat, with sleek body lines and light, agile steps, walking beside the boy with considerable composure.

The little boy said, “I’ve seen you before. You were feeding cats with someone else.”

Realization dawned on Chu Xiaoxiao. Sometimes she and Sister Yang Yin would make mixed cat food together and go feed the stray cats in the neighborhood. They had even built cat shelters from old fabric and hidden them in corners so the stray cats would have somewhere to stay during winter.

Looking at the black cat on the ground, Chu Xiaoxiao asked curiously, “Can cats be walked too?”

“They can, but you have to bathe them, deworm them, and put a leash on them.” The little boy thought carefully for a moment before adding, “Some cats are afraid to go outside, so those can’t be walked.”

The black cat seemed to catch the keyword “bathe.” It immediately let out a somewhat displeased sound and turned its head to one side. A cat’s language wasn’t limited to meows. More often it consisted of purrs and even sounds humans couldn’t hear.

After watching the black cat for a long while, Chu Xiaoxiao said, “It seems like it doesn’t like wearing clothes?”

The little boy replied, “Whether it likes it or not isn’t important. I don’t like wearing a down jacket either, but Dad insists that I wear one.”

The black cat made another series of tiny sounds, seemingly complaining about its little owner, probably along the lines of, “I have fur and you don’t. This is completely ridiculous,” and so on. Being forced to wear clothes prevented it from even licking parts of its body, so its resentment was clearly quite deep.

Seeing that Chu Xiaoxiao kept looking at the cat, the little boy moved a little closer to the iron fence and suggested, “You can pet it.”

Chu Xiaoxiao stretched her little hand through the fence, but she still couldn’t reach the black cat right in front of her. The black cat seemed to notice her predicament. It leisurely walked forward two steps, lowered its head like a gentleman to let her pet it once, then retreated to the boy’s side.

Chu Xiaoxiao looked at it in amazement. She realized the black cat was exceptionally elegant and reserved, completely different from the stray cats in the neighborhood. When she used to feed cats with Sister Yang Yin, all she could ever make out was “food” or “so hungry,” followed immediately by loud chewing sounds.

The little boy said, “Its name is Liszt. My name is Liang Shuangqi.”

Even the black cat’s name was highly artistic—it actually shared a name with the Romantic pianist Liszt.

“My name is Chu Xiaoxiao.” Chu Xiaoxiao had not yet unlocked any musical skills. She couldn’t help showing a puzzled expression and asked, “Why isn’t it called Liang Site? Why does it have the surname Li?”

Liang Shuangqi blinked. Covering his mouth, he thought for a moment and replied, “That makes sense.”

Liang Shuangqi said, “Then let’s call it Liang Site from now on.”

Chu Xiaoxiao said, “Hello, Liang Site.”

Black Cat: ?

The black cat seemed unable to tolerate the idle chatter of human cubs. It started walking, wanting to go home. Halfway through, it tugged at the leash on its body, as though reminding its little owner to get moving.

Holding the leash, Liang Shuangqi waved goodbye to Chu Xiaoxiao. “Xiaoxiao, I’m going home now. Bye.”

Chu Xiaoxiao said, “Goodbye.”

Watching the departing boy and cat, Chu Xiaoxiao always felt that the cat was walking the human, not the human walking the cat. She wandered around the courtyard for a while longer and only returned inside once it had become completely dark.

During the Spring Festival, Chu Xiaoyi’s first return home in five years brought considerable changes to the family’s daily life. According to their usual custom, Grandma, Great-Uncle, and Great-Aunt would return to the old district after New Year’s Eve dinner. The three elders had their own routines and couldn’t really live together with the younger generation.

However, Chu Xiaoyi had finally come home after such a long time, making everyone reluctant to leave casually. They all planned to stay until he left first. The family members enthusiastically attended to him every day, which also put a great deal of pressure on Chu Xiaoyi. He could only respond to everything with politeness and gentleness. It was truly a bizarre situation. Chu Xiaoyi felt less like he had come home and more like he was staying with relatives, treading on thin ice and not daring to cause the slightest trouble.

No one brought up the past, as though all old memories had been effortlessly turned over and put behind them, leaving only family harmony and peace.

The times when Chu Xiaoyi felt most relaxed were when he was alone with Chu Xiaoxiao. Neither of them needed to put on an act, nor did they have to converse politely behind masks. If the elders noticed Chu Xiaoyi being quiet and withdrawn, things would become troublesome. They would definitely start making awkward small talk with him, terrified that he might feel neglected.

To avoid such situations, Chu Xiaoyi practically wanted to stick to the little thing at all times, nearly driving Chu Xiaoxiao crazy. By now, Chu Xiaoxiao had mastered a new skill: she could treat her bargain-bin older brother as a lump of air. No matter how much he floated around in front of her, she could completely ignore him.

Chu Xiaoyi treated Chu Xiaoxiao as a tool for escaping awkward conversations with the elders. Chu Xiaoxiao treated Chu Xiaoyi as an invisible, colorless, yet somehow odorous fart (?).

However, Chu Xiaoyi used the same tricks too often, causing the parents to notice something unusual. Seeing the siblings sitting silently together in the living room without saying a word, Chu Jiadong stepped in to liven up the atmosphere. Hoping his children would become more familiar with each other, he suggested, “Xiaoxiao, do you want to show your brother your foreign language lessons?”

Chu Jiadong felt that it wasn’t good for the two of them to remain completely silent, so he tried to choose things his son and daughter were good at and let them use those as icebreakers.

Chu Xiaoyi said nothing, pretending to look down at his phone and avoiding eye contact with his father. Chu Xiaoxiao was looking at her iPad and refused without even raising her head. “No.”

Good-naturedly, Chu Jiadong said, “Then do you want to hear your brother sing? Your brother is very good at singing and dancing.”

This time, Chu Xiaoxiao looked up. Quite seriously, she said, “Why doesn’t Dad show us his foreign language lessons and then perform some singing and dancing? Brother and I would definitely be very happy.”

Delighted by his father’s misfortune, Chu Xiaoyi chimed in, “I think that’s a good idea.”

Chu Jiadong: “…”

Very good. By joining forces to attack him, they had successfully broken the ice.

Xiao Bi happened to be passing through the living room. Seeing her husband getting shut down by the children, she sighed helplessly and suggested, “Xiaoyi, take Xiaoxiao out to buy some fruit. Go for a walk outside too. Don’t stay cooped up at home all the time.”

Xiao Bi clearly held much greater authority in the household. Chu Xiaoyi could only obediently put on his coat, wrapping himself up tightly, and take the little thing out for a walk. He could be a little temperamental toward his father, but he was much weaker in front of his mother and found it hard to object.

Chu Xiaoxiao likewise put on her padded jacket. Looking at her bargain-bin older brother wearing a black face mask and a baseball cap, she commented, “You’re dressed like a thief who steals manhole covers.”

The self-proclaimed fashion trendsetter Chu Xiaoyi: “?”

Chu Xiaoxiao completely failed to understand Chu Xiaoyi’s fashion items. Instead, she privately lamented how poor he really was. He was actually wearing jeans in winter, and there was a mysterious slit over his left knee, as though it had been cut open by a blade. Wouldn’t cold wind leak in through that?

The two had already left the house. Chu Xiaoxiao stretched out her little hand and tugged at the opening over his knee. Frowning, she said, “Let’s go back first and have Great-Aunt sew that up for you. Then we can go buy fruit.”

Chu Xiaoyi: “???”

Instead of getting angry, Chu Xiaoyi laughed. So annoyed that he wanted to pinch her little head, he immediately refused. “That’s the very reason it’s valuable! If it didn’t have that slit, I wouldn’t wear it anymore!”

The design highlight of those jeans was precisely the slit over the left knee. It made them look both simple and casual and served as the finishing touch. Without that special opening, they would just be ordinary jeans. But with the designer’s inspiration added in, they instantly became a luxury-brand fashion item.

Chu Xiaoxiao still didn’t understand trends. She genuinely looked puzzled and asked in return, “Is it like a beggar’s bowl? If there’s no bowl, you can’t get food?”

Chu Xiaoxiao: Why are torn pants better? Does he beg for food outside?

Chu Xiaoyi: “…”

He felt that his sister’s talent wasn’t in foreign languages at all. Rather, she was remarkably skilled at word choice and sentence construction. She could always employ all kinds of rhetorical devices that left people speechless.