It Seems There is Light

Generally speaking, some people couldn’t bear the loneliness without small animals. Before the end of the year, someone took a four-month-old cat back to the alley.

A white and soft ball, timid around strangers, shrinking itself like a ball of wool.

The neighbors stared around the little white dumpling, not knowing what to do.

“Let’s start with a name,” Yan Liang carefully stretched out his hand, and his slender fingertips gently poked a small white soft ball, “What’s its name?”

So round.

It seemed like there were not even ears and tail, just a sliver of roundness

“…Zheng ge,” someone asked, “Are you sure you really brought back a cat?”

It was like a ball of wool.

Zhou Yuan squatted down next to Yan Liang and poked the unknown creatures, following his actions.

“What should we call it?” Yan Liang asked him, tilting his head to the side.

Zhou Yuan curled his mouth and shook his head.

Ling Yue stood by and watched the excitement. Biting the milk tea straw in her mouth, she said vaguely: “How about… Qi Delong?”1Qi Delong and Qi Dongqiang are from the skit “Torchbearer” performed by Zhao Benshan and others at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in 2008.

“…”

“Then,” Zhou Yuan held back a laugh, “Qi Dongqiang?”

“…” Yan Liang wanted to give one of them a whoop to the head, but his mouth subconsciously picked up, “Then, Qidelongdongqiang?”2a kind of loud drum sound.

“…………”

Fang Wanqing held her forehead, sighing as she squatted down: “Can it be normal?”

As she said, the warm palm of her hand slowly followed the cat’s fluffy hair: “This little guy is scared of strangers.”

Feeling comfortable, the white dumpling gently rubbed against Fang Wanqing’s palm.

“Where’s Xiao An?” someone asked, “Doesn’t Xiao An specialize in recruiting these small animals? The little things love him, so let him coax it.”

“I just saw him go out,  saying he was going to the library.”

“Eh, then what to do, this little guy is almost shrunken into a dumpling.”

“Wait,” Fang Wanqing interrupted them, “Xiao An the child just lost his love.3长情 – to have a long-lasting persistence to a person or thing, and a unique emotion. She refers to Lady the cat You still buy the cat, aren’t you afraid he will be unhappy?”

“…”

“Lady was lost before and he was sad for a long time.”

“…”

“Isn’t it good to buy a dog or a rabbit?”

“…”

That’s bad, forget about that.

“Then what to do,” someone squeaked, “Before he comes back, take it away and throw it…”

The little white dumpling seemed to understand; it raised its tiny ears as if protesting, and shook it vigorously.

The ears, which were already small, were covered up by soft hair for the most part, revealing only the pink and tender tips.

So cute that people’s liver trembled.

“…Keep it first, ba.” Yan Liang pulled the white dumpling in his direction, “I’ll wait until Xiao An comes back…”

The voice stopped abruptly, and Yan Liang’s eyelids twitched, winking vigorously.

Shi An stood at the entrance of the alley with a book in his arms, his eyes staring straight at a lump of white unknown creatures on the ground.

The little tip of the cat’s ear retracted quietly under the death stare.

It turned into a ball again.

“… What is it.” Shi An asked with his eyes lowered.

“As you can see,” Zhou Yuan covered it with a palm and it rolled around as it purred: “A, a ball.”

“?”

Shi An was a little curious, so he took a few steps forward and squatted down. His palm gently caressed the small white dumpling.

Alive.

Soft.

Warm.

Then Shi An met a pair of wet black eyes.

Round and round, with large pupils, so well behaved that it made people feel distressed.

The white dumpling slowly raised the tips of its tiny ears again and rubbed against Shi An’s palm, running and jumping.

“Ahhhhhhh!!! It appeared!!!”4I think what it implies here that the ball has turned into a cat, the cat’s form has appeared lol

“Sure enough! Shi An’s real body is a cat, right?

“The summoning is successful!!!”

“…” Shi An retracted his palm, “… You guys, bought a cat?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

Yan Liang lifted up the small white dumpling and let it bump its nose with Shi An: “Look how cute it is.”

“…” Shi An was rarely childish; he turned his head away with a puffed face.

Now there seemed to be two little animals.

“Come on, come on,” Yan Liang moved in a different direction and bumped the tip of the cat’s wet nose against Shi An’s again, “How cute.”

“No.”

Shi An directly turned a hundred and eighty degrees.

The white and soft one that nestled in Yan Liang’s hands suddenly struggled and jumped to the ground, nesting into a ball again.

It’s over, two closed5自闭症 – to exclude oneself from others; to isolate oneself from society; to be autistic dumplings.

A bunch of people began to look at each other.

The white dumpling quietly nestled for a while, and then suddenly moved in the direction of Shi An.

Shi An didn’t move.

The ball moved closer again quietly.

Shi An didn’t react.

The ball finally got bold and made a bold move towards Shi An.

Shi An gently and deftly dodged, and the white dumpling was caught off guard and rolled towards the stone steps.

Shi An regretted it and turned around quickly to pick up the cat before it hit the stone steps with a bang.

The books he was holding in his arms were scattered all over the floor by surprise.

The cat happily nestled in Shi An’s palm and refused to come down.

“Come down.” Shi An held up the cat and looked at it with an expressionless face.

The ball moved into his hand.

No.

“…I’m letting go.” Shi An met its round eyes expressionlessly, “I’m really letting go. I’m very mean.”

The scene was so cute that someone couldn’t help but laugh.

The little meow’s round, short tail was hidden in the fur, and it wiggled its tail as if it were shaking its butt.

The white dumplings nest in Shi An’s arms, and it was an eyesore that he had to go to heaven.6上天 (lit. go to Heaven): basically means die lol

If he had a beard, Yan Liang would definitely blow his beard7吹胡子(lit. Blowing beard): to describe anger. I have to use this expression since if it’s changed, the first sentence wouldn’t make sense high.

He grabbed the cat from Shi An’s hand.

Shi An, who was extremely disgusted a second ago, changed his expression in a second: “Be gentle, don’t hurt it.”

Yan Liang, who was carrying the dumpling, wrinkled his nose in grievance.

“Let me keep the little guy,” Fang Wanqing picked up the cat: “Don’t worry, Xiao An, I won’t use Lady’s things, I will buy new ones.”

Shi An replied and slowly picked up the books on the ground and stacked them neatly.

 

Isn’t it Fang Wanqing raising it?

After waking up from a nap, Shi An leaned against the head of the bed, staring down at a small white unidentified object on the wooden floor,

Why is it here.

Wait.

The floor seems to be quite cold.

Shi An picked up the cat and put it on a soft cushion.

It was really small and the whole cat could be cupped in the palm of his hand. A soft one that felt so good in the hand that made people want to purr at it.

The cat looked at him with blinking eyes.

This ball of cat had a name half an hour ago.

Shi An saw it in the WeChat group, saying that this little guy loved taro dumplings and finished off a small bowl by itself with a purr.

Fang Wanqing posted a picture of a large snow-white taro ball in an empty white porcelain bowl.

The ball of cat got its name.

Taro Ball.

Taro Ball nestled in the cushion for a while, and then moved restlessly.

Its legs were so short that it almost rolled off the cushion.

Walking on the way was like rolling on the ground.

Taro Ball rolled to the window sill, looking at Shi An with its shining eyes.

It seemed to want to go up.

The window sill was almost seven times taller.

Shi An sighed as he held Taro Ball’s butt and sent it up to the window sill.

On the window sill, there was a soft cushion, and there was also Lady’s wooden sculpture that Yan Liang gave to him last year.

Both the cat and the sculpture were very similar; the cat had a glorious eye, a slightly raised head, a slender and smooth body, and a squatting posture that was arrogant and calm.

The wooden sculpture facing out of the window, as if waiting, as if it was returning.

Sometimes when waking up at midnight and glancing at it from the corner of his eyes, Shi An always mistakenly thought that Lady was home.

Obviously he never wanted to keep a cat anymore.

Taro Ball seemed to like this wooden sculpture very much.

It carefully moved towards the wooden sculpture and turned around with great effort, looking at Shi An with moist eyes.

Shi An’s heart softened at once and he gently pinched the tips of Taro Ball’s tiny ears.

As if getting permission, Taro Ball relaxed and turned around again, next to Lady’s wooden sculpture.

It seemed to want to learn from Lady’s posture, trying hard to straighten up the body.

It was still very round.

Its short and round tail followed Lady’s appearance, knocking upward with great effort and then hanging behind its butt in a small ball.

With Taro Ball’s tireless efforts, he managed to change from a circle to an oval.

He liked to curl up his front paws under his body and now he was learning the posture of Lady, sitting in a crouched position with both paws in front of his body, but his body fell backwards unsteadily.

Shi An squatted down, and it smashed right into Shi An’s arms.

Probably feeling comfortable, Taro Ball rolled in Shi An’s arms coquettishly.

From then on, there was always a small ball of wool rolling around Shi An’s feet.

Taro Ball was small and clingy, so if you were not careful, you would step on it.

Ling Yue removed all the white blankets in the store, for fear of stepping on Taro Ball thinking it was a carpet.

 

On the first day of winter vacation, Yan Liang moved all his winter vacation homework to the dessert shop. He intended to stay there.

He bit his pen and stared bitterly at the little roundie Taro Ball nestled on Shi An’s knee.

“…” Yan Liang poked the cat with his finger, “What’s going on? Why is it here?”

“It’s always following me.”

Follow wherever you go.

Yan Liang did not answer. He unscrewed the pen cap and lowered his head to do his homework.

“?” Shi An touched him gently with his elbow.

Yan Liang ignored him, still burying his head in his homework.

“What’s wrong with you?” Shi An leaned over the table and looked at Yan Liang’s eyes from bottom to top.

Once he met Shi An’s amber eyes, Yan Liang’s heart was as soft as a piece of cotton candy.

Yan Liang forced himself to be ruthless.

“Take the cat away.” His face puffed out like a pufferfish.

“Cat?” Shi An was stunned and pinched the tips of Taro Ball’s ears, “Don’t you like it a lot?”

“…” Yan Liang was about to get so angry that he put his hand on his hips, “Didn’t you dislike it?”

“……”

“……”

Don’t understand.

Shi An gave up and picked up his pen again to do his homework.

Can’t believe he didn’t coax me.

Yan Liang continued to sulk, touching Shi An’s elbow every now and then. Once he hit so hard that the pencil tilted and drew a long line on the page.

“……”

Want to hit someone.

Shi An was about to break his pen.

The ink would be leaking.

Hold back.

He forced himself to put the pen down.

“What do you want?” Shi An was a little helpless, so he had to focus on Yan-Pufferfish-Liang again.

“…Shi An!” Yan Liang stood up and his fingers were inserted into the hair layer on the back of Shi An’s head.

“……”

This action was a bit familiar.

What is he going to do.

Shi An’s heartbeat suddenly got faster.

He couldn’t say he was expecting anything, but he wasn’t expecting nothing either.

Shi An squeezed his knuckles to stop himself from thinking wildly about it.

Yan Liang looked at him in a wrong way, and his peach blossom eyes shone brightly, just like a…

Like a…

Like a kindergarten child who wanted candy from his teacher.

Something didn’t seem right.

Before he could think about it, Yan Liang bent down quickly.

Then.

And he gently touched the tip of his nose.

The distance was very close. Yan Liang seemed to smile. His eyes curved beautifully, and thin creases appeared at the end of his eyes.

The breath lingered softly and tenderly.

The head was going to explode.

Shi An’s eyes were colorful, and his gaze was dull as he watched Yan Liang straighten up.

“Okay,” Yan Liang seemed to be in a much better mood as he cocked his head and pointed triumphantly at the white dumpling on Shi An’s lap, “I’m even with Taro Little Roundie!”

“……”

1Qi Delong and Qi Dongqiang are from the skit “Torchbearer” performed by Zhao Benshan and others at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in 2008.2a kind of loud drum sound.3长情 – to have a long-lasting persistence to a person or thing, and a unique emotion. She refers to Lady the cat4I think what it implies here that the ball has turned into a cat, the cat’s form has appeared lol5自闭症 – to exclude oneself from others; to isolate oneself from society; to be autistic6上天 (lit. go to Heaven): basically means die lol7吹胡子(lit. Blowing beard): to describe anger. I have to use this expression since if it’s changed, the first sentence wouldn’t make sense