Winter snow had begun to fall.
The Pallas’s cats raised in captivity had lost part of their wild ancestors’ ability to withstand the cold. Whenever the newly born kittens passed by the ventilation opening, where icy wind howled through, they would inevitably sneeze from the chill.
Ma Ma, having grown rapidly due to its gluttony, had now reached the size of an adult Pallas’s cat. It often wriggled its round backside as it climbed to the very top of the tallest tree, curiously casting its gaze beyond the enclosure.
Xiao He still remained in the enclosure, sweeping fallen leaves one stroke at a time, unhurried.
That day, someone tapped on the glass window outside—ding ding ding. Xiao He looked up and saw that it was Doctor He. He set down his broom and exited the enclosure through the staff passage.
“Is there something you need?”
“Come by my place after work. My wife made some homemade Chinese sausages—I’ve got a few bags for you.”
…
The sausages were fragrant. Xiao He cooked a pot of pea and sausage rice and brought it to the hospital for his younger sister.
Seeing her eat happily, exclaiming in delight and showing a better appetite than usual, Xiao He also felt rare happiness.
Before leaving, he had left the remaining pea and sausage rice in the rice cooker. When he returned home and pushed open the door, he saw—
Liu Liu standing on his table, its two front paws braced against the lid of the rice cooker, sniffing at it suspiciously.
“You’re here?” Xiao He smiled.
Liu Liu stepped back twice and sat at the edge of the table, leisurely licking its thigh. Though it appeared indifferent, its eyes kept darting toward the rice cooker.
Xiao He served it a bowl of sausage rice. Liu Liu buried its entire face into the bowl as it ate, the base of the bowl clanking repeatedly against the table with a series of clang clang clang sounds.
After finishing, it jumped onto Xiao He’s bed, sat atop the pillow, and began grooming itself with slow, deliberate movements, looking satisfied and proud—as if there were nothing strange about disappearing without a word and then showing up uninvited.
Xiao He also sat down at the edge of the bed, looking down at Liu Liu.
After a moment of absent-minded silence, he softly asked, “Can I touch you?”
Liu Liu continued licking its paw fur unhurriedly.
Xiao He first reached out to lightly touch its gently flicking ear, then pinched it softly with his fingertips. Liu Liu turned its head and took his hand into its mouth—but did not bite down. It held it there fiercely for a moment, then released it and gave it a compensatory lick.
Xiao He smiled.
Doctor He’s sausages were truly delicious.
And it was so good that Liu Liu had come back. This room had lacked the presence of another living being for far too long.
…
There were still six or seven sausages left. Xiao He hung them high up on the balcony’s drying rack, while Liu Liu stood on the windowsill, looking up at them.
“You can’t eat too much salt. Just a little taste each day is enough,” Xiao He told it.
“Meow!”
Perhaps it was too cold outside—after night fell, Liu Liu showed no intention of going out to roam. Instead, it curled into a ball on Xiao He’s pillow.
“Move over a bit,” Xiao He nudged it.
It didn’t understand, remaining unmoved, and instead fiercely took Xiao He’s hand into its mouth again, holding it for a while before releasing it and licking it.
Left with no choice, Xiao He squeezed himself in and rested his head beside it.
Liu Liu curled above his head, lowered its head, and gently nibbled his ear.
“Haha, that tickles!”
The night wind rattled the locked window frame softly with clang-clang sounds. Exhausted, Xiao He gradually fell into deep sleep amid Liu Liu’s purring.
…
In the early hours of the morning, he heard Liu Liu’s angry cries, followed by a sudden kick to his head.
He was too sleepy to react properly—he rubbed his head in grievance and drifted back to sleep.
But Liu Liu clung to the window glass, roaring incessantly, scratching at it with both paws—pa pa pa!
Finally, Xiao He was woken by the noise. Still groggy, he got up and pressed against the window to look outside.
“What’s wrong… ah!”
Outside the window, three stray cats were hanging high on the drying rack, committing their crime together—
stealing that long string of Chinese sausages.
The sausages had already been torn into disarray, swaying precariously, on the verge of falling apart!
Xiao He opened the balcony door. Before he could even step out, Liu Liu had already shot out like an arrow.
The three stray cats had just torn down the Chinese sausages. One of them clamped several links in its mouth and darted toward the eaves below—Liu Liu immediately gave chase!
Its small body was only half the size of those stray cats, yet it lunged fiercely at the one bringing up the rear, snapping at its hind leg. The stray cat kicked it away; it tumbled across the rooftop, then scrambled back to its feet.
“Liu Liu! Stop chasing!” Xiao He shouted anxiously from the balcony railing.
Liu Liu paid him no heed. Its small, agile figure quickly vanished beneath the overlapping rooftops along with the stray cats.
Xiao He called in sick leave and searched alley after alley. He knew Liu Liu’s stubborn and unyielding nature—there was bound to be a brutal fight between it and those three stray cats.
He searched everywhere nearby that he could possibly reach, yet found no trace of Liu Liu or the stray cats. Left with no choice, he hurried back home—only to see a trail of mottled blood leading from the windowsill all the way to his bed.
His heart clenched.
“Liu Liu!”
Liu Liu lay limp on his pillow. Beside it were two battered links of sausage, riddled with bite marks—clearly something it had fought desperately to preserve.
One of its ears had been bitten open, a ragged, blood-soaked tear drooping weakly against its face. Along its side were several deep wounds, so severe that bone could nearly be seen. One eye had been clawed bloody and could only remain half-closed.
Yet tangled at the corner of its mouth was a large tuft of multicolored stray cat fur. Its cheeks were smeared with blood—it had clearly not let the other cats off lightly.
After such a vicious battle, dragging those two pieces of sausage all the way back, it was now too exhausted to even lick its wounds. It could only breathe weakly.
A chill ran through Xiao He’s chest. He rushed over, but for a moment didn’t even know where to begin to hold it.
Liu Liu lifted a paw and pushed the sausages toward him, weak yet faintly proud—
Here. I got them back for you.
Doctor He was frowning as he focused on taking the temperature of the white peacock, which had diarrhea again, when suddenly there came a loud bang bang bang on the infirmary door.
He finished what he was doing before walking over to open it—
Xiao He burst in, carrying a blood-soaked Pallas’s cat wrapped in a pillowcase!
“Doctor He! It’s lost so much blood!”
Doctor He stared in surprise at the tears streaming down Xiao He’s face.
He knew this young man was still very young. With both parents gone and a younger sister gravely ill, Xiao He had been forced to give up his studies at eighteen or nineteen to support the family. As a result, he was unusually mature—steady and quiet by nature. Doctor He had never once seen him angry, nor had he ever seen him cry.
This was the first time.
Xiao He was crying uncontrollably, tears and mucus streaking his face, yet his hands moved swiftly and efficiently. He assisted Doctor He in placing Liu Liu onto the operating table and inserting the anesthesia tube.
Ma Ma, who had been happily licking its food bowl clean, was suddenly picked up and stuffed into a cage. After several jolts, it was brought into the infirmary and placed on the operating table for a blood draw.
Ma Ma was bold and friendly—so long as no one messed with its rear fur, it didn’t mind anything. Not only was it unafraid, it craned its neck curiously, looking around, until it spotted Liu Liu lying motionless beside it with a breathing tube.
It sniffed eagerly, caught the familiar scent, and immediately cried out excitedly, “Mimi-ao! Mimi-ao!”
Xiao He couldn’t stop crying. His tears fell drop by drop onto Ma Ma’s head. Kind-hearted, Ma Ma licked his fingers in comfort.
“Wipe your tears—it’s not going to die!” Doctor He said impatiently. “Where did you find it?”
Xiao He could no longer hide the truth—nor had he intended to. He told everything, from beginning to end, about how Liu Liu had been following him home all this time.
Doctor He sighed repeatedly, “Tsk tsk tsk… you foolish child!”
After the surgery, Liu Liu was once again kept in the infirmary for IV fluids. Xiao He sat beside the cage, watching over it.
When Liu Liu woke from anesthesia, it was still groggy. Instinctively disliking the cage, it slowly reached out a paw to scratch at it. Xiao He took the opportunity to gently hold its little paw.
This nineteen-year-old—who had not cried when his parents died, nor when his sister fell gravely ill, nor when life’s hardships left him no escape—lowered his gaze and shed several more tears.
He couldn’t help it.
Liu Liu’s paw pads were too soft.
This fierce yet foolish little creature… faced with such small, fragile warmth, he could no longer conceal his loneliness.
…
When spring arrived, Liu Liu’s injuries had completely healed.
Doctor He submitted an application to the zoo authorities. Xiao He and his senior colleague accompanied him, traveling for four to five hours before arriving at the great grasslands.
“This is the place,” the senior said. “A group of wild Pallas’s cats lives here. One of my seniors once conducted wildlife research in this area.”
They opened the cage deep within the grasslands. Liu Liu quickly darted out, sniffing here and there with excitement.
It did not pause for even a moment—it ran straight toward the distant horizon.
“Liu Liu!” Xiao He couldn’t help but call out from behind.
Liu Liu glanced back at him once. It didn’t even stop to say goodbye—it did not know that this departure might be forever.
It turned its head and ran off swiftly, eager to return to the vast skies and open wilderness that belonged to it.
…
A year later, Xiao He jumped off a bus with a backpack slung over his shoulders. He looked stronger than before, his complexion healthier. Wearing an identification badge from the veterinary college, he watched as the rest of his research team busied themselves setting up camp, organizing supplies, and starting a fire.
Only he walked alone toward the deeper reaches of the grasslands.
“Xiao He? Don’t get lost!”
“Got it—I’ll be back soon.”
…
The grasslands stretched endlessly.
He wandered for a while, then found a barren rock and sat cross-legged upon it.
He did not call out Liu Liu’s name.
The grasslands were too vast. They had long since been separated by the ends of the earth. But he would always remember that lively, fierce, and stubborn little life—remember the softness of its paw pads beneath its sharp claws, remember the warmth of its purring by his ear.
He knew Liu Liu would always remember him too.
A gentle breeze passed.
Facing the boundless grasslands, he smiled softly—
…
Xia Liu Yi sat at the edge of the bed early in the morning, his hair a tangled mess like a bird’s nest, staring blankly ahead.
He Chu San wrapped his arms around his waist from behind, lazily rubbing his face against his back. “Brother Liu Yi, sleep a little longer…”
As if finally returning to his senses, Xia Liu Yi lifted the blanket and slipped back in, bringing a rush of cold air with him as he pulled the warm body into his arms.
“Hm? What’s wrong with you?”
“I had a dream.”
He Chu San drowsily opened his eyes. “What kind of dream? Did you dream about me?”
“Mm.”
“What about me?”
“I dreamed about you… and braised rice.”
“…Huh?”
“And I dreamed you tricked me with dried small fish and Xiao Ma.”
“…Huh?”
Xia Liu Yi silenced his endless “huhs” with a kiss. After kissing him for a while, he gently pressed another kiss to the corner of his lips and his chin.
“I dreamed I treated you very badly.”
He Chu San smiled.
“That’s impossible. Whether in dreams or reality, Brother Liu Yi treats me the best.”
“Right,” Xia Liu Yi said, still kissing him. “Dreams are the opposite of reality. If it were real, I would definitely run back to you—live in your little house, sleep in your bed, and never leave again.”
“…Huh?”
“Tch, stop saying ‘huh’! Shut up and kiss me properly!”
“Tch!”
Futile Devices Scans 
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