Winter snow began to fall.
The Pallas’s cats raised in captivity had lost some of their wild ancestors’ natural resistance to the cold. Whenever the newborn kittens passed the ventilation opening where the wind howled through, they would inevitably sneeze from the chill.
Xiao Ma had eaten itself silly and shot up rapidly until it now looked every bit like a full-grown Pallas’s cat. Wriggling its round backside, it climbed to the very top of the tallest tree and began curiously turning its gaze toward the world outside the enclosure.
Xiao He continued sweeping the fallen leaves in the enclosure, one unhurried stroke after another. Someone outside the glass suddenly went tap, tap, tap against it.
He looked up and saw Doctor He, so he put down his broom and left the Pallas’s cat enclosure through the staff passage.
“Did you need something?”
“Come by my office after work. My wife made Chinese sausage herself, and she packed a few bags for you.”
＊
The Chinese sausage smelled wonderful. Xiao He made braised rice with peas and Chinese sausage and brought some to his younger sister at the hospital. Seeing Xiao Xin exclaim over it and eat more enthusiastically than usual made him unusually happy too.
He left the remaining rice with peas and Chinese sausage in the rice cooker. Yet when he returned home and opened the door, Liu Liu was standing on his table with both front paws propped against the rice cooker lid, suspiciously sniffing around it.
“You came back?” Xiao He smiled.
Liu Liu backed away two steps and sat at the edge of the table, then casually began licking its thigh. Its movements looked thoroughly unconcerned, but the corners of its eyes kept drifting toward the rice cooker.
Xiao He served it a small bowl of sausage rice. Liu Liu buried its entire face in the bowl as it ate, while the rocking base of the bowl struck the tabletop with repeated clunk, clunk, clunk sounds.
Once it finished eating, it jumped onto Xiao He’s bed and sat on his pillow, slowly and methodically washing its face. It looked satisfied and proud, without the slightest sense that disappearing without a word and then showing up uninvited was in any way improper.
Xiao He sat down beside the bed as well. After staring blankly at Liu Liu for a while, he asked softly, “Can I pet you?”
Liu Liu continued unhurriedly licking the fur on its paw.
Xiao He first touched one of its gently twitching ears, then curled his fingers and gave it a tiny pinch. Liu Liu immediately turned and caught his hand in its mouth, but did not bite down. It held him there fiercely for a while, then released his hand and gave it a compensatory lick.
Xiao He smiled.
Doctor He’s Chinese sausage smelled wonderful. It was wonderful that Liu Liu had come back too. It had been far too long since this little room contained the presence of any other living creature.
＊
There were still six or seven links of sausage left. Xiao He hung them high on the drying rack on the balcony. Liu Liu stood on the windowsill looking up at them.
“You can’t eat too much salt. You can only have a little taste every day,” Xiao He told it.
Mrrraow.
＊
Perhaps because it was too cold outside, Liu Liu showed no desire to wander off after nightfall. Instead, it curled into a ball on Xiao He’s pillow.
“Move over a little.” Xiao He nudged it. Not only did Liu Liu refuse to budge, it fiercely caught Xiao He’s hand in its mouth, held it there for a while, then released it and licked him.
Xiao He had no choice but to lay his head beside it. Liu Liu curled above his head and even lowered its face to gently nibble his ear.
“Haha, that tickles.”
The night wind made the locked window frame rattle softly with a clatter, clatter. Exhausted, Xiao He gradually fell into a deep sleep to the sound of Liu Liu’s purring.
In the early hours of the morning, he heard Liu Liu’s furious cries and suddenly received a kick to the head. He was simply too tired. Feeling wronged, he rubbed his head, then fell asleep again.
＊
Liu Liu clung to the window and roared incessantly, scratching frantically at the glass with both paws. Pat, pat, pat! Xiao He was finally woken by the noise. Still half asleep, he got up and pressed his face against the window to look outside.
“What’s wrong?… Ah!”
Three stray cats were hanging high on the drying rack outside the window, committing a crime as a group—they were stealing the long string of Chinese sausages. The sausages had been torn all over the place and were on the verge of dropping off link by link.
Xiao He opened the balcony door. Before he could even take one step, Liu Liu shot outside like an arrow. The three stray cats had finally managed to tear down the sausages. One grabbed several links in its mouth and sprinted toward the rooftops below. Liu Liu immediately gave chase.
Its tiny body was only half the size of the stray cats, yet it ferociously caught up to the one at the rear and opened its mouth to bite its hind leg. The stray cat kicked Liu Liu away. Liu Liu tumbled head over heels across the rooftop, then scrambled straight back up.
“Liu Liu! Stop chasing them!” Xiao He shouted anxiously over the balcony railing.
Liu Liu ignored him completely. Its small, agile figure quickly vanished along with the stray cats beneath the overlapping rooftops.
＊
Xiao He called in and took the day off, then searched alley after alley for Liu Liu. He knew exactly how stubborn and tenacious Liu Liu was. There was going to be one hell of a fight between it and those three stray cats.
He anxiously searched every nearby place he could think of, yet still saw no sign of Liu Liu or the cats. When he hurried back home, he discovered a spotted trail of blood winding from the windowsill all the way to his bed.
“Liu Liu!”
Liu Liu lay limply across his pillow. Beside it were two links of sausage that had been bitten full of holes, obviously salvaged only after an intense struggle. One of its ears had a bloody chunk bitten out of it and drooped weakly beside its face. Several wounds on its body were so deep that bone could be seen.
One eye had been clawed bloody and was narrowed almost shut, but a large clump of stray-cat fur in several different colors was still caught at the corner of its mouth. Its cheeks were covered in blood. Clearly, the other cats had not gotten off easily either. After fighting such a brutal battle and dragging two links of sausage all the way home, Liu Liu was too exhausted even to lick its wounds. It could only lie there breathing weakly.
A chill went through Xiao He’s heart as he rushed toward it. For a moment, he did not even know where he could safely put his hands to pick it up. Liu Liu lifted one paw and pushed the sausages toward Xiao He, looking faintly proud even in its weakness.
Here. I got them back for you.
＊
Doctor He was frowning in concentration as he took the temperature of the white peacock that had diarrhea yet again when he suddenly heard frantic bang, bang, bang sounds from outside the infirmary. He calmly finished what he was doing before going over to open the door. Xiao He, carrying a blood-soaked Pallas’s cat wrapped in a pillowcase, nearly crashed straight into him.
“Doctor He! It’s lost so much blood!”
Doctor He stared in astonishment at Xiao He’s tear-covered face. He knew this young man was very young. His parents had died early, and his younger sister had become seriously ill, forcing him to abandon his studies at eighteen or nineteen and go to work to support the family. Xiao He had matured far too early. His temperament was steady, quiet, and composed, and Doctor He had never seen the young man lose his temper or cry.
Xiao He’s face was a mess of tears, but his hands moved quickly and efficiently as he helped Doctor He place Liu Liu on the operating table and connect the breathing tube for the anesthetic.
＊
Xiao Ma was happily licking away at its food bowl when it was suddenly picked up and stuffed into a cat carrier. After being jostled around for a while, it was taken out in the infirmary and placed on the operating table to have blood drawn.
Xiao Ma was bold and affectionate. As long as no one messed with the fur on its backside, it was willing to tolerate just about anything. Not only was it unafraid, it stretched its neck out and looked curiously around. Spotting Liu Liu lying motionless beside it with a breathing tube attached, it hurriedly sniffed the air. Once it recognized the familiar scent, it immediately began calling excitedly, mimi-aow! Mimi-aow!
Xiao He stood beside it crying uncontrollably, his tears falling pat, pat onto Xiao Ma’s head. Kind-hearted Xiao Ma licked Xiao He’s fingers to comfort him.
“Aiyo! Wipe your tears. It’s not going to die!” Doctor He could no longer stand watching him. “Where did you find it?”
There was no hiding it anymore. Xiao He had never really wanted to conceal it from Doctor He in the first place, so he told him everything in detail about Liu Liu following him home and staying with him during this period.
Doctor He sighed repeatedly after hearing the whole story. “Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk. You foolish child.”
＊
After the operation, Liu Liu once again remained in the infirmary for an IV. Xiao He sat beside the cage keeping watch over it.
When Liu Liu woke from the anesthetic, it was still dazed, but instinctively disliked being confined. It slowly stretched out a paw to scratch at the cage. Xiao He seized the opportunity to gently hold its little paw.
Then this nineteen-year-old young man, who had held back his tears when his parents died, when his younger sister became gravely ill, and when the hardships of life trapped him with nowhere to turn, lowered his eyes and let several huge tears fall again.
He could not help it. Liu Liu’s paw pads were simply too soft. This fierce and foolish little creature—faced with such a tiny, soft piece of warmth, Xiao He could no longer hide how lonely he was.
＊
By the time spring arrived, Liu Liu’s injuries had completely healed. Doctor He submitted an application to the zoo. Xiao He, the senior caretaker, and Doctor He drove for four or five hours in Doctor He’s car until they reached the great grasslands.
“This is the place. A population of wild Pallas’s cats lives here. One of my senior schoolmates used to conduct wildlife research in this area,” the senior caretaker said.
They opened the cat carrier deep within the grasslands. Liu Liu quickly climbed out and excitedly sniffed here, then there.
It did not linger for even a moment. Sniffing as it went, it ran straight toward the distance.
Xiao He could not stop himself from calling after it. “Liu Liu.”
Liu Liu looked back at him once but did not even stop to say goodbye. It did not know that this departure might mean they would never meet again.
It turned away and ran swiftly into the distance, impatient to return to the blue skies and open wilderness that belonged to it.
＊
One year later.
Xiao He jumped down from a bus with a schoolbag on his back. He was sturdier than the year before, with a healthy flush in his face, and he wore the uniform of a veterinary college. The other members of the research group began searching for a suitable campsite, organizing supplies, and starting a fire.
Only Xiao He walked alone toward the depths of the grasslands.
“Xiao He? Don’t get lost!”
“Okay. I’ll be back soon.”
The grasslands stretched vast and endless. He wandered without any particular destination for a while, found a bare rock, and sat cross-legged on top of it.
He did not loudly call Liu Liu’s name. The grassland was enormous, and the two of them had long since scattered to opposite ends of the world. But he would always remember that lively, fierce, stubborn little life. He would remember the soft paw pads beneath its sharp claws and the warm purring beside his ear. He knew Liu Liu would always remember him too.
A pleasant breeze passed over the grass. Facing the boundless plains, Xiao He smiled faintly.
＊
Early in the morning, Xia Liu Yi sat at the edge of the bed with his hair sticking up like a chicken’s nest, staring blankly into space.
He Chu San wrapped his arms around Xia Liu Yi’s waist from behind and lazily rubbed his face against his back. “Brother Liu Yi, sleep a little longer…”
As though finally returning to himself, Xia Liu Yi lifted the blanket and climbed back in, bringing a rush of cold air with him as he wrapped his arms around the warm He Chu San.
“Mm? What’s wrong?”
“I had a dream.”
He Chu San opened his eyes sleepily. “What kind of dream? Did you dream about me?”
“Mm.”
“What did you dream about me?”
“I dreamed about you and claypot rice.”
“Huh?”
“And I dreamed you used dried small fish and Xiao Ma to trick me.”
“Huh?”
Xia Liu Yi kissed his endlessly huh-ing mouth shut. After kissing him for a while, he tenderly kissed the corner of He Chu San’s lips, then his chin. “I dreamed I treated you terribly.”
He Chu San smiled. “That’s impossible. Whether it’s in a dream or in real life, you’ve always treated me the best, Brother Liu Yi.”
“Right.” Xia Liu Yi kept kissing him. “Dreams are the opposite of reality. I’d definitely run back to find you, move into your little room, sleep in your bed, and never leave again.”
“Huh?”
“Tsk! Stop saying ‘huh’! Shut up and kiss me properly!”
“Okay!”
How to Properly Raise a Pallas’s Cat, END.
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