Chapter 58

Act VIII: The Cat Who Wants to Become Human (2)

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When Xiang Cai carried Cen Manchuan’s heavy head on his shoulder, his heart became inexplicably heavy.

The musical on the stage, for the first time, no longer attracted him.

Fortunately, Xiang Cai had read the fairy tale in advance, so he was clear on the ending of the story.

The human cat broke into the town and met a lovely girl. They were different in many ways. She liked cooking, but he only appreciated mouse burgers; he didn’t understand the importance of money, but she worked hard for a living; she was a human and he was a cat.  The only thing they had in common was the fact that they were wholeheartedly in love with each other.

At the climax of the story, the magic was about to be dispersed, and the hero's form was about to change back from human to cat again. The heroine knelt down under the magician's robe and prayed to him to turn herself into a cat, so that she could stay with her lover.

Eventually, the kind magician withdrew the confines of the magic and allowed the lovers to stay together.

The magician stroked the hero’s hair and said the famous line: "There is something that only humans have, and that thing is called love."

This was a happy ending that everyone would like.

But when Xiang Cai looked at Cen Manchuan, who was sleeping soundly beside him, doubt rose in his heart.

—Even though the cat became human, the differences between the little couple still remain. He always liked to eat mice, and she could not accept sleeping on top of a cabinet all her life.

...Love, could it really reconcile such vast differences?

Cen Manchuan stayed asleep until it was over. Xiang Cai nudged him awake and handed him a tissue to let him wipe the drool from the corner of his mouth.

"I'm sorry ..." Cen Manchuan lowered his tail in guilt. "I played with them in the afternoon and became too tired, so I ..."

"It's okay, I understand." Xiang Cai touched his head, just like the magician in the play stroked the cat's head.

It was only then that Cen Manchuan realized his buddies had disappeared. He scolded them with a swear word and rushed out to find them.

Xiang Cai wasn’t in a hurry, and he didn't have the mind to play with those childish straight men. So, he took the initiative to slow down and unhurriedly walked out alongside the flow of people.

After leaving the theater, he made a few laps outside the court and easily found those big boys in the smoking area.

They were leaning lazily against the wall. Except for Cen Manchuan, everyone had a cigarette in their mouths, skilfully inhaling the smoke.

Someone handed a cigarette to Cen Manchuan.

Cen Manchuan waved his hand and refused: "I quit. Xiang Cai doesn't like the smell of smoke. It makes his throat uncomfortable and affects his singing."

Xiang Cai laughed silently. He didn't go over, but found a corner where they couldn't see him, waiting for them to finish.

He didn't intend to snoop on the sensitive topics between those brothers, but their words seemed to grow hands and feet, actively pouring into Xiang Cai’s ears.

"Chuan Zi, why did you call your brothers over here to watch this stuff on a hot day? The ones on the stage are babbling, and the audience is full of bear children, so noisy."

[T/N: Chuan ‘Zi’ = Um, I think it’s just something his friends added on to his name to make a nickname, I guess?]

Cen Manchuan rubbed his nose: "Wasn’t it you who wanted to see at Xiang Cai? You’ve seen my boyfriend now, so how is he? How’s his temperament?"

"You only said that he was a man before ... Your subject of interest is a musical actor, and invited us to watch a musical. We thought he was performing in it!" It was Mao Quan who spoke: "But he looks strangely beautiful and his legs are also long. I’ll just say, if you turn off the lights and close your eyes, what’s the difference between a man and a woman, anyway..."

"F*ck, you say that again!" Cen Manchuan punched him directly, "Speak seriously! My main purpose today was for you to see him. I would like to be a special person to Xiang Cai, don't make fun of him. "

Hearing this, the corner of Xiang Cai’s mouth raised slightly.

Cen Manchuan was two years younger than Xiang Cai, and others always jokingly said that Xiang Cai found a "little wolf dog". Look, this little wolf dog was still very protective at the critical moment...On this basis, Xiang Cai could make himself forget his unhappiness in the theater.

The conversation in the smoking area subsided. For a while, there were only the sounds of breathing and smoking.

About half a cigarette later, Gao Xing suddenly asked: "Chuan Zi, do you still remember that one year, when I took you to watch my niece's dance competition? You were so impressed that you decided you must have a daughter in the future and would absolutely send her to learn ballet and watch her wear a beautiful princess dress ... Did you forget this?"

"Didn’t forget." Cen Manchuan joked, "Xiang Cai has studied ballet before, my wish was half fulfilled."

"But he can't give you children!"

"I don't want to have a baby now, it's fine to have a cat and dog as son and daughter."

"Cut." Someone taunted, "Wife and children can stay with me all my life. Can cats and dogs stay?"

Cen Manchuan was besieged by the few people, and his anger suddenly arose: "Then I’ll have a tortoise, alright? Tortoises have a long life. If we raise it, it can send us all away!"

Around the corner, Xiang Cai heard the smoking area become louder, and even heard the sounds of bodies colliding. The boys were hot-tempered, and Xiang Cai worried that things might get out of hand. He was debating whether he should go out to mediate, when Mao Quan's voice suddenly came out.

"Chuan Zi, can you not be a fool?! Us brothers have been together for so many years, when you suddenly get together with a man, you must give us time to accept it...We just don’t understand, hadn’t you been dating girls before, why are you now gay? This road is so difficult, why do you want to embark on it?"

Xiang Cai: "..."

Xiang Cai also wanted to know. This road was paved with difficulties, why did Cen Manchuan want to embark on it?

"How can there be so many ‘why’s?" Cen Manchuan replied, "I met him and liked him, so we got together. Xiang Cai is the person I like. I am looking for someone for myself, not for you!"

"Yes, falling in love is your own business ... but how can you explain it to your parents?" Mao Quan’s voice also rose, "We grew up together, and Old Gao and I recognize your parents as our godfather and godmother. You are their only child. Have you thought of how sad they will be when you come out of the closet? "

"..."

An extremely embarrassing silence spread.

Xiang Cai subconsciously held his breath, sticking himself to the wall like a shadow.

After a long time.

"... I ... I haven't thought about things that far." The basketball boy, who had just celebrated his 21st birthday, hesitantly said, "Isn’t there a saying, no need to doubt about the mountains and rivers, it is natural for a boat to reach the bridge? I’ll just ... talk about it later."

"What, you illiterate, don’t pretend to be a scholar!" Gao Xing laughed at him, "You’ve been backed with ancient poems!"

A series of laughter came from the boys' mouths.

Obviously, it was such a serious question, yet the result was that it was passed over with careless laughter.

No one knew, that their every word and sentence was heard by Xiang Cai, who was hidden in the shadow. Alone in the shadow of the corner, he looked up only to see the poster on the theater's wall of The Cat Who Wants to Become Human.

As soon as the wind blew, the poster trembled, fluttering in the air. On the poster, a tear dripped from the corner of the ginger cat's eyes, and beside him was a silhouette of a girl.

There was a line printed in the corner.

—"The so-called ‘growing up’ is not about becoming sophisticated, but about becoming mature and knowing how to face life choices."

In fairy tales, love could keep humans and cats together.

But Xiang Cai lived in reality.

※

At the end of the musical, Tan Yiming who was sitting in the audience stood up, and helped Gu Fanfan beside him lift his schoolbag.

Today's elementary school students were really incredible. As soon as they were in the second grade, their schoolbags weighed ten kilograms.

"Thank you, Uncle Leader." Gu Fanfan said cleverly.

[T/N: I think he calls him Uncle Leader because he’s his parents’ boss (leader).]

Gu Fanfan was the son of Gu Liang and Ye Ye. He was seven years old and was a glorious little class monitor. Unlike the extroverted Gu couple who was good at socializing, Gu Fanfan was a stuffy little boy, introverted with a calm personality.

Recently, Gu Liang found that his son had something on his mind, and his relationship with his parents was not as close as before. Gu Liang couldn't pry open his son's mouth, so he could only ask Yiming to accompany him to relax, hopefully knocking on the root of the incident.

Tan Yiming was speechless towards this task that fell on his head: "... I haven't raised a child, how would I know how to enlighten him?"

Gu Liang replied bluntly: "You both love to hide everything in your heart when there is something amiss. Maybe you’ll resonate?"

So in this way, Tan Yiming specifically made time this weekend to take the kid to watch a musical.

In fact, there were many ways to coax children. Going to an arcade, eating out, or going to the water park were all good choices. However, Tan Yiming finally bought two tickets to a musical and took Fanfan to accept the influence of elegant art.

Fanfan watched a musical for the first time and watched it intently, quickly engaging in it.

When they walked into the underground garage, Fanfan was still immersed in the plot and was humming the theme song.

After getting in the car, Tan Yiming fastened his seat belt and joked: "Fanfan is really good. If there is a singing role next time, it will be left to you!"

"..." For some reason, when Tan Yiming's voice fell, Fanfan suddenly shut his mouth and turned into a stuffy gourd again.

Tan Yiming: ?

What kind of strange creature was a child? How could he be happy in one moment, then angry in the next?

Fanfan grew up in the recording studio. Gu Liang and his wife often worked overtime, and Fanfan obediently did his homework at the company. There were other children in the company in a similar situation to him.

When it came to dubbing film and television works, children's roles were often encountered. At this time, this group of "second generation voice actors" came in handy.

These children had been fascinated since young, and they all liked to enter the studio to dub. For them, this was like a game. Just say a few words into the microphone and they could earn a month of pocket money.

Among the group of second generations, Fanfan was definitely the one with the best performance.

He spoke very standard Mandarin and could figure out the feelings of the characters. At the age of four, he played a small role in a Disney cartoon. At that time, he was still illiterate, so Gu Liang took the script and read a line while Fanfan repeated it.

Over the years, Fanfan's roles couldn’t be counted with four hands. Listening to his mother, she said that he already had a lot of money in his small vault.

Tan Yiming took the initiative to bring up dubbing. He originally wanted to motivate him, but as a result, who knew what happened, he suddenly made Fanfan unhappy.

Tan Yiming could only enlighten him with thoughts: "What do you want to eat? McDonald's? KFC? I heard that there is a dog restaurant opened there, and you can play with your dogs while eating.”

Fanfan said, "Whatever."

Tan Yiming: "..." He asked again, "Where do you want to go after dinner? Would you like to watch a movie? By the way, the Puppy Story that you dubbed is released, do you want to watch it?

"I don't want to." Fanfan’s small face was stern, and he hugged his school bag tightly. "I'm going home to do my homework."

"......" Tan Yiming thought, was this really a second grader? How old-fashioned was he, like a little adult ...

Feeling helpless, Tan Yiming could only pick a restaurant casually and enter it into the GPS, then he drove out of the basement.

Coincidentally, when they just drove to the entrance, a sudden clap of thunder sounded from the sky, followed by pouring rain. In less than a minute, people were crowded under the roof of the building.

There was a saying: A day in June is like a child’s face.

Tan Yiming glanced sideways at the child sitting in the front passenger seat, deeply impressed by this proverb.

The red light was on. Tan Yiming's car stopped behind the zebra crossing as he waited for the pedestrians to walk by.

The umbrellas were like mushrooms in the rain, gushing colorfully from the sidewalk.

Among the group of brightly colored mushrooms, a tall, thin empty-handed boy, covered his head with both hands and ran towards the bus station across the road.

The heavy rain poured on him, causing him to be drenched from top to bottom.

The boy ran forward, and with every accelerated step, splashing countless drops of water up into the air.

Tan Yiming stared blankly at the figure running past from inside his car. How shocked his expression must have been in those short ten seconds.

It was a pity for that boy who was a little too slow in the end. By the time he rushed to the bus stop, the bus doors had already closed and drove away.

He lowered his shoulders in frustration. Fortunately, there were eaves on the platform where he could take shelter from the rain. He hid under the eaves and shook the rain from his body—it was strange how he could make such a ridiculous movement as elegantly as a swan floating on the water.

"Uncle Leader." Fanfan sat in the front passenger seat and asked, "Do you know that beautiful brother?"

"..." Tan Yiming’s Adam’s apple rolled, and he murmured, "Well, he is my former friend."

"A former friend?" Fanfan asked curiously, "Is he no longer your friend?"

"... He has other new friends now."

Fanfan didn't understand. He frowned and said, "You adults are so strange. Why does that beautiful brother having new friends stop him from being friends with you?"

Tan Yiming was dumbfounded. He couldn't explain the awkward situation between them to a seven-year-old kid.

Seeing that he was silent, Fanfan thought he was at a loss. He simply picked up the posture of a small class monitor, arms on his hips, and commanded: "Listen to me—head forward! Hurry up and call the little brother into the car, he will get sick after such a heavy rain!"

...

At this time, Xiang Cai missed his ride, so he had to wait for the next one.

At this time, Tan Yiming's car came to a stop right in front of Xiang Cai.

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The author has something to say: I want to say something in this chapter, think about it.

With a thousand readers, there are a thousand Cai Cais, Old Tans, Manchuans, Yao Yins...

[T/N: Sorry, I tried my best with that author's note. Merry Christmas!]

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