☆, Chapter 4: Paying Homage
Having already performed so miraculously, Hao Ren decided to stop holding back. For the afternoon math exam, she finished and turned in her paper in just forty-five minutes. With her stunning performance on the Chinese exam as a foundation, the two proctors indeed didn’t show much surprise, probably becoming even more certain of their previous judgment.
After the exam, Hao Ren took Daizi for a walk to the places she used to frequent in her past life, only returning home reluctantly when it was about time.
Seeing her return safely, there was indeed a faint trace of disappointment in Auntie Mei’s expression. Hao Ren sneered inwardly, greeted her, and went back to her room.
Upon returning to her room, the first thing she did was turn on her computer to contact her few online friends.
Due to the family circumstances Hao Ren appeared to have, coupled with the withdrawn personality she had developed under the oppression of the Hao family trio, she didn’t have many friends in real life. The only few she had were mere nodding acquaintances. Thanks to the developed internet, although she had completely closed herself off in reality, she had quite a few friends in the virtual world.
“South of the South,” a veterinarian she met on a pet forum, was a very enthusiastic person. Hao Ren had no money to take Daizi to a vet, so whenever she had a question about Daizi, she would always ask him for help. And every time, he would answer patiently, never getting annoyed by Hao Ren’s interruptions. He had even sent some medicine for Daizi before.
He was ten years older than Hao Ren, and in her eyes, he was like a reliable big brother. He was also the first to sense that something was wrong with Hao Ren back then, monitoring her presence 24/7, which made her give up the idea of suicide. Hao Ren had spoken to South of the South on the phone before; his voice was magnetic and warm, like a warm current that could melt a person’s cold heart.
“Daizi,” an interesting boy with the same name as Hao Ren’s dog. He had found his way to Hao Ren for some reason because of her username “Good Person,” and the first thing he said was to ask if she was really a good person. After chatting for a short while, Hao Ren realized that the guy was just a rich second-generation kid with too much time on his hands.
The guy’s favorite thing to do was to constantly ramble on to Hao Ren about everything related to a girl named Xiaoyu. From the summer vacation of her second year of high school until Hao Ren was kidnapped, that relationship had never ended. Although reality had beaten Hao Ren black and blue, whenever she saw his ramblings about Xiaoyu, Hao Ren would always feel as if she believed in love again.
That guy probably treated Hao Ren as a substitute for Xiaoyu, sometimes even mailing Hao Ren the gifts he didn’t have the courage to give. Hao Ren never found it offensive; instead, she felt incredibly fortunate.
“Don’t Love You At All,” the forever loyal reader of Hao Ren’s crappy little online stories, was a soft, cute girl. No matter how childish the logic in Hao Ren’s stories was, or how terrible her writing was, she was always there, never leaving. Hao Ren later got her Penguin number and found out that the girl was a shameless “pale, rich, and beautiful” girl—not the kind like her who was one in name only, but the real deal.
The things that troubled that girl were also completely different from Hao Ren’s. Should I wear this pair of shoes or that pair? Should I buy this dress or that one? Sob, sob, that annoying guy is looking for me again, Good Person, what should I do…
Every time she looked at Don’t Love You, Hao Ren felt like she was seeing the version of herself from her dreams: both parents alive, doted on, always so innocent, happy, and carefree. Watching her act tsundere every day brought Hao Ren even more joy than her own crappy little stories. Not wanting to bring any gloom into her life, Hao Ren had never even told her about her car accident.
Although she might never meet them in person in this lifetime, to Hao Ren, meeting them was like a ray of sunshine suddenly piercing through her gloomy life.
When Hao Ren came online, South of the South wasn’t online. Daizi was playing games. Don’t Love You At All was crying her eyes out while reading a novel, biting her handkerchief and cursing the author to have no seasoning packets in their instant noodles. Hao Ren smiled, didn’t disturb them, and turned off the computer, preparing to give Daizi a bath.
She had just stood up when the door was kicked open with a bang.
Mr. and Mrs. Hao never came to her room. Auntie Zhang would definitely knock if she came. The only one who would kick the door open was her half-brother. Every time he kicked the door in, Hao Ren couldn’t help but marvel at the quality of the nursery door lock her mother had chosen back then; despite being abused like this, it still hadn’t broken.
Hao Yi entered, but this time he didn’t fly into a rage at Hao Ren as usual. Instead, he grabbed Hao Ren’s hand and looked her up and down, carefully, as if afraid she was missing a part. Only when he saw that she was completely unharmed did he finally let out a long sigh of relief.
Hao Ren felt her skin crawl under his unprecedentedly nervous gaze and quickly snapped, “Hao Yi, what are you doing?”
Hearing this, Hao Yi quickly flung her hand away, as if he had forgotten that he was the one who had grabbed it. He put on his usual arrogant expression and said coldly, “I heard you fell asleep halfway through the college entrance exam. Just came to laugh at you!”
Being able to stand here and mock Hao Ren without a change in expression, this guy was obviously not a candidate for this year’s exam. Because he was born two months after Hao Ren, his college entrance exam hell would have to wait until next year.
“Sorry to disappoint you, but I did very well!” Ever since that guy Hao Yi had stopped using violence against her, Hao Ren had become much bolder when facing him.
“Is that so? Hmph, don’t go crying under your blanket at night!” Having finished his mockery, the guy left, satisfied.
Just as Hao Ren had prepared the tools to bathe Daizi, he came back again, opened the door, and threw in a shopping bag full of snacks.
“Right, give these to your dog! This brand of beef jerky tastes awful! It’s only good enough for feeding dogs!” After saying this, he left without waiting to see if Hao Ren wanted them or not.
Hao Ren picked up the shopping bag. Inside was a full bag of a well-known brand of beef jerky famous for being delicious.
“Daizi, extra meal!” She accepted it without ceremony, tore open a pack, and poured it into Daizi’s food bowl.
Daizi wagged its tail and munched on it for a long time. Halfway through, it suddenly pushed the food bowl to Hao Ren’s feet with its mouth.
“Woof!”
Hao Ren didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She had no choice but to pick up a piece and put it in her mouth. So what if it was meant for a dog? As long as it could fill her stomach, it was fine. Hao Ren had never possessed the pride to refuse handouts. Those who could afford to refuse handouts were probably the lucky ones, and she had never been one of them.
The moment it entered her mouth, the unique taste of dried protein spread across her tongue. Her saliva diffused the savory substances from the jerky to every taste bud. The rich, savory flavor brought immense satisfaction to her hungry stomach. It had barely touched her tongue before it went straight to her heart…
It was delicious! So delicious that the background music from A Bite of China even started playing in Hao Ren’s mind. That guy Hao Yi’s taste was indeed different from ordinary people’s.
Thinking of the imported snacks in his cabinet, Hao Ren let out a long sigh. They were both human, so why was the difference so vast?
After bathing Daizi and blow-drying its fur, Hao Ren returned to her room and began to recall the questions for tomorrow’s two exams. Although her memory was very good, so many years had passed, and some questions were still a bit fuzzy. Just in case, she had to find some similar practice questions and work through them at her desk.
Having learned her lesson from today, Hao Ren was determined to get a full night’s sleep to conserve her energy for tomorrow’s exams. At nine in the evening, she turned off the lights and climbed into bed, ready for a good sleep. But just as she lay down, she was horrified to find that the window outside was covered with pairs of glowing eyes.
The light pollution in the villa complex wasn’t too severe, and with the trees outside providing cover, Hao Ren didn’t draw her curtains at night so she could wake up on time the next day. As she lay in bed, she came face to face with the dense row of eyes pressed against the window.
Startled, she quickly sat up in bed. She found it strange. If there was really something outside, Daizi would definitely have reacted, yet at this moment, Daizi was lying nonchalantly at her feet. Although it was staring intently out the window just like her, its mood seemed very stable.
“Looking at us! Looking at us! The King is looking at us!” The pairs of eyes rose and fell like a tide.
“King! King! I’m here!” One of the black shadows on the window began to sway.
“Not King, it’s Her Majesty the Queen!”
“Greetings, Your Majesty the King! Oh, no, Her Majesty the Queen!”
…
Hao Ren was so frightened by this bizarre scene that her breathing almost stopped. She stiffly turned on the room light. When the light came on, she was surprised to find that the not-so-long windowsill was packed with more than a dozen cats. Although they were of different sizes and colors, they were indeed just cats.
So they’re cats! Hao Ren instantly let out a long sigh of relief.
Huh! Wait! How can cats talk?
When the light came on, not only did the cats not run away, they became even more excited.
Hao Ren was horrified to find that she could hear that same commotion again.
“Long live Her Majesty the Queen!”
“Greetings, Her Majesty the Queen!”
“Her Majesty is looking at us, stand respectfully!”
“Her Majesty the Queen! I’m here! See me! See me!” One of the tabby cats waved its furry paw at Hao Ren, but in its excitement, it lost its balance and fell headfirst from the windowsill. Fortunately, this was the first floor, and the windowsill was low, so a fall wouldn’t be dangerous.
Sure enough, not long after, the tabby cat jumped over from the nearby bushes and landed steadily on the windowsill again.
“Dahua, calm down!” A tortoiseshell cat, a size larger than it, reached out a paw and unceremoniously smacked it on the head.
“Sorry…” The tabby cat instantly lowered its head like a child who had made a mistake.
“Ahem!” The tortoiseshell cat seemed a little embarrassed. It cleared its throat lightly, then elegantly bowed its noble head in Hao Ren’s direction, performing a bow just like the little animals in The Lion King. “Your Majesty the Queen, we represent all the cats of H City to come and pay homage to you, meow!”
Huh, cleared its throat? Hao Ren, who was already stiff, was now completely petrified. She felt her scalp tingle and strongly suspected that she was having such an absurd hallucination due to the stress of the college entrance exam.
The best way to deal with a hallucination is to break it. Hao Ren took a deep breath and bravely walked to the window and pushed it open. Unfortunately, not only did her hallucination not disappear, but one by one, they jumped into her room. The excited tabby cat from before even took the opportunity, while the tortoiseshell cat wasn’t looking, to sneak over and rub against Hao Ren’s instep. After rubbing, it rolled around on the floor in excitement.
“Your Majesty, your taste is excellent. This room is beautiful!” One of the white Persian cats, wearing a golden cat tag, even gave a sincere compliment after looking around. After the compliment, it began to casually bat at a small ball on the curtains as if it owned the place.
“Cats can talk?”
The one who answered her was a chubby British Shorthair: “This isn’t talking, it’s communication through mental power. All animals in the world, except for you humans, can communicate through mental power. God probably felt it was too pitiful for you humans to be excluded, so he allowed you to develop special vocal organs.”
After it finished speaking, the cats immediately began to whisper among themselves.
“Pitiful humans…”
“What an inefficient way to communicate!”
“Disabled! It’s like a congenital disability!”
…
Looking at the cats’ serious yet pitying expressions, Hao Ren didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “I’m sorry to have made a fool of myself!”
The tortoiseshell cat that looked like the leader quickly smacked the heads of the few cats that were being the loudest. Seeing the leader get angry, the world instantly became quiet.
“Your… Your Majesty the Queen, we didn’t mean it that way. I forgot you are also human… But rest assured, now that you have become the King of a Hundred Beasts, you can communicate through mental power just like us.”
All the cats nodded in unison.
“Can someone explain to me what’s going on?” Since the hallucination wasn’t willing to disappear on its own, Hao Ren decided to coexist peacefully with them.
“Your Majesty, you have received the acknowledgment of our previous King. You have been appointed by the great spirit of the King as the new King of a Hundred Beasts,” the tortoiseshell cat answered her.
“King of a Hundred Beasts? Great spirit? Was your previous king a dog?”
All the cats nodded in unison again.
Hao Ren suddenly felt as if a herd of divine beasts named “Grass Mud Horses” were stampeding wildly across the Gobi desert in her heart called “Mary’s Next Door.” The previous King of a Hundred Beasts was killed by a car on the road, and the current King of a Hundred Beasts is a human. Could her hallucination get any more ridiculous?
“Your Majesty, these are our gifts to you! A small token of our esteem, please don’t take offense!”
One by one, the cats darted out of the window and then darted back in, each carrying something in its mouth. In just a moment, Hao Ren was dismayed to find that the floor of her room was piled high with dead mice, dead sparrows, catnip, toy mice, balls of yarn, foxtail grass… and all sorts of other strange things.
To her amusement, Hao Ren even found half a small packet of imported cat food among them, with white cat fur stuck to it. It probably belonged to the Persian cat that had just complimented her room.
After delivering their gifts, the cats dispersed like the wind, and Hao Ren didn’t even have time to refuse.