☆, Chapter 12: Ugly
After finally sending away her foolish little brother, who was circling her with starry eyes, Hao Ren let out a long sigh of relief and quickly asked Daizi and Lucky what to do next.
Lucky was a young cat who hadn’t seen much of the world, so of course, it had no solution for such a tricky situation. Daizi, however, said that the small animals’ pilgrimage was unstoppable. The only thing they could do was to find a way to reduce their casualties during the journey.
Hao Ren deeply agreed with its suggestion. She found an opportunity to secretly gather a group of mice and sparrows in the park’s small grove and asked them to help guide the newly arrived small animals in H City. This slightly improved the chaotic situation.
Then, the small animals that had traveled long distances to H City began to appear in the Hao family’s garden, one wave after another. Fortunately, against the backdrop of the great animal migration, this was not conspicuous. It did, however, get Hao Yi so excited that he howled with joy.
“You’ve worked hard!”
“Not at all! To be able to gaze upon Her Majesty the Queen’s sacred face, what’s a long journey?”
Dialogues like this began to play out repeatedly in the Hao family’s garden. Piles of gifts like insects, bones, and grass accumulated on the ground. Seeing the small animals appear in turns, that guy Hao Yi actually bought a large amount of cat food, dog food, and rabbit food and stored it in the basement. As soon as an animal appeared, he would take it out and distribute it. Thanks to this tycoon’s generosity, the small animals could leave without an empty stomach.
The ones who came directly to pay homage were fine. What frustrated Hao Ren was that some of them took the unconventional route, not even showing their faces and just leaving their gifts behind.
One morning, when she woke up, she was horrified to find a fresh, raw leg of lamb by her pillow, which nearly scared her to death. No wonder she had dreamt of wandering through the fresh meat section of a wet market with her grandmother all night and couldn’t get out. Looking at the bloody, hairy leg of lamb, Hao Ren barely managed to suppress the urge to scream.
“Uncle Daizi, why didn’t you wake me up?” After calming her racing heart, Hao Ren complained to Daizi.
“That one saw you sleeping so soundly and wouldn’t let me wake you.”
“What on earth was that one?” Glancing at the leg of lamb that had stained her bed, Hao Ren’s expression was full of conflict. She had more work to do today. She was quite curious about what kind of animal would give such a horrifying gift as a raw leg of lamb.
“Nothing much, just a jaguar that snuck out of the zoo.” Daizi’s expression was as calm as ever.
Just… just… just… Hao Ren felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Imagining that a jaguar had silently snuck into her room in the middle of the night, she suddenly felt a chill on her neck. A jaguar! No wonder it could give such a high-class, fancy gift as a whole raw leg of lamb…
“Wooo wooo… Your Majesty… you scared the crap out of me…” A suppressed whimper sounded in the air.
Only then did Hao Ren realize that Lucky had been huddled under the towel blanket, trembling. Compared to Daizi, who was as calm as if he were talking about a cat, this one’s reaction was more in line with common sense. When it realized Hao Ren had seen it, the little guy quickly jumped into her arms and begged for pets with a terrified look. Hao Ren quickly stroked its still-tense back to comfort it.
“Uncle Daizi, aren’t you scared? That was a jaguar!” Compared to Lucky, whose voice was even trembling, Daizi’s performance was far too calm. If it weren’t for Lucky’s extreme reaction, Hao Ren would have even doubted if it was really a jaguar.
“So what if it’s a jaguar?” Daizi was as calm as ever.
“Alright then…” Daizi was indeed as its name suggested, a true emperor of composure!
Having received so many gifts from the small animals, Hao Ren began to consider how to repay them. There was nothing she could do for the wild ones, so she had to target the stray dogs and cats. Thanks to Hao Yi’s existence, although it was still impossible to take them in for now, it was possible to bring them home, give them a bath, and let them have a full meal.
After learning that there was food here, stray dogs and cats began to flock to the villa complex. Fortunately, the environment here was quiet, and there were many places to hide, so it didn’t attract much attention.
Hao Ren was determined to sponge off the rich, so the food problem was naturally solved by Hao Yi. Only now did she realize how wise it was to have taken Hao Yi as her underling. A free laborer and an automatic teller machine! That guy was responsive to all of Hao Ren’s requests. Not only did he buy a large pile of food to store, but he also went to the pet hospital and swept up a pile of pet medicine, including treatments for illnesses and deworming.
Thanks to the appearance of the small animals, Hao Ren’s summer vacation finally became less boring, with her days filled with playing with cats, feeding dogs, and occasionally throwing a particularly dirty one into the bathroom for a bath. Hao Ren couldn’t bathe all the cats and dogs; the bathroom downstairs was too small to fit them all. Hao Yi did suggest using the upstairs bathroom, but Hao Ren didn’t dare. If Mr. and Mrs. Hao found out she was involved, she would be beaten to death.
She finally understood why ancient emperors liked to put on a show. After learning what Hao Ren was doing, the small animals’ expressions became even more respectful when they came to pay homage, even though most of them were purely wild animals and didn’t need Hao Ren’s help at all.
During this time, Hao Ren discovered an interesting fact: not only humans, but small animals also know how to flatter.
“Your Majesty the Queen, you are truly the best king in this world!”
“Your Majesty the Queen, this little cat’s admiration for you is like the surging river, like the overflowing Yellow River, unstoppable…”
…
When Hao Ren first heard the stray dogs and cats say such things to her, she was stunned for a long time and didn’t know how to react. It took a while for her to get used to it.
Daizi was right; cats were indeed much more cunning than dogs. Most of the flatterers were cats, and the older the cat, the smoother the flattery. As for dogs, only a few possessed such high-level skills, and they would only say simple and direct sentences like the first one. Most would just gratefully say “thank you.” But for cats, sentences like the second one were just the basics. All sorts of high-level flattery techniques emerged one after another, which was a real eye-opener for Hao Ren. She even suspected that these guys often secretly hid behind people’s windows to watch historical dramas with flattery scenes.
Ever since being taken in as Hao Ren’s underling, that guy Hao Yi finally stopped wasting his time on games after school. As soon as he got home, he would enthusiastically move cat food and dog food to feed the cats and dogs.
“Your Majesty the Queen, this subordinate of yours is quite good! Although he’s a bit ugly, he’s still a diligent and capable subordinate!” One day, for some reason, perhaps because it had run out of compliments for Hao Ren, one of the stray cats suddenly blurted this out.
“Ugly?” Hao Ren looked at the handsome boy beside her, who was smiling like a flower, and almost couldn’t hold back her laughter.
“Yes! Very ugly!” The stray cat nodded seriously and then glanced at Hao Yi with a pitying look. After looking, it complained again, “You humans have such strange taste, you all like ugly ones! The movie theater next to my den recently put up a huge poster for Tiny Times, and it scares me every time I go home!”
Hao Ren finally understood what it meant by “ugly.”
“Actually, they think Your Majesty is quite ugly too, and they’ve always regretted it…” The one who spoke was, of course, not a cat. It was a mixed-breed dog with Chihuahua blood, right next to the talking cat. It was probably because of its size that it could mix with the cats.
“Bastard!” The cat immediately swiped its paw at the dog’s head. Seeing its angry and embarrassed look, the mixed-breed dog was probably telling the truth.
Then, even the other cats gathered around and started to gang up on the mixed-breed dog that had told the truth, swinging their paws at it. It was only when Hao Ren intervened that it was rescued.
“That’s what you all said…” The mixed-breed dog shrank its neck, feeling wronged. “I actually think Her Majesty is very beautiful, and Her Majesty’s subordinate is not bad either!”
It seemed that compared to cats, dogs’ aesthetic sense was more normal.
“It’s fine, I don’t mind, really!” After Hao Ren comforted them for a long time, the bristling cats finally calmed down.
“Then who among humans do you think is beautiful?” After a moment of hesitation, Hao Ren couldn’t help but ask the question in her heart. She was really curious about the cats’ aesthetic sense.
“Oboi!”
“Zhang Fei!”
“The man on a wanted poster at the street corner recently is also quite handsome!”
…
Hao Ren instantly understood. In the eyes of cats, someone like Zhang Fei, with a leopard’s head and round eyes, a swallow’s chin and a tiger’s whiskers, was considered beautiful. In short, one had to look fierce. What a speechless aesthetic sense.
“What’s wrong?” Hao Yi had just finished distributing food to the cats and dogs and was youthfully wiping the sweat from his face. Seeing Hao Ren in a daze, he quickly asked.
“They’re discussing your looks, saying you’re ugly!” Anyway, even if Hao Yi told someone, no one would believe him, so Hao Ren wasn’t afraid to tell him the truth. At this point, Hao Ren finally couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing. That guy Hao Yi had been praised for his good looks wherever he went since he was a child. This was probably the first time he had been called ugly.
“Crap! I’m ugly, you’re the ugly ones!” Hao Yi menacingly shook his fist at the cats.
“Huh, what’s going on? He doesn’t seem so ugly now…”
Hao Ren was completely speechless. This heaven-defying aesthetic sense.
After the cats scattered, the agitated Hao Yi finally calmed down. After calming down, a brilliant smile bloomed on his face. Apparently, he wasn’t really angry.
“Unlucky Ren, the more I look at you, the more you resemble Harry Potter!”
Hao Ren had just beckoned to the dirtiest dog, preparing to take it inside for a bath. Hearing this, she replied without thinking, “If I’m Harry Potter, then you’re Dudley!”
Hao Yi, as expected, got agitated again. “I… I’m not the fat Dudley! I’m the most popular boy in our school, many girls like me!”
Hao Yi attended the best private high school in the city. With the handsome face he had inherited from Auntie Mei, he was doing very well. He could be considered quite a romantic figure. Staring at his handsome face for a long time, Hao Ren once again lamented how unfair the world was.
“Not Dudley, then who are you? Peeves?”
“Damn it! You’re Peeves!” The murderous aura on Hao Yi’s face grew even stronger.
Seeing this, the few cats peeking from a distance began to discuss with confused expressions again, topics like “how strange, why did he become handsome again.”
“I’m James Potter! The dashing, lovable James Potter. Although I liked to bully the weak when I was young, that was just childishness. I’m grown up now!”
“Hello, Dad!” Hao Ren was in a good mood and joked with him.
“Good girl, daughter!” That brat actually went along with it.
Hao Ren ignored him and walked towards the bathroom with the dirty dog.
“Your Majesty, don’t listen to those stupid cats, their aesthetic sense is problematic!” On the way in, the dog said angrily. It was probably afraid of the petty cats’ revenge, so it only dared to speak after entering the house.
“Don’t make a sweeping generalization. Not all cats have problematic aesthetic sense, only those wild ones do!” Hearing this, Lucky, who had been following Hao Ren, immediately became anxious. “In my opinion, there is no woman in this world more beautiful than Her Majesty…”
Crap, at this point, that guy Lucky actually became shy again.
Hao Ren didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Turning on the showerhead and applying shampoo, Hao Ren was about to start scrubbing the scruffy dog, but to her surprise, the dog refused.
“I can do it myself!”
“No!” Some cats and dogs had made similar requests before, but the result was that they weren’t clean at all. Stray cats and dogs were not as familiar with bathroom equipment as house cats and dogs.
After the refusal, Hao Ren directly pushed the guy into the bathtub and gave it a vigorous scrubbing.
“Ah… mmm… no…” Here we go again…
Lucky gloated from the side, “Just stop struggling, this is Her Majesty the Queen’s hobby…”
“Your… Your Majesty… ah… oh… s-so comfortable…” This one was different from Lucky. Although it was reluctant at first, it soon turned into an expression of enjoyment, standing there and letting Hao Ren scrub.
“Under the ear… right leg… the fur at the joint of the right leg… oh… so comfortable…”
This one was much dirtier than Lucky had been. The water running off it was black. Hao Ren washed it twice and applied deworming medicine before letting it go.
“So comfortable… wooo wooo… I feel like I’ve been reborn…” After its fur was blow-dried, the guy chased its own fluffy, soft, large tail with an excited look.
Indeed, Hao Ren hadn’t expected this scruffy stray dog to be so beautiful after being cleaned up. When its fur was dirty and matted, it was impossible to tell. Once it was clean, Hao Ren immediately realized that this guy definitely had Samoyed blood. Although it wasn’t purebred, its long, snow-white fur immediately turned it into a clean and beautiful big white dog. If it weren’t for the many inconveniences of shaving a stray dog, Hao Ren would have been very tempted to shave it bald. It wasn’t that she was jealous of its white fur, but that such long fur looked so hot.
“It’s not easy outside, is it?” For a dog like a Samoyed, the hot summer was definitely an ordeal.
“It’s alright, just hot… so hot I want to peel off this skin…”
Hao Ren stroked its white, soft neck fur and suggested, “Do you want an owner?”
The dog stared at Hao Ren for a long time. Although it was hesitant at first, it finally nodded vigorously. Hao Ren could guess the reason for its hesitation. Such a beautiful dog must have been a pet at first, but like Lucky, it had the misfortune of meeting a scumbag owner. The reason for its hesitation was probably that it was struggling with whether to trust humans again.
“Hao Yi, do you want to raise a dog?” After getting its affirmative answer, Hao Ren quickly shouted at Hao Yi, who was still outside teasing the cats and dogs. Mr. and Mrs. Hao had noticed the strangeness between the two of them these past few days. Letting Hao Yi raise a dog was actually a good cover.
No one dislikes a beautiful smiling angel like a Samoyed. Seeing the clean and beautiful big white dog, Hao Yi immediately agreed. Not only did the guy hit it off with Hao Yi at first sight, but even Auntie Mei and Hao Weiguo got along with it very well. It soon became as familiar as a family member. Auntie Mei even personally named it Mantou and went straight to the pet store that day to buy a large pile of pet supplies. For Mantou’s livelihood, Hao Ren did not object.
That guy Mantou was very loyal and would often bring some snacks over to share with Daizi and Lucky. The family got along quite harmoniously.