TAM 20

He had gone to bed too late last night, and he had slept very soundly, without dreaming the entire night.

He hadn’t dreamed!

Mo Yao opened his eyes wide and sat up on the bed.

He hadn’t dreamed!

Someone was in the dorm. Si Yuan was leaning against his desk. He turned his head when he heard the noise and looked at Mo Yao.

Mo Yao lifted the mosquito net, trying to speak, but swallowed it back.

Si Yuan leaned on the desk and said, “I’m the only one here.”

Mo Yao said, “I didn’t dream at all last night.”

Si Yuan still looked calm, only slightly frowning. 

Mo Yao got off the bed. “Maybe it really got caught.”

Si Yuan’s chair leg lifted to one side and made a soft click as it was lowered. He said, “Let’s find a way to check the campus surveillance.”

“How?” Mo Yao’s mind was in a mess. He walked towards the bathroom, then suddenly stopped and said, “Let’s try to find Tian Shen.”

Tian Shen was the student council president of their department. He didn’t hold much real power, but he had close ties with the faculty, so he might be able to help.

Mo Yao grabbed his phone from the bed and hurried to send Tian Shen a message.

He sat on the bed and waited for a while, but there was no reply. He put the phone down and went to the bathroom.

When he came back, Tian Shen had replied with two words: “Later on.”

Mo Yao put the phone down and looked at Si Yuan. “He said later on.” He didn’t know if that meant he’d reply later or take him to see the footage later.

Si Yuan said, “Then wait till later.”

Si Yuan’s tone was calm and steady, and Mo Yao felt a little more at ease. At least now he wasn’t running around like a headless fly. So, he could only wait patiently for Tian Shen’s reply.

When he left the dorm with Si Yuan, he asked, “Where are the others?”

“They went out.”

They didn’t have class for the first period that morning. Usually Si Yuan was the first to leave, while Zhang Ziyu and Chen Xinyong slept in. Today, for some reason, they’d switched gears. 

Mo Yao followed Si Yuan to the bike shed without thinking. He said, “Why’d they leave so early?”

Si Yuan said, “No idea. Maybe they saw I didn’t go, so they went.”

Mo Yao couldn’t help but glance at him. Si Yuan said this without emotion, neither complaint nor sarcasm.

“That’s because you don’t fit in,” Mo Yao muttered.

“Yeah.” Si Yuan actually agreed.

Mo Yao pinched Si Yuan’s waist and climbed onto the back seat of the bicycle.

Si Yuan turned to look at him.

“What?” Mo Yao kept his hand on his waist and didn’t let go.

Si Yuan said nothing and pushed the pedals, riding toward the men’s dorm gate.

Mo Yao lowered his gaze. His palm rested on Si Yuan’s waistline, and he felt a strange feeling. Si Yuan was still the same Si Yuan, but suddenly he was more than just Si Yuan.

Once the image of the black cat was integrated into Si Yuan’s current body, the cold and distant boy became softer. Mo Yao was very familiar with the black cat. Its pitch-black body was always hidden in the cold night, but its fur was soft, a perfect blend of coldness and warmth.

Cats seemed to be such creatures, and the Si Yuan that appeared before Mo Yao was a perfect match for that black cat. No one was more like a cat than Si Yuan. Whether to show his claws or his belly was entirely up to his personal preference.

Mo Yao’s fingers twitched. He wanted to touch Si Yuan’s stomach to see if it was soft and warm like a cat’s.

Si Yuan suddenly caught his hand. The bicycle wobbled. “What are you doing?”

Mo Yao said, “Touching you.”

Si Yuan ignored him.

Mo Yao asked curiously, “Why were you so good to my little cat?”

Si Yuan said, “Mm.”

“Mm what?”

“Foreign.”

“Huh?” Mo Yao thought Si Yuan’s words were completely incomprehensible. Later, when he saw a stray cat on the side of the road, it suddenly occurred to him that most of the stray cats on campus were rural cats, and he was the only pet cat of a foreign breed. Si Yuan’s “foreign” really meant what he meant. 

Even after a while, Mo Yao couldn’t stop himself from muttering, “Psycho.”

At noon, Tian Shen called Mo Yao. He was eating lunch in the school cafeteria at the time.

The call barely lasted a few sentences before Tian Shen showed up.

He hung up, put his phone in his pocket, and said to Mo Yao, “Wait while I grab some noodles.” Then he waved at Si Yuan. “You’re here too?” After that, he hurried off toward the noodle counter.

A moment later, Tian Shen came back with a bowl of noodles and sat down next to Mo Yao.

He always looked busy. He stirred his noodles with his chopsticks as he said, “How did you two end up together?”

Mo Yao subconsciously looked up at Si Yuan, feeling guilty for no reason.

Si Yuan had already finished eating. He leaned back in his chair and said nothing.

Tian Shen said to Mo Yao, “I asked the teacher in charge of the admin office about checking the security footage. He said it’s handled by the security department. The person in charge there is kind of..” he paused, “you know, the type who likes to make things hard under the excuse of duty.”

“Can’t check it?” Mo Yao asked.

“I can,” Tian Shen said and patted his shoulder. “I’ll get it done for you, but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow. They switch shifts then.”

Mo Yao felt uneasy, afraid that if time dragged on, something might happen to the cat, but he also knew that Tian Shen was just a student and had done enough to help his friends out of loyalty, so he didn’t want to make things difficult for him, so he could only say, “Thanks.”

“No need,” Tian Shen said. “Dinner’s on me tonight.”

Mo Yao felt that Tian Shen was like a built-in system, which would trigger the invitation to treat everyone to dinner as soon as they met. But it was not right to ask for help and then refuse the invitation, so he said, “Do you want to have dinner tonight? I’ll treat you.”

Tian Shen said, “No way. I’m the senior, so it has to be my treat.” Then he looked at Si Yuan. “You too.”

Si Yuan looked at Mo Yao before saying, “Alright.”

Mo Yao and Si Yuan waited for Tian Shen to finish his noodles before leaving the cafeteria. When Si Yuan went to get his bike, Tian Shen stopped Mo Yao and asked, “I heard he fought you in the dorm?”

“Huh?” Mo Yao wasn’t really surprised, just a little speechless. “Who told you that?”

Tian Shen said, “I don’t remember, just something I heard.”

Mo Yao said, “We never fought, and we’re not planning to.”

Tian Shen patted his shoulder. “Good. Get along. Si Yuan’s just a bit cold, but he’s actually a good guy.”

Si Yuan’s bike was already pulled up in front of them.

Mo Yao jumped onto the back seat and said to Tian Shen, “See you tonight.”

Tian Shen waved. “Yeah!” He stood there watching as Si Yuan pedaled away with Mo Yao on the back, scratching his head in confusion. “When did they get that close?”

“You’re not working tonight?” Mo Yao asked Si Yuan.

“Not going.”

“Why?”

“You looked too anxious. I’ll keep you company.” Si Yuan said it casually.

Mo Yao, however, felt anything but casual. He looked at Si Yuan’s back and felt restless. This wasn’t like losing a cat; he felt a little nervous, yet also a little happy.

He thought, Am I done for?

But what did that even mean? Why did it feel like something was about to go wrong?

He hadn’t even been this moody during puberty. He was nearly twenty now, and suddenly he found himself staring blankly at the leaves outside the classroom window.

It was like one of those painful youth novels he’d read before, where your fingertips trace the rough surface of the desk, and every dent carries the suffering you’re supposed to endure when you’re young.

It’s truly toxic, Mo Yao thought.

Si Yuan sat next to him.

By now, the whole class had noticed how much their relationship had changed in just a few days.

Si Yuan didn’t care. He never cared about anything. Mo Yao did, but it wasn’t the prying eyes of others that concerned him, but his own restless heart.

In the evening, they had dinner with Tian Shen at a small restaurant outside campus.

Tian Shen didn’t call anyone else today, just Mo Yao and Si Yuan. 

Mo Yao suspected he just wanted to drink and couldn’t find anyone else to join him.

It was dinnertime, and the restaurants near the school were full of noise and light. Tian Shen told them to sit down and went to order.

Mo Yao sat and automatically took out his phone. He had tried to contact the poster of the thread that Li Yahan had forwarded to him, but he hadn’t received any reply.

Si Yuan sat next to him without his phone, silent as usual.

Then suddenly, Mo Yao’s phone lit up with a ringtone. The screen showed Li Yahan calling.

Mo Yao subconsciously looked at Si Yuan, wondering if he saw the name on his screen.

“Hello?” Mo Yao answered.

Li Yahan’s voice was fast and urgent. “Mo Yao, someone’s catching cats at the girls’ dorm! Is it the same person you’ve been looking for?”

Mo Yao stood up suddenly: “Help me stop them!” After that, he grabbed Si Yuan’s hand and pulled him up: “The cat thief has appeared.”