TAM 25

Mo Yao had finished all his preparations. He picked a Saturday to officially move into the apartment he would share with Si Yuan.

The next day, on Sunday, he planned to go with Si Yuan to bring the two cats home.

Life seemed about to enter a new phase that made him feel eager and restless.

He arranged to meet Si Yuan at the cafeteria. Si Yuan had gone to work during the day and returned a little late, but still made it before the cafeteria closed.

By then, Mo Yao had already eaten. He sat on a chair playing with his phone while waiting for Si Yuan.

“Let’s pick up a delivery later,” Mo Yao said suddenly.

There was a bowl of noodles in front of Si Yuan. His chopsticks paused, and he said, “Alright.”

Since moving preparations began, Mo Yao had been receiving packages almost every day. Today’s delivery was a box of canned cat food. It arrived just in time, since he could give it to the two cats as a homecoming gift the next day.

Si Yuan gave Mo Yao a ride on his bicycle to the school’s delivery pickup point.

The package was a bit heavy. Mo Yao thought it wasn’t safe to put it in the front basket, so he placed it on the back rack and tied it loosely with a piece of string he found on the ground.

“Let’s go for a walk,” he said. He seemed to be in a good mood.

Si Yuan said, “Alright.”

So Si Yuan pushed the bicycle as they strolled through campus together.

Their campus wasn’t large. It was an old school with over a hundred years of history. The main campus was in the city center and couldn’t expand, so its size had stayed the same.

Mo Yao felt a little sentimental about moving out. He had never lived in a dorm during high school, so university life had been his first experience living with classmates. Now he was leaving, and it felt like something he wouldn’t experience again.

If not for the cats, he wouldn’t have wanted to rent a place so soon. There would still be plenty of time for that after graduation, once he started working.

He glanced at Si Yuan beside him and thought, of course, it was also because of Si Yuan. But even if they didn’t move out, they could still sneak around in the dorm… The thought made him laugh, but he quickly decided it was inappropriate and pushed the idea away.

Si Yuan didn’t ask why he was laughing. He just watched him and smiled slightly.

They passed the girls’ dorm entrance and saw that fierce m again. It had been released back after surgery. It still looked the same, squatting at the dorm gate, waiting for passing students to feed it.

The other stray cats that often ganged up on Mo Yao were nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t sure if someone had adopted them.

Then he spotted a kitten that looked like the one he had seen by the bike shed before. It peeked out pitifully near the dorm gate. The male cat growled in warning, and the kitten quickly hid again, leaving only the tip of one ear visible behind a corner.

Mo Yao took a photo of the kitten and sent it to Yu Zhenzhen.

She replied quickly with an “OK” emoji.

Si Yuan asked, “Do you want to take it too?”

Mo Yao said right away, “Forget it, I can’t handle that.” Then he thought for a moment and added, “I think it’s like having kids. If you don’t have the ability but still keep having more, you can’t take care of any of them properly. That’s not kindness, that’s irresponsibility.”

“Yeah,” Si Yuan answered quietly.

They continued walking until they reached the cafeteria again. Mo Yao saw the small grove beside it and suddenly remembered something.

He walked toward that narrow path. He didn’t have a goal in mind, he just wanted to walk through places on campus he normally wouldn’t go. Then, he stopped.

The sky was already dim. The last light of dusk lingered, but when they walked into the path, the trees blocked what little light remained, and it turned completely dark.

Si Yuan followed behind him. When Mo Yao stopped, he stopped too and asked, “What is it?”

Mo Yao stepped aside and said, “Look.”

The path wasn’t wide enough for two people. At the end stood a wall. Even though it was dark, they could still make out a small shrine on the ground against the wall.

The shrine reached no higher than Mo Yao’s knees. It was made of wood, unpainted, and inside it sat a cat statue.

It wasn’t like the usual lucky cats people saw. This one had the stance of a tiger, strong and fierce.

Mo Yao suddenly remembered what Sister Lin had told him about the campus legend.

He reached his hand back toward Si Yuan, his tone tense. “Do you see it?”

Si Yuan took his hand and said, “I see it.”

Mo Yao didn’t know if what he felt was fear or excitement. “This cat really exists!” He was astonished. The place wasn’t exactly hidden. It wasn’t a spot people often passed, but for something that big, with a shrine and a cat statue inside, it was strange that it wasn’t known as one of the campus sights.

For a moment, Mo Yao didn’t know what to do. Then he remembered where everything had started, the night he accidentally knocked a cat off the window. He still thought that was the cause of everything that followed.

“The canned food!” he suddenly remembered. There was still a box of cat food on their bike. He opened the box, took one can out, peeled off the lid carefully, and placed it in front of the shrine.

Mo Yao pressed his palms together. “Cat Lord, I didn’t mean to hurt the stray cat that night. Please don’t hold it against me.”

Throughout it all, Si Yuan said nothing. He only watched him quietly.

Mo Yao finished apologizing and tugged on Si Yuan’s sleeve. “Your turn.”

“…,” Si Yuan stayed silent for a while, then said, “Me too…”

Mo Yao thought his tone lacked sincerity, so he added, “He didn’t mean it either.”

They stood there, but nothing changed. There was no puff of smoke, no cat appearing to forgive them.

After waiting a bit longer, the sky turned completely dark. There were no lights nearby, and the shrine almost disappeared into the shadows.

Mo Yao finally said, “Let’s go.”

On the way back, Mo Yao told Si Yuan about the campus legend he had heard.

Si Yuan gave no opinion.

“You don’t believe it?” Mo Yao hadn’t believed it either, not until he saw that shrine tonight. He was too excited to calm down. He kept imagining that somewhere beyond his sight, the cat stood high above the school, watching over all its followers.

Si Yuan answered truthfully. “I don’t know.”

If it wasn’t real, how could they explain what happened when they turned into cats? And if it was real, then so be it. People had their gods, and cats had theirs. As long as they didn’t harm cats, there was nothing to fear.

When Si Yuan unlocked the door to their rented apartment, Mo Yao saw the big bed in the middle of the room, and the excitement in his head vanished at once. His thoughts returned to reality.

The place was already tidy. The bedsheet was new, the one Mo Yao had bought. The pale gray sheet lay flat across the mattress. Two pillows rested side by side. Since no one had slept on it yet, the bed looked like one in a hotel.

Si Yuan changed his shoes and casually placed his phone and keys on the shoe cabinet by the door.

Mo Yao watched him.

Si Yuan asked, “Do you want to take a shower?”

Mo Yao said, “Alright.”

He showered first. Then Si Yuan went in after him.

Mo Yao picked a side of the bed, lifted the blanket, lay down, and propped the pillow up against the headboard.

He played with his phone but didn’t really read anything.

Then he heard the bathroom door open.

The room wasn’t large. When Si Yuan came out, Mo Yao could see him clearly.

His eyes stayed on his phone, but his peripheral vision caught everything.

Si Yuan was bare-chested, wearing only sweatpants. Droplets of water still clung to his skin, and his hair was damp. He picked up his clothes from earlier and asked if Mo Yao had anything that needed washing, then carried everything to the washing machine on the balcony.

It still was too early to go to sleep.

Si Yuan leaned back on the other side of the bed and picked up his phone.

Mo Yao couldn’t help asking, “What are you watching?”

Si Yuan calmly turned the phone to him. Mo Yao saw that it was a game video.

“You like gaming?” Mo Yao sounded surprised.

Si Yuan said, “Not really. I just use it to rest my head when I’m tired.”

Mo Yao sat back on his side and said, “I feel like I don’t know that much about you.”

Si Yuan looked at him. “What do you want to know?”

“I don’t know,” Mo Yao said after thinking seriously. “Whatever there is to know, I guess.”

He felt like he wanted to know everything. But it wasn’t something that could be explained in a few words. He would have to learn it slowly, piece by piece, until the whole picture of Si Yuan came together.