Its ambiguous target not only… but also…
The replies in this post are divided into two categories. One group of netizens is waiting for the juicy revelation from the user on the 48th floor, while the other group is still focused on rescuing the little orange cat.
When Xu Ye appeared this time, she had herself wrapped up very tightly, and no cat or dog guessed her identity.
The most eye-catching combat boots weren’t dry yet, so she wore a pair of ordinary white shoes and a mask, only being recognized by netizens as a friend of the shop owner.
Some netizens living in the pet shop shared photos of the cat eating cat food in real-time, and kind-hearted netizens praised Xu Ye and others for their Lei Feng spirit, using all their knowledge.[mfn]Tl’s Note: Lei Feng (1940-1962) was a national hero of China and a symbol of selflessness, dedication, and communist values after his death. He was promoted as a role model for the Chinese people, and his legacy has endured as a cultural icon in China.[/mfn]
【68F: That person dressed in a weird way is actually quite nice, it reminds me of a saying: I’m ugly, but I’m kind.] [mfn]Tl’s Note: Basically, don’t judge a book by its cover.[/mfn]
【69F: These humans have noses and eyes, quite good.】
She was actually called “ugly” by the netizens!
Xu Ye, who was ugly but kind-hearted, silently made a note in her heart: Cats don’t like humans to dress too fashionably.
The netizens who loved gossip had completely shifted their focus to the big scoop that the user on the 48th floor was about to reveal.
But no matter how anxious the gossip-seeking netizens were, it remained indifferent, disappearing into the many replies without a trace.
Xu Ye was furious. She never expected to meet such a cat today, one who didn’t follow the unwritten rules of the forum.
Before the latest reply from the post owner could appear, the stray kitten was taken away by another staff member for an initial check-up, and Liu Shuo finished his phone call and came back. He stepped forward, glanced at the height measure on the wall, and stood by the wall, saying, “Let me measure my height first, what if I grow taller after a while?”
The staff member beside him looked up from the list they were reading and teased, “Boss, if you grow taller, you’ll become a giant.”
On the wall was a height measurement sticker with a cartoon giraffe, with the highest scale reaching two meters.
Xu Ye remembered that her little cousin also had a similar giraffe height sticker, but the highest one was only one meter six. This store’s giraffe had an unusually long neck, which made her neck ache a bit just by looking at it.
She looked at the dog in the store, which only reached her knees, and said, “You really like animals, huh? You even gave them a height measuring device.”
Liu Shuo stood straight, pressing his hand from his head onto the sticker, and said, “No, I bought this for myself.”
After measuring his height, he walked over to the trash can and began picking off the cat hair stuck to his sleeve cuffs. “I’ll measure again later. I believe the cat god you mentioned can hear my true desires.”
Xu Ye watched the white fur float into the trash can and thought of the unturned felted wool at home. She asked, “Does Dai Dai have an account on the forum?”
“That lion cat? Of course, it does. I don’t know what the ID is, but it’s a forum account opened by Xiao Hei… Don’t give me that look, I’m just the admin, not HR. There are so many netizens, how could I remember everyone’s ID, except for the ones who insist on real-name registration.” Liu Shuo said, taking out his red phone, “Do you want to know Dai Dai’s ID?”
Xu Ye thought for a moment and waved her hand. “No, no, no, checking information from the backend would be an invasion of privacy, right? I was just asking casually. I’ll choose to explore its works and stay away from its privacy.”
She had never seen a photo of Dai Dai. This beautiful white cat wasn’t very clingy in real life, which meant it was low-key and didn’t want to be disturbed.
Respecting the cat’s privacy starts with Xu Ye.
Liu Shuo wasn’t curious about the IDs of any netizens. He had wanted to help Xu Ye check, but hearing this, he put his phone back in his pocket and gave two thumbs up, “Although I don’t know what works Dai Dai has, leaving such a big backdoor and not going through it, you’ve got perfect sense of boundaries. You’re the type of person who’s suited to be a fan.”
Xu Ye’s gaze lingered on the cat hair on Liu Shuo’s sleeve cuffs. If talking about the works of the female celebrity Dai Dai, it was probably those felted wool balls and felted wool pieces.
She asked again, “Since I know about the forum, why didn’t you tell Huo Yu? He’d probably be really happy if he knew his cat could go online.”
Liu Shuo made a zipper motion across his lips, “We’ve thought about that too. Xiao Yu is a pretty good guy, but he talks too much, and he likes to talk in his sleep. You don’t know, once I slept with him, and he told me this very weird story about a family elder. After hearing it, I couldn’t sleep the whole night, I just wanted a pair of ears that hadn’t heard it. As for you, we’re quite at ease. As the saying goes, it’s better to tell ten Xu Ye’s than one Huo Yu.”
“…What a cliché saying.”
Xu Ye was very curious about what story had kept Liu Shuo awake the whole night, but that was someone else’s family matter, so it had nothing to do with her.
She nodded, “For the safety of the netizens, it’s probably better not to tell him.”
Liu Shuo was about to go pick up Huo Shuyan for dinner, and Xu Ye politely declined the invitation to join them, eagerly bidding him goodbye.
“I still have to continue my research on the epidermal keratin layer and the mountain range cat. Have a pleasant meal. By the way, take a look at that help post when you have time. It contains your heroic figure.” [mfn]Tl’s Note: Epidermal keratin layer and mountain range cat – both are avatars for the Cat Catcher game.[/mfn]
Liu Shuo had never played hide-and-seek, so he didn’t understand what Xu Ye was rambling about.
He said “Wow,” impressed by Xu Ye’s broad knowledge, “Your field of research is quite broad. Photos? I’ll look at them when we eat.”
Liu Shuo drove Xu Ye to the community gate, happily humming a little tune as he waved her off.
Watching the off-road vehicle drive away, Xu Ye revealed a cruel smile, thinking that he probably wouldn’t be as happy after seeing the photos.
Thinking herself quite malicious, Xu Ye also happily hummed a little tune as she briskly walked into the community.
Xu Ye charged her phone for a while and then picked it up. David should still be asleep. Their private chat was still stuck on the afternoon’s game of hide-and-seek.
She really wanted to try a round of “mountain hide-and-seek,” but she thought it would be more fun if played with friends.
Xu Ye, bored, propped up her face and casually scrolled through the forum. At the top, she saw a fresh post that smelled strongly of gossip, posted just thirty seconds ago:
【Regarding my ambiguous relationship, not only did… but also… I didn’t expect so many friends to be curious, so I’m starting this post to explain.】
Xu Ye looked at the ID, and a strong curiosity for gossip surged within her.
“Fu Li’s First Talent,” the same name as the user in the 48th-floor post earlier. She clicked on the talent’s post and set up her little stool to wait for the next update.
After the title was posted, the original poster disappeared, leaving only a line of eager and restless curiosity from the readers:
【2F: Waiting for the follow-up. By the way, the original poster’s love life is quite rich, and they even know the word “ambiguous.” I just went to check what it means.】
【3F: Where’s the original poster? It’s been a minute.】
【4F: It’s already been two minutes.】
After five minutes, the original poster finally appeared, their tone filled with the sense of melancholy of a modern young person being pressured to get married:
【15F: I’m here, don’t rush, friends. Sigh, my cat owner wants me to get married and have children, but my blind date and I didn’t hit it off, and they’ve been rushing me. Frustrated, I opened a game… My teammate and I were perfectly in sync during a round of the Forest Ice and Fire game. We played for an entire night and breezed through the first level of a side quest. In my life, I’ve never met a friend whose soul is so in tune with mine. At that moment, I was completely captivated…】
The replies in this layer were filled with information, making Xu Ye dizzy.
First, the original poster was quite trendy; their attempt at breeding had failed, and they’d started an online romance with another cat.
Secondly, they only cleared one small level after playing together all night, and Xu Ye thought their level of synchronization was open for debate.
She and David cleared the first level in just five minutes!
But since both of them thought they were perfectly in sync, from a more discerning perspective, they were indeed quite harmonious.
【16F: Then, we became good friends. I casually mentioned this in the post earlier, but let me clarify, it’s not “ambiguous,” just that we really have a lot in common. It feels like that “Bo Ya and Zi Qi” connection humans talk about. When we were thinking of developing further, we finally remembered to exchange photos. I clicked on their profile, and sadly found out that not only were we both male, but he’s a dog.】[mfn]Tl’s Note: According to legend, Bo Ya and Zi Qi (Zhong Ziqi) formed a deep bond over their shared love of music. Zi Qi was said to be the only person who could truly understand and appreciate Bo Ya’s music. Whenever Bo Ya played the guqin, Zi Qi could sense the emotions and thoughts behind the music.[/mfn]
【17F: ……】
【18F: You’re quite educated. Also, I really don’t know whether I should comfort you or comfort the dog.】
Xu Ye, like the other netizens, fell silent. The original poster and their potential online lover not only shared the same gender, but also had reproductive isolation due to speciation.
This must be the greatest distance in the world.
Some netizens, enjoying the drama, made outrageous comments to stir the pot:
【20F: What are you afraid of? Why not have a relationship that has nothing to do with gender or species?】
【21F: You go ahead if you want. A relationship between a cat and a dog seems as shocking to me as one between a human and a refrigerator. My dog brother and I are already like brothers, don’t try to ruin our pure brotherhood.】
Xu Ye didn’t quite agree with this comment. She walked over and touched her refrigerator, imagining how happy it would be to have a relationship with it.
That might be a magical life where food is always at your fingertips.
Xu Ye picked up her phone, wanting to speak up for the refrigerator.
She typed in the reply box: “Actually, a relationship between humans and refrigerators should be quite happy.”
Before she could send the reply, it was snuffed out in its cradle because, at the moment she clicked send, she saw that a user named “Snowball” had mixed in with the cats and dogs, expressing regret over the original poster’s relationship that had ended before it even began.
【33F: Oh, what a pity. My standards for a partner aren’t high, as long as their head is as round as mine.】
After finishing her gossip, Xu Ye clicked the back button, hesitating between “changing my name” and “just switching to a new forum ID.” After a while, she finally chose the former.
This account still had her friends like David and the cake brothers, and she couldn’t bear to part with the fun of playing games with cats and dogs.
Moreover, netizens each had their own circles and lives. She wasn’t a forum celebrity, so no one would be constantly discussing “What name has Xu Ye changed to this time?” After all, even someone as curious as her hadn’t looked into the IDs of Dai Dai and Xiao Hei.
Xu Ye was just about to change her name to something inconspicuous when she suddenly received a private message from David:
【David: The cat next door is laughing too loudly, and it woke me up. I scolded him, and he insisted I watch this post. After reading it, I think…】
【David: It’s actually quite interesting. I’ll send it over, you should check it out too.】
【David: (I’m sure many of you friends have been thinking of changing your ID but haven’t done it yet! The original poster here has gathered some popular net names from 2006-2013. If any of you like them, leave a comment and support the original poster~)】
When Xu Ye saw the year, it triggered some shy memories. Before she could click into the post, another message from David followed:
【David: Some of the names in here are really interesting. There are couple names, sister names, best friend names, and parent-child names. How about the two of us change to a CEO name?】
【David: (Little Cat CEO.jpg)】
Author’s note:
Some of you guessed the gossip, but didn’t expect it, right? What a pity.
Tl’s Note: Hi! I’m not dead yet, hihi
Regular updates might still be hard to meet at the moment due to my finals and whatnot, but I’ll be focusing back on translating this story come my short vacation days!
