茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Ever since she’d fallen asleep in front of the window, Liu Shiling occasionally had strange dreams in which she fought various monsters with ‘Ice Cream’ and ‘Chocolate’. Those dreams were fun, exciting and enjoyable.

A few days ago, in one of her dreams, she met Xia Libing and together they indulged in a feast of delicious dishes. She didn’t find it strange at all – anything could happen in a dream and was perfectly normal.

However, just moments ago while she was asking Uncle Bald some questions on QQ using her tablet, she realized that the responses were from the ‘Grilled Chicken Wings’ lady. This revelation overwhelmed her with a sense of excitement as if she had discovered a member of her ‘tribe’.

Liu Shiling knew that anyone who could ‘meet’ her in her dreams, join her for meals, and use Uncle Bald’s phone to respond while he was asleep, was obviously someone loved by Uncle Bald and capable of doing magic – she belonged to the same ‘tribe’.

As Liu Shiling was about to chat more with the ‘Grilled Chicken Wings’ lady, asking her when she learnt magic, what kind of magic she can do, whether she had teamed up with Uncle Bald to fight monsters, where to find those delicious foods she dreamt about, the door of her room was suddenly pushed open. Shiling’s Mom peeked in, “Who are you talking to? You seem so delighted!”

“Ah!” Liu Shiling was startled, almost dropping her tablet. Turning to her mom, she said, “I was asking Uncle Bald some questions.”

“Finished asking?” Shiling’s Mom didn’t find it strange. Liu Shiling had asked her to help register a QQ account before, for asking various questions from her kindergarten and hobby class teachers, and Xiang Kun.

“Ah, I just started asking…” Liu Shiling quickly replied.

Shiling’s Mom asked in surprise, “Didn’t we agree this morning? I will accompany you to the amusement park this afternoon, and then you come with me for grocery shopping? Uncle Bald is probably busy. Stop bothering him. Leave your questions for tonight.”

Liu Shiling responded, “Then… I won’t go to the amusement park. Mom, just go to the supermarket by yourself. I’ll stay home and play with ‘Custard Pie’.”

Shiling’s Mom frowned, “Weren’t you saying you wanted to help ‘Custard Pie’ buy cat food, nutritional cream and toys? If you’re not coming with me, I won’t buy them!”

When they first started to adopt the cat, Shiling’s Mom wasn’t really willing, because she was worried about parasites and pathogens on the stray cat and its unpredictable temper, in case it might hurt her daughter – Liu Shiling had been scratched by a cat in the community before.

After a few days however, she found the cat extremely adorable and attractive after it was cleaned up. A visit to the pet hospital also confirmed it was very healthy. Although it didn’t let anyone else hold it, it listened to her daughter very well. It didn’t struggle when getting an injection as long as her daughter was holding it. The cat was obedient and smart— it became well-behaved once they bought a cat litter box. Not causing the house to be in a mess, playing happily with her daughter, and voluntarily helping to scoop the feces, her daughter finally stopped playing house alone in her room, which led Shiling’s Mom to fall in love with this big ginger cat and was relieved that it wasn’t a pet lost by their neighbors. She had checked with the community property management staff, the cat had been wandering around the area for a while before they moved in there. Many people had tried to adopt it, but the cat was very alert and afraid of people, not giving anyone a chance to approach it.

Upon hearing her mother’s words, Liu Shiling glanced at ‘Custard Pie’ who was dozing off in the corner of the room and sighed, “Alright then, I will notify Uncle- uh…Uncle Bald…” Then she sent a voice message on QQ: “Uncle Bald, my mom wants me to go out with her. I’ll consult you with my questions tonight.”

She knew that by saying this, the ‘Grilled Chicken Wings’ lady would get her message.

Sure enough, a GIF of a nodding panda was sent back immediately.

Upon reaching the amusement park, Shiling’s Mom accompanied her daughter on a few rides. Throughout the journey, her daughter didn’t show the normal excitement or enthusiasm. Even in the bumper car and pirate ship rides, Shiling didn’t squeal or cheer but appeared to be quite focused, seemingly earnestly enjoying the rides. It was a completely different Liu Shiling as compared before.

Ever since they moved to Star City, this was the first time Shiling’s Mom brought her daughter to an amusement park. In the past, whenever she mentioned going to an amusement park, her daughter would be so excited, endlessly chattering away, constantly urging her and keeping the time. However, today, she even wanted to stay home and play with the cat initially, and even after reaching, she didn’t show the same excitement as before. After finishing each ride, she didn’t drag her mom to the next one as she always did.

Liu Shiling, however, wasn’t inattentive or anxious to return home to play with the cat. Whether it was during the time when she was playing on the rides or walking around the amusement park, her eyes were always focused on the amusement park equipment, her expression serious and focused as if her attention was purely on the amusement equipment, rather than the amusement itself?

This made Shiling’s Mom slightly worried, if it were a few months ago, she was actually quite troubled when taking her daughter out, whether it was shopping or going to the amusement park. Liu Shiling always craved all the tasty food and fun things she saw, even though she wouldn’t throw tantrums or make a fuss if she wasn’t bought anything, but her unyielding and pitiful expressions always made Shiling’s Mom reluctantly give in.

So, before, if Liu Shiling could stay at home obediently when she had to go out, she would be really happy.

Now, whenever she didn’t have kindergarten or hobby class, her daughter would always stay in her room alone, playing with her dolls. She even saw her daughter several times talking and mumbling to a coin and piece of folded paper. Even when she was in kindergarten or at hobby class before, she didn’t really interact with the other kids and preferred to play alone.

Her daughter used to love making friends with people, she would always take the initiative to share her candies, delicious food, and toys with other children. But from Shiling’s Mom’s observations, regardless of which group of children she was in, Liu Shiling would always be the most inconspicuous and unnoticeable. So, she was always worried that her naive and timid daughter might get bullied or excluded when she was playing with the other kids.

However, now whether it’s at kindergarten or in her hobby class, her daughter is absolutely a “person of influence”. Many children want to play with her or be friends with her, but her daughter would not pay attention to anyone but always kept a ‘cold’ and aloof attitude.

Shiling’s mom originally tried to console herself, thinking that her daughter was simply reacting to the sudden change in her environment. Coupled with the incident that happened not long ago, Shiling had closed herself off. But as she grew older and started attending primary school, her cheerful personality would naturally return.

But the recent changes worried her. Liu Shiling became more and more enthusiastic about playing house alone, barely showing any interest in her previously beloved cartoons. Instead, she became interested in topics like electromagnetism, the universe, and meteorology. While it was good that her daughter was studious and interested in science, Shiling’s mom couldn’t help but worry that she was becoming increasingly introverted and would have fewer and fewer common topics with her peers.

Worst of all, she could not forcefully discipline or pressure her daughter into doing anything because she hadn’t actually done anything wrong; in fact, she was behaving exceptionally well.

All she could do was to guide her as best as she could.

So after leaving the playground, the mother and daughter went to the supermarket, bought some food, cat food, nutritional paste, cat treats, a cat comb, a tooth-grinding stick, toys, and such. On their way back to the community, they ran into a group of housewives playing with their kids in the leisure area. Taking this opportunity, Shiling’s mom joined in to strike up a conversation about community property issues.

There were children from Liu Shiling’s kindergarten in this residential area. But Liu Shiling usually showed no interest in going downstairs to play and seldom mixed with other children either at kindergarten or in the community.

Upon seeing Liu Shiling, one of her “fans” who happened to be playing in the leisure area ran over. Standing next to her mother, the girl shyly and cautiously greeted Liu Shiling.

Seeing this, Shiling’s Mom promptly suggested, “Shiling, why don’t you go play with Xiao Mei while I chat with the aunties?” Shiling’s mom knew who Xiao Mei was since they had met several times at the kindergarten. Xiao Mei was in another class and a few months older than Liu Shiling. Just like every other kid, she loved Liu Shiling’s origami very much.

Hearing this, Liu Shiling didn’t even have time to respond before Xiao Mei happily reached for her hand and began pulling her towards the other children, asking, “Shiling, can you teach me how to fold paper figures?”

Liu Shiling looked back at her mom as she was dragged away by Xiao Mei with nothing she could do but go along with it.

Even though Liu Shiling had never been to the community’s leisure area, and even though she did not know the other children there, there was an old saying that seemed quite appropriate at this moment:

“Even though Sister is not in the ‘Jianghu’, the ‘Jianghu’ still contains tales of Sister.”

The kids in her community kindergarten who had been impressed by Liu Shiling’s skillful origami had spread her fame far and wide. Many of these children owned her origami works, which they showed off proudly.

Seeing the curious and eager faces of the children who had gathered around, if it were the old Little Fatty Girl, she would probably be soaring with pride by now.

Of course, Liu Shiling still felt a smidgen of pride. Yes, just a smidgen.

Unfortunately, they had no idea she was a “magician”.

Liu Shiling, unburdened by the pressures of being an idol, took a piece of A4 paper that one of the children had handed her and began to fold it. She deliberately slowed down her movements, providing instructions as she worked: “Align it here… unfold it like this, then fold it in… this way the weight will balance… the tail needs to be curled a bit here…”

After folding the paper into an airplane, Liu Shiling launched it into the air. The plane flew a distance, turned in a large arc and then flew back, landing securely in her hand.

The children around her gasped in astonishment and clapped their hands in unison at this sight.

A smile appeared on Liu Shiling’s face. She then handed the paper airplane to Xiao Mei.

The paper airplane’s ability to fly back was not a result of her using “magic” but the result of the many origami books she read and practiced with through the piece of “magic paper” given to her by Uncle Bald. She had come up with this special folding method. Anyone else could also make it by following her method.

Her automatic return paper airplanes flew farther and more stably than the ones taught in origami books. They turned larger arcs and looked more appealing.

Certainly, if other kids made them, they might not have elicited such a strong reaction. But she was Liu Shiling — the famed Origami Queen. Some star factor had to be accounted for.