novelMetamorphosed into wind
| ← Ch.028 | Ch.030 → |
Translator: reiyu, Editors: Pyrrhae, Celtic, Baumkuchen
When the eyes of the human and the cat met, the cat keenly realized that this human could see it. A hint of joy surfaced in its desolate eyes. It eagerly pounced towards Lin Feiran and carefully bit at his pant leg. Then, it turned around and took two steps before it stopped to turn its head and look at Lin Feiran with an imploring gaze. The cat meowed loudly a couple of times, then urgently repeated the same actions over again.
It seems to want me to follow it? Lin Feiran thought. Checking his phone, he found that there were still six minutes left before class began, so he stood up and followed.
While he wasn't afraid of this cat, he was afraid of other ghosts. He had to be careful where he let himself look, so he locked his gaze upon the cat. Ultimately, this cat's expression was too sorrowful and Lin Feiran couldn't bring himself to pretend he hadn't seen it. Thankfully, it was daytime. Most ghosts seemed to not like daylight, so even though there were many ghosts around, most of them were just lying on the ground, fast asleep. The old gentleman with half a head, who saw Lin Feiran as a key target for supervision, seemed to have run off to inspect another class and had not appeared.
Lin Feiran took a deep breath, keeping himself from carelessly looking around.
Gu Kaifeng, seeing that Lin Feiran's expression was somewhat strange, took several large strides to catch up with him, then asked, "Where are you going?"
"Something came up. You don't have to follow me, " Lin Feiran replied vaguely. He carefully kept a safe distance from Gu Kaifeng, worried that if he accidentally absorbed Yang energy he would not be able to see the cat.
Gu Kaifeng didn't say anything, and merely followed from a distance. He stuck both hands in his pockets, his demeanor leisurely, as if he was only going on a walk. Lin Feiran didn't send him away. After all, having Gu Kaifeng nearby made him more at ease.
The cat ran nimbly ahead, occasionally turning its head to confirm that Lin Feiran was keeping up. Lin Feiran followed it to the entrance of the school building. Seeing at the curtain of rain outside, his footsteps halted.
Just then, Wang Zhuo ran into the building while closing an umbrella, with a bag of drinks and snacks in hand. It looked like he was so hungry he hadn't been able to wait for lunch.
"You came at the right time. I'm confiscating this." Gu Kaifeng immediately went up to Wang Zhuo and took his umbrella.
Wang Zhuo shook the bag in his hand."What are you going to buy? If you're hungry, eat some of mine."
"I'm not buying anything, " Gu Kaifeng said as he ran to catch up with Lin Feiran, holding the umbrella.
Wang Zhuo made fun of the two of them out of habit: "Taking a walk in the rain with your wife, how romantic."
"......" Lin Feiran wasn't sure if he should be pitying Wang Zhuo, who knew nothing, or himself, who knew too much.
"You single dog, you'd better learn from me!" Gu Kaifeng shouted to Wang Zhuo from afar as he opened the umbrella for Lin Feiran. With one hand stuck in his pocket, the other hand holding the umbrella, and his uniform jacket unbuttoned even on this cold day, one might suspect that he was deliberately trying to look dashing. However, he genuinely was dashing.
Lin Feiran couldn't keep himself from turning his head to glance up at him. Gu Kaifeng immediately shot him a smile, his handsome features glowing with youthful vigor. The cherry red of the umbrella reflected upon his cheeks, the glow making it look as though peach blossoms were suddenly blooming all around.
Lin Feiran fell into a trance for a moment, his mind like a still pool of spring water that was stirred by the passing of a sudden wind. He quickly locked his gaze back onto the cat, his mind in some disarray.
Just then, Gu Kaifeng asked in a low voice, "Isn't your husband especially handsome?"
"What nonsense are you saying!" Lin Feiran, who had never imagined that he would have a "husband" in this life, was so shocked he flinched.
This could be considered the "impact of the tiger body"!
(T/N: This expression refer to a protagonist's power of getting other people to like them (including romantically) or submit to them. )
Gu Kaifeng let out a tsk, "Still won't admit it? When you looked at me just now, your eyes lit up."
The unspeakable charming and gentle thoughts that Lin Feiran had been having a moment ago were now scared into the stratosphere by the school idol Gu, who had been too forceful. Stony-faced, he tried to twist words and force logic, responding, "My eyes are naturally bright."
Bright and expressive!
While they were talking, Lin Feiran had followed the cat all the way to the back of the school building. Usually, no students came here, and the weeds at the base of the perimeter fencing had not been cleared in a long time. The chilly rain accumulated on the ground, forming many small and shallow puddles. The cat's spirit meowed a couple of times then darted into a patch of overgrown grass. Walking over, Lin Feiran saw the corpse of a familiar cat. Beside the corpse, four tiny kittens were curled up in their mother's cold embrace, in a futile attempt to hide from the even colder rain. An especially small kitten was still nosing around the cat's abdomen in dissatisfaction, looking for a mouthful of milk to drink.
"Fuck, " Gu Kaifeng cursed in a low voice, then turned and asked Lin Feiran, "How did you know there were cats here?"
Lin Feiran couldn't explain, so he just said nothing.
The four tiny things were exposed to the rain, just like that. No wonder the cat was so anxious that she ran to the classroom to drag someone over. The cat's corpse was covered in markings like she had been bitten and clawed, and there was an infected wound on her stomach. Perhaps she had incurred the injuries while fighting other stray animals for food or territory.
The cat's spirit stood beside her own corpse, watching her body with her beautiful blue eyes opened wide. Some confusion lingered in their depths.
Time was short. Lin Feiran did not look closely at the cat's corpse; he only wanted to warm the four kittens which had been drenched by the cold rain. He began to undo the buttons of his uniform jacket, intending to wrap the kittens in it to carry them back to the dorm. But as he was halfway through unbuttoning it, Gu Kaifeng shoved the umbrella at him and said, "Let me, " and took off his own jacket. Because he hadn't done up his buttons, he was able to take it off very quickly.
After removing it, Gu Kaifeng picked up the four kittens and put them in his jacket, then wrapped it into a ball and cradled it to his chest. He said, "I'll make the trip back to the dorm. You go to class first."
"Give it to me, I'll take them, " Lin Feiran said as he tried to snatch up the bundle of kittens.
After bringing the kittens to the dorm, they would still have to be settled in. At the very least, they needed to be wiped dry, given a nest, and given something to eat. But the class bell was about to ring, and this meant that whoever took the cats back would most likely end up skipping class.
Gu Kaifeng smiled and said, "You go to class and tell the teacher that I have a stomachache. It's Chinese literature next, and the Chinese teacher doesn't scold me. Be good."
Lin Feiran silently encouraged him: "......"
Because Lin Feiran's grades were good overall and it was only in this subject that he did poorly, the Chinese teacher kept an especially close eye on him. But Gu Kaifeng, whose Chinese grades were good and who also had beautiful handwriting, was very well-liked by the teacher. An excellent student who skipped class and a poor student who skipped class would certainly get different treatment.
"Then, here, take the umbrella." Lin Feiran held out the handle of the umbrella to Gu Kaifeng's empty hand."Don't catch a cold."
"You keep it." Gu Kaifeng refused the umbrella."Big brother runs fast. I'll have reached the dorms in half a minute."
As he said this, the image of Gu Kaifeng running the 4×400 relay at the sports meet flashed through Lin Feiran's mind. At that time, Lin Feiran had tripped and fallen, making his class fall behind. Later, it was all thanks to Gu Kaifeng that they were able to keep their place on the podium. As a result, his pride had been a little hurt, and his jealousy of Gu Kaifeng had begun to fester. But now when Lin Feiran remembered that scene again, he had no negative feelings towards it. In fact, a bewildering thread of pride known as "Gu Kaifeng runs fast and is good at sports" gushed forth uncontrollably from his heart.
Gu Kaifeng was turning around to run when he suddenly turned back again. Beckoning to Lin Feiran with a finger, a serious expression on his face, he said, "Come over."
Lin Feiran thought something had happened to the kittens. He unguardedly stepped closer to him, his eyes watching the small bundle in Gu Kaifeng's arms.
"I want a reward." Gu Kaifeng revealed a wicked smile, his serious expression falling to pieces in a second. Before Lin Feiran could react, he bowed his head at lightning speed and lightly pressed his lips to Lin Feiran's cheek.
His sneak attack a success, Gu Kaifeng didn't wait for Lin Feiran's reaction; he spun around and started running in the direction of the dormitories. In the blink of an eye, his tall and thin silhouette vanished into the curtain of rain.
Lin Feiran's heart pounded violently several times. He covered the place Gu Kaifeng had kissed with his hand, and turned his head to look at the cat's dead body.
Now that his Yin-Yang eyes had been suppressed by Yang energy, Lin Feiran could only crouch down and stretch his hand towards the place the cat's spirit had waited. He estimated the position of the cat's head and gently caressed the air with his hand, comforting tenderly, "My roommate brought your kittens back to the dorm. The school doesn't allow us to keep cats, so we'll have to find someone to adopt them. But you don't have to worry. They'll be all right."Lin Feiran paused, then said thoughtfully, "... But you don't even understand what I'm saying."
Lin Feiran continued to caress the air beside the cat's corpse and said, "Meow meow meow."
His eyes were clear and bright and his black pupils distinct. His gaze, pure and unpolluted, was like a submerged stone standing firm in a clear stream. He really wasn't good at hiding his feelings, so his pity and sympathy were both honestly written on his face.
Just then, the bell rang for class. Lin Feiran intended to go to class at first, but then thinking for a moment, decided to place the open umbrella over the cat's corpse to shelter it from the rain. He said, "I'll come back at noon to find a place to bury you. Don't worry."
As Lin Feiran finished speaking, he unexpectedly felt an exceedingly strange sensation at his ankles.
He was very sure that his Yin-Yang eyes weren't active then, but his ankles, which were slightly exposed due to squatting, definitely felt a touch of warmth, though it had vanished almost instantly. That touch was soft and furry, as if a cat had brushed past.
At the same time, a cat's soft cry sounded by Lin Feiran's ear. Lin Feiran whipped around and saw that the air above the ground faintly held the outline of a cat, as if a cat were covered by an invisibility cloak. This transparent cat ran several steps forward then instantly metamorphosed into wind, melting into the chilly late-autumn rain...
This was the moment when a departed spirit's final behest was fulfilled, allowing it to enter the cycle of reincarnation.
Lin Feiran gazed at the spot where the transparent cat had vanished completely and felt a little upset and confused. He stood frozen in place for a moment and it wasn't until he heard the sound of students calling "Good morning, teacher" in unison from a first-floor classroom that he remembered the bell for Chinese class had rung. He still had to ask for a leave for Gu Kaifeng. In a fluster and panic, he broke into a run to the school building's front door.
Lin Feiran ran all the way to his classroom on the fourth-floor. By the time he arrived, he was several minutes late. In a low voice, he told the Chinese teacher that Gu Kaifeng had suddenly gotten a stomachache and that he was late from taking care of him. Indeed, once Gu Kaifeng's name was offered up, the Chinese teacher's expression softened, and she only chastised Lin Feiran briefly before telling him to go to his seat.
Halfway through class, Gu Kaifeng sent Lin Feiran a text: "Is baby in class?"
Lin Feiran: "... What nonsense."
| ← Ch. 028 | Ch. 030 → |