Chapter 11
Inside the transparent coffin was a tank full of nutrient fluid that could preserve the body from decay. Even though four years had already passed, the woman’s body remained perfectly intact, as though she were truly only asleep.
No one knew about this, except for the little lion lying on the coffin.
Everyone thought that Yun Jian had been cremated four years ago and buried in the cemetery. In truth, what was inside that box was only a little soil from the garden, still carrying the fragrance of flowers and grass.
He had selfishly kept her by his side, thinking that someday they could be buried together.
Not on the main planet, but on the planet where they had first met.
He knew that, compared to the cold and lifeless cemetery on the main planet, she liked that place far more.
He had placed the coffin here for two reasons. First, because no one but himself would ever come in or out of this place. Second, because every time his spiritual power went out of control, seeing the face inside the coffin could calm him down a little.
When she was alive, she had been his stabilizer.
Even in death, she still was.
“Awuu.”
The little lion pushed the optical brain screen close to the sleeping woman’s face, one paw pointing at the pale-green-eyed little child on the screen, howling and mumbling nonstop.
Look, this is our little cub. His eyes are exactly the same as yours, especially, especially beautiful.
Once my spiritual power is completely stable, I’ll go see him.
…
Afraid that Tang Rong’s wrist and arm would get tired from holding such a full cup of water the whole time, the butler immediately suggested that they talk inside.
Although the courtyard was brightly lit, it was fully dark outside after all.
The servants carried the little fox inside and handed the birdcage over to the butler, but did not follow them in, instead remaining outside in the courtyard to wait.
Tang Rong carefully and steadily set the cup with the flower in it down on the table.
Once he had placed it down, he turned around and discovered that the little fox had already jumped onto the sofa and curled up there, while the butler had also placed the birdcage on the floating table in front of the sofa.
For Second Young Lady, staying inside the cage actually made her less nervous and more at ease.
Tang Rong paused, then silently found a spot relatively far away and sat down, not daring to get too close to the fluffy creatures.
Seeing this, the butler sat down beside Tang Rong.
Tang Rong suddenly asked, “Uncle, who’s the one raising the little bird?”
The butler glanced at the bird inside the cage and answered without hesitation, “Your sister.”
It was a brilliant answer—because it was not exactly a lie. The little bird really was his sister, and it also answered Tang Rong’s question.
The all-knowing system secretly gave him a thumbs-up.
Then the butler continued, “Its name is Xiao Qiu. She’s older than Xiao Rong too, so you can call her Big Sister Xiao Qiu.”
Tang Rong nodded, looked toward the little bird inside the cage, and obediently called out, “Big Sister Xiao Qiu.”
“Chiu.” The little bird happily lifted its tail feathers.
Although she had already experienced the feeling of being an older sister through Tang Hu, Tang Hu had always been the kind who was far too lively and sturdy from childhood to adulthood—the sort who would feel uncomfortable all over if he did not climb up on the roof and tear off a few tiles every other day. Sometimes when she heard Tang Hu call her “sis,” the vein at her temple would jump, because it always felt like nothing good was about to happen. He was completely different from the well-behaved and obedient Tang Rong. Being the older sister of a good little child was a first for her. It felt very fresh.
After watching the little bird for a while, Tang Rong’s gaze then fell onto the little fox, his eyes sparkling as he looked at it.
The little fox immediately understood what he meant.
—It was time for the post-dinner singing session.
Back on the ship, every day after meals, the little child would listen to it sing for a while, then watch it exercise and lose weight for a bit, and finally watch cartoons together until he got sleepy and fell asleep.
The little fox immediately stood up on the sofa, cleared its throat, and began humming away in soft little ying-ying tones.
This was also the first time Tang Qiu had heard her third younger brother sing this way in fox form. She could not help being a little dazed. Once she came back to herself, she also felt like laughing a little, but still did her best to hold it in, though her feathers trembled slightly from suppressing it.
Still… it was actually quite cute, and sounded very nice too.
If that recording were put inside the fox plush toy, little brother would definitely love it.
Once she got back, she would work overtime and hurry to make the plush.
…
After singing, the little fox exercised for a while as usual, running around and even doing backflips with great enthusiasm.
Tonight, once it got back, it was definitely going to weigh itself!
It had surely slimmed down!
Let’s see who would still dare call it fat then!
Its weight was obviously because it had nine tails. The weight of nine tails stacked together could not be counted as part of its real body weight.
Watching the energetic little fox dash about all over the place, Tang Rong suddenly could not hold back a yawn.
The butler lowered his gaze and asked, “Is Xiao Rong sleepy?”
Tang Rong blinked away the watery mist in his eyes and honestly nodded.
He had spent far too long riding in the car today. Although he had dozed off for a little while later on, he was still a bit tired.
Children naturally needed a lot of sleep. While it was not really that late yet, it was already perfectly fine to wash up and go to bed.
It was his first day home, and he had just entered a completely new environment. Getting a good rest was the most important thing.
The little fox also noticed the movement over here, stopped exercising, and looked over.
The butler immediately stood up and picked up the birdcage from the table, one hand holding the hook at the top and the other supporting the bottom to keep the cage from swaying and making the little bird uncomfortable.
“You should rest first. We can play again tomorrow.”
Seeing this, the little fox obediently walked over to the entryway with the chain at its neck held in its mouth. Once the butler opened the door, it was picked up into the arms of the servant waiting outside.
Tang Rong followed over too, seeing the little fox and little bird off.
Back on the junk planet, he had not really had any friends, but he knew that when friends came to your home as guests, you had to personally see them off when they left. Grandma had taught him many very good manners.
When he saw the servant take the birdcage, the little bird turned around inside it and looked at him. Tang Rong suddenly asked, “Uncle, does Big Sister Xiao Qiu always stay inside this cage?”
The butler froze for a moment, unsure why the little one was suddenly asking such a question. Conservatively, he gave a vague answer: “That’s right. The cage is the little bird’s home.”
Tang Rong’s brows unconsciously knitted together a little. “But the cage is so small. Wouldn’t it feel stuffy and not free inside? Would Big Sister Xiao Qiu want to go out?”
Only then did the butler understand what Tang Rong meant. Knowing he was a thoughtful and kind-hearted child, he patted his head and said with a smile, “Don’t worry. Home is a place to rest. If Big Sister Xiao Qiu wants to come in, she comes in. If she wants to go out, she goes out. She can open the cage door herself.”
Only then did Tang Rong feel relieved, and he broke into a sweet smile. “Then Big Sister Xiao Qiu should go out for fresh air more often, okay? If she stays in the cage all the time, she’ll get all stuffy and miserable.”
Staring at that especially healing smile, the little bird let out a slightly blank little chirp.
On the way back, the little fox kept ying-ing nonstop, while the little bird remained silent the whole time. Later, finding the little fox too noisy, she turned around and aimed her tail at it.
The little fox: “…”
The little fox was forced to shut its mouth.
At sixteen, it was already past the age when even dogs found you annoying, but in front of its biological older sister, no matter how old a bird got, she still found it annoying.
When they passed a fork in the road halfway through, the little fox returned to its own house and did not go to its sister’s place again.
It had not lived here for a long time, so it needed to properly sort out its things.
Since leaving Tang Rong’s place, Tang Qiu in little bird form had been carrying a heavy weight on her mind.
After returning home, the servant placed the cage holding her on the cabinet by the entrance, then left only after closing the door behind them.
—Because they feared that if their master’s spiritual power became unstable and they left the cage, they might lose control and indiscriminately harm the living beings around them, when the servants sensed that something was wrong with their condition, they would place both them and the cage inside the room and leave first. If nothing happened, they could free themselves. If something did happen, it would at least reduce casualties.
The little bird stood inside the cage for a while without moving, until about half a minute later, when the optical brain received a phone call.
It was from Father.
The little bird froze for a moment. After thinking about it, she still accepted the call.
“Qiuqiu, are you alright?” It was Father’s voice.
The little bird’s first reaction was not to answer his question, but rather… Father was actually using a human voice to talk to her!
That meant Father was no longer in spirit-form state and had successfully changed back into human form.
His spiritual power had been rampaging for so long—had it finally settled down?
“I’m fine. Are you feeling better?” the little bird replied through AI while deftly using her beak to open the cage door from the inside and slip out of the cage.
“Much better. After seeing Xiao Rong on the surveillance today, I immediately felt much better. But I’m still worried something unexpected might happen, so I want to observe a few more days. If there’s really no problem, then I’ll go see Xiao Rong,” Tang Zheng’en’s voice paused. “Are you really alright?”
As the little bird fluttered her wings, she continued replying through AI: “I’m really fine. I’m going to change clothes now, so I’ll hang up first, Dad.”
“Oh, alright. Call Dad before you go to sleep.”
“Mm.”
Once the call ended, Tang Zheng’en let out a soft sigh.
They only had this one daughter. As a father of the opposite sex, sometimes he truly did not know how to reach into her heart.
Every time it came to moments like this, he would end up thinking again that it would have been so good if his wife were still here.
…
Flying into the room, Tang Qiu changed back into her human form and slowly put on her nightclothes, while the conversation just now replayed over and over again in her mind.
She was twenty-five this year, nine years older than Tang Hu.
Unlike Tang Hu, who had left the main planet at twelve and run around everywhere with their little uncle, Tang Qiu rarely even left home to go anywhere else on the main planet.
Back when Mother was still alive, the family would regularly go traveling together, and Tang Qiu always went with them. Later, after Mother died, she never left home again.
This place was her home, but it was also her cage.
The cage door looked closed, but in truth she could open it herself at any moment and come and go freely.
She was the one who had kept herself “locked” in here all this time.
“Then Big Sister Xiao Qiu should go out for fresh air more often, okay? If she stays in the cage all the time, she’ll get all stuffy and miserable.”
The little child’s soft, sweet voice kept reverberating in her heart.
Dad and Mom had also often said similar things to her in the past, coaxing her to go outside because they were afraid she would stay at home too much and suffocate herself.
Later, after Mom died, Dad had the will but not the strength. And since she was already an adult, an independent individual, and also a girl, all Dad could do was endlessly indulge her and respect her choices.
She did not actually hate making friends. In the handcraft community, she had many online friends with similar interests, and she often exchanged ideas with them online. Hidden behind a screen and words, she would not feel quite so socially anxious.
She also loved watching live-action footage from different planets and had even bought a VR pod to watch scenery from all over the galaxy, drawing inspiration from it. But VR truly could not compare to seeing the real thing.
She knew that she was really just an ostrich in real life.
Should she… try opening the door?
…
Only after seeing the little bird and little fox disappear into the night did Tang Rong turn around and close the door.
The butler had been about to ask Tang Rong whether he wanted to go take a bath, when he saw that Tang Rong had already pattered over to the housekeeping robot and issued it a cleaning command.
In no time at all, the housekeeping robot cleaned the entire living room once over.
Although Tang Rong was sleepy, he still watched it cleaning with a serious face, looking every bit like a diligent little supervisor.
It had to be cleaned thoroughly, or else he might have an allergic reaction.
The butler gradually came to understand something.
—So Little Young Master had a cleanliness obsession.
Although when he first met Little Young Master, the child had indeed been filthy all over, he had still been so young and living alone on the junk planet. Just surviving had already been very difficult. There had simply been no extra energy left for keeping himself neat and tidy.
Now that he finally had the means, Little Young Master could finally stop suppressing himself and no longer force himself to endure it.
That was a good thing.
The butler immediately wrote this point down in his little notebook, and while he was at it, shared it in the family group chat of his employers.
That very night, a fully automatic animal washing-and-drying machine quietly appeared outside Tang Rong’s front door.
And in the Tang family group chat, a new message appeared, tagged to all members—
[New Tang family house rule: Before entering Xiao Rong’s house in spirit form, you must first wash and dry yourself clean at the door.]
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