Allergic To Furry Things But Can Pet Them Mentally – CH21

Chapter 21

Shen Muhan froze completely, almost suspecting that his ears had started hearing things.

The twin girls were equally shocked and gave Tang Rong another thorough look from head to toe.

Long hair, skinny, even smaller than they were—he was actually a boy?!

Only Bai Tu, who was still clutching his carrot, had recognized from the beginning that Tang Rong was a boy. He had an older brother whose spirit form was an Angora rabbit and who also wore his hair long—even longer than Xiao Rong’s—so he had never instinctively used hair length as a way to judge gender.

Teacher Tangyuan, who had been quietly watching from the side, could not help laughing helplessly. She quickly came over to the children and explained, “Xiao Rong is a boy. Some boys develop later than girls, so they may look a little smaller. Boys can have long hair too.”

In this day and age, society was very tolerant regarding gender and orientation. Same-sex couples could also legally marry, so boys wearing long hair and girls cutting theirs short was no big deal. In fact, on some planets, one local custom was for both men and women to wear their hair long.

Now that even the teacher had come to verify Tang Rong’s gender, Shen Muhan finally broke free from his own stunned disbelief.

The child who liked little snow leopards… really was a boy.

Not a girl. A boy.

Shen Muhan did not know how to describe what he was feeling right now. The fingers holding that pale blue little flower curled slightly, while certain assumptions in his mind were abruptly overturned, leaving his thoughts blank.

“Alright then,” Luo Xing blinked and held her sister’s hand, “boys and girls should keep some distance. Since Xiao Rong is a boy, then he can’t join our sisters’ group anymore.”

At this age, children had already begun to form a basic awareness of gender.

Tang Rong nodded. As a boy, he was not especially interested in joining a girls’ sisters’ group anyway.

He kept his hair long simply because that was the habit he had formed from living on the junk planet since childhood. The junk planet was cold all year round, and longer hair kept him warmer. He was also already used to his hair being this length and did not want to cut it.

Suddenly, Luo Xing took a little flower out of her pocket and handed it to Tang Rong. “But Xiao Rong’s hair is really pretty. It suits flowers. This one is for you.”

There were many flowers in the courtyard, and because this was a virtual environment, the plants here were all imagined, ownerless, and could “grow back” at any time. Naturally, the little children could not resist picking them—especially the girls who loved pretty things.

Luo Xing and Luo Yue both already had flowers in their hair. This one had originally been meant as a gift for “girl” Tang Rong to welcome “her” into their sisters’ group. Although now they knew Tang Rong’s true gender and could no longer invite him, the gift could still be given.

“Thank you, big sister.” Tang Rong obediently accepted it and, copying what they had done, tucked it beside his ear.

The system immediately praised him: [So pretty!]

Tang Rong happily swung one little foot.

He had not dared touch the flower the little bird gave him, afraid of triggering an allergic reaction, but the flower the little classmate gave him could finally be accepted directly and even worn on his body.

Off to the side, Shen Muhan, still holding his own flower: “…”

Someone else had once again beaten him to it.

Shen Muhan shattered for a second time.

But he also finally realized that whether Xiao Rong was a girl or a boy, he still wanted to give him the flower in his hand.

He wanted to become friends with the child who liked little snow leopards, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the other child’s gender.

But someone had already given Xiao Rong a flower. If he gave his now, he would not be the first… and it did not seem to mean much anymore.

Just as Shen Muhan was pursing his lips and clutching the flower, lost in regret and self-reproach, a voice suddenly spoke.

“Big Brother Xiao Han, this one is super tasty!”

Shen Muhan froze and followed Tang Rong’s gaze down to the flower in his own hand.

Tasty… flower… how do you eat it?

Seeing the confusion written in Shen Muhan’s eyes, Tang Rong immediately hopped down from the swing and came over. He took the flower from Shen Muhan’s hand, plucked off the stem and stamens, and held it up to his mouth.

“Big Brother Xiao Han, sip sip.”

Sip… sip sip…

Shen Muhan stayed dazed, but under the eager gaze of the child standing so close to him, he obediently opened his mouth, caught the flower with his lips, and instinctively sucked at it a little.

The next second, his sapphire-like eyes lit up instantly.

Sweet.

“Isn’t it tasty?” Tang Rong let go of the flower and looked at him with a smile.

Shen Muhan nodded blankly.

It really was delicious.

It was a floral sweetness, not cloying at all.

It was probably nectar of some kind. He had read about it in books and had tasted prepared flower honey before, but had never eaten it directly from the flower itself.

…What a novel experience.

“Tasty? What’s tasty?” The chubby little boy Qi Fu immediately caught the word he was interested in and toddled over on his short little legs, curious.

Hearing this, Tang Rong looked around once, tossed out a quick “Wait for me,” and then pattered off again, coming back with a bunch more flowers and plants.

Plants were not only good for making medicine and curing illness—some of them tasted quite nice too. Back on the junk planet, the best snacks Tang Rong had were these free plants. He knew which ones could be eaten, which could not, and which ones tasted good.

Before long, all the little children were sipping away.

Teacher Tangyuan, watching from the side, was completely stunned. Tang Rong even handed a few flowers to her too. She immediately accepted them and looked up the information on each one, only to discover that they truly were all edible. Some contained pure sweet nectar, while others had a tart-sweet juice.

As he ate, Qi Fu looked at Tang Rong with worshipful admiration and said, “Xiao Rong, you’re amazing. You actually know so many tasty plants.”

Tang Rong smiled a little shyly.

To him, these were all just common knowledge. They were not anything especially amazing and did not feel worthy of such praise.

Still, he did not say any of that out loud.

He liked being praised.

At the side, Shen Muhan was absentmindedly holding the flower in his mouth, but all his attention remained fixed on Tang Rong.

The child who liked little snow leopards was not only kind, he also knew so many things.

He was different from every other child Shen Muhan had ever met before.

He liked him.

He wanted to become very, very good friends with him.

…

On the first day of school, classes ended a little earlier.

Seeing the little snow leopard inside the learning pod open his eyes, Han Zhi set down the scarf she had been knitting, opened the pod, and picked him up.

The little snow leopard obediently let his mother scoop him into her arms, belly facing upward as he nestled comfortably against her, the tip of his tail swaying lightly.

“How did your first day of kindergarten feel? Did things go well with that child who likes little snow leopards?” Han Zhi asked.

The little snow leopard did not answer directly. Instead, he opened his optical brain screen and showed her the extra friend now added to his list.

“Xiao Rong,” Han Zhi read aloud the name of the new friend, surprise flashing through her eyes. “Is that Tang Rong?”

Naturally, she knew the information of every child in her son’s class, including all of their names.

But if she remembered correctly, Tang Rong was a boy—the youngest son of Teacher Yun Jian.

The little snow leopard let out a “miaowu” to confirm it, then proudly lifted his little head.

He had deliberately waited until every other child had logged out of their learning pods before adding Xiao Rong on the optical brain. He was also the only child on the first day of school who had successfully added Xiao Rong as a friend.

This time, he was absolutely not going to let anyone else beat him to it again.

Just then, the teacher uploaded a few photos into the parents’ group.

Han Zhi immediately opened her optical brain to look through them, and only then realized that she had misunderstood—she had mistaken the long-haired child her son described for a girl.

Though, looking at how tiny and delicate the child was, combined with that not-short hair, it really was easy to mistake him for a girl.

The little snow leopard in her arms also quickly rolled over and curled up there, admiring the photos together with her.

As she looked at the pale green eyes of the little child in the photos, where he was sticking close to her son, Han Zhi could not help going slightly absent-minded, as though through those eyes she was seeing someone she had known long ago.

“Miaowu.”

“Aow.”

“Miao-ao-ao.”

The little snow leopard in her arms used both paws and tail at once, excitedly showing off to his mother just how good his relationship with Xiao Rong already was.

In every single picture, Xiao Rong was sticking close to him!

Han Zhi smiled and rubbed the little snow leopard, who kept wriggling in her arms. Then, suddenly remembering something, she murmured, “Come to think of it, Xiao Rong also lives in Eden.”

The little snow leopard froze in place.

A few seconds later, he quickly lifted one paw and excitedly tapped two lines of text onto his mother’s optical brain screen—

I want to see Xiao Rong.

He likes little snow leopards.

After typing, the little snow leopard’s tail began wagging rapidly. He rubbed himself all over his mother’s arms as though urging her.

Xiao Rong liked little snow leopards.

If he saw him in little snow leopard form, then he would definitely like him even more.

Han Zhi froze. She understood that by “see,” he meant meeting in the real world. Her first instinct was to refuse, because they could not casually let others know about their son’s snow leopard form. But then she thought again—if Tang Rong was simply not told that the little snow leopard was Shen Muhan, then there would not really be any problem, right? If it was just one meeting, it seemed like it might not matter. Besides, that child liked snow leopards so much.

Their son had only just managed to make a friend. Now that he wanted to meet that friend offline, she truly could not bear to stop him.

Just then, Shen Chuanqiong came back with a robot carrying dishes.

The food had been prepared by cooks from the imperial palace and delivered over. The place where the little snow leopard lived did not allow outsiders to come and go freely, so ordinarily only two trusted death guards were responsible for his care. Once the little snow leopard grew a bit older, he no longer allowed them to accompany him, spending his days alone reading and playing until his parents finished working and came to keep him company.

Today, both of them had come in person to stay with him, so they had dismissed the guards and had them wait outside the courtyard. Once the food arrived, Shen Chuanqiong personally went with the robot to pick it up.

There was no helping it—neither of them had any talent for cooking. It was not that they could not cook at all, but the taste was painfully average. Since the family was eating together, of course it was better to have something more elaborate.

At that moment, the little snow leopard had no interest in food whatsoever and was busy merrily miaowu-ing and aowu-ing in excitement.

He wanted to see Xiao Rong, he wanted to see Xiao Rong, he wanted to see Xiao Rong.

“What’s going on?” Shen Chuanqiong asked.

While smoothing the fur of the little snow leopard in her arms, Han Zhi gave him a brief explanation.

Shen Chuanqiong listened quietly all the way through, then fell silent for a few seconds.

“Then let him go see him. It just so happens that it’s about time for us to pay a visit to the Tang family anyway.”

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