Chapter 6
After the butler left, a cheerful system notification rang rapidly in Tang Rong’s mind: [You did so well just now! You didn’t give anything away at all. Host, you were amazing! You’ve totally got the talent to be a little actor!]
During this period of living together, Fluffy System 066 had secretly contacted a few childcare systems on its communications list and asked for some practical cub-raising tips. By now, praising little cubs had become second nature to it.
Tang Rong sat down on a small stool and watched the robot clean the room. He was so happy from being praised that he swung his little feet, then quietly asked the system in his mind, “What is a little actor?”
The system froze for a second.
It had forgotten that its host was still so young and did not understand many things…
With no other choice, the system could only do its best to explain it to him.
Tang Rong had never watched dramas or films acted by real people, but he had watched cartoons. Replacing the animated characters in his mind with real people acting them out was actually not hard to understand.
Using one example to explain several things, the system said: [Someone who acts is called an actor, someone who films is called a director, and someone who sings is called a singer.]
Tang Rong suddenly had an idea. “Is Xiao Hu-brother a singer?”
The system: […]
The system: [Not… yes… not exactly… ah, I guess yes and no. Just singing casually in private probably doesn’t count as being a proper singer. A singer should be the kind who sings very well, releases songs on public platforms, gets heard by lots of people, and is liked by lots of people.]
The system added: [And among singers, the ones who are especially, especially amazing are called the King or Queen of Song. The mother of that little fox cub in the cartoon is a Song Queen.]
Tang Rong blinked thoughtfully.
Heard by lots of people, liked by lots of people…
That evening, after dinner, while listening to the little fox humming softly, Tang Rong suddenly asked, “Will Xiao Hu-brother become a singer?”
The moment the words fell, both the butler and the little fox froze.
It was no wonder the human and the fox reacted so strongly.
In truth, when Tang Hu was little, he had already released songs before. He counted as a child singer who debuted at a young age. The songs from the cartoons Tang Rong often watched were in fact sung by Tang Hu when he was young.
But because of his identity and his damaged spiritual power, he was still somewhat different from an ordinary singer. At the very least, he could not freely appear in public or hold live concerts offline.
Still, just being able to keep singing the songs he liked had already made him very satisfied.
Back then, he had also often livestreamed himself singing through his optical brain, and his livestream account had quite a large number of followers.
After the sudden attack four years ago, he deleted that account while leaving the capital planet, and never appeared on screen to sing again.
The child singer from the past had quietly faded from everyone’s sight just like that.
And now, this tiny little cub had suddenly opened his mouth and asked whether fox-form him would become a singer. It was really… too subtle a question.
Of course, Tang Rong understood none of this. He simply innocently liked hearing the little fox sing, and had probably learned the word “singer” from cartoons.
There was also a fox cub in the cartoon who was good at singing.
Back then, little Tang Hu had even been invited to sing the fox cub’s songs in the cartoon, including the theme song, precisely because his spirit form was a nine-tailed fox, making him a perfect fit in every way.
Tang Rong was still waiting eagerly for an answer. The butler instinctively looked toward the little fox, but the fox lowered its small head and avoided the gazes cast their way.
Seeing this, the butler lowered his eyes slightly, then turned to Tang Rong with a faint smile and gave a small nod, offering an affirmative answer on the little fox’s behalf.
He could not be one hundred percent sure that Third Young Master would be able to pick up the music he loved again, but after observing him over the past few days, he felt the chances were actually quite high.
Because of Tang Rong’s sudden appearance, many things were already beginning to move in a better direction.
At the butler’s confirming nod, Tang Rong’s eyes curved into two little crescents with happiness.
He liked hearing Xiao Hu-brother sing. He also hoped that more people would hear Xiao Hu-brother sing and come to like him too. He hoped Xiao Hu-brother would become an amazing singer.
…
After watching cartoons a little longer and playing with toys in the children’s room for a while, Tang Rong washed up simply, changed into his pajamas, and obediently climbed into bed.
Ever since washing himself all nice and clean, Tang Rong no longer resisted sleeping in a clean, tidy, and comfortable bed.
The butler had noticed this and already had some guesses in his heart, though he did not remove that little nest, just in case Tang Rong occasionally wanted to lounge on it and play.
After staying here for these past few days, the furnishings in the room had clearly become the things that made Tang Rong feel most comfortable. Removing things from the room casually would only do more harm than good.
Seeing Tang Rong lie down obediently and close his eyes, the butler tucked in the blanket for him once again, even though it had already been tucked properly. Then, without a sound, he glanced at the various plush toys Tang Rong had lined up neatly at one side, turned off the little bedside lamp, and finally left the room softly, closing the door behind him.
Those plush toys had all been prepared for the young master. Most children that age would like them, and many would even want to hug them while sleeping.
But Tang Rong had only lined them up neatly to one side. He had never hugged them, nor taken any of them into bed to sleep with him.
He probably did not like them that much. That was what the butler thought.
Once they returned to the capital planet, he would try preparing more kinds for him.
After leaving the children’s room, the butler went straight to the room where the little fox was staying.
Because Third Young Master’s spiritual power was unstable and there was always the risk that he might lose control at any moment, every night the butler stayed in the same room with him so he could notice and deal with any sudden situation immediately.
Yet after several days had passed, Third Young Master’s spiritual power in his little fox form had remained quite stable the whole time.
When he pushed open the door, the first thing the butler saw was a lonely little fox head.
The little fox had its back to the door. In front of it floated the screen of an optical brain. Seven tails drooped and curled around it, while the other two wrapped into a “scarf” that supported its chin.
Only a dim little wall lamp was on in the room, which made the optical brain’s screen glow stand out all the more.
“What are you watching?” the butler asked as he walked closer.
The little fox gave no response, nor did it exit the optical brain screen or shut it off.
Through his lenses, the butler could clearly make out what was displayed.
It was a singing video. In the video was the Third Young Master when he was very young. Only young Tang Hu appeared on screen, but the presence of another person could be strongly felt.
The cub in the video was not looking at the camera. Instead, he was looking at the person holding it, humming and babbling in a childish little voice, while the person behind the camera was clearly encouraging and guiding him to keep singing.
That person did not appear in the video, yet her presence was overwhelming.
It was easy to guess who she was.
Madam.
Third Young Master’s mother.
“Wonderful.” At the end of the video, when the ending note faded away, a familiar female voice sounded from off camera. It was light and soft, like a dandelion that would scatter with one blow of the wind.
The little fox’s nose suddenly twitched, and then came the faint sound of a carefully suppressed inhale. Still, tears dampened the fur around its eyes.
This was something it had locked away inside a private folder on its optical brain. The password was the date it had recorded its first song.
Four years had passed, and it had never once dared to open it.
It had thought that after mentally preparing itself—and now that its younger brother had also been found—it would be braver.
But unexpectedly, it still could not stop the spread and growth of its emotions.
Besides this, there were many other photos and videos inside the folder, all connected to Mother.
The butler did not move any closer. He simply stood there and waited for the little fox to let it all out by itself.
At last, the quiet sobbing came to an end. The optical brain screen in front of the fox disappeared. The little fox then rolled over, belly facing upward, all four paws loosely curled, in a posture of complete surrender to whatever might be done to it.
This was the little fox’s usual pose for giving up and acting spoiled.
Only then did the butler go over and pick it up. He switched on a slightly brighter strip of light and used the baby tissues from the ship to wipe away the tear stains from its face.
After cleaning away the tears, he even blow-dried the fur on its face where it had gotten wet.
The little fox closed its eyes instinctively, only opening them again once all the fur had been dried.
The next second, the optical brain screen reappeared.
[I’ve decided that when we go back this time, I’m staying on the capital planet. I’m not leaving again.]
It was not an especially surprising decision.
“Good.”
Another line of words appeared on the screen:
[I want to stay with little brother and make sure no one bullies him ever again.]
“Good.”
Behind his glasses, the butler’s eyes narrowed into smiling crescents.
Third Young Master really had grown up.
…
As they drew closer to the capital planet, the surrounding planets became denser as well.
Places with stronger life activity naturally produced more interstellar garbage. Some of it was discharged unintentionally, but some was done on purpose.
Even though patrol ships went out every day to clear and handle it, there were still inevitably some that slipped through the cracks.
That night, in order to avoid a piece of interstellar garbage that had suddenly appeared and had not been picked up by radar in advance, the jade-colored spaceship gave a slight shake.
The little fox and the butler, both asleep, woke up at once.
The human and the fox both immediately checked the children’s room surveillance without a word. Only after seeing the little cub sleeping obediently in bed, still not awake, did they quietly let out a breath of relief.
Compared to the scraping collision the little fox’s ship had suffered a few days earlier when docking, tonight’s shaking was more like an extremely faint aftershock. The impact was not too serious.
Although the shaking did not wake Tang Rong from sleep, it still affected him a little.
That night, Tang Rong dreamed.
On his first night aboard the ship, he had also dreamed because he had slept poorly. The dream had been scattered and messy, and his sleep had been broken as well. When he woke up, he had forgotten everything.
Later, after washing himself clean and sleeping in a warm blanket, he had not dreamed again.
But when he woke from tonight’s dream, he still remembered it.
In the dream, Grandma had once again made him a cloth doll exactly the same as the one before and given it to him. She gently stroked his head and told him not to lose it again this time.
The cloth doll was a little snow leopard with a long tail. Every time little Tang Rong slept, he would wrap the little snow leopard’s tail around his wrist. That made him feel safer, and he slept more soundly.
As for why Grandma had made the doll in the shape of a snow leopard—one of Grandma’s old pieces of clothing, too worn out to be patched anymore, had originally been white, covered in patches and stitching marks of different sizes in black. A snow leopard had that same kind of coloring.
Of course, many little animals had similar coloring too, but after Tang Rong drew lots, the final choice had been the snow leopard.
In Tang Rong’s heart, there was no cloth doll better than the little snow leopard, and nothing could replace its place. That was why he had no real interest in the plush toys prepared in the room.
In the dream, Tang Rong eagerly took the little snow leopard into his arms and rubbed his small face against it fondly, but Grandma suddenly disappeared.
Holding the little snow leopard, he searched and searched for a very long time, but never saw Grandma again.
When the dream ended and he woke up, Tang Rong’s vision was blurred by tears. Feeling aggrieved, he curled into a little ball, but his arms were empty.
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