Chapter 28
The cotton doll stood on a tiny patch of concrete at the base of the wall, raising its small head to look around. But its current line of sight was far too low; it could only see a tiny sliver of the distant scene through the branches of the bushes.
So, so many steps—
So, so many humans—
A so, so very large courtyard—
Mm! It was what Cotton had seen before!
But now, the problem arose.
How was Cotton supposed to get over there?
In distress, it rubbed its cheeks with its small round hands: Cotton can’t walk around in the open outside, human will see me!
Its keeper had said that was very dangerous.
The flower bed stretched out for quite a distance, and at the corner at the far end, it happened to connect with a set of lower steps.
The cotton doll scratched its head, looking at the plants before it that stood who-knows-how-many times taller than itself.
This place was completely different from the garden its keeper took it to; it wasn’t kept as neat by a keeper, nor was it as pretty, looking like it could easily get Cotton dirty.
But… this patch of bushes grows so lush, the branches crisscrossing—it looks like… it can block Cotton’s tiny figure very well.
…Then Cotton will just be a little careful?
As long as Cotton is careful enough and moves lightly enough, maybe Cotton won’t get too dirty… right?
Mm! Cotton is so smart! Coming up with such a great idea!
Promptly firing itself up with courage, it held onto a sturdier bush branch with both small hands, tentatively taking a tiny step forward with a short leg, its toe lightly tapping into the soft soil on the ground—
Then, it lowered its head and took a look.
Its originally pure-white, clean short leg was instantly stained with a small, conspicuous patch of brownish-brown dirt.
The cotton doll’s small face collapsed immediately.
This is not quite what Cotton imagined…
It stared at that bit of dirt for several seconds, and then, as if making a monumental decision, resolutely raised its head, no longer looking down at its leg.
…Forget it, Cotton will pretend it didn’t see this time.
As long as Cotton doesn’t look down, it will pretend it doesn’t exist.
The cotton doll found a perfect, self-deceiving excuse with effortless ease, instantly setting its mind at peace.
Picking its way through the gaps with relatively sparse foliage under the cover of the bushes, it began traversing forward slowly yet stubbornly like a tiny cat that had just learned to survive in the wild—both curious and timid.
The world inside the bushes was endlessly novel to the cotton doll.
The leaves were lush and green, glinting in the sunlight filtering through the gaps. As the cotton doll moved forward slowly, it couldn’t help leaning in out of curiosity to observe.
Why were some leaves round, some leaves sharp, and some not green at all, but half yellow and half green instead…
There was even a leaf that looked… dusty and gray?
The cotton doll extended a small round hand, carefully touching that “dusty and gray” leaf.
As a result, the spot on that leaf touched by its hand actually lost its “dusty gray” color, revealing the original deep green beneath, while its own small round hand got “stained with color” instead.
Eek!
Startled, the cotton doll jerked its hand back hastily. Looking at its dirty hand, its cat-like mouth parted in anger.
It quickly rubbed its hand against its clothes, and seeing that the color on its hand had lightened substantially, it looked at that leaf that had “framed” it with quite a bit of resentment:
Vicious leaf!
Dirty itself, and wants to get Cotton dirty too!
Cotton is not playing with you anymore!
Puffing up its cheeks in a huff, the cotton doll bypassed that area and continued forward.
Before it had walked very far, its line of sight was firmly captured by a cluster of moving tiny black dots again.
As it continued forward, its gaze remained fixed on those moving tiny black dots.
A swarm of ants was working together to transport food they had managed to find with great difficulty, entirely oblivious to this suddenly appearing “giant creature,” with several ants even nimbly bypassing the cotton doll’s foot that had landed beside their route of march.
Drawing closer slowly, the cotton doll stared unblinkingly with its golden eyes at this magical spectacle: So there are such tiny creatures in the world~
It watched for a moment, then suddenly realized it seemed to be blocking their path.
And so, taking careful steps, it took a wide stride, holding onto a low branch nearby to steady its body. Toward that cluster of tiny black dots still buried in hard work, it waved its small round hand gently:
Keep going! Cotton won’t disturb you guys!
The cotton doll walked for a good while longer, when the path that had been straight suddenly curved into a wide arc, and so, so many colorful flowers appeared in its line of sight.
Woah—
The cotton doll’s eyes transformed into stars in an instant: (???).
Hesitating for a second, it still couldn’t resist its curiosity about the flowers, flailing its short legs to shuffle over.
The flower bed featured a slightly raised outer perimeter built with bricks. To the cotton doll, this was like a small hill that needed to be climbed.
Using both hands and feet, it exerted quite a bit of effort before clumsily climbing up.
A ring of low, pale-yellow little flowers appeared clearly before its eyes, the sunlight filtering through the petals, accentuating the flowers’ beauty.
Involuntarily extending a small round hand, it wanted to gently touch them, yet something proved faster than its movement—a fluffy paw featuring pink pads reached over from the side, lightly fiddling with that swaying small yellow flower with an air of casual elegance.
Confused, the cotton doll twisted its round head to look to its side.
Suddenly, it met a pair of green eyes squinting slightly in the sunlight, shining like gems.
A round, fluffy cat head tilted sideways to look at it as well, letting out a “Meow~” at it, then raised that paw that had fiddled with the flower to give it a lick.
This cat “senior” on campus was fed so well it looked exceptionally sturdy. Looking at this “foreign species” that had suddenly appeared in its territory, it seemed somewhat disdainful.
—Its uneven, multi-colored white “fur” clearly failed to meet the cat “senior’s” aesthetic standards.
Elegantly raising that paw that had just fiddled with the flower, it licked it unhurriedly, grooming its own fur with grace.
The cotton doll was clearly left staring in a daze: (o).
Once the cat “senior” had groomed itself impeccably, it discovered that the dirty little thing in front of it was still staring at it.
After a moment, it let out an impatient meow, stepping out in a standard feline gait, lightly drawing two steps closer until it stood before the cotton doll:
“Meow meow~”—Looks so weird.
“Meow~”—So dirty all over, too.
“Meow~”—Forget it, considering how tiny you are.
“Meow meow meow~”—This meow will show mercy and help lick your fur clean.
Watching that fluffy big head draw near, the cotton doll’s golden eyes were filled with complete bewilderment, not knowing what this fluffy creature was trying to do…
Right as the cat extended its paw, a crisp, pleasant female voice drifted over from not far away:
“Senior!”
“Time to eat—”
“There are canned treats today, okay?~~~”
With a swish, in the blink of an eye, the fluffy, chubby creature before the cotton doll had nimbly leaped down from the flower bed, dashing over to the source of the voice in a few bounds, affectionately rubbing its fluffy head against the person’s lower leg.
“Alright, alright, I know you’ve been waiting anxiously,” the female voice carried a doting laugh as she squatted down, carefully placing the opened tin on the ground. “Eat slowly.”
The cat “senior” buried its head and took a few bites, then suddenly remembered that weird-looking little thing—skinny and small, looking dirty, it must have been hungry for a long time.
As the boss of this territory, it felt a responsibility to look out for the “weak.”
And so, it turned its head toward the direction of the flower bed and let out a few meows.
“Meow meow~”—Little thing, come eat!
The cotton doll didn’t understand cat language at all. It only saw the fluffy creature meowing toward its direction.
And, more importantly, there was a human outside right now!
Its keeper had said it couldn’t be seen by humans!
It shrank back into the bushes immediately, hiding itself even better.
“Meow meow!”—Hurry up! Otherwise this meow will eat it all!
The girl feeding the cat looked toward the flower bed along the cat’s line of sight, utterly perplexed: “What’s wrong, Senior? Is there something over there? A little bug? Or did you hide your toy over there again?”
She patted the cat’s head soothingly: “I’ll go check it out. You eat slowly.”
No sooner had her words landed than footsteps approached the spot where the cotton doll was hiding.
Oh no, oh no!
The human was coming over!
Panicking, the cotton doll was at a loss for what to do. Seeing a human hand part the cover around it, it suddenly recalled what its keeper had said—”Just be a normal cotton doll that doesn’t move or speak.”
With a soft pat, the cotton doll fell flat on its back.
.
“Oh my gosh!” The girl let out a gasp of surprise, filled with clear astonishment and heartache.
She carefully parted the branches and leaves, picking up the tiny figure lying in the flower bed and holding it in her palm.
“How could a cotton doll be out here?! And it got so dirty…”
Her tone was filled with confusion and pity, as if seeing an abandoned, uncared-for baby on the street.
Using her fingers, she gently picked off the crushed leaves and grass clippings stuck to the cotton doll’s body, and patted off those obvious clumps of dirt. Seeing gray marks on the doll’s cheeks, she wiped them with extreme gentleness using the pad of her thumb.
“Baby, whose home do you belong to? How did you fall into a place like this all by yourself?” she asked softly, as if coaxing a little baby.
Cotton cannot speak!
Cotton is just an ordinary, motionless cotton doll right now!
It remained completely still, its cat-like mouth fixed in a slightly upward-curving arc, its tuft of hair swaying gently along with the human’s picking fingers.
The girl looked around, but the vicinity of the flower bed was completely deserted. She looked back down at the doll in her hand, appearing somewhat hesitant over whether to leave it where it was to wait for its owner, or take it away first.
Right at that moment, another voice rang out: “Lin Zhi—”
“Our class’s warmup match is about to start. Let’s go.”
Another girl’s voice urged from not far away.
The girl holding Cotton was actually that human girl named Lin Zhi!
That “model keeper” who treated the chestnut doll gently and received a high score from it!
The cotton doll felt a wave of pleasant surprise. It had been far too nervous earlier to dare look at the human before it; only now did it dare to secretly flash its golden eyes.
“Coming, coming!” Lin Zhi responded, looking down at the cotton doll in her hand again. “I don’t know who this belongs to either. I’ll keep it with me for now, and later I’ll ask at the lost and found, or make an announcement over the PA system.”
Holding the cotton doll in her hand, she ran toward her friend: “I’m here.”
“Huh?” The other girl pointed at the cotton doll that had appeared out of thin air in her hand, “What’s this?”
Lin Zhi let out a sigh, her tone laced with a bit of helplessness and heartache: “I don’t know whose baby this is. It fell into the flower bed over there and got all dirty. I thought it looked so pitiful, so I brought it along first. Later I’ll find a place to clean it up, take a clear photo, and post it to the lost and found.”
“Let me take a look.”
The cotton doll felt itself handed into another person’s hands, and then the girl held it up to examine it meticulously, praising: “Woah, the craftsmanship is so exquisite! Look at the texture of this hair and eyes, and the embroidery on this little outfit.”
“This one clearly looks like a custom model. These big golden eyes are way too pretty!”
“Right,” Lin Zhi agreed with a nod, a touch of dissatisfaction toward the “negligent keeper” involuntarily creeping into her tone. “With such an adorable doll, if I lost it, I’d go crazy with worry. I don’t know which doll-mom was so careless.”
“Alright, alright,” the friend handed the doll back to Lin Zhi, comforting her, “Maybe its doll-mom is going crazy looking for it right now too. Let’s take it to clean up first, then hurry and find a way to locate the owner.”
Held in Lin Zhi’s hand once more, the cotton doll’s line of sight swayed along with the two girls’ footsteps.
It had been picked up by Lin Zhi—the gentle girl who loved cotton dolls.
Was this a good thing or a bad thing?
Plus, Lin Zhi knew its keeper.
In that case…
Wouldn’t its keeper find out that it had secretly run out, caused trouble, gotten so dirty, and even been picked up by another human?
