Chapter 29
Class basketball warmup games were taking place in full swing near the outdoor sports field. The steps were packed in a random, scattered mess with students who had come to watch—the clamor of voices creating an exceptionally lively atmosphere. Fortunately, Lin Zhi and her friends had claimed a spot ahead of time; otherwise, they wouldn’t have even found a place to set foot.
Lin Zhi, who had originally come just to join in the fun, had completely lost the mood to watch the basketball game now—nothing was more important than this little, dirty, yet heart-wrenchingly pitiful creature she had picked up from the flower bed.
“Don’t be scared, don’t be scared~” Lin Zhi carefully held that tiny, filthy pink figure in her hands, her eyes sparkling astonishingly bright, as if the surrounding noise had ceased to matter entirely. “Baby, let Auntie wipe your little face and little hands clean, okay?~”
“And these little feet covered in mud spots.” Having managed with some difficulty to stabilize her stance and sit down on the crowded steps, she retrieved wet wipes from her small shoulder bag, cleaning off the dirt that had somewhat hardened on the cotton doll’s fabric face bit by bit. She spoke softly in a tone laced with a touch of pity and teasing: “Anyone who didn’t know would think you went and rolled around in a mud pit~”
A few girls nearby who also liked cotton dolls heard the commotion and quickly gathered around in curiosity, poking their heads out to look.
“Eek, whose doll is this? How did it get into a state like this?”
“Oh my gosh, such a pitiful baby. So dirty—it must have suffered a lot, right?”
“These eyes are so pretty! They look like they’re made with golden thread—such exquisite craftsmanship.”
…Cotton… is dirty?
…Cotton… is pitiful?
…How come Cotton didn’t know that itself…
Well, even if Cotton is indeed a tiny, tiny bit dirty, Cotton isn’t pitiful in the slightest!
Today’s adventure was super exciting! Cotton saw so many novel things, met so many “new friends”—Cotton is deeply satisfied and finds it so novel!
If… if in the end Cotton doesn’t get caught by its keeper…
Cotton will be even happier, even prouder!
Lin Zhi naturally had no idea what kind of “inner monologue” was taking place inside the small creature in her palms.
She focused intently, cleaning meticulously and carefully, swapping out wet wipe after wet wipe. Her movements maintained a perfectly gentle touch throughout, terrified of damaging the cotton doll’s fabric face, while her mouth kept chattering away under her breath, as if coaxing a frightened little baby:
“Aww, baby, you’re so pretty~ Your little face is wiped clean now—so round and so white~”
“These big golden eyes—who are they trying to melt with cuteness~ So shiny, like they have little stars hidden inside~”
“Your soft little hands are wiped clean too! Come on, let Auntie give them a gentle squeeze, okay?~”
Being coaxed and praised by a human in a tone so gentle it bordered on doting was a first for the cotton doll.
Although its keeper was good to it too, he was always laced with a bit of tsundere distance; how could he ever praise it so directly?
Floated into bliss, it nearly tossed the rage that its keeper might explode with—once he found out—far into the back of its mind for the moment.
If it weren’t firmly remembering the supreme rule of “no speaking, no moving,” it would have been completely unable to resist squinting those golden eyes in sheer comfort, and swaying its ahoge hair to signal its agreement: Us grand Cottons have to hear words like this to grow cuter and cuter!
“What a good little baby,” while coaxing, Lin Zhi finally managed to clean off most of the dirty spots exposed on the cotton doll. Only that little overalls set couldn’t be wiped clean. Brushing her finger against the cotton doll’s small cheek, she spoke as if making a proposal: “Baby, your little clothes are already dirty. How about Auntie changes you into a handsome set and dresses you up nice and pretty, okay?~”
The cotton doll agreed silently: Okay, okay~ Cotton wants a handsome set~
Lin Zhi: “Is baby a boy or a girl? Let Auntie guess~”
The cotton doll answered secretly: It’s a boy! A boy just like the human!
Lin Zhi didn’t actually expect a cotton doll to answer her question, but speaking to a cotton doll seemed to be an instinctual behavior for every doll-mom, and she was naturally no exception.
Fortunately, when she brought Little Chestnut out today, just in case, she had packed a few spare items. There happened to be a handsome racing suit set that could fit this little guy.
Lin Zhi pulled over the backpack sitting beside her, rummaging inside to pull out a small, clear ziplock storage bag. Inside, a blue-and-black racing suit set was folded neatly, along with matching sunglasses and a tiny necklace.
Then, she demonstrated a level of dexterity completely different from Shang Che—extremely adeptly stripping off that dirty little overalls set on the cotton doll, and rapidly yet smoothly dressing it in that handsome racing suit set, adjusting the cuffs and pant legs.
“Aww~ Baby is so handsome!” Lin Zhi held up the fully changed cotton doll to take a look, gesturing for her friend beside her to help. “Quick, help me put that tiny silver necklace on the baby! It’s right in that small bag.”
Her friend cooperatively pulled out that delicate, tiny silver chain. Looking at the transformed cotton doll, she gave Lin Zhi a thumb-up, praising her with complete admiration: “You’re truly an extraordinary pediatrician.”
“You flatter me, you flatter me~” Lin Zhi said humbly.
Listening to their conversation, the cotton doll’s small head captured a key word: …Necklace… what was that? A shiny thing worn around the neck?
Lin Zhi: “Come, baby take a look at yourself~”
Immediately after, a tiny mirror was held up in front of it.
In the mirror was still that pink-haired, golden-eyed cotton doll, but the overalls on its body had been swapped for a sharp, handsome racing suit, and a glinting silver necklace had been added around its neck. The entire Cotton remained as adorable as ever, yet somehow possessed an extra touch of small, cool, handsome swagger.
This was also the first time the cotton doll had seen itself looking like this—feeling quite novel, and somewhat surprised.
Lin Zhi was practically melted by the cuteness. Clipping the matching small black sunglasses onto the cotton doll’s head, she gave it an excited yet extremely controlled, gentle shake: “Hasn’t our baby turned into a squeaky-clean, adorable, and handsome baby~”
The cotton doll hated that it couldn’t nod its head with force, able only to silently agree with her: The necklace is so shiny! Pretty!
Yes! Cotton is the adorable and handsome Cotton King!
“Come, let’s take a photo together with Auntie’s baby.”
The cotton doll watched as Lin Zhi summoned that chestnut doll out of nowhere, and then enthusiastically picked up her phone to snap a flurry of photos at them, only stopping her hands with a thoroughly satisfied smile.
After posting a lost-and-found thread on the campus forum, Lin Zhi placed the two dolls side-by-side on her pressed-together knees, using her palms to gently shield them on both sides. Her gaze returned to the basketball court separated by the chain-link fence in front, though her mind was clearly no longer on the basketball game.
Sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with the chestnut doll, after a moment, the cotton doll moved its small round hand—pressed right against the chestnut doll—ever so subtly, almost imperceptibly: Cotton secretly tells you, your keeper is a very, very good human~
On the basketball court, the game entered its white-hot phase.
The cotton doll didn’t know what was so fun about a round ball, worth so many people chasing and scrambling after it, squeezing together, and making such loud noises. Besides, those people ran far too fast—their figures crisscrossing and swaying so that it couldn’t see a single thing clearly.
Gradually, an emotion mixed with boredom and a subtle anxiety welled up.
The cotton doll rather missed the sunlit rocking chair at home right now, missed the small garden outside the house, missed that white swing…
It even missed its keeper a little bit…
No, not a little bit.
It missed him very, very much!
Yet… it didn’t even dare to move right now, sitting here like a genuine plush toy, not even knowing how to get back into that black backpack without anyone noticing.
Whistle—
A sharp whistle blew, marking the official conclusion of this simple warmup match. Boys wearing different colored jerseys pushed open the fence door and walked out.
The cotton doll’s eyes suddenly lit up—it caught sight of that incomparably familiar silhouette.
It was the human! It was its keeper!
Shang Che hadn’t actually signed up for the class’s official basketball game, but unable to withstand the persistent pestering of close classmates, he agreed to play a warmup match with them to get a feel for the ball—mostly with Lu Zeming egging him on from within.
“Brother Lu, Brother Shang, you guys really aren’t playing anymore? There’s an official game later!” The classmate’s tone was brimmed with urges to stay.
Lu Zeming threw the hard question to his friend beside him with effortless ease: “Asking you.”
“Not playing.” Shang Che shook his head. He had barely broken a sweat, only his temples slightly damp, panting ever so slightly. Compared to the other drenching-wet classmates, he looked rather refreshed.
Lu Zeming put on an “he’s just like this” expression, spreading his hands and shrugging to express his helplessness to their classmates.
The classmate said with extreme regret: “Alright then.”
Lu Zeming bumped Shang Che’s shoulder, asking casually: “Not playing ball, what are you doing next? Sitting here watching them play, or going back to the classroom to grind those workbooks of yours that never end?”
“Going home.”
This answer clearly caught Lu Zeming off guard, a flicker of confusion flashing in his eyes: “As far as I know, there’s no one at your place, right?”
Shang Che ignored him, merely raising his head to drink the remaining water in the bottle, then flicked his wrist. The empty plastic bottle traced a parabola, landing precisely in the trash bin a few meters away.
“There really is no one.” He picked up the backpack sitting to the side, patted off the dust on it, “I’m off.”
The cotton doll kept its body tense, using its limited vision to follow Shang Che’s movement.
Human! Cotton is right here!
Don’t go! Cotton is right here! Look at Cotton!
“A-Che,” Lu Zeming looked at his friend whose steps suddenly froze, asking in confusion: “What’s wrong?”
Shang Che turned his head, his gaze sweeping backward—yet without a landing spot. He furrowed his brow, unsure why he had suddenly turned his head either: “…Nothing.”
Seeming to have maintained the posture of holding the dolls for too long, Lin Zhi suddenly felt her legs go a bit numb. She stood up wanting to relax a bit, and the cotton doll’s field of view was blocked in an instant. It only knew that its keeper seemed to be leaving.
But Cotton was still here!
It felt a sudden rush of fluster and fear.
On the crowded steps, people jostled against each other. Lin Zhi held two cotton dolls loosely between her fingertips. A male student standing behind her—who was excitedly discussing the game earlier with friends—didn’t notice her action of standing up, his elbow colliding dead-on into Lin Zhi’s back!
“Ah!” Caught completely off guard, Lin Zhi stumbled forward from the impact, her hands instinctively spreading open—
Oh no!
The two tiny, nearly weightless cotton dolls instantly lost their protection, slipping from her fingertips.
Both of her hands frantically scrambled in mid-air, but ended up catching nothing but empty air.
The chestnut doll was luckier, caught instinctively by a quick-eyed, swift-handed girl in front. Meanwhile, the pink cotton doll wearing a brand-new racing suit traced a short arc through the air, even “performing” a backflip, before landing with a pat—face down, colliding solidly with the hard, rough concrete ground!
The cotton doll’s face—which had just been cleaned up—had a close encounter with the earth once again: (XX).
“Baby!” Lin Zhi gasped, while repeatedly apologizing to the boy who bumped into her and the affected classmates, while desperately trying to squeeze down from the crowded steps, “Excuse me, sorry, so sorry…”
And at this moment, the cotton doll lying on the concrete ground heard a unfamiliar, somewhat surprised and raspy male voice ring out directly above its head: “Oh jeez! What on earth suddenly dropped down?”
“Huh? A doll?” Another boy’s voice beside him sounded, carrying a touch of curiosity, “Whose is it? Dropped on the floor. Tsk, how old are they, still playing with this?”
As he spoke, a hand belonging to an adolescent boy—distinctly knuckled and potentially having just touched a basketball or stained with dust—reached over toward the cotton doll on the ground, seemingly wanting to pick it up to take a look, his movement casual to the point of carrying a touch of disdain.
It wasn’t its keeper.
It wasn’t Lin Zhi.
Nor was it any of those other girls who would show gentle smiles to a cotton doll.
It was a completely unfamiliar boy who sounded as though he possessed quite a bit of confusion and even slight disrespect toward the concept of “dolls”!
The cotton doll froze completely, nearly unable to restrain itself from trembling…
Right at the instant that hand was about to touch it—
“Don’t touch it.”
A familiar, cold, and flatly toned voice cut through the surrounding noisy ambient sound, drilling clearly into the cotton doll’s ears.
That extended hand jerked to a sudden halt in mid-air.
The owner of the voice had doubled back at an unknown moment, standing a few steps above on the staircase, his head slightly lowered, his gaze crossing through the crowd, locking precisely onto that pink figure lying on the ground, as well as that hovering hand above it with unclear intentions.
