Chapter 45
After finishing his meal, Shang Che tucked the cotton doll back into his pocket. He lowered his head and whispered to the little creature, “Time to go buy a phone.”
“Yay~!” The doll’s eyes lit up instantly. Then, it quickly covered its mouth, eyes crinkling into narrow crescents as it said in a muffled voice, “Mian gotta be quiet now~”
Shang Che couldn’t help a faint chuckle, his voice cool and calm. “Then stay hidden well. Don’t get caught.”
The phone store occupied a prominent, spacious spot in the middle of the mall. Since it was the weekend, it was packed with people, and the display counters were completely surrounded.
Shang Che had a clear goal in mind. He flagged down a store associate, explained his requirements in a few concise sentences, and left within ten minutes holding a shopping bag.
The crowd outside the mall was still dense. The doll stayed obediently inside the pocket, watching its caretaker weave through the sea of people. Suddenly, its eyes were involuntarily drawn to something—
Balloons! So, so many!
Especially that blue one.
It looked exactly like the one Mian saw earlier.
Human said human would buy one for Mian…
So, it lightly bumped its head against the chest behind it.
Shang Che stopped dead in his tracks. He cast his eyes down at the little creature in his pocket, then followed its gaze.
On the street, a mascot-clad worker was handing out balloons to a line of children. He dexterously twisted them into various shapes, a cluster of colorful helium balloons strapped to his body, gently swaying with the breeze created by the moving crowd.
It was a mall-sponsored event handing out free balloons to kids. Unfortunately, Shang Che was well past the age where he could stand in line for one.
Shang Che glanced around. He bent his left arm up, shielding the doll, and placed a loose fist over his mouth to whisper an explanation: “Those are for little kids. I’ll buy you a different one—a prettier one.”
“But Mian just… wants that one…” The doll didn’t move, but its voice was as soft as a cloud ready to drift away, aggrieved and yearning. “Human said human would… give Mian a balloon… Human lied to Mian…”
Shang Che fell silent for a second, letting out a heavy sigh. Then, he stepped toward the worker.
Not understanding what was happening, the doll called out softly, “Human?”
Shang Che didn’t say a word. He just tapped it gently, signaling for it to be good and stay quiet.
Standing over six feet tall in a crowd of tiny kids made him stick out like a sore thumb. Shang Che himself couldn’t fathom why he was actually queuing up for a little ball of cotton…
…He had probably lost his mind.
The worker clearly noticed this person who completely failed to fit the demographic. He smiled at Shang Che and said, “Hello there! Our balloons are only for children under ten years old~”
The tips of Shang Che’s ears turned red instantly. He took a deep breath. “Sorry. The kid at home really wants one. Could I trouble you to sell me one?”
The worker smiled, looking as if he had heard this excuse a thousand times. “Oho~ So it’s for the kid at home? How old is the little one?”
Shang Che caught the obvious teasing tone in his voice. His hand hanging by his side tightened slightly as he gave a vague answer: “…Probably… three years old.”
In the pocket, the doll froze, its ahoge swaying gently. Little kid? Three years old? Is he talking about Mian?
“What a shame, we can’t distribute them by proxy,” the worker expressed regret first, but then pointed toward Shang Che’s chest. “However, I can give a balloon to this ‘Cotton Little Kid’ right here.”
The worker gestured for Shang Che to look around. A few young women carrying cotton dolls had all received balloons and were currently adjusting the strings to tie them to their dolls.
Shang Che: “……”
…If he had known it was that simple, why did he bother coming up with such a lame excuse?
“Which color would this ‘Cotton Little Kid’ like?” The worker picked up a bundle of balloons tied behind him and shuffled through them. “How about pink? It matches its color.”
The doll was stunned—Is this human asking Mian what color balloon Mian wants?
It looked at the colorful balloons, and its tiny round hand gently nudged its caretaker inside the pocket, its voice barely audible.
“Blue,” Shang Che said with a light chuckle, turning to the worker. “This kid likes blue.”
The spot where the mountain bike was parked was somewhat remote and empty of people. Shang Che untangled the string wrapped around his knuckles, while the doll stared up at the blue balloon floating above its head, its golden eyes wide and round.
Mian’s balloon!
So big, so round, so blue, and so—close!
The doll stretched out its tiny round hands, trying to reach for the string attached to the balloon. But its arms were too short to reach. It squirmed anxiously in the pocket, its ahoge bobbing up and down.
Shang Che watched its frantic little expression and let out a soft laugh. Moving his fingers slightly, he surreptitiously shifted the string closer to the edge of the pocket.
The doll immediately reached out both round hands and clapped them tightly together, finally “capturing” the thin string.
It tilted its tiny face up, looking at the blue balloon floating above its head, its cat-like mouth splitting into a wide, bright smile.
“Human!” it chirped softly, its voice brimming with surprise and joy. “Mian caught it!”
“Mm.” Shang Che looked at its contented little expression, the warmth and fondness in his eyes practically overflowing. “So impressive.”
Clutching the string, the doll kept its face tilted up, staring at the blue, round balloon floating in the air as if showing off a treasure: “Human! Look fast! Balloon!”
“I see it.”
The doll gasped softly, “So round! So big! The balloon belongs to Mian!”
Shang Che was tying the balloon to the handlebars. Hearing that, he echoed, “Mm, it’s yours now.”
The doll raised its face, its golden eyes twinkling. “Human is too!”
Shang Che looked at its face full of pure joy, fell silent for a second, and abandoned any attempt to correct this logic-defying little creature.
Not like it would listen anyway.
This little cotton ball had a mind of its own.
He reached out and gently tapped the ahoge that was swaying frantically from excitement. “Time to go home.”
“Mm! Go home!” The doll nodded vigorously.
The balloon was tied quite low. The moment they moved, the wind blew it into Shang Che’s chest, right in front of the doll, allowing it to reach out and playfully poke it from time to time.
While waiting at a red light, Shang Che looked down.
Without the wind pushing it, the balloon floated a bit higher. The doll’s tiny head stayed dutifully still, but its eyes couldn’t resist darting toward the balloon overhead. Its cat-like mouth curved upward, and its ahoge swayed gently—it looked just like a little ball of cotton radiating sheer happiness.
The corners of Shang Che’s lips curved up as well.
A fluttering blue balloon was tied to the handle of the black mountain bike. The youth rode against the wind, carrying a tiny cotton doll tucked in his pocket. When the light turned green, they headed toward home together.
Upon arriving home, Shang Che sat down at his desk, took the phone out of its box, and looked down at his pocket.
The doll was looking up at him, its eyes overflowing with anticipation.
“Want to give it a try?” Shang Che asked.
The doll nodded forcefully.
Shang Che lifted it out of his pocket, settled it in a sitting position on the desk, and unpacked the touchscreen finger sleeves equipped with silicone nubs.
The phone was the latest model, its screen even larger than the 10-centimeter cotton doll. The pitch-black screen reflected the tiny pink figure.
Staring at its familiar reflection, the doll spoke excitedly: “This phone… belongs to Mian now?”
Shang Che: “Mm.”
The doll shuffled forward and pressed its small face against the screen.
“Hello there, Mian’s phone~” it whispered. “From now on, we’re… best friends~”
“You have to be good, okay~ Mian will… stay with you every day~”
Hearing its rambling “Mian-speak,” Shang Che couldn’t help but find it amused: Who’s keeping who company here?
With a press of his finger, the black screen lit up.
Startled, the doll reached out a tiny round hand to softly touch the screen. Looking at the colorful desktop, its cat-like mouth widened into a brilliant arc.
“Mian has a phone now!” the doll cheered, kicking its short legs in excitement. But it lost its balance and fell backward with a soft plop, only to be caught swiftly by Shang Che’s quick hand.
It rolled over in Shang Che’s palm, wrapped its little hands around his thumb, rubbed against it, and announced coquettishly: “From now on, Mian can… use the phone… to see Human too!”
Shang Che raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t agree to let you watch the security camera feed.”
The doll’s expression shifted instantly. Its tiny pea-mouth pouted, and it rubbed its eyes with its little hands, pretending to cry.
“……” Shang Che looked at it, feeling a slight headache coming on. The corners of his mouth twitched, and he said helplessly, “But you can use the phone to talk to me. If I see it, I’ll reply.”
The doll looked up at him in utter ignorance.
“I’ll teach you.”
Shang Che propped it up from his palm and logged into his alt account—which he had owned for a long time but never used—on the doll’s phone. Then, he brought the two phone screens together and said, “Like this…”
He typed a character on the doll’s phone, and a message instantly popped up on the screen of the phone held in his right hand:
111: [Human]
Shang Che looked down at it. “Whatever you send, I’ll be able to see it.”
The doll turned back silently to lock eyes with him, its blinking big eyes practically screaming: Human? What are you talking about?
It raised a hand and poked the green chat bubble. “Human… what is this?”
…Right. He had forgotten this little cotton ball was illiterate.
Shang Che pinched its hand, teaching it stroke by stroke: “This character is [Human]. It’s what you call me every day.”
The doll nodded vigorously. It drew on the screen with its tiny hand, mumbling repeatedly, “Human… human… human…”
A few seconds later, it said excitedly, “Human! Mian remembered it!”
Shang Che asked, “Remembered what?”
The doll drew left and right on the screen with its round hand to show him. “This character is ‘Human’!”
Shang Che’s expression turned to one of slight surprise. Thinking for a moment, he typed out a few characters one by one:
[Big] [Dog] [Human] [Sun] [Sky]
Looking at the characters popping up one after another on the screen, the doll tilted its head in deep confusion.
Shang Che straightened its head and pointed at the screen. “Out of these, which character is ‘Human’?”
“1… 2… 3…” The doll counted softly under its breath. Then its eyes lit up, and it answered, “This one!”
—It actually remembered the character.
Unlike the excited doll, Shang Che’s face remained expressionless, looking somewhat serious. His brows knitted slightly as he reached out to squeeze the tiny pink head—it still felt soft to the touch, so how had it suddenly seemed to gain intelligence?
How strange.
Feeling a bit worried, he asked, “Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”
The doll repeated blankly, “Uncomfortable… what’s that?”
Shang Che was silenced for a moment by its question. “…How did you remember it just now?”
“Mian looked at it more… learned it a few more times… and remembered it~” It puffed out its little chest, looking immensely proud.
Shang Che suddenly remembered that this little thing had previously remembered words taught by that guy Lu Zeming.
It seemed that now, it wasn’t just words and sounds—it could even recognize written characters.
He nodded and raised an eyebrow, an expression of unexpected surprise on his face: Who would’ve thought this little cotton ball is actually quite smart.
Still… can a cotton head really grow a brain?
Shang Che stared at the head in silence, saying nothing for a long time.
It wasn’t until the doll called him softly, “Human—”
“Are you broken again?”
Shang Che snapped back to reality. “No.”
“What nickname do you want?” Shang Che asked, then quickly explained, “It’s an online name.”
The doll didn’t hesitate for a second: “King Mianmian!”
“…Fine.”
Shang Che updated its nickname, then fitted the slightly stretched finger sleeve onto the doll’s round hand. Holding its hand down on the voice message bar, he said, “Now, you can slide the screen.”
The doll’s eyes widened, a sound of awe escaping its little mouth: “Woah—”
“This is the voice message bar. As long as you hold it down, speak to it, and release your hand, I’ll be able to hear it.” Shang Che gave a brief demonstration and patted the doll’s little head. “Alright, play by yourself for a bit. I’m going to take a shower.”
The moment Shang Che stood up, he heard a succession of sounds from behind him:
“Now, you can slide the phone screen…”
“Now, you can slide the phone screen…”
“Now, you can slide the phone screen…”
He closed his eyes helplessly—Seriously, enough already.
When Shang Che walked out of the bathroom, he saw the doll beaming at him.
“What is it?” he asked.
The doll didn’t speak; it simply pointed a small finger at his phone.
Perplexed, Shang Che picked it up, only to see 26 unread messages from [King Mianmian] on his screen.
What in the world did it send?
After unlocking the phone, a sea of identical voice messages popped up all at once. He scrolled to the top and tapped the first one to play—
“Human~”
“Human!”
“Human—”
“Mian is so happy~”
“Mian likes Human so much~”
“Mian misses you super super much every single day~”
“Mian wants to stay with Human forever and ever~”
“Mian…”
The tips of Shang Che’s ears turned redder and redder as he listened. He turned his face away unnaturally, using the back of his hand to cover his expression that was slipping out of control—this blithely honest, foolish cotton ball. All 26 voice messages, every single word, revolved around him.
“Human!” This time, it was the actual cotton doll on the desk speaking. Without the muffled, mechanical tone of the speaker, its voice was clear and ecstatic. “The things Mian said… you really… heard them!”
Shang Che’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he rasped out a low response: “Mm.”
The doll looked fascinated. “Then Mian will… say them every day from now on!”
“Don’t send me voice messages when there’s nothing going on.” Shang Che’s knuckles tightened around the phone, his voice awkward as he added, “…It’s not like I’ll listen to every single one.”
Caretaker is feeling shy again~
The doll joined its tiny hands together to cover its eyes, acting as though if it didn’t look, its caretaker wouldn’t feel shy or awkward anymore.
Watching its “thoughtful and understanding” display, Shang Che moved his fingers and changed [King Mianmian]’s contact note to [Silly Cotton].
