Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

  The car slowed down and pulled over at a quiet old street in the south side of the city.

  Zhang Zian and his two cats jumped out of the car.

  Before China claimed independence, the south side of Binhai City was the flourishing downtown area. Many of the foreign embassies and offices were set up there. Now, most of the buildings had turned into memorial halls or museums. The street where they stood was next to the old embassy street and it looked exactly the same as it had decades ago. London planes were planted alongside the road. The golden leaves were as big as a palm. Some of them were on the ground as bright as gold.

  Today was a nice day. It was cold and cloudy in the morning but it turned sunny at noon. The sunlight went through the branches and landed on the ground and the top of the car.

  “What a nice day!” Zhang Zian murmured to himself, “A good day for a walk.”


  He bent down and picked up a full leave on the ground, facing the leave to the sun and clearly saw the veins.

  There wasn’t any tall building on both sides of the street. The tallest buildings were only three -story. Many of them were in western style. Some even had a private garden which looked like the houses in the US. A small fountain, A half-naked goddess status, beautiful landscaping, a nice swing, little angel status with wings on their back, etc.… form an elegant picture.

  Guo Dongyue got out of the car with his bird cage. The driver drove away waving his hand.

  “What are you looking at?” Guo Dongyue looked down at his feet when he found that Zhang Zian was looking at him.

  “Nothing,” Zhang Zian shrugged his shoulders.

  A second ago, upon seeing the beautiful buildings in front of him, Zhang Zian saw how the environment could influence a person. Guo Dongyue grew up in an elegant space, so he turned out to be an outstanding architect and designer. He grew up in a pet shop, so he was always interested in pets.

  The phrase “the environment can form a person” was so true.

  It was noon. There weren’t many pedestrians on the street. A few kids who looked like college students were taking pictures. The girls that were modeling were wearing cosplay costumes with huge foam weapons in their hands. The girls were sometimes teasing, sometimes elegant.

  Zhang Zian thought that the “photographers” looked familiar. They might be the same group that he met in Mt. Hidden Fog. It looked like they had finally found some girl models. The girls were… he wished he could tell if they were pretty, but they were wearing too much makeup.

  It was a nice location for cosplay photography. The whole street looked like a royal family’s in the west.

  They were standing in front of a Gothic church. It was a small four-story church with a mixture of red bricks and wood design. There was a tall clock tower on each side of the building. A pure white cross was sitting on top of each clock tower. The church was solemn, dignified and old-fashioned.

  If you took a picture there, you could totally lie to people and say that you have been to Europe.

  Outside of the church, the photography group was having fun. There were not many pedestrians and no one was looking. The only problem was that the girls were wearing sexy clothing that was not suitable for winter. When a cold breeze came through, one girl sneezed and her snot shot straight into the expensive camera…


  The “photographer” seemed quite green. They couldn’t get any good angles or lighting after a long while. The two who were lifting the reflecting board were totally sore in their arms.

  “There is my home,” Guo Dongyue said with one hand holding the cage and the other pointing down a small lane.

  Both walked towards the lane, hearing the sound of falling leaves.

  “Wait! Wait, please!”


  Zhang Zian looked back and saw a tall guy from the photography group about to cross the road. Seeing that Zhang Zian looked back, he waved and wanted them to wait.

  A big truck drove by with a truck load of leaves. After the truck was gone, the guy ran over and stopped in front of Zhang Zian.

  “Umm, may I borrow your cat?” the tall guy said.

  “What?” Zhang Zian was surprised. “Borrow my cat?”


  “Yup, our group was taking pictures and the cosplay girls thought that your cat was very pretty, so we would like to borrow it.” The tall guy pointed at their group.

  They had stopped taking photos and were all looking in his direction. The cosplay girls were wrapped in a thick coat and curled up together.

  “Don’t you already have everything you need for photo shooting?” he asked.

  The tall guy said, “Yes.”


  “Then why didn’t you get a cat ready?”


  The tall guy was speechless, “We didn’t plan on that, but the cosplay girls saw your cat and came up with the idea.”


  “I am sorry, but I can’t do that,” Zhang Zian was straightforward.

  “Why?” the tall guy asked. He apparently hadn’t expected rejection.

  “It is none of my business that you want to make these girls happy,” Zhang Zian knew exactly what the tall guy wanted. This so-called photography group was in fact a tool to get girls. As a damn single guy, Zhang Zian couldn’t standing the idea of assisting other guys in getting girls.

  Honesty sometimes hurt the most.

  The tall guy rubbed his head and looked at his friends. Obviously, his friends didn’t expect rejection either so they waved at him and rushed him to get the cats over.

  He pulled out his cell phone and asked Zhang Zian quietly, “How about I rent it from you? Just for one day… No… How much is rent for half a day?”


  Now Zhang Zian was just speechless. That guy was trying everything he could to make the girls happy.

  “I am sorry, but we are in a rush. I can’t stay here with you.” He rejected the tall guy again not because he was jealous, but because he wanted to save the girls from this guy.

  “Wait!” The tall guy stopped them again, “You may not know. The photos we take here will be sent to our university’s display and they will be shown online.”


  Zhang Zian didn’t understand, “So?”


  “Think about it, if our pictures got a prize in this show, our cosplay girls will become popular online. It will be an honor for your cats too.”


  Zhang Zian was again speechless. He didn’t understand why the tall guy was so confident about his offer.