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

  They thought they were about to succeed this time, but Guo Dongyue’s mother experienced another breakdown, and all their efforts were in vain. Zhang Zian and Guo Dongyue felt so upset and desperate.

  What should they do? Try again from the beginning?

  They looked at each other, waiting for someone to come up with a solution. This thing was supposed to be completed by Guo Dongyue, but he couldn’t control his feelings when facing his own mother, so he could only hope Zhang Zian could help him out.

  Zhang Zian sighed, and felt like he had made a promise that was hard for him to keep. He knew too well that his success moments ago was just sheer luck. Guo Dongyue’s anticipation made him suffer with great pressure, and he couldn’t bear to decline his request. On the other hand, Guo Dongyue’s mother reminded him of his own mother. And if his mother was a victim of Alzheimer’s disease, he would have hoped that others could extend their helping hands.

  So, he repeated his tricks to see if they would work again. He smiled and said, “I’m a bird enthusiast…”


  “I’m not asking you that.” Guo Dongyue’s mother’s smile froze and she stood up from the sofa and asked him seriously, “I’m asking, how did you get into my house? Who opened the door for you? Get out, or I will call the police!”


  Zhang Zian thought to himself, “Why is she reacting differently every time, what should I do?”


  “Don’t! We are nice people.” He raised both his hands to show that he didn’t mean to do anything evil.

  “Nice people? What kind of nice people would break into others’ apartments?” Guo Dongyue’s mother raised her voice, “Are you leaving or not? I will scream for help!”


  Aunt Bai heard the noise and hastily came out from the kitchen to stop her. “My elder sister-in-law, please don’t scream, they are not strangers.”


  Guo Dongyue’s mother stared at Aunt Bai for a few seconds before she recognized her, “Yan Zi?”


  Aunt Bai smiled bitterly and nodded. “In this building, only you will call me by that name.”


  “Yan Zi, who are they? Your friends?” Guo Dongyue’s mother pointed to Zhang Zian and Guo Dongyue. Aunt Bai was not as flexible as Zhang Zian, and she didn’t know how to respond. Aunt Bai was planning to tell her that Guo Dongyue was her son and Zhang Zian was his friend, but then again, they would be trapped in an endless circle, where Guo Dongyue’s mother would never believe that Guo Dongyue who was in front of her was her own son.

  She bit the bullet and said, “Yes, they’re my friends.”


  “What do they do? Why are you bringing them into my house?” Guo Dongyue’s mother kept asking.

  “Well…” Aunt Bai still didn’t know how to respond. Seeing that Zhang Zian was pointing to the birdcage, she understood what he meant and said, “Elder sister-in-law, they’re here to see your parrots.”


  “My parrots?” Guo Dongyue’s mother also noticed the birdcage, and before anyone knew what was happening, she had taken away the birdcage from Guo Dongyue, held it in her arms like her baby, and scolded them severely, “How dare you steal my parrots? I’m definitely calling the police.”


  None of them knew how to respond, all they could do was stand there awkwardly and look at each other… The only option was to wait for her next round of breakdown. But when would that happen? Guo Dongyue’s mother probably was too angry, so she fiercely criticized Guo Dongyue and Zhang Zian and cursed them. She really had mistaken them for thieves.

  Zhang Zian was the last one who entered the house, and he left the door unlocked. With a creaking sound, the door was pushed open gently, and a golden claw stepped into the house, followed by another claw. Fina came into the house with its poker face, carrying a few pieces of paper in its mouth.

  Zhang Zian was surprised to see Fina with paper in its mouth—why on earth would the germophobic Fina do that? Those papers must be the purchasing certificates of the originally-issued stocks of some big companies!

  Fina’s presence was so eye-catching that even Guo Dongyue’s mother stopped her clamor and looked at it surprisingly. After a few seconds, she said, “Whose cat is that?”


  “It’s mine, I brought it here,” said Zhang Zian who was winking at Fina, as if asking what Fina was carrying in its mouth.

  Fina just ignored him.

  Guo Dongyue’s mother got angrier: “You brought a cat into my house? You want it to eat my parrots?”


  Zhang Zian didn’t bother to explain, because he knew it would be fruitless.

  He could only wait until she had lost this fragment of memory and started another conversation. It was like pushing the “Save/Load” button when playing a game—though the analogy sounded funny, the reality was a true tragedy.

  “Get out! Get your cats out of my house!” She held the birdcage more tightly. Because of her sharp noise, the two red-headed lovebirds were scared and retreated to the corner in the birdcage and stayed close to each other.

  Guo Dongyue closed his eyes painfully. His mother was an intellectual who was wise and polite, and would never say something so rude. Alzheimer’s disease had changed her personality.

  Zhang Zian was afraid that the scene would get ugly. From his understanding of Fina, if someone yelled at its and told its to get out, Fina would definitely be furious. He was also intending to leave the house. And just in case, he stood between Fina and Guo Dongyue’s mother, worrying that his cat might attack her out of rage.

  To his surprise, Fina didn’t seem angry. It just opened its mouth calmly and let the papers fall onto the ground. And then it glanced at Guo Dongyue’s mother, swung its tail, and left the house like nothing happened.

  Zhang Zian bent down to pick up the papers, only to find that they were just some kid’s doodles, which looked like picture diaries.

  The first picture showed a little boy who was holding a flower and running back home, and underneath the picture were scrawled some characters: Today is Mom’s birthday.

  Zhang Zian flipped to the second picture, in a house, a woman in a dress was sitting by the table, holding that flower in her hand, and the words underneath the picture were: Mom is very happy, and she says I am a good boy.

  Probably because the kid was too little, a few misspellings were found.

  Zhang Zian flipped to the third picture, where the little boy was standing straight in front of the woman, and an oval dialogue box was drawn beside his mouth, Within the dialog box was a poem, “Threads adeptly brandished by a loving mother, sewed into garments for a son so soon to depart…”


  The words under the picture were: Our teacher asked us to recite this poem when it’s Mom’s birthday. Happy birthday Mom!

  The lines drawn and words written by crayon had been blurred and could barely be recognized. Those were pictures drawn a long time ago.

  Zhang Zian watched the three pieces of paper several times and then gave them to Guo Dongyue, “Was it this poem? When you were at the kindergarten on the street corner, did your teacher also ask you to read this poem to your mother at her birthday?”


  Guo Dongyue took over the paper and observed them a couple times. His lips were moving gently as he read the characters on the pictures silently. When he heard Zhang Zian read that poem to Little Celery at the pet shop, he felt like some memory buried deep inside his heart was touched upon. But the memory had been slept on for so long, like garments that were forgotten at the bottom of a closet. Even when he did retrieve the memory ultimately, like those garments, it would be full of wrinkles and could not recover what it looked like originally. When he was at the pet shop, he was in a rush to find the parrots, and he had no time to contemplate the poem, so he missed the chance to recover his memory of this poem.

  Fortunately, the Goddess of Fate had given him a second chance, by sending the golden cat as its messenger to fetch the pictures for him. The doodles drawn by some kid at the kindergarten had helped him recollect his childhood memory, just like the wrinkle of the garments had been ironed flat. Yes, he also recited that poem to his mother at her birthday. He remembered that he was little and didn’t know there was anything special about that poem. He remembered that he felt shy reciting the poem in front of his mother. When he finished reciting that poem, his mother embraced him in her arms, but he pushed her away shyly and ran away from his mother.

  While Guo Dongyue was immersed in his memory, Zhang Zian had quietly left the house, and squatted on the passageway outside with Fina. They stared at the doodles drawn by children on the wall and neither of them talked.

  A moment later, Snowy Lionet’s inpatient yelling came from downstairs, “Meow! Meow! Your Majesty, is everything okay?”


  “I’m coming down.” Fina responded in the appropriate volume and then made its way downstairs.

  When it was about to step down, Zhang Zian spoke up, “Sparkling things?”


  Fina didn’t say anything; it kept walking down with its reserved manner.

  It was Fina Paris XIII, the guardian of the kingdom of Eternity. it didn’t have to explain its mind to ordinary people.