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

  Pi was fond of reading Chinese books. At first, it was not very used to them. But the Chinese language had a magical power, in which each word was formed by special rules, and each word’s form had a special meaning. This was fascinating to Pi. Take the word “mountain” (山) for example, by looking at this character, the peaks of the mountain seemed visible.

  It followed Zhang Zian’s suggestions to sit straight in front of the computer and type for a while, then sit on the window sill to look into the distance and observe the busy pedestrians. After a few minutes, as the eyes were adjusted and relaxed, it sat in the basket hammock chair and read books on the tablet, then repeated the cycle. Pi enjoyed the routine.

  Maybe Pi was already used to searching for information in the complex records of the nameless book. It was able to read extremely fast and not only was it able to understand everything, it was able to remember them. Each time Zhang Zian came upstairs to check on it, he found it reading a different book.

  “Eeek!”


  Pi typed its explanation: “I’ve read the English versions of these books. That’s why I read fast.”


  Zhang Zian nodded in acknowledgment.

  The books that he transferred into the tablet for it were the electronic versions of the old and contemporary classics, most of which had been translated into English and introduced to western readers. It was normal that Pi had read them before.

  Pi enjoyed any type of books. Novels, traveling journals, essays, poetry, science, biography…it enjoyed all of them. To satisfy his growing appetite for books, Zhang Zian retrieved the books he read in his childhood from the storage room, and borrowed some more from Wang Qian and Li Kun. He stacked the books next to the basket hammock chair so that it could access them any time.

  Pi was gentle with the paper books. It handled them with care, and was careful when flipping the pages, yet these didn’t slow down the reading.

  Soon, Pi finished reading all the paper books in Zhang Zian’s house and those he borrowed elsewhere.

  Apart from the daily business of the pet shop, Zhang Zian had an additional task of browsing the online shopping website for discounted books. He would buy some every time there was a promotion.

  “Master, this is heavy! You are receiving a lot of couriers lately.”


  Wang Qian and Li Kun walked into the shop with two heavy boxes, and placed them next to Zhang Zian’s reclining chair.

  “Yes. I bought some books.”


  Zhang Zian removed the packaging with a knife. It was book series and journals. The journals were from last year, so the price was good. Pi was not picky about the publication dates anyway.

  Wang Qian and Li Kun looked at the Abyssinian cat breeding book next to Zhang Zian, and asked in confusion, “Master, you’ve been buying so many books, but we’ve never seen you reading them…”


  Zhang Zian rolled his eyes at them. “Do I have to let you see me reading? Can’t I buy books for other use? Cut the crap. Go back and prepare for your exams!”


  He didn’t tell anyone else about Pi’s arrival for now, especially Wang Qian and Li Kun. These two idiots had big mouths and liked bragging everywhere.

  “Yes, Master!” They spit the tongues and ran back to school.

  After they left, Zhang Zian carried the books and journals to the second floor.

  “Pi, new books again.”


  “Eeek!”


  Pi jumped out of the basket hammock chair, and came up expectantly to look at the books. Before Zhang Zian had finished stacking the books, it took one of them and started reading greedily, nourishing itself with knowledge.

  After seeing how happy it was, Zhang Zian felt both glad and troubled.

  A mound of books had risen next to the basket hammock chair. His old books, borrowed books, recently purchased books and journals were stacked into four peaks of a mountain. The tallest one was the same height as a person, and the smallest one was as high as the waist.

  Zhang Zian could not find the books as fast as Pi was reading them. The books would reach the ceiling in a few days.

  Paper books were more expensive and less frequent in discount. Storage was also less convenient. Books and journals were consumables to Pi, and had little long-term

  storage value. After all, it owned a nameless book containing everything. Reading Chinese books was only to appreciate the beauty and depth of the language.

  When not reading, Pi appeared lonely, bored and melancholic. It knew that it could not go downstairs and show up in front of other people, which might bring trouble to Zhang Zian. Even if it did go downstairs, there was nothing to do and it could not communicate with the other elfins. It might as well stay upstairs to type. But typing all day became boring too. So it often sat idly on the window sill.

  Zhang Zian was worried about Pi, and so did Old Time Tea, the traditional Chinese medicine expert. Old Time Tea said that long-term melancholy was not healthy, and Pi would fall sick if it continued this way. In modern medical terms, Old Time Tea meant depression. When someone was alone and low-spirited for a long time without interaction with the outside world, it could end up having depression.

  Humans were social animals, and so were monkeys. Pi might be the same, who behaved like a monkey. But Zhang Zian couldn’t possibly get a troop of monkeys to play with it.

  Many studies suggested that negative mood had a negative impact on health, and may cause a variety of acute and chronic diseases, such as gastric ulcer, endocrine disorders, hair loss, etc. He did notice a lot of short yellow hairs while sweeping the floor lately.

  Since paper books were not enough for Pi’s reading appetite, after much thinking, he decided to seek help from the omnipotent internet.

  “Pi, would you like to try online novels?” He suggested to Pi.

  “Eeek?”


  Pi was reading in the basket chair, and was distracted by his question.

  Zhang Zian explained, “Online novels are a new form of reading as the internet grew popular. They are pretty much like the e-books, except that they were created to be shared on the internet.”


  “Eeek?”


  Pi put down its book and typed on the laptop: “Are they fun to read?”


  “Some of them are, and some are not. Online novels have a lot of genres, and are many in number. You can always find the ones you like.” Zhang Zian answered honestly. In fact, he had not read many online novels. He didn’t sound very confident.

  Leaving literary and artistic quality aside, the biggest advantage of online novels was its volume and number. Before he could find a better solution, they could at least gratify Pi’s reading appetite, and chase away the melancholy and boredom.

  “Eeek!”


  Pi nodded and typed: “I want to try some.”


  “Good. I’m downloading online reading apps for you.”


  Zhang Zian took away the tablet, downloaded multiple popular online reading apps in the App Store, registered accounts for Pi, then taught it how to search for books.

  Pi took back the tablet happily, and dived into the ocean of online novels.