CH 49.1

He Is a Pile of Cotton

Translated by boilpoil

Edited by boilpoil

Bai Yao lets Mu’er try everything. That bubble tea store that took Weibo by storm earlier, that new amusement park Qi Ya was enthusiastically praising; basically anything that’s good.

Mu Mu’er is taking small sips of a cup of iced milk tea, while holding Bai Yao’s hand tightly. He looks content as usual.

After some time, Bai Yao thinks he should buy clothes for Mu Mu’er while he still has energy to go shopping, and takes him to a shopping centre.

It’s a big shopping centre with ten whole floors. Clothes are sold from the second to the fifth floor, so Bai Yao takes Mu Mu’er along to each store and see if he likes any.

Mu Mu’er has never seen so many clothes before, but there are so many people around that he doesn’t dare walking around by himself. He only leans close to see whatever they pass by.

Bai Yao feels like he’s walking a puppy still curious about the world, with question marks always emerging from the head often enough that not even a hat will be able to cover them up.

Of course, many passers-by would give surprised or even disdainful looks seeing two grown men holding hands. Mu Mu’er doesn’t notice, while Bai Yao doesn’t care.

If someone stares too long, Bai Yao would hold Mu Mu’er’s hand more tightly while holding their hands out a bit further, and raise his brow at that someone.

You see clearly now? Need to look even more closely?

At the same time, Bai Yao has decided that, since they’re all the way here to buy clothes, he might as well spoil him a little. He’d buy clothes that he would usually not consider, and dress the boy up like a little celebrity. He’d probably turn a lot of heads, too.

It feels like playing dress-up with a doll, which Bai Yao finds quite interesting.

He grabs some pairs of cargo pants, which are looser and more comfortable, with lots of pockets that Mu Mu’er should like.

Bai Yao holds it up and asks, “does this look good?”

Mu Mu’er nods, “yes.”

Bai Yao then shows each pair and some other clothes to him in turn and ask for his opinion – Mu Mu’er’s answers range only from ‘yes’ to ‘good.’

Looks like the little sea otter doesn’t have a sense of fashion. Every piece of clothing would look good to him; he might even find a bag with only holes for arms pretty.

Bai Yao has now settled on summer clothing, but he also ought to prepare for autumn and winter.

He has his eyes set on a puffy down jacket in black and white that looks handsome enough. He grabs it for Mu Mu’er to try, who does as Bai Yao asks.

After putting it on, Mu Mu’er simply stands there, blinking, with his arms placed close to his body, unmoving.

Never mind handsome, he looks like a little lost penguin.

Bai Yao smiles, and buys it immediately.

Mu Mu’er is quite thin, even after Bai Yao cooked a lot for him these few weeks. His whole stature and appearance almost makes him look like a minor.

He also needs smaller sized clothes. Bai Yao is interested in buying a jacket for him, but can’t find Mu Mu’er’s size, so he has to take a bigger one and go to a staff member.

Some more shopping later, Mu Mu’er suddenly notices a piece of clothing in a corner, and hops right over.

“Bib! Yaoyao, it has bib!” Mu Mu’er is so excited about his finding. He wants it very much.

Bai Yao looks at it – an extremely mundane denim overall with bibs from the waist up, that is designed to hang from the shoulder.

He isn’t sure Mu Mu’er is ready for the role of being the old man on KFC buckets yet.

“Yes, a bib,” Bai Yao acknowledges as he drags him away, pretending not to have heard Mu Mu’er saying ‘I want it.’

With the shopping mostly done, Bai Yao heads for the register with a pile of clothes. He passes by the headwear section, and pauses. He grabs two beanie caps for Mu Mu’er to be part of his brumal attire.

He thought Mu Mu’er is following right behind him as he can’t see, but it turns out, Mu Mu’er has wandered off by the time he’s at the register.

“Yaoyao, look at this!”

Bai Yao turns to look, the slight panic fades as he sees Mu Mu’er standing nor far away.

Mu Mu’er is pointing at a giant poster featuring a model. Bai Yao becomes stunned when he sees the person.

The male model on the poster is someone very familiar to Bai Yao. He can recognise that white, perfectly shaped face anywhere.

There are two lines in cursive underneath.

[WEN YUE]

[FASHION ICON]

When Bai Yao and Wen Yue broke up, Wen Yue was still a nobody – nobody but a rich spoilt boy. Now he’s already climbed his way up to the top of the modelling industry. Who knows how much it had to do with his father’s wealth.

The model is wearing a simple, light coloured tanktop. His trousers are much more… interesting, in that it is patterned after newspaper of all things. The black and white colour seem to accentuate the length of his legs well.

Mu Mu’er doesn’t notice the odd reaction from Bai Yao. He simply appears enamoured of the ‘bib’ of the tanktop on the poster. He also wants it.

Since Bai Yao isn’t responding, Mu Mu’er pouts a little in disappointment. He walks a few steps forward, tugging at Bai Yao’s clothes, “Yaoyao, Yaoyao, it looks good!”

Bai Yao has recovered now, and puts his hand on Mu Mu’er’s shoulder, then turns him right around, heading straight for the register.

“It’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.”

The four days in Xishi passes by in the blink of an eye. They’re going back to Qiaohai soon.

They are taking the train departing at 3 in the afternoon, so that they can wake up late.

When Bai Yao asks tentatively if Mu Mu’er wants to go home now, thinking he might be reluctant, and is ready to compromise by staying two more days, Mu Mu’er nods with a smile, “oh, home! We can go home.”

Mu Mu’er would perhaps answer everything affirmatively with a smile, like he had never known what ‘sadness,’ ‘disappointment’ or ‘distress’ is. He always faces everything with a positive attitude.

Which is nice. A lot of people would kill to have that personality.

If he’s happy with everything… Bai Yao finds himself smiling as he packs, and he asks, “Mu’er, do you want to live in a place like this in the future?”

He’s curious where Mu Mu’er used to live – perhaps, in the city?

Mu Mu’er, meanwhile, is busy greeting the window cleaner outside. He hears Bai Yao asking, and ‘mm’s in response. He’s busy.

Busy wondering how the person is outside. Does he have the power to go through glass?

He can also see the rope, swaying a little in the wind. It looks fun, like a swing.

He wants to play too.

Mu Mu’er waves, and the window cleaner also waves in return. Mu Mu’er smiles happily, not realising he is probably looking a little silly or even dumb in the other person’s eye.

The cleaner has probably never met someone who greets him so enthusiastically since he took the job, and even after he finishes cleaning the window, he still continues to wave and make some gestures towards Mu Mu’er for some time. He’s probably having a good time teasing Mu Mu’er.

“Mu’er, you actually want to?”

Bai Yao asks once more, and Mu Mu’er turns back around, tilting his head. He didn’t listen when Bai Yao was asking, so he does not know what to answer.

Want to… eat?

“Want to…?” Mu Mu’er mumbles very quietly, wondering what Bai Yao might have been asking. He decides he must have been asking about food, so he confidently states, “Mu’er wants to!”

Oddly, though, Bai Yao doesn’t smile at his answer as usual.

Maybe Yaoyao isn’t hungry yet…

Before Mu Mu’er can figure out what question Bai Yao asked him, Bai Yao has already finished packing and zipping up the suitcase. He then gives Mu Mu’er his hand for him to hold.

“Let’s go. We have to go before the train leaves.”

Mu Mu’er holds the hand tightly, and does not forget to wave goodbye to the window cleaner outside before leaving.