Chapter 660: Famous in Despair
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zhang Zian was used to seeing Wang Qian, Li Kun and Lu Yiyun come to work each morning, it was a bit weird not seeing any of them come in. He had to do everything himself. It was easy for a poor man to live a rich man's life, but very hard for a rich man to live a poor man's life.
After a lot of coaxing, Fina was finally persuaded to visit the retired police dog home with the other elfins. If Fina ever found out that it had been lied to, it wouldn't be pretty.
Many companies had closed for the holidays yesterday, so there weren't as many migrant workers in Binhai City as the other major cities. There were usually long lines outside Li's Supreme Snack Bar for Cat Fanciers, but today, only two or three people were waiting outside.
As there were no customers, Zhang Zian didn't open the shop. He was sweeping the floor, and Pi, following his example, picked up a cloth to clean the table.
"Thank you, Pi, but I'll take care of it. Just go and play. You deserve a day off." He grabbed the cloth from its hands.
Pi scratched its head and looked around it nervously.
Ever since it arrived at the pet shop, it barely left the second floor. The first floor was a strange new world, it didn't know what to do. Each elfin seemed like it had its own space, which made it feel uneasy and like it didn't belong.
"Go watch TV," Zhang Zian said, after detecting its confusion.
Pi moved closer to the TV, keeping a distance from Old Time Tea, then sat on the floor and stared at the screen.
As per tradition, the TV was airing a special program about the transportation during the Spring Festival, in which crowds of people were wandering train stations and airport terminals. The host was currently talking about highway traffic conditions, and it made Old Time Tea and Pi visualize how many people there were in China.
Old Time Tea moved to the side, closer to the TV.
Pi moved a little bit closer, too. It was much more comfortable to watch TV that way.
The TV reporter walked into the lobby of the train station, it was full of travelers carrying bags. Most of them were playing with their phones.
The reporter interviewed a few random people. The questions were routine, ranging from "Are the tickets expensive?" to "Do you miss home?"
"Is that man reading your novel?" Old Time Tea pointed at a young man in the corner of the screen.
The man was in the background while the reporter interviewed someone else. He sat in a chair, gazing at his phone attentively, which was open to the Qidian app. The cover of Pi's novel was visible.
"Eek!" Pi shouted excitedly. Even though the man only added the book to his library, it was still something to feel happy about.
The camera was only on him for a few seconds before the reporter went to interview someone else.
Pi watched more attentively now, with its neck stretched out.
However, it didn't catch any more glimpses of its novel. It was lucky enough to stumble upon it once, it couldn't hope for more. This also meant that more and more people were reading online novels.
Pi sighed, slightly disappointed.
"Meow! Pi, want to play hide-and-seek?"
Pi turned to see Galaxy sitting behind it, gazing at it with anticipation.
Pi covered its head out of fear. The pain from the last time it played hide-and-seek was still fresh.
Zhang Zian laughed. "Pi, don't worry. Just be careful, and don't be so easily coaxed out by Famous and the others."
"No. You play hide-and-seek. Don't get me involved." Famous declined flatly.
"Famous, you admit that you're scared?" Zhang Zian teased.
Famous snapped. "Scared? No, I'm not scared. I just don't want to kill someone playing hide-and-seek!"
"You don't have to make excuses, just admit that you're scared." Zhang Zian waved his hand.
Famous continued. "You really think I'm afraid? Fine. I'll play."
"Great. Who's going to be the seeker? Let's play rock-paper-scissors to decide." Zhang Zian was thrilled, as Famous was playing right into his trap.
Famous looked Galaxy's paws as well as its own, then at Zhang Zian and Pi's hands. It knew that it would definitely lose if they played rock-paper-scissors.
"No way! Let's flip a coin," Famous replied loudly.
Zhang Zian put the broom down and searched his pockets. "I don't have a coin with me. Wait a second."
He ran upstairs and came back with a coin.
"Okay. Who's calling it?" he asked. He tossed the coin in the air and caught it firmly between his palms.
"Meow! Galaxy will go first!" Galaxy said joyfully.
Famous was quiet because it knew that it couldn't beat Galaxy.
"Nobody's going against Galaxy?" Zhang Zian looked at them. "Okay. Famous and Pi will go, and whoever loses goes against me. How's that?"
"That seems fair." Famous agreed, and looked at Pi. "You can go first."
Zhang Zian asked, "Pi, you've never done this before, have you?" Pi shook its head. "You just have to guess which side is facing upward, the side with numbers or the side with flowers."
Pi blinked, and gestured for them to wait. It went upstairs, and came back with its book. After it flipped the book open, it stretched one finger out as if to say "one."
Famous snapped. "You're cheating! We agreed that we couldn't use our superpowers."
"We agreed that superpowers couldn't be used during hide-and-seek. We're just flipping the coin." Zhang Zian corrected. "Famous, you can use your power if you want."
"Fine, I lose." Famous admitted unwillingly. Pi's book had everything in it, including how the coin landed. Famous couldn't beat it if it had the book.
"Eek!" Pi smiled joyfully.
"Now it's just you and me," Zhang Zian said seriously. "I'll give you a chance to back out."
"I'm not backing out," Famous replied. "I'll let you go first."
"Okay."
Zhang Zian threw the coin in the air. The coin whizzed through the air before he caught it between his palms again.
He stared at his hands, as if he could see through them.
"Stop acting weird, you don't have a superpower," Famous complained. "You think I was born yesterday?"
Zhang Zian didn't move. His eyes didn't look up when he said, "The number side is up."
"Then I guess that the flower side is up. Stop stalling. Move your palm so we can see."
Zhang Zian moved his palm, and the number side of the coin came into view. He won.
Famous grumbled about bad luck, then closed its eyes. "I'll start counting. Now go and hide! 1, 2, 3, 4…"
"Meow!"
"Eek!"
"Haha! Famous, don't peek!"
Three distinct footsteps ran in different directions, while Famous counted. When it got to 100, it opened its eyes.
It searched the entire first floor, but didn't find anybody, so they all had to be on the second floor.
After landing on the second floor, it tried the oldest trick in the book and shouted at the top of its lungs, "Stop hiding, I can see you!"
Pi didn't fall for its bluff this time.
Famous didn't give up. There were only a few places to hide up here, so it would find them sooner or later.
Remembering last time, it ran straight to the kitchen and opened the fridge. However, this time, it only found fresh vegetables and fruits.
Could Zhang Zian actually be in the freezer?
"Are you inside the freezer? I'll only fall for that trick once. If you're there, you better come out, or I'll seal the freezer with tape!"
There was still no sound from the freezer.
Was Zhang Zian not inside, or was he calling its bluff? Famous hesitated, then opened the freezer.
Cold air spilled out, but there was nobody in the freezer, which was perfectly normal. It'd be horrific to find somebody inside.
Famous was somewhat relieved. It seemed that Zhang Zian hadn't lost his mind.
Just in case, Famous opened all the cabinets one by one and searched inside. It also jumped onto the stove and looked into the ventilation hood. Zhang Zian was nowhere to be found.
Famous considered Zhang Zian as the easiest target. After Zhang Zian read Pi's novel yesterday, it knew Galaxy was good at hide-and-seek. Pi was very competitive and had a magical book, so it was pretty good at hiding, too.
Besides, both Galaxy and Pi were small, so they had many places to hide. Zhang Zian, on the other hand, was much bigger. Famous continued to search for Zhang Zian.
Famous had finished searching the kitchen, and moved onto the bedroom and living room. It searched anywhere big enough to accommodate a large person, such as the closet, under the bed, etc. It didn't find anyone.
Famous was stunned. The storage room was the only place left it hadn't checked. They couldn't all be hiding in the storage room, right?
Either way, it opened the door to the storage room with one last hope.
The storage room was cluttered with a lot of stuff, but none of it was what Famous was looking for.
Famous wasn't willing to admit defeat, especially not to Zhang Zian. It searched the first and second floor again, and still couldn't find them.
When it finished its second search, it asked, "Old Time Tea, did they go outdoors?"
"Nope." Old Time Tea smiled.
Famous knew Old Time Tea would never lie, but it was weird that it couldn't find anyone.
It even lifted its head to look up Fina's cat tree, and thankfully, Zhang Zian wasn't there. If Famous had found Zhang Zian there, it wouldn't know what to think.
Famous searched the house one more time. This time, it went through everything, even the garbage can in the kitchen. No one was found.
It remembered how it bragged before the game started, and its face burned as if it was on fire.
"Come out! I give up!" Famous shouted.
"Meow! Galaxy has won!" Galaxy ran out of the bedroom as it cheered.
Famous was prepared for Galaxy's elusiveness. "Galaxy, did you see the others?"
"Meow!" Galaxy shook its head.
Before Famous had time to ask more, it heard faint noises coming from the bedroom.
That's weird. How were both of them hiding in the bedroom?
Famous ran into the bedroom. "Pi, where are you?"
"Eek."
Following the sound, Famous stopped next to the air purifier, and it was vibrating.
Famous remembered how it saw the filter of the air purifier in the storage room earlier, and thought it was a bit odd, but didn't think anything else of it.
"Pi, are you in the air purifier?" Famous asked.
"Eek." Pi's voice was muffled.
Binhai City's air quality was bad sometimes, so most families owned air purifiers. The second floor of the pet shop was bigger—and since the bedroom and living room were connected—so theirs was in the bedroom. The air purifier was bulky, it wasn't big enough to hide a person, but apparently, it was spacious enough for a young monkey.
Famous spoke to the air purifier, "Did Zhang Zian put you in there? Then, let him be the one to take you out. By the way, where is he?"
There was a knock on the bedroom window.
The window that was on the second floor.
"Hurry, pull me in. I'm falling off." Zhang Zian's voice came outside the window.
Famous stood up, and looked outside. Zhang Zian was hanging onto the edge of the windowsill. His entire body was hanging in the air, his legs kicking wildly.
"Famous, help me." Zhang Zian smiled innoently.
Famous smiled back mischievously.
Old Time Tea didn't lie per se. Zhang Zian wasn't outdoors, he went outside the window, hanging onto the windowsill. No wonder he was nowhere to be found.
The building was tall. As he was hanging, his feet were about two to three meters above the ground. The fall wouldn't have killed him, but it might've hurt his ankles.
There was a quiet alley outside the window. Nobody was walking in the alley, otherwise, someone might have called the police.
"Hurry, Famous. Don't just watch. Give me a hand. My fingers are cramping. I can't hold on anymore," Zhang Zian grumbled.
Famous simply replied, "When you decided to do this, didn't it occur to you that your fingers may cramp up?"
This time, Zhang Zian smiled out of embarrassment. "I didn't think about it."
Suddenly, Galaxy jumped onto the windowsill. "Meow! Zhang Zian, there you are. Hiding outside the window again?"
Famous tried to hide its shock, and failed. "You've done this before?"
"No!" Zhang Zian quickly clarified. "When I played before with Galaxy, I usually just laid on the windowsill since Galaxy is short. You're tall, so I figured that you'd see me if I squatted on the windowsill. That's how I came up with this bad idea."
"You're unbelievable!" Famous complained. "You knew it was a bad idea, and you did it anyway? What the heck were you thinking?"
"I know, it was stupid. Just pull me in," Zhang Zian begged.
Famous was once again convinced that the hide-and-seek that Zhang Zian and Galaxy played wasn't the same hide-and-seek that normal people played. It went to the storage room to find a strong rope. It tied one end to the bedroom door knob and threw the other end out the window. Zhang Zian caught it and climbed back into the room.
"Famous, did you give up?" He spoke proudly with one hand on his waist, back to his old self.
A silver coin rolled out of his pocket, onto the floor, and landed by Famous' paw.
It lowered its head to look at one side, which was the number side. Then it looked at the other side, which was still the number side.
"What kind of coin is this? Why are there numbers on both sides?" Famous asked.
Seeing his trick discovered, Zhang Zian coughed and said, "It's a magical coin that I bought."
Famous was too tired to complain. "Please, I'm begging you. Next time, don't ask me to play hide-and-seek."
Zhang Zian took Pi out of the air purifier. He cleared his throat, obviously satisfied with the turn of events. "This was a successful game of hide-and-seek, a mind-blowing game of hide-and-seek. Well, it's breakfast time."