Chapter – 04
Scrubbing the Back
“It’s Deputy Captain Yanâdon’t go promoting me without authorization.” Yan Tuo sat at his desk, staring at his laptop, and answered casually.
“With the way you work like a man possessed, it’s only a matter of time anyway.”
Flower Hongqing laughed and steered the conversation back: “But seriously, I just don’t get it. With all those blind dates, are they all blind? How have they managed to leave you single all this time?”
Yan Tuo hit the enter key, glanced sideways at his childhood friend, and said, “What’s there to say about fate? It’s better if none of them work outâI don’t have the energy for it anyway. No point wasting their time.”
“Sure, you’re definitely part of the problemâyou’re obviously half-hearted about it. But the odds are still way off. At least a few should have shown further interest, right? Not a complete wipeout⊔
After rambling on without getting a response, Flower Hongqing couldn’t help letting his imagination run wild. He ventured cautiously, “You’re not⊠secretly the same orientation as me, are you?”
Staring at his childhood friend, who had openly come out back in high school and long since achieved a “century club” record, Yan Tuo’s mind involuntarily flashed images of the burly, muscle-bound men under his command. After a shiver, he let out a frustrated laugh.
“Bullshit. What are you thinking? I went to police academy, and ninety percent of my colleagues are men. If I were the same as you, how could I not have figured it out by now?”
Flower Hongqing supposed that made sense. He felt guilty for a second over his far-fetched guess, then casually picked up a book from the desk and flipped through it.
It was a thick scrapbook. After reading a few pages, Flower Hongqing couldn’t help but feel a pang of pity. He stared at the back of his friend’s head for a long time, and when he spoke again, his voice was much lower: “These are all clippings from fifteen years ago. Tuozi, you still haven’t let it go?”
Yan Tuo didn’t answer, so Flower Hongqing stayed put, waiting. The two birds in the cage suddenly stopped chirping too. For a moment, the apartment fell into a silence that somehow felt oppressive.
Sensing that he’d accidentally touched a nerve, Flower Hongqing awkwardly tried to backtrack:
“I⊠I’m not saying I don’t believe you. But Tuozi, the case is closed. Those three got what they deservedâthere’s grass growing tall over their graves by now. As for the fourth person you mentionedâafter all these years, there’s not a single lead, no one’s ever seen them, and you haven’t either, right? You can’t even explain who they are. Could it be⊠you’re overthinking it?”
Still silence. Flower Hongqing had no choice but to keep going alone: “I’m serious. The departed are gone. Your parents’ spirits surely wouldn’t want to see you suffering like this. Letting go, maybeâ”
Yan Tuo cut off his friend’s question. When he turned back around, his expression was perfectly composed, and he said with a hint of self-mockery, “What suffering? I eat and drink well enough. Hongqing, I know what I’m doing.”
There wasn’t much more to say, so Flower Hongqing changed the subject, using dinner plans as an excuse to lighten the mood.
One of them browsed the internet while the other played mobile games, quietly whiling away the entire afternoon. They ordered takeout for dinner too, wanting to give their beloved pets more time together.
That evening, when it was time to take Maggie home, Flower Hongqing wheedled and cajoled his friend into giving him a spare key, saying he’d have his housekeeper come by sometime to tidy upâno decent person should have to live in a dump.
Yan Tuo thought it over. Aside from his personal laptop, there wasn’t really anything that needed to be kept secret. Unable to resist his friend’s enthusiastic push, he finally nodded in agreement.
After the weekend’s “back stepping” farce, White Yiyi’s mood remained low for two straight days. He didn’t even feel like responding to his feeder’s deliberate attempts at affection.
That day, he’d kept his ears perked and caught every word of their conversation. Not only did he learn his male god’s full name, but he also picked up bits and pieces about his parents’ passing and the long list of blind dates.
Not that he’d ever really expected to have a chance with his male godâbut once the man’s straight orientation was confirmed, White Yiyi still felt a twinge of disappointment.
Straight men can’t be conquered.
Even if he turned back into a human, it seemed there was no possibility between them. That little initial crushâborn from his looks, deepened by his professionâhad withered before it could even taste any sweetness.
Maybe that was why, over the past two days, all those close interactions hadn’t translated into satisfaction points at all. The score stubbornly stayed at -30.
White Yiyi was worried sick, completely unable to think of a solution. Perhaps the stress was too muchâone morning when he woke up, he discovered that feathers were starting to fall off the top of his head.
And it was pretty bad. Scattered among the cotton threads of his nest were quite a few dark gray feathers. Even though he couldn’t see his own bird form right now, losing that many at once was obviously not a pretty sight.
His mood sank even further. Could turning into a bird also come with a balding problem?
His satisfaction score dropped again to -50.
His dejection must have been painfully obvious, because late that night, when his feeder came home, he didn’t immediately wash up and go to bed. Instead, he stood by the cage for a good while, studying him, then actually opened the door and reached a large palm directly in front of him.
White Yiyi didn’t understand what he meant. After a moment’s thought, he decided to go with it and hopped onto the hand. What was the worst that could happen? It wasn’t like he was going to trick him out and roast him for a snack, right?
Yan Tuo didn’t want a midnight snack. He’d just come back from overtime and hadn’t heard Tangyuan’s usual greeting chirpsâit felt a little strange.
Thinking back over the little cutie’s behavior the past couple of days, and checking the levels in the food and water containers, he came to a conclusion: his little pet was unhappy.
Based on the bird-keeping tips he’d looked up recently, little birds love to be clean. Yan Tuo decided to give Tangyuan a bath.
In the middle of summer, a bath not only helped beat the heat but also counted as a fun little game for them.
It seemed Tangyuan trusted him quite a bitâas soon as his hand reached into the cage, the little white ball hopped right in, curling up in his palm like a sunken glutinous rice ball, perfectly still and unusually docile.
Without overthinking it, Yan Tuo carried the white ball straight to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, adjusted the water pressure to a comfortable level, and slowly extended his hand under the stream.
Tangyuan immediately understood. He fluttered his wings excitedly, then plunged headfirst into the water stream without a hint of fear, spinning around in circles to let the water wash evenly over every part of his body.
The little creature was just too clever and adorable. Yan Tuo couldn’t resist using his right index finger to gently stroke and scrub, helping to give him a back rub.
Tangyuan let out a “chirp” and seemed to tremble slightly. His little eyes darted over before quickly shyly looking awayâthe bashfulness looked so real that Yan Tuo even had the strange illusion that this was a person.
Shaking his head to clear the nonsense, Yan Tuo chuckled softly, “Heh, feels good, doesn’t it?”
It did feel goodâbut it was also way too embarrassing.
White Yiyi wanted to dodge away, to keep himself from sinking deeper, but he simply couldn’t resist the gentleness. His male god’s voice was so pleasant to listen to, deep and magnetic. Dazed and dizzy, he let himself be tended to, letting out shy little “chirps” from his throat.
“Good that it feels good. Feeling a bit happier now?”
So he’d noticed he was upset and was trying to cheer him up. White Little Tangyuan was even more dazed, responding weakly, “Chirp⊠chirp chirp⊔
With the master and pet carrying on their question-and-answer session, the super warm bath came to an end. White Yiyi finally got a chance to see his bird form in the mirror above the sink.
He couldn’t help blurting out, “What theâ” which came out as “Chirp chirp!”
The once-fluffy white ball was now just a messy, bedraggled drowned bird. Half-wet feathers stuck out in clumps and tufts everywhere, and especially his gray-black bowl-cut headâit looked like a dirty mop head, wet and plastered over his face, utterly ridiculous and hideous.
Yan Tuo watched the little creature repeatedly wiping his face with his wing in front of the mirror and knew he probably wasn’t happy with his current appearance. He comforted him, “Don’t worry, I’ll use a hairdryer on youâit’ll dry quickly.”
Finding the hairdryer took some effort. He had a buzz cut and never needed one, so he’d completely forgotten where he’d put it. Fortunately, the apartment wasn’t big and there weren’t too many places to hide things. After rummaging through a few spots, he finally dug it out from the bottom of a miscellaneous box.
During those several minutes, he’d worried that Tangyuan might fly around and make a mess, but the little guy had stayed obediently in place the whole time, pitifully waiting for him to come back and attend to him.
Yan Tuo’s lips curved. Such a clever, well-behaved pet deserved praise: “Baby’s such a good boy.”
White Yiyi lowered his head, wanting to cover his face again. The endearmentâhe knew it was just something said to a birdâbut still, he couldn’t help sinking deeper into it.
The hairdryer was held high, and by the time the warm air reached him it was quite gentle. The man used his fingers to help fluff and smooth the feathers, and before long, White Yiyi saw his usual self in the mirror: round and fluffy, a black-crowned white-bodied crested canary.
At his current size and appearance, playing cute was probably his only way to win affection. White Yiyi twisted left and right, preening and examining himself, searching for the most adorable pet pose.
In an unconscious downward glance, he was startled to spot four or five gray-black feathers on the countertop. These⊠these just fell out?
Maybe the tiny brain capacity of a bird affected his intelligence. After stealing a glance at his feeder, who was putting away the hairdryer, White Yiyi quickly extended a claw, swept the feathers under his body, and then plopped his bottom down onto the countertopâan “if I can’t see it, it’s not happening” self-deception.
Yan Tuo caught this slick maneuver out of the corner of his eye. Equal parts surprised and amused, he teased, “You’ve got quite the image obsession, huh? What, think I can’t see if you hide them? Let me take a closer look⊔
He leaned in, gently parted the little bird’s head feathers, and examined him carefully. Sure enough, there were significantly fewer feathers up topâthe bowl-cut had shrunk a size, and the right side near the crown was almost going bald.
He couldn’t say that outright, thoughâthe little thing was too smart, and might actually understand and get upset.
He pulled out his phone, checked Baidu, and nodded reassuringly: “It’s fine. This is just molting seasonâyou’re growing new feathers. They’ll grow back before you know it.”
With that, he scooped up the white ball again and carefully smoothed his feathers.
White Yiyi’s panic over balding faded, and he once again reveled in the gentle warmth of being held in a palm. He thought, his male god’s hands were dream hands tooâlong fingers, well-defined knuckles, and even the calluses on his index finger, from using a gun or whatever else, looked especially manly.
Sigh. If he could be held like this forever, even if he stayed a bird foreverâhe’d be willing, ahhh.
Ding. The system delivered good news: satisfaction points skyrocketed, the negative score was cleared, and for the first time ever he’d reached 5 pointsâmarching toward the passing line!
