Coming around from behind the church, Tata led Tang Miao back to Central Avenue.
A manhole cover on the roadside was venting white steam, the heat rising through the iron grate and condensing into a plume of white smoke in the cold air.
Tang Miao stepped onto it with all four paws. The iron grate was warm.
Comfortable.
Full and content, she lay down flat, all four legs stretched out, belly pressed against the grate, heat seeping upward from below.
Tata hopped onto her back and draped his big fluffy tail over himself like a blanket.
One cat and one mouse lay stacked in a pile, taking up most of the manhole cover.
Tourists passing by on the street noticed.
“Look! Look look look! An orange cat!”
“And there’s a squirrel on its back! Oh my god!”
Tang Miao’s ears swiveled, but she didn’t move, lying there like a little emperor.
A young woman in a pink puffer jacket crouched down in front of her, hands clasped together. “Little kitty, can I pet you?”
Tang Miao lifted her eyelids and gave her a look.
“Meow.”
Receiving permission, the young woman excitedly reached out and stroked her head.
Her fingertips ran from the forehead all the way to the back of the skull, with just the right amount of pressure. Tang Miao’s throat betrayed her with an involuntary purr.
“Ahhh so well-behaved! Look, she’s even purring!”
“She’s got a little pouch hanging from her neck, how cute!”
“Is she someone’s pet that got out?”
…
More and more people gathered around.
Some pulled out their phones to take photos, others rummaged through their bags for snacks.
A big brother poured a small cup of warm water from his thermos and set it down beside her.
A girl in a knitted beanie dug out half a pack of cat treats.
Tang Miao daintily nibbled on one treat, then let her gaze drift to the second one.
The girl immediately offered another.
After finishing the second, a third appeared.
Tang Miao ate while using her paw to sweep the extra treats into her little knitted pouch.
Tata was stunned on her back: “You cat… your face is way too thick!”
“Can’t help it that I’m cute!”
The crowd gradually dispersed.
Some posted photos on their Moments, others uploaded to Xiaohongshu.
In one photo, an orange cat lay on a steaming manhole cover with a fluffy-tailed squirrel perched on her back, the old buildings of Central Avenue in the background, the lighting just right.
Tang Miao suddenly thought of something and sprang up, tail trembling with excitement.
“Tata!”
“What?”
“Ice and Snow World! I want to go to Ice and Snow World!”
She sat up and clasped her front paws together. “I want to see the ice sculptures! Ride the big slide!”
Tata rolled his eyes.
“What’s so great about that dump? It’s all people! Your paws will stick to the ice and you won’t be able to pull them off—you’ll be crying before you know it!”
“But I really want to go…”
Tang Miao sidled up to Tata, extending both front paws to rest on his big fluffy tail, her toe pads opening and closing.
Left—right—left—right—
Tata went numb all over from the kneading and thrashed wildly:
“Stop stop stop! Quit kneading!”
“Fine, fine! I’ll take you somewhere even more fun first, and then we’ll go see the ice blocks.”
“Where?”
“You’ll find out tomorrow.”
The underground heating tunnels were even quieter at night than during the day.
The low, steady hum of hot water flowing through the heating pipes filled the space. A dozen or so stray cats were scattered along both sides of the pipes, breathing evenly.
Auntie Bai slept in the spot closest to the pipe elbow—the warmest spot, a privilege of the old cat.
Tang Miao found a hollow where the pipes connected and curled up.
She’d been running around all day; her four legs ached and trembled, and the sting from the snow on her paw pads hadn’t faded yet.
Tata curled up beside her head, his fluffy tail draping down over Tang Miao’s back like a furry scarf.
Tang Miao’s eyelids grew heavier and heavier.
In the distance, the occasional “drip” of water sounded.
She was almost asleep.
“Wonder how those big cats are doing lately…” Tata’s mutter was so soft it seemed meant only for himself.
“Last time we went, the third one had gotten pretty thin…”
Tang Miao’s ears perked up.
Big cats? What big cats?
She wanted to ask, but Tata had already covered his face with his tail like an eye mask and started snoring.
Tang Miao sank into sleep with a head full of questions.
…
“Get up get up! We need to catch the eight o’clock one!”
Something was tugging at the string of the little knitted pouch around her neck, pulling her along.
Tang Miao was dragged half a meter across the brick floor, and before her four legs could even brace, her head knocked against a pipe joint.
“Ow!”
“What are you dawdling for? Move it!”
Tata grabbed the string in his mouth and hauled her up to the surface.
The cold air rushing through the crack in the ground was like a blade.
Tang Miao went straight from the warm tunnel at over ten degrees into the outdoors at minus twenty-something, her whole body convulsing.
“The, the big cats you mentioned—who are they…”
“You’ll see them soon enough!”
Tata shot off in a flash, and Tang Miao tucked her neck in and followed.
Harbin in the early morning was freezing. The sun hung in the east, its light bright but its warmth nonexistent.
Tang Miao’s four paw pads stepped onto the ice, and every step made her want to pull back.
She figured out a walking method: step on snow, not ice. Snow was loose—it didn’t stick to her paws.
Tata led her across three streets, hopping over a low wall to the back of a row of platforms.
A bus stop.
The metal seats on the platform had a gap of about a dozen centimeters at the bottom. Tata squeezed in first, then turned back and squeaked at Tang Miao.
Tang Miao crouched low and followed her in.
Under the seat, the wind was blocked, slightly better than outside.
Tang Miao watched as Bus No. 85 slowly pulled into the stop.
“The bus is here! Let’s go!”
Tata didn’t give her any time to back out.
As the crowd surged toward the front door and chaos erupted behind, Tata had already vanished into the gap in the rear wheel fender.
Tang Miao stood frozen, her front paws digging into the icy ground.
The doors closed.
The engine began to roar.
She cursed under her breath and charged forward.
Four paws clawed at the edge of the fender as she shoved her entire body into the gap.
The space was bigger than she’d imagined, but not by much.
Her back pressed against the warm metal of the undercarriage, belly down, four paws gripping a crossbeam tightly.
The road was twenty centimeters below her nose.
The bus started moving.
The vibration of the road traveled through the metal plate into every bone in her body, a low, constant hum.
The crunch of tires over the icy surface burst in her ears, and bits of frozen gravel kicked up from the front wheels stung her face.
Tang Miao squeezed her eyes shut, her claws digging into the rusted grooves of the crossbeam, not daring to move an inch.
Tata was just a meter away, four paws hooked around a cable, body swaying with the motion of the bus, as relaxed as if she were swinging on a swing.
She even had the nerve to look down at the road.
“Relax! Grip too hard and your claws will cramp up!”
Tang Miao wished she could yank that big tail off and stuff it in Tata’s mouth.
The bus stopped at a station.
When the brakes hit, inertia flung Tang Miao’s body forward, her hind paws nearly slipping loose. A scream got stuck in her throat.
“Hold on tight! Didn’t I tell you the brakes were coming?”
And what good did that do?!
Forty minutes.
Tang Miao gritted her teeth through forty minutes—eleven brake stops, three sharp turns, and one bump over a speed bump.
When the bus finally came to a halt and the engine died, she felt like her four paws no longer belonged to her.
Tata squeezed out first, and Tang Miao followed, wriggling out from the fender gap.
Feet on the ground.
Her legs were jelly.
Tang Miao collapsed flat on the ground, face pressed into the snow, her white breath melting a small pit in the snow in front of her.
It took her thirty seconds to calm her heartbeat, and another thirty to regain feeling in her limbs.
She swore to the heavens: never again in this life would she ride that bus.
“We’re here! Ta-da… welcome to the cattery!” Tata hopped around above her head.
Tang Miao looked up.
A massive park gate stood before her. On the horizontal plaque above, bold characters read:
“NORTHEAST TIGER PARK.”
Tang Miao crouched in the snow, head tilted up, pupils slowly dilating.
Going to see tigers?
A four-month-old orange tabby kitten, going to see tigers?
Was she sure she wasn’t here to be a little snack?