On a winter afternoon, warm sunlight bathed the clean little path. A young man and an orange kitten walked side by side along it, forming an interesting and rather peculiar scene.
The young man’s build was still somewhat slender, yet his waist and back were straight. Beneath his soft hair, his dark eyes carried a thoughtful look. His steps did not appear hurried, but his pace was not slow.
Walking alongside him was a small orange kitten. Its orange fur shimmered with a layer of golden light under the sunlight. Because of its short legs, in order to keep up with the young man’s stride, the kitten’s fluffy legs were moving so fast they nearly left afterimages, yet its cat face still wore a composed and leisurely expression.
“Zhao Jin, do you want to eat some dried fish?” After walking a short distance, Lu Ran thought of something. He took out a packet of dried fish from his coat pocket and asked with a smile.
Zhao Jin shook his head, thinking to himself that the “senior” doted on children, accepting whatever was given without question. He was not like that.
All human food tasted the same to him as plain boiled water. It did no harm, but it had no flavor either, and he had no desire to eat it.
Sensing that there were no other people around, and no recording devices either, Zhao Jin spoke up. “I don’t eat human food. Sunbathing is enough to replenish my energy.”
Lu Ran froze for a moment, a look of disappointment surfacing on his face.
A few minutes later, he opened the same-city online delivery mall app on his phone and placed an order for several small sun electric heaters.
……
This day was New Year’s Eve. At night, once the New Year’s Eve dinner had been laid out, they first paid respects to the ancestors and the deceased.
After that, the family of three people and two cats sat together around the table.
The orange cat Xiao Huang licked at a can of cat food nearby, while a small sun heater was placed beside Zhao Jin.
Bathed in the warm reddish glow, the orange kitten seemed to be edged with a layer of golden red light.
“Does it really work?” Lu Luoluo could not help glancing over curiously.
“It can’t compare to real sunlight, but it’s pretty good,” Lu Ran replied with a smile. He liked it quite a bit himself and planned to bask in it for a while once he returned to his room later.
……
“How did you do on your final exams, Luoluo?” On the first day of the Lunar New Year, during a visit to exchange New Year greetings, a familiar question came from the kindly Old Master Shen.
“Pretty well.” Lu Luoluo put on a well-behaved smile.
“And Lu Ran?” Old Master Shen continued, his smile gentle.
“Also not bad.” Lu Ran smiled.
Old Master Shen had the habit of asking about studies whenever he saw the younger generation, but in truth he was very easy to satisfy. He never asked about specific scores or rankings.
Every time Lu Luoluo answered with “pretty good,” Old Master Shen never pressed further.
After receiving a few words of New Year blessings from the two youngsters, Old Master Shen smiled so broadly that his eyes nearly disappeared. He then turned around and stuffed each of them with a thick red envelope, adding, “I heard the two of you attended the mathematics competition winter training camp? Studying mathematics is good.”
“Both Luoluo and Lu Ran have a bit of interest in mathematics,” Madam Lu Mingzhu said with a smile and a nod.
“It’s just too hard on them,” Old Madam Shen chimed in with a smile. “Xiao Rong is awake too. Have him come down and chat with Luoluo and Lu Ran.”
For a moment, the entire room was filled with harmony and warm cheer.
Using an invisibility technique, Zhao Jin lay perched on a tree branch by the window to the side, revealing only a pair of amber-colored eyes as his fluffy orange tail swayed gently.
Although the Lu family had all promised to treat Zhao Jin as a member of the family, when people went to visit relatives to exchange New Year greetings, what sense did it make for him, a single cat, to follow along?
Besides, if he went, would that foolish cat Xiao Huang have to go too? That cat startled easily and loved currying favor with humans. If they went together, others would lump him together with Xiao Huang as the same kind, which would only make him lose face.
So Zhao Jin rejected Madam Lu Mingzhu’s suggestion that he go along as a family member cat for the New Year visit, choosing instead to quietly follow using his invisibility technique.
In any case, there was nothing else to do. He might as well watch how an ordinary family celebrated the New Year, and at the same time observe whether there were any traces of seniors around Lu Ran.
With the invisibility technique combined with Zhao Jin’s own unique method of concealment, there was absolutely no chance of being discovered.
“Auntie, hello. Cousin, hello. Lu Ran.” Shen Rong was called to the living room to greet the guests and politely greeted everyone.
After a round of small talk, he shot Lu Luoluo and Lu Ran a look, then used the excuse of chatting to call the two of them upstairs.
The adults readily agreed with smiles. Lu Luoluo and Lu Ran did not quite understand what was going on, but they followed Shen Rong up to the second floor.
“I’ll turn on the computer. Want to team up and play a round?” Shen Rong led them into the game room and pressed the power buttons on several computers one by one.
Shen Rong had been holding it in at school. Once winter vacation arrived, he was promptly sent to his grandparents’ place. With nothing else he was allowed to do, he could only rely on gaming with friends to pass the wonderful vacation days.
As soon as Lu Luoluo and Lu Ran arrived, Shen Rong remembered that his cousin had once achieved a server-wide seventh-place ranking. He wanted to play a match with Lu Luoluo and conveniently bring Lu Ran along as well.
Lu Luoluo: …
Did this count as escaping the first day but not the fifteenth? No, that was not right. Today was the first day of the Lunar New Year, and she might not even be able to escape the first day.
Lu Ran raised his eyes and asked Lu Luoluo beside him, “Want to give it a try?”
Lu Luoluo let out a dry laugh. “I haven’t played for half a year. My skills will be pretty rusty.”
Shen Rong sat down in front of the screen and opened the game, saying casually, “Server-wide seventh place. How rusty could you possibly be? Fifteen minutes and you’ll be back in the groove. Come on.”
Lu Ran said, “The game account should still be with Lu Qingjia, right? I wonder if he’s playing. Does it even support simultaneous logins from different locations?”
Lu Luoluo said, “Probably not! And at this time, the genius is probably playing games too, hahaha.”
“Then send him a message. It was your account to begin with,” Shen Rong yawned as he logged into his own account on one of the computers. “Or I can lend you my account.”
Lu Luoluo said, “…Actually, I quit gaming a couple of days ago! I even gave the account to Lu Qingjia.”
Shen Rong turned his head and stared at his cousin in disbelief. That was a server-wide seventh-place account!
There was not much surprise on Lu Ran’s face. He nodded in understanding. “I was actually planning to quit gaming too.”
Lu Luoluo laughed awkwardly. “Yeah. It takes up too much time.”
Shen Rong looked at the two of them, speechless.
“Then should we go back downstairs and keep Grandpa and Grandma and Auntie company?”
Lu Luoluo shook her head. Grandpa, Grandma, and her mom were probably talking about gossip from their social circle, things like which family had another affair, or which family was planning to go to court. Lu Luoluo had no interest in that kind of conversation.
“Then what should we do?”
Lu Ran thought for a moment, then said to Shen Rong, “Do you have playing cards?”
With three people, playing Dou Dizhu was just right.
Lu Ran occasionally saw his mom, his grandmother, and Aunt Ming Nan play this kind of game for relaxation and entertainment, so he knew a bit about it.
Lu Ran was seated facing the window. Every now and then, after finishing a round, he would deliberately or unconsciously glance outside.
Lu Ran’s perception seemed to have improved another notch. At this very moment, he could easily spot two amber-colored eyes and a fluffy orange tail hidden among the dense branches and leaves.
If Zhao Jin wanted to follow along, then so be it. He would just pretend he had not noticed.
Mm, regarding the conversation Zhao Jin had with his mom yesterday, Lu Ran had heard every word of it clearly and completely.
The timeline rewinds to yesterday.
Combining reality with reasonable speculation, after a round of careful thought during their walk, Lu Ran returned to the Lu residence. After hesitating for quite a while, he still could not help opening a browser to conduct a search.
After successfully registering on a certain teachers’ forum, he found the score ranking lists for the two monthly exams held this year during the first semester of Grade One at A City No. 1 High School. Lu Ran flipped through the pages one by one from beginning to end, and among them, he found his mom’s name.
Lu Ran fell silent on the spot.
Fifteen minutes later, Lu Ran downloaded a well-known esports game, the one his mom was said to have once played her way to server-wide seventh place, and checked the IDs along the leaderboard.
“Qingshui Riverside” was indeed on the list. It was no longer ranked seventh on the server, but fifth, and was currently online.
Opening its very sparse friends list, Lu Ran discovered an ID called “Just Say I’m in Luoyang City,” whose last login date was November 11 of last year.
Opening the match history of “Just Say I’m in Luoyang City,” Lu Ran fell silent once again.
So he had been deceived since childhood.
So his mom’s recent two months of hard work had all been to keep up a lie.
Before his mom had suggested attending the mathematics competition winter training camp, he had happened to bring up games.
Lu Ran… what else could Lu Ran do? It would not be right to expose her.
His mom had truly… worked hard.
……
“I’m done playing.” After several rounds, Shen Rong tossed aside the playing cards and tore off the white paper strips stuck all over his arms and forehead. “This is boring.”
From the outcomes of so many rounds of cards, Shen Rong summarized an objective pattern: when Shen Rong himself was the landlord, he would definitely lose; when his cousin was the landlord, she would definitely win; and when Lu Ran was the landlord, he would also lose.
No matter what, his cousin Lu Luoluo always ended up winning.
Shen Rong was left utterly speechless.
“It’s already lunchtime.” After glancing at the clock, Lu Luoluo felt a mix of reluctance and quiet delight.
In the past, playing cards had never gone this smoothly. Could it be because her grades had improved? She had heard that people who were good at mathematics were often good at playing cards.
The lunch on the first day of the Lunar New Year was very lavish, but there were not many people. Aside from the two elders of the Shen family and Shen Rong, there were only the three members of the Lu family.
Shen Rong’s father, Shen Bin, was said to be away on a business trip and unable to make it back. He deliberately sent a video call close to noon to offer New Year greetings online, then transferred money to the children in the family chat group as New Year red envelopes.
Lu Luoluo and Lu Ran politely thanked him in the group chat. Shen Rong accepted the red envelope without saying anything, and Shen Bin did not specifically mention Shen Rong either. Anyone with eyes could tell that the relationship between father and son was strained.
After lunch, the family drove to the cemetery to visit the grave of Lu Luoluo’s father, Shen Jia. The atmosphere that afternoon was not particularly good.
After having dinner at the Shen residence, the three members of Lu Ran’s family did not return to the Lu residence. Instead, at Lu Luoluo’s grandparents’ invitation, they spent the night at the Shen home.
That evening, Shen Rong took a deck of playing cards and went to find Lu Luoluo and Lu Ran again.
After dinner, Shen Rong had originally planned to play games. By chance, he spotted the playing cards on the table and was reminded of what had happened in the morning. The more he thought about it, the less he believed it. Even the game he had been enjoying earlier no longer seemed interesting. Determined to reclaim his dignity, he decided to give it another go.
And then it really was uncanny. From Dou Dizhu to Twenty-Four Points, and then to other games, he lost every single time.
After losing yet another round, Shen Rong lowered his head and fell into silent contemplation, when he suddenly sensed a dazzling light in front of his eyes.
What was going on? Had the light gone out?
Shen Rong looked up and was stunned by the scene before him.
What… why was Lu Ran glowing? And in gold, no less?
He he he his roommate… was he even human? Could he be an alien?
Was this some kind of alien disguised as a human, invading Earth?
No wonder his roommate’s face looked so much like his cousin’s. Could it be alien technology?
Lu Luoluo was also shocked, but she recalled the golden light Lu Ran had mentioned when talking about time travel and thought to herself, could her son be about to go back…?
Turning her head and seeing her cousin Shen Rong with a look of utter shock, clearly on the verge of shouting, Lu Luoluo swiftly grabbed a thick stack of napkins beside her and stuffed them into his mouth.
Shen Rong’s eyes widened. “…Mm.” Was he about to be kidnapped?
Lu Ran, meanwhile, sank into a strange state. He only felt warmth all around him, as if he were bathing in golden light. The strength he had accumulated over many days finally seemed to have somewhere to go, flowing through his blood.
The shock in Zhao Jin’s heart, as he lay perched on the tree outside the window, far exceeded that of Lu Luoluo and Shen Rong combined. At the moment when the change occurred in Lu Ran, he suddenly sensed something… special, a call that came from his bloodline.
As a special cat born of heaven and earth, Zhao Jin’s cultivation methods and spells always manifested naturally in his mind once he reached a certain stage, understood instinctively without instruction.
Just like now. He naturally perceived that the young man inside the window, his entire body radiating golden light, was of his bloodline.
Zhao Jin’s amber eyes flew wide open. He was utterly shaken, so much so that he nearly fell off the treetop.