Let Me Ruffle Your Fur a Little

The meal ends rather pleasantly, with Bai Yao and Mu Yi purposefully picking light topics and Mu Mu’er occasionally nodding to pretend he understands and is participating.

Mu Yi has to go back to Xishi the next morning, so makes his excuses after the meal to finish some work-related things at the lodgings first.

“I’d like to talk to him a little,” he tells Bai Yao.

Bai Yao nods and starts carrying things back to the kitchen, while winking at Mu Mu’er, “call me if you need me.”

In the kitchen, he begins washing the dishes while waiting patiently by the counter. He also had enough time to warm up an egg tart as a treat for Mu’er later tonight.

The walls aren’t perfectly insulating, so with his hearing, Bai Yao can hear Mu Yi quite clearly.

“Gege will always welcome you when you need me. Do you understand?”

Mu Mu’er’s response is too quiet to hear.

“If you ever feel like you’re not happy here, you can always come to gege. Tell me, whenever you need, I’ll immediately come pick you up.”

Even if he isn’t intentionally eavesdropping, Bai Yao still decides it’s rather inappropriate. He takes the tart out to cool before exiting to the back garden.

He lights a cigarette in the cool autumn night, but does not actually put it to his lips. Instead, he merely holds it as he blanks out looking at the horizon under the bright moonlight.

After a while, he snuffs out the cigarette that’s almost burned through and turns to go back inside.

Before he does, he leaves the pack of half-full cigarettes on the lid of the bin outside.

Mu Yi, meanwhile, is currently adjusting Mu’er’s clothes. He brushes his hand past the boy’s nose, “remember to call gege every day, ok? You’ve really grown up a lot.”

He is patting his hand on Mu Mu’er a lot. Parting is always difficult.

“Ok. Call gege on the phone,” Mu Mu’er nods and waves at Mu Yi, while still reciting the schedule of things to himself, “play Moon Rabbit, make phone call.”

Then, finally, he yells, “goodbye, gege!”

Mu Yi is going to walk back to the lodgings; not that he can even drive, having had a sip. Before he does, he gestures for Bai Yao to follow him for a moment. He has something to say.

Bai Yao, unsurprised, turns to tell Mu Mu’er, “Mu’er, go back upstairs, and get ready to sleep. Yaoyao will be back very soon.”

The boy is clearly curious where Mu Yi and Bai Yao are going, and he wants to follow, but he follows Bai Yao’s orders without question. He nods and goes upstairs, waiting for Bai Yao to come to sleep on the living room sofa.

The room without Bai Yao is quiet, save for the clock ticking along above the living room TV.

The window is open, letting in the melodies the breeze plays on the veranda wind chime.

From the window, the entrance and gravel road is visible. After sitting for a moment on the sofa, Mu Mu’er, bored, walks over to the window to see if Bai Yao is there.

They’re right there on the street, so Mu Mu’er’s eyes brighten up, and leans over a little more to see better.

“Yaoyao,” Mu Mu’er says to himself, as he knows Bai Yao cannot hear at the distance. He just wants to call out.

He adds, “Yaoyao, Mu’er misses Yaoyao already…”

After some time, Mu Mu’er’s legs feel a little sore, but Bai Yao is still talking to Mu Yi there. He’s impatient and sleepy, but Bai Yao isn’t here yet. He doesn’t want to sleep alone.

He has to hold hands. This may be a sea otter habit Mu Mu’er can never wean himself off of, or want to, but he has no hands to hold when Bai Yao isn’t here.

A few minutes later, he heads downstairs directly, to try to see what they’re talking about outside. Are they talking about interesting things?

Or, what if they’re talking bad things about him? Mu Mu’er has to go listen. They should not say bad things about Mu’er.

Before he arrives, though, he notices the table they had dinner on earlier.

It’s not cleaned up fully yet. The hotpot itself and some of the leftover plates of vegetables and meats are still there. Mu Mu’er, with eyes narrowed, finds his attention is drawn to the glasses left there, however, on the ‘grape juice’ Bai Yao didn’t let him try.

Things that people say not to touch or feel always carry a sort of inexplicable attractiveness. Biting his lips, Mu Mu’er walks closer to observe the dark red liquid.

It smells nice. Maybe it tastes nice.

Mu Mu’er is smacking his lips. He’s both curious and feeling naughty.

There is nothing in the world he cannot try eating or drinking. The only difference to him is whether they’re tasty or not.

After coming to a decision, Mu Mu’er smiles a little mischievously, and looks over the two glasses.

“This is gege‘s,” he avoids the glass Mu Yi used, and instead, smiles at the other glass of wine, “this is Yaoyao’s. Mu’er drinks this one.”

Cabernet sauvignons are wines brewed in colder regions, generally deeper in colour. The bitterness is much more subdued, letting the soft aroma shine.

The grapes used are smaller, seeded ones. The wine itself carries a taste like that of blackberries and plums. It has a taste similar to a juice; the alcohol itself is mild, and this is suited to general consumption.

Mu Mu’er gives it a cursory taste, and decides it tastes quite well. He doesn’t understand why Bai Yao said this was not tasty and didn’t let him drink.

This is tasty, more than the juice at night.

After thinking a while, he concludes that Bai Yao must be trying to keep the tasty juice to himself, while giving him the less tasty grape juice.

Bai Yao is a stingy gringe.

Yaoyao is a bad Yaoyao. He’s going to keep his own tasty things for himself, then.

After Mu Mu’er finishes the glass, he feels like he wants some more. So his gaze then falls onto the bottle of wine left on the table.