Little Alpaca – Chapter 182
by Little PandaVolume 5: Tribulation of All Beings
You were mean to me just now.
In her entire life, Yi Qiu had rarely been praised and seldom been cared for.
She had a family and friends, but not a single one of them treated her the way You Yan did.
She had plenty of classmates who were picked up and dropped off from kindergarten through the third or fourth grade. At the very least, someone would always come for them on a rainy day.
But ever since she could remember the way, she had walked home alone every day. Alone, she would use the few yuan her parents gave her in the morning to buy a box lunch. Alone, she did her homework. Alone, she went to bed on time.
Her family was always busy. So busy that, aside from weekends, they basically only had breakfast together in the morning. As for when they came home at night, that was always after she had fallen asleep, and it mattered not one bit.
This busyness continued until her second year of middle school.
Her parents, who had never paid her any mind, suddenly seemed to have fewer burdens and began to care about her academic performance.
From then on, her family began to frequently compare her to her classmates, as if she failed to live up to expectations in every way, forever unable to measure up to “other people’s children.”1
She had thought she was mature enough—at least, after leaving home to work and achieving financial independence, she truly was mature enough.
But ever since coming to You Yan’s side, all her pretenses of maturity had vanished.
How mature could she possibly be? She was just one of the countless ordinary people in the world, drifting along with the current.
In her past life, her education was average, her looks were average, and her work ability was very average. Aside from seeking a bit of a sense of justice online—which could be slapped in the face by a news reversal at any moment—she basically never received a single word of praise in her daily life.
I never really grew up, she thought.
At least, before meeting You Yan, she was someone who wanted to escape from everything she faced.
On weekdays, she avoided overtime. After work, she avoided social gatherings. When she went home for holidays, she had to avoid her relatives’ interrogations and the blind dates arranged by her family.
There were far too many things she didn’t want to face. No matter when or where, she wished she could just lie flat2 for the rest of her life.
How she wished she could shrink into a corner of the world and have no one notice her. She didn’t even need any promotions or raises; she just wanted to keep working in a stable, unremarkable way, as long as she could always afford to eat.
As for how long she would live, that was up to the heavens. She had no aspirations of living to be a hundred.
After graduating, she had truly embraced this mentality, muddling through so many years in a daze and feeling that there was nothing wrong with such a life.
And really, there wasn’t anything wrong with it. If her family could just stop pressuring her to get married, her life as a salted fish could have been even more perfect.
But once a person has tasted sweetness, they can no longer stomach bitterness.
If she had never met You Yan, perhaps she could have continued to live freely on her own.
But now, she just wanted to stay by You Yan’s side and be a childish imp, becoming arrogant because of favor.3
After all, in this world, besides You Yan, there was no one else who would treat her this way, and no one else who would tolerate her childishness.
As Yi Qiu thought this, her two furry hind legs gently kicked away the blanket covering the lower half of her body.
She clambered onto You Yan, then shifted to sit sideways on You Yan’s right leg. The candlelight flickered slightly with the breeze, seeming to add a touch of blush to that face.
But the blush wasn’t from the candlelight. It was her heart that was stirring, causing the pair of pointed ears atop her head to droop down obediently.
The night outside the window had only just now quietly descended. The sky, having just bid farewell to the setting sun, was still a moon-white color, not yet stained with deep ink.
Yi Qiu could feel the breathing of the person she was clinging to quicken at that moment.
She opened her beautiful, almond-shaped eyes wide, quietly gazing at the increasingly flushed You Yan before her. She could feel the fair neck her hands were wrapped around gradually grow hot as well.
After a long silence, You Yan couldn’t help but blink nervously.
She hesitantly raised her hands to embrace Yi Qiu, who hadn’t even fully transformed into her human form, and parted her lips slightly as if she wanted to speak, but stopped.
Yi Qiu didn’t miss the emotion on You Yan’s face in that instant. She hurriedly pressed, “You Yan, what do you want to say to me?”
Faced with that yearning gaze so close to her, You Yan couldn’t help but take a deep breath. Only then did she manage to calm her chaotic thoughts. She reached out and gently stroked Yi Qiu’s smooth cheek.
Her eyes filled with affection, she said in a low voice, “It’s fine to be childish.”
“Really?”
“Anything is fine.” As You Yan spoke, she cupped the small face in her hands and placed a light kiss between her brows.
I’ll probably never understand why I fell for this little alpaca, she thought.
But she knew she didn’t need to understand the reason why. She only needed to understand her own heart.
She just liked this Yi Qiu who had come from another world. Liked her so much that the heart that hadn’t rippled in over two thousand years was now easily swayed by all her joys and sorrows.
Spoiled, childish, whatever it was, it was all fine. She was willing to indulge Yi Qiu.
Who could blame her? She simply couldn’t control herself. Every time she saw Yi Qiu happy, she would become happy too.
Her fingertips brushed through Yi Qiu’s loose hair, and her gaze couldn’t help but travel down her smooth neck.
Before Yi Qiu got angry, there was clearly a ruff of fur here.
If it disappeared from here, where did it grow out?
Yi Qiu noticed You Yan’s gaze, and her heart began to beat much faster. “Where… where are you looking…”
Hearing this, You Yan’s cool fingers stroked that smooth nape, a trace of curiosity flashing in her eyes. “The fur here… where did it go?”
Yi Qiu instinctively shrank back, her face crimson as she pursed her lips. “It’s… it’s not important…”
“Then I’ll find it myself.”
The moment You Yan’s words fell, Yi Qiu quickly pressed down on those inquisitive hands, lowered her head in extreme embarrassment, and whispered, “It’s… it’s the tail.”
“The tail?”
You Yan was silent for a moment, then couldn’t help but chuckle. She looked at Yi Qiu and said softly, “Let me see?”
Yi Qiu’s face flushed. “That’s not necessary…”
As she spoke, she refused to let go of You Yan’s wrists.
You Yan couldn’t help but laugh. “Is your tail that small? You’ve hidden it so well, I didn’t even see it.”
“I’m an alpaca, not some cat or dog or fox. My tail was small to begin with. And it’s not like you…” As Yi Qiu spoke, her voice grew quieter. “It’s not like you haven’t kicked it before.”
“When did I ever kick it?”
“You did!”
“I don’t remember.”
“You did kick it! You kicked it with the tip of your foot!” Yi Qiu said, her voice a small, aggrieved mumble. “See, you’ve forgotten. You used to bully me in different ways every day. Kicking my tail was such a trivial thing to you, of course you don’t remember!”
How can this bird woman be like this? She could forget something as outrageous as kicking her tail with the tip of her foot. In a little while, would she also forget that she used to forbid her from sleeping on the bed?
Yi Qiu was keeping a tally of some grudges in her heart. It seemed it was time to give this bird woman a good scare.
“Petty,” You Yan said casually, easily freeing her hands from Yi Qiu’s grasp. She wrapped an arm around Yi Qiu’s waist and said softly, “Let me see the tail.”
“No!” Yi Qiu pushed You Yan to the side.
You Yan was taken aback. The woman who had been sitting on her lap one second was now, with a nimble movement, sitting back on the bed the next.
She even told her, “If you want to see it, then turn me into an alpaca. You can look all you want then.”
You Yan was about to say something else, but for some reason, Yi Qiu suddenly threw a tantrum, kicking her off the bed with her two big, furry hooves, again and again.
You Yan was astonished. “What is all this fuss about?”
Yi Qiu raised her brows and said, “I hold a grudge!”
As she spoke, she reached out, grabbed the blanket, and pulled it over her legs, which hadn’t successfully transformed.
Whenever You Yan got close, she would kick out with her legs, blanket and all. With every kick, the entire bed would shake.
“Are you not letting me sleep tonight?” You Yan couldn’t help but ask.
“I’m not, so I’m not! You didn’t just kick my tail, you kicked my stomach too. Tonight… hmm, you’re not allowed on the bed!” As Yi Qiu spoke, a smile involuntarily appeared at the corners of her mouth, only to be completely suppressed the next second.
She stifled her laughter for a moment and then noticed what seemed to be a trace of faint grievance in You Yan’s eyes. She froze.
No way. It was just a joke. Did the bird woman take it seriously?
Yi Qiu frowned, lay down sideways on the pillow guiltily, and said loudly, “I don’t care. Tonight… you’re only allowed to come up after I… I’ve fallen asleep!”
After saying that, she quickly squeezed her eyes shut.
The bird woman should be calling out my terrible acting by now, she thought.
But after a long silence, nothing happened.
Don’t tell me she actually believed it?
Yi Qiu couldn’t help but grip the edge of the blanket tightly. Without a doubt, You Yan’s silence was making her a little frantic.
She didn’t know what had come over her; she had just suddenly wanted to tease You Yan.
What had she done? She actually dared to forbid You Yan from getting on the bed. It wasn’t like she had eaten the heart of a bear and the guts of a leopard4 for dinner!
Was it too late to say she was joking?
You Yan wouldn’t lose her temper, pick her up off the bed, and toss her on the floor, would she?
Wouldn’t she have to make a bed on the floor again?
It won’t come to that, it won’t…
The You Yan of today had changed. She wasn’t as unreasonable as before.
Even if You Yan really believed me, she thought, she probably wouldn’t listen to me. After all, my temper comes and goes quickly. You Yan must be used to it by now.
You Yan would probably lean in close to her ear and gently coax her. After all, she was easy to coax, and You Yan knew it… She decided that as long as You Yan coaxed her, she would immediately give You Yan a way to back down gracefully.5
Of course, it was also possible You Yan wouldn’t coax her. She might just, without another word, get past her and lie down on the inner side of the bed. Then, after a brief silence, she would quietly and nonchalantly wrap her arms around her from the side… If that happens, Yi Qiu thought, it’s not like I can’t just pretend to be asleep.
As she thought this, she squeezed her eyes shut even tighter.
But an unknown amount of time passed, and You Yan still hadn’t made a move.
Yi Qiu suddenly found it hard to keep up the act. Unable to resist, she cracked her right eye open just a sliver.
The instant she opened her eye, she saw You Yan, who was also leaning against the side of the bed, chin in her hands, gazing at her quietly with a smile on her lips.
“Why aren’t you asleep yet?” You Yan said. “I’m waiting to get on the bed.”
“You, you… why are you being so obedient?” Yi Qiu stammered.
You Yan raised an eyebrow. “Can I be disobedient?”
Faced with such a question, Yi Qiu was at a loss for how to answer. And so, her silence was naturally taken by You Yan as tacit agreement.
This time, You Yan didn’t lie down on the inner side of the bed as usual. Instead, bit by bit, she squeezed the astonished Yi Qiu from the outer edge to the inner side. Finally, she turned on her side and nonchalantly hugged the person next to her.
Yi Qiu was just about to say something when a fiery kiss sealed all her words.
She didn’t know how much time had passed, only that You Yan didn’t let her go, so she did her best to meet the kiss and drown in it. Every time You Yan tried to pull away, she would hold her back once more.
Finally, when she was almost out of breath, she was willing to part.
The candle was never extinguished. They held each other, gazed at each other, and remained silent for a long, long time.
After a long silence, You Yan spoke softly.
“You were mean to me just now.”
“I… I was actually joking.”
“I know.”
“You knew? You knew and you still…”
“I just wanted to see how long it would take for you to let me come up.”
As she spoke, with a single thought, she extinguished the candlestick in the room and held the person in her arms even tighter.
The author has something to say:
A little angel said they couldn’t imagine what a half-human, half-alpaca would look like. Let me think of how to describe it. If you search for the initial skin of the shikigami Hakurou (White Wolf) from the game Onmyoji, the lower body is something like that. The legs are human-length but covered in alpaca fur, and the feet are alpaca hooves. The human body proportions don’t change, just the shape of the feet. She has ears on her head and a tail on her body. She’s got the figure, and she’s got the fluff.
Footnotes
- Literally “other people’s children”. A common phrase used by Chinese parents to unfavorably compare their own child to a seemingly perfect peer.
- Literally “to lie flat”. A popular Chinese internet slang term for rejecting the societal rat race and doing the bare minimum to get by.
- An idiom meaning to become arrogant or act presumptuously due to being doted on or favored.
- An idiom meaning “the heart of a bear and the guts of a leopard”, used to describe audacious courage.
- Literally “give someone a flight of stairs to walk down”. An idiom for providing someone a graceful way out of an awkward or confrontational situation.
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