Little Chubby Girl's New Year's Eve

"What Wangzai does every day is search for food all over Happy Valley. Its favorite food is milk."

As Liu Shiling explained, a chubby paper crane waddled around on the shoe cabinet. If it weren't for its long neck, Shiling's Mother thought the origami looked more like a penguin...

"If it wants to drink milk, it has to find a cow first, Shiling. Are there any cows in your Happy Valley?" Shiling's Mother couldn't help but ask with a smile.

The area behind the shoe cabinet fell silent, and the fat paper crane also stopped moving.

After a while, Liu Shiling shouted, "Mom, you're in the audience, you need to watch the performance quietly! You can't make a fuss!"

"Okay, okay, I'll watch the performance quietly. You continue, you continue." Shiling's Mother couldn't stop smiling.

Liu Shiling placed a folded gorilla on the shoe cabinet and said, "Suddenly one day, the great demon king from another world, the gorilla Sweet Chili Sauce, descended upon Happy Valley!"

Upon hearing the name of the paper gorilla, Shiling's Mother, who had just opened her cola and taken a sip, almost spat it out, laughing and coughing at the same time.

"Mom! Be serious!" The Little Chubby Girl's disgruntled voice rang out from behind the shoe cabinet.

"I choked, cough cough, sorry, please continue."

On the shoe cabinet, the paper gorilla started moving on its own, herding the fat paper crane around. However, compared to the paper crane, the paper gorilla moved much more steadily, as if it were being dragged along by something underneath.

Shiling's Mother looked closely and felt there might be a magnet or something on the paper gorilla base. But how was Shiling controlling it? She didn't see Shiling holding another magnet nearby. Could it be under the shoe cabinet, separated by the wooden board on top?

After chasing each other around twice, the paper gorilla finally caught up with the fat paper crane on the shoe cabinet and "pushed" it over.

"Wangzai was bullied by the Sweet Chili Sauce; Happy Valley has lost its joy and fallen into a dark curse."

As this "narration" was mentioned, Shiling's Mother saw a small hand reach out from behind the shoe cabinet and press the switch next to it, turning off the lights in the living room.

Why?!

Shiling's Mother was taken aback. Wasn't this girl very afraid of the dark?

A few seconds later, a light shone on the shoe cabinet. Shiling's Mother realized it was the small lamp from Liu Shiling's room, which she had also brought over as a prop.

The Great Demon King Sweet Chili Sauce laughed triumphantly: Hahahaha!

As Liu Shiling imitated the villain's loud laughter, the upper body of the paper gorilla also shook rapidly with the laughter, as if it were really laughing.

Shiling's Mother found it interesting and couldn't resist taking out her phone to film it.

"But justice may be absent, but it will never be absent... No, let's start over... But justice may be delayed, but it will never be absent! Just when Wangzai was in despair, a Great Mage appeared to save the world!"

Then a folded paper figure was placed on the shoe cabinet.

Even with only a desk lamp on and poor lighting, Shiling's Mother could clearly see that this little figure was folded much more delicately than the paper gorilla and the fat paper crane, and it even had "painting" on it.

It looked like a mage in a red robe, holding a black magic wand.

After placing the magician's paper doll on the shoe cabinet, Shiling's Mother could clearly hear the sound of a hard object hitting the cabinet surface. She became even more certain that her daughter was controlling the paper doll with a magnet or something similar. No wonder she had been so interested in electromagnetism lately.

"The Great Mage stopped the Big Demon King Sweet Spicy Sweet Chili Sauce from bullying Wangzai. Sweet Chili Sauce was furious and roared: 'Ya..."

As Liu Shiling imitated the angry sound of the paper gorilla, the lamp on the shoe cabinet began to flicker, as if it were matching the great demon king's rage.

Shiling's Mother couldn't help but worry, because she hadn't seen Liu Shiling reach onto the shoe cabinet to control the lamp. She wondered if her daughter was using the plug to control it? That could be dangerous!

Just as she was about to stand up and take a look, Liu Shiling reached out and turned on the living room light.

"But the Great Mage cast a powerful spell of light, restoring light to Happy Valley and dispelling the curse of darkness."

The Great Demon King was not defeated. He roared, "Great Mage, do you think you can defeat me like this? You're too naive! I am Sweet Chili Sauce! Go, Firebird!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Liu Shiling shot out a black paper airplane from behind the shoe cabinet. After shooting out of the shoe cabinet, the paper airplane circled half a circle in the living room, drew an arc, and then flew back to the shoe cabinet, heading towards the magician's paper figure.

The magician's paper doll was hit and collapsed onto the shoe cabinet.

Seeing this, even Shiling's Mother, who had been pondering how the paper figures and cranes moved, suddenly tensed up, staring intently at the magician's paper figure, and began to get a little absorbed in the "plot."

"Hahaha, Great Mage, Happy Valley belongs to my Sweet Chili Sauce!"

"Although the Great Mage was injured, she was not defeated. She struggled to her feet, remembering what her teacher had always told her when she was learning magic: 'With great power comes great responsibility, and only you can defeat yourself!'"

"She unleashed a super-powerful spell that had never been completed before."

"Ice! Frozen! Joyful! Dance!"

A handful of colorful paper scraps were thrown out from behind the shoe cabinet and scattered in the air above it. But to Shiling's Mother's astonishment and wide-eyed surprise, the large piece of paper, which had been cut into tiny pieces, did not fall in all directions. Instead, after it spread out, it immediately began to fall rapidly as if it were being pulled by thin threads, and all of it attached itself to the paper gorilla.

Even Shiling's Mother had a slight illusion that the lights in the living room seemed to become brighter after her daughter shouted "Ice Confetti Dance".

The paper gorilla, covered in tiny confetti, trembled uncontrollably. Behind the shoe cabinet, Liu Shiling provided the voiceover. "Aaaaaah! -- I'm dead!"

Then the paper gorilla fell down, the paper magician moved to the middle of the shoe cabinet, and the fat paper crane that had been lying down stood up again and moved next to her.

"'Thank you! Thank you, Great Mage!' Liu Shiling said in a childish voice."

"'You're welcome. It's what I should do. Protecting this world and its people is my duty!'" Liu Shiling lowered her voice and adopted what she thought was her most earnest tone.

"The Happy Valley has become joyful again."

A few seconds later, Liu Shiling's head popped out from behind the shoe cabinet, looking at her only audience member. "Mom, how was my 'Happy Valley Battle'?"

"Beautiful! Beautiful! Especially beautiful!" Shiling's Mother stood up, clapping as she walked to the shoe cabinet.

She reached out to pick up the paper gorilla, and all the little pieces of paper "attached" to it fell off and landed on the shoe cabinet.

She discovered that instead of a magnet, a one-yuan Coin was pasted onto the base of the paper gorilla.

"Oh no, Mom, you can't look! The magician's props are a secret!" Liu Shiling quickly snatched the paper gorilla back, and also put away the fat paper crane folded from the A4 paper that Xiang Kun had given her, and began to pack up her "props".

"Oh right, Mom, you can't post the video you just filmed on WeChat Moments, okay? I can't tell anyone I can do magic, or it won't work," Liu Shiling said.

"Then tell Mom, how did you do this? How did the paper crane move? And the paper airplane, it just circled around and flew back. And how did all those little paper scraps gather on the paper gorilla? Was it... when you video-chatted with your bald uncle this afternoon, did he secretly give you some pointers?" Shiling's Mother guessed, but then felt something was off. She had been there the whole time her daughter was video-chatting with Xiang Kun that afternoon. Xiang Kun had only explained some questions from that encyclopedia to her daughter, mostly about electromagnetism and such, without any specific methods for making small objects. Could those words have been considered guidance, and her daughter understood while she didn't?

"Oh dear, you can't explain the methods of magic," Liu Shiling insisted.

"Tell me, tell me, tell Mommy! Tomorrow Mommy will make you something delicious and buy you Ice Cream. You can have two... no, three!" Shiling's Mother said to her daughter in a coquettish tone.

Liu Shiling looked troubled, her brows furrowed. After hesitating for a long time, she finally said, "I'll tell you when I grow up."

Around 8 p. m., Shiling's Mother took her daughter to the balcony to watch the fireworks display being held by the municipal government in the distance.

We were actually quite far from where the fireworks exploded, so we could only see the fireworks, but the sound was very faint.

Holding the chopsticks Xiang Kun had given Xiang Kun, Liu Shiling, like a conductor, remotely lit the exploding fireworks, providing audio narration. "Bang! Crash... Bang bang! Crash crash..."

Shiling's Mother took her own coat and draped it over her daughter, wrapping her up like a dumpling to prevent her from catching a cold in the cold wind on the balcony.

In the past, if she saw her daughter playing with chopsticks before eating, she would definitely scold and lecture her. But today is a special day, so she'll let her be happy.

Liu Shiling, who was watching the fireworks show, suddenly fell silent. Her face turned red, her eyes sparkled, and she stared blankly at the fireworks that were "blooming" in the distance, lost in thought, as if she were pondering something.

After the fireworks show ended, Shiling's Mother asked curiously, "Shiling, what are you thinking about?"

Liu Shiling seemed to snap out of her daze, shaking her head. "I don't know what I was thinking..."

On New Year's Eve, Liu Shiling was unable to stay up until midnight with her mother as she had promised. She became sleepy before 10 p. m. and fell asleep on the sofa.

Shiling's Mother struggled to carry her to the bed in the room, helped her take off her clothes and cover her with a blanket, but she showed no signs of waking up.

But around four in the morning, Liu Shiling suddenly woke up, groggily sat up in bed, tilted her head, and seemed to be deep in thought.

She felt like she had just had a dream, but after waking up she couldn't remember what it was. She also felt like she understood something, but after thinking about it carefully after waking up, she couldn't figure out what it was.

Liu Shiling scratched her head, looking somewhat troubled.

She turned around to take out her two Coin from under her pillow, then remembered that she hadn't come to sleep alone and the Coin were still in her pocket. Suddenly, an idea struck her. With a flick of her wrist, the two Coin "jumped" out of the pocket of a chair not far away and landed in her hand, quick and steady.

Looking at the two Coin in her hand, Liu Shiling suddenly realized that after waking up, her control over the "Chocolate" and "Ice Cream" Coin had become stronger.

Her "magic" has been greatly enhanced!

Liu Shiling clutched the two Coin tightly, feeling extremely excited and happy, as she was one step closer to her goal!

Then she suddenly heard a noise by the window, which startled her. She instinctively pulled the blanket over herself, shrank to the corner of the bed, and was about to call for her mother.

But as soon as she opened her mouth, she suddenly remembered that she was a magical girl now! She was in her own home, she had "Chocolate" and "Ice Cream" nearby, and the magic wand that the bald uncle had given her. Now it was her turn to protect her mother!

So she carefully crawled out of bed, put on the cotton slippers with Garfield's head on them, held two Coin in one hand and two chopsticks in the other, and cautiously walked to the window, parted a corner of the curtain, and looked out the window.

Liu Shiling glanced out the window. The cold wind was howling outside, the streetlights were still on, and the road was deserted. There didn't seem to be anything strange. She breathed a sigh of relief and was about to step back when suddenly a head appeared in front of the window.

"Ah!" Liu Shiling was startled and almost fell backward.

But she quickly regained her composure, because she realized that the head appearing in the window belonged to a cat.

Moreover, the cat looked somewhat familiar, with a fat head, big ears, short and thick limbs, and light orange fur. It seemed to be the stray cat she had seen being chased by a group of stray dogs before, and she had been quite worried about what had happened to that cat.

How did that cat get out of their window?

The orange cat and Liu Shiling stared at each other for a moment, then the cat meowed, sounding somewhat like it was begging.

Seeing the big orange cat shivering, Liu Shiling felt it must be very cold. After hesitating for a moment, she went over and opened the window, then immediately stepped back.

The orange cat meowed softly again, then nimbly slipped in, landed on the floor, shrank into a corner of the room, and crawled under the table.

Liu Shiling let out a soft sigh, squatted down to look at the orange cat hiding under the table, and whispered, "I can only let you stay for one night. You have to leave tomorrow morning, okay? Mom doesn't like cats, she won't let me keep you."

A soft meow answered.

Liu Shiling felt she had received an answer, nodded, got up to close the window, and then crawled back into bed.

But when she lay down again, she couldn't fall asleep. She tossed and turned, then turned to her side and stared at the little orange cat under the table in the distance.

Liu Shiling heard her stomach rumble, so she asked, "Kitty, are you hungry?"

Meow~

So Liu Shiling got out of bed again, went to the kitchen and got two sausages, then squatted down at the table. "You eat one, I'll eat one, it'll be just right."

But after feeding the big orange cat, when she was about to eat by herself, the cat sat down next to her, stared at her longingly, meowed, and rubbed its head against her.

"You're still not full?" Liu Shiling stared at it with wide eyes.

Just as she was about to give it the ham, Liu Shiling suddenly remembered something and said, "Kitty, let's play a game."

Liu Shiling folded a paper airplane and said to the orange cat, "If you can catch the airplane I launch before it lands, I'll give you a sausage!"

Then she threw the paper airplane out, and the big orange cat, whether it was an instinctive reaction or it really understood what she meant, immediately pounced on the airplane.

But the paper airplane hovered and flew in the small room without hitting the wall. And after lowering its altitude, it always managed to nimbly dodge the orange cat's pounces. However, the lower it went, the slower its reaction became, and eventually, the orange cat pounced on it and carried it back to Liu Shiling's feet.

"Good boy! Here you go!" Liu Shiling smiled and broke off a piece of ham to feed the orange cat.

Although ordinary paper airplanes are far less skillfully controlled than the A4 paper airplanes Xiang Kun gave her, within a certain range, it's quite easy to control their direction after launching them into the air. Especially after waking up tonight, this control is much more effortless than when she performed for her mother a few hours ago.

After playing for a while, Liu Shiling decided to play with the big orange cat using Coin. However, she became much more adept at controlling the Coin. After throwing them, the coins would hover in the air, spin around, and return to her hand. No matter how the big orange cat pounced or jumped, it couldn't catch them. Moreover, it would often pounce around and then find that the Coin had disappeared.

A person and a cat were having a great time in the early hours of the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Shiling's Mother had gotten up to relieve herself in the middle of the night, heard the noise, frowned, and opened her daughter's room. She saw her daughter striking a pose and looking excitedly at a certain spot in the room.

Sleepwalking?!

Shiling's Mother was startled and didn't dare to make a sound immediately. Her mind raced, recalling the steps she had seen online on how to safely handle sleepwalkers.

Thankfully, the next moment Liu Shiling looked at her and said, "Mom..."

But what she said next made her heart jump again, which had just begun to ease:

"Let me introduce you to a friend."

Shiling's Mother watched nervously as her daughter pointed under the table and said, "Mom, this is my friend..." She paused for two seconds before continuing, "This is my friend 'Egg Pie,' 'Egg Pie,' come out quickly, my mom wants to see you."

Shiling's Mother's heart pounded. While staring intently at the dark area under the table, she slowly moved to her daughter's side, preparing to grab her and run. Images from various horror movies flashed through her mind.

A moment later, however, a large orange cat crawled out from under the table and meowed at her.

"Huh? This... is a cat?" Shiling's Mother exclaimed in surprise. "How did it get in?"

Liu Shiling pointed to the window. "I got up in the middle of the night and saw it shivering from the cold by our windowsill. It was so pitiful, so I let it in. Mom, can we keep it? 'Egg Pie' is very obedient! I'll eat less and share some of my food with it."

Shiling's Mother asked curiously, "Aren't you afraid of cats?" Her daughter had always been timid, afraid of all kinds of animals, big and small. And her daughter had been scratched by a cat in the neighborhood before, which had made her somewhat averse to cats. She never expected her daughter to now want to take in a stray cat.

"Maybe because... um..." Liu Shiling looked at the big orange cat she named "Egg Pie", thought for a moment, and said, "Maybe because 'Egg Pie' isn't a cat."

"Meow~" The big orange cat seemed to have accepted the name and responded quite appropriately.

--

The author of "Overthrowing the Han" has started a new book, "Inheriting the Song," which is very good and is available today. History buffs can go and support it with a first-day subscription.