Chapter 130

Chapter 130: Little Hamster Warms the Bed

Seeing this, Rong Shu hurriedly reached out, cupped Little Hamster with care, set him back into his nest, then pulled the tiny quilt over him.

She looked again and again, her fingers itching with the urge to poke Little Hamster awake.

But conscience won out, and she refrained from such a wicked deed.

Watching him sleep so soundly, a drowsiness stole over Rong Shu as well.

Although cultivators generally do not need to sleep, since meditation suffices, sleeping once in a while is fine.

Rong Shu turned off the lights, pulled the covers up, and lay down.

She turned her head for one last glance at Little Hamster beside her, then closed her eyes.

The next day.

After waking, Rong Shu prepared to give Cheng Bu Fan a little reminder.

She poked Little Hamster awake and said gently: Yan Yan, time to go.

Little Hamster rolled over and opened his eyes, still bleary.

Rong Shu offered him a sunflower seed.

He smelled food, opened his mouth on reflex, and bit down.

After a few seeds, he felt much clearer and crawled out of the nest.

Rong Shu cradled Little Hamster in one hand and headed for the door.

Just then, the previously languid Little Hamster’s expression shifted.

He patted her finger in a hurry, signaling her to stop.

She said: Hm? Yan Yan?

At that moment, Little Hamster faintly felt that he was about to lose control and revert to human form.

He wiggled his small body and leapt from her hand back onto the bed.

Rong Shu blinked, then asked: Yan Yan, what’s wrong?

As she spoke, she reached out to pick him up.

But this time Little Hamster scooted back, refusing to be held, then simply darted into his nest, shut his eyes, and pretended to sleep.

Seeing this, Rong Shu tested him with a question: Still sleepy? Want to sleep here a while longer?

At her words, Little Hamster bobbed his head quickly, then gazed up at her pitifully, all four little paws clutching the nest.

Since he had decided not to go out, Rong Shu did not force him.

She said: All right then, behave and stay here to warm the bed for me.

She said: Wait for me to come back.

She ruffled his head, tossing the remark off casually.

Rong Shu knew Little Hamster was prone to sleep, so she suspected nothing.

Little Hamster nodded obediently, silently suppressing the urge to change back right away.

[I can’t change… I can’t change back in front of Shu Shu.]

[It would scare her.]

Rong Shu stroked him once more, then left the room satisfied.

Once she had gone, Little Hamster could no longer hold it in.

But his last shred of reason made him crawl out of his nest and flop onto the bed.

The next second, he reverted to human form.

This time he became a small boy of about four or five.

He had a cherubic, chubby-cheeked face, lotus-root pale arms and legs, and a curtain of smooth, long hair falling down his back.

Eyes shut and teeth clenched, the little boy’s face twisted with pain.

At last, when the heart-piercing pain ebbed, he lay limp on the bed and panted for breath.

He experimented twice, his form flickering through all manner of fierce, bizarre beasts.

Finally, it settled again on Little Hamster.

Little Hamster circled his short tail twice, made sure nothing strange was exposed, then plopped onto the bed.

Once stable, he thought of the departed Rong Shu, fixed his eyes on the door, and began wishing for her quick return.

His little tail swayed dispiritedly.

But he quickly remembered what she had tossed off before leaving.

[When Shu Shu left just now, did she ask me to… warm the bed?]

Little Hamster gave himself a shake and stood up, suddenly full of purpose.

His little paws touched the mattress and felt a field of chill.

His expression turned solemn at once.

[Cold.]

[Shu Shu wants me to warm the bed.]

[Then how… do I make the bed warm?]

Little Hamster immediately looked troubled.

He touched himself absently with his paws.

[Huh? Warm?]

After cupping his little paws for a while, he found they had warmed up too.

At once, he thought of a solution.

[Right!]

[I can use my body’s warmth to heat the bed!]

With that, he sprawled with all four paws and lay soft and still on the bed.

After a while he sat up and touched the spot he had lain on; it was indeed a bit toasty.

But only that small part felt warm; the rest where he had not lain remained cold.

So he scooted to the side and continued warming the bed with his body heat.

Like this, he kept shifting positions…

After five or six shifts, when he returned to feel the first spot again, that tiny bit of heat had already dispersed and the surface had cooled.

[Not warm at all.]

He stared, dazed.

[This way… I can’t warm the bed.]

[What to do?]

[What can I do to warm every part all at once?]

He looked at his own small frame and suddenly realized his current body was too small.

[If I make myself bigger, I can warm more of the bed at once, can’t I?]

As soon as the thought came, he shifted back to human form.

Although the human form was that of a small child of four or five, it was still several times larger than a Little Hamster.

The little boy lay on the bed, stretching arms and legs wide, hoping to warm it through.

But he quickly realized that without his fluffy fur, lying like this for long while unclothed left him feeling waves of cold.

Never mind warming the bed; he would freeze first.

He tugged the tiny quilt from his nest at the bedside, spread it out, and draped it over himself, which barely covered the essentials.

With a casual motion he drew open a Spatial Rift, reached in to pull out a clean outer robe, and wrapped himself up.

Even so, he still felt a little cold, and with this he could no longer splay out his hands and feet.

So his eyes settled on the neatly folded quilt at the foot of the bed.

Yan Yan reached out and pulled it over.

It was large enough to swaddle two adults with ease, to say nothing of his current size as a small child.

He murmured: Warm… it’s warm…

After lying for a while, Yan Yan felt warmth suffuse his whole body, and even the bed turned warm.

Yan Yan was about to return to Little Hamster form, but the next moment another question occurred to him: [If I change back, will the bed get cold again?]

Yan Yan thought it over and decided to remain as he was.

[I will keep warming it until Shu Shu comes back. That way she will see a properly warmed bed!]

He thought with secret delight, already imagining how Rong Shu would praise him.

Unconsciously, perhaps because the bed was so warm, Yan Yan lay there and slowly drifted off again.