Chapter 2: Little Beauty
The red rose bell lying on the floor looked especially mysterious and opulent in the night, like a wild rose blooming inside an abandoned castle, carrying a faintly seductive allure.
The little skeleton bent down and picked up the tiny bell from the ground. After examining it closely, he realized it was the same red rose bell that had been on the desk earlier.
“Huh? How did you end up here?” Mu Mu asked, holding the small bell.
Standing in the hallway, Mu Mu looked around once more, but still saw nothing at all.
“Did the painter send you here?”
“Or was it an accident?”
Mu Mu muttered to himself. After a brief pause, he continued, “Then I’ll take you back. That’ll count as doing the painter a big favor.”
With that, Mu Mu hung the little bell at his waist. After tidying up the room and saying goodbye to the teddy bear, he returned to the second-floor room from before.
The moment Mu Mu pushed the door open, a faint dark light flickered on the surveillance device atop the desk. The camera slowly rotated, locking precisely onto Mu Mu, and the little skeleton instantly appeared on the monitor feed.
At the same time, a row of numerical coordinates appeared in the upper-left corner of the study’s display screen, constantly changing as the little skeleton moved.
Fu Heqing looked at the coordinates, then took out his phone and checked it. The coordinate information on his phone synced successfully as well.
Just as he was about to put the phone away, a message suddenly popped up in the notification bar, and he casually tapped it open.
[Brother Fu, why did you order a tracking device? Are you raising a pet?]
Fu Heqing glanced at the message, then at the surveillance monitor, and—rare for him—replied.
[Not a pet.]
[A little beauty.]
As soon as the other party received Fu Heqing’s two messages, they didn’t bother reading the content carefully and responded in shock with more than a dozen exclamation marks in a row.
But Fu Heqing no longer paid attention to the frantically buzzing phone and turned his gaze back to the monitor.
Mu Mu climbed onto the desk, removed the rose bell, placed it back where it belonged, and even waved goodbye to the bell.
The little skeleton left, and the numerical coordinates stopped changing. The surveillance feed remained locked on the rose bell.
After returning the rose bell to its place, Mu Mu also needed to put the little skeleton toy back.
He was afraid of being discovered, so he only came out to move around at night; during the day, he had to return the little skeleton toy to its original position.
Mu Mu went back to the storage room on the first floor. The light there seemed to be motion-activated—every time he entered, it lit up instantly.
With practiced ease, Mu Mu found the display case labeled No. 404, closed the glass sliding door, lay down in his original spot, and then his soul drifted out of the body.
When he was just a wandering spirit, Mu Mu generally didn’t like to move around much. Most of the time, he stayed in a corner of the painter’s studio, watching the painter work, or spacing out, waiting for nightfall to come again.
This time, Mu Mu chose to lie atop the ceiling’s hanging light, craning his head downward to peek below.
The temperature had dropped today, and the painter was wearing a high-necked sweater, which softened the lines of his face considerably and made his overall aura less sharp.
Because all the servants had been scared away by him, the painter’s breakfast that morning consisted of nothing more than slices of bread, toasted a little too dark.
How pitiful.
Mu Mu glanced at the bread by the painter’s hand and, feeling guilty, shrank his head back.
Whenever Fu Heqing walked into the studio, he would unconsciously sweep his gaze around first, subtly searching for that beautiful wandering spirit, wondering which paint rack the other might be sitting on today.
A clear, crisp youthful voice drifted down from above his head—at one moment praising how good he looked in what he was wearing today, at another feeling deeply guilty over his breakfast. When bored, the voice would even hum a little tune, causing the hanging light to sway.
…
Mu Mu kept the painter company as he worked until night fell. With no servants left, the painter had to solve his own meals, and Mu Mu also decided to wander around with him.
He passed through the storage room several times, yet never noticed anything amiss.
As soon as the clock struck midnight, Mu Mu possessed the little skeleton. The instant he pushed open the storage-room door, he once again saw that red, rose-shaped bell lying quietly in front of it.
Mu Mu was a little taken aback. He stepped forward and picked up the red rose bell yet again, holding it in his hands as he couldn’t help but ask, “Is the painter really such a careless person?”
Mu Mu didn’t think so.
Staring at the bell that had appeared before him for the third time, a bold, budding notion suddenly rose in his heart.
Could this bell be… a little gift the painter had given him?
“Look, the bell is red, and my clothes are red too.”
Mu Mu held up the bell, searching for reasons to convince himself.
“My clothes are a little formal outfit, and the bell just happens to be a rose design.”
“The skeleton body I’m using is so small, and the bell is only this small as well.”
After listing three reasons in a row, Mu Mu looked at the bell, still not entirely sure, and gently set it back where it had been.
“What if it was meant for someone else?”
He hesitated for a long time. In the end, Mu Mu picked the bell up again and hung it at his waist.
“If the painter isn’t looking for it tomorrow, then that means it really was meant for me.”
Wearing the bell and listening to its crisp chime, Mu Mu’s good mood soared all the way to its peak. He went to find the teddy bear to share his feelings, but unfortunately, the teddy bear couldn’t talk back to him.
Clutching the bell, Mu Mu thought about it and decided it was fine—he had a new friend now.
Mu Mu went back down from the third floor to the first, his little short legs carrying him openly through the darkness of the living room. He was going to find his second friend…
…to show off!
Mu Mu found a word that perfectly summed up his mood.
He crossed more than half the villa, completely unaware that wherever he went—corridors, stairwells, the living room—every camera in every corner was precisely locking onto him.
Fu Heqing watched on the surveillance screen as the little skeleton sneaked furtively into a corner. Tilting his head up, he cupped his hands around his mouth like a megaphone and called out softly.
“Hi, Little E!”
After calling several times without getting any response, the little skeleton couldn’t help asking, “Um… is Little E asleep?”
Watching the little skeleton—who had no voiceprint recognition—from the monitor, Fu Heqing took out his phone and pressed the wake-up function.
The seldom-used butler robot in the corner was instantly activated. With a sharp “beep—,” the entire house was flooded with light.
The beams of light in the living room shone down on the little skeleton’s head like a spotlight, making the little skeleton in his wine-red formal outfit look even more like an expensive doll displayed in a shop window.
The moment the lights came on, the surveillance feed on the study’s display switched back to normal mode, capturing Mu Mu—who thought his movements were perfectly covert in the living room—clearly and in full detail.
“Turn it off! Turn it off!”
Startled, the little skeleton cried out anxiously.
The robot beeped once more, and after the monitor showed the scene for barely two seconds, it switched back to night-vision mode.
“Don’t turn on the lights so casually—the painter is sleeping,” the little skeleton reminded the robot, then continued.
“Oh right, Little E, I received a present today!”
The little skeleton’s voice was bright with excitement. He removed the bell from his waist and held it out in front of the robot.
But the expression on the robot’s electronic screen shifted again and again before it finally said, “This is beyond Little E’s range of understanding.”
“It’s a gift—a gift! People give each other gifts to show friendliness. I received one today!”
The little skeleton shook the bell, explaining patiently.
“Say something Little E can understand.”
Hearing the robot’s reply, the little skeleton froze. The hand holding the bell dropped at once.
He lowered his head, fell silent for a moment, then rehung the bell at his waist. Lifting his head again, he said, “It’s okay. Then let’s talk about things Little E can understand.”
The youthful voice coming through the surveillance sounded utterly dejected.
Then, all of a sudden, the entire house was bathed in light once more. Huge beams shone like searchlights, driving away every trace of darkness and leaving Mu Mu with nowhere to hide.
Mu Mu froze. At this point, even dropping to the floor and playing dead was already too late. All he could do was stand stiffly in place.
“Thud, thud, thud…”
Footsteps he knew all too well moved from the third floor down into the living room, drawing closer and closer behind him. The painter’s shadow gradually swallowed Mu Mu up, climbing over him, spreading, engulfing.
Out of the corner of his eye, Mu Mu saw the painter come to his side and then bend down. The shadow grew even larger, blanketing him from above.
The painter picked Mu Mu up, lowering his gaze to examine him, his expression unreadable.
Being stared at like that made Mu Mu afraid. He didn’t even dare let his soul slip out to escape. All he could do was remain inside the little skeleton’s body, perfectly still, praying that the painter wouldn’t notice anything amiss.
He resolved to play dead to the very end and submit to whatever Fu Heqing decided to do.
After all, the painter had no evidence—
Lost in these frantic thoughts, Mu Mu suddenly saw the painter reach out and gently flick the bell at his waist.
The bell rang with a clear chime, instantly snapping Mu Mu’s attention back.
“Pretty.”
A slightly hoarse, low voice—like someone who hadn’t spoken for a long time—sounded by his ear.
He said it was pretty.
Mu Mu’s gift was pretty.
…
The painter’s hand was large. One hand could grasp the entire little skeleton, leaving Mu Mu almost no part of him hanging unsupported—he lay there steadily, securely, filled with a sense of safety.
But human hands didn’t have the soft cotton stuffing of the teddy bear’s body, and there were calluses, too. When they brushed against his clothes, they made a different kind of sound.
The painter carried Mu Mu to the study on the second floor and set him down on a bookshelf.
Fu Heqing helped Mu Mu settle into a sitting position, placing the little skeleton on the edge of the bookshelf. Its lower legs dangled freely, a posture that would normally make balance very precarious.
Yet Mu Mu sat perfectly steady, perched atop the bookshelf like a tiny observer surveying a vast landscape, able to take in every movement of the painter below.
The painter turned on the computer, seemingly chatting with someone.
Mu Mu knew it wasn’t proper to snoop on someone else’s conversation, so he quietly shifted his gaze elsewhere.
The painter sat at the desk with his back to Mu Mu, and Mu Mu’s attention naturally drifted to the long, slender fingers dancing over the keyboard, each joint distinct and precise.
Mu Mu didn’t have a sense of touch, but when the painter had held him before, he had felt—almost as if—he could sense a faint trace of human warmth.
He wasn’t entirely sure, his thoughts scattering.
If only he could touch again… then he would definitely know what human warmth actually felt like.
Mu Mu quietly stood up, craning his head to stare at the painter’s long, well-defined fingers. He even tried to reach out and gesture in the air, attempting to mimic them from a distance—but in his excitement, he misjudged his strength—
“Plop!” He tumbled straight into the painter’s arms.
