Strange Life of a Cat

A group of people over there walked to several graves, inserted incense, burned paper, set off firecrackers, knelt down and so on.

Zheng Tan watched them complete the series of actions. When they went to the Gu family's old house, he followed Jiao Yuan and Xiao Youzi to the grave.

When the people who went to the grave over there walked back, Zheng Tan was about to leave too, but he didn't expect to be seen by a kid.

Among the group, the little boy was very happy after seeing Zheng Tan. It might be a bit boring to visit the grave with his parents and grandpa. After all, at his age, he can't understand the mood of the elders. The cat got excited and ran towards this side.

However, before he could run far, he tripped over a large clod of soil under his feet, and when he fell, a small gadget in his hand was thrown towards Zheng Tan.

The child's mother hurried forward to help the child up, and patted the stain on his body.

"The big cock is gone." The child didn't cry, but looked very depressed, and showed his mother Yang Kongkong's palm.

big cock?

Zheng Tan looked at the thing that flew over just now, it was a Q-version local tyrant golden chicken toy, like a key charm.

From Zheng Tan's side to the child's side, there is a ditch in the middle. The ditch is quite wide, about 1.5 meters. There is not much water in the ditch, but there is a lot of mud, and there are some holes beside the ditch. Withered grass, more in the way. If you are a young man with strong athletic ability, it will be easier to cross this ditch, but there is no one who looks athletic in this pedestrian. The middle-aged man who talked to Papa Jiao is wearing expensive formal clothes. It is very inconvenient to step on leather shoes. And it seemed that the middle-aged man was not prepared to step over immediately.

"Go forward, you can pass over there, and then go around to pick it up." The middle-aged man said.

The child ignored his father's words, pushed away his mother's hand, pointed at Zheng Tan across the ditch and shouted, "Cat cat!"

"Yes, that's a cat." The child's mother thought that the child was just identifying things, and praised.

"Cat cat!"

"Yes, a big black cat." The child's mother patted the dust on the child's pants, and was about to lead him away.

Throwing away the mother's hand again, the child pointed to Zheng Tan on the other side of the ditch, and shouted, "Throw the cat over here~ Let the cat over here~"

"The cat can't be thrown away, can I ask Dad to pick it up for you later?" the child's mother explained patiently.

"Let the cats throw~"

"Cats can't throw..."

The child's mother hadn't finished saying "throw" when she heard a soft snap. The Q version of the little rooster that reflected the golden light in the sun fell to the ground next to her.

Child's mother: "..."

The child was not as entangled as his mother. He happily picked up the golden rooster on the ground, tried a button on it, and the golden rooster immediately made a rooster crowing sound. It's not bad, it's good. So the child grinned happily.

Just now Zheng Tan didn't intend to pay attention to them at first, but seeing the child like that, after thinking about it, he still fished the golden rooster toy to his side, and swung his claws away. Throwing a small thing is not too outrageous, is it?

Zheng Tan flicked his tail and left without looking at them again.

"That cat...is it raised by the family we saw on the highway?" The old man looked at the black cat running away, wondering.

"Isn't it? There are a lot of people who keep cats here, and now that people are open-minded, there are quite a few black cats of this kind. Some people even think that this kind of black cat is auspicious, so they buy this pure black cat specially." Child 's mother said.

Although it felt a bit weird, the old man and the middle-aged man didn't talk about this topic any more.

According to Papa Jiao's plan, he would stay here after the fifteenth day before returning to Chuhua City, and that grandma had something to say beforehand, so on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Papa Jiao took Zheng Tan to find her.

A little further away, Zheng Tan heard the sound of the erhu playing from the place where the grandmother lived.

Zheng Tan doesn't know how to appreciate music, and doesn't like listening to Erhu very much, but listening to this sound at this time, he always feels an indescribable sense of vicissitudes.

When Dad Jiao pushed open the fence door and walked into the yard, Zheng Tan saw the old woman sitting on a chair near the door and playing the erhu. At this age, I didn't expect to be able to play the erhu so smoothly. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, Zheng Tan would definitely think that the old woman invited someone to play.

Papa Jiao didn't interrupt Apo La's erhu, he found a place to sit down first.

Zheng Tan looked around. The three-legged tortoiseshell cat was lying on a wooden chair in the house. Compared with the first time Zheng Tan saw it, it was a lot fatter. Dozed off, but the ears trembled with the tone of the erhu. There are a lot of gifts for New Year's greetings piled up on the desk in the house. It seems that there are many people visiting the old woman during the Chinese New Year.

After finishing the song, Grandma put the erhu aside, Jiao Dad said: "Here we come."

"Well, I plan to leave early tomorrow morning, so I'll come to your place today." Papa Jiao said.

The old lady didn't say much, and turned her gaze to Zheng Tan, which made Zheng Tan's heart flutter again.

"Black cat, come here." The old lady waved to Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan hesitated, looked at Father Jiao, then at the old woman in front of him, and tugged at his ears. Forget it, the past is the past, anyway, Dad Jiao is here, this old woman should not do anything that both people and gods are angry with.

When Zheng Tan approached, the old woman patted her leg, signaling Zheng Tan to jump on it.

This time Zheng Tan didn't think for too long, and jumped onto her lap after a pause.

The old woman reached into her pocket, took out a jade pendant, and there were characters written in seal script on it. Zheng Tan only knew one of the characters "Yang", and he was not 100% sure whether it was "Yang" or not. ", he has never learned seal script, just read some by coincidence, most of them don't remember.

The lanyard of the pendant was reformed and woven into a small ring, just enough to fit around Zheng Tan's neck.

After setting it up, the old lady looked at Papa Jiao and said, "Can you let him save this thing for me?"

Zheng Tan tugged at his ears again. You've got it all covered, what's the point of asking for an opinion now?

Papa Jiao was puzzled. Even if this jade looks like it doesn't cost hundreds of thousands, it is definitely not comparable to things worth tens or hundreds of dollars. However, what does it mean that grandma gave such an important thing to a cat? People who don't know will definitely think that this person must be crazy.

"I just ask you to help keep it. If, one day, you see a person wearing a jade plaque like this one, please tell me. Old lady, my biggest wish is to see my relatives before I leave. Unfortunately, I don’t even know if they’re still here or not.” The old woman sighed, and as if she suddenly remembered something, she said to Jiao’s father, “Can you help me with this?”

Papa Jiao: "..." You have already used this jade card, and you have already said what you said, and you only asked me if I can help you with this favor?

"Help, I'll definitely help." Papa Jiao nodded, and said again: "But, it seems inappropriate to put such a precious jade token on my cat, my cat likes to run around, what if I accidentally lose it? "

"That's it," the old lady took off the jade plaque around Zheng Tan's neck and handed it to Papa Jiao, "Then you help keep it first, and you can give it to me at this time next year."

Zheng Tan and Jiao's father: "..." I always feel that this old woman is unreliable in doing things, it's inexplicable.

"But grandma, I'm going abroad this year, and I won't be able to come back at this time next year." Papa Jiao explained.

"Then push it back. You won't settle abroad and never come back, right?" Grandma asked nervously.

"No." Papa Jiao affirmed. However, he wasn't sure if the grandma in front of him would still be there when he came back again. After all, according to some old people in the village, the grandma was quite old.

"That's fine," the old woman waved her hand, seeing Father Jiao's hesitant to speak, she said, "Don't worry, don't say too much, I can still live for three years old."

Papa Jiao, who was said to be thinking in the center, coughed in embarrassment, and quietly listened to what Grandma said next.

Grandma came to this village more than 40 years ago. It is said that she came here as a refugee. At that time, most parts of the country were very difficult. Grandma found a place to live in the village by herself. After recovering from her illness, she has been living there. In the village.

"I tried a lot of methods in the early years, but unfortunately I couldn't find it. I didn't even give up my hope for a while, alas. If I can't find someone, for me, this jade token is worthless." Grandma sighed .

Zheng Tan murmured in his heart, since he had no hope, why did he find himself and the people from the Jiao family? It's been more than forty years, who still remembers you? Besides, isn't this old woman a witch? Can't you do the math yourself?

Thinking about it, Zheng Tan glanced at the old woman, just in time to meet the meaningful eyes she was looking at. Immediately, Zheng Tan's heart trembled, could this paralyzed old woman see clearly what the cat was thinking?

Some people say, this person, as he gets older, he will either live more and more confusedly, or live more and more shrewdly. What Zheng Tan felt was that the old woman in front of her was pretending to be confused while pretending to understand.

Papa Jiao was thinking about something and didn't notice Zheng Tan's small movements. He said, "The Internet has gradually risen these days. You can use many channels to find someone."

Grandma waved her hand, "Forget it, if you can't find it, it's fate, you can't ask for it."

Zheng Tan patiently listened to the old woman's nagging, and then walked out of the yard with Papa Jiao. That old woman is really good at talking, once she talks, she can inadvertently deviate from the topic, and then inadvertently come back.

How to deal with the jade token given by the old woman, Zheng Tan didn't bother to care about it, that's left to Jiao's father, he is just a cat now, just eat and sleep and take a walk around.

On the early morning of the 16th day of the first lunar month, four members of the Jiao family and one cat drove out of the village.

Not long after driving, I saw that familiar BMW appearing from the fork.

Originally, Papa Jiao didn't intend to stop to say hello, but he didn't expect that there was a traffic jam leading to the wide road ahead. This time, the two cars stopped next to each other with the windows open.

"meet again."

"Yeah, it's really fate."

Papa Jiao greeted the other party with a smile, and took the business card offered by the other party.

Zheng Xuan, general manager of a company in Nanhua City.

If the visit to the grave was just suspicion, this time Zheng Xuan was sure that the black cat that was calmly looking at him from the car window at the moment was the one they met when they went to the grave.

Zheng Xuan believes in fate, but he doesn't believe in fate easily. The businessman's suspicion and caution make him do so. But as long as you feel that this fate does exist, your attitude will be different.

(Supplement 2.2)