I became an immortal in the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 103 Neighbors' Surprise, Cat Smells Friend
After the cat finished speaking, its round eyes were still fixed on Jiang She.

Jiang She noticed its tail was held high and thought, "It's a nest of rat demons."

The cat followed suit.

“Su Yao…”

"Rat," Jiang She corrected.

This word was too difficult for the cat to read, so the cat meowed:
"Rat!"

“That makes sense.” Jiang She patted the kitten’s head. “Cats are smarter than people.”

Li Bai and Yuan Danqiu were fast asleep.

They spent the night in the cold wind, cold and tired, and fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the bamboo pillows, completely forgetting about the ghost story. When they woke up the next day, it was already past 9 a.m. They opened the window and the sunlight shone into the silvery courtyard.

A black cat is splashing and stomping in the snow.

A few small paw prints were left behind.

The two snapped out of their daze. Yuan Danqiu scrambled to his feet, threw on his clothes, and went to knock on Li Bai's door.

"Taibai, are you awake yet?"

Yuan Danqiu pushed the door open and told Li Bai to quickly tidy himself up and put on his clothes. Then he showed him the courtyard outside. Yuan Danqiu raised his chin slightly.

"Which ghost did you think was last night?"

The two looked out at the courtyard together.

The freshly fallen snow was still fluffy and soft, dazzling in the sunlight, and a thin layer of snow covered the locust trees. Li Bai watched the cat frolicking in the snow in the courtyard and remembered something.

"Those guys dressed as monks seem to be afraid of cats."

The two walked a few steps in the yard, their eyes both turning to the mouse hole in the corner of the wall.

After waiting a while, they could vaguely see grayish-brown mice hiding inside, with whiskers around their mouths and round ears. Li Bai and Yuan Danqiu examined them carefully.

You can also see that one of them is exceptionally large, making the others look even smaller in comparison.

They were thoughtful.

Li Bai pondered.

“Sir, you let these insects go yesterday.”

The cat heard the noise and came over.

Round eyes peered into the hole, sniffing carefully. Whiskers trembled, and the mouse inside squeaked.

The cat sniffed for a long time, its paws moving one after another.

Hearing the main house door open, he twitched his ears, darted away, and ran towards Jiang She in a flash.

The cat's ears were unreliable; Li Bai and Yuan Danqiu had also woken up, and the cat, playing in the snow in the yard, seemed completely oblivious. Now, Jiang She had only pushed open a crack in the door, but the cat immediately darted through.

It was also carrying a small, gray mouse in its mouth.

Release it and place it in front of Jiang She.

Jiang She used a handkerchief to wipe the cat's cold little paws.

Finally, he stared at the cat.

"You can't eat your friends."

The cat tilted its fluffy little head back, shook off the snow, completely oblivious, and patted the stone bricks with its paws.

They pushed the mouse in front of Jiang She.

"They are intelligent mice now."

Jiang She spoke patiently, softening his voice as he explained to the cat little by little, “It’s different from other mice; you can’t just eat it. It’s the same for you and me; we can be friends.”

The cat smells its friend.

Jiang She patted its head and said:

"can not eat."

The cat looked a little disappointed, its tail drooping. It then went through the mouse hole to find another one and ran over to Jiang She.

The claw pushed forward.

Jiang She looked at the little gray mouse on the floor tile and trembled with fear.

The rat lay close to the ground, curled up in a ball, and if you didn't look closely, you could see it was trembling; it looked like it was dead.

"You can't eat this either."

The cat tilted its head.

Jiang She said, "This is a friend."

The cat followed suit.

"Ban...friend..."

Jiang She sent the two unlucky rats back to their cave. Watching them suddenly come to life and quickly shrunk back inside, he smiled.

Li Bai saw the gentleman teasing the cat, but couldn't hear what he was saying.

He walked over and asked about his discovery: "Sir, are those rats the ghosts from last night?" Jiang She nodded.

"They should be called spirits or monsters."

Yuan Danqiu asked curiously, "The one dressed as a monk is a rat, but who are the two dressed as a scholar and the one who passed the imperial examination?"

Jiang She smiled.

"You can look for it yourselves."

Jiang She and the old deer god were both mischievous and refused to tell them directly, leaving them to find out for themselves. Li Bai and Yuan Danqiu wandered around the house and courtyard, almost turning the whole place upside down, even cleaning up much of the accumulated dust.

Wash your hands.

Jiang She glanced at the sun; the man said he would come back after noon.

He wandered around the neighborhood, bought some things for his house, and could also have a breakfast or lunch... There should still be stalls open at this time.

He pushed open the courtyard gate and walked to the entrance of the alley.

There's a big tree and a well over there. I saw it yesterday. There were quite a few people gathered there, and several vendors set up stalls selling steamed buns, flatbreads, and roasted mutton skewers, which they learned from the Western Regions.

When the neighbors saw him, they all fell silent.

The woman who was fetching water to wash clothes stopped what she was doing. The child playing with a bamboo ball by the wall stared straight at her, and the old man sweeping snow with a broom also looked up and stared. Under the tree, the old woman held a handful of roasted beans and forgot to respond to the conversation.

The servants of the Du family were washing vegetables and nearly dropped the basin on the ground.

After a few moments of silence, a hushed discussion broke out.

Many eyes were scrutinizing Jiang She, as if checking his complexion to see if he had been frightened.

Someone greeted and asked:
"Did you sleep well last night, my lord?"

"is acceptable."

The servants of the Du family also looked over, put the vegetable bowl aside, looked the man in blue up and down, and asked with a frown, "Young master, did you hear any noise last night?"

Jiang She noticed their curious looks and thought for a moment.

"Jiang heard some of it."

Facing the many curious gazes, Jiang She said, "I think I still heard voices, but it was windy last night, so I might have misheard."

The neighbors hesitated, as if they wanted to say something but then stopped.

I wanted to tell him that the house had been haunted for a long time, and I could always hear some noises. But I was afraid of scaring him badly. Whose fault was it?
We might need to see a doctor.

The servants of the Du family fetched water to wash the vegetables and then splashed the water under the tree.

He said cautiously, "If you hear any unusual noises, you can go and pray at a nearby temple."

The servant of the Du family pointed and said.

“If you go east, there’s a local temple. If you think it’s too small… Mount Tai is currently closed, so we can’t go up there. Otherwise, we could visit Puzhao Temple on the mountain. If we’re lucky, we might even be able to visit Dai Temple.”

Jiang She understood.

He recognized this man as the one who had come to see him by lamplight the previous night and thanked him.

"Thanks for letting me know."

The servant of the Du family blushed slightly, feeling a little embarrassed. "Young master is new here, and the young master and his son have said that we should take good care of the neighbors. It is my duty."

Jiang She bought some roasted mutton, which smelled delicious.

He then sat down at the pastry stall and ordered a bowl of pastries.

In the tavern across the street, a storyteller hired by the owner sat at the entrance. He was wearing a thick coat, had a loud voice, and spoke clearly. Jiang Shebai listened to one of his stories.

They mainly speak in vernacular Chinese, in a lively and engaging way, and occasionally they sing a few lines of lyrics with good rhythm.

People nearby, oblivious to the cold, clapped and cheered.

Jiang She listened for a while.

It tells the story of Wu Zixu's story. It is about Wu Zixu's escape and his begging for food from a washerwoman. He was helped by a fisherman to cross the river. The two men heard a secret, and to keep the secret or to uphold their word, the washerwoman threw herself into the water and the fisherman capsized his boat and sank himself.

When the storyteller got excited, he performed a ventriloquism act, showing the fisherman's resolute determination to sink his boat and commit suicide.

Jiang She ate half a bowl of steamed buns.

Nearby, people were eyeing Jiang She, their voices clamoring, some seemingly unafraid of being overheard, whispering to those around them. "This is the family that moved in."

"There was also an old man, who was probably quite frightened."

"A sin..."

The Du family servants had left sometime earlier.

Two scholars, one tall and one short, arrived at the table in front of Jiang She. They were from the Du family.

Du Langjun looked around.

He asked Jiang She with a smile.

"It's you again, young master. May I join you for a meal?"

(End of this chapter)