Peking Opera Cat: I Became A Zi's Brother

The smoke from the battlefield had not yet cleared, and Mo Zi fell into a coma in the chaotic aftermath.

At the same time, the night spread across another hill like ink.

……

Wu Song knelt on one knee, supporting his whistle stick, his chest heaving violently, his clothes soaked with sweat and stained with blood.

The fierce battle exhausted all his strength, and the scenery before his eyes began to blur and shake.

"Huh...huh..."

He was panting heavily and trying to get up, but his legs felt weak, his vision went dark, and he fell heavily to the ground, losing consciousness.

"Uh……"

After an unknown amount of time, Wu Song let out a muffled groan from his throat and slowly opened his heavy eyelids.

"Um?"

The moonlight shone on his face through the sparse branches above his head. He moved his eyes with difficulty, trying to see his surroundings clearly.

"This...this is..."

His voice was extremely hoarse, and just as he was trying to struggle to sit up, a piercing pain came through his meridians.

"Well--"

Before he could make any move, his head felt dizzy again, his vision fell into darkness again, his body collapsed weakly on the ground, and he fell into sleep again.

The night grew deeper and the forest became eerily quiet, with only the occasional chirping of insects.

Wu Song lay there, his brows tightly furrowed, a look of pain appearing on his face from time to time, as if he was still fighting with something terrible in his dream.

……

At this moment, he fell heavily into the mud, and the severe pain from the wound was like a poisonous snake gnawing at his consciousness.

"clang……"

In the chaotic darkness, a distant morning bell suddenly tore through the void and dragged him into the morning light with the fragrance of locust flowers.

"This temperature is, what, what's going on..."

The warmth from his palms made Wu Song open his eyes suddenly - it was a pair of hands with thin calluses, holding his hand gently.

Looking down, I saw a faded red rope tied around her slender wrist, and a few tender lily of the valley flowers were embroidered on the patched edge of her coarse cloth jacket.

"Xiaobai, run slower!"

A familiar female voice was wrapped in a smile.

Wu Song raised his eyes and saw the corners of his mother's blue cloth clothes fluttering in the mountain breeze, the locust flowers on her temples were stained with morning dew, and the fine lines at the corners of her eyes were filled with doting.

Memories surged like the tide. This was the busiest morning at Dazong Market, and also the last peaceful time before chaos eroded everything.

The bronze bells clanged and the market was like a giant beast that had been awakened.

"Sweet and soft candy man!"

The steam rising from the sugar painting stall was filled with a sweet fragrance, and Xiaobai grabbed his mother's hand tightly as if possessed by a ghost.

The master craftsman scooped up the amber syrup, and with a flip of his wrist, a lifelike phoenix leaped onto the stone slab.

"I want this!"

Wu Song heard his own clear childish voice.

"Okay, Xiaobai~"

My mother smiled and scratched the tip of my nose. When the copper coin fell, I felt the calluses on her palms - just like my hand holding the knife, they were both marks of running around for life.

"Be careful because it's hot."

My mother used a handkerchief to pad the sugar-painted bamboo stick and blew on it before handing it to her mouth.

Xiaobai gently bit off the Phoenix's tail feathers, and the sweetness melted on the tip of his tongue. In a trance, he couldn't tell whether this was Xiaobai's memory.

The mountain road is winding and filled with a wide variety of stalls.

The lady selling cloth spread out a piece of moon-white silk embroidered with flowing cloud patterns.

"Mom, can this piece of cloth be made into a skirt?"

I was surprised when I said this. This soft tone made me more nervous than the tiger's roar on Jingyang Ridge.

My mother simply draped the cloth over me gently. The sunlight shone through the silk, casting tiny glints of light in her eyes.

"When I have enough money, I will make a dress for our Xiaobai that is more beautiful than a fairy."

While she was talking, she kept her other hand behind me, afraid that Xiaobai would be bumped into by the crowded crowd.

"clang……"

The bronze bell in front of the teahouse rang out its third long tone.

My mother bought two bowls of sweet osmanthus tea and tore off half a bun and stuffed it into my hand.

"Mother~"

In the hot steam, Wu Song watched her put the remaining buns into her arms - this scene suddenly hurt her, just like many years ago at Chai Jin's farm, when he always gave the meat and vegetables to other poor men.

"Mom is not hungry, you should eat more."

She wiped the sweet paste from the corner of Xiaobai's mouth. This action made my throat tighten, as if I had swallowed the wind and snow on Jingyang Ridge.

"Come and support us, come and support us, for the latest and most exciting performance!"

There were bursts of cheers coming from the circus stand on the corner of the street, and my mother took me to the front row.

The torch thrown and caught by the artist drew a beautiful arc in the air. I was so scared that I hid in her arms, but I couldn't help but peek at her out of curiosity.

My mother put her arms around me and whispered in my ear:

"Don't be afraid, those are specially made torches. They won't burn anyone."

The hot air she exhaled brushed past my ears as she spoke, carrying a faint aroma of glutinous rice, the lingering scent of the sweet tea she had drunk that morning.

"clang……"

As the sun sets, the last chime of the bell echoes through the valley.

Xiaobai held the newly bought rattle and deliberately stepped on the sunset to pieces.

My mother kept her arms around my shoulders, nagging me, "Be careful not to fall."

When we passed by the stream, she squatted down and used the cool stream water to wash away the sugar stains on my face. She then took out a clean handkerchief from her bag and carefully wiped my face dry.

The mountain breeze blew up her hair, and Xiaobai suddenly wanted to seize this moment - because chaos will eventually swallow up everything here, just like fate swallowed up my countless tomorrows.

When I got home, the moonlight had already climbed onto the eaves.

I lay in bed, listening to my mother humming a lullaby in the kitchen.

The sound of the rattle mixed with the crackling of firewood and gradually became blurred. In a trance, Wu Song heard his own voice asking:

"Mom, will we always be like this?"

And her answer was like moonlight soaked in honey:

"Yes, we will always be together."

……

The moonlight shines through the window lattice and weaves a silver net on the pillow. I fall asleep holding the rattle.

When I opened my eyes again, the drumhead on my palm had been polished to a shine, and the locust tree in the corner of the yard had sprouted new leaves. It turned out that several months had passed.

"Xiaobai, come and try the locust flower cake that mother just steamed."

My mother, wearing a blue apron, turned away from the stove, the hot steam rising from the steamer blurred her eyes and eyebrows.

Xiaobai trotted over and saw a porcelain plate on the wooden table. There were off-white pastries dotted with flower petals, and the sweet fragrance mixed with the smell of firewood wafted in his face.

I bit into the soft piece, and a bitter taste suddenly appeared on the tip of my tongue - the morning bell deep in my memory suddenly roared, almost making me knock over the teacup.

"when!!!"

The shrill sound of the bell tore through the clear sky, making the window paper rustle.

The bamboo sieve in my mother's hand fell to the ground with a clang, and the undried herbs in the sieve spilled all over the ground.

Her face turned pale instantly, and she grabbed my wrist tremblingly:

"Hide in the cellar!"

Before he finished speaking, dark clouds rolled over the horizon. From deep within the clouds came a sharp whistling sound like metallic friction, and the air was filled with a pungent smell of rust.

"..."

Wu Song was dragged and stumbled out of the courtyard. He saw the bell tower on the top of the bell mountain shaking violently. The bell ringer hit the bronze bell with all his strength, and the flying sparks fell on the chaotic clouds and made a crackling sound.

"Attention, attention, Chaos is coming, Chaos is coming..."

"Run! Run!"

The villagers on the street fled in panic. The old man selling sugar paintings overturned the iron pot of boiling sugar, and the boiling syrup solidified into strange black lines on the stone slabs.

"Split up and run!"

My mother suddenly pushed me in the opposite direction and ran towards the chaos herself.

Xiaobai turned around and screamed, only to see her take out half a piece of faded red cloth from her bosom - it was the silk that she had seen at the market a few months ago, now torn into strips and wrapped around her arm.

"Remember, go east to the old locust tree..."

Her screams were drowned out by a deafening roar. Pitch-black vines emerged from the chaos and entangled the bell tower. The bronze bell crashed to the ground, creating a bottomless crack in the ground.

"Hmm~"

Wu Song staggered to her feet, her skirt already covered in mud.

I heard a child crying in the distance, and a familiar figure rushed towards me against the flow of people - it was the lady selling cloth!

The silver hairpin in her hair was tilted to one side, and she held the moon-white silk tightly in her arms.

"Take it! Your mother told me to..."

Before she could finish her words, a dark purple lightning struck down, leaving a charred wound on the old lady's back, but she still stuffed the cloth into my arms.

Chaos flooded the streets like a tide, reducing houses to dust wherever it passed.

I ran wildly clutching the blood-soaked silk, my mother's last words ringing in my ears.

The old locust tree in the east is the cellar where we hide from bandits.

But when Xiaobai stumbled into the locust tree forest, he saw that the tree roots had been dyed a strange black color, and from deep in the tree holes came a gnawing sound that made cats' teeth ache...