Peking Opera Cat: I Became A Zi's Brother

The sky in Dongqiang Town has been unusually bright these days.

"Everyone, don't you think the weather these days is great?"

"That's right, I haven't cleaned my house so diligently for a long time."

“This kind of weather is hard to come by.”

The sun had made the bluestone pavement so hot that it would make a cat shiver if you stepped on it barefoot. The wind was filled with fine cotton wool blown up by quilts drying in the sun, mixed with the sweet fragrance of newly fallen osmanthus flowers from the osmanthus tree at the end of the alley. Even the air felt soft and fluffy, like a piece of freshly steamed rice cake.

……

"Mother-in-law, we are here to bother you again today."

The courtyard of Xingluo Class was even more lively.

Tofu was squatting beside the bamboo clothesline, his chubby paws struggling to lift up a bed sheet embroidered with cat paw patterns. There were still some unwashed mud stains on the corners of the bed sheet - that was from the last time Baitang chased a butterfly and rolled into the vegetable patch.

Tang Yuan stood on tiptoe, holding onto the bamboo pole. The shadow of the bamboo swayed under his nose, and he called out in a baby voice:

"A little to the left! A little more to the left! Last time Bai Tang covered himself with this quilt, he kept saying the cat's paw prints on the edge were too sharp and they kept tickling the soles of his feet in the middle of the night!"

"I know, I know!"

Tofu responded and exerted force with his arms, causing the sheet to spread out with a "rustle". The sunlight filtered through the tiny holes in the cloth, casting specks of light on the ground, like a handful of scattered silver coins.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and saw the hostess sitting on a bamboo chair in the corridor, picking vegetables she had just picked from the backyard. The leaves were still covered with morning dew, so he smiled and called out:

"Grandma, do you think this sheet has been stretched out enough in the sun? Once it's dried, it's guaranteed to be soft and fragrant, with the scent of the sun. Bai Tang will love burying her face in it when she comes back!"

"Ha ha……"

The owner's mother-in-law raised her head, and the wrinkles on her face were filled with warmth from the sunlight, like dried persimmons soaked in honey.

She squinted her eyes and took a look. The green leaves in her hand fell off, revealing the tender heart of the vegetable.

"Enough, enough. This kid has been picky about his sheets ever since he was little, saying hard ones are too uncomfortable and soft ones are too stuffy... And he went so far as to wrap himself in the silk quilt I made for him last year and run around wearing it like a cape, calling it a 'flying quilt.'"

Before he finished speaking, he laughed first. The sound of his laughter was like a copper bell on the eaves, so crisp that it startled the old hen in the corridor, which flapped its wings and ran away clucking.

Tang Yuan ran to the corridor and held up a bunch of purple wild grapes in his hand as if offering a treasure. There were still some tender yellow leaves wrapped around the vine.

"Grandma, try some! I just picked them from the wall, they're so sweet! Last time, Bai Tang said he wanted to bury the grape seeds in the backyard. He said that when grape vines grow next year, they'll wrap around the bamboo poles and cover the entire yard. Then we can sit down there, eat grapes, and listen to the opera. He'll play the 'Grape Fairy'!"

As he spoke, he began to chuckle, and the tip of his tail made a rustling sound on the stone slabs.

"Hmm~"

The owner's mother-in-law took the grapes and her fingertips touched the thin frost on the skin. It was cold, like touching grass leaves covered with morning dew.

She put one in her mouth, and the sweet and sour juice spread out, making her tongue numb. But she suddenly remembered Bai Tang's last time eating grapes, she spit out the seeds all over the floor. The round grape seeds rolled to her feet, and she hit her palm with a bamboo stick. He still stiffened his neck and said

"This is feeding the God of Land, so that he can grow grape trees to repay me."

In the bamboo basket under the corridor, there were still a few clothes that had not been mended yet.

There was a sky blue short coat that Mo Yun had given him last time. Bai Tang always loved wearing it to climb trees and rob bird nests. The cuffs were frayed, and there was a small tear under the armpit. The owner's mother-in-law had just found a needle and thread a few days ago, and she was thinking of mending it when he came back.

Next to her were a pair of patched pants with stripes. The patch on the knee was a fish pattern she had made with scraps of cloth. However, when Bai Tang was chasing Hun Dun, a branch had torn another corner of it. Now the tear was still open, like an unfinished sentence.

Just as I was laughing, there was a sudden crisp "bang" sound in the yard, as loud as a porcelain bowl falling to the ground.

It was the small clothes hanging on the clothesline that fell down - a sky blue short jacket, pants with small fish patches, and a pair of freshly knitted cloth shoes with a crooked cat embroidered on the upper, which was the image that Bai Tang had drawn herself.

The clothesline was a newly replaced hemp rope. Tofu had just soaked it in well water the day before, saying that it would be stronger. But now it was broken in two pieces. The fibers at the broken end were sticking out, as if they had been pulled violently by something, and there was still a bit of moisture.

The clothes fell on the scorching hot stone slabs, and the collar of the sky-blue short jacket was covered with dust, like a dirty piece of sky.

Tofu cried out "Ouch!" and hurried to pick it up with his chubby hands. He knocked his knees against the bamboo pole and didn't even bother to rub them. He muttered:

"Why is this rope broken? It was fine this morning. I pulled it hard and it was enough to hold two of me..."

Tangyuan was also stunned. He slowly lowered the hand that had just held the grapes, and the grape seeds leaked out from between his fingers and rolled to the ground.

He looked at the hemp rope that was broken into two pieces, and his eyebrows wrinkled into a knot:

"How could the rope break? Was it the wind? But the wind isn't strong today."

The owner of the business in the corridor slowly put down the vegetable basket in her hand, and the bamboo basket knocked on the stone steps, making a light sound.

Her eyes fell on the clothes on the ground. The sunlight shone brightly on them, and the sky blue color was warm in the light. But when she looked at that color, her heart sank inexplicably, as if she was gently bumped by something, and a sour feeling surged up along her heart.

She didn't say anything, but slowly stood up and held the armrest of the bamboo chair. The bamboo strips of the chair were warm from the sun, but where her fingertips touched, it was a little cold.

She paused, stroking the fine lines on the bamboo with her fingertips - this bamboo chair was woven by her when Bai Tang first came and pestered her for "his own seat". There was a small cat's paw print in the middle of the chair seat, which he had pressed on the bamboo strips when they were still wet.

The wind blew in from outside the yard, picking up a few fallen leaves on the ground, swirling past the broken hemp rope, and making the sheets rustle. The cat's paw pattern flickered in the wind, like a hand waving goodbye.

While Doufu was still mumbling about going to the woodshed to find a new rope, Tangyuan had already run to her mother-in-law and tugged at the hem of her clothes. The fabric still smelled of sunshine.

"Mother-in-law, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell?"

The owner's mother-in-law looked down at Tangyuan's upturned little face, which was still stained with grape juice. It looked very much like Baitang's face when he was a child and stole jam - that time he smeared jam all over his face and said to the bronze mirror, "I am the red-faced general."

She raised her hand and gently wiped the corner of Tangyuan's mouth. Her movements were very slow, and her fingertips rubbed across the child's delicate skin, as if she was touching some fragile treasure.

"Ugh……"

Then she sighed silently.

The sigh was carried in the wind, as light as a feather falling to the ground, but Tofu and Tangyuan both heard it.

The laughter in the yard stopped all of a sudden. Even the old hen stopped crowing and huddled in the corner, pecking at the grape seeds on the ground, again and again.

The sun was still as warm as ever, burning people's backs, but it seemed as if something had quietly changed. The sweet fragrance in the air had faded, and there was an indescribable bitterness in it.

"Pick up your clothes."

The boss's mother-in-law spoke, her voice calm but a little tired, like a flower that had been exposed to the sun for too long.

"Don't air the sheets for now. Put them away so they don't get dusty."

"Oh……"

Tofu and Tangyuan looked at each other, responded obediently, and bent down to pick up the clothes on the ground.

Tofu picked up the sky blue jacket, carefully brushed off the dust on the collar, and his fingertips touched the frayed cuffs. He suddenly remembered how Baitang chased butterflies while wearing it, with its tail raised high like a small flag.

The owner's mother-in-law turned and walked into the house, knocking on the stone slab with her bamboo stick. The sound of knocking, knocking, knocking, made the yard quiet and the sunlight seemed to slow down for a beat.

When she reached the door, she looked back at the courtyard wall - there were still a few shallow claw marks there, which were left by Bai Tang when he always liked to climb over the wall. The top mark was the highest, and he said it was "proof of his lightness skill."

At the foot of the wall, a few weeds grew out of the cracks in the rocks and grew very tall. Last time he said he wanted to pull them out and plant sunflowers instead.

What is supposed to come will eventually come.

She pushed open the wooden door, and the door hinges creaked. The sound was particularly clear in the quiet courtyard, like a long sigh.

There is a red rope wrapped around the door handle. It was hung there during the Dragon Boat Festival last year by Bai Tang, who said, "This way bugs won't dare to come in."

The door was pushed open a crack, gently blocking out the sunlight outside and the children's movements.

The room was a little darker. On the table was the unfinished amulet. The stitches were fine on the blue cloth. The dried fish embroidered on it were round and plump, staring with round eyes, as if waiting for someone to come back so that it could jump into his arms.