Peking Opera Cat: I Became A Zi's Brother

The night fell like a piece of blue cloth soaked in water. As it pressed down heavily, the shadow of the grape trellis had faded into a blurry ink.

"..."

Mo Yun sat on a stone bench. The Yunli space in his arms had already gone cold, but he still subconsciously protected it, like a piece of moonlight that refused to melt.

Tangyuan was holding half a piece of pumpkin cake, shaking his head a little bit, and his tail was curled into a furry ball, making a tiny sound on the stone slab.

Tofu curled up at his feet, snoring softly in his throat. Occasionally he looked up at the stars in the sky, then drooped his eyelids and fell asleep again.

The morning glories on the courtyard wall had already closed their petals, and the purple buds hung down like little bells wet by the night dew.

“Sugar…”

When Mo Yun looked up, he saw a meteor with a silver tail streaking across the sky. It was as fast as Bai Tang's figure when he was snatching the pumpkin cake before, and disappeared in an instant.

His Adam's apple moved, and his fingertips left shallow marks on the stone table.

Those half-true and half-false words spoken during the day are like oil floating on the water, appearing calm, but filled with surging bitterness underneath.

Tangyuan was just counting the leaves on the grape vines, saying that they would have a competition to see who picked the most grapes when Baitang came back. The expectation in her bright eyes was like a thin needle, gently piercing his heart.

"Mother-in-law."

When he spoke, his voice was somewhat scattered by the night wind.

"I……"

The owner's mother-in-law was sitting under the grape trellis sewing shoe soles. The rustling sound of the hemp thread passing through the cloth suddenly stopped.

She didn't look up, but just rubbed the needle in her hair, and the silver tip of the needle reflected a little starlight.

"It's getting cold,"

She said slowly, and the thread in her hand began to shuttle again.

"Let Tangyuan go to sleep. Children can't stay up late."

Mo Yun's words were stuck in her throat, as if blocked by something.

He looked at the profile of the owner's mother-in-law. The moonlight coated the white hair at her temples with a layer of frost. Her always gentle eyes were hidden in the shadow of her brow bones, and her emotions could not be seen. Only the needle and thread in her hand moved steadily and slowly, as if she wanted to sew the long night into the sole of the coarse cloth shoe.

"But mother-in-law, what I want to say is..."

He was about to speak, but was interrupted by a yawn.

Tangyuan rubbed his eyes and stood up, wagging his tail:

"Brother Mo Yun, I'm sleepy."

He stuffed the pumpkin cake in his hand into his mouth and said incoherently,

"Toufu is sleepy too. Let's go to bed. We still have to see if the grape seeds sprout tomorrow."

Tofu seemed to understand. He meowed, jumped up, and followed Tangyuan into the house.

As the small figure disappeared behind the door, Tangyuan's mumbling voice could be heard:

"I need to water it more tomorrow. Maybe it will sprout the day after tomorrow..."

The yard suddenly became quiet, with only the rustling sound of the wind passing through the grape vines and the sound of needle and thread in the hands of the owner's mother-in-law.

Mo Yun looked at the tightly closed door and suddenly felt the words in her throat become heavy and she couldn't say them at all.

The owner of the class put down the sole of the shoe in her hand and slowly stood up.

She moved very slowly, as if she was afraid of disturbing something in the night. When her green apron brushed against the vine leaves, it picked up a few dead leaves that had been eaten by insects and dropped them lightly to the ground.

"I'm tired too."

She said softly, with a hint of subtle fatigue in her voice.

"You should go to bed early too, Mo Yun."

She didn't look at him and turned to walk towards her room.

The moonlight stretched her shadow very long, sticking it on the bluestone slab, like a piece of paper crumpled by the wind.

Mo Yun looked at her back and wanted to say something, but found that all the words were soaked in the cold night air, blocking his chest, and even his breathing was difficult.

"Mother-in-law..."

He finally let out a low cry.

The boss's mother-in-law paused, but did not turn back.

After a long while, she said "hmm" softly, her voice so light it sounded like a sigh, and then continued walking forward.

The wooden door creaked open and creaked closed, blocking out all the moonlight.

Mo Yun sat on the stone bench for a long time.

The coolness in his arms seeped in through his clothes, like countless fine needles, piercing his skin densely.

He knew that the boss's mother-in-law had heard it and that she was waiting, but they all tacitly avoided the word, like avoiding a puddle on the ground, for fear that if they stepped on it, it would splash and hurt.

The wind gradually grew stronger, and the leaves of the grape vines rustled, as if someone was whispering something.

Mo Yun looked up at the sky. The stars were denser than before and sparkled brightly, like the frosting that sugar used to sprinkle on pumpkin cake.

He suddenly thought of the grape seeds he had buried during the day. Could they be quietly waiting for something in the moist soil?

From the room came the sound of Tangyuan turning over and the soft snoring of Tofu.

Mo Yun stood up, brushed off the night dew on her body, and slowly walked towards her room.

The wooden door creaked, and he looked back at the owner's grandmother's room. There was no light on the window paper, only a deep darkness.

"Good night, grandma."

He whispered into the darkness, but his voice was quickly carried away by the wind.

Back in the room, Mo Yun sat on the edge of the bed, the Yunli space in his arms was still cold.

He looked at the moonlight outside the window and suddenly realized that some things did not need to be spoken out, just like grape seeds waiting silently in the soil, and like the owner's mother-in-law pretending to be ignorant and escaping, all for the sake of guarding the warmth in his heart that refused to go out.

As the night deepened, the unfinished bowl of mung bean soup was still placed on the stone table under the grape trellis. The water droplets on the edge of the bowl had long since dried up, leaving only faint water marks, like traces of someone's tears.

Outside the distant town, the ice dragon roared softly again. This time, there was no whimpering in the sound, only a long, steady sigh, as if accompanying the waiting people in the yard and slowly enduring the night.

Mo Yun lay down and pressed the cold Yunli space against his chest.

The moonlight came in through the window and cast a thin silver thread on the ground, like a string pulled by someone, one end tied here and the other end tied to a place far, far away.

He closed his eyes, listening to the wind outside the window and the faint chirping of insects in the distance, and suddenly felt that perhaps this was a good thing - let the waiting slowly ferment in silence, like grape seeds buried in the soil, which would one day produce something sweet.

He didn't know how long it had been, but when he was about to fall asleep, he suddenly heard a very soft sound coming from the next room, like someone crying secretly, or someone whispering to something.

Mo Yun's eyes suddenly widened and her heart suddenly tightened.

The voice was very soft, mostly drowned out by the wind, and only a few words could be heard vaguely, like

“…silly child…”, or like “…grapes…”.

Mo Yun tightly grasped the Yunli Space in his arms, his knuckles turned white from the force, but his eyes slowly became hot.

He knew who it was and what she was talking about.

But they all tacitly kept this silence, like guarding a fragile dream, afraid that it would shatter if they opened their mouths.

The night is still long, and the grape vines sway gently in the wind, as if patting someone's back, coaxing this courtyard full of concerns, and slowly waiting for dawn.

Mo Yun closed his eyes, swallowed all the words back into his heart, and said silently in his heart: Wait, wait until the daybreak, wait until the grape seeds sprout, wait until the wind blows away all the wounds, there will always be something different.

At this moment, all he could do was to stay in this yard, in this silence, and wait together.

……

Mo Yun turned over in bed. The coolness in his arms seeped through the fabric into the cracks between his bones, making him shiver uncontrollably.

The moonlight from outside the window slanted in, casting fragmented shadows of grape vines on the bed, which looked very much like the crooked spells that Bai Tang had drawn on the ground with his claws before.

He stared at the shadow for a long time, listening to Tangyuan's even breathing next door, but his heart felt like a mess.

The faint sobbing sound just now was still lingering in my ears, and the white hair on the temples of the owner's mother-in-law, Tangyuan's bright eyes, and the grape seed that looked like a teardrop in the sunlight, all flashed before my eyes one after another.

As another meteor streaked across the night sky with its tail, Mo Yun sat up suddenly.

The light sound of the heels hitting the ground was particularly clear in the silence. He held his breath and waited for a moment, making sure that he did not wake anyone up, then he pushed the door open quietly.

The night dew dampened the stone steps, making them feel cool. He walked slowly along the courtyard wall, his fingertips brushing against the tightly closed buds as he passed the morning glory bush. This was where Bai Tang had first fought with him for the pumpkin cake. The little guy had knocked over the stone bench and landed flat on his butt, still clutching half a piece of cake tightly, his eyes wide as bells.

A few steps ahead was an old locust tree with half a broken string stuck in the tree hole. It was Bai Tang who broke it when he was learning to play the guzheng. He was so angry that he stomped his feet, but turned around and stuffed the candied fruit he had hidden to Mo Yun to apologize.

Mo Yun stood under the tree and looked up at the night sky that was cut into pieces by the branches and leaves.

The meteor passed by again, so fast that it was impossible to catch it, just like the always-rushing figure of sugar.

He suddenly remembered the dawn before the decisive battle. It was also here that Bai Tang patted his shoulder and said,

"When I come back, the three of us will go pick the highest grapes."

The certainty in his tone was as if it could be realized in the next moment.

The wind brought the fragrance of locust flowers, which was a bit sweet and a bit empty.

Mo Yun walked slowly along the path. The bluestone slabs under her feet were worn smooth. Every step felt like stepping on memories, soft and rough.