Chapter 13: Hiring a Cat

On the street, pedestrians gradually increased. Neighbors greeted each other, some pushing wooden single-wheeled handcarts out the door for work, others opening their doors to do business. Anxi Street finally had a sense of liveliness.

The small black cat hid in the shadows, its eyes vigilant and cold, but it still wouldn't leave.

"That grain bead must be very important to you, right?" Chen Ji murmured to himself. "Even though I've teased you several times, even though the bead was bounced away, you still don't want to give up."

He waved his hand at the small black cat, indicating for it to follow him into the medical hall, but the small black cat didn't move at all, only observing secretly.

Just then, there was a sound from the rice shop opposite. The brightly lit shop attendants unloaded the door planks and carried cage after cage of steamed buns and rolls to the doorway. White steam rose from the bamboo steamers in the morning sunlight.

Chen Ji looked up again and saw the small black cat staring intently at the bamboo steamers.

The small black cat's eyes made him feel as if he were seeing himself as a young man, staring at instant noodles on other people's tables on a green-skinned train.

Chen Ji hesitated for a moment, walked forward, and asked, "How much is one steamed bun?"

The rice shop attendant smiled and said, "Ah, Little Doctor Chen, the steamed buns are still two *wen* each, no change."

Chen Ji took out two *wen* from his sleeve. This was the money he earned from wiping the floor yesterday, and it was all he had on him.

"Give me one," he stuffed the two *wen* into the attendant's hand.

The attendant asked happily, "Just one? That won't be enough to eat."

Chen Ji smiled and replied, "I only have two *wen*, I can't buy more."

The rice shop attendant was a bit surprised. Who in this day and age would admit to being so poor that they couldn't afford to eat one more two-*wen* steamed bun?

One steamed bun was two *wen*, one *jin* of rice was ten *wen*, one *jin* of eggs was twenty *wen*. Even the poorest families probably wouldn't be unable to come up with two *wen*.

But Chen Ji's demeanor was calm, as if he didn't feel there was anything wrong with this.

"Okay, then I'll sell you one steamed bun," the rice shop attendant said enthusiastically after realizing.

Chen Ji glanced at the small black cat on the roof and suddenly asked, "Let me ask you something. Is there a place nearby that sells fish?"

"You want to buy fish?"

"I'm just asking first, I don't have the money to buy it yet."

The rice shop attendant smiled and said, "Only smoked salted fish is sold nearby. If you want to buy live fish, you have to go to the East Market. It'll take one more *shichen* there and back."

"Is fish expensive?"

"That depends on the fish," the attendant laughed. "Carp and grass carp are cheap, ten *wen* a *jin*. Mandarin fish is a bit more expensive, probably thirty *wen* a *jin*. Those rich merchants and scholars who come and go from the East Market are said to be able to eat fish from the sea. I heard that when Luo City was prosperous before, a lot of sea fish were transported in every day."

Chen Ji asked casually, "Is Luo City not doing well now?"

"Things are different now compared to the past. This place used to be the capital in the previous dynasty, a place of extravagance. Now it's in decline. Only some old masters still boast about being the capital, but who doesn't know that the truly prosperous places now are Sheng Jing in the north and Jin Ling in the south," the attendant opened the bamboo steamer and, in the white fog, wrapped a steamed bun in hemp paper and handed it over. "Here, your steamed bun."

Chen Ji took the steamed bun but didn't eat it. Instead, he turned and placed it on the threshold of the medical hall. Only then did he bend down, pick up the shoulder pole and water bucket, and sway into the medical hall.

The small black cat jumped down from the roof eaves to the medical hall doorway, sniffed the steamed bun, then raised its head and walked away, seemingly not planning to accept Chen Ji's kindness.

But after only a few steps, it still turned back and bit the steamed bun.

It stood at the medical hall doorway, watching Chen Ji carry water to the back yard, and also wanted to follow in and look, but finally turned and left.

...

...

Ever since She Dengke and Liu Quxing wrestled their way into the back yard, they never came to the main hall again. The master wasn't home, and neither of them was willing to come out to work.

Chen Ji was also happy with the quiet. When he was hungry, he went to the kitchen to get a coarse grain biscuit. When he was thirsty, he went to scoop a ladle of water, boiled it, and drank it. If a patient came with a prescription, he would weigh the medicine. If they wanted a diagnosis, he would politely refuse.

He spent almost the entire day studying the "General Outline of Medical Arts," but he only learned the subject of external injuries.

He didn't know how long had passed. Chen Ji lay on the counter and fell asleep without realizing it. When he woke up, he saw the black cat from Evening Star Garden quietly squatting on the counter, watching him.

The black cat's fur was disheveled, and there was a new wound on its neck, seeping blood.

Chen Ji laughed, raised his hand, and greeted the black cat, "Why do you walk without a sound? Did you get beaten again?"

The black cat raised its head slightly stubbornly.

That look was very much like the stiff-necked look of many men after a fight: he didn't gain anything either!

In reality, only the loser says this...

"Wait a moment," Chen Ji went to the kitchen to get a "fire inch stick" to start a flame, and lit the sesame oil lamp on the main hall counter.

The small flame flickered, still not enough to illuminate the whole room, only enough for one person and one cat in this small area.

Chen Ji blew out the fire on the thin wooden strip and said brokenly, "You fight with Yun Fei the cat every day, doesn't Jing Fei help you treat your injuries a bit? Or you should hide it first, otherwise you might get beaten to death."

The black cat raised its head, looking a bit unconvinced.

"You don't need to be unconvinced," Chen Ji gestured. "You're so small, you should still be less than a year old. It's already so big, it's normal that you can't beat it. A gentleman's revenge is not too late in ten years, right? Wait until you have a full grasp, then you can go find it again."

Saying this, Chen Ji became serious, "But remember, that time you must kill it with one strike, don't give it a chance to turn over."

The black cat listened, a thoughtful look appearing in its eyes.

Chen Ji was a little puzzled, "You can't really understand what I'm saying, can you?"

The black cat had no reaction.

Chen Ji smiled and said, "I'll put some medicine on you."

The black cat watched Chen Ji quickly flip through the medical book. The young man's mouth was still muttering, "Let me see what medicine can be applied to external injuries. I specially learned this today... right, *Cnidium*. There's a lot of this stuff, Old Master Yao definitely won't notice if I take one gram."

The black cat's originally tense body relaxed a little.

Chen Ji took some sun-dried *Cnidium* and carefully ground it into powder.

He looked at the black cat, "I'll put some hemostatic medicine on you, don't scratch me."

However, to his surprise, when he applied the powder to the black cat's wound, the other side really didn't flinch or dodge, as if it knew this was for its own good.

The black cat was like a small sculpture, its gaze following Chen Ji's figure back and forth. Finally, its body, which was always ready to explode in anger, gradually relaxed.

The small black cat's fur was dense and needed to be carefully parted to check, which took a lot of time.

By the time Chen Ji had finished treating every wound on the black cat, he suddenly smiled, "Great merit achieved!"

As he spoke, he just discovered that the black cat had already fallen asleep, its small head resting on his palm.

Chen Ji was silent for a long time, his hand still not moving away.

One person and one cat were just in this small pool of light, quiet and gentle.

Chen Ji lowered his head to look at the small black cat, and after a long silence, he said absentmindedly, "I can only talk to you."

He leaned against the counter edge, his eyes looking at the swaying flame, "In Aoshan Hospital, I thought I wouldn't die. I was so well prepared, even preparing a mental illness diagnosis book to escape after killing someone, but in the end, I was still counter-killed. But it's fine if I died, revenge was taken."

"Li Qingniao told me that someone from North Jialuzhou was responsible for smuggling me. I don't know what he meant exactly. Where is North Jialuzhou, what are the forty-nine layers of heaven, why did I suddenly get reborn into a small apprentice, living alone in this world..."

"When I learned from my master that I still had family, I didn't actually expect it much... well, I did expect it a little. But that evening, when the sunset glow gradually faded from my body, I felt like I was abandoned by the world."

"Isn't that a bit pretentious..."

Chen Ji rambled on. After coming to this world, he couldn't trust anyone, nor was there anyone worth trusting. Those secrets and puzzles, he could only keep them to himself, and finally tell them to a sleeping small cat.

It seemed he himself felt a bit ridiculous, so he lowered his head and said softly to the black cat, "Thank you for listening to me babble so much, I feel much better!"

At this moment, the small black cat actually opened its eyes and gently placed a paw on Chen Ji's wrist, as if comforting him.

Chen Ji looked at that furry small paw, in a daze for a long time, then asked, "I guess you're not being treated or fed because you couldn't beat the white cat, and Jing Fei and Chun Rong are angry at you for not trying hard enough. So a well-bred princess's cat will miss a meat steamed bun, right?"

The small black cat looked at him silently.

Chen Ji asked seriously, "Or how about when I'm able to leave the medical hall later, you come with me to wander the jianghu?"

The small black cat had a look of doubt.

"No, that won't do, we need a bit of ceremony!" Chen Ji took out a piece of paper used for writing prescriptions from the counter and, with a brush, crookedly wrote down an ancient ritual text for hiring a cat: "Fox slave Luo City way, surrounded by black clouds. Now Chen Ji hires 'Black Cloud' to return home. Since there are no small dried fish, a crystal bead is used as a substitute. May the Stove King see it and not abandon it, may the City God see grace and righteousness."

When the last word was written, he took out some cinnabar ink and looked at the black cat, "If you can really understand my words and are willing to follow me, then press your paw print yourself."

Under the young man's gaze, the black cat hesitated for a moment, but in the end, it actually dipped its paw in the cinnabar ink and pressed its claw print on the hiring document.

The next moment, the hiring document burned without a fire, turning into specks of starlight in the air.

Chen Ji looked at the brilliant scene before him and murmured to himself, "This world is indeed not normal..."

A voice asked, "What's not normal?"

Chen Ji slowly turned his head towards the black cat...