Chapter 34 My Cousin from Three Thousand Miles Away
Sangqing Town has many cats; you can see cats on the eaves of every alley. When the sun is shining, tabby cats, black cats, and orange cats curl up on the eaves, lazily watching people with their hands tucked in.
When it rains, they huddle under the eaves of people's houses to avoid the rain, licking their wet fur. Lin Xiushui often sees big cats with kittens, swaggering into people's yards.
But if we're talking about getting a cat, we'll have to wait.
But she was willing to rescue the cat and wanted to watch the excitement, so she followed the street officials from a distance.
Today is the Shangsi Festival, and there are many boats on the waterways, blocking the river. The streets are crowded with people, and there are vendors selling peach blossom sachets. She made quite a few for Madam Yao a few days ago.
Some people bundle shepherd's purse flowers together, drape them over bamboo baskets, and sell them along the street. Others make and sell shepherd's purse steamed buns, each one fresh out of the oven and fragrant.
The closer they got to the old mulberry tree in Nanwazi, the more people gathered around it, all looking up at it. Many men, holding their hats and turbans, pouted and called out, "Squeak squeak!"
No matter where you are, everyone teases the cat like this, making the squeak of a mouse, and shouting "Zhu Zhu" at the dog. The tabby mother cat under the tree doesn't pounce on the tree, but looks over, while the kitten meows among the treetops.
When the street officials tried to climb up the ladder, the tabby cat tucked its tail between its legs, growled, raised its back high, and scratched at the ladder with its paws.
The street official squatted down, waved his hand, and chuckled, "This raccoon is pretty fierce. Squeak, squeak, come over here. Why don't one of you catch a mouse? It's the cat fish seller. Feed it something, otherwise how are we going to get up there? It's definitely going to rain tomorrow."
"Why are you all so useless? Watch me!" An old woman wrapped a cloth around herself, rolled up her sleeves, and the people around her stepped back. Then the old woman squatted down and called out in a high-pitched voice, "Mimi, come here."
Everyone covered their faces. What a terrible method! The cat wouldn't eat the fish they were given later, and its fur stood on end at the sight of the dead mouse. The mother cat kept scratching at the ladder and howling, with the big cat meowing and the little cat meowing along with it.
When they weren't allowed to use the ladders, someone suggested, "Why don't we send firefighters? They're good at fighting fires; they can climb up the trees."
"Your method won't work. People are very busy every day, so don't come up with bad ideas."
Lin Xiushui went back, took a thin bamboo pole, hung a tassel she had made on it, squatted down, and stretched the bamboo pole in front of the mother cat. The colorful tassel swayed back and forth, teasing the cat.
The tabby cat was immediately attracted and stretched out its paw to reach up. Lin Xiushui pulled the bamboo pole, and the tassel was hoisted up. The cat pounced up suddenly, but missed. It then jumped left and right to grab the tassel.
Everyone else was captivated by the sight, so the street officials quickly climbed the ladder, grabbed a kitten by the neck with each hand, and brought the litter of tabby kittens down. After the crowd cheered, they started discussing it.
Someone's eyes widened, "Good heavens, this thing can tease cats?"
“I’ve tried so many things,” a woman said. “My cat seems indifferent. Are all cats different?”
People who own cats say, "I can't get my cat to play with anything, but all I need is a pole with some tassels, and my cat is so lively. I want to make one too."
"My cat always ignores me. I wonder if taking root will help."
Lin Xiushui casually petted the mother cat, making it purr. She looked up at everyone and said, "This is simple to make, and I can even hang a few chicken feathers on it. The cat will definitely enjoy it."
The street officials put the kittens down. There were five of them, round-headed and blackish-brown, who tumbled and crawled onto their mother, only their tails drooping to the ground. One kitten peeked out with its big eyes, looking at the crowd.
"The mother cat is going to take these kittens away herself?" Lin Xiushui stood up and asked.
The street official shook his head: "We can't keep the cat girl alive. Look, her front paws are still lame. We sweep the streets every day and see many kittens starving to death. We can't hire her either. Who knows what kind of person would be hired? We send them all to Cat Lane."
“Wait for me, I’ll go with you to take a look,” Lin Xiushui said.
Cat Alley isn't a stray cat alley; it's a place where people specialize in cat-related businesses. There are places that sell cat fish, make cat beds, and even cat and dog grooming services. In other words, they cut cat fur, dye their claws with balsam flowers, and there are also doctors who offer basic cat treatments.
Of course, there are also night patrols, not cat thieves. There are many thieves in Lin'an Prefecture, and everyone calls them "cat thieves." They specialize in stealing chickens and catching cats. There are many wild game restaurants on the outskirts of Sangqing Town, and the meat is made from stolen cats, dogs, and chickens.
But the cats that enter Cat Alley are cared for and fed. They wait for people to come and choose them, or hire them from places that specialize in raising cats. People earn money and take things, so they are strictly managed to prevent the cats from being stolen. Everyone gets what they need, which is why there are the most cats there.
Many people in Sangqing Town raise silkworms, and the silkworm rearing room is most afraid of rats. Every year in February or March, many silkworm farmers will go to Cat Lane to hire a cat to keep at home to scare away rats.
Later, another trade emerged: making clay cats. It was said that if you placed clay cats on silkworm trays and silkworm racks, the mice would be too scared to come near, hence the name "silkworm cats."
Lin Xiushui, along with Xiaohe, followed the street officials to Cat Lane. They saw them taking the cats inside to find a good family to raise them. The two were drawn to the silkworm cats in front of the door. The palm-sized cats sat on the shelves, lifelike. Several old craftsmen were sculpting the cats, and an old woman was drawing them with a brush. The cats' eyes were wide open like copper bells. These were called silkworm cat paintings, hung in the silkworm room to ward off the cats.
"What a round cat!" Xiaohe exclaimed, squatting down to examine it closely. She said to Lin Xiushui, "But I still prefer real cats."
She saw an orange cat basking in the sun in the corner and tiptoed to pet it, but was then attracted by a tabby cat that suddenly stretched. Immediately afterwards, a short-legged cat darted out and bumped into Xiaohe's feet. Both of them were startled and their eyes widened.
Lin Xiushui pulled Xiaohe along and said with a smile, "Let's go into Cat Alley and take a look. Didn't you say you wanted a companion?"
Xiaohe is often home alone. She can only go out to play when she and her aunt come back. Today, after seeing the cat, she thought that she should find a playmate for Xiaohe.
There are many cats in Cat Alley, big and small, round and thin, black and yellow. Some of them are leaping and bounding on the eaves. The big cats are leading the kittens to practice jumping over the eaves. The kittens are shrinking their heads and dare not jump. Some of them are squatting by the wall pillars, not moving, pretending to be mud cats.
Xiaohe couldn't stop walking when she saw them. Her face was full of excitement. "Sister, look at these cats, can I keep one?"
Lin Xiushui said, "Of course, we can hire a cat to keep you company."
"I just have to hire a cat with my own money, and I also have to buy it cat food every now and then, take it to the vet when it gets sick, and take good care of it. Is that okay?"
Xiaohe also has the most common problem of children: she likes new things and gets tired of the old. If there is a new toy, she will not want the old one. Moreover, if it is easy to get, she will usually put it away after she is happy with it.
Lin Xiushui didn't care much about inanimate objects, but cats were alive, they could move and cause trouble. On her way here, she had originally planned to take Xiao Heping with her, but after arriving here, she changed her mind.
Xiaohe was surprised, her mouth agape, and she pointed to herself, "Do I make money?"
She has never earned any money.
"How can I earn money?" Xiaohe asked curiously. "I don't know anything. I can't catch catfish, and I can't sew clothes."
Lin Xiushui smiled and patted her head. "You can help your older sister make cat toys."
Xiaohe was puzzled, but Lin Xiushui had connections. These simple cat teasers she made from bamboo poles sold very well in Cat Alley. With just a little teasing, the cats would reach out and scratch them.
The cat bed vendor thought there was a way to make money. "This is novel, but the design is a bit simple. It'll only cost three coins a piece at most. Take twenty pieces first, and we'll settle the payment when the goods arrive."
Lin Xiushui readily agreed, since she could sell it to any other store even if they didn't want it there.
She took Xiaohe to see cats at someone's house and learned that hiring a cat required at least a bag of salt and sesame seeds, which would cost about sixty coins. However, the people there would choose an auspicious day for hiring a cat, prepare a cat-acquisition contract, specifying the date, the cat's appearance, and their expectations for the cat. They would also prepare food for the cat on the day of the visit and introduce people who sell cat fish.
Of course, if it were an ordinary stray cat, you could just buy a fish to hire it, but things that are too easily obtained are never cherished.
Originally, Xiaohe just wanted a cat to amuse her, but now she wants to hire one. She needs to earn money and work hard to hire a cat so she can save up enough to do so.
Xiaohe went with Lin Xiushui to buy thin bamboo poles, spent money on chicken feathers, and wanted to buy yarn to make tassels. When they got home, Xiaohe followed along and learned how to tie tassels. She took the yarn in her little hands and wrapped it around the wooden board again and again, waiting for Lin Xiushui to thread the rope and take it off. She cut it in half and combed it with a fine-toothed comb.
At first, Xiaohe was very excited, but later her hands hurt from winding the ropes, and she asked with a pained expression, "Sister, how much money can I earn?"
"After you finish walking around, I'll give you three coins."
Xiaohe couldn't figure out the math, and just asked wistfully, "How many days would it take me to afford a cat?"
Lin Xiushui continued circling the thread, then said, "It will take at least twenty days. If you can't hold onto the money and take it to the peddler to buy candy or toys, it will take a long time."
“If you hire a cat, you’ll have to spend ten coins every few days to buy it catfish, and you’ll have to wait a long time. But if you can learn more skills, I’ll raise your wages later.”
Xiaohe's eyes lit up, "How much will it go up?"
"When the price rises to five or seven coins, you can save up a little and even buy candy for yourself."
"So much money," Xiaohe counted on her fingers. She couldn't even count it all, but she felt there was a lot of money. She grinned and obediently followed Lin Xiushui, winding the yarn.
While circling around at home, Lin Xiushui went out to set up her stall and sat next to her, slowly circling around. Zhang's son, Tiesheng, called out to her, "Xiaohe, come play! Let's play Cuju (ancient Chinese football)."
"I'll go later. I'm at work right now, so don't bother me," Xiaohe shook her head, wiping her sweaty hands. She was different from everyone else now; her older sister said she was very capable!
"What's with this weird stuff? We're not playing Cuju anymore, we're playing kite fighting, are you in?"
Xiaohe really wanted to play, but with the string still wrapped around her hand, she just shook her head and said, "I'll go later, you guys play first."
As she wound the thread on the board, she muttered to herself, "I'll finish first, I'll finish first, I'll finish first, I want to go play."
Finally, after finishing the circuit, he received three coins from Lin Xiushui, jumped up and shouted, "I made money! I made money! I'm going to save it up and hire a cat!"
Of course, that's what she's thinking right now. But when she goes out to play and encounters a peddler wearing a green headscarf and jasmine flowers in his hair, and picks out a bamboo or wooden stretcher stuffed full of things, she forgets all about cats, dogs, and saving money. She only touches her purse to buy candy.
When she came to her senses, she wanted to cry, but she held it back. She sucked on the candy in her mouth; the candy was so delicious. She decided to save up for tomorrow.
Xiaohe's journey to save money to hire a cat was long and arduous. If Lin Xiushui hadn't secretly increased her wages later, she wouldn't know when she would have been able to hire one.
Of course, Lin Xiushui saw Xiaohe buying candy and found it quite amusing. Then, she came to her senses and said to the dark-faced young man in front of her, "These chicken feathers are tied to the pole to tease the cat."
"I saw you use it at Nanwazi early this morning. You can even tease a cat with chicken feathers?"
The dark-faced young man looked incredulous. He had three black cats at home that were always unfriendly to people. No matter how he tried to coax them, they always acted as if they were sleeping and should be left alone.
Lin Xiushui handed it over, saying, "Young master, you are welcome to try it. If it doesn't work, return it to me and I will refund you the five coins."
Finally, the dark-faced gentleman took the bamboo pole home with him. With a skeptical heart, he tried to tease it. Unexpectedly, the cats that usually only paid attention to him when it was time to eat suddenly pounced on him and stretched out their paws to play with him. The dark-faced gentleman's eyes lit up. He took a deep breath of the cats and looked at the bamboo pole next to him. It was simply a magical artifact!
He hoarded ten of these good things by himself, and dragged his other cat-obsessed accomplices along to come and buy them all.
Lin Xiushui's schedule is already booked well in advance, so Xiaohe is not worried about not having any work.
In just half an afternoon, Lin Xiushui earned a hundred coins from the cat toy, which was much more than she earned from sewing. However, due to the large number of boats and various situations at the riverbank today, she attracted a lot of business.
On the Shangsi Festival, many people on the boats were in a hurry. The boat carrying firewood collided with the boat carrying fish. The fish baskets of the fish boat were placed at the bow of the firewood boat. As a result of the collision, the fish baskets were overturned into the river, with live fish swimming around and dead fish floating on the surface.
In their haste, people jumped off the boat to fish, splashing around in the river. Unfortunately, the fish basket was badly damaged, and all the fish were left on the bow of the boat. People on other boats were also anxious. A woman on the shore shouted, "Go find the little tailor at Sangshukou to mend it! What's the use of all this frantic activity?"
"Where?" The man on the boat looked around anxiously, and finally, after being directed, grabbed a basket and jumped into the water to walk ashore. He stood soaking wet in front of Lin Xiushui. "Young lady, you'd better get some nourishment, all the fish have escaped."
Lin Xiushui quickly took the basket to look at it. It had many holes and was difficult to mend. It also smelled fishy. She quickly said, "It can't be mended. I'll get you an oilcloth bag. Give me fifteen yuan and it'll be fine. You can put it over your head right away."
"Hey, hurry up and bring it here, I can't wait. Of all the bad luck, we had to crash into a boat."
The fishmonger had just left with his oilcloth bag when a woman adorned with flowers came running up from the other side, pulling a little girl along. "Young lady, help me! My daughter's skirt has been ripped by someone. Look, it's over here. We want to take a boat out later, and I'm so worried!"
Lin Xiushui took it and looked at it. It wasn't just a tear; it was a hole. It would be troublesome to mend this dress. Neither weaving nor embroidery would be suitable. She looked down and picked out some fabric and said, "I'll embroider it for you. Weaving is not an option. Your fabric is coarse silk with jacquard patterns. It would take me an hour to mend it. It's not worth it."
She smiled at the little girl and said, "How about I give you a shepherd's purse flower? That way you won't get sick anymore."
The little girl had been stepped on and was crying in pain. Her skirt was also torn, and she was sobbing and her eyes were red. When someone asked her what she thought, she nodded and said, "I want to mend it to look nicer."
Her mother nodded repeatedly, "This is good, better than patching, it makes people happy."
Lin Xiushui also told the little girl, "It's guaranteed to be beautiful. You'll see it when you sit down."
Lin Xiushui sat down. Now her tools were much more complete than when she was repairing kites for Chuanbulang.
Coarse needles, fine needles, homemade beaded needles, large scissors, small scissors, tiny scissors, tweezers, powder bags, peach wood rulers, large and small cloth rulers, various colored fabric scraps, and winding boards in about ten colors, etc.
So even if the fabric brought over was coarse silk, she could find suitable material from the scraps, pull out fine white cloth, cut out the pattern of shepherd's purse flowers with small scissors, and then cut out leaves using a color close to that of the green silk.
She knew exactly what to do. She didn't even need to draw a pattern on paper. She could just cut it out with scissors. First, she embroidered the leaves onto the hole to cover it up carefully. Then, she sewed on white petals one by one. Under the watchful eyes of the mother and daughter, no one knew at what step the hole turned into a cluster of small white flowers.
The shepherd's purse flowers on the green silk dress do not look out of place at all; on the contrary, they have a unique beauty. As soon as the little girl sits down, you can see the shepherd's purse flowers on the dress. The hole has disappeared, but the flowers remain on the dress forever.
On what should have been a peaceful day, such a distressing incident occurred, leaving both mother and daughter somewhat annoyed and unhappy. However, seeing how beautifully the skirt had been mended, they left with smiles on their faces, happy to be able to enjoy the Shangsi Festival.
Lin Xiushui received sixteen coins. She had already earned over a hundred coins today. She was very satisfied and decided to buy a steamed goose with bamboo shoots tonight to nourish herself and her aunts.
Then she thought, maybe she should buy another duck to help soothe her overwhelmed mind.
That day, she mended three pairs of children's pants and two skirts, all of which had been stepped on, torn, or damaged while playing. Some had fallen into the water when being pushed, and others had their belts torn while struggling. They came to make new belts, soaking wet, and kept saying they were too ashamed to face anyone.
There was indeed someone who was too ashamed to show his face. He had been stung by a bee, and after applying medicine, his eyelids were red and swollen, and his mouth was swollen too much. He covered his mouth tightly with his hands and ran over, saying indistinctly, "Young lady, please make me a veil or a face towel. I am too ashamed to show my face to anyone."
"What did you do?" Lin Xiushui had just finished finishing the previous order. When she saw his expression, she quickly suppressed her laughter, turned her back, bit her lip tightly, and pretended to be looking for something. She silently lowered her head, unable to hold it in any longer.
The man covered his face. "Young lady, laugh if you want. Who told me to be so unlucky as to enter someone's bee farm? It's alright if I have clothes on, but my face is so ugly that even my mother would have to look at it closely with a lantern to recognize me as her own son."
Lin Xiushui couldn't help but laugh out loud. She tried her best not to laugh too loudly. "It's okay, I'll make you a veiled hat. I'll make sure no one can see your face."
"Then hurry up and do it. Didn't you see? They're all looking at me. Their eyes are scarier than bee stings."
Lin Xiushui eventually made him a veiled hat, which he bought from outside. Lin Xiushui sewed cloth onto it and earned twenty coins.
She earned a total of 278 coins that day, but she was so tired that she collapsed in her chair. She looked up at the ceiling and said, "I think I can skip this festival."
“However they make money, you make money too,” Wang Yuelan said, immersing her hands in hot water. She then placed her wet hands on Lin Xiushui’s hands, causing Lin Xiushui to cry out in pain, “Auntie, please be gentle.”
"This is a new trick I learned, it's specifically for hand pain like yours, just bear with it."
Lin Xiushui couldn't stand it, so she massaged the pig before slaughtering it.
She swore that having her aunt massage her was more terrifying than torture.
She practices calligraphy at night, always writing with her hands tightly wrapped up. Her hands may hurt, but she can't stop practicing calligraphy; she really wants to develop beautiful handwriting.
In the following days, she had a lot of business and earned seven or eight hundred coins. With the money she had earned before, she was able to save up enough to buy a bolt of oilcloth. She took on a lot of oilcloth and glove business from the laundry shop.
There were also people who mixed lacquer, saying that the gloves were quite good; at least their hands weren't as red and swollen anymore, and they still had some raw lacquer left, making them much better than before.
Of course, the cat toy was still being made. Lin Xiushui had specially found some work for Xiaohe so that she could have something to do at home. With Xiaohe's persistent efforts to buy candy and save money every day, she finally saved up twenty coins, which was a cause for celebration.
Nothing unusual has happened in the past few days. The only change is that Lin Xiushui finally spent money to properly make two signs, which cost her seventy-five coins.
There are artisans in the market who specialize in making shop signs. They are much better than her casually sewing colorful ones to attract people. First, there are wooden poles, which are much longer when hanging from the mulberry tree, and shorter when hanging from the bow of the boat.
There are special frames for hanging banners, made of bamboo, as well as banner stands, banner crowns, banner hangers, banner seats, and banner pendants. The whole set is made in a neat and orderly manner.
Lin Xiushui was also somewhat well-known in Sangshukou. She abandoned her unreliable signboard and carefully made two new signs, using light green cloth and embroidering locust flowers on them.
But she didn't call it the Locust Flower Stall. She was afraid that if she didn't do well in the future, people would criticize her. She didn't give it a name. Anyway, if she did give it a name, everyone would just call it the Mulberry Tree Mouth Mending Stall.
It seems that when people mention Sangshukou now, they don't think of the people inside, but rather of her sewing skills.
Since she got a proper signboard, Lin Xiushui hung it on the bow of her boat. People on both banks would see a splash of green from afar and know that she was coming. She would take out her own basket, which she used to keep for mending, hang it down from her door, call out, and wait for her to pass by before taking it. Then she would hang up her own basket again and take the tokens inside.
Everyone was waiting for her to pass by tomorrow or sometime, so they could exchange tokens and money for the mended clothes. This was the most anticipated thing for the people of Hedaokou. Every time they handed over the damaged items to Lin Xiushui, they would return them well-mended and meticulously repaired. They would always take a good look at them and be very happy.
Some families would buy cloth and spend forty coins to have Lin Xiushui make new door curtains. She would also add different colors or embroider some patterns, and hang some tassels at the bottom. They would take a look when they entered the house and take another look when they left the house, and they would always be satisfied.
Lin Xiushui was also remembered by the people at the river mouth. If her boat didn't come one day, some people would always grumble and bring their mended clothes to Sangshukou to check, fearing that she might not come again. Only after receiving confirmation would they put down the clothes and take the tokens to ask her to bring them when she rowed the boat the next day.
As the days passed by, stitch by stitch, more stitches were slowly sewn away, and it wasn't just the people at the river mouth who remembered her.
That day, after finishing work at the clothing shop, she moored the boat, picked up her basket, and returned. When she reached the mulberry tree mouth, she heard someone ahead ask, "Are you looking for A-Qiao?"
"I've come to find her."
The young man said, "I am her cousin."
Cousin? She muttered to herself, how strange.
Lin Xiushui no longer has any cousins.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be her striking beauty.
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