Chapter 424
When they woke up the next day, the sun was already shining warmly on their bodies, even a slight burning sensation on their faces. But it was a warm and pleasant burning sensation.
"Did you get cold last night?" he asked.
"No, it's so warm." Then she rubbed against his arms coquettishly.
"I'm going to cook." She said lazily.
"Don't cook, I'm so tired."
Then he pulled the quilt up again, adjusted her position so that she could sleep more comfortably, and put his arms around her.
"Go back to sleep."
She moaned, reached out and hugged him tightly, and soon fell asleep again.
Maybe they were really tired yesterday, and when they woke up the sun was already shining brightly. They saw that the kitten was already awake and they were happily playing with it in the yard.
There was a small stool under the window. The kitten stood on the stool, just enough to stick its head in.
"Mom~~Kitten~"
"Dad~~kitty~"
After receiving their response, the kitten happily went to play with her own kind again.
They finally decided to get up, she sat by the window, and he combed her hair. The kitten poked its head in again and gave her a lily of the valley.
He combed her hair back and tied it with a light blue ribbon, into which he inserted the lily of the valley flower that Kitty had given her. The braid looked like a picture on a postcard, and the dark curtains were tied with a ribbon, and a few flowers were inserted in the knot.
After cleaning up, they went to the yard to play with the kittens. There was a ginger cat here, its bright fur shining brightly in the bright sunshine. It already had a litter of kittens, and now it was lying in the yard feeding them. Three orange kittens and two calico kittens were lying in a row under its belly, feeding, while another orange kitten was sleeping soundly next to it. It stretched its head over to rub against it, as if to say, "Get up and eat."
The little orange cat woke up, but was still half asleep. He looked around blankly. He was awake, but his brain was still asleep. He was so cute.
The big cat licked its children and then licked its paws, looking very comfortable and relaxed.
After a while, the kitten placed a circle of small oranges around the big cat.
The three of them played with the cats for a while, and then he said, "Let's go to the market today."
"No, there are too many people."
"It's okay, there aren't many people around at this time."
After dinner, they packed up and headed into town. He had packed a few ordinary cotton clothes, and Wang Jiazhi, wearing her school-aged blue cotton shirt, suddenly looked more like a schoolgirl, perhaps eighteen or nineteen.
She was thinking about whether to change into something else, but she had so much luggage and only this one piece of cloth clothing.
He whispered in her ear, "It's okay. There are many people in the countryside who give birth at the age of fifteen or sixteen."
"You're annoying~" She became shy again.
When he left, Kitty looked at him in surprise. She also felt that her father had been different in the past two days. In the past, he would comb his hair before going out, but he hadn't done that in the past two days.
Because of the kitten's later work, Wang Jiazhi has said countless times: "My daughter was still breastfeeding, but she was already as meticulous as dust."
By that time the kitten had been weaned, but many children of the same age had not yet been weaned.
Sitting in the tricycle, the kitten lay face down on their legs, crawling back and forth like a bug cat.
It was not a market day, so there were not as many people in the city as one might imagine. Apart from the fixed shops, there were not that many street stalls.
Passing by a low wall of a house, there was a very clean and white kitten curled up on it. He held the kitten in his arms, and the kitten reached out and touched its fur carefully. After a few strokes, it turned around and smiled happily at its father.
Passing by a house, I saw a blue quilt hanging in the window. On it, a white phoenix was placed in each corner, surrounding a peony in the center. The phoenix's tail feathers were long and thin, and there were so many of them gathered together that they looked like a bouquet of flowers.
He seemed to see that she liked the quilt cover. There happened to be a shop selling homespun cloth in front of the store. As soon as he entered, he saw a dark yellow quilt cover hanging in front of the store. Above it was an orange tree full of bright yellow oranges, with several orioles perched among the oranges.
Wang Jiazhi approached the counter and was about to ask for the quilt cover, but she was afraid of attracting too much attention. Actually, they were already quite conspicuous. That was the problem with being so good-looking. If they dressed nicely, it would be too eye-catching. If they dressed simply, even shabbily, it would attract even more attention, and people would say, "How come you're so good-looking, you don't even have any nice clothes?"
Since Wang Jiazhi was in middle school, the people around her had kind hearts sighing, how could such a beautiful person only dress so poorly, it was really envied by the beauty; those who laughed at her laughed at her in front of others and behind their backs, so what if she was beautiful, so what if she was good at studying, she only dressed in rags and was looked down upon by others.
And now, the most eye-catching among them is the kitten. Children are so beautiful that they attract more attention than adults.
She also took a fancy to a quilt cover with an orange background and large black willow branches on it.
After buying the two quilt covers, they shopped for a while and then went back.
The new quilt cover was a bit hard, but it was warm from the sun and had the scent of sunshine on it. Back in the car, the kitten rested her head on the warm quilt cover on their legs, which was just enough to make a small pillow for her.
The kitten was holding a little white rabbit she had just bought at the market. It had light pink wool on its ears, two red beads for eyes, and pink crabapple flowers with green leaves embroidered on its body. It had a round pink woolen ball on its tail. It was her first time at a rural market like this, and she was very excited and curious.
"Are you tired? Take a nap." He stroked the kitten's hair and belly.
The kitten just babbled and talked to them, not looking tired at all. Wang Jiazhi sometimes sighed that the child was really energetic, but not all children had that kind of energy.
When she grew up, I once went shopping with her after get off work. When we came back, we talked about a newly released movie. We talked about a lot more things until twelve o'clock. When she was about to go to bed, she said casually, "I didn't sleep all day and all night yesterday. It's time to go to bed early."
However, they still had to stroke her hair to make her fall asleep.
She laughed and said, "Children also like this very much. It's like a big cat licking a kitten. They will fall asleep quickly."
She sighed, "In fact, most creatures in this world have a very hard life. When I was a kid, I read books and watched movies about tigers and lions. They had to work very hard for several days to catch food. Only after they were full could they rest and lick their fur. Other animals had it even harder. While searching for food, they also had to be careful not to be caught and eaten by other animals."
A fox finally caught a rabbit. Just as it was about to scoop it up, an eagle came to snatch it away. Reluctant to let go, it held on tightly, and the eagle snatched it away. It flew high, its four claws waving in despair. Watching it, I felt such despair and sadness. It was going to die anyway, and it must have been unwilling to accept this. All its hard work had only served to benefit others, and it couldn't resist. Resisting this would be like hitting a rock with an egg, even more disastrous. It would also lead to others mocking it for its greed and stupidity. But that was exactly what it deserved.
As I grow older, I realize it's the same for everyone. Only when we're very young can we indulge ourselves for a few days without worries. At five or six, when we begin to understand things, we're taught all sorts of rules by our parents and elders. A few years later, those with money to afford education go on to study, while those who can't must learn a trade. After completing their studies, they must support themselves and raise children. After a lifetime of fulfilling responsibilities, our children grow up, we age, and our days draw to a close. Even as we near death, we might still be worrying about our children.
Animals spend most of their time hunting to survive. Humans are no different; they spend most of their time trying to make a living, just to stay alive. How many days in a lifetime do we truly live for the freedom and joy of our souls? Those who refuse to be mediocre and want to make a difference may be like the fox whose prey was robbed. But we're only here once, and we can't stay like that forever. Wouldn't that be foolish? Even when a child grows up, there's no telling what she'll do.
He said, "Whatever makes her happy is up to her. In a person's life, what matters most is what she feels is worth it. Living just for the sake of others' praise is actually just living for show, not what you want. What's the point? But I believe she will have her own career. They say that as a parent, you should only hope that your children are safe and sound, and not demand anything else. This is just the selfish thinking of parents. They hope that their children will satisfy their own emotional needs, or even more selfishly, that they can provide for them in their old age, but they don't consider that the child is also an independent person in this world. She also hopes to achieve her own achievements and do her own things, and does not want to live a foolish life."
He lowered his head and touched his daughter's hair. She leaned her head on his shoulder. She didn't know what he thought about her life. Did he think it was not worth it at all, or did he think it was not a complete loss?
She recalled the dream in which he carried heavy luggage, busy and toiling on his way in the night before daybreak. Ultimately, the final outcome was not worth the sacrifice of a lifetime.
They were all a little tired when they got home, so they lay down for a nap. That was autumn, staying in bed and not wanting to get up. After they finally managed to get up, he took them to the bamboo forest to dig for bamboo shoots.
It rained recently and a lot of bamboo shoots grew.
"Don't run around, it would be bad if you get pricked." He bent down and said to the kitten.
Each of them held the kitten's paw and walked in the bamboo forest.
He taught her how to dig bamboo shoots, and she excitedly picked up the hoe and happily dug bamboo shoots. Wang Jiazhi had always dreamed of a garden. Although the garden at home was big enough, there was no such a large bamboo forest or such a large woods where she could happily dig bamboo shoots and pick mushrooms.
In "Dream of the Red Chamber," Jia Zheng wants to create a rural village atmosphere by setting up a simple wine shop sign and raising only chickens, ducks, and geese. Baoyu mocks his father, urging him to be "natural." However realistic, it's not a real village; it's artificially fabricated and hypocritical.
Wang Jiazhi didn't see anything wrong with that. Living in the city and still wanting to experience rural life, who has the time for that? And if we're talking about "natural," then the flowers, plants, trees, and animals should be natural, too. They keep crabapples in pots, and Lin Daiyu keeps a parrot in her house—aren't those also unnatural and incredibly hypocritical? And they still don't see why they've even formed a poetry club dedicated to praising these unnatural, hypocritical potted crabapples?
What hypocrisy is there in creating a beloved rural corner of his city home? In the splendor and wealth earned by his ancestors through life and death as officials, isn't it even more hypocritical to mock the world's pursuit of fame and fortune and to live a life of seclusion and transcendence?
Wang Jiazhi read the last few dozen chapters, which were said to be the real story. Baoyu would rather run away from home than study for the imperial examination, lose all his capital in business, his crops don't even cover rent, and his life as a monk is unsustainable. Finally, he has to beg for food, from his early twenties until his death in his forties. Based on this alone, she believes it's highly likely this is the real manuscript.
Seeing that she was enjoying farm work very much, he took his kitten to watch her excitedly dig bamboo shoots.
After digging a few, he went over and took the hoe and said, "That's enough. If you go any further, your hands will get blisters."
"I want to play for a while."
"No, it will be very painful."
The kitten was very happy, holding a big bamboo shoot in her arms and walking in front. When she passed a stream, she put the bamboo shoot beside her and squatted down to watch the small fish in the water. The water was very clear, and she could see the stones at the bottom and the small fish passing by.
As the weather began to cool in the afternoon, Wang Jiazhi dressed the kitten in her cat coat. She had altered the white velvet jacket, sewing two small paws onto the cuffs. She added a yellow and black tricolor pattern, eyes, nose, and whiskers to the cap. She also pressed two pointed ears made of almost velvet, sewing pink inside the ears with pink fabric. At the back was a short tail made of yellow and black fabric. With the cap on and the cap on, holding the cat in his arms felt like holding a soft, fluffy kitten. He couldn't let it go.
After returning home, Wang Jiazhi cleaned up and went to the kitchen to cook. While she cooked, she watched him play with the kitten in the yard. Just in front of the stove was a window facing the yard. The old man raised a few chickens and two geese in his small yard. When the kitten first saw the geese, he went to watch over them, fearing they might bite the kitten. After a while, she saw him pulling the kitten's tail, preventing her from approaching to play with the geese. How adorable!
She made grilled crucian carp with green onions, pickled pork with preserved vegetables and braised bamboo shoots in oil, and also made candied taro and sweet potatoes for the kitten, and added a few other dishes.
After dinner, she took out some old books and said, "This is what books looked like back then. I found them under the bed."
They were his primary and secondary school books, with his name written on them.
"Is this how you wrote when you were eight or nine?" she asked, holding a book.
The handwriting was already recognizable from a young age. Writing, like drawing, relies on talent. The books were in excellent condition, with no curling edges and neatly written annotations. This was rare for a child of that age. Wang Jiazhi was the same as a child. A classmate was surprised and asked, "How did you keep your books so well?"
She has always been very curious. Is it so difficult to cherish something?
He held the kitten on his lap and flipped through the primary school books for her to read. He turned to a chapter and read:
"Good morning in autumn, white clouds are flying, red leaves are drifting, the moonlight is faint and the stars are small.
Only early risers can see it.”
He asked someone to get some pen and ink, and then he held the kitten's hand and wrote with the brush.
"That's your name, do you recognize it?"
“Ah~~”
He then held the kitten's hand and wrote the three words "Wang Jiazhi".
"That's my mother's name."
They also like to hold her hand and write like this at home. She is too young to recognize words, so they don’t want to teach her anything, they just think it’s fun.
She was too tired from finishing her manuscript, so she picked up the kitten and played with it for a while, holding her little hand and writing a few words for a while.
She comes and holds the kitten’s hand and writes his name.
"That's your father's name."
“Ah~”
The kitten just happened to jump onto the windowsill, so they playfully brought it in and dipped its paw in ink to make a plum blossom print. Then they saw the cat and its cubs were also under the window. They grabbed them and made their own paw prints.
Wang Jiazhi looked up at the sky and said with a smile, "Look, there are so many stars today."
The three of them and the orange cat family next to them all looked up at the sky. Tonight the sky was particularly clear, with a big round moon and a bunch of stars shining brightly.
They went to the yard and sat in front of the house to look at the stars.
Wang Jiazhi remembered what he said, that when he was a child, he and his father would sit in the yard and watch the stars and the vegetables and fruits in the yard.
Now he sits in the same yard with his children, looking at the stars and the flowers and plants in the yard. The difference is that there are no crops or fruits planted in the yard now.
Some things in life are really a cycle.
The mother made candied taro and sweet potatoes for herself and for her daughter. The mother sang nursery rhymes to lull her to sleep and sang to lull her daughter to sleep. The mother made small clothes for her and she made the same style for her daughter.
But the mother will never come back and will never see her children again.
Wang Jiazhi gazed at the starry sky, so clear and yet so distant. There's a cliché about a deceased loved one turning into a star in the sky, continuing to watch over their loved ones on earth.
Of course she didn't believe it, but this metaphor was very romantic. Although they were out of reach, she felt that they had not completely disappeared from the world and her shadow could still be seen.
The two words that usually comfort her most are: If you keep thinking about it, there will be a response. Although she doesn't believe in Buddhism, she likes this saying.
God's millstone turns very slowly but very finely (The net of heaven is vast and wide, and nothing can escape it. Those who do evil will always be punished).
She knew it wasn't necessarily true, as there were many evil people who lived well, but she could only comfort herself in this way.
She rested her head on his shoulder, the kitten sitting on their laps. She fanned her daughter, shooing away mosquitoes. A family of orange cats, big and small, licked their fur comfortably beside them. The night sky was clear, the moon shining brightly, the stars gleaming.
As bright as the moon, when can it be picked?
After giving the kitten a bath, she went inside and took another bath with him. This time, he prepared more hot water and asked her to soak as much as she wanted. She put some small chrysanthemums from the yard in the water, and after the bath, her body was filled with a refreshing fragrance.
He thought it was right to come back this time, she liked it here very much.
Until the water was too cold to soak any further, and the skin was finally removed after being soaked for a long time.
Wang Jiazhi entered the house and her mother was watching the kitten sleeping. The kitten slept with its belly exposed, which was so cute.
She came out first while he cleaned up the water and the bucket inside. She saw the words they had written on the table. Under each person's name was a cat's paw, his was bigger, hers was smaller, and the kitten was the smallest one.
She smiled and put it away quietly.
After a while, the kitten woke up. She had been soaking in the water for so long, and the kitten had also slept for so long, and now it felt energetic again.
It was already quite late, but they were still full of energy, and Kitty wanted to play. He remembered to get a small stove, light some charcoal in the yard, and roast corn, sweet potatoes, and chestnuts. The corn would be ready soon; fresh corn was best roasted, with a crisp, fragrant aroma, much better than creamed corn or corn chowder. The sweet potatoes and chestnuts took a while to roast, and even though the chestnuts had been cut, one or two still jumped up and down, steaming. Kitty clapped her hands and laughed happily.
The charcoal fire was burning red, and it felt very warm sitting next to it on this cold autumn night. I felt so satisfied smelling the warm fragrance, the sweet smell of corn and sweet potatoes.
The kitten sat among them, holding a piece of corn in its hand and chewing it like a little rabbit, leaving some black marks on its mouth and some on its face. It looked more like a little cat, so cute.
The big orange cat came over and fed it some corn. The kittens followed suit when they saw their mother coming. However, they didn't like eating it and huddled together again, sleeping in a ball.
She placed a few red dates on the stovetop. Their sweet, greasy flavor, after roasting, was even stronger than sweet potatoes. She peeled the dates and soaked them in hot water to drink.
“It’s rich and delicious, and it’s easy to make.”
The three of them held cups and drank red date tea.
She held the steaming cup in both hands, leaned her head on his shoulder, and said, "It feels like I'm back to my childhood, when my mother and grandmother also roasted sweet potatoes and chestnuts for me in the yard."
In reality, she had only survived two warm autumns and winters. Red dates and red beans were incredibly expensive for her, and she couldn't even afford a proper meal. She didn't even have a stove in her house.
If her mother and grandmother had spirits, they would be horrified to see what happened to her at her aunt's house and say, "We are a wealthy family, how could a girl live such a hard life?"
When they got back, they found a bat standing upside down on the roof. It had a big, round, furry head and two wings that looked like umbrellas, which was very cute.
He said to the kitten, "You can't ask it to accompany you. It might get sick."
Then he took the book and chased it out, saying, "There's no room for you in the house. Go sleep in the yard."
The kitten hugged the orange cat's child and played for a while. Wang Jiazhi said, "It's time for the kitten to go back to its mother."
So I sent a little orange kitten back to the orange kitten.
Looking at the clock again, it was almost two o'clock. The three people in her family were really born night owls.
Because I had just baked something, my body was still warm and had a sweet smell.
Wang Jiazhi nestled in his arms and dreamed that they made a lot of money by running a tailor shop, and then opened a roasted sweet potato shop next door, selling sugar-roasted chestnuts, and roasted corn and baked sweet potatoes during the season.
Every morning he toiled over a large pot of chestnuts, sweating profusely. She roasted sweet potatoes over a large stove. When one side was almost done, she put on thick gloves and flipped it over to roast the other side. The house was filled with the aroma of sweet potatoes and chestnuts.
After finishing their work, they had to go back to the tailor shop to make clothes. The daughter brought the cat and the big dog to sell things. There were so many people buying that the line was long. When they finished buying things, Dabai stood up and shoveled chestnuts with his front paws. When the paper and string for wrapping things ran out, the kitten ran back to fetch them.
The next day he slept until almost noon. It was rare for him to sleep so soundly.
After cleaning up, he took them to a nearby orchard to pick fruit. The fragrance of the orchard was different from that of the fruit shop. The fragrance of the fruit was mixed with the fragrance of trees, which made it taste better.
There were green pears hanging on the tree, and she held the kitten and asked her to pick them. The kitten treated the pear as a wind chime, and laughed and bumped the pear with its little head, and the pear swayed like a wind chime.
The pears just picked from the tree are so fresh and delicious. The kitten eats them very fast like a little rabbit. After eating half of it, she wants to take the pear from her hand and tell her not to eat it. In the past, the kitten was very obedient and would not eat it if she was not told to. But this time, she refused and ate the other half while running away.
"Why aren't you behaving well?" Wang Jiazhi said.
Grandma said, "My eldest sister has grown up. Sharing a pear is unlucky. She gave the other half to someone else. Whoever eats it will mean separation."
After hearing this, Wang Jiazhi stood there in a daze.
Later, I went to the mountains to pick chestnuts and dug sweet potatoes from the fields at home.
It was the first time she had seen unshelled chestnuts; she had only seen them in books before. The spiny ball, like a sea urchin, split open in the middle, revealing the chestnuts inside.
She made chestnut cakes with the chestnuts she had picked, and steamed the sweet potatoes, which was the best way to eat them. Since she had harvested them herself, she thought they were even better than what she had eaten before.
After dinner they went to the yard to play with the kittens as usual. She remembered that she would have to leave early the next morning, and she felt sad.
It would be nice to live here forever, hiding my identity. But seclusion is only temporary. The kittens have become familiar with them, but tomorrow they will be separated.
The kitten asked her mother to take it to play in the yard while she went in to pack her luggage so that she would not leave anything behind.
After everything was packed, she sat on the bed in a daze.
He spread out a piece of paper in front of his desk and wrote: I am deeply indebted to you, my teacher and friend, through thick and thin.
She moved closer and hugged him from behind.
The moon is still very round today.
The next day they packed up and left, but the kitten still played with the cats in the yard.
Wang Jiazhi said to her, "Say goodbye to them, we are leaving."
The kitten waved goodbye to them obediently.
Wang Jiazhi thought she was too young to understand the meaning of parting. She probably thought it was just like waving goodbye to her father every day, and that he would come back in the evening.
As they left, they all looked back at the house, and he felt like crying. He didn't know when he would be back next time.
In the car, she and the child fell asleep in his arms. He thought it was incredible that one day he would bring them back home, living in the room he had lived in since childhood. The desk where he had sat and studied since childhood, after all these years, he would still sit at it and write, holding his child's hand. Some things seemed destined.
He looked at her in his arms. Her father had written again, saying the situation was very serious. But after much thought, he decided not to tell her. She was too soft-hearted. Outsiders were fine, but the more shameless and hateful her family was, the more terrifying it was. If he could stay with them forever, he would definitely give them money. But who knew what the future would hold? She had a child and was involved with such a family. What if she couldn't bear to be cruel and was bullied again?
Especially remembering the time when she got drunk and hugged him and cried, "I'm not a human! I'm worse than an animal, and animals can choose what they like. Why me, why me..."
The feeling of despair and resentment kept repeating those words.
How could he bear it?
If it weren't for her cruel father, how could she have met that group of scumbags? Now she has a lifelong illness that can't be cured, and she has to suffer from it from time to time, and she doesn't know when she will lose her mind.
How could a group of students in their early twenties be so vicious? Not just one or two, but so many.
"Why is there no good person, not even one..."
At that time, she was tired of crying and murmured in his arms.
Some of those scumbags were less than 20 years old when they harmed people, and some were born bad, so age has nothing to do with them.
Previous life:
Yi: "Is there a way to make a person suffer a fate worse than death in the next life, with no hope of recovery?"
**: “Of course.”
Yi: “What about six people?”
**: “Of course.”
Yi: "Can you ask a person to suffer a life worse than death for eternity, with no hope of recovery?"
**: "Of course."
Yi: "What about the six people?"
**: “Of course.”
Yi: “How can that be?”
**: "If you are sincere enough, then of course you can." The man said with a sly and confident smile.
Yi: “Okay.”
this life:
Yi: "Is there a way to make a person suffer a fate worse than death in the next life, with no hope of recovery?"
**: “Of course.”
Yi: “What about six people?”
**: “Of course.”
Yi: "Can you ask a person to suffer a life worse than death for eternity, with no hope of recovery?"
**: "Of course."
Yi: "What about the six people?"
**: “Of course.”
Yi: “How can that be?”
**: "If you are sincere enough, then of course you can." The man said with a sly and confident smile.
Yi: “Okay.”
Zhi: "Is there a way to make someone suffer a fate worse than death in the next life, with no hope of recovery?"
**: “Of course.”
Zhi: "What about six people?"
**: “Of course.”
Zhi: "Can you expect a person to suffer an endless cycle of suffering worse than death, with no hope of recovery?"
**: "Of course."
Zhi: "What about the six people?"
**: “Of course.”
Zhi: “How can that be?”
**: "If you are sincere enough, then of course you can." The man said with a sly and confident smile.
Zhi: "Okay."
Wang Jiazhi had a dream on the train, a dream reminiscent of the scene in the novel. Bai Lan fell asleep, leaning on the boy's shoulder. The train rumbled past a place, and a beam of light cast into the pitch-black night outside. His eyes shone with a light like glass.
Later he went to find her, in the early morning before daybreak, they took her luggage and took her away from that gloomy place. As they walked, a train passed by on the track beside them, and the bright light of the train headlights shone on them, leaving two long shadows in the night.
She woke up and fell asleep next to him. He was still awake, and it was already dark outside. Just then, the train passed a place, and a ray of light shone in from outside, and his eyes shone like glass.
My hometown murmurs and sings quietly,
I hope the person I miss is well.
The way home is so long, I keep looking back and forth.
Do you remember what I looked like when I was young?
It was a small village with clouds connected to each other.
There were groups of children running away into the distance.
Lyrics from "The Camellia Blooms"
When they went back to pack their things, they finally forgot something: three pieces of cloth clothes they had taken to the market had fallen and were stuck under the bed.
She didn't feel upset, but rather relieved. She wanted them to stay there forever.
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