Chapter 29 Lion Cat wishes you peace and happiness every year
Back to Xiaoyu Temple, after Chang Xile left, silence returned. Not even a breeze blew. It was as if all life had been blocked outside the courtyard.
The old Taoist heaved a sigh of relief after confirming that Chang Xile had left. He closed his eyes and meditated for a while, then scratched his head: "The formation is not ineffective, how did she get in?" Then he muttered, "It still needs to be strengthened," and slowly walked to the tall statue of Goddess of Laughter, looking up at her face.
The statue's smile clearly remained unchanged, yet the old Taoist followed suit with a laugh: "Empress, you seem particularly happy today..."
Turning around, he mumbled like a child again: "Little girls are just more likable than an old man like me, right?"
After he finished speaking, he was about to go back to his room with a smile on his face, but when he lowered his head, he was startled by a white shadow at his feet.
When he came to his senses, he patted his chest and angrily drove the uninvited guest away: "Go away, is this a place you can come to?"
At first glance, it is a white long-haired cat.
The white cat was not frightened by the expulsion. It circled around the old Taoist's calf and picked up a purple gladiolus flower and placed it on the steps not far from his feet.
The old Taoist lowered his head and glanced at it, then said unhappily, "You have a conscience, I thought you were dazzled by the scenery down the mountain and would never come back."
The white cat was very quiet and silent. It turned around and walked out of the temple.
"Hey, you just came back, where are you going now?" The old Taoist picked up the gladiolus flower, and before he could look at it for a while, he saw the white cat was about to leave.
The moment the white cat turned its head, the old Taoist felt his vision sway. In a trance, he seemed to see several long, fluffy tails behind it. When he blinked again, the tail turned back into one.
"Am I dazzled?" The old Taoist rubbed his eyes and said dissatisfiedly, "You are really becoming more and more useless. I haven't seen you for a few years, and you have lost another tail. You must know that it takes twenty years to grow a tail, but it only takes a moment to cut it off... Don't say you are my disciple when you leave!"
The white cat had already stepped out of the Laughter Temple. It nodded to the old Taoist across the threshold. It wagged its tail again. Both the man and the cat knew that this tail was more important to it than life itself.
Although the old Taoist wanted to keep it to talk more, he once again stopped at the threshold and did not step out.
He waved his hand after a while and said with a smile: "I know, you want to find someone more important than your tail, right?"
The white cat nodded, looked at the old Taoist again, then turned and left.
Before Nianci left, Chang Xile asked her if there was a person named "Tang You" here. However, Nianci shook her head and said she had never heard of this person.
This was really strange. Chang Xile leaned back on the chair and looked at the ceiling, feeling a little distressed - could it be that her aunt was lying to her when she said "Practicing in Changleguan"?
The setting sun shone through the window onto the wooden floor of the room. Chang Xile raised a hand, watching the sunlight dance on her fingertips. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a white, long-haired cat lying on the windowsill. Chang Xile thought it looked familiar, wondering if it was because all cats look similar.
"Was there a cat in this room just now...?" Chang Xile muttered as she tried to get up, but the cat leaped off the windowsill before her. It paced back and forth in the room, its head held high as if exploring something. Finally, with a light leap, it landed on Chang Xile's lap, found a satisfactory spot, and lay down to rest.
The cat's warm belly rose and fell on Chang Xile's lap through the fabric of her clothes. It was a rare occasion for her to receive such attention from a cat without the temptation of snacks or help from others, so she didn't dare move for fear of scaring it away.
After a while, seeing that the white cat seemed to be lying comfortably, Chang Xile gently placed his hand on its head and gently stroked it. The white cat purred a few times, but Chang Xile couldn't hear it, guessing that it was probably feeling comfortable.
"Kitten, kitty, where are you from?" she asked it softly and teasingly. The white cat heard what she said and looked up at her.
"Huh?" Chang Xile lowered his head to examine it. Its fur was pure white and fluffy, and the fur around its neck was especially fluffy, like a scarf. The white cat's eyes were a distinctive lake blue, and its lazy posture reminded Chang Xile of an old cat.
A guess suddenly popped up in her mind: "Senior Cat?"
But she quickly dismissed the idea. Chang Xile had gone through immense pains to get to Changleguan, walking from sunrise to near sunset. Why would the cat that roamed the campus go to such lengths for no apparent reason?
She sighed and patted the white cat's head again, trying to tease it into talking: "I keep feeling like I've seen you somewhere before. If you've seen me before, can you please answer me?"
The white cat said nothing, but just licked Chang Xile's palm.
Chang Xile seemed lost in thought. Suddenly, she asked, "What does licking the palm of your hand represent?"
The warm touch came from the palm of my hand again.
"Are you Cat-senpai?"
"Did you climb to the top of the mountain by yourself?"
"do you remember me?"
The answer to all the above questions is “yes”.
Chang Xile laughed and said, "You really are like a cat I had when I was a kid. It didn't like to meow, it just liked to lick me."
She poked the white cat's forehead and asked it, "I can't always call you Senior Cat. Can I give you a name?"
The white cat nudged her palm with its head, and it was unclear whether it agreed or not.
Chang Xile pondered for a long time, then suddenly asked gently, "Can I just let you be safe?"
The white cat suddenly erupted in anger and glanced at Chang Xile. Strangely enough, she could sense disbelief in its eyes. It simply jumped off her lap and onto the floor, pacing anxiously.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you unhappy? Can you tell me?" Chang Xile didn't expect the name to cause such a big reaction. But even with such a huge emotional upheaval, the white cat remained silent.
Chang Xile noticed a small dark figure emerging from the large patch of light and shadow on the floor. She followed the shadow and saw a small Taoist child quietly standing by the door. It was Shunian, the same person she had startled at the door earlier.
"What's wrong, Shunian? What's going on?" Chang Xile saw the child's awkward expression, as if he wanted to say something but was embarrassed. She really saw that he was feeling uncomfortable, so she started a conversation for him.
Shunian hesitated for a moment, then trotted over to Chang Xile and stuffed something into her arms. Chang Xile looked down and saw a bright red, round apple with water droplets still on it from having just been washed.
"Is it for me? Thank you!" Chang Xile thanked him in surprise and raised his hand to touch his head, but Shu Nian dodged it.
He said awkwardly, "Don't touch my head, or you won't grow taller."
"Oh, you're right." Chang Xile smiled sheepishly. It's no wonder Shu Nian is so childish. She was like that when she was little, obsessed with growing taller. She asked, "How tall do you want to be?"
Shunian thought for a moment and said, "I'll have to grow taller until my master agrees to let me go down the mountain."
Chang Xile was stunned for a moment. She remembered that Shu Nian was frightened by seeing her, a foreigner. She asked, "Have you never been down the mountain before?"
Shunian shook his head. He didn't intend to discuss this issue any further. He gently pushed Chang Xile's shoulder and urged, "Remember to eat the apples. They're very sweet. Senior Sister Jing'an went down the mountain and bought them for me."
"It can be considered as..." When Shunian said this, his earlobes turned red again. He scratched his head and squeezed the rest of the words out from between his teeth. "It can be considered as my apology to you."
"Okay." Chang Xile smiled with her eyes curved. She felt something rubbing against her calf. Looking down, she saw the white cat still circling anxiously beside her.
Oh yeah, the white cat didn't like the name she gave it.
"What's wrong with it?" Cats would visit Chang Xile's home from time to time. Shunian noticed that the cat was not in a good condition and asked Chang Xile if he had provoked it.
"When I said to name it Ping An, it got angry." Chang Xile touched his face guiltily.
Shunian asked, "Is there any special meaning behind this name?"
Chang Xile felt her ankle itchy from being rubbed by the white cat. She shook her leg and said, "Well, how should I put it...it's because it looks a lot like a cat I had when I was a kid. Its name was Ping An."
Same good looks, same personality.
As for the name of Ping An, it comes from a sentence that Chang Xile likes very much: peace, success and joy, no illness, no pain and no disaster.
"How can that be possible?" Unexpectedly, Shu Nian's reaction was even more excited than the white cat. He said in surprise, "Everyone's name is unique. You, you shouldn't use a substitute!"
"You even know the term 'stand-in'..." Chang Xile also realized what was happening. She hesitantly said, "I'm sorry, I didn't think about it that much, and I didn't consider it a stand-in."
"I read it in a storybook...it's not important." Shunian said seriously, "But you should really give it a name!"
Chang Xile lowered his head and met the white cat's gaze. The cat held its head high, seemingly agreeing with what he said.
Chang Xile wasn't particularly gifted at naming. She pondered for a while, repeating over and over again the words from a phrase she loved: "Shun Sui? It doesn't sound like a name... Shun Shun, Ah Shun, Sui Sui... Sui Sui?"
Her eyes lit up and she asked, "Can I call you Sui Sui?"
I wish you peace every year and everything goes well.
The white cat narrowed its eyes, and after a while, it finally jumped onto Chang Xile's legs again, rubbed the back of her hand, and lay down.
"Does this mean you agree?" Chang Xile asked Shunian in a whisper, surprised and happy.
"Really?" Although he didn't know why he suddenly had to speak so quietly, Shu Nian subconsciously became sneaky.
"Sui Sui, Sui Sui?" Every time Chang Xile called out, Sui Sui would nuzzle in her arms, as a response to the new name.
"Alas, why don't you want to talk?" Chang Xile rubbed its head regretfully and asked softly, "Sui Sui, what kind of kitten are you?"
Sui Sui ignored her.
Shunian, standing by, observed it carefully for a moment, then recited silently, "Long fur, white color, sun-moon eyes, large tail. The fur at the end of the tail is lion-shaped... Could this be a lion cat?"
"You also know this?" Chang Xile tilted his head. He didn't expect that Shu Nian knew so much despite being young.
"Of course, I read it in a book." Shunian shook his head, remembering his master's teaching not to get carried away. He lowered his head again and said, "It's nothing."
"Very impressive!" Chang Xile looked at Sui Sui, and the more she looked, the more she felt they were destined to be together. She liked him so much that she whispered, "Sui Sui, I always feel like we've met before."
In response to this, Sui Sui simply moved its little ears.
Well, what a cool cat!
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