Chapter 149: So-Called Fate

() A few people walked over to several graves there, inserting incense, burning paper money, setting off firecrackers, kneeling and bowing, etc.

Zheng Tan watched them finish that series of actions; when he went to the Gu family's old residence, he had followed Jiao Yuan and Xiao Youzi to sweep the graves.

As the people who had swept the graves there were walking back, Zheng Tan was also preparing to leave, but he didn't expect to be seen by a little brat.

Among the group, that little brat became especially happy upon seeing Zheng Tan; he probably found following his parents and grandparents to sweep the graves a bit boring, after all, at his age he couldn't understand the elders' feelings about grave-sweeping; upon finally seeing a cat, he got excited and ran over here.

But before he could run far, he tripped over a large clump of dirt under his feet; as he fell, a small toy in his hand flew toward Zheng Tan.

The child's mother hurried forward, helped him up, and patted the dirt off his body.

"The rooster is gone." The child didn't cry, but looked rather dejected, and even raised his empty palm to show his mother.

A rooster?

Zheng Tan looked at the thing that had just flown over; it was a chibi-style, gold-plated little rooster toy, like a keychain charm.

Between Zheng Tan and the child there was a ditch, fairly wide, about 1.5 meters; the ditch didn't have much water but lots of mud, and some dry grass clumps grew along its edge, which was rather inconvenient. If it were a young person with strong athletic ability, crossing the ditch would be easy, but among this group there was no one who looked athletically capable; the middle-aged man who had spoken with Jiao Ba wore expensive formal attire and leather shoes. It was very inconvenient. Moreover, that middle-aged man didn't seem prepared to cross immediately.

"Go forward, you can cross from over there, then come back around to pick it up." said the middle-aged man.

The child ignored his father's words, pushed away his mother's hand, pointed at Zheng Tan across the ditch, and shouted: "Kitty kitty!"

"Yes, that's kitty kitty." The child's mother thought he was just identifying things, and praised him.

Kitty kitty!

"Yes, a big black cat." The child's mother patted the dust off his pants, preparing to lead him away.

Again shaking off his mother's hand, the child pointed at Zheng Tan across the ditch and called: "Kitty kitty throw it over~ let kitty kitty throw it over~"

"Kitty kitty can't throw it; how about letting Daddy pick it up for you later?" the child's mother patiently explained.

"Let kitty kitty throw~"

"Kitty kitty can't throw……"

Before the child's mother could finish saying the word 'throw', she heard a soft 'pa' sound. In the sunlight, the gold-plated little rooster toy that reflected golden light fell onto the ground beside her.

Child's mother: "……"

The child didn't have his mother's reservations; he happily picked up the golden rooster from the ground, pressed a button on it, and it immediately crowed like a rooster. It wasn't broken; it was fine. So he grinned, laughing happily.

Zheng Tan originally had no intention of paying attention to them, but seeing the child like that, he thought it over and still scooped the golden rooster toy toward himself, hooking it with his claw and flinging it over. Throwing a small toy isn't too out of line, is it?

Zheng Tan flicked his tail, didn't even glance at them again, and left.

"That cat……could it be the one raised by that family we saw on the highway?" the old man said, looking at the black cat running away, puzzled.

"No? There are many people who keep cats around here, and nowadays people are open-minded; such black cats are not rare, and some even consider them auspicious, deliberately buying pure black cats." said the child's mother.

Although it felt a bit strange, the old man and that middle-aged man didn't say any more about it.

According to Jiao Ba's plan, they would stay here until after the fifteenth, then return to Chu Hua Shi; since that old lady had said something beforehand, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Jiao Ba brought Zheng Tan to find her.

Even though they were still some distance away, Zheng Tan could hear the sound of erhu coming from where the old lady lived.

Zheng Tan didn't understand music appreciation and didn't particularly like listening to erhu, but hearing this sound now, he always felt an indescribable sense of vicissitude.

When Jiao Ba pushed open the bamboo gate and walked into the courtyard, Zheng Tan saw the old lady sitting in a chair by the door inside the house, playing the erhu. At her age, one wouldn't expect the erhu to be played so smoothly; if he hadn't seen it himself, Zheng Tan would surely have thought the old lady had hired someone to play for her.

Jiao Ba also didn't interrupt the old lady's erhu playing; he first found a place to sit down.

Zheng Tan looked around; the three-legged tortoiseshell cat was lying on a wooden chair inside the house, having grown a bit rounder since Zheng Tan first saw it, eyes half-closed as if dozing, but its ears twitched with the erhu's melody. On the indoor table were piled many New Year's gifts, indicating that quite a few people had visited the old lady during the holiday period.

After finishing a piece, the old lady set the erhu aside and said to Jiao Ba: "You've come."

"Mm, I plan to leave early tomorrow morning, so I came to see you today." Jiao Ba said.

The old lady didn't say much more, turning her gaze toward Zheng Tan, which made Zheng Tan feel a creepy sensation again.

"Hey, black cat, come over here." The old lady beckoned to Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan hesitated, looked at Jiao Ba, then at the old lady in front of him, and tugged his ears. Eh, whatever, just go over; since Jiao Ba is here, the old lady probably wouldn't do something outrageous.

When Zheng Tan approached, the old lady patted her own leg, signaling him to jump up.

This time Zheng Tan didn't think long; he paused a moment and then jumped onto her leg.

The old lady reached into her pocket, rummaged around, and pulled out a jade pendant with seal script characters on it; Zheng Tan only recognized one of the characters, 'yang', and wasn't even entirely sure it really was 'yang', since he hadn't studied seal script—he had only glanced at some by chance, and mostly forgotten them.

The pendant's cord had been altered, woven into a small loop that fit just right around Zheng Tan's neck.

After it was fastened, the old lady looked at Jiao Ba and said: "Could you let it help me keep this thing safe?"

Zheng Tan tugged his ears again. You've already put it on me, and now you're asking for my opinion—what's the point?

Jiao Ba didn't understand. Even if the jade wasn't worth hundreds of thousands, it certainly wasn't something that could be compared to tens or hundreds of yuan. But why would the old lady give such an important item to a cat? Anyone who didn't know would surely think she was crazy.

"I just want you to help keep it safe; if one day you see someone wearing a jade pendant like this, please let me know. My greatest wish is to see my relatives before I pass away, but sadly I don't even know whether they're still alive." The old lady sighed, then suddenly seemed to recall something and asked Jiao Ba: "Can you help me with this?"

Jiao Ba: "……" You've already put the jade pendant on me, said all that, and only now are you asking whether I'll help?

"Sure, I'll definitely help." Jiao Ba nodded, then added: "But putting such a precious jade pendant on my cat seems inappropriate; my cat likes to run around everywhere—what if he accidentally loses it?"

"Like that," the old lady took the jade pendant off Zheng Tan's neck and handed it to Jiao Ba: "Then you can keep it for now, and give it back to me at this time next year."

Zheng Tan, Jiao Ba: "……" They both felt the old lady was unreliable, doing things in a bewildering way.

"But, old lady, I'm going abroad this year and won't be back by this time next year." Jiao Ba explained.

"Then we'll push it back. You won't settle abroad and never come back, will you?" the old lady asked anxiously.

"No." Jiao Ba affirmed. However, he wasn't sure whether, when he returns, the old lady in front of him will still be alive; after all, according to some elderly villagers, the old lady is already quite old.

"That's fine," the old lady waved her hand, seeing Jiao Ba wanting to speak but stopping, and said: "Rest assured, I won't say more; I, the old lady, can still live for three years."

Having his thoughts exposed, Jiao Ba felt embarrassed and coughed softly, then quietly listened to the old lady's following words.

The old lady came to this village forty-something years ago, heard to be fleeing from disaster; at that time most of the country was in difficult straits, she alone found a place to live in the village, recovered from her illness, and has remained there ever since.

"In earlier years I tried many methods, but unfortunately never found them; for a period I even gave up hope. Sigh. If I can't find those people, to me this jade pendant would be worthless." The old lady sighed.

Zheng Tan muttered to himself: Since you've given up hope, why are you seeking me and the Jiao family? It's been over forty years—who still remembers you? And isn't this old lady a spirit medium? Can't she just divine it herself?

Thinking this, Zheng Tan glanced at the old lady, and his gaze met hers, which was full of deep meaning. Instantly Zheng Tan felt a chill; numb, he wondered whether this old lady could see through what was in a cat's mind.

Some say, as people grow old, they either become more and more muddled, or more and more clear-minded. Zheng Tan's feeling is that this old lady in front of him is pretending to be confused while actually understanding.

Jiao Ba was thinking about things, didn't notice Zheng Tan's small movements, and said: "Nowadays the internet is gradually rising, we can use many channels to find people."

Grandma waved her hand, "Forget it, not being able to find them is fate, it cannot be sought."

Zheng Tan patiently listened to the old lady's nagging, then went out of the courtyard with Jiao Ba. That old lady really could ramble; once she started, she could unintentionally go off-topic, then unintentionally circle back.

As for how to treat the jade pendant given by the old lady, Zheng Tan couldn't be bothered; he left it to Jiao Ba. He's just a cat now—eating well, sleeping well, and taking a leisurely stroll is enough.

Early on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, the Jiao Family's four people and one cat drove out of the village.

Not long after driving, they saw that familiar bmw appear from the junction.

Originally Jiao Ba hadn't planned to stop and say hello, but he didn't expect a traffic jam ahead where the road leads to the wide main street; this time the two cars stopped side by side, and the windows opened.

"We meet again."

"Yeah, it's really fate."

Jiao Ba smiled and greeted the other party, taking the business card they proactively offered.

Zheng Xuan, general manager of a certain company in Nanhua City.

If saying that visiting the grave last time was merely suspicion, this time Zheng Xuan was certain that the black cat calmly looking at him from the car window was exactly the one they had encountered when visiting the grave.

Zheng Xuan believes in fate, yet he does not easily believe in fate; a businessman's suspicion and caution leave him no choice but to be this way. But as long as he feels that this fate truly exists, his attitude will be different.

ps:

(Supplement 2.2) RT

, please.