Chapter 541: Fully automatic household trouble-maker

There was a time when there were mice nearby, so the property management recruited a few stray cats to be Black Cat Sheriffs.

This cat was one of that batch of cats; because it had gray-black fur,

it naturally got the name Little Gray.

Zhang Jie would occasionally feed it some cat food or ham sausage when he was in the mood,

and this little guy naturally regarded his residence as its territory, almost coming to inspect it every day.

Zhang Jie didn't blame this little guy for coming uninvited and disturbing his cultivation.

On one hand, it was because he was just doing daily cultivation and wouldn't have any issues like going into Qi deviation or

suffering great damage to his vitality just because of a little disturbance, and he could continue to sit in meditation and refine Qi at any time.

On the other hand, it was also because the cat species is naturally restless,

having the "good name" of a fully automatic trouble-maker, and it being able to do such a thing was really within Zhang Jie's expectations.

Cat: Alias: Fully automatic household trouble-maker.

1. Six o'clock smart alarm clock (?);

2. Voice control not working (?);

3. Floor cleaning (?);

4. Sofa aging (?);

Cats are not only fully automatic trouble-makers in modern times, but their deeds in ancient times were also not inferior.

Probably during the Tang Dynasty, cats became people's pets.

The "Zizhi Tongjian" records that Wu Zetian kept a cat, and it lived in peace with a parrot,

so Wu Zetian showed off her cat-raising results to the ministers.

But before the display was finished, the cat might have felt a bit hungry,

needing to eat something to pad its stomach, so it ate the parrot that was being displayed with it,

which made Wu Zetian lose a lot of face.

The "Nantang Shu" records that Li Yu's son Li Zhongxuan was playing in the Buddha hall,

when a big cat passed by and knocked over the glass lamp in front of the Buddha statue, breaking it,

which scared Li Zhongxuan into getting sick, and he died not long after.

The "Wanli Yemao Bianzuan" also records that many cats were kept in the palace during the Ming Dynasty, and cats were running and jumping in the palace,

fighting and making noise, scaring the newborn princes and princesses into "convulsions and illness."

The "Zhuozhong Zhi" even records that many royal children died from fright caused by cat meows when they were infants.

In addition to controlling the population of royal children,

cats also interfered with people's cultivation and alchemy.

The "Sun Sheng Tan Pu" records that Su Zhe had a whim to cultivate the Dao for longevity, so he got a big stove to light a fire for alchemy,

but his cat walked over, peed on the stove, and then left leisurely.

Su Zhe immediately lost his spirit and gave up cultivating the Dao from then on.

What bad intentions could a little cat have? It just hoped he could put his energy into getting promoted,

so he could go and rescue his unlucky brother Su Shi who was always being demoted～～

Hu Shi of the Ming Dynasty also kept a cat, but this little cat didn't catch mice, but instead ate the chicken he raised.

Mr. Hu was so angry that he called his cat to his front and recited a "Scolding Cat Text" that has been passed down to this day.

"Scolding Cat Text"

There is a white rooster at home, raised for a long time.

Recently it perched on the top of a tree, but was eaten by the cat, so I called the cat to the front and scolded it, saying:

Bah! You cat! You have no other duty, your duty is to catch mice, this is ancient,

I welcome you not catching mice, saying your duty is not fulfilled, and yet you eat the bird that announces the dawn.

Counting your crimes, it's not just failing your duty.

Bah! You cat! There are many types of mice, and their followers are numerous. Some climb the ceiling,

some shake the door pivot, some climb the couch, some suck the wine, some overturn the box, some destroy the pictures.

At these times, if you waited for a moment, you wouldn't have to cross the room, and your belly would be full, and people's harm would be removed.

If not, just howl on the ground, although you can't kill the mice, the sound of your voice,

few wouldn't shrink and flee. But I don't hear you, and you are gone.

I didn't expect you to peek from high places, cross walls and kitchens, climb branches, climb trees,

and labor for a chicken. Mice harm people, but you protect them;

chickens have five virtues, but you slaughter them. How lucky are the mice, how innocent are the chickens?

An old monk at Wan Shou Temple in the Ming Dynasty also had some insights into raising cats.

He introduced to guests that the cat beside him had five virtues:

Not catching mice, this is benevolence;

even if mice steal its food, it doesn't care, this is righteousness;

guests arrive and it doesn't come out, it has to wait until good food is brought out, this is propriety;

no matter how hidden the good food is, it can find it and eat it, this is wisdom;

as soon as winter comes, it runs to the stove to keep warm, this is trust.

This kind of helpless and loving evaluation can only be obtained by cats.

The famous poet Lu You wrote quite a few saliva poems complaining about cats, and then wrote quite a few high-level poems praising cats,

such as the famous "The creek firewood is soft and the felt is warm, I and the cat don't go out," feeling guilty for not giving the cat good food.

"At night, lying down listening to the wind and rain, iron horses and icy rivers enter my dreams," now looking at it,

was Lu You stepped on by the cat running back and forth while sleeping at night?

After all, judging from the consistent behavior of cats, the small number of ancient porcelain surviving must have a share of the credit from cats.

The old Daoist Jiajing also liked cats very much; he kept a lion cat named Qingmei, which was said to be particularly beautiful,

loving it so much when it was alive that he slept with it, took it out as a guide, and ate with it, oh, he loved it so much.

When it died, it was even more extraordinary; he cried and screamed, buried it in a golden coffin, and asked the ministers in the court to write sacrificial texts,

Yuan Wei's "turning a lion into a dragon" directly took a rocket for seven years, rising from the Han Lin Academy to the Grand Secretary of the Jianji Hall,

becoming the fastest-promoted prime minister in the Ming Dynasty, which shows how deep the old Daoist's love for cats was.

When an animal has many shortcomings but still survives in the world, you should know how long its long board is.

It looks cute, there's no way, cats really should kowtow to their modelers.

Of course, the ancients raised cats and loved cats, one is that the modeling is too perfect, and two is that they were little experts at catching mice in ancient times.

Most cats raised at home today don't need to catch mice, so the only advantage is the modeling.

However, Zhang Jie himself feels that the causes of death of those princes and princesses cannot all be blamed on the cat,

cats are not creatures that are so easily stressed to death.

Of course, scaring people to death might be an exaggeration, but the sound of cats in heat is indeed terrifying enough,

plus there were many superstitious people in ancient times, the sound of cats in heat in the middle of the night might really make people restless.

As for why it was recorded like this, it is highly probable that it was passing the buck to the cat,

it is too normal for animals to be used as scapegoats in such a palace where there are many people and many things.

In a world without surveillance, after you kill someone, saying he went crazy and jumped into the water is fine, anyway, you have the final say.

According to more scientific in-depth research later, those children who died,

died more from their own diseases or unsafe drugs (such as drugs containing lead and mercury),

if you have to say it's the cat's fault, it's more that the cat's meow scared the child and accelerated the death.

After all, if they could really scare children to death every day, they would have been exterminated long ago, how could they be raised more and more.

And the cats in the Forbidden City have lived well for hundreds of years, and now there are many descendants of the Ming Dynasty palace cats.

"However, it won't do to always disturb my cultivation like this."

Zhang Jie touched his chin, and his look at Little Gray gradually became dangerous:

"How about, get it neutered?"

I heard that cats become much more docile after being neutered.

Zhang Jie simply picked up his phone and searched online, and found that it was indeed as he thought:

Neutered female cats will no longer howl periodically, be restless, or try to leave home to find a mate.

Male cats' marking territory behavior, such as spraying urine everywhere,

and the aggression and tendency to escape caused by looking for a mate will be greatly reduced.

He glanced at the lower back of Little Gray again and found that it was a little male cat,

only needing to remove those two little balls, and it could become a docile little cat...

"Meow!"

Little Gray seemed to feel the danger coming, instantly its eyes were sharp, its hair stood up, and it opened its Spinosaurus form.

Unfortunately, it was not the Great Emperor, and didn't escape Zhang Jie's poisonous hands, and was immediately grabbed by the back of its neck of fate. ===== CHAPTER 542 =====