An old cat's breeding diary

Chapter 10

10

The days passed quickly, as if a year had passed in just a blink of an eye.

Master is getting old and his health is not always good, so it is not advisable to work too hard.They never went back to celebrate the New Year in previous years, but they suddenly remembered last year and called them to go back to celebrate the New Year.I don't know what happened this year, Lao Mao and Li Chengfeng discussed it, and went to inquire about repairing a book.After all, this year is also Master's [-]th birthday.

The letter was sent to Chunyang, and the person who sent the letter learned that he was no longer on the mountain, so he sent it to Chang'an.It was the end of the year again when Zong Xun got it.

Soon, Lao Mao received a reply letter from Zong Xun, the implication was very concise, Master doesn't care about foreign things, so there is no need.After thinking about it, the old cat asked someone to send a message to inform Li Chengfeng that he didn't have to go. After thinking and thinking, he felt deeply uneasy. When the messenger came, he opened his mouth and wrote a note. In Zong Xun's reply letter, he sent it to Li Chengfeng.

The old cat had a bad feeling, and Zong Xun knew it even if he didn't tell him.Master, I'm afraid it's something serious.

That's right, people always have such a day, besides, the master is getting old.Just thinking about how young he looks, I can't help but feel that time has not gone far, and Master is still the same as before.

On this day, the old cat took a nap and had a dream in a daze.In fact, I can't tell whether it is a dream or my own imagination.First, there is a mess of memories, there are memories of playing with the little brother when I was young, watching Zong Xun hugging the master and weeping when I was a teenager, and even a little bit younger, the memory of wandering when I have no memory at ordinary times...

It turns out that I also have family members, but the memory has been blurred.Instead, there are a few fragmentary light and shadow images left in the dream.In the soft background light, A Niang hugged herself, and there seemed to be a tall man beside her.

Then the next scene is a group of people pouring in, and everyone is running away in a panic, like refugees.The next scene is that someone came in with a knife, the father disappeared, and the mother ran away with her life in her arms.Seeing that the pursuers were getting closer and closer, A Niang had no choice but to put herself behind a tent-like white place, cover it with weeds, and then go to distract the pursuers...

I don't know how long it took, the child's loud cry attracted a dirty child, and then an adult with a dejected face picked up the baby away.

Then there is Refuge Alley, a little boy rides on a taller and stronger kid, presses down on him, and beats him fiercely. A circle of timid children around him are scolding him, but they are afraid of the boy's ruthlessness. He didn't dare to step forward to help.

A woman in ragged clothes ran over, and the children scattered. The woman twisted the boy's ears and pulled him down. The tall and strong child immediately laughed and wanted to kick him.She was dodged by Xiaotong, but her ears hurt even more. Xiaotong's eyes of different colors were narrowed in pain because of the pain, and her face was distorted.The old cat recognized it. This was himself when he was a child.The woman hit him very hard, but before she could hit him a third time, a white jade-like hand grabbed her wrist.

That hand was beautiful, even in the gray dream, he still had a soft luster, he said something, and let go.The slightly older boy who was following the man came over consciously and protected him behind him.The young Lu Jiang stood behind the little boy and looked at the group of them.Lao Mao thought to himself, this should be the master and Zong Xun back then.The little brother is also there, holding a little girl who is about the same age as him, and the old cat has no impression of her.It must be one of the children who couldn't support themselves on the road and were given away by the master later!The master was talking with the woman, and the young Lu Jiang suddenly contradicted him fiercely, and the woman raised her hand to hit him.Xiao Zongxun didn't open his mouth either, he just straightened his chest and stared at her coldly, the master also came closer and said something.The woman didn't dare to make a mistake, she withdrew her hand embarrassingly, and led her child away.

Then I saw the master, who was still a little young and immature at the time, squatting down, talking softly to my young self, nodding when he said something, and walking away with them.

And then another long, messy dream.Dreaming of a hut in the wind and snow, dreaming of the teacher’s wife looking at the sick brother with pity, stroking his forehead and saying, "Why is this child so pitiful?" This is the only line in this silent dream so far. Except for Lu Jiang calling "Mother..." intermittently with inaccurate pronunciation, there was no other voice.

Then there were only four of them, master and apprentice, left.In the desert, Zong Xun's serious little face carefully wrapped the shawls for the juniors one by one, and went to talk to the master, and they marched towards the hinterland of the desert one by one, leading each other like a string of small gourds.Master really doesn't know how to take care of the children, but he loves these children with all his heart. When the wind and sand came, he knelt down and turned his back to tightly protect the three children in his arms, and carefully covered them with scarves.

It was chaos again, as if it was the spring of that year, when the master and his wife took a group of children to enjoy the flowers in the suburbs of Chang'an, groups of peach trees were bustling, and the wind blew the flowers all over the ground.Some little girls weaved wreaths to carry around, and some put flowers on each other's hairpins.The few of them were chasing after other people's little girls and puppies, but they didn't pay attention. The master followed the example of others and carefully placed a blooming peach blossom on the temple of the master.Only the young Zong Xun watched intently without saying a word.

It seemed that he had returned to Chang'an that night. The little brother couldn't wait to go to Wanhua, his small body trembled from coughing.Suddenly he couldn't catch his breath, and there was a large amount of blood surging, the dark red blood kept scrambling to overflow from the little senior brother's mouth, the little senior brother trembled and twitched slightly and gradually died.No one in the room could speak. At that time, Lu Jiang was too frightened. He knelt on the bed and tightly clutched the hands of his little brother, crying wildly and desperately. He couldn't hear or see anything. Only the little brother's pale face, glaringly red... whoever pulled him away, the teacher's wife wiped the little brother's face and hands with tears in her eyes, and wiped off the sweat and blood on her body...

The gloomy painting style changed, and came to a warm and bright scene.It seems to be the backyard of Master Chang'an's old house, Zong Xun is talking to Master, the sun is shining warmly on his body, it is very comfortable.The senior brother was still a teenager, wearing a duck-egg blue shirt, the master was lying on his lap, talking to him in a soft voice.Master stretched out his hand to touch Zong Xun's face, and said something with a smile, Zong Xun froze for a moment, and his face suddenly became ugly.He muttered something, tears fell one by one, and finally hugged Master and wept bitterly.

The old cat saw himself peeking behind the courtyard door at that time, saw his senior brother crying, and eagerly wanted to help with something, but there was nothing he could do, so he could only worry on the sidelines.In just an instant, the child's eyes changed again.The old cat followed his gaze and looked over.The warm sunshine and the gentle breeze drove the pear blossoms to fall, and the young Zong Xun under the tree raised his head and kissed the master.The expressions of the two were focused and gentle. They couldn't see any excessive emotions but they were very warm. The young Lu Jiang stood aside and tugged on Zong Xun's sleeves. Zong Xun covered little Lu Jiang's eyes with his backhand. Arms around the master, affectionate.

Time flowed on them, Zong Xun gradually grew up, and the master went from passively accepting with his head down to slowly raising his head and being led.I don't know when Zong Xun's duck-egg blue shirt has turned into a Taoist robe that he often wears now, but the master still looks idle, but his fingertips are trembling slightly, fine lines gradually appear at the corners of his eyes, and there are some A few traces of silvery white.

Lu Jiang was very distressed when he saw it, and subconsciously wanted to stretch out his hand, and was afraid of disturbing them, but found that it was just nothingness, and it was impossible for them to see him.Lips parted, Zong Xun lowered his head slightly and pressed his forehead against Master's, and the two chatted in detail.It seemed so inseparable, but in the next second, I saw Zong Xun hugging his master and sobbing in a low voice, as if he was wronged and couldn't express it.

The dream ended here, and Lu Jiang woke up.

He was stunned for a while, then got up with a grunt, and rushed out while putting on his clothes.

"What's the matter?" Zhang Yuanshan was covered by the old cat as soon as he entered the door upon hearing the movement, "Master? Why are you crying?"

Only then did the old cat look over in a daze, and stared at Zhang Yuanshan for a while, as if he had just understood the sentence, wiped his face, tears streaming down his face at some point. "Master, something happened to Master!"

"What? Master Zeng?" Zhang Yuanshan saw that he couldn't recover, and understood, "Master, it's a dream, don't be afraid."

The old cat hugged Zhang Yuanshan tightly, but Zong Xun's hoarse cry of that year "Master, Master..." "I only have you!" "Don't want me...Master..." The old cat was stunned for a while before finally After recovering, he put on his clothes and said to Zhang Yuanshan, "Pack up your things, let's go to Chang'an."

"Okay." Zhang Yuanshan began to pack the accompanying package neatly, "Master, do you want to inform Li Chengfeng?"

"En." The old cat became more and more uneasy after thinking about it, and his handsome brows were tightly frowned, "Anyway, please rest assured. You tell him that we are leaving early, and if he wants to come, he will come naturally."

Day and night, the horse raced fast and finally arrived in Chang'an on the third day. On the issue of going directly to Huashan or going to the old house, the old cat only hesitated for a moment before galloping away.In any case, it's not safe not to visit the backyard.

Both of them couldn't wait for the notification, and went directly over the wall from the back alley.There seemed to be no one in the house, the old cat and Zhang Yuanshan looked at each other, and decided to go to the backyard to have a look.

It was a cold day in Chang'an in March, and Master's birthday had not yet arrived.Somehow the pear blossoms in the courtyard bloomed so early, and when the wind blows, the eyes are all white.

Neither Lao Mao nor Zhang Yuanshan dared to move.

Because, there is a grave under the pear tree.Very deep and very long.

They walked lightly for fear of waking up from a dream, and they saw a coffin in the grave.In the coffin for one person, the master slept peacefully in a Taoist robe, lying on his back.Zong Xun curled up and lay on his side, hugging him, with a little dust and fallen flowers on his face.

It might be because of the cold weather, but the master's body was well preserved, except for the dull complexion, his face was clean and free from dust.His expression was also serene and peaceful, as if he had fallen asleep.On the other hand, Zong Xun's face turned pale, as if a plant suddenly withered from heart failure.

The old cat knelt down by the grave in horror, and reached out to Zong Xun with trembling hands to help him brush off the dust.He couldn't think of anything in his mind, the master's time will eventually come, but Zong Xun...even if he knows that the master is gone, he can't be fine, but...

Zong Xun's face was also cold, but it was still elastic. The old cat felt something was wrong, so he stretched out his hand to feel his pulse.It took a long time to feel Zong Xun's weak but undistorted pulse of existence.People are alive!

Lu Jiang wanted to pull him out immediately, but he was afraid of hurting the master's body.He could only pat Zong Xun on the shoulder, and persistently called Zong Xun "Senior Brother, Senior Brother..." in a voice as light as if he was afraid of disturbing the two of them.

"Senior brother, wake up." Lu Jiang held Zong Xun's hand tightly, trying to warm him up. "Senior brother, it's time for master to go to the grave. Wake up..."

Lu Jiang just called softly over and over again, Zhang Yuanshan hugged his master's shoulder tightly without saying anything.

After an unknown amount of time, the sky was getting dark, but Lu Jiang could clearly see Zong Xun's eyelids moving and his eyelashes trembling slightly.

"Brother." Lu Jiang raised his voice slightly.

Zong Xun opened his eyes.

He looked at the master in front of him, blinked, and seemed a little confused.After a while, his expression finally regained his clarity. He took out the hand held by Lu Jiang and looked at the two of them, "En." It was only a monophonic voice, and the hoarseness of his voice could still be heard.

Zong Xun got up slowly, looked at the sleeping master solemnly, his face gradually softened, he lowered his head and kissed Ah Cen's lips reverently.Don't shy away from it, just focus on saying goodbye to the people you love the most.

It was just a simple touch of lips, but there was a long pause.Those two didn't bother, watching Zong Xun climb out of the coffin carefully, and hurried to help him.

Zong Xun knelt on the ground full of falling flowers and kowtowed deeply to the master to say goodbye.Lu Jiang and the others also knelt down and said goodbye.

Zong Xu bent down cautiously, picked up the sleeping master, turned around and said to Lu Jiang and the others, "Go back to Mount Hua."