13. Hire a cat

The streets were gradually becoming crowded, neighbors greeted each other, some pushed wooden unicycles out to work, while others opened their doors for business – finally, Anxi Street was alive with the air of human warmth.

The little black cat hid in the shadows, its gaze alert yet indifferent but still unwilling to leave.

"This bead must be very important to you," Chen Ji muttered to himself, "Even after being teased several times, even after being struck by the bead, you refuse to give up."

He waved to the little black cat, signaling it to follow him into the Medical Hall, but the little black cat remained indifferent, merely observing in secret.

At that moment, there was noise from the restaurant opposite, where a stout young worker was taking down the door panels and lifting steamed buns and buns in cages to the entrance; the steamer baskets steamed with white vapor in the morning sunlight.

When Chen Ji looked up again, he saw the little black cat staring intently at the steamer baskets…

The look in the little black cat's eyes made him feel as if he was seeing himself as a child on a green-skinned train, gazing hungrily at someone else's bowl of instant noodles.

Chen Ji hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and asked, "How much for a bun?"

The restaurant worker smiled and said, "Ah, it's Doctor Chen. The buns are still two coins each, no change."

Chen Ji took out two coins from his sleeve… this was the money from mopping the floor yesterday, and the only two coins he had.

"I'll take one," he said, handing the two coins to the worker.

The worker chuckled and asked, "Just one? Will it be enough?"

Chen Ji smiled in response, "I only have two coins, I can't afford more."

The restaurant worker was surprised. These days, who was willing to admit they were so poor they begrudged even an extra two-coin bun?

One bun for two coins, a jin of rice for ten, a jin of eggs for twenty – even the poorest families could surely spare two coins.

Yet Chen Ji appeared utterly unbothered by it.

"Alright then, I'll sell you a bun," the restaurant worker said enthusiastically after a moment.

Chen Ji glanced at the little black cat perched on the eaves and suddenly asked, "Can I ask you something? Is there a place nearby that sells fish?"

"You want to buy fish?"

"I'm just asking for now. I don't have the money to buy any yet."

The restaurant worker laughed and said, "Around here, you can only get smoked and salted fish. If you want fresh fish, you have to go to East Market, which is more than a two-hour trip there and back."

"Are fish expensive?"

"It depends on the fish," the worker replied with a smile, "Crucian and grass carp are cheap, ten coins per jin. Sea bass is more expensive, about thirty coins per jin. Those rich merchants and scholars who come and go from the East Market, they say you can even get fish from the sea. I heard that back in Luocheng City's glory days, there were lots of sea fish brought in every day."

Chen Ji casually asked, "So, Luocheng City isn't doing well now?"

"Times have changed, you know. Our city used to be the capital, all dazzle and splendor. Now it's fallen from grace; only the old masters brag about the past glories of the capital. But everyone knows, the truly flourishing places are now in the North in Shengjing, and the South in Jinling," the worker said as he lifted the lid of the steamer, wrapped a bun in wax paper in the midst of the white mist coming off of it, and handed it over, "Here, your bun."

Chen Ji didn't eat the bun; instead, he placed it on the threshold of the Medical Hall before bending down to pick up the carrying pole and water bucket, wobbling his way into the hall.

The little black cat jumped down from the eaves to the entrance of the Medical Hall, sniffed the scent of the bun, then lifted its head and walked away, seeming disinclined to accept Chen Ji's goodwill.

But after only a few steps, it turned back and picked up the bun.

Standing at the entrance of the Medical Hall, the cat watched Chen Ji carry water to the backyard and wanted to follow him inside, but ultimately turned away and left.

...

...

Ever since She Dengke and Liu Quxing got into a fight in the backyard, they hadn't come back to the main hall. With the master not at home, both men were too lazy to come out and work.

Chen Ji was content with the tranquility. When hungry, he would grab a coarse grain cake from the kitchen; when thirsty, a ladle of water to boil and drink. If patients brought prescriptions, he'd weigh out the medicine; if they came for an examination, he'd politely decline.

He spent nearly all day studying the Medical Skills Summary, focusing mostly on trauma.

He didn't know how much time had passed when he fell asleep on the counter, but when he awoke, he saw the black cat from Late Star Garden quietly squatting on the counter, watching him.

The cat's fur was a mess with a new wound on its neck, oozing blood.

Chen Ji smiled and raised his hand to greet the black cat, "Why so quiet when you walk, been in a fight again?"

The black cat slightly raised its head in defiance.

That posture, so much like many men after a fight with their necks stiff: as if they hadn't lost anything at all!

In reality, though, these are all the excuses of the defeated...

"You wait here for a sec," Chen Ji went to the kitchen to get a 'fire inch' to light a flame and lit the oil residue lamp on the main hall counter.

The tiny flame flickered, barely enough to illuminate the whole room, just enough for one person and one cat in this small space.

After he blew out the flame on the thin wood chip, Chen Ji muttered to himself, "You fight with Consort Yun's cat every day, but doesn't Princess Consort Jing treat your wounds at all? Why don't you hide from it; otherwise, you might get beaten to death."

The black cat raised its head with a somewhat unconvinced look.

"You don't have to be so indignant," Chen Ji gestured, "You're only this small, probably not even a year old yet, and it's so big. It's normal that you can't beat it. A gentleman's revenge is not too late, even after ten years, just wait until you're fully confident before you confront it."

At this point, Chen Ji became serious, "But remember, you have to kill it in one strike next time and not give it a chance to turn over."

The black cat listened, a thoughtful look appearing in its eyes.

Chen Ji was a bit puzzled, "Can you really understand what I'm saying?"

The black cat didn't react.

Chen Ji said with a smile, "Let me apply some medicine on you."

The black cat saw Chen Ji flipping through the medical book quickly, the youth still murmuring, "Let me see which medicine can be applied to external injuries, I specially learned it today...right, Cnidium Monnieri, there is a lot of this stuff, if I take one gram, Old Yao definitely won't notice."

The black cat, which had been tense, relaxed slightly.

Chen Ji took some dried Cnidium Monnieri, carefully grinding it into powder.

He looked at the black cat, "I'm going to apply some hemostatic medicine on you, don't scratch me."

However, he was surprised to find that, as he applied the powder on the black cat's wound, the cat neither flinched nor hid, as if it understood that this was for its own good.

The black cat was like a small statue, its gaze following Chen Ji's figure back and forth, and eventually, the body ready to bristle at any moment gradually relaxed.

The little black cat had dense fur that required careful parting to check for injuries, which was time-consuming.

When Chen Ji finished treating every wound on the black cat, he immediately broke into a smile, "All done!"

While speaking, he realized the black cat had fallen asleep, its small head resting on his palm.

Chen Ji fell silent for a long time, his hand still not moving away.

Here in this small glow of light, one person and one cat were peaceful and tender.

Chen Ji looked down at the little black cat and, after a long silence, said as if in a trance, "It seems I can only talk to you about this."

He leaned against the counter, his gaze fixed on the flickering flame, "When I was at Qingshan Hospital, I thought I wouldn't die. I was so well prepared, I even had a mental illness diagnosis ready to exonerate myself from murder charges, but then I got killed by someone else. But having died is fine, as long as I took my revenge."

"Li Qingniao told me people from Northern Continent were responsible for smuggling me here, but I have no idea what he meant. Where exactly is Northern Continent, and what is Forty-nine Heavens, and how come I suddenly reincarnated as an apprentice, living alone in this world..."

"When I learned from my master that I still had family left, I wasn't really looking forward to it... Alright, I was a bit excited. But that evening, as the afterglow of the sunset slowly faded from me, I felt abandoned by the world."

"Is that a bit melodramatic..."

Chen Ji rattled on with a mix of messy thoughts. Since coming to this world, there had been no one he could trust, no one worth trusting. Those secrets and confusions could only rot in his stomach, and in the end, he shared them with a sleeping cat.

It seemed even he found this somewhat amusing, so he whispered to the black cat, "Thank you for listening to my rambling, I feel much better now!"

At this moment, the little black cat actually opened its eyes and gently placed its paw on Chen Ji's wrist, as if to comfort him.

Chen Ji looked at the furry little paw and was stunned for a long time before asking, "I guess, because you've never beaten the white cat, Princess Consort Jing and Chunrong are annoyed with you for being weak, so they didn't treat your wounds or feed you. That's why a cat raised by a Princess would crave a meat bun, right?"

The little black cat silently looked at him.

Chen Ji asked earnestly, "How about this, when I have the ability to leave the Medical Hall, you come with me and wander the Jianghu together?"

The little black cat wore a puzzled face.

"That won't do, we need some ceremony!" Chen Ji pulled out a piece of paper used for prescriptions from the counter and with a brush, he awkwardly wrote the ancient ritual prayer for hiring a cat: "Li slave roams the streets of Luocheng City, surrounded by dark clouds, today Chen Ji hires 'Wu Yun' for home, lacking small dried fish, hereby substitutes with one Crystal Bead as a gift, Lord Zao witnesses our bond never to break, City God Master witnesses the grace and righteousness."

As the last character was written, he took out the vermillion seal paste and looked at the black cat, "If you can really understand me and are willing to follow me, then press your own paw print."

After a moment of hesitation, the black cat in the youth's gaze truly lifted its paw, dabbed it in the vermillion seal paste, and then pressed a paw print on the contract.

The next moment, the contract spontaneously combusted, turning into specks of starlight in the air.

Chen Ji looked at the splendid scene before him and muttered to himself, "This world really isn't normal..."

A voice asked, "What's not normal?"

Chen Ji's head slowly turned towards the black cat…