The streets were gradually filling with pedestrians. Neighbors greeted each other, some pushing wooden single-wheeled carts out their doors to work, others opening their businesses. Anxi Street finally had a lively atmosphere.

The little black cat hid in the shadows, its eyes vigilant and indifferent, but it still wasn’t willing to leave.

“That pearl must be very important to you,” Chen Ji murmured to himself. “Even though I’ve teased you several times, and even though the pearl bounced away, you still won’t give up.”

He waved his hand at the little black cat, signaling for it to follow him into the medical hall, but the little black cat didn’t move, just watched secretly.

At this moment, the rice shop opposite made some noise. Inside the shop, strong waiters unloaded the door boards and carried cage after cage of steamed buns and steamed heads to the doorway. The steamers were emitting white vapor in the early morning sunlight.

Chen Ji looked up again, only to see the little black cat staring intently at the steamer…

The little black cat’s eyes made him feel as if he was seeing himself when he was young, staring at other people’s instant noodles on a green-skinned train.

Chen Ji hesitated for a moment, walked forward, and asked, “How much is one steamed bun?”

The rice shop waiter said with a smile, “Ah, it’s Little Doctor Chen. Steamed buns are still two *wen* each, no change.”

Chen Ji took out two *wen* from his sleeve… This was the money he earned yesterday from wiping the floor, and it was the only two *wen* he had on him.

“Give me one,” he stuffed the two *wen* into the waiter’s hand.

The waiter happily asked, “Just one? Isn’t that enough to eat?”

Chen Ji replied with a smile, “I only have two *wen*. I can’t afford more.”

The rice shop waiter was a little surprised. Who in this day and age would admit they were too poor to even eat one more steamed bun at two *wen*?

One steamed bun cost two *wen*, one *jin* of rice ten *wen*, one *jin* of eggs twenty *wen*. Even the poorest family probably wouldn’t be unable to take out two *wen*.

But Chen Ji’s candid demeanor made it seem like it was no big deal at all.

“Alright then, I’ll just sell you one steamed bun,” the rice shop waiter said enthusiastically after reacting.

Chen Ji glanced at the little black cat on the roof and suddenly asked, “Let me 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 it yet.”

The rice shop waiter said with a smile, “Nearby, they only sell smoked salted fish. If you want to buy live fish, then go to the East Market. It takes more than one *shichen* to go there and back.”

“Is fish expensive?”

“That depends on what kind of fish,” the waiter laughed. “Carp and grass carp are cheap, ten *wen* a *jin*. Bass is a bit more expensive, maybe thirty *wen* a *jin*. Rich merchants and scholars from the north and south come and go at the East Market, and I hear they can even eat fish from the sea. I heard that when Luo City was prosperous before, a lot of sea fish were transported in every day.”

Chen Ji casually asked, “Is Luo City not doing well now?”

“Times are different from the past, ah. This place was the capital in the previous dynasty, a place of debauchery and extravagance. Now it’s fallen. Only some old masters still boast about this being the capital, but who doesn’t know that the truly prosperous places are now Shengjing in the north and Jinling in the south?” The waiter opened the steamer, and in the white mist, he used hemp paper to wrap a steamed bun and handed it over: “Here, your steamed bun.”

Chen Ji took the steamed bun and didn’t eat it, but turned around and placed it on the threshold of the medical hall’s door. Then he bent down to pick up the shoulder pole and water bucket and swayed towards the back of the medical hall.

The little black cat jumped down from the roof to the medical hall’s door, sniffed the steamed bun, then raised its head and walked away, seemingly not planning to accept Chen Ji’s good intentions.

But it didn’t walk many steps before it turned back and bit the steamed bun.

It stood at the medical hall’s door, watching Chen Ji carry water to the backyard. It also wanted to follow him in to see, but in the end, it still turned and left.

……

……

Ever since She Dengke and Liu Quxing fought to the backyard, they haven’t come over to the main hall. The master isn’t home, and both of them are too lazy to come out and work.

Chen Ji was also happy with the quiet. When he was hungry, he went to the kitchen to get a miscellaneous grain biscuit. When he was thirsty, he scooped a ladle of water, boiled it, and drank it. If a patient brought a prescription, he would weigh the medicine. If they wanted him to diagnose a disease, he would politely refuse.

He spent almost all of his time that day studying the general outline of medical art, but he only learned about external injuries.

He didn’t know how long had passed. Chen Ji lay on the counter and unknowingly fell asleep. When he woke up, he saw the black cat from the Late Star Garden quietly squatting on the counter, watching him.

The black cat’s fur was messy, and there was a new wound on its neck, seeping blood.

Chen Ji smiled, raised his hand, and greeted the black cat: “Why do you walk without a sound, ah? Did you get beaten again?”

The black cat raised its head slightly and stubbornly.

That look was very similar to the stiff-necked look many men have after a fight: he didn’t gain anything either!

Actually, these are all the words of a loser…

“Wait a moment,” Chen Ji went to the kitchen and took a ‘fire inch strip’ to get a flame, then lit the oil lamp on the main hall counter.

The small flame swayed, still not enough to illuminate the whole room, only enough for this small area with one person and one cat.

Chen Ji blew out the fire on the thin piece of wood and muttered, “You fight with that cat, Yunfei, every day. Doesn’t Jingfei help you treat your injuries? Or you should hide from it first, otherwise, you might get beaten to death.”

The black cat raised its head, looking a little unconvinced.

“You don’t need to be unconvinced,” Chen Ji gestured. “You’re just this small, probably not even a year old yet, and it’s already that big. It’s normal that you can’t beat it. A gentleman’s revenge is not too late in ten years, right? Wait until you have full confidence, then you can go find it again.”

Saying this, Chen Ji became serious: “But remember, that time you must kill it with one strike, don’t give it a chance to flip over.”

The black cat listened, and its eyes showed a thoughtful look.

Chen Ji was a little puzzled: “You don’t really understand what I’m saying, do you?”

The black cat didn’t react.

Chen Ji said with a smile, “I’ll put some medicine on you.”

The black cat saw Chen Ji suddenly flip through the medical book quickly, and the young man muttered: “Let me see what medicine can be applied to external injuries. I just learned it today… Right, *Cnidium monnieri*. There’s a lot of this. Old Head Yao definitely won’t notice if I take one gram.”

The black cat, which was originally tense, relaxed a little.

Chen Ji took some dried *Cnidium monnieri* and carefully ground it into powder.

He looked at the black cat: “I’ll apply some hemostatic medicine for you. Don’t scratch me, ah.”

However, he was surprised to find that when he applied the powder to the black cat’s wound, the other cat didn’t dodge or hide. It seemed to know that this was for its own good.

The black cat was like a small sculpture. Its gaze followed Chen Ji’s figure back and forth. Finally, the body that was always ready to explode with fur gradually relaxed.

The little black cat’s fur was dense, and it took a lot of time to carefully part it and check.

When Chen Ji finished treating all of the black cat’s wounds, he suddenly smiled: “Great success!”

As he spoke, he just noticed that the black cat had already fallen asleep, its little head resting on his palm.

Chen Ji was silent for a long time, but his hand never moved away.

One person and one cat were just in this small circle of light, quiet and gentle.

Chen Ji lowered his head to look at the little black cat and said absentmindedly after a long silence, “I can only tell you these things, ah.”

He leaned on the edge of the counter, his eyes looking at the swaying flame: “When I was in Aoshan Hospital, I thought I wouldn’t die. I prepared so thoroughly, even prepared a mental illness diagnosis to use to escape punishment after killing people. In the end, I was still counter-killed. But death is death, ah. Just report the enmity.”

“Li Qingniao told me that people from North Jialuzhou were responsible for smuggling me. I don’t know exactly what he meant. Where is North Jialuzhou? What is the forty-nine heavy heaven? How did I suddenly reborn as an apprentice, living alone in this world…”

“When I learned from my master that I still had family, I actually didn’t really expect it… well, I still expected it a little. But that evening, as the sunset glow gradually faded from my body, I felt that I was abandoned by the world.”

“Isn’t it a bit pretentious…”

Chen Ji rambled incoherently. After coming to this world, he couldn’t trust anyone, and no one was worth trusting. Those secrets and confusions, he could only keep them to himself, and finally tell them to a sleeping little cat.

It seemed that he himself felt it was a bit ridiculous, so he lowered his head and said softly to the black cat: “Thank you, ah, for listening to me nag so much. I feel much better!”

At this time, the little black cat actually opened its eyes and gently placed its paw on Chen Ji’s wrist, as if comforting him.

Chen Ji looked at the furry little paw and was in a daze for a long time, then asked, “I guess you’re not getting treatment for your injuries and not getting food because you didn’t beat the white cat, and Jingfei and Chunrong are annoyed that you’re not trying hard enough. So the hall king’s wife’s cat will miss a meat steamed bun, right?”

The little black cat looked at him silently.

Chen Ji asked seriously, “Or later, when I have the ability to leave the medical hall, will you go wander the *jianghu* with me?”

The little black cat had a look of doubt.

“No, there must be some sense of ceremony!” Chen Ji took out a piece of paper used for writing prescriptions from the counter and wrote down the ancient ritual prayer for hiring a cat with a brush: “Raccoon slave of Luo City, surrounded by black clouds. Now Chen Ji hires ‘Black Cloud’ to return home. Because there are no small dried fish, a crystal bead is used as a substitute for the hiring gift. The Stove King is a witness not to abandon, and the City God is a witness to grace and justice.”

When the last word was finished, he took out some cinnabar seal mud and looked at the black cat: “If you can really understand my words and are willing to follow me, then press your paw print.”

In the young man’s gaze, the black cat hesitated for a moment, and finally really lifted its paw, dipped it in the cinnabar seal mud, and pressed its paw print on the hiring document.

The next moment, the hiring document burned without fire, turning into points of stars in the air.

Chen Ji looked at the brilliant scene in front of him and murmured, “This world is indeed not normal…”

A voice asked, “Which part isn’t normal?”

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