A cat spoke…

A cat unexpectedly spoke?!

This was probably the strangest thing Chen Ji had encountered since arriving in this world.

In the medical hall’s main hall, the lamplight flickered, casting uncertain light and shadow on the black cat’s face. Chen Ji’s expression was similarly uncertain.

He cautiously circled the medical hall, first confirming there was no one in the backyard, then confirming there was no one in the dark street outside the door. Only then did he look back at the small black cat squatting on the counter: “Just now, ah, I mean just now, were you speaking?”

The black cat looked at him motionless, making no further sound.

But Chen Ji was now absolutely certain that the one who spoke just now was this small black cat!

Could it be because of the cat hiring ceremony that some kind of magical effect was produced?

“Why aren’t you speaking again?” Chen Ji doubtfully sized up the small black cat: “Can you say one more sentence? So I can confirm what’s going on.”

But the small black cat just stiffened its head, looking serious, and didn’t emit any more sound.

Chen Ji thought for a moment: “Say a sentence, and I’ll save money to buy you steamed buns to eat.”

Small black cat: “……”

Chen Ji: “Buy dried small fish.”

Small black cat: “……”

Chen Ji inhaled deeply: “Today, that white cat Yun Fei, should have beaten you quite severely, right!”

Small black cat stiffened its neck and said: “It wasn’t much better!”

Chen Ji looked at the small black cat with a smile that wasn’t a smile. The small black cat then subconsciously shrank its neck.

He asked: “Why weren’t you speaking just now?”

Small black cat was silent for a moment: “I didn’t think I could suddenly speak either.”

Chen Ji couldn’t help but laugh…

That is to say, the small black cat had only subconsciously answered him in its heart just now, and accidentally made a sound. And in fact, during this past period of time, the small black cat had responses to many of Chen Ji’s words, he just couldn’t hear them, that’s all.

Chen Ji said: “Just now in the hiring document I named you ‘Wu Yun’, do you know about this?”

Wu Yun said disdainfully: “Ugly to death!”

Chen Ji changed the subject: “When did you gain sentience?”

He liked cats and also had some understanding of them, so he knew that most cats weren’t actually very smart, they were still quite silly.

But Wu Yun had obviously gained sentience even before opening its mouth to speak. It could understand human words and even respond. Many humans couldn’t even do that.

Wu Yun replied: “When did I gain sentience? I’ve always been like this.”

“Born like this?”

“Born like this.”

Chen Ji pondered for a moment: “Can you open your mouth and let me take a look inside?”

Wu Yun retreated a bit, and its sharp claws on its paws also extended somewhat: “Why?”

Chen Ji said helplessly: “Can you not be so stubborn? Let’s have a little more trust in each other!”

Wu Yun thought for a while: “……Alright.”

“Come to the oil lamp, open your mouth… ah.”

Wu Yun reluctantly opened its mouth: “Ah……”

Chen Ji looked into its mouth and chanted in a low voice: “One, two, three, four… ten notches?”

In ancient times, cat lovers once wrote about their cat raising experiences: When hiring a cat, you first need to look at its mouth. On the upper jaw of the cat’s mouth, there are shallow groove-like fine notches. Two notches means it’s most silly, just eats and sleeps foolishly. Nine notches is best, understands human nature, can catch mice and guard the home.

That is to say, a cat with nine notches in its mouth is the best small cat, but Wu Yun’s mouth had ten notches.

By the oil residue lamp on the counter, Wu Yun opened its mouth and emitted a sound from its throat: “Good or not?”

“Good, good,” Chen Ji seemed lost in thought. Perhaps the ten notches in its mouth was Wu Yun’s special characteristic?

“Sleepy,” Wu Yun lay down naturally, its head resting just in Chen Ji’s palm, warm.

But it soon felt something wasn’t right. How could its noble self lie in someone else’s palm?

Should it get up?

Forget it, it’ll lie down a bit longer.

“Wait, don’t sleep yet,” Chen Ji said: “I haven’t given you the bead yet. I don’t know if it will still push you away now. Get up and try.”

Wu Yun sprang up with a swish, all sleepiness gone: “I just remembered I came for that bead… quick, give me the bead, quick, quick, quick!”

Chen Ji handed over the crystal bead. This time, the bead actually no longer resisted Wu Yun.

Black-black Wu Yun sucked and slurped the bead, swallowing it into its belly, then whooshed out of the medical hall through the door crack, leaving only Chen Ji feeling bewildered.

It just left like that?!

Just at this moment, Chen Ji felt a warm current transmitting from the direction Wu Yun left!

That warm current was like the magma deep inside the earth’s mountains, scorching hot and boiling, and also like a heavy rain in August, majestic and powerful.

Finally, it drilled into his body from between his eyebrows, moistened his four limbs and hundred bones, and finally slowly gathered at his heart.

Chen Ji was stunned. This was a power he had never experienced.

Different from the ice flow’s irritable rapidness, this molten flow only flowed slowly.

Moreover, he couldn’t control the ice flow, but under his own will, the molten flow actually moved a bit.

When the molten flow was controlled by Chen Ji, following the blood flow out of his dantian, he felt the parts it passed through were extraordinarily comfortable, just like soaking in a hot spring in the ninth coldest winter weather.

In the middle of the night at Aoshan Mental Hospital, Chen Ji felt that his life was no longer regrettable.

He no longer planned for life, no longer yearned for the future. As for whether the food was good or not, whether the clothes were good-looking or not, none of that was very important.

Now, he for the first time truly, truly felt the mysterious new world and was placed within it.

Moreover, Chen Ji was no longer alone now, he had a cat.

……

……

Under the night sky, Luo City fell asleep.

After experiencing the chaos at Jing Fei Late Star Garden, Jing Wang Fu had returned to quiet. Jing Wang had not returned to the fu for over ten days, it was said because the warfare with Jing Chao was tense, and the northern iron cavalry had already reached Shanhai Pass, with soldiers at the city gates.

Jing Wang was stationed in Luo City, the Southern Grand Canal transfer hub, and needed to raise a large amount of military grain in the South and send it to the North through the canal.

Under the moonlight, a small group of black cats quietly walked on the eaves of the walls, their footsteps light. Surging power surged within its body. After eating that crystal bead, Wu Yun’s muscles rapidly restructured and grew, increasing its strength by a whole cat’s worth!

When Wu Yun jumped onto the flying eaves of Jing An Hall, if someone looked up from below, it almost overlapped with the crescent moon above, as if standing on the hook of the crescent moon.

Just at this moment, a Wang Fu guard perceived something and suddenly turned his head, his body armor rattling. His gaze, like an eagle or falcon, swept across the glazed roof of Jing An Hall, but there was nothing there.

The guard hesitated for a second, then flashed his body and climbed onto the eaves of the wall, holding an inverted long halberd, chasing towards the suspected direction.

The next moment, the guard leaped down from the eaves of the wall, his huge black shadow as oppressive as a night owl.

He patrolled for a week, then squatted down, borrowing the moonlight to check the ground for fresh footprints, but still found nothing.

“Strange, was I being suspicious?” The guard slowly left.

Only after a long time did Wu Yun, curled into a ball in the corner of the wall, merging with the shadow, stretch its body and continue towards the depths of Wang Fu.

It walked through Ming Zheng Hall, walked through Late Star Garden, dodged the patrolling guards, dodged the fierce night-watching servants, crossed mountains and waded rivers, pushed through brambles and thorns, and finally arrived in front of Yun Fei’s Fei Yun Garden.

Wu Yun hooked its claws onto the wooden pillar and firmly climbed towards the covered building’s second floor. The window was open, so it stealthily clung to the windowsill and poked its head inside.

In the room, the white cat opened both eyes and stared directly at Wu Yun!

Wu Yun: “Te!”

Turned around and ran.

The white lion cat saw the situation, leaped out the window, and chased after Wu Yun towards the back garden. It was just a little doubtful, how did this subordinate defeated general… become cowardly and brave again?

The white lion cat chased Wu Yun all the way into the back garden, passed through a rock garden, then passed through a patch of grass, and finally at Wang Fu’s famous Fei Bai Pool… lost Wu Yun’s trace.

Jing Wang Fu’s Fei Bai Pool was famous for its shape resembling calligraphy. The so-called Fei Bai generally refers to the dry brush strokes in calligraphy. This shallow Fei Bai Pool had rocks standing in the water, and the water flowed intermittently, like dry brush strokes, with a transcendent artistic conception.

And Jing Wang Fu’s Fei Bai Pool, Ting Lei Pavilion, and Guo Hua Garden were all places relished by Luo City’s literati.

At this time, the white lion cat sniffed the air lightly, but suddenly discovered that the scent actually came from behind!

In an instant, the white lion cat’s fur exploded all over its body. Just as it wanted to turn around, it was already too late. A group of black cats pounced on its back, and one paw hit it, making it do a somersault.

The white lion cat couldn’t understand how, in just a few hours, this subordinate defeated general had turned around. Within its small body, the power was actually a little greater than its own.

In the interweaving shadows, Wu Yun seized the gap and pressed the white lion cat to the ground, its claws balled into fists, pounding on its head with bangs, a fierce and violent strike!

Chen Ji didn’t know that Wu Yun was proud, and naturally had the capital for its pride. Its fighting instinct far surpassed its peers, and it had even stronger fighting intuition.

Even if their power didn’t differ much, the white lion cat could only be beaten.

The white lion cat began to whimper for mercy, but did Wu Yun care about this? It didn’t know how many beatings it had taken during this period. Every time Yun Fei came to Late Star Garden, it would take a beating.

Revenge was right now!

Wu Yun flipped the white lion cat over, exposed a claw at the white lion cat’s crotch, and flicked it fiercely!

It let out a long breath, stepped a front paw on its old opponent’s body, lifted its head to look at the moon, full of spirit.

However, Wu Yun always felt it hadn’t vented enough…

It quietly returned to Fei Yun Garden, licked all the snacks the servants had placed in the side room, and then left contentedly.

Medical hall main hall.

Chen Ji was currently flipping through a book, but saw the black cat walking back with an elegant pace. He curiously asked: “Where did you just go?”

Wu Yun raised its head: “Kǎixuán!” (Note: Kǎixuán means victorious return or triumph.)

Chen Ji: “……”

Still quite proud, huh.

Chen Ji closed the book: “Went to beat that white cat?”

“You understand me, beat it fiercely!” Wu Yun raised its head even higher.

“Were you discovered by anyone?”

“No.”

“Beat it to death?”

Wu Yun hesitated: “……No.”

Chen Ji’s expression showed some regret.

Wu Yun hurriedly added: “But I licked all the snacks in their Fei Yun Garden!”

Chen Ji nodded: “That’s still alright.”

“Heh heh heh.”

“Heh heh heh.”

Just as they were talking, rustling sounds came from the backyard. Chen Ji turned his head and saw Liu Qu Xing wearing a jacket, poking his head into the medical hall: “Chen Ji, I heard you talking just now? Who were you talking to?”

Chen Ji was silent for a moment: “I was just talking to myself. What else did Liu Shixiong hear?”

Liu Qu Xing was puzzled: “A cat’s meow. It seems a wild cat came into our courtyard. Did you see it?”

At this time, there was no longer any sign of Wu Yun on the counter.