Annual Ceremony

Chapter 2: Beginning of Spring (I)
After the beginning of spring, the river thawed, the willow tree at the corner sprouted, and the thin willow branches became soft and graceful.

Orange was lying on the firewood pile in the corner, squinting his eyes to bask in the sun. When he sniffed the air, he could already smell the scent of revival of all things in the air.

Orange's fluffy kitten fur was blown by the spring breeze and also felt the warmth of the sun. He put his hands in his pockets comfortably, but felt a little regretful.

The weather was fine and there were few dried fish.

Orange misses the modern canned foods and freeze-dried quail that are made with a combination of technology and hard work.

Under the firewood pile, the big cat scratched itself with its hind legs. A tuft of cat hair that it had used up the entire winter flew in the wind into the air and was picked up by a passing swallow, who used it to build a new nest.

Orange narrowed his eyes and was inspired to compose a poem - cat hair is not heartless, it can turn into a new nest to protect the birds.

The swallow came again the next day and took away two more tufts of cat hair.

When he came again on the third day, he brought not just one swallow, but several others.

Looking at the group of swallows circling and waiting on the wall, and then looking at the mother cat whose fur had almost fallen off, Orange felt that her mother was under a lot of pressure, so she could only pretend to lick her fur and act like she was busy.

Fortunately, the swallows also know that cats are good at catching birds, so they dare not get too close, otherwise these swallows might turn into cat fur robbers.

All things are always in a state of mutual restraint, intergeneration and interdependence.

For example, Orange doesn’t like children, but is always attracted by the crying of children.

One afternoon, Zhenyi was crying again.

While the mother cat was out looking for food, Orange secretly went to see Zhenyi.

Juzi is already a two-month-old cat, and Zhenyi is also one month old, but her mother Yang Jinniang still rarely gets out of bed and walks around.

Yang Jinniang's health was not good. The childbirth had seriously injured her essence, and she had to recuperate for the entire month.

The doctor also said privately that in addition to her physical illness, she also had some emotional issues.

Orange didn't know much. It just thought that humans were too fragile. Not only did they only give birth to one baby in a litter, but that one baby also grew very slowly.

It often came to see Zhenyi, but it always felt that the little baby had not grown much. Juzi even sneaked into the room at night, lay on his back on Zhenyi's bed, stretched out his four paws as long as possible, and competed with Zhenyi to see whose paws were longer.

The change in Zhenyi's length seems to be negligible, and its orange is growing well and can now run and jump.

Orange stepped on the bench, climbed up to the small window, stood on the window frame, and stretched his head to look into the house.

Little Zhenyi was still crying. She had just finished her milk. A maid was holding her upright in her arms and patting her to comfort her, fearing that she would spit up the milk. Another maid who was about ten years old was holding a rattle beside her and also coaxing her in a serious manner: "Miss, don't cry, Miss, don't cry!"

While Zhenyi was crying in the arms of the old woman, she seemed to see the orange cat on the window frame.

Their eyes met. This was the first time the baby and the cat looked into each other's eyes.

Juzi stared at little Zhenyi. The little baby had a pair of big eyes, which were now filled with tears and became brighter and brighter.

After a moment, Orange raised his two front paws, straightened his upper body, and made a cat-like gesture.

Little Zhenyi stopped crying, and made "oh, oh" sounds with her mouth open.

The little maid holding the rattle looked over and pointed at the orange: "Madam, mother, look, there is an orange little raccoon!"

Orange quickly dropped his front paws, jumped out, and ran away.

After that, Orange came three or five more times. Whenever Zhenyi cried, it would come to check.

And whenever Zhenyi saw it, she would always stop crying.

Seeing that it was quite clever, Yang Jinniang slowly invited it into the house. The maid Chun'er would occasionally give it a piece of jerky or bring a bowl of well-cooked fish to the cat's nest in the corner.

Whenever the mother cat goes out, she tells every cat she meets that among her litter of kittens, the eldest is the most successful and has pleased the masters. It is a great honor for the family because one cat is successful.

Second Orange and Third Orange also found families one after another. They were hired as cat slaves by their neighbors in exchange for a carp.

Xiao Panzi was in poor health and had no stable job. He passed away just after February.

Orange felt that the name was not good enough. It would be so heavy to carry three oranges on a plate.

Orange has been a little depressed lately. It was punished and was not allowed to enter Zhenyi's room for five days. But it didn't do anything bad. It just jumped onto the bed while Chun'er was taking a nap and licked little Zhenyi's hair.

When Chun'er chased Juzi back, he complained to his mother cat, "You didn't see, her hair is so messy!"

Orange is determined to do the job of raising children more considerately and meticulously, but humans don't understand his painstaking efforts.

When Zhenyi was more than two months old, Yang Jinniang recovered and was finally able to walk out of the yard.

On this day, Yang Jinniang and her husband Wang Xichen took Zhenyi to the old lady.

On the way, Yang Jinniang looked nervous, and Wang Xichen kept his head down and didn't speak. In Juzi's eyes, they felt that their child was secretly born through improper means and should not be allowed to be seen in public.

The Wang family is a well-known family in Jinling. The patriarch of the family, Wang Zhefu, was born into a family of imperial academies and has experienced ups and downs in officialdom for decades. He is now an official in Guangdong, serving as the prefect of Jiaying Prefecture, a fourth-rank official.

Wang Zhefu's ancestral home is in Tianchang County, Anhui Province. More than ten years ago, his family moved to Jinling. He has three sons. Wang Xichen is the second son. He and the eldest son are both born to the first wife, Mrs. Dong. The third son's biological mother is Wang's concubine, who died of illness in her early years.

The distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children in the Wang family was not serious, and no one would make a fuss about it, but since they were not born of the same mother, there was a certain distance between them in their hearts.

Old Madam Dong was a strong-willed person, but among her three sons, the third son, Wang Xipu, was the most ambitious. The third uncle, Wang Xipu, was the only one who entered the official career. He was now a county magistrate in another place, leaving his wife in Jinling to serve his stepmother. The two children were also with the old lady. The daughter, Wang Shuyi, was seven years old this year and was already quite knowledgeable and well-mannered. Although her son, Wang Jie, was only four years old, people said that a person's future could be seen at the age of three, and Wang Jie looked like a good student.

Apart from the third branch, Mrs. Dong's two biological sons had very few offspring.

The eldest son of the Wang family, Wang Xirui, is Wang Yuan, the eldest grandson of the Wang family. He is now ten years old and is lively and active, but when he sees writing, he always becomes as quiet as a quail and as still as a wooden chicken.

The most noteworthy thing about him at the moment was that he had a fight with the youngest son of the Jinling prefect last year and lost.

Fortunately, I lost.

Wang Xirui had a heart attack when he mentioned this.

But he had no children for many years, so this became a little difficult, so he transferred the responsibility of having children to his second brother and his wife.

Wang Xichen couldn't help feeling pressured.

Unfortunately, he never got the chance to win the title and only had a daughter.

At this time, he and his wife went to see his mother with their child, and he felt really uneasy in his heart.

Juzi was squatting outside the hall and saw old lady Dong.

The old lady had neat gray hair, she was not tall, a little plump, had a long face, and droopy eyes. She didn't seem to like smiling much, which gave people a sense of majesty.

After Wang Xichen and his wife paid their respects, a maid stepped forward, took the child from Yang Jinniang's arms, and brought her to Old Madam Dong: "Old Madam, please take a look at the Second Young Miss..."

Wang Xichen and his wife bowed their heads quietly, like prisoners in the court, waiting for the verdict.

After a while, the old lady's laughter was heard from above.

The couple looked up and saw the old lady holding her granddaughter in her arms, her brows relaxed and loving: "You have complete eyebrows, you are blessed, your eyes are bright, you are a smart child..."

"By the way, your father has written back from Guangdong." The old lady said to her son and daughter-in-law, "Give the baby a name..."

Wang Xichen looked up in surprise. His father actually gave his daughter a name?

The old lady reached out and touched the little girl's cheek, smiling and calling, "Deqing... Little Deqing."

Wang Xichen breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this, and a smile appeared in his eyes.

Yang Jinniang's eyes turned slightly red, and the dark clouds in her heart finally dissipated.

One day at the beginning of spring of the following year, Yang Jinniang, a new mother, was pleasantly surprised to find that little Zhenyi could already take a few shaky steps.

When the weather got warmer, the little kid with two little pigtails took off his thick cotton-padded clothes and walked faster.

Kids of this age would grab anything new they saw and put it into their mouths as if it were a matter of course. This made Orange very worried. Whenever he saw Zhenyi reaching out her hand recklessly, Orange, who had turned into her personal bodyguard, would always use his cat fist to hit her hand back.

But this did not prevent Juzi from taking the opportunity to step forward and quickly scratch the two little tufts of hair on the top of Zhenyi's head whenever she fell. There was no way around it because it really looked like a cat toy.

It's the beginning of spring again, and Zhenyi is three years old.

On the eve of Zhenyi's birthday, Juzi took the trouble to prepare a sincere birthday gift and placed it next to little Zhenyi's pillow at night.

The next morning, Chun'er's screams echoed throughout the Wang family.

Chun'er picked up the huge dead mouse, threw it out with a scream, and issued the most severe punishment, that Juzi would not be allowed to step into the house again within half a month.

Orange took the mouse back to its nest in a depressed mood.

The mother cat told it that it was its fault this time, and confidently pointed out the mistake: [People should eat cooked food. ]

So, on Zhenyi's fourth birthday, Juzi prepared a half-cooked roasted mouse for her.

Orange caught the mouse two days in advance and secretly stuffed it under the stove.

Juzi's two snow-white paws were black from digging in the stove, and his nose was also rubbed dirty, but his steps were still graceful, and he went to see Zhenyi with the roasted rat in his mouth.

Chun'er, who was already fourteen years old, screamed again.

This time, Orange was not allowed to enter the house for a month.

By the time Orange's curfew was lifted, the apricot blossoms in Jinling City were already in full bloom.

When the sweet osmanthus flowers bloomed in autumn, Orange began to worry about Zhenyi's fifth birthday.

And on this day, Wang Xichen came back from outside, his shoulders drooping dejectedly, and he said nothing.

When Orange saw this, he followed him quietly.

　【Note: All ages in this article are in Chinese.】

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(End of this chapter)