During the reign of Emperor Pingxing, the empress moved to Penglai Palace, and Qingning Palace accidentally caught fire. By the time the new emperor ascended the throne, the empress's original residence had become a de facto abandoned palace. Although it was renovated and cleaned every year, no one lived there and it always lacked some popularity.
There are many plants planted outside Qingning Palace. They have not withered yet in September. When the wind blows at nightfall, the branches and leaves in the palace sway, looking like a layer of ghostly shadows.
Xie Wangzhi was not in a hurry. She was alone, carrying a small food box, and slowly walked to the gate of the courtyard. Since there was no one around, she lifted her skirt, squatted in a secluded place, and meowed twice like a kitten.
The two meows were actually not very realistic, but the cats that emerged from the grass and the wall were all real cats, with different fur colors. Each one was very round and some of them had fur so long that they looked like balls.
There were more than a dozen cats that came out and all stuck to Xie Wangzhi. One of them used its claws to pull at her skirt, another rubbed its head against her hand, and the most outrageous one simply lay down on the ground, turning over its furry and soft belly for her to touch.
There were too many cats. Xie Wangzhi only had two hands, so even if she could use her feet, she couldn't reach them all. She could only rub the heads of the cats nearby. After rubbing, she opened the food box and took out the plate inside.
The meatballs on the plate smelled delicious. There was nothing else in the Imperial Food Bureau except for a lot of leftovers. Some of the leftovers had too much oil or fascia, and it was too shabby to serve to the palace ladies, and no one wanted them even if they were left there.
Xie Wangzhi would occasionally take a little, chop up the leftovers of several kinds of meat, mix them together, roll them into small meatballs, roast them over the fire, and feed them to the cat.
The meat roasted over the fire smelled especially delicious. When the cats saw the meatballs, they all stopped rubbing against Xie Wangzhi. The one that was originally lying on the ground immediately jumped up and went to the plate to bite the meat.
When the plate was emptied, the cats came over again after eating. Xie Wangzhi took some effort to retrieve the plate and pull herself out of the pile of cats. It was almost night, so she hurried back. As she stood up, she suddenly heard a soft cat meow.
A few steps away stood a sturdy cat, completely black without a single stray hair. From a distance it looked like a shadow, but the pair of amber eyes on its face seemed to be glowing. The black cat looked at Xie Wangzhi, moved its long tail, and meowed again.
Xie Wangzhi knew this cat. Unlike the other slimy cats at her feet, this black cat was very wild and unfriendly. She had seen it several times running hurriedly over the palace wall with a bird in its mouth. As for the food that the palace servants brought to feed the cat, its whiskers would not even move.
Lou Hanyue, who lived with him, also liked cats. He had specially fried shrimp heads and shells to make shrimp oil and mixed it into the meatballs. Other cats would come over to rub against his legs when they smelled the smell, but this black cat didn't even look at him. Lou Hanyue was so angry that he grabbed Xie Wangzhi and said nonsense, "I think this black cat has become a spirit. It must have the peerless beauty holding the freshly sliced fish!"
Now, the black cat, who would not eat unless the peerless beauty personally fed him fresh fish sashimi, was squatting in front of him. Xie Wangzhi was a little flattered, but the meatballs she brought had long been eaten up. She could only take out the plate and show it to the black cat: "... It's really gone."
The black cat took a look at the plate that had been licked clean, exerted force with its hind legs, and suddenly pounced towards Xie Wangzhi.
Xie Wangzhi was still carrying a food box and a plate, and she had no idea that the cat would suddenly attack her. She couldn't dodge and was standing there. She thought she would be scratched or bitten, but the black cat only jumped to her waist height, snatched the purse from her waist, flicked its tail, and turned around to run back to Qingning Palace.
The purse was empty, but it was Xie Wangzhi's birthday gift this year. The pattern was quite complicated, and Lou Hanyue was almost blinded by the embroidery. The thought was rare, and Xie Wangzhi couldn't bear to part with it. He calculated the time, made up his mind, and chased after her.
The Qingning Palace was evacuated so that only one room was left, and there were no guards. Xie Wangzhi chased the black cat, first entering the courtyard gate and then the main hall. He was clearly following the cat, but as soon as the black cat entered the hall, he didn't know where it ran away, and not even a strand of cat hair could be seen.
Xie Wangzhi was only thirteen years old, so she was not very brave. The shadows of the trees outside were cast on the window, and it was sunset, which made it even more gloomy. She was a little scared, swallowed, encouraged herself, held her breath, and walked towards the inner hall.
The screen separating the inner and outer halls had been removed long ago. Xie Wangzhi walked to where the screen had been originally placed, and was stunned for a moment when he saw the situation inside.
… There was actually someone standing in the inner hall.
There was no light in the hall, and the light that came in at this time was not enough to dimly illuminate a slightly thin figure, taller than her, with his back straight, and at first glance he looked like a bamboo standing in the wind.
He was a young boy, about fourteen or fifteen years old, wearing a green robe of a young eunuch, with long black hair draped over his shoulders, with a few strands picked out on one side and braided into a thin braid.
The boy's face was blurry, but his eyes were very clear, a light amber color that seemed to glow in the dark.
Looking at those beautiful eyes, Xie Wangzhi suddenly remembered what Lou Hanyue said. She had read a lot of legends since she was a child, and her family believed in the Taoist priests. Qingning Palace looked very much like the place where the young man met the ghost girl and the fox in the legend. The shadows of the trees were looming, and she was a little dazed for a moment.
Xie Wangzhi took a step forward and tried to imitate the meow of a cat: "... Meow?"
The boy tilted his head as if he didn't understand.
Xie Wangzhi took a few more steps closer. As the distance shortened, she could see the boy's face clearly. It was cold and beautiful, with facial features that had not yet fully grown. It had a child's soft outline, but it was so beautiful that it was eye-catching.
The generations from aristocratic families always choose beauties to marry, and at least they take a few beautiful concubines, which are passed down from generation to generation, and the descendants are always good-looking. The men Xie Wangzhi has seen since she was a child are all good-looking, and there are several brothers above her, all of whom can be said to be beautiful. But when she saw this young man, she realized that there can be such a look in the world, and he can truly be called a cold and beautiful beauty.
Legends say that only monsters are overly beautiful, so Xie Wangzhi believed it a little more and imitated a cat's meow twice.
The boy was half a head taller than her. She tried to stretch out her arms and touch the boy's long black hair like she was touching a cat.
Before she touched him, the boy turned his head to the side to avoid her hand. He obviously didn't want Xie Wangzhi to touch him, but he didn't get annoyed. His amber eyes looked at Xie Wangzhi steadily, as if he was curious about what she wanted to do, or as if he was looking at a fool with strange behavior.
This expression was quite familiar. Every time Xie Wangzhi saw the black cat, she felt that it had a mocking expression. Now seeing it on the boy's face, she was even more certain that the boy was the black cat in disguise.
At this point, she was not panicked by the sight of a monster. She pursed her lips and said, "Can you return the purse to me?"
"What?" the boy asked, his voice a little hoarse.
"It's the purse on my waist, the one you just... took away." Xie Wangzhi chose a less fierce word and looked at the boy seriously, "The purse is empty, there is nothing you can eat in it, but it is very important to me, it was embroidered by my friend as a birthday gift for me. If you are willing to give it back to me, I will cook for you every day with good beef."
She was not sure whether the boy was willing to return the money, so she gritted her teeth and added, "Oh, by the way, there are crabs these two days! I can give you one or two not-too-big ones to eat, and use the crab roe and crab oil to make other things..."
The boy didn't respond, and Xie Wangzhi thought he felt it was not enough, so he racked his brains to think of something else to give. Before he could think of anything new, a dark shadow appeared at the boy's feet.
The black shadow squirmed twice, and suddenly a pitch-black cat head popped out, with a purse in its mouth. Its amber eyes stared at Xie Wangzhi, and its ears trembled twice.
Xie Wangzhi thought the cat looked very familiar. After looking at it for a while, he felt that the embroidery pattern on the purse also looked very familiar.
Lou Hanyue's embroidery skills are actually pretty good, but she lacks patience. She lost her patience at the end and some of the stitches were not very good. The corners of the black cat's mouth showed the tip of the butterfly's wings, and the thread was not evenly laid, revealing a few stars of the purse's background.
The more Xie Wangzhi looked at it, the more she felt that the purse was embroidered by Lou Hanyue, and the one holding the purse was a nimble black cat. She swallowed, shifted her gaze to the boy's face, and suddenly realized that she had made a big mistake.
Her face flushed, and she took two steps back, unable to speak: "I..."
"You just asked me for my purse." The boy was not annoyed. He looked at the black cat and then at Xie Wangzhi. "You don't think I was transformed by this cat, do you?"
Xie Wangzhi's face turned red.
“… I’m sorry!” Legends aside, how could a cat turn into a human? Thinking back, she felt that she was just confused and apologized quickly, “I don’t know what happened before… It’s my fault. Anyway, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to offend you…”
"It's okay." The boy leaned over, pinched the purse with one hand, and pinched the black cat's ear with the other hand.
The black cat's ears trembled when being pulled, and it whimpered in its throat, and obediently spat out the purse. The boy straightened up and handed the purse over: "Is this your purse?"
Xie Wangzhi nodded quickly, took the purse, and carefully hid it in her sleeve. After all, she had just made such a big joke, and the man in front of her was a handsome young man, so she felt a little embarrassed: "It's mine. Thank you. I'm really sorry for what happened just now."
"It's okay." The boy didn't look at the black cat at his feet. "It was naughty and took other people's things."
Xie Wangzhi didn't know how to respond to this. She was a little confused. After thinking it over, she said: "Anyway, my brain wasn't working well just now. I mistook you for this cat and asked you for your purse. I was rude and I have to apologize to you. Now you give me the purse back. I should thank you."
"My last name is Xie, Xie Wangzhi." She looked up at the boy, "Can I know your name?"
The twelve-year-old girl, still young, had beautiful eyes and eyebrows, and could vaguely see her future beauty. She was obviously embarrassed, her face flushed, and her shoulders trembled slightly, but she forced herself to look at the person in front of her steadily, her pupils were clear, she was small to begin with, and she pursed her lips tightly, and at first glance, I thought she was being bullied.
The young man looked at her and suddenly smiled: "Changsheng. That's what I'll call you."