The Blind Old Woman looked up at the sky. The sun hung high in the sky, and the clouds were like cotton fluff from Old Li next door, clumps of them that she couldn't get rid of. The sky seemed no different from usual, but the Blind Old Woman had a feeling that something was about to happen.
There have been so many Crow lately; you can suddenly hear them cawing Guagua when you go out. They say Crow bring bad luck, Blind Old Woman wondered if her days were numbered. But there are also many magpies, chattering noisily. They say magpies bring good news, but the Blind Old Woman didn't know what good news was coming from. The only thing she could be happy about was that the cat she had taken in had come back to life.
Crow and magpies come together, and all sorts of other birds fly around all day long. It's hard to tell whether this is a sign of good fortune or disaster, so people dare not go out. Only the Blind Old Woman is unwavering, going to rummage through all the garbage cans every day.
The Blind Old Woman threw the bottles she had found into her snakeskin bag, which was already full and bulging. She hoisted it onto her shoulder with a stick, thinking it was time to go home; her cat was still very weak and waiting for food.
A girl in pajamas came over carrying a trash bag and placed it on top of the trash can. The Blind Old Woman noticed the bag was clean, and the food containers inside were neatly folded, not like they had been used. She asked, "Girl, you haven't eaten yet, have you?"
The little girl yawned and said, "I haven't eaten. Take it if you want, it's still hot."
The Blind Old Woman went over and touched it; it was indeed hot. She said, "Why aren't you eating it? What a waste!"
Whether she didn't hear it or was disgusted by the smell of the trash can, the little girl covered her mouth and nose and hurried away.
The Blind Old Woman tied up the food bag and muttered to herself, "The kittens are in for a treat!"
An old man passing by overheard this and asked, "What did you say about kittens? Do you have a cat at home?"
The Blind Old Woman was startled, waved her hand and said, "There's no one left to raise her!" and hurriedly left.
Back home, the Blind Old Woman closed the doors and windows tightly before entering the inner room. She lifted the bedsheet hanging from the bed and whispered, "Dinner's ready! Dinner's ready!"
There were several shoe boxes under the bed. One of them rustled and moved, the lid was pushed open, and a thin, orange cat crawled out. It first peeked out with half its head, its eyes full of wariness. Seeing that only the Blind Old Woman was there, it crawled its whole body out of the shoe box. It looked like a skinny, bony creature with weak paws, its gait unsteady, not at all like a cat.
The Blind Old Woman opened the bag of unwanted lunchboxes from the girl. Inside were a few pieces of fatty meat, a fish tail, two kinds of vegetables, and a lunchbox. The Blind Old Woman said:
"Look at you, look at you! You're so lucky! There's even fish!"
She used chopsticks to remove the chili peppers and ginger stuck to the fish's tail, put it in the cat's food bowl, and let the cat eat first. Then she poured the fish soup into the rice, mixed it, scooped out half of the rice for the cat, and said:
"I'm in luck too! Fish soup with rice, half for you, half for me."
The Blind Old Woman and the cat began to eat, facing each other. The cat first finished the fish tail, then, drawn by the aroma of the meat, came over and meowed softly at the Blind Old Woman. The Blind Old Woman quickly pressed the cat's head down with her hand.
"Don't shout! Don't shout! It'll be terrible if someone hears you! You smelled the meat, but you're too weak right now. Eating too much at once is bad; you'll get a stomach upset. Save the fatty meat for you tomorrow. Don't worry about me eating it; my stomach isn't good, I can't handle such greasy food!"
As if the cat understood her words, it stopped meowing and obediently went to eat its fish soup with rice.
After finishing her meal, the Blind Old Woman went to wash the dishes, and the cat followed her, circling around her feet. A Crow landed on the windowsill and peered inside through the glass. The Blind Old Woman called out "Go away!" a few times, shooing the Crow away.
The Blind Old Woman said to the cat, " Crow coming to the door is not a good thing. You should hide quickly." The cat obediently crawled back under the bed.
Just as the cat settled in, the Blind Old Woman heard a knock at the door. She went to open it and saw a property management staff member standing there. The staff member said, "Someone reported you for keeping a cat, which is affecting the safety of our community residents."
The Blind Old Woman said, "I don't keep cats! My son took my cat away a long time ago!"
The story of the Blind Old Woman's unfilial children was no secret in the neighborhood, and the property management staff knew about it, saying, "We know about it, but since someone reported it, we had to come and take a look."
The Blind Old Woman didn't know anything about the law. Seeing the property management staff in their security guard uniforms, she assumed they were like police officers in uniforms and could search her home. She became nervous and blocked the doorway, saying, "I really don't have a cat."
The property management staff knew their authority was limited and didn't dare to actually go in to check, but they noticed the Blind Old Woman's nervousness and became even more suspicious, so they advised her:
" Blind Old Woman, you can't keep a cat! Scientists have said that cats carry viruses that specifically damage people's brains, and many people have already died from them. The old man in our neighborhood who had a limp just died of brain disease the day before yesterday. If they find out you have a cat, they might suspect that your cat killed him, and his family will definitely come after you."
The Blind Old Woman was startled by the property management staff and a little scared, but thinking of the poor kitten, she quickly waved her hands. "It's not my kitten!"
The property management staff left. The Blind Old Woman returned to her room and, while washing the dishes, muttered to herself, "Should I keep this cat? Will it really harm someone?" But the cat was only kept in her home and hadn't run around. Even if it was poisonous, it would kill her first, not someone else, right? She remembered seeing Crow a lot lately and felt her days were numbered.
The Blind Old Woman lifted the bed sheet and said, "You're not here to see me off on my deathbed, are you?"
The cat poked half its head out of the shoebox, which covered its head like a hat. It opened its mouth, probably wanting to meow again, but whether it was full or remembered the Blind Old Woman's instructions, it didn't meow. Its two big eyes stared pitifully at the Blind Old Woman.
The Blind Old Woman sighed, "You really are my little darling!"
Life went on as usual, and the Blind Old Woman still went to collect garbage every day without fail. If she found any fresh food in the garbage heap, especially fish and shrimp, she would bring it back to feed the cat. The cat grew stronger day by Tiantian and was no longer as weak as it had been at the beginning.
That day, the Blind Old Woman brought back a fish that was still relatively intact. She was feeding it to the cat when she suddenly heard Guagua cawing on the windowsill. She then realized that she had forgotten to close the window, and a Crow had landed on the windowsill, peeking inside.
The cat, who was eating fish, suddenly meowed excitedly and pounced towards the windowsill. Halfway there, it stopped abruptly, tilted its head, and looked at the Crow outside the window with a disappointed expression.
The Blind Old Woman saw the Crow and muttered, "I know my time has come, you don't need to come and chatter Tiantian." Suddenly, she saw the cat's reaction, especially that loud meow, and she stamped her foot in alarm, "Oh my little darling, you can't meow so loudly!"
She shooed the Crow away, and just as she was about to close the window, there was a rapid knocking at the door.