The Blind Old Woman hesitated after hearing her son's words. A cat was worth a car, and might even be worth a house in the future! However, she still didn't call the cat out from under the bed, but only said to her son during the meal, "If you have a cat, you can let me keep it here."
The son wiped the oil from his mouth, which he'd left from eating roast duck, and said with a smile, "It's not easy to find a cat these days, otherwise they wouldn't be so valuable!" He then picked up a large piece of pork head meat and gave it to his mother, "Mom, eat, eat!"
The Blind Old Woman was distracted, wondering whether she should tell her son about picking up a stray cat. Even though she knew it was all insincere, she felt a strange sense of satisfaction looking at her son's eagerness.
The son then used chopsticks to scoop the duck brain out of the duck's head, dipped it in some sauce, and put it in the old lady's bowl, saying, "Mom, eat this, it's good for your brain."
The Blind Old Woman smiled and put the duck brain in her mouth. The duck brain was soft when she bit into it, and her heart softened a little.
"A cat is really worth a car?" She stood up and walked to the bed in the inner room. "And maybe it'll be worth a house someday?"
Her son looked at her with a grin and said, "Of course it's true."
The Blind Old Woman placed her hand on the bed sheet, and suddenly remembered the cat's pitiful appearance; her heart and hand trembled together.
The son watched with a grin. He wasn't in a hurry at all; after all, they didn't need to take the cat away today. He was determined to wait and see how the price went up. As the saying goes, scarcity breeds value. Now that there are fewer and fewer cats, they'll definitely become more and more precious. If all the cats in the world died out, and he—no, his mother—was the only one left, then he could have it for whatever price he wanted!
His only worry was that the old lady wouldn't give it to him, and he couldn't take it home to raise—it was inconvenient, and he didn't know how. He was just waiting for the old lady to bring it up herself; as long as she said she had a cat, then the cat would be his.
The Blind Old Woman was still hesitating, holding up half of the bed sheet. Just then, the door lock clicked, followed by a bang, and someone opened the door and came in.
The Blind Old Woman quickly put down the bed sheet, went back to the living room, and saw that it was her daughter who had come.
The daughter stormed in, and upon seeing her brother, she immediately launched into a tirade. "How could you do this? You came without a word! Is this how you behave?!" She glanced at the table, "Oh, you bought so much food. Trying to bribe the old lady? No way!"
"Who bribed her? Who bribed her! Isn't it wrong for me to buy Mom some food?" the younger brother argued. "Look at you, making such a fuss as soon as you come in, what's wrong with you?"
The older sister ignored her younger brother, walked through the living room towards her room, her high heels clicking on the floor. She almost bumped into her mother, who was coming out from the opposite direction. She paused for a moment, called out "Mom," and walked past the old lady.
"Hey, what are you doing?" The Blind Old Woman tried to grab her but couldn't.
The son panicked and rushed in from beside the old lady, yelling, "What are you doing?"
The daughter ignored her, walked around the room, and then went to lift the bed sheet that the old lady had just put down, which was still moving. She lifted the sheet and placed it on the bed, bent down to look at it, and after a while, reached out to touch the shoebox inside.
"What are you doing?" the younger brother asked, pulling his older sister out of the way. "Don't you really treat Mom like your mother anymore?"
The older sister angrily demanded, "Where's the cat? Where's it hiding?"
My younger brother said, "Didn't we already share the money from killing the cat with you? Why are you asking for more?"
My sister said, "Don't think I don't know why you came today! If the property management hadn't told me, I'd still be completely in the dark! Mom got another cat, didn't she? Don't try to hide it from me. You got the last cat, but this one's mine!"
"Why should I?!"
"Why should I? Because I'm my mother's daughter, and I'm a first-in-line heir to her estate, just like you. After Mom passes away, half of this house will belong to me, and you can forget about taking it all for yourself!"
"You are the first in line to inherit, but have you fulfilled your filial duties? The law stipulates that children who have not fulfilled their filial duties cannot inherit the estate. You are already married; if you want to take advantage, go take it from your mother-in-law."
"Ha, you're talking to me about the law! Saying I haven't fulfilled my filial duties, have you? You gamble Tiantian, if you hadn't lost all the money in the house, would Mom have had to resort to scavenging for garbage to make a living?"
The Blind Old Woman stood in the doorway between the living room and the bedroom, listening to her son and daughter arguing, feeling like an outsider.
She sighed, silently turned and walked to the dining table, sat down, picked up her chopsticks and bowl, and began to eat. The arguing in the room continued.
"After Mom dies, you'll get a maximum of 100,000 yuan; don't even think about the house."
"One hundred thousand? You're trying to fob me off! I want half."
"Impossible!"
"There's no such thing as 'possible' or 'impossible.' If you don't agree, we'll see each other in court. I'll tell the judge about your little problem, and we'll see how he rules!"
"So be it, court it is! Who's afraid of who!"
The food got cold, Blind Old Woman ate it bite by bite until her stomach grew cold too. She didn't stop, she kept eating. In no time, the roast duck, pig's head meat, vegetarian goose, and spiced tofu on the table were almost gone, leaving only the last piece of dough and some fatty meat.
The Blind Old Woman felt her stomach was very bloated, all the way up to her chest. She drank some cold water and felt her heart turn cold as well.
She wrapped the last piece of fatty meat in a dough wrapper and stuffed it into her mouth, but she couldn't swallow it. The contents of her stomach churned and tried to rise, while the contents on top tried to go down, but her chest felt like it was blocked by a stone, clogging both her upper and lower passages.
When the Blind Old Woman collapsed, her face was ashen, her cheeks bulged, and half of her face was sticking out of her mouth, like a gluttonous ghost who had just been dragged into hell.
The heavy thud of her falling startled the arguing siblings inside. They saw their mother lying on the garbage-strewn floor, her mouth stuffed with something, her eyes wide open as if trying to see something.
The older sister looked at her younger brother, and the younger brother looked at his older sister. After looking at each other for a while, the older sister said, "Quick, get him to the hospital!"
My younger brother said, "Why aren't you delivering it? If you're going to deliver it, you should deliver it together."
The older sister said, "You are the son, this family belongs to you."
The younger brother said, "You just said you were also the first in line to the throne."
The older sister said, "Then if you admit we'll split it 50/50, I'll send it." She added, "The medical expenses will also be split 50/50."
The younger brother gritted his teeth, nodded, and said, "Okay."
The older sister helped the old lady onto her younger brother's back, and they went out.
The sound of a car starting could be heard outside the door, then silence followed. This silence lasted until dark, when the orange cat finally peeked out from under the bed in a shoebox, then cautiously ventured out. It wandered around the room, living room, and kitchen, meowing a few times.
There is no one.
It jumped onto the table and saw that all the food containers on it were empty.
Just then, it suddenly heard a cawing sound, and a Crow landed on the windowsill, watching it through the glass.