I slept very deeply, I didn't dream anything, I never woke up, and when I opened my eyes, I found that my mother had gone out, and her head was still a little cloudy, and one nostril seemed to be plugged with cotton. At 9:40 a.m., the phone showed five missed calls, one of which did not show the host number, and the other four were all calls from Ant, the soon-to-be-married friend, presumably in a hurry to ask me for help. I went to the bathroom, washed my face, shaved my beard, and looked a lot more energetic. Go to the kitchen and take out the breakfast prepared by my mother from the pot, and every time I do this, I don't have to say anything to know if the breakfast is ready and where it is placed. Use chopsticks with your right hand to separate the egg white from the yolk, pick up the egg white and put it in your mouth, and lay down on the table with your left hand to call a friend.

"Hey," I asked tentatively as soon as the phone was answered.

"Hey, have you just woken up?" I must have been very tired from the journey, I'm sorry to call you so early, but I do have something urgent to discuss with you," said the ant.

"It's okay, I came back for this, where are you? I'll clean up and go to you. ”

"I'm in the new house, in Building XX of the XX Community on Temple Street, do you know here?"

"Is it just going to the Lantern Festival?" I asked.

"Yes, yes, that's it, but there is no lantern festival here, it's all demolished and built into a new type of community, you will not find it, call me when you get here, I'll go downstairs to pick you up." ”

"Okay, that's it. "After the call, I ate the yolk off the plate, drank a bowl of gruel, took the plate and bowl to the sink and cleaned it and put it back in the cupboard. Put on jeans and a black T-shirt hanging from the south-facing balcony, and put on a long dark blue down jacket outside, and walk out the door.

Driving through Temple Street, as ants said, almost all the brick houses on both sides of the street have evaporated, and even the Guandi Temple and Niangniang Temple, which were in full bloom before, do not know where to move, and are replaced by well-decorated high-rise buildings and conspicuous shops underneath. The well-known modern feel is as if processed products from the same factory are listed on the ground frozen hard by snow and ice.

When the ant found me, I had been watching aimlessly at the entrance of the community for a long time, until I walked home with him, and I realized that this community was by no means as small as it looked from the outside, and it took ten minutes to walk to reach the floor where he was.

"I'm sorry to keep you frozen for so long," the ant said apologetically.

"It's out of the way," I said, wiping my nose with a tissue from my pocket, "how are you doing?

"After all, I'm about to get married, and I have to learn to be an adult," Ant said.

"Well, how does it feel?" I sat on the new leather sofa that Ant had bought, and he was also seated in front of me on the left, "The sofa is very comfortable, I guess it costs a lot, right?"

"That's natural, getting married is all about putting all the old bottom on it, but when it comes to the feeling of getting married," he paused, "do you want a drink to warm up?"

"That's for the best. The ant said wait for him, then turned and walked to the brand-new Siemens refrigerator. I leaned back and stretched. He took the black cube and a barrel of ice, and two square glass whiskey glasses. After pouring wine into both glasses, two or three ice cubes were added to each.

"Have you ever thought about getting married?" he said, taking a sip of whiskey.

"I didn't think about it, I always felt that there was a very far distance from me, like getting to Pluto from here," I said, picking up my glass.

"Actually, I didn't think about getting married a month and a half ago, although we have been dating for two years, but I always feel that it is not yet time, just like a basketball game has not yet reached the final bell, I don't know what the score is, this is how it feels, but when the moment of decision comes, the final bell suddenly remembers, I can't see the score board, I can't see the timer, and the referee stopped in an instant, and told us loudly 'You should get married at this time'. Of course, this was not interfered with by external forces, and it was not a judgment born of our original intention and our tacit understanding like the elders of other families urged to get married. One day just a month ago, when I woke up to find her eyes open and looking at the ceiling, I said to her, 'Shall we get married?', she did not hesitate or be surprised, there was nothing emotional, she said, 'Okay', and we informed our respective family and friends and told them that we would be getting married in a month," he took out a box of Seven Stars and handed it to me, I waved my hand, he lit a cigarette himself, and continued, " Then we got married a week later, and everything was not planned, but it seemed like it had been planned for a long time. It's so natural that I don't realize that I have transitioned from unmarried to married. ”

"Doesn't sound bad," I pulled out a nanking and lit it, "I don't know how I can help if I come back?"

"Did you notice something missing in this room?" asked the ant.

"This house is very new to me. ”

"Do you remember the cat that Xia Yu and I had back then?"

"Is the gray one short?"

"Exactly! I moved to a new residence after dating Xia Yu, an apartment on Peace Street. That's where we stayed when you came back last year. Then we all wanted to have a pet to make the house more lively, so we bought the kitten back at the pet store on the next street and named it Cigarette Butts. As you know, I've always loved small animals since I was a kid, but I didn't have much chance to keep them, so I took care of them. But not long after we decided to get married, the cigarette butt suddenly evaporated in this room, and we searched all the places where it could hide, but we couldn't find it. Xia Yu and I were both very anxious, it was difficult to know the life and death of our beloved things, and we felt that one of our organs had been cut and lost. Xia Yu and I are now going to get married, and it's really hard to take care of it. ”

"But I don't have what it takes to find the missing kittens, do I?"

"Don't worry, a few days ago Xia Yu met a cat woman, who is said to be able to talk to cats, but she still needs someone to help deal with some trivial things, such as driving, talking to people, to put it bluntly, although this cat woman can communicate with cats without barriers, but when communicating with people, there are often inappropriate. I came back to you because I don't have any friends I can trust enough besides you, so I really need your help, and I hope to find the cigarette butts before the wedding date," Ant drank the whiskey dry, and reached out to pour the wine, "Here are my car keys, and some cash in a envelope in the passenger seat of the car, so that you can eat with Catwoman, refuel in the car, and other messes these days," Ant put a bunch of keys on the coffee table.

"Okay, so when are we leaving?" I drank the whiskey from my glass.

"I made an appointment with Catwoman to go to the Japanese restaurant on Xicheng Street at eleven o'clock, and you can just go there when the time comes. She doesn't have a cell phone, but we agreed that she will wear a pale green T-shirt, jeans, and sunglasses with a tortoiseshell frame, which are very few people wear this season, so she should be easy to recognize, but to be on the safe side, she also carries a black and red backpack, and she is about twenty years old," the ant said to pour wine into my cup, and I waved my hand and refused.

"It's 10:20 now, do you have anything else to do at noon?" I asked.

"I'm really sorry, I still have to entertain Xia Yu's mother's family at noon, so I can't accompany you over," Ant said apologetically.

"It's okay, it doesn't matter if I go by myself, then I'll leave now. ”

The ant led me to his garage, where a nearly brand new black Toyota Accord lay quietly on the ground.

"It's not bad," I complimented.

"The price is also not bad, but it is also okay, you can pay in installments through a bank loan, and the pressure is much less, go up and try it." "I opened the door with the key, there was no extra trim in the car, black sponge cushions, and a peace charm hanging from the rearview mirror that seemed to have come from somewhere.

"But take good care of her!" the ant waved as he closed the car door for me. I turned on the car engine and reversed out of the garage. Xicheng according to the distance is about 20 minutes by car, not far, but in the search for a parking space still took a lot of pains, usually did not drive, did not notice that the parking space in the downtown area is so difficult to find, wandering a few parking lots, and finally in the adjacent street to walk over to a parking lot for fifteen minutes. After the car turned off, I took the envelope from the co-pilot, pulled out cash, and there were thirty hundred-dollar bills, but I decided not to move, thinking that the ants had to pay off the mortgage and car loan, and such a small thing should have helped, so I opened the drawer in front of the co-pilot, stuffed the envelope in, and got out of the car.

This Japanese restaurant was opened after I left home, and when I came back last year, it hadn't been properly renovated. The interior decoration is very simple, with orange oval chandeliers, seats made of solid wood, about a dozen tables for four, and a wine cabinet and cash register at the door, which hold Nissan sake such as White Deer, Ju Masamune, and Shochikumei, as well as a small amount of whiskey and vodka such as Black Cube, Jack Daniel's, and French Grey Goose. Deep in the back is the kitchen, which is separated by a large piece of glass, through which customers can see the entire process of making sushi, salad and sashimi.

In the penultimate seat near the glass, I saw the target - Catwoman. It went unexpectedly well, not only because of the small space of the store, but mainly because of the people who still wore sunglasses in such a dim light, which can really only be explained as people who wore sunglasses for the sake of wearing them. I walked up quickly, smiled politely, and said, "Hello, I'm a friend of XXX, the ant's name, and he called me to talk to you about finding the cat." "Although she is wearing sunglasses, judging from the exposed skin, this girl's skin is delicate and exudes the light of youth. The nose, ears and mouth are all very small, like the satisfying work of some well-known master potter with his nimble hands. His face was mostly covered by sunglasses, and his two slender arms were placed on the table, his fingers interlocked. It doesn't look very tall, around 159.

"Oh," she didn't take off her sunglasses because of my presence, perhaps not in her consciousness yet, "how much do you know about the cat's disappearance?" Catwoman didn't say much, and got straight to the point.

"To be honest, I didn't know anything, and after agreeing to my friend in a daze, I rushed here in a daze," I realized that in the conversation with the ants just now, I didn't ask for any information about cats, and everything I talked about was not what I needed, and I began to doubt my communication skills.

"The cigarette butt should have gone missing 32 days ago, and the way of escape is unknown, but I guess it must have slipped out when the owner opened the door, or jumped out of the open balcony, and before you came, I asked the nearby cats, and there were no clues about her," Catwoman said.

Clear-minded, articulate, and doesn't understand why the ant says she has trouble talking to people.

"Have you had lunch?" I asked.

"No," replied simply and neatly.

I beckoned the waitress to come over and asked Catwoman if there was anything she wanted to eat, and Catwoman said, "It's good to have fish," and she was silent. I flipped through the menu and ordered salmon sashimi, charcoal-grilled eel, crab claw tempura, two bowls of udon, a bottle of beer, and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.

"Is it okay to order these?" I asked Catwoman tentatively.

"Can you pack a serving of sweet shrimp and swap orange juice for iced sake?" said Catwoman.

"Of course," I said with a pencil to rework the menu, hand it to the waiter, and ask, "What are our plans after eating?"

"Go to the unbuilt construction site behind Temple Street and wait for more stray cats and ask for more news about cigarette butts," Catwoman said dryly, taking a sip of lemonade.

The curtain of silence was drawn, and there should be something to say, but I was speechless and didn't know what to ask, and Catwoman didn't look like someone who would take the initiative to speak. The vinyl record player on the right side of the bar starts to play They say it's wonderful, and the world feels like a pool of jazz music, with waiters wearing diving goggles and their feet floating and swinging back and forth to and fro to and fro to set up food for the various tables, including ours. The sashimi is fresh and beautiful, as if it had just been cut from a fish in the water and placed on a plate filled with ice. The chill from the ice spilled over the outer frame of the plate made me sneeze.

"I'm sorry," I said, pulling out a tissue from the table.

"It's nothing, you don't look in good spirits," Catwoman said, and I suddenly noticed that she was speaking in a tone that didn't incorporate any emotion, as if it were words that popped out of a typewriter.

"I just came back with a cold, it's not a big deal, belch, I heard you didn't use your phone?" I leaned over to clear my nose.

"I don't know words, not even numbers. I still knew before the second year of high school, and it is said that my academic performance is not bad, but I don't know why, I have a high fever, and I don't remember anything, words, numbers, I don't remember, and the calculation level is limited to how much a hundred yuan was spent, and how much is left," Catwoman put a lot of mustard on the plate, poured a little soy sauce, stirred gently, and the slender chopsticks "dingding" on the edge of the plate,

"That must be a lot of trouble, isn't it?" I stirred the dipping sauce as well, but my mustard was really nothing compared to Catwoman.

"Fortunately, I just went to several hospitals and there was no doctor who could explain the situation accurately, and in the end, I also troubled the psychiatrist, but the effect was not good. Because he completely lost the ability to learn words, he had to leave school. My parents were naturally disappointed, so after arranging for me to work in a hemp mill in the south of the city, the two of them went to the provincial capital to accompany my younger brother. But it's not bad, a person is not controlled by others, and the work is easy. Because it is a piecework settlement, even if there is something that does not go to work for a few days, it will not be affected, and these things have to rely on the help of my parents to calculate, and every month's salary will be sent to their bank card, and then they will give me the necessary expenses for my life," Catwoman put a piece of salmon in her mouth, "The so-called absolute bad things cannot happen in this world, and absolute good things cannot happen either." Although I had lost the ability to write and my parents were not around, one day, as I was sitting on a bench in the square, I suddenly heard two cats talking by the flower bed. Since then, I have tried to talk to them, sometimes late and late, and often bring them something to eat. ”

"Do you often help others find cats?"

"This is the first time, your friend's wife happened to be looking for a cat in the park one day, and when she saw me chatting with the cat, she came up to me and asked me, and I answered truthfully, but even my parents didn't know about it, and if they told them that I could talk to cats, they would definitely say that they had another fever and burned their heads, so they didn't bother to say this," Catwoman took a sip of sake after a sluggish sip.

"How satisfying is the taste?"

"Delicious, speaking of which, my favorite food is these, every time my parents call for money, I always come here to have a good meal first, and then bring some sweet shrimp to Fei Fei - a stray cat with a white tail, very talkative, cheerful, unlike other stray cats, from the beginning they will not reject me as an alien, take the initiative to come up to me and say, 'Hey, you seem to understand cat language, it's incredible.' So we became friends who talked about everything. ”

"It's not bad," I couldn't help but cough twice more and sip my beer to moisten my throat.

"Well, I have a saying, it might be a bit presumptuous to say it," Catwoman said.

"It's okay, just say it. ”

"From my point of view – even if I'm wearing sunglasses it doesn't matter, it seems like something important is missing from your body, and I don't know where I left it. ”

"What?" I repeated.

"The running fawn doesn't know which branch to hang its antlers on," Catwoman explained.

"Metaphorical?" I dipped dry.

"I don't understand. ”

Outside the window, the snow didn't seem to be big, and there was no wind, and the snowflakes fell lazily to the ground, like a ship docked motionless at the end of the line. Pedestrians hurried along, as if their limbs were being moved by an invisible withdrawal. From time to time, vehicles drive in different directions, and the tires run out of ruts, like roads, but also like a maze, I don't know who is in it, and I don't know who left what in it.