That year, the family teacher Qingyang Yicheng went down the mountain and began to walk around on the rivers and lakes to practice, and on this day he was traveling to Chengdu, Sichuan.

However, as soon as the family teacher entered the city, he saw many people gathering in the streets and alleys.

The family teacher stepped forward to ask, only to know that there was a strange case of 'hiring cats to make animals' in Chengdu recently! ”

This 'hiring a cat' is actually buying a cat.

Just because the ancients saw that the raccoon cat was so quiet, they were greedy for the stove at every turn, and they did not leave the master for a moment, which was very much like a courtier accompanying the king, so they called the act of buying a cat as a 'cat', and obtained the elegance of the king to hire virtuous and virtuous ministers.

In the past, there was a great sage who wrote "Begging Cat Poems": "Wrap salt to welcome the little civet slave, buy fish and wear willow to hire cicadas", in which the "cicada" is the name of the cat.

This poem says that after the family bought back a flower cat, they had to wear a big fish with a wicker and give it to the kitten as a meeting gift, which shows that this heavy gift has been a custom of 'hiring a cat' for a long time.

You must know that Chengdu Mansion in Sichuan Province is close to the fertile field and is rich in products, and has always been known as the "country of abundance".

In the old days, it also produced good cats, especially the colorful four-eared Jianzhou cats produced in Jianzhou (now Jianyang County, Sichuan) under the rule of Chengdu Prefecture, and was even listed as a tribute to the royal family.

It is for this reason that at that time, there were many people in Chengdu who were engaged in 'hiring cats'.

These people are generally elderly women, once the female cat in their neighbor's house gives birth, they will immediately come to the door and pay for all the cats born by buying a litter.

After the kittens are weaned, these old women will select the kittens with the best coat color and tame character from the litter and put them in the bamboo basket.

Then the man carried a bamboo basket and went to the back houses of the big families in the city to sell it to the ladies of the big families who were willing to pay for it, and often made a lot of money on a trip.

"At that time, there was a Liu Tongju in Chengdu Mansion (the prefect was in charge of grain, salt, thieves and other sent deputies, Zheng Liupin), and his daughter Su Jin was very fond of flower cats, so there were often old women who hired cats with all kinds of good cats to go to Liu's Mansion to sell.

Just one day before Miss Liu's mysterious disappearance, an old woman who hired a cat came to Liu's mansion......"

According to the recollections of Liu's subordinates, the old woman who came to hire cats at that time used a slightly worn bamboo basket to bring eight four-eared cats at a time.

Miss Liu Sujin is usually the most fond of flower cats, and when she saw that the eight flower cats brought by the old woman turned out to be rare Jianzhou four-eared cats, she smiled happily and greeted them, rolled up her sleeves and reached into the basket, wanting to pet and tease.

Who knew that there was a yellow cat with tiger stripes and scorched feet in the cat basket that had not yet been completely tamed to the wild, and when it saw Liu Sujin's wrist stretched out, it immediately raised its claws, and "swooped" it, leaving three blood marks on Miss Liu's wrist that could be bullied by frost and snow!

As soon as she saw that the young lady was scratched by a cat, the maid on the side pointed to the forehead of the old cat with her hand.

"Old killer! How dare you take the untamed kitten to my young lady, and let this wild cat scratch her wrist?

If there is anything wrong with my young lady, look at the old pious woman, you have enough to pay for your life! ”

When the old woman saw that the young lady was scratched by a cat, she was also so shocked that she fell to her knees with a grunt, and knocked her head like pounding garlic.

"Unintentionally hurt the noble daughter's body, the villain deserves death.

Fortunately, the villain carried scratch medicine with him, and asked the young lady to apply it quickly, so that the villain could atone for some sins. ”

After that, the old woman took out a small box one inch square from her arms, opened the lid and handed it to both hands.

The maid took the little box from the old lady's hand, and found that it contained a small half box of peach-rouge ointment, and it exuded a sweet fragrance that she had never smelled before, so she handed the wooden box into the hands of the young lady.

It turns out that the customers of these 'old women with cats' have always been the daughters of large families, so these old women often wear some rare ointments such as rouge or pearl tortoise shell powder that can whiten and conceal blemishes, and they are often not worried about sales.

Seeing that the old woman actually took out a box of rouge-like ointment, Liu Sujin was curious for a while, so he used the nail of the little finger of his right hand to pick out about half a fingernail of ointment from the wooden box and apply it to the wound that had just been scratched by the cat.

Seeing that the old woman's ointment really worked, Liu Sujin's anger caused by the cat's scratch before also dissipated, so he ordered the mother-in-law who was waiting on the side to help the old woman who was kneeling on the ground to help her up, and gave her a hollow wooden stool to sit down.

In the end, Liu Sujin was reluctant to give up this rare four-eared cat, and finally ruthlessly took out a silver ingot weighing about twenty taels from his private silver and rewarded it to the old woman who hired the cat, leaving all the eight kittens of the same mother.

According to the later memories of Liu's subordinates, on the night she bought the kitten, Miss Liu Sujin was so excited that she refused to even go to the dining room in the front yard to dine with the old lady for dinner, and refused to take a step out of the room even if others said that it was a big day.

On that day, Mr. Liu happened to be busy with business and did not return home at dinner; And Mrs. Liu has always doted on her daughter, and when she saw that Miss Liu refused to go out to eat, she only thought that her daughter had just bought her love, and she wanted to be fresh for a while.

Therefore, Mrs. Liu did not come to detain the young lady, but only asked the girl to use the food box to go to the room to bring back a few of the young lady's favorite dishes and send them to the embroidery floor in the backyard.

In this way, Miss Liu lifted the bamboo basket containing the kittens to the table, teasing and rewarding with food, and hastily used it for dinner.

When it was time to go to bed that night, Miss Liu unexpectedly drove all the maids and servants who were usually waiting and resting in the boudoir to sleep in the other room.

Miss Liu also said that she wanted to sleep with this basket of kittens, so that the kittens could smell and distinguish people, and from then on recognize her as the owner.

If someone sleeps in the house, the smell will be messed up.

The mother-in-law and maids who served the young lady got together and felt that according to the lady's usual pampering of the young lady's temperament, they had to agree again this time.

Let's not bother Madame for this trivial matter, so that Madame and Miss will not please both.

After all, this Liu Mansion is one of the best eunuchs in Chengdu City, and at night, there are night guards in the front yard and back house, patrolling the courtyard with lanterns, and there has never been a thief entering the house to steal.

(Dare to steal the house of the city security chief?) This thief must be insane)

Therefore, the maids and servants who waited for the young lady to rest in the backyard were also happy to be idle, and each chose a secluded house in the backyard, spread out their own bedding rolls under the bed, and lay down with their eyes closed to have a good night's sleep.

On the fifth watch of the next day, the maids fetched water from a copper basin, and as usual, they came to the embroidery floor with the adjusted pancreas to wait for Miss Liu to get up, so that they could serve her to freshen up.

However, when the maids pushed open the door of the embroidery building, they "banged" and buckled the copper basin containing half a basin of water in their hands to the ground, and then there were several piercing screams of extreme horror.

I saw that the windows of the boudoir were wide open, and the Ning-style bed in the middle of the house was empty.

The bamboo basket brought by the old cat lady yesterday was buckled on the floor in front of the bed, but the eight four-eared cats who had been playing in the basket all disappeared along with Miss Liu......