Unintended Immortality-Chapter 590: Even Cats Had Their Glory Days

“Since that’s the case,” the Daoist asked, “why didn’t you only bury food in the winter?”

“...?”

The cat on the altar froze for a moment, clearly caught off guard. This question seemed to stump her, and she quickly fell into deep thought...

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” Song You said mildly. “It’s just that, since food buried in winter is less likely to spoil, while in summer it spoils quickly, and winter has fewer offerings and less prey, whereas summer is the opposite, then wouldn’t it make more sense for you to only bury prey in winter?”

He paused, then added, “It’s just a passing thought.”

“...That’s true...” The cat’s amber eyes shimmered as she resumed pondering the idea.

After a moment of reflection, however, she frowned with an unconvinced look. “That wouldn’t work...” she muttered under her breath but couldn’t quite explain why.

She just felt instinctively that it wouldn’t do. Of course the meat had to be buried, and it had to be buried all year round. As long as there was extra prey, it had to be stored. How could it be okay not to store it?

The calico cat shook her head. But then, as another thought struck her, she immediately brightened up. “Humans are the best. Humans are amazing. Humans are smart. They don’t need to bury their meat, and it doesn’t get eaten by bugs.”

What made her happy was that, through hard work and curiosity, Lady Calico had mastered an advanced, high-level skill once exclusive to humans.

No wonder humans could raise cats.

Truly impressive...

And come to think of it, Daoists were even more impressive than regular humans. Ever since she started following one, Lady Calico had become more impressive too. Not only did she know to use salt to preserve meat now, she also had a brocade satchel that was just like winter, and thanks to that, meat didn’t go bad nearly as easily.

Thinking of the cured mice, cured chicken, cured rabbit, dried fish, and dried loaches she had stored in that pouch, which were enough to feast on for days without running out, she felt utterly satisfied.

As for the hardship and hunger from those days long past, they had naturally been left behind with the past itself.

The cat lowered its body, lifted its hindquarters, and stretched in a lazy arc before it yawned. Then, it settled down again, lying flat and eyeing the Daoist at eye level as it continued their conversation.

“Actually, this temple wasn’t my original one. My first temple was over there in the mountains, beside a deep, deep forest. It was a very small temple. Later, an old man named Cunzheng moved my statue from that little temple to this one. Back then, not many people came to offer incense at the first temple, so I only had to go out hunting for mice every few days. But once I came here, more and more people started showing up.”

As the cat reminisced about her past life, her eyes sparkled with spirit, though her mouth didn’t stop chattering.

“Sometimes I had to go out every single day. Sometimes I had to visit several places in a single night, and I was so tired. Only in the cold season were there fewer people. Thankfully, I always found my way.”

She didn’t bring up how, after being moved to this larger “main temple”, which had once housed a sinister deity, the incense offerings flourished, but also drew the attention and suspicion of the local road god. Perhaps she no longer cared. Or perhaps, after all these years, she had simply forgotten or chosen to ignore something that wasn’t important anymore.

“Later, to thank him, I even brought him a mouse. But he didn’t eat it. So I caught a little bird and brought it to him instead. He let it go too. Just like you.”

“Then who was it that first worshipped you, Lady Calico? The one who made the statue?” Song You asked curiously.

“I don’t remember. It was a small temple anyway, and there weren’t any people around,” the cat replied.

The cat tried hard to recall, but the memory was far too blurry, and its once-fluent speech had turned halting and stammered.

“Once, it rained so hard the forest couldn’t block it. I tried to take shelter under someone’s house, but a dog chased me away. So I curled up inside that little temple instead... Oh! Tomorrow I’ll take you there to play...”

“Mhm...” Song You sat down on the ground, nodded, and motioned for her to go on.

He had long since grown used to how the cat’s thoughts tended to wander mid-conversation.

“I think the rain stopped, but I didn’t go out. The ground outside was sticky, all muddy, and it would’ve gotten stuck to my paws. Cats aren’t supposed to get dirty. Only dying cats can get dirty. And if they get dirty, people chase them off more, dogs bite them more, and licking it all clean is exhausting.”

The calico cat lay stretched out on the altar, explaining to him, “Then someone walked by outside, saw me, and for some reason, he actually bowed to me. Then he gave her a roasted bamboo grub to eat.”

Song You had more or less pieced the scene together in his mind. It must have been summertime.

Bamboo grubs were found in bamboo groves, most commonly in summer especially during the hottest part of the season. Poor families often tried every possible way to find something edible nearby, and many delicacies came from that. Once cooked, bamboo grubs were almost all meat inside, and they were fragrant and delicious. It was a rare treat, a heaven-sent protein.

That lined up with Lady Calico’s mention of a heavy rain. Summer rains often come just like that, violent and unstoppable, crashing through trees and pounding leaves. The small creatures of the mountains could only flee in panic.

Some villager must’ve gone up the mountain and, seeing a pretty cat in the long-abandoned roadside shrine, perhaps had just heard a story like hers. Maybe he happened to be dealing with a mouse problem at home. Or maybe it was for no reason at all, he simply took Lady Calico as a spirit or monster from the mountain. And at that time, she had started to develop a trace of enlightenment, so she was at least far more clever than the average cat.

“Roasted bamboo grub is so tasty!” The cat didn’t forget to add this to him with great seriousness.

“And then, to show your thanks, you followed him home and caught mice for him. After that, other people started coming to worship you,” Song You said. “That’s how it happened, right?”

“How did you know?”

“I guessed.”

Lady Calico always repaid kindness and never forgot a favor.

“You’re really smart,” the cat said. “Later on, when I went out to find food and didn’t come back for several days, they saw I wasn’t there, so they made a fake cat out of mud to place in the shrine. And they still called that fake cat ‘Lady Calico.’”

“A lot of stories are like that.”

“Mm...”

“Then does the older you like the old little shrine better, or this big one?”

“Mm...” The cat lying down froze slightly again. He had stumped her once more, and she soon fell into thought...

“The old shrine was really small, but it was very comfortable to live in. It was inside a forest, and it was easy to catch bugs, rabbits, mice, birds, and snakes there. It was fun, too. Just a little way down the slope was a human village, and there were mice to catch there too. That was fun. I really liked it,” the calico cat mused aloud.

She continued, “But this shrine is bigger, and more people come to burn incense for me. Except for winter, there were little fish and loaches to eat every day, so I liked this one too.”

“I see...” The Daoist nodded thoughtfully.

And the cat went right on chattering.

She talked about the night that kept her the busiest, running between several households, dashing madly through the mountain paths in the middle of the night. About times when no one came for days, leaving her to wonder if no one would ever come again, which made her gloomy for a long time. About which house at the foot of the mountain had the most mice, and which family once gave her half a chicken. About how bustling those years were. And also about the time she was discovered by someone lodging overnight in the temple while she was hiding inside.

Years of being a temple spirit had left her with endless things to say.

Outside, the sky had already gone dark. In the run-down shrine in the mountains, the lantern cast a warm light, and voices echoed one after another, calmly and gently. They would of course spend the night here.

No one else came seeking shelter. Only in the middle of the night, after both the person and the cat had fallen asleep, something wicked crept to the shrine. It was something full of malevolence and steeped in evil qi peering in through the doorless entrance, and it was about to step inside.

Lady Calico’s reaction was far more intense than usual when encountering a demon or spirit. Rarely did she get angry, but this time, upon being jolted awake in alarm, she lay on the altar and locked eyes with the evil creature for a few seconds. The moment it tried to step inside to do harm, she shot out like lightning and burned it to ashes with a single blast of fire, leaving not even a trace behind.

The next morning, deep in another mountain range...

The forest here was indeed lush, wildly overgrown and tangled.

By the side of a small path, nestled between several large trees and buried beneath a messy tangle of brambles, stood a tiny shrine not even half a person tall. It was extremely crude, likely once built for a mountain god or earth deity.

But perhaps the area had no such spirits, or they never came to be. People found their prayers unanswered, offerings ineffective, and over time, the shrine had simply been abandoned until Lady Calico claimed it for herself.

But now, this little shrine had been abandoned a second time. After over a decade of wind and rain, even the roof had half collapsed, and it was covered with fallen leaves.

“This is it!”

Though she was clearly just a cat, Lady Calico lifted a paw, one that looked like it was wearing a white glove, and pointed toward the shrine, then turned her head to speak to the Daoist. The gesture was almost eerily human.

“The mountains are lovely here, and the water’s clear. It’s warm in winter, and cool in summer. It has great feng shui, it’s a blessed spot,” Song You said, glancing around and making things up as he went. “No wonder it gave rise to you, Lady Calico.”

“Exactly!” The cat nodded proudly, then started to move forward.

But after so many years, the brambles had grown thick and tangled, so much so that not even a cat could squeeze through. Lady Calico tried to push her way in, but was quickly repelled. Worse yet, a few thorny vines even reached out and snagged her, refusing to let her pass.

Just then, a voice came from behind, “Would you all kindly make way?”

It was unmistakably the voice of her Daoist priest.

“Hmm?”

The cat turned her head in confusion, wanting to see who he was talking to. But before she could spot him, her attention was caught again, this time by something right beside her.

Rustle, rustle... swish, swish...

There was a soft sound of things brushing and shifting.

The tangled wall of brambles and thick and thorny bushes in front of the shrine suddenly began to move on their own, as if they could understand human speech. It was as if they'd gained enlightenment and were reasonable beings.

One by one, the branches pulled back, retreating the same way they’d grown, just as if rewinding time. The dense, impassable thicket that normally required fire or blades to clear disappeared in an instant.

A clear path opened before her. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Moments later, the cat sat properly on the far side of the collapsed little shrine among fallen leaves. The height of the shrine was almost exactly right for her. She lifted her head and looked at the Daoist, silently telling him that this was how she used to sit here in the old days.

Returning to this old place, Lady Calico felt something stir in her heart. Though she didn’t yet know that this feeling was called nostalgia.

But time was limited, and the road ahead was still long. Thus, Lady Calico only paused here briefly to revisit her past and savor a moment of memory, then she followed the Daoist away, returning to the Jinyang Road.