The row of dilapidated rooms in front of him was surrounded by messy weeds. The paint on the broken signboard was mottled, and the original words could no longer be seen.
Maybe one or two hundred years ago, there was a concubine who had been banished to the Cold Palace and lived here for a long time.
Or maybe an old eunuch who had been popular for a while but suddenly fell out of favor had hanged himself here with a piece of white silk.
It was even more possible that more than one palace maid could not bear the humiliation of concubines or eunuchs and died here …
The rumors of the Forbidden City being haunted had always been talked about by people because there were too many secrets in the palace that no one knew about.
Witnessing the process of Wen Li shouting at the empty room, and thinking about this, Zhang Zian felt a chill run down his spine. He was not afraid, but he felt that it was strange. After all, it was broad daylight. Even if there was a ghost, it would not be able to cause trouble. He felt that Wen Li, as a dignified employee of the Forbidden City, would not engage in such superstitious activities, right?
After Wen Li finished shouting, she moved the door plank aside and entered the house. After a while, she realized that Zhang Zian did not follow in, so she walked out again.
"Please come in." She gestured with a normal expression.
"That … there is something I have to tell you. Who were you talking to just now?" Zhang Zian still asked.
Wen Li was stunned, but she immediately understood. She smiled and said, "Oh, I was talking to Da Zhuang!"
It turned out that every night, when the employees of the Forbidden City got off work, they would lock the doors of every palace. When they came to work the next morning, they would take the keys to open the palace doors.
Before opening the door, most of the employees would follow an unspoken rule, which was to cough loudly or yell, "I'm coming in." This was not a yell to the wandering ghosts in the Forbidden City, but to the small animals living in the palace. It was to remind them that someone was coming in and prevent them from being scared.
The Forbidden City was mainly made of wood. There were many trees and grass, and the area was large. The unopened area was quiet, and there was almost no one in the Forbidden City at night. Other than stray cats, there were other small animals, such as weasels, snakes, hedgehogs, and so on. No one knew when they had moved in.
He shouted outside the door, intending to remind these small animals to be prepared. Those that should hide, those that should run, ran, so as to prevent them from jumping out of the door and hurting or scaring people.
This tradition did not start now, but could be traced back to the Qing Dynasty. This was because the Forbidden City had more than 8,000 houses, and it was impossible for all of them to be occupied by people. The empty houses could be occupied by small animals. When they entered, they shouted to get the small animals to retreat and mind their own business with humans.
After she explained in detail, Zhang Zian suddenly understood. Sure enough, different professions were worlds apart. Every industry had its own old rules. It was the same for the cultural relics workers in the Forbidden City, and it was the same for the pet industry. Just like in The Classic of Cats Appreciation, it was said not to buy kittens under four months old. In fact, it was also a kind of experience, but now not many people followed it.
Zhang Zian calmed down and followed her into the dark room.
"Be careful, the room is dark, don't sprain your ankle." Wen Li kindly reminded him, then waved at the corner. "Da Zhuang, we're here to see you."
There was another characteristic of the Forbidden City, which was that there were very few lighting devices in the palaces. This was to prevent fire, but it also caused every palace to be very dark. Walking into a room from the bright and sunny outdoors, one's eyes could not adapt for a while.
Zhang Zian stood in the same place for a while. When his eyes adapted to the light, he followed Wen Li's line of sight and looked at the corner.
There was a straw mat there, and on the straw mat sat an orange tabby. Beside it was an aluminum water basin and a food basin.
Compared to the average size of the stray cats in the Forbidden City and the average size of the orange tabby, this orange tabby was not fat. It could even be said to be quite slim.
It drooped its head listlessly, as if it had not woken up. When it heard Wen Li's call, it raised its head to look at her. From its eyes, it could be seen that it recognized her, but it quickly lowered its head again.
The room was dark, and the distance was a little far, so the specific situation could not be seen clearly. However, Zhang Zian could see a glimmer of sparkling saliva dripping from the corner of its mouth.
Wen Li introduced, "This is Da Zhuang. Before I started working here, it was already here. It's a very old cat, but I don't know exactly how old it is. These two days, it has suddenly become very listless. Sometimes, it even drools. We think it might be because it's too old. "
After Zhang Zian entered the house, he had been standing at the door, his body blocking the way in.
Fina's natural curiosity made it want to enter the house to take a look, but it could not enter because he was blocking the way. It did not want to lower itself to jump out of the window, so it kept pulling at the corner of his pants from behind, asking him to move away.
Zhang Zian put one hand behind his back and kept secretly waving his hand, signaling for the elfins not to follow him in and to play in the yard.
He was not a licensed veterinarian, but he had a better understanding of the common diseases of cats and dogs. With one look, he could see that the state of the cat was not right. It might have some kind of infectious disease.
If the elfins followed him in, there might be a risk of being infected.
Wen Li wanted to walk over and carry Da Zhuang outside to bask in the sun, but she was stopped by Zhang Zian.
"Wait, it might have an infectious disease," he said, reaching into his pocket to take out a disposable plastic glove and put it on.
He did not know how to predict the future, so why would he prepare disposable gloves in advance?
These gloves were given to him when he bought breakfast outside the Forbidden City, so that the customers would not have their hands covered in grease when eating. Because he had to feed the elfins, he bought more breakfast. The stall owner thought that he had bought more than one portion, so he gave him a few more pairs of disposable gloves. After he used one pair, he was reluctant to throw the others away, so he stuffed them into his pocket. He did not expect to actually use them …
Speaking of which, the capital was very particular. Even the breakfast stall was considerate enough to give disposable gloves, so that the white-collar beauties and the CBD elites did not have to worry about washing their hands after eating breakfast. Of course, the price was also very particular.
Wen Li did not know the inside story. Seeing that he actually carried disposable gloves with him, she admired him even more. She thought that he was indeed a professional. He was indeed different.
The tricolor cat, Snowy, also followed behind. Zhang Zian asked Wen Li to stop it from coming in.
He slowly approached Da Zhuang.
Da Zhuang was not very welcoming of his arrival. It shook its head in annoyance and stuck out its tongue, dripping saliva everywhere. However, because of its physical exhaustion, it could not make further resistance or escape. This also meant that there was something wrong with its nose, and it could not smell Fina's scent on his body.
Zhang Zian put his hand behind its neck and unexpectedly grabbed it from behind. He then lifted it up and half-forced its mouth open. From its mouth and tongue, he saw large ulcers.
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