748 Unpredictable (1/2)

At the end of February, it was still very cold at night in Berlin. Famous was brought into the oxygenated chamber of the flight, so the temperature was around 25 degrees Celsius––as warm as late spring.

After hearing that it was the dog that won the Best Actor award in the Berlin Film Festival, the flight attendants took very special care of it.

Famous watched the long legs of the tall Caucasian flight attendants dangling around and suddenly had a strange idea in mind: If possible, Zhang Zian would surely be willing to exchange seats with me…

After the flight took off, the noise around them grew slowly distant. The oxygenated chamber was warm and quiet, and only the low humming of the fans could be heard.

Famous was still excited. It had not yet calmed down from the thrill of winning the award.

The night was still young, so it didn't think it could fall asleep. It had planned to lie down and rest––just lie down on its stomach…

Almost in an instant, it fell asleep.

******

”Brother Famous! Brother Famous! Wake up. The parade is about to leave.”

Famous shook its ears and opened its eyes.

The sky was cloudy and the temperature was almost identical to the oxygenated chamber. It was late spring, the best time of the year.

Old Time Tea stood in front of it with a smile. ”Brother Famous, you are always alert, and the first one to wake up as soon as the parade moves. Why are you so sleepy today?”

Famous yawned. ”I feel like I just fell asleep.”

Old Time Tea laughed. ”Brother Famous, you were talking in your sleep again. Last night, you fell asleep as soon as you lay down. You've been sleeping for at least ten hours. What do you mean you just fell asleep?”

Famous looked around. Kitchen smoke was rising slowly in the village not far away. Roosters were crowing, and dogs were barking in the distance.

Silent men picked up their loads and started working in the fields with hoes on their shoulder, as they had been doing for thousands of years.

Talkative women headed towards the river in groups of three or five. Some headed upstream with wooden buckets to wash clothes, while others headed downstream with toilet buckets to empty. Their voices were loud and high-pitched as they talked about what the bride looked like. They told a few dirty jokes, which made the unmarried girls blush.

The wedding parade team for the Wu family slept in the village the night before. They were about to continue their journey today.

It was not safe outside, which was why the parade set off each day after the sun rose and looked for villages to sleep in for the night before it was completely dark. They tried to use big roads as much as they could. They crossed rivers, detoured over mountains, and avoided high hills and thick forests. The route was long and winding.

There were quite a few weak women in the parade. After a long walk each day, they complained about having sore backs and legs. Sometimes the carriages that were fully loaded with dowry sank into the mud or got stuck between the rocks and needed hauling from both the men and the horses. The parade team was very behind schedule.

Their arrival date in Binhai County was unknown. With any further delays, they might miss the best dates for the wedding. Wu Mancheng was so stressed that he got canker sores all over his mouth. Each day, before daybreak, he hurried the team to get up and prepare for their journey.

Famous could hear Wu Mancheng's yells from a distance.

Ever since they had left Foshan, Famous and the other two cats had been following the parade team from a distance. Wu Ning wanted to invite them into the carriages, but Wu Mancheng did not agree.

He was not being ungrateful. The legend of the Righteous Cat and the Chivalrous Dog was widespread in Foshan, but the groom's side didn't know about it. If they believed the gossip and thought they were ghosts or bad spirits, it might bring unnecessary trouble to the wedding.

Wu Ning felt guilty, but Famous and Old Time Tea didn't care. Galaxy was afraid of people, so even if Wu Ning had invited them, they could not accept the invitation. Besides, traveling along with the carriages and horses was quite inconvenient, so it was better to follow from a distance.

The team was ready. Wu Mancheng gave orders from a tall horse, and the bells on the horses rang. The team set off again slowly, easing back into their journey.

”Let's get some breakfast,” Famous said after smelling the kitchen smoke. It suddenly felt hungry.

Old Time Tea agreed, naturally.

”Meow.”

Famous looked back. A black and white cat jumped out of the grass, stretched out two front paws, and jumped merrily towards a butterfly in the midst of the wildflowers.

The butterfly dodged it craftily and escaped between its paws.

”Galaxy, aren't you tired of catching butterflies every day?” Famous shook its head. ”It's wonderful that you don't need to eat… We need food regardless. Come follow us.”

”Meow. ” Galaxy left the butterfly behind unwillingly and followed Old Time Tea and Famous.

Famous felt that the Galaxy with them now was slightly different from the Galaxy in reality. Not in shape, but in some subtle and indescribable ways. For example, the one with them now preferred catching butterflies instead of playing hide-and-seek, but that might be because there wasn't anybody to play hide-and-seek with it.

Famous snorted its nose. After the parade team had left, it followed the scent and found a big blue rock in the woods next to the road with a bamboo food cover on it. The smell of beef pies and steamed fish was seeping through the bamboo cover.

Each day, after the parade team started their journey, Wu Ning always asked the handmaids to put food along the road in a hidden spot. Famous could trace it with its nose, anyway.

Famous opened the food cover with its mouth and swallowed the entire beef pie.

Old Time Tea took its time to eat the steamed fish.

Galaxy stared at the sky in a trance.

Famous chomped down the entire beef pie. This was their food for the whole day. Their next meal wouldn't come until the next morning.

After they finished eating, they were not in a hurry to continue their journey. They wanted to let the food digest first. The carriage grooves were deep and obvious, so they would not lose track of them.

”Famous, did something good happen last night?” Old Time Tea stroked its whiskers, then stared at it in slight astonishment. ”I always feel that Brother Famous is different today than it was yesterday.”

”Nothing.” Famous glanced down at itself. ”Old Time Tea, did you mistake anything?”

”No. Brother Famous, your eyes are bright and clear, as if you have put down your obsession. Were you enlightened after a serious search for the truth?”

Famous said helplessly, ”Old Time Tea, you are thinking too much. How can I get enlightened?”

Old Time Tea smiled, then lifted its head and recited,

”Let go the obsession without asking the scripture,

Once enlightened, the heart is clear.

Looking back at the past glories and shames,

It took a hundred years to uncover the heavenly secrets!”

Famous didn't understand, then shook its head and said, ”Old Time Tea, can you speak in modern language? I can't understand it at all…”

Old Time Tea said thoughtfully, ”Brother Famous, you told me that you came from a hundred years later. Why are you here now?”

Famous was stunned. It had never thought about that before.

”Isn't this a coincidence?” it said. ”I can get into the Imagined World of the other elfins, so here I am.”