957 The Orange Tabby Locked in the Bronze Sparrow Spring (1/2)

In the row of dilapidated rooms in front of him, disorderly weeds grew everywhere. The broken plaque was mottled with paint and the original handwriting could not be seen clearly.

Perhaps 100 or 200 years ago, it was the long term residence of an imperial concubine that had been thrown into the cold palace. They would have lived the rest of their tragic life with an oil lamp in front of a Buddha––or maybe an old eunuch who had been very popular for a while but suddenly fell out of favor had hung himself there with a white ribbon. It was even more likely that it was neither of those things.

The rumors of ghosts in the Forbidden City had been talked about for a long time because there were so many unknown secrets in the Forbidden City.

Zhang Zian thought of those things while Wen Li shouted at the empty house and he felt his back turn cold. He was not afraid, but instead felt that it was quite weird. After all, it was broad daylight. Even if there were ghosts, they would not be able to do anything… He just thought that Wen Li, as an employee in the Forbidden City, should not engage in such feudal superstitious activities, right?

After Wen Li finished shouting, she moved the board in front of the door, which practically served no purpose, aside, and went into the house herself. A second after that she noticed that Zhang Zian did not follow her in, so she walked out again.

”Please enter,” she said, her facial expression normal.

”This… there's something I feel as though I should ask, Who were you talking to just now?”

Wen Li was stunned and instantly understood. She smiled and said, ”Oh, I was talking to Zhuang Zhuang!”

It turned out that every night, the Forbidden City employees would lock up all the doors of the palaces when they ended work, and the next day, when they started work, they would get the keys to open the doors of the palaces.

Before opening the door, most employees would follow a conventional rule: cough loudly, or shout ”I'm coming in.” It was not to shout at the ghosts wandering in the Forbidden City, but to shout at the small animals living in the Forbidden City. They would tell them that someone was coming in so they wouldn't be frightened.

The Forbidden City was mainly made of wooden buildings, but there were many trees and a lot of grass. It covered a large area. The environment in the open area was quiet, and the whole Forbidden City was almost empty at night. In addition to stray cats, there were also other small animals, such as weasels, snakes, hedgehogs, and so on. No one knew when they moved in.

By yelling outside the door, they were trying to remind the little animals to be prepared. Those that should hide should hide, and those that should run should run. They wanted to prevent them from getting shocked into hurrying out of the door and hurting or scaring people.

The tradition did not start in the present day, but it could be traced back to the Qing Dynasty. More than 8,000 houses in the Palace Museum could not have people living in all of them, so vacant houses were occupied by small animals. Shouting before entering the door let small animals voluntarily withdraw. The humans did not want to offend the animals.

After she explained in detail, it suddenly dawned on Zhang Zian. Sure enough, the industries were all different. If they did not explain the rules, one would not know. All types of industries had their own old rules, as did the cultural relics workers of the Forbidden City and the pet industry. Just as the The Classic of Cats Appreciation said, ”Don't buy kittens under four months.” It was someone's own experience that they wrote about, but few people followed it now.

Zhang Zian put his heart back into his stomach and followed her into the dark room.

”Be careful, the house is dark. Don't sprain your ankle,” Wen Li reminded him out of goodwill. She waved at the corner. ”Zhuang Zhuang, we came to see you.”

There was also another special part about the Forbidden City: Inside the palace, there were very few lighting devices. Its main purpose was to prevent fires, but it caused every palace to be very dark. After walking from the very bright outside into the house, one's eyes were not accustomed to it instantly.

Zhang Zian stood still for a while, and when his eyes became accustomed to the light, he followed Wen Li's line of sight towards the corner.