Become a cat [Zhan Zhao]

At the end of late autumn, a light snow fell in the north.The chilly wind whizzed past the snow particles, and brutally snatched away the leaves that adorned the dark brown tree trunks.The big tree shook helplessly, but it couldn't keep those greenish offspring.The dark yellow soil on the ground was mixed with off-white snow, and after being trampled by people and horses, it turned into mud, and the original color could not be seen at all.

The winter in Yingzhou Mansion on the East and West Roads of Beijing also came very early this year.Although it was not past noon on this day, the sky was gloomy, showing a cool gray-blue color.There were only three or two people coming in and out at the gate of the city, and even the merchants who traveled north and south took advantage of this season to rest and rectify at home, and almost no one was on their way.

The soldiers guarding the city yawned listlessly, planning in their minds to go to a restaurant with their colleagues to have two bowls of spirits after changing the guard, so as to drive away the cold.The sun was hiding behind the thick clouds, and the sun was barely warm.When the soldier casually looked at the avenue, thinking that no one would enter the city at this time, he saw a person approaching in the distance.

Although the man seemed to be walking slowly, he actually came extremely fast.Almost as soon as the soldiers saw the man, their eyes blurred, and the man was almost at the gate of the city.He couldn't help rubbing his eyes, suspecting that he had seen a ghost, but when he took a closer look, he was really a person.

Moreover, he is not tall, thin and small, and looks young and dusty.

The soldiers were suspicious.Just because when he went to look again, he felt that the man walked very slowly, and there was nothing unusual about it.

Sure enough, it's my own eyes.The soldier rubbed his eyes again, then leaned against the city wall and breathed a sigh of relief, forming a cloud of white mist in front of him.

After a while, the little man came up close.He was actually a rather handsome young man, but his face turned pale from the cold, and he curled up into a ball, moving forward step by step with his arms folded.When they arrived at the gate of the city, the soldiers looked at the young man from under the brim of his leather hat, and the latter returned a stiff smile—it was obvious that the little guy was frozen to death.

The soldier opened his mouth in a rare way, and at the same time let out more white steam: "It's a cold day, little brother is alone, where did he come from?"

"Huh?" The young man was surprised, and then replied, "Come from the south." As if he didn't expect to be asked, he seemed a little dazed.

The soldier smiled mildly, probably because the boy was so cute and reminded him of his own little cub.He said: "It's so cold, don't hurry, go to the city and stay. It might snow in the afternoon."

"Yes. Thank you, brother." The boy replied while nodding.The soldiers suddenly noticed that there was a movement in the boy's arms, and then a little furry head popped out.

It was a cat. After looking around briefly, the little guy fixed his eyes on the soldier, his whiskers trembling slightly.

The soldier felt a little uncomfortable for some reason, and said to the young man with a smile, "Take this little beast with you in this cold weather, be careful to freeze it to death."

And the boy froze when he heard the word "little beast", and almost instinctively put his hand on the cat's head, as if he wanted to push the cat's head back into his arms, but in fact he wanted to block the little thing ears.

The cat avoided the boy's hand indifferently, and gave the soldier a bad look with its round cat eyes.The soldier had an illusion for a moment, as if it was not a cat, but a person.

But when he wanted to take a closer look, the young man had hurried past him and walked into the city.The soldier couldn't help laughing at himself: It must be so cold that his head was frozen to death, so he had so many strange thoughts.

And that boy is none other than Alan.

More than a month ago, in the jungle by the sea, because Zhan Zhao and Alan failed to rescue He Lian in time, He Lian—or another unknown thing, asked for help and promised to the leader Xing Zhongyu Help him find the treasure.And that Xing Zhongyu actually agreed, and wanted to take He Lian and He Zhou away together.A Lan originally thought that Zhan Zhao would force He Lian and her younger brother He Zhou to stay, but he didn't know what agreement Zhan Zhao had secretly reached with that Xing Zhongyu, so he stopped caring about those two people and took A Lan with him. Left the East China Sea alone.

Alan cautiously didn't ask any further questions about this, she just followed Zhan Zhao all the way northward, learning skills with Zhan Zhao while driving.The relationship between the two of them seems to have changed compared to before, Alan is more respectful to Zhan Zhao, and Zhan Zhao seems to be more polite to Alan, and he seldom lectures her.The two of them lived in peace, and sometimes Alan would have the illusion that what happened in the East China Sea was just a dream.

And autumn is about to pass, and the days are getting colder every day.Today happened to pass by Yingzhou City, so Ah Lan wanted to rest in the city.And what the soldier said was very reasonable: it might snow in the afternoon, which is not suitable for traveling.

So she walked quickly down the muddy street with the cat in her arms.The city in winter is very quiet. After a snowfall, even the peddlers pushing carts and selling goods on the road disappeared.Alan stepped on the somewhat slippery bluestone streets, looked around the road, hoping to find a bustling street, to see if there were any hotels or inns where he could stay.

After walking for a while, the city gate was far behind.Alan stretched her neck, and finally saw a street with a lot of people.Probably when it was almost noon and the weather was warmer, people went out.Some of the bachelors went to eat out in groups, some took their families with them, and some basked in the sun at the door of the street. Chatting and laughing came from afar from time to time, with a different kind of fireworks atmosphere.

A Lan searched in front of row upon row of facades and shops, his eyes were dazzled, and finally saw an inn, and hurriedly strode over.She didn't notice that at the corner, a man leaning on the porch pillar, chatting with a certain tea farm owner while basking in the sun, was watching her without a trace.The man was wearing a Fanyang felt hat, dressed like a passing merchant, and exuded a different temperament.

Although Alan failed to notice this person, two people did not ignore his cunning and greedy eyes.One is a big man sitting in a restaurant not far away eating wine, tall and burly, with green eyes and purple beard, he looks like a hero.And the other one is Zhan Zhao who is still a cat.

But Ah Lan didn't know anything about this, and just walked towards the inn with a dull head.When I went in, I found that there was no one there, and the guy was leaning against the counter and taking a nap.She put the struggling cat in her arms on her shoulders, went to the counter, tapped on the table, and said, "Hey, little brother, let's stay in the hotel, is there any vacancy?"

"Yes." The clerk was taken aback, and then he opened his eyes, looked at Alan, and found that he was a beautiful young man, so he cheered up, "There are all vacant rooms upstairs, you can choose it, let's take a look." I'll find someone to clean it up for you." After finishing speaking, he raised his voice and shouted, "Hey, there's a guest!"

After finishing speaking, he glanced secretly at Alan, paused for a moment on the cat on her shoulder, and said with a smile: "Young master, your cat looks very cute."

"..." Ah Lan spoke to him from left to right, "Why do you guys look so deserted here?"

The guy smiled and said, "What do you think, in this cold day, who would come out to stay at the inn? Those who can go home will go home early." He asked again, "What about you, young man? Why are you alone outside? ? Are you coming to our Yingzhou to visit relatives or friends?"

Before Alan answered, Zhan Zhao was already impatient, and patted Alan's shoulder lightly with his paw, signaling her to stop talking.A Lan could only sneer and said, "Haha, I'm just asking casually... your place is quite clean and tidy."

Seeing that Ah Lan's words were very defensive, the clerk also smiled and stopped talking.After a while, a person came out from inside and led Ah Lan upstairs.Sure enough, the second floor was deserted and there were no guests.A Lan chose the two rooms next to each other. The clerk gave her a suspicious look, and A Lan said, "My friend will be there later."

After dismissing the buddies and settling down, Ah Lan breathed a sigh of relief.The cat that had been squatting on her shoulders jumped down silently and landed on the ground. It inspected the room carefully before jumping onto the table again.

And Ah Lan had already washed the tea bowl that the buddy brought to him just now, first poured a bowl of hot tea for Zhan Zhao, and then silently took a few sips from the bowl.Zhan Zhao just lowered his head and licked it, turned around on the table a few times, then jumped off the table again, and got out through the crack of the door.A-lan watched the cat leave all the way, and then secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

Not long after, Zhan Zhao, who had regained his human body in the afternoon, opened the door and came in.He saw Ah Lan standing up, waved her hand casually and told her to sit down, and asked her, "Did you see anything along the way?"

"..." Alan was stunned for a moment, then said nana authentically, "Ah, I saw, I saw someone."

Zhan Zhao raised his eyebrows slightly, but continued to ask in a good-tempered manner: "Who did you see?"

"See..." Ah Lan realized that Master was testing her, and immediately tried to recall whether he had seen anyone worthy of attention before. buddy."

After listening to it for a long time, Zhan Zhao realized that Ah Lan really didn't notice the guy near the tea house before, and he didn't know whether he should feel helpless or hate iron for being weak.He has seldom ridiculed Alan recently, and even seldom taught her a lesson, but now he still couldn't help saying: "Very good, I didn't see what I should have seen, I only saw some useless things."

"..." Ah Lan felt a strange sense of familiarity and intimacy. To be honest, Xi Jinping treated her a little too politely, which made her at a loss for what to do.

If Zhan Zhao knew what Ah Lan was thinking, he might laugh out of anger.He tapped his finger on the table and pointed her patiently: "It's near the inn, within a hundred steps."

Narrowing down the scope of the search, Alan racked his brains harder and began to recall.Although she didn't notice it, but relying on her good memory, she can always leave some impressions after a glance: "Near the inn... there are a few beggars and a man passing by, and there is a wine shop farther away. A drinker. Hmm... there is one who does not look like a Han Chinese, with green eyes and a big beard. There is a tea house next to it, and the owner of the tea house is talking to a merchant."

Zhan Zhao listened to A Lan's rambling for a while, but he talked about the situation near the inn very closely.On the one hand, he felt that the girl's memory was really good, and on the other hand, he wanted to reprimand her: "You have seen everything, but seeing is not enough. Have I taught you that when walking in the world, you have to see the six roads and listen to all directions. It's not you who listens." As long as you see it, you have to take it into your heart. At least you have to be able to see who has ill intentions for you on the road."

"Ah?" Ah Lan asked in surprise, "How can anyone harbor ill intentions towards me?"

Zhan Zhao: "..." This girl is so stupid, let her forget it.