On the day of Lichun (the Beginning of Spring), the sky was clear and bright.
In the Palace Museum, a male and female staff member were taking pictures in the courtyard. The young man, with a camera hanging around his neck, pointed the lens at a cluster of pale yellow forsythia in the corner of the wall.
After taking several pictures, the man pulled up the original images on his camera and showed them to the female staff member.
The older female staff member looked closely, then smiled and said, “Xiao Li, your photography skills are impressive! You young people are much more professional than us!”
“That’s because our museum is so well-maintained; every shot is a masterpiece!”
The two chatted and laughed as they continued to take pictures. The female staff member pointed to a newly sprouted yellow wintersweet tree under the red wall and said with a smile, “Take a picture of this plum tree too… Later, we’ll take pictures of each solar term in the museum, preserving the scenery of the whole year.”
“That would be great! At the end of the year, we can even publish a pictorial guide to the 24 solar terms of the Forbidden City!”
“That’s a good idea!” The female staff member nodded with a smile, then pointed to the side, “Xiao Li, come on, take a picture of our orange cat too!”
The young man took his camera and moved closer.
Orange is a cat in the Forbidden City Museum; as the name suggests, it’s a large orange cat.
This orange cat is orange and white, except for its belly and paws, which are snow-white—a color combination sometimes referred to as “golden blanket and silver bed.”
Orange is eight years old this year, and has been in the Palace Museum since it can remember.
Over the years, Orange has maintained an unshakeable position among the Palace Museum’s many cats, thanks to its professional mouse-catching skills and its impressive appetite and weight.
Because of its charming appearance, Orange, in addition to catching mice, also works another job: receiving petting and grooming from visitors.
Therefore, Orange sees itself as a mature and experienced braided cat; to put it more grandly, it’s the Palace Museum’s pawed guard, and a first-class guard at that.
As a seasoned cat skilled in weaving, when the camera was pointed at her, Orange Guard, walking on the stone railing, would extend her two snow-white front paws, lower her upper body, and perform a perfect big cat stretch, displaying her elegant nature.
After the two staff members left, Orange tucked her front paws in and lay down on the stone railing, basking in the sun and taking a nap.
“After the Beginning of Spring, the weather gets warmer day by day… Look, the trees are sprouting too!”
“Hey, speaking of the Beginning of Spring, do you know Jiang Hui?”
Listening to the tourists’ voices, Orange continued to contentedly squint her eyes.
This group of tourists consisted of seven or eight people, both men and women, and judging from their age and clothing, they seemed to be university students.
“Jiang Hui? Which department?”
“What? I’m talking about a female scientist from the Daoguang era of the Qing Dynasty…” said a girl in an avocado green down jacket. “She studied astronomy and astrology, drew twenty-four star charts according to the twenty-four solar terms, and published ‘The Star Charts of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms.’ She was amazing.”
“A female scientist from the Qing Dynasty…” said another girl. “I know one too, even earlier, who also studied astronomy and mathematics, named Wang Zhenyi! Have you heard of her?”
“I’ve heard of her…” a tall boy wearing a black knitted hat casually chimed in while scrolling through his phone, “But I heard online that this Wang Zhenyi might be fictional, who knows if it’s true or not.”
The group started arguing about this topic. Orange yawned with her eyes closed. Yes, who knows if it’s true or not.
China’s history is so long; how many people must it contain? Probably more than all the cat hair it sheds each year.
The group of college students walked away, talking. Just as Orange was about to change position and continue sleeping, her ears twitched. Turning around, she saw a large tabby cat approaching.
Orange sprang up, arching her back, ears lowered, and growling and snarling at the tabby.
The tabby leaped, landing lightly on the stone railing, and walked towards Orange, its mouth not exactly polite.
This tabby was a new cat that had arrived last month. Its origins were unknown, but its behavior was domineering.
Since arriving at the enclosure, it and Orange had already fought more than ten times.
Besides vying for dominance, what bothered Orange even more was that since this tabby cat arrived, the calico cats in the back hall had stopped paying attention to her. As the saying goes, enemies meeting is especially hostile.
After the two cats, necks stiff, exchanged dozens of insults from a distance, Orange’s anger surged.
This foreign tabby’s insults were both novel and filthy. Orange couldn’t hold back any longer and threw a cat punch first.
As Orange attacked, the two cats suddenly seemed to be drawn together like magnets, grappling and biting at lightning speed, biting necks, kicking backs—they used every trick in the book.
The two cats howled, tufts of fur flying everywhere.
During the fight, Orange slipped and fell backward.
Orange quickly kicked a few times in mid-air, trying to flip herself over and land a graceful cat flip to regain her dignity. However, something strange happened…
The stone railing wasn’t very high; a fall should have been instantaneous, but Orange felt like her fall lasted an unusually long time. “Thud—!”
Finally, it landed on the ground.
The orange cat, upside down, tried to roll over, but… it couldn’t.
It tried again with all its might, finally managing to roll once, but its movements were more clumsy than ever before.
【—Meow?】
The orange cat meowed in confusion, then suddenly jumped in fright, covering its throat with its two front paws—where did this kitten’s voice come from?
The next moment, it stretched out its two front paws, their claws wide open, its eyes immediately widening—whose little paws were these? Where were its fists, as big as mangosteens?
The orange cat began to look around. White walls, small corridors, blue tile roofs, blue bricks, pine trees, and a square courtyard—it was a very unfamiliar place.
While the orange cat was bewildered, it suddenly heard one shrill cry after another coming from the main room of the courtyard. Attracted by the sound, Orange immediately took off running.
Its body was too small, like a kitten just a month old; even running was slow.
Orange arrived outside the main room and saw a young man wearing a dark brown cloth robe and a long braid tied behind his head pacing anxiously, muttering something: “Savior Guanyin… Holy Master above, please bless us…”
Orange stared at the man’s long braid.
Just then, a loud cry of a newborn baby suddenly came from inside the room.
Soon, an old woman with her hair tied in a bun came out, smiling and saying, “It’s born! It’s born!”
The man hurried forward: “Is it born? Is it a boy or a girl?”
“Congratulations! It’s a precious gem!”
The man’s expectant look vanished, his shoulders slumped silently, and he sighed softly, “It’s a girl.”
At that time, the birth of a boy was called “弄璋” (nòng zhāng), and the birth of a girl was called “弄瓦” (nòng wǎ).
The midwife, seeing this, smiled and said, “Second Master Wang, you and your wife are still young. This is only your first child. Having a precious gem or a girl is a joyous occasion! And today is such an auspicious day as the Beginning of Spring. The Beginning of Spring, the Beginning of Spring, every day is new; your blessings for your descendants are yet to come!”
The man then forced a smile and bowed to the midwife: “Thank you for your kind words. Thank you for your trouble.”
At this moment, a maidservant came out of the house and curtsied to the man.
The man hurriedly asked, “Mama Zhao, how is Jinniang?”
The maid nodded, her face beaming with joy, “Second Madam wants you to name the young lady, Second Master!”
The man pondered for a moment, thinking.
He valued this first child highly and had prepared many names, but most were boy names. After his wife became pregnant, everyone who saw her belly said it must be a boy…
The man sighed inwardly, finally suppressing his disappointment, and said, “Let’s call her Zhenyi.”
This was the only girl’s name he had prepared.
The mustache on Orange’s cheek twitched. Just as it was about to follow inside to see the little baby named Zhenyi, it suddenly felt a tightness around its neck, and its four paws were lifted off the ground.
A large orange cat picked it up and quickly left.
Orange’s four paws dangled in the air until the cat dropped them back to the ground.
Just as Orange was about to speak, the big cat pulled her into its arms and forcefully groomed her fur.
Orange tried to struggle, but the big cat hissed at her.
Feeling the oppressive force of her mother’s blood, Orange was forced to accept the grooming.
The big cat licked Orange’s head, and Orange felt as if her skull was being ripped open, her eyelids being pulled back. She meowed, “Mom, be gentle.”
The big cat ignored her, continuing until Orange was spotless before stopping, satisfied.
The refreshed Orange sat down in front of the big cat, tilting her head back, finally having a chance to ask, “Where is this?”
The big cat lay down, raised her tail slightly, then lowered it again, and lazily meowed, “This is where I am.”
Orange asked again, “What year is it?” [Big Cat: It’s this year, really.]
Orange fell silent, troubled. It knew not every cat was as cultured as it was.
Big Cat swished its tail: [Kids ask too many questions.]
Orange sat up straighter, head held high: [Call me Orange!]
Big Cat turned its head, looking behind it, somewhat troubled: [Your name is Orange, so what should they be called?]
Orange looked over and saw three more little Oranges approaching, meowing with their mouths open.
Big Cat hadn’t originally planned to name the kittens, just letting them be, but Orange’s suggestion piqued its interest.
So, Orange became Big Orange and gained three younger siblings named Second Orange, Third Orange, and Little Plate.
Orange was confused—what was Little Plate? The big cat squinted and explained, “[This is perfect for the three of you. This is a scholar’s family; as servants born into the family, you should be mindful of the arrangements.]
A plate for three oranges—how elegant!
The orange was speechless.
It was about to cover its ears, driven by the three kittens’ constant wailing and cries for their mother, when the big cat grabbed it with a paw, pulled it into its arms, and force-fed it milk.
The orange, through its own efforts, spent about ten days figuring out the two questions.
This place is Jinling.
This year is the thirty-fourth year of the Qianlong Emperor’s reign in the Qing Dynasty.