He is surely remarkable, but I don’t really know just how remarkable.
All I know is that he has been the “big shot” in my hometown village for over a decade.
There is an old Dragon Li cat in my hometown.
When he was a kitten, he was the ugliest and smallest one in the litter. He walked in such a cocky way. Every day, after opening his eyes, all he did was eat and fight with other kittens. He was so arrogant that he got the name – Diao Diao.
He is truly old. If I remember correctly, I got him when I was in high school. He must be about 11 years old.
When he was young, he was almost impossible to catch. He was fat and strong. All you could see was the blurry afterimage of his jet-black figure moving at high speed.
Since then, whenever the female cats in the village got pregnant, there would always be a few black and ugly kittens in each litter.
The cats of other neighbors in the village have changed generations several times, but he has always been there.
In recent years, he has lost a lot of weight. When I went home this time, I saw that he had become even lazier and his meowing sounded much weaker. I couldn’t help sighing, “Diao Diao is old…”
Hearing my sigh, my father smiled helplessly and said, “Look at how lazy and cowardly he seems now. It’s all an act. Once he steps out of the house, he bites every cat he sees. Half of your aunt’s cat’s ear is missing, and it was his doing. The scar on your uncle’s big white cat’s head, that was him too. The neighbors in the village often come to complain that our cat has bitten theirs again…”
I was astonished for a whole year. This guy is such an old rascal.
For the first time ever, I picked him up (because every time I saw him, he looked battered and covered in dust, so I hardly ever held him). This guy, when at home, acts as if he has used up all his strength with just one meow. But in fact, although he looks skinny, he is actually muscular.
I stroked his head and found several wounds. Although they had scabbed over, it was obvious that they were recent injuries.
So, even though Uncle Diao is old, he is still the “big shot” in the village…
Written in the late autumn of 2020
This year, Diao Diao is 15 years old and is about to turn 16. His physique is still good, but he is very picky about food and especially loves eating shrimp.
When I went home during the National Day holiday, I saw that he had become a skinny, old and feeble cat who didn’t like to go out anymore and loved basking in the sun.
An old cat at home is like a treasure.
A skinny old cat covered in dust
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