Chapter 23 Talking about flower viewing and playing with cats

Why didn't I talk about planting flowers and raising cats?Because I have never served flowers and small animals. These are the things that my previous generation and the next generation love to do. They "used" me to be an exploiter who "sit and enjoy"! Let’s talk about flowers first. My grandfather loved flowers, and when I met him in 1911, all he was looking for were expensive flowers.In his middle age, he wrote ten poems about planting flowers and educating people when he set up a tent to teach in Daonan Temple in Fuzhou. Up to now, these ten poems written by him are still hanging on the wall of my bedroom and study.I have seen him tending orchids and lotuses.In the small back garden of our hometown in Fuzhou, on both sides of the path: there are more than a dozen pots of green orchids on one side, and more than a dozen pots of red lotus flowers on the other.Under the bench legs with orchid pots, there are four saucers filled with clean water to prevent ants from climbing up the bench legs to suck the dew.The scissors that my grandfather used to cut orchids were also made of bamboo, so as not to hurt the flower stems.The lotus flowers he raised are all with double pedicles, and there are three pedicles and four pedicles. I have never seen it in other gardens!

When my father planted flowers, it was still the busiest time of work, before 1911.Yantai is no worse than Fuzhou, where the weather is dry and cold, so he grows common flowers, such as chrysanthemums, cannas, and peaches, plums, apricots, apples, and other fruit trees. As long as the yard is full of colors, he is very satisfied. .When he arrived in Beijing, although he went to work every day, he was more idle at work, and the flowers he planted were still the same, even more common flowers such as begonias and wild jasmine. When it comes to keeping small animals, my father loves dogs and horses.When I was in Yantai, I often took me to ride a horse.When we arrived in Beijing, we couldn’t raise horses anymore, but our family kept having dogs, including pugs and Pekingese.My eldest brother still keeps a small notebook, which is dedicated to remembering the names, coat colors, specialties, etc. of the dogs we have raised for more than ten years.The one I remember most was a blond pug named "Hatch," the smartest of all, who caught mice.It is a good friend of my brothers.When my younger brothers go boating in the North Sea, it will follow the boat with mallard.The younger brothers had had enough fun, and when they rode home, it was drenched and galloped behind the car.It caused an old lady standing at the door watching the street to call out to my brothers: "Student, don't let your dog run away, look at how sweaty it is running!"

Now, my sons and daughters and their spouses also like to grow flowers.They love all kinds of flowers and plants: bought by themselves, given by others, and even thrown away by others, they also pick up and raise them.What kind of pearl orchid, carnation, amaryllis, phoenix, cactus...the windowsills and balconies are all full.The flowers that friends give me, if they are cut flowers, I put them in the bottle in front of the Prime Minister's portrait and on my desk; if they are potted plants, I give them to my daughters, especially the precious flowers, such as Clivia, after I take them, it is like taking flowers. Like a piping hot baked sweet potato, give it to them right away.From then on, I don't care about how to water and fertilize, so that if the owner who cherishes this flower asks, I can not be responsible for the prosperity and decline of the flower.But if the Clivia blooms, I know they'll come and put them on my windowsill!

Talk about pets.My father never had a cat in his house.Speaking of it, dogs are indeed much more intelligent than cats, and they are much closer to their owners.As the proverb goes, "a dog invests in poverty, and a cat invests in wealth".The cat will go to the house and scurry here and there, and it will run to whichever house has better food.Dogs are lovers too much for food.I remember that in the early 1940s, we raised a puppy at home in Geleshan, a suburb of Chongqing. My youngest daughter picked it up from the mountain road.The Anti-Japanese War was victorious, and when we returned north, we gave it to a friend who worked at Jincheng Bank on the mountain—the food for their dog was of course much better than ours, but I heard that the puppy refused to stay. In the dormitory of Jincheng Bank, but ran back and starved to death on the porch of our mountain house!

Now that dogs are not allowed in Beijing, my youngest daughter went to hug a little white cat.We all like white long-haired cats—on this point, my cat-loving friend, Comrade Xia Yan, and I judge the quality of the cat’s coat color, which is exactly the opposite!His ranking is yellow, black, flower, and white.He always likes to raise yellow cats, which are still short-haired, but his yellow cats often run away and never come back.It is said that he recently took two little yellow cats into his arms, and I hope they will never get lost again! My youngest daughter's little white cat, named "Mimi", has snow-white long hair, but her eyes are not blue, so she is probably a "mixed breed".It is a family favorite.But it is very arrogant, lazy and unreasonable.Of course, I don't cook fish for it, and I don't give it a bath. I only give it some dried fish for a certain time in the morning and afternoon.At that time, it will remember to run over, jump on my desk, and hit me with its fluffy head. After I finish eating it, I point to a small sofa and say, "Go to sleep!" The cushions on the sofa curled up and slept for half a day.

A kitten is also a good companion during the day, when my second generation is teaching, my third is at school, and I am too lazy to read or write a letter myself. May 30, 1986