一路向西 粤语

Chapter 322: Gayer-Anderson Cat

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Because it was dark in the store, Snowy didn’t really pay attention to her surroundings when she first came in. Only when her eyes had accustomed to the light did she find a strange looking cat squatting in the corner of the gate.

This cat had a robust physique, and it was squatting there without moving. Probably because of the insufficient lights, the skin of its whole body seemed to be pure black, yet some parts of its body were illuminating a faint golden color. It seemed like this cat was staring at her in the darkness.

“My young guest, are you alright?” The old man walked up from behind her and said in a clear loud voice, “My apologies. I am going to deal with it in a few days. I would have never expected it to frighten you.”

Snowy was indeed frightened by this weird-looking cat that appeared abruptly, so frightened that her face became pale. But when she looked carefully, she found that it was not a real cat, but only a statue, which was carved vividly and was mistaken by her as a real cat under the insufficient lights.

“Well…Can I have a look?” she pointed to the statue and asked curiously after calming down.

“Please feel free.” The old man walked closer and made a gesture of invitation, “But I haven’t dusted it for a long time, so be careful not to make your clothes dirty.”

With the store owner’s permission, Snowy emboldened herself, and walked towards the cat statue to observe it closely.

It was placed by itself behind the dark corner of the red-lacquered gate. Compared to other items in the store, its position seemed unimportant, like it was loathed by its owner. However, from Snowy’s subjective perspective, its stubborn and proud expression indicated that it didn’t care about its situation of being cold-shouldered.

When she got close enough, even with her limited knowledge of arts appreciation, she could see that this cat statue was full of exotic features that distinguished it from the styles of the statues in China. Though it was just a statue, its size was similar to that of a real cat, plus it was carved so vividly that it would be easily mistaken for a real cat under dark lights.

Apart from a golden ring on its nose and golden earrings in its ears, the whole body of this cat statue was glowing in the color exclusive to bronze—according to her common sense, every statue made from bronze could be dated back a long time.

She looked even closer. The bronze shade was not distributed evenly. Some parts appeared darker, while others were brighter. Its mottled appearance was caused either by being exposed to the forces of wind and rain for years, or was the effect of erosion after being buried underground for a long time.

This cat had soft and feminine facial contours. It had such charming and lovely eyes that no one would ever mistake it for a male cat. The most eye-catching part on its face was the raised scarab carved on its forehead. Looking down on its chest was carved another, larger scarab with its wings opened, commonly known as a dung beetle, yet Snowy wasn’t disgusted by seeing it on a statue.

There’s a raised necklace carved with complicated patterns on the neck of the cat statue… Or was it a chaplet? In the middle of the necklace was a nameplate of which the meaning was incomprehensible to her.

Snowy frowned and concentrated on the face of the cat statue. She had the feeling that she had seen such a face somewhere before, but she couldn’t recall where at this moment, probably because the statue lacked the fur and fur color of a real cat. After all, the statue had been carved and casted a long time ago. With the primitive techniques of that time, it was difficult to demonstrate these details.

When her eyes once again met with the raised scarab on its forehead, Snowy couldn’t help but utter a little cry of surprise.

Wasn’t this cat similar to the golden-fur cat in the Amazing Fate Pet Shop? That golden-fur cat also had scarab patterns on its forehead! Having figured this out, Snowy observed its face and posture again. The longer she looked at it, the more she felt that the cat statue looked like the golden-fur cat, though it was not as beautiful as the golden-fur cat was. But if the golden-fur cat’s fur was trimmed very short, it would probably look exactly like this statue. Even their proud squatting postures were identical!

The old man walked towards her from behind. Hearing her cry of surprise, he was astounded and asked, “My young guest, are you fond of this cat statue?”

Snowy nodded. The fear she had moments ago had vanished. She pointed to the face of the statue and said, “It’s very beautiful, with a charming disposition.”

The old man stroked his goatee and smiled, “You have good taste, my young guest.”

Snowy was glad to hear the compliment, but she wasn’t sure why she was being praised.

The old man put his feather duster against the wall, walked behind the gate and pushed the cat statue into the store. Not until then did Snowy find that the cat statue had been placed upon a tailored plank under which there were four wheels. No wonder the old man could push it so easily! It should be pointed out that the statue seemed like it was completely made from bronze — if it was not hollow-cast, it must be a very heavy statue.

Moving from the dark corner into normal lighting, the bronze color of this cat statue seemed more obvious, and all kinds of details could be observed easily. It turned out that the statue only appeared to be pure black in insufficient lighting.

“My young guest, do you know the history of this cat statue?” The old man flicked the dust off his palms, and picked up the feather duster to clean the statue.

Snowy thought about it and answered skillfully, “It’s from abroad?”

“Yes, it is indeed from abroad.” The old man clapped his hands and laughed cheerfully, while Snowy felt awkward and drudged up a smile.

When he finished laughing, the old man exhaled and said, “I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time. It’s really good to spend some time with young people.”

“Only stupid people would answer like that.” Snowy patted her head and said in a self-mocking manner, “I’m a lousy student, and there are a lot of occupations I can’t do well.”

“You’re not stupid, you are just not worldly, which means you still have your innocence preserved.” The old man paused for a moment and used his hands to stroke the forehead of the statue, “Speaking of its history, have you heard of the Gayer-Anderson Cat?”

“No.” Snowy stopped her jokes but concentrated on the old man’s words. It would be inappropriate if she didn’t listen while a senior was talking about something serious.

With his calm and peaceful expression, the old man said slowly, “The original cat statue was excavated from Egypt. It was casted between 600 BC to 300 BC, donated by Lieutenant Gayer-Anderson to the British Museum, and was named after its donator, Gayer-Anderson. Apart from the original, there was a replica in the collection of The Gayer-Anderson Museum in Cairo. As for this one…”

He contemplated his wording, “This one is also a replica, though the condition is not quite as good as the one in the Gayer-Anderson Museum, but I can say it’s very close the original.”

“Wow! Impressive!” Snowy screamed in shock. She felt that this cat statue had a unique story, she just didn’t expect its history would be so spectacular. Though it was just a replica, in her eyes, it could be deemed a true antique that was hardly accessible by ordinary people.

The old man pointed to something, which Snowy thought was a nameplate, on the chest of the cat statue. “Do you know what this is?”

“Let me see.” Snowy walked closer to observe carefully.

The old man patiently waited for her answer.

Seconds passed, and Snowy was still at a loss. “I don’t know. I can’t tell what it is. It kind of looks like a snake? Or maybe an eye?”

The old man had expected that she wouldn’t be able to recognize it and he slowly explained, “It’s normal that you can’t recognize it because it’s too rare. They say it’s a wedjat-eye amulet, which represents the God of Light in ancient Egyptian myths. This amulet, along with the nose ring and earrings, are cast from silver and gold, replicating those of the original statue.

Snowy was truly stupefied upon hearing this. This old man indeed was a low profile Tuhao — even a random item in his store was a replica of a statue of the God of Cats.

The old man observed her expression, “My young guest, if you are fond of this statue, how about making it yours?”

“What?”

Snowy was stunned, and then she looked at this statue again.

She indeed quite liked it, but not to the extent of buying it. What’s more, there were two reasons that deterred her from purchasing it. For one thing, this statue must be very expensive and she might not be able to afford it. If she spent too much money, her parents would know. For the other, there was no place to put it, and if she brought it home, she wondered whether her mother would agree…although it looked beautiful, not everyone could appreciate its feminine beauty, such as her conventional and stubborn father… What a headache!

Uncle Jin probably would have interest in this statue, but considering Good-for-Nothing’s fear of cats, she didn’t think it was a good idea to gift it to him.

Speaking of gifts…

Snowy remembered that the Amazing Fate Pet Shop was about to reopen for business. She had been to the shop for several times, and Zhang Zian, who could be considered a friend, had helped her out. It would be inappropriate if she didn’t bring any gift to the pet shop’s reopening ceremony. This statue could be the perfect gift!