Strange Life of a Cat
Chapter 254 - Chapter 254 Chapter 247 A Drop of Blood Worth Ten Thousand

Chapter 254: Chapter 247: A Drop of Blood Worth Ten Thousand Gold Chapter 254: Chapter 247: A Drop of Blood Worth Ten Thousand Gold After returning home, Mr. Jiao found an excuse to rest and took the opportunity to examine the items his cat son had unearthed in the room. When he had first received them, he hadn’t been sure what they were, or if they were of any value, but past experiences had taught him that the cat had its reasons for whatever it did; hence, just to be safe, he cautiously hid the items away and only now had time to look at them.

He carefully moved aside the vines to reveal the amber inside.

He peeled the vines off and set them aside without discarding them. He had found these plants in a botany book, and they indeed were from the mountains. Mr. Jiao could confirm his cat son had truly been to the mountains, though he didn’t know what unusual experiences it might have had there.

As for the amber, Mr. Jiao wasn’t very knowledgeable about appraisals; he had only ever made synthetic ambers himself. He had a few natural ones, gifted by others, including one said to be worth tens of thousands that contained insects, though the preservation of the insects was only at eighty percent. He had only seen synthetic ambers containing plants; he had never encountered a natural one.

Since he was at the base and did not want others to discover it, Mr. Jiao had to rely on the simplest method of distinguishing whether the amber was synthetic or natural. Amber fluoresces under ultraviolet light, though nowadays, with the advancement of counterfeiting technology, even synthetic amber can fluoresce. Thus, Mr. Jiao was only able to conduct a preliminary identification.

The appraisal showed that the amber did fluoresce under ultraviolet light, and the little flower inside it emitted a bright blue fluorescence tinged with purple. Mr. Jiao even checked a botanical reference on rare plants compiled recently by some botanists over the past two years and found no similar flower inside it.

If this amber were real, Professor Jiao had an intuition that the little flower inside might be a plant from tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of years ago, a plant undiscovered by humans. Once confirmed real, it would certainly excite plant and paleobotany scientists. They had no interest in red rats, as their research focus was different. But an ancient plant was another matter, especially a complete flower; the details visible in its stigma could reveal much. Red rats, having been the first seen, might hint at the existence of a second; but this amber encapsulating a complete flower recording a natural miracle from millions to hundreds of millions of years ago might truly be unique in the world. To biologists and geologists, the value of amber lies in its historical evolutionary process, while to collectors and investors, amber containing rare biotic or botanical entities is considered a precious treasure.

Mr. Jiao could very well take this amber out, and when the time came, several professors working on it might directly publish their findings in Nature, with Mr. Jiao as the “discoverer” certainly listed as an author. This would bring great benefits for his future career promotions, project grant applications, and more. If this amber were included, it would be icing on the cake. Similar to how a professor at a paleontology research institute had once published his findings on ancient plants as the primary author in Nature, Mr. Jiao could do the same, competing in a place like Chuhua University known for its fierce competition among both teachers and students. There are not many teachers of Mr. Jiao’s age who could publish papers and results in either of the two world-renowned academic journals, Nature or Science, which speaks volumes about the benefits Mr. Jiao could gain.

Red rats can be seen as sparks of nature, and insect ambers are miracles unwittingly created by nature. Nature always seems to create one miracle after another, and those who discover these marvels are often regarded as the fortunate ones.

The fortunate ones…

Mr. Jiao looked at the cat sprawled lazily on the bed, sleeping, and rubbed his forehead in resignation. A single cat could cause so much trouble!

Zheng Tan had already been targeted, and if the amber incident were to explode, it would be even more troublesome. The red rat issue could be considered accidental, as cats catching mice is only natural, but what about the amber? If discovered, Mr. Jiao could only claim it was part of his collection. However, Mr. Jiao had no intention of exposing the amber; he hoped that those people would focus all their attention on the red rat and ignore other matters as much as possible.

“Heitan, I’ll keep the amber here for now,” Mr. Jiao said as he pulled out a small box containing the amber Zheng Tan had found.

Upon hearing this, Zheng Tan thought, no, this was meant for Little Youzi! He was about to snatch the box away.

“I’ll keep it safe for you for the time being and give it back to you when you go back, but you have to make sure to hide it well and not just throw it around,” Mr. Jiao added.

Zheng Tan thought for a moment and decided that it was okay since he couldn’t take it with him right now anyway, and it might be safer with Mr. Jiao. Zheng Tan wasn’t foolish; he could tell from Mr. Jiao’s expression and words that the amber wasn’t a simple item, at least not for some people. It was better for Mr. Jiao to keep it than to hold onto it himself or let Little Youzi have it.

In the following days, Zheng Tan was very well-behaved. He knew many people were watching him, and some who thought they were well-hidden were actually already discovered by Zheng Tan. Hence, he thought it was best to heed Mr. Jiao and Jiao Ma’s advice, staying quietly in his room. After all, the students’ internship period was almost over, and they’d be heading back to Chuhua City in a couple of days. Zheng Tan could wait a few more days.

Jiao Yuan and Little Youzi spent these days outside with the students, learning to make specimens of animals, plants, and insects. Zheng Tan wasn’t interested in that; he was more inclined to hear about the red-haired nest mouse.

It was said that the red nest rat had caused quite a sensation. The results probably were already out, just as Mr. Jiao had mentioned, identifying it as an erythristic species. Yesterday, during the photo shoot, Zheng Tan had even been called over to join in on the excitement. This morning, Jiao Yuan showed Zheng Tan a local newspaper, which had a large article about the erythristic nest mouse.

Indeed, the red-haired mouse had been identified by some experts as a nest mouse, but unlike the small-sized ones, this red-haired nest mouse was absolutely much larger when adult.

Zheng Tan didn’t care whether it was a red-haired nest mouse or a red-haired Mickey Mouse. He just focused on the colored photos in the newspaper and the report about him.

The newspaper had a lot of text about the red-haired nest mouse, but the part pertaining to Zheng Tan was just two vague lines, simply stating that this red-haired nest mouse was caught by a cat owned by Associate Professor Jiao Mingsheng from Chuhua University’s School of Life Sciences. And then, there was no more. Zheng Tan flipped the newspaper back and forth, looking for other mentions of himself but found none.

In the only group photo in the newspaper that included Zheng Tan, he stood inconspicuously by Mr. Jiao at the edge of a group, barely noticeable. Moreover, no one would recognize Zheng Tan as the somewhat famous “BlackC” from the cat ring based on this photo. With a common face and only known by name, in a nation full of black domestic cats, who could tell which one he was?

At first, Zheng Tan was indeed feeling pretty gloomy. Hadn’t he been acknowledged for his achievements? What was this supposed to mean?

But later, after giving it some thought, he realized this must have been Mr. Jiao’s intention.

Fame or freedom, Zheng Tan had clearly chosen the latter after he understood, just like when he had realized that a cat had no cat rights and wasn’t legally protected, and if someone decided to slaughter it, the poor creature could only resign itself to fate.

Unlike Zheng Tan’s discretion, the red rat had been extensively covered in the media, with photos that clearly required professional skills and effort, garnering significant public attention.

The nest rat’s tail was very flexible and had wrapping capabilities, especially the photo where it used its tail to wrap around a branch above and then hung down, holding a nut. It looked quite clever and adorable, and the bright red fur definitely added appeal. Yet, who behind the scenes would have thought of this creature as extremely dangerous?

Zheng Tan truly realized the value of this red rat after returning to Chuhua City.

This summer, Chuhua University was destined not to be quiet.

As per usual, undergraduates went home and some graduate students also applied to take leave and go back home with their advisors. Several shops around the school closed down, and with the summer’s high temperatures, there should have been very few people walking around campus during the day, but not this year. The attention that the red rat received far exceeded Zheng Tan’s expectations, and he would never believe there wasn’t some hyping up involved. Nevertheless, it didn’t stop him from enjoying the spectacle.

Zheng Tan perched on a sycamore tree, watching vehicles bearing license plates from various provinces heading towards the School of Life Sciences. Some students staying on campus over the summer for jobs were also playing tour guide, wearing caps emblazoned with the name of Chuhua University School of Life Sciences. Despite the sweltering heat, where one could down a bottle of mineral water in one gulp due to excessive sweating, they remained cheerfully spirited.

Why?

It made their university look good!

Look at these people running towards the School of Life Sciences these past few days; they weren’t just any people–some were leading professors from top 985 universities or researchers from various institutes, and even some renowned foreign scholars and professors. The university was famous before, but never had it seen this level of attention, not in the hottest time of the year in Chuhua City!

Moreover, some domestic and international research institutions were now purchasing red rat fur, blood, and other materials from Chuhua University School of Life Sciences, which brought joy to some students. Particularly for Yi Xin and his group who once complained about the delays experienced by shipments of cells or cultures from abroad due to lengthy customs procedures in China. Despite having all the necessary approval forms and permits prepared and handled by customs brokerage agencies, the shipments often took too long at customs, resulting in deteriorated cell conditions. They would end up needing to reorder. Talking about these experiences always brought them to tears, but now, thinking of foreigners purchasing materials related to the red rat from them, their hearts thrilled with satisfaction.

Zheng Tan had heard that a single hair from the red rat was now worth a house in Chuhua City.

The Chuhua Evening News had even whimsically reported that the red rat’s blood was worth “ten thousand taels of gold per drop.”

Zheng Tan also heard that the red rat was being cared for like a precious treasure, with extreme caution exercised even when drawing blood to ensure the health of the red rat.

That evening, Mr. Jiao returned from the institute.

“Today, Dean Xie specifically selected two female lab mice that were bred within the institute, saying they were to be put together with the red nest rat to foster a relationship, probably hoping to breed outstanding second-generation mice in the future,” Dean Xie really treasured those lab mice, having spent a fortune to import and breed them. Usually, he wouldn’t even let some faculty members buy a few, but this time he was truly generous.

“And then?” Jiao Ma asked curiously.

Zheng Tan too listened keenly.

“Well,” Mr. Jiao slowly sipped his mung bean soup and said, “then those two lab mice went in, and within a minute, they nobly sacrificed themselves.”

Zheng Tan: “…” What a tragic tale. (To be continued. If you like this novel, you are welcome to vote for it at Qidian (NovelFire.net) with your recommendation or monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.NovelFire.net.)

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