Strange Life of a Cat
Chapter 267 - Chapter 267 Chapter 260 Who Are You

Chapter 267: Chapter 260 Who Are You? Chapter 267: Chapter 260 Who Are You? Zheng Tan went to the old residential community again and found out that Zhang Dong had moved away, feeling quite disheartened. He had planned to mess with him once more, but it turned out that after just one round of chaos, the guy had been scared off.

But had the guy left, and did he change his phone number?

Zheng Tan dialed the number directly and discovered that the original number was no longer in service.

That is indeed thorough.

Was that enough to flee from him?

Zheng Tan would visit the kindergarten every day, looking for an opportunity to flip through Teacher Xiao Bai’s phone and jot down Zhang Dong’s new number.

This time, Zheng Tan didn’t immediately send a text message to scare him. Knowing that the man would surely change his number again, Zheng Tan didn’t want to bother. He just memorized the number so he could deal with him later if he caught Zhang Dong doing something wrong again.

Zheng Tan could only seek his own amusements now. He didn’t expect to accomplish any earth-shattering deeds in the guise of a cat–not only would his nine lives not be enough, but considering how malicious people could be and his own limited intelligence, even the law wouldn’t provide him protection. Simply relying on moral constraints was pointless. Zheng Tan certainly didn’t want to entrust his little life to morality.

The tree hollow where he hid his cell phone was much drier now, probably due to the season. The climate was naturally drier, which spared Zheng Tan some troubles.

That day, Zheng Tan went for a stroll around the overpass. Recently, the blind old man, Mr. Kun, had not been playing the erhu there. At first, Zheng Tan thought the old man might have fallen ill–it was entirely possible for someone his age who didn’t do any serious work and just played the erhu on the overpass. But he ran into Xiao Jiu once, who told him that Mr. Kun had simply gone to catch up with some old friends and would be back in a few days. With Mr. Kun away, there were fewer vendors on the overpass. Passing by, Zheng Tan heard some of the regular street vendors there complaining. Recently, they had been anxious while setting up their stands, afraid that the city management would show up at any moment. Some vendors had already switched locations, planning to return when the blind man did.

Zheng Tan also checked out the construction site, which shouldn’t be called a construction site anymore. Now it was Hengwu Square. Although not fully open yet, some shops had already started their business. There weren’t many people for the time being, but that might change after a while.

Looking at the ever-changing Hengwu Square, Zheng Tan marveled at how fast time flew. He heard that Ye Hao and his crew were planning to open a club similar to Night Building here. In the future, Zheng Tan could visit more often, saving him the trouble of hitching a ride every time he went to Night Building. However, the status of a club here wouldn’t match that of Night Building. After all, the main clientele here were students, not the working professionals and social elites.

It didn’t matter–as long as there was a place to kill time.

Zheng Tan climbed onto a residential building, looking at Hengwu Square, considering bringing his phone to take a photo as a souvenir that night.

That night, after dinner, Zheng Tan, with his new backpack on his back, left home with a light step.

In the living room, Jiao Ma watched Zheng Tan’s retreating figure and said to Mr. Jiao, who was watching the news on the couch, “What do you think Heitan is up to, carrying a backpack out every evening? Does it really like that backpack so much? Oh, if I had known, I would’ve bought it several more. I remember when I bought it clothes and it wouldn’t wear them, I thought it didn’t like wearing things because they were uncomfortable. Turns out it likes backpacks and not clothes.” Last time she saw their cat with a little backpack, and within a few days, it had switched to a bigger one. It seemed to really like backpacks. The new backpack did indeed look nice. Hmm, she could make one for it when she was free, and they could alternate.

“By the way, speaking of which, letting it go out on its own, won’t it become wilder?” Jiao Ma expressed her concern.

Without lifting his head, Mr. Jiao continued watching TV and commented, “Give it some privacy.”

Jiao Ma opened her mouth to speak but then remained silent and went to the kitchen to wash the dishes on the table.

Zheng Tan’s new backpack was all black and, at first glance, not easy to distinguish–it looked like a vest, with zippers on both sides, fitting enough to hold the flip-phone. Zheng Tan saw the backpack at the Pet Center and went directly to wear it. Xiao Guo saw it and said nothing, tacitly approving.

With the new backpack, Zheng Tan could take his phone with him when he went out. The backpack was more convenient than a coin purse, and wearing it was just like putting on a vest, making it easy to move around. Zheng Tan planned to take photos at Hengwu Square that evening.

At night, there were very few people who noticed Zheng Tan, and even if they did, they wouldn’t make much of it. Seeing Zheng Tan’s backpack, they’d just think it was pet clothing bought by someone for their pet and wouldn’t look into it further–there were many pet owners around.

Arriving near Hengwu Square, Zheng Tan found a suitable spot to take a photo. The lights twinkled along the uneven outlines of buildings around Hengwu Square, a place that was a deserted construction site that nobody dared approach just two years ago.

However, he overestimated the ability of his phone to take photos at that time. Although the flip-phone was relatively costly on the market, it was by no means a high-end flagship model. After taking photos towards the square, Zheng Tan found the result unsatisfactory and promptly deleted them.

Really, he had planned to take a photo and go down the artistic route for the memories. It seemed playing the artist wasn’t always feasible.

Walking out from the other side of Hengwu Square, Zheng Tan looked at the several connected roads which he had recently become familiar with, and he wondered whether he should tour around other places. Even if he couldn’t take pictures, soaking in the cityscape at night still sounded pleasant.

It wasn’t too far from Hengwu Square to the bustling commercial street. With the construction site completed and the roads opened, the vicinity was gradually becoming more prosperous.

Having left Hengwu Square, Zheng Tan didn’t intend to continue walking toward the commercial street. Just when he was about to turn around and head to another location, Zheng Tan spotted a familiar figure.

The person was none other than Zhang Dong, who had moved out of his house in fright because of Zheng Tan. At his side was a girl who looked quite innocent. Whatever Zhang Dong had said made the girl cover her mouth as she laughed uncontrollably, and some of their movements revealed a level of intimacy.

As far as Zheng Tan was aware, there hadn’t been any rumors about Zhang Dong and Teacher Xiao Bai breaking up. Teacher Xiao Bai had been her usual self, showing no significant emotional fluctuations, and sometimes she would still text Zhang Dong, her messages brimming with the sweetness of being in love.

Does that mean Zhang Dong is playing a two-timer here?!

Damn, did you have to run into me again?!

Using the green walkway as cover, Zheng Tan followed the two towards the commercial district. Aside from shops, supermarkets, and entertainment venues, there were also residential areas.

Zhang Dong and the girl entered a residential complex, and Zheng Tan followed, not through the main entrance, but by scaling a wall. There were a few security guards at the gate, and although they might not pay much attention to a cat, Zheng Tan always felt that it was better to be discreet when tailing someone.

After the pair reached the base of an apartment block, Zhang Dong didn’t go in. Instead, they talked at the base of the building, their conversation suggesting a reluctance to part. Listening in, Zheng Tan learned that the girl lived with her parents, and that Zhang Dong’s newly rented apartment was in the same complex, but not in the same building. They hadn’t known each other for long, yet their relationship had progressed rapidly.

Hiding behind a flower bed, Zheng Tan took out his phone from the backpack, turned off the flash and shutter sound, adjusted the focus, and took photos in their direction.

The photos were somewhat blurry, requiring careful identification. Zheng Tan took several shots but was not satisfied – the photo quality of mobile phones those days was really poor.

After the pair had finished their sweet nothings, the girl went into the building, and Zhang Dong reluctantly walked towards another block.

Zheng Tan took a few more photos of the surroundings, capturing the name of the complex, then selected a few to send to Teacher Xiao Bai.

Zheng Tan knew Teacher Xiao Bai’s mobile number from a child at the kindergarten. He had once gone to watch Zhuo Xiaomao pull a prank, and that blasted kid had tricked another from the older class into reciting a bank card number. When the child couldn’t recite it, he used his phone number instead. The swindled child even proudly recited his family’s and some relatives’ landline and mobile numbers, which included Teacher Xiao Bai’s number. He then solemnly promised to recite his bank card number when he got home. If Zhuo Yang from the younger class could do it, why couldn’t they, the older ones?!

But was it even a bank card number that Zhuo Xiaomao had recited? It was clearly pi!

To children of that age, who didn’t understand numbers with decimal points and certainly didn’t grasp the concept of a bank card, it wasn’t important – it was all about the competition among them.

At that time, not only the child tricked by Zhuo Xiaomao but other kids as well eagerly recited phone numbers, and Zheng Tan had heard Teacher Xiao Bai’s number several times. He had seen it when he flicked through her phone as well. Remembering that, Zheng Tan input the mobile number and sent the photos.

That night, Teacher Xiao Bai was at home preparing for the next day’s class when her phone indicated she had received a message. At this time, she thought it was from her boyfriend Zhang Dong, but it turned out to be from an unfamiliar number, and it came with pictures.

She had received similar messages before, usually advertisements or other spam texts, so she intended to delete it. But, as her finger hovered over the delete key, she hesitated, then moved her finger to open it. The messages with picture texts and some scam texts she’d received before weren’t from this kind of mobile number, so she decided to try opening it – at worst, she’d just be charged a bit more for her phone bill.

To her shock, the content of the message was,

The photos, taken at night, were not very clear to begin with and appeared even blurrier after appropriate compression, but even though the photos were indistinct, Teacher Xiao Bai could recognize the man she had been with for so long. She could tell from the photo that the man was her current boyfriend, the one who texted her every day, calling her “dear.” And as for the woman in the photos, she had no idea who she was!

There were several photos, among them were shots of the pair holding hands and embracing. Even without any further action, the manner in which they interacted was definitely not that of ordinary friends or relatives.

Zheng Tan had also thoughtfully typed a few explanatory notes – which complex it was, around what time, which building Zhang Dong was visiting the girl in, when they went out shopping, and so on.

Both the images and the text felt like a bucket of ice-cold water poured over Teacher Xiao Bai from head to toe, leaving her thoroughly chilled.

Zheng Tan had no idea how Teacher Xiao Bai reacted upon seeing the message; he had even considered the possibility that she might delete the message without looking. The next day, upon seeing Teacher Xiao Bai’s state at the kindergarten, Zheng Tan knew she had seen them. Her emotions were slightly out of sorts, her complexion pale, and even her smiles at the children seemed forced.

Seeing Teacher Xiao Bai like this, Zheng Tan started to doubt whether his actions had been proper. He decided to let them sort it out themselves and not interfere anymore. Then, Zheng Tan went to a tree hollow to open his phone and play games to train his cat paws on the keys. He hadn’t expected to receive a message upon turning it on. It was sent around midnight the day before, from Teacher Xiao Bai–

“Who are you?”

Two o’clock in the morning–

“Can you help me?”

There was also a missed call, with the service showing that it had come around three o’clock. (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (NovelFire.net) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.NovelFire.net.)