Strange Life of a Cat
Chapter 289 - Chapter 289 Chapter 282 Orchid

Chapter 289: Chapter 282 Orchid Chapter 289: Chapter 282 Orchid Zheng Tan found the smell familiar because he had often encountered it in the East District courtyard and had even smelled it a few days ago.

Following the scent, Zheng Tan soon reached a steep slope. Even if groups of tourists passed by, they wouldn’t go near it, or if they did, it was just to take a few cool photos from a distance. They wouldn’t go down there; it was too dangerous for people. A careless step could send someone tumbling down, not to death then to severe injury.

However, for Zheng Tan, this wasn’t really an issue. After years of climbing walls as a cat, why would he fear a steep slope?

Standing at the top, Zheng Tan first looked downward and saw clumps of grass leaves, quite densly packed. At first glance, an unknowing person might even mistake them for weeds. Had it not been for the fragrance of the flowers, Zheng Tan wouldn’t have been able to find them; without the scent, even seeing them wouldn’t have necessarily reminded him of Old Man Lan’s favorite flowers.

Yet, why did it smell slightly different when he sniffed closely compared to the flowers at Old Man Lan’s place?

Puzzled, Zheng Tan descended. Though the slope was steep with many rocks, he easily climbed down.

Old Man Lan loved orchids and was famous for cultivating some expensive varieties, but those who knew Old Man Lan well understood that his favorite was not the extremely costly ones. His most cherished were the more affordable Iron Bone orchids, much like the name Lan Tiesu.

In the courtyard, everyone knew that Professor Lan was excellent at raising flowers, but many had forgotten the professor’s name–Lan Tiesu. Perhaps due to his name, or maybe for some other reason, Old Man Lan favored Iron Bone.

Aside from a few regions in the South suitable for growing orchids, many orchid enthusiasts across the country felt that Iron Bone was diligent in leafing but lazy in flowering. The leaves would grow fast, but the flowers were rare sights. Some people might grow them for years without ever seeing them bloom. However, Old Man Lan was particularly skilled at growing orchids; Zheng Tan could smell the Iron Bone orchid fragrance every year. Whether they bloomed from the same plant or a different pot did not affect Zheng Tan’s familiarity with the scent.

Among the grass in the slope below, Zheng Tan looked around and located the source of the fragrance. Somewhere amidst the grass, there stood erect flower spikes bearing five pure white flowers. The flowers looked similar to those Old Man Lan grew, except for slight differences in color. Aside from that, these five white flowers also possessed a jade-like translucent texture, appeared healthier than those at Old Man Lan’s, and had a different but pleasant scent.

Zheng Tan wasn’t familiar with orchids. Even though he often saw them, he never paid much attention. He thought all orchid leaves looked the same, so he could only judge by the flowers before him that they were of the same type as those Old Man Lan grew. If Old Man Lan were here, he could determine the variety based on the shape, pants, and quality of the leaves, and guess what kind of flowers they might bloom. Unfortunately, Zheng Tan knew nothing about this.

He wasn’t familiar, nor was he particularly interested. He had even inwardly scorned Old Man Lan’s obsession with orchids. They were just flowers, after all; what was the big deal? Zheng Tan stared at the flowers in front of him, contemplating what was so captivating about them.

A minute passed…

Five minutes passed…

Half an hour passed…

Then a gust of wind swept up the slope, bringing along some fine gravel that fell on Zheng Tan’s head and at his feet.

Zheng Tan jolted back to his senses, realizing that he had been staring at the orchid in a daze for a long while.

This wasn’t normal!

Zheng Tan typically had no interest in flowers. Even when he had seen those expensive pots Old Man Lan sold, he had never zoned out like this.

Taking a few steps back, Zheng Tan looked at the flowers again, this time not staring intently. His gaze shifted to the leaves next to the flowers, and he approached to sniff them, pressing his nose closely to the leaves. Although the leaves looked the same, their scent seemed slightly different from those at Old Man Lan’s.

Zheng Tan recalled the scent of the leaves and flowers when he saw the sheriff at Chuhua University chewing on orchid leaves.

After sniffing, Zheng Tan squatted down to think.

He had a feeling something was odd about the flower. Could it be a new variety, or perhaps one of those Zheng Tan had never seen or smelled before?

Perhaps he should dig some up to bring back for Old Man Lan to research?

But considering what Old Man Lan said about how these flowers thrived in groups with a developed root system, what if all the roots were interconnected below? Zheng Tan didn’t have the energy to carefully excavate and see. Looking at the place where the flowers were blooming, surrounded by too many weeds, it would be difficult to dig. Zheng Tan found it troublesome.

If he couldn’t dig up a large section, maybe he could manage a small, scattered part.

Zheng Tan walked around the large clump of plants, coming close at one spot to press his nose to the page and sniff. Indeed, he discovered many inconsistencies. The scents of the grass leaves here were not all the same; some were similar to those at Old Man Lan’s place, and some were like the leaves next to the flowers he had just smelled.

So, if Zheng Tan wanted to dig some up to bring back for Old Man Lan to study, he had to find those matching the flowers he saw earlier.

Looking around, Zheng Tan found a rusty iron fork amid some discarded instant noodle boxes and other trash, probably left by tourists during the Golden Week.

Zheng Tan wasn’t in the mood to scorn those who littered; he began digging up plants.

For someone like Zheng Tan, who usually paid no attention to gardening or plants, digging was a hassle. If Old Man Lan saw how crudely Zheng Tan was handling the task, he would definitely scold him: Utterly ridiculous!

While Zheng Tan struggled with the plantlets, two people at the monkey monitoring station were on the phone.

“I told you not to worry. Coming here, you see the monkeys just entertaining themselves, nothing more. Qi Da? Qi Da is here too, having a fun time with the other monkeys.”

Qi Da cast a reproachful glance at the person on the phone. Which eye of his saw him having fun?!

Unfortunately, the person on the phone couldn’t understand Qi Da’s expression and kept chatting with the person on the other end.

“A cat? I haven’t seen a black cat… Okay, I’ll keep an eye out and notify you if I see it.”

At the mountain inn, the innkeeper hung up and relayed the message he had just heard over the phone to Pei Liang.

“Qi Da didn’t cause trouble? That’s really surprising.” Pei Liang knew his own monkey well, but it was strange now that they said they hadn’t seen the cat.

“He probably didn’t catch up, that Black Coal is very slippery.” Ermao wasn’t too worried anymore.

“Let’s go have a look.” Pei Liang decided to check it out personally.

“Alright, we’ve rested enough anyway.” Ermao also got up.

Leaving the inn, Pei Liang led Ermao toward where Qi Da was.

Zheng Tan looked at the two connected seedlings he had dug up, which were among the many he had picked out, with only five leaves, plus two new leaves below, barely making it seven leaves total. The roots of both seedlings were a bit broken; seeing how pitiful they looked, he wondered if the seedlings would survive.

Having dug them out, it seemed a waste to just leave them there.

Finding a vine, Zheng Tan strapped the seedling to his back and scurried up the slope.

When he climbed to the top of the slope, one of the leaves broke. Unfortunately, the leaves were too long, thirty to forty centimeters, and Zheng Tan didn’t pay attention while climbing, so breaking just one leaf was already quite lucky.

Once up, Zheng Tan turned back to look down the slope. Due to the angle, he couldn’t see the flowers blooming below but could occasionally catch the fragrance carried up by the mountain wind.

The orientation changes in the mountains, coupled with Zheng Tan’s more sensitive cat nose than human’s, helped him find this place. Besides, these flowers don’t bloom frequently, so even if people knew there were orchids there and didn’t see them blooming, they thought it wasn’t worth the risk to climb and dig since they were like the commonly grown orchids in the village, which aren’t worth much.

Zheng Tan also didn’t think they were worth much, and since he wasn’t much of an admirer of flowers, he didn’t feel guilty about the condition of the seedlings and left with them on his back.

Identifying the direction and listening to the noises from the monkeys, Zheng Tan headed that way.

As Zheng Tan was about to return to where the monkeys were playing “baseball”, he also heard voices, including Ermao shouting.

Zheng Tan unstrapped the seedlings from his back, put them aside, and threw off the vine, waiting there.

After Ermao and others found Qi Da, they also quickly located Zheng Tan.

“Hey, Black Coal, where did you pull this grass from?” Ermao came over, flipping the two troubled plants, he said.

“Let’s go, it’s getting late, time to head down the mountain.” Pei Liang pacified Qi Da, knowing he probably felt aggrieved by something but fortunately didn’t see any injuries on him.

“Okay.” Ermao agreed, getting ready to leave, and then, he discovered his pant leg was caught and torn.

Looking down at the cat’s paw that tore his pants, Ermao turned back to Zheng Tan, “What again?”

Zheng Tan looked at the two seedlings.

“Take these?” Ermao picked up the two plants, “They won’t survive, will they?”

Regardless, carrying the two seedlings wasn’t troublesome. Gong Qin even found a bag to wrap the roots, not sure if it would help, but it looked better and made carrying easier, preventing the roots from getting damaged accidentally.

After descending the mountain, an elder at Pei Liang’s house processed Zheng Tan’s two seedlings. Thinking it was Ermao who found them on the mountain, he even used a nice little flowerpot.

“Will this survive?” Ermao asked the elder who helped with the plants after placing Black Cat and coming downstairs.

“It should; these things are easy to care for.” The elder wasn’t too concerned.

“Do you see anything special about this grass?”

“Nothing special, just the common orchid that many people grow around here; we have plenty in our courtyard.” The elder said. Their area is a tourist spot, often busy with visitors and many people hiking into deeper areas; yet, no rare orchid species have been reported.

Ermao looked where the elder pointed, indeed there were many that looked almost the same, not understanding why the cat would bring this grass back. Could it be for eating?

After staying for four days at Pei Liang’s house, Zheng Tan visited the orchids cared for by the elder every day; they seemed to have survived, making his effort worth it.

After returning to Chuhua City, Ermao moved the not-so-good-looking orchid and washed photos up to the Jiao family, who were solely surprised and then placed the flower on the balcony for care.(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, welcome to Qidian (NovelFire.net) to cast your votes for recommendations and monthly tickets, and your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.NovelFire.net to read.)

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