Strange Life of a Cat
Chapter 304 - Chapter 304 Chapter 297 Scare You to Death

Chapter 304: Chapter 297 Scare You to Death Chapter 304: Chapter 297 Scare You to Death Zheng Tan was grounded, at least until he left South City and Nanhua City he couldn’t freely wander around.

This was a unanimous decision by the Jiao family of four, which could be described as quite democratic.

Of course, for Zheng Tan, being grounded now didn’t have much of an impact on him. He was fairly familiar with South City and Nanhua City and wasn’t as curious as those newcomers who liked to sightsee around the area. This time, he had seen his parents, but unfortunately, the person he most wanted to see was always out of reach. Maybe it was fate that he couldn’t meet himself from this time and space.

Actually, upon reflection, Zheng Tan could guess that even if he did meet the human version of himself at this time, it probably wouldn’t have resulted in anything good. In those days, his past self was not very friendly towards cats, as for a long time Zheng Tan thought all cats were crazy, and no cat wanted to get close to Zheng Tan.

Well, if he couldn’t meet, then he couldn’t meet.

Old acquaintances were one thing, and the weather was another. In the heat of summer, Zheng Tan also disliked the heat and was lazy to run outside, spending most of his time indoors. Jiao Ma, taking Jiao Yuan and Little Youzi, played around for a few days before resting, only Mr. Jiao and Yuan Zhiyi were more active outside.

In mid-August, the Jiao family returned to Chuhua City, as they still had many things to handle. Although the holiday was not over, they needed to come back early.

This time Jiao Yuan and the boys from the courtyard were all going to the same high school, Chu University’s Attached Middle School, which was somewhat far from Chuhua University and was a boarding school with closed management. Jiao Yuan would only come home once every weekend, which meant Zheng Tan would see Jiao Yuan much less.

This September, like Jiao Yuan, Little Youzi was starting middle school. They were going to the middle school closer to Chuhua University, as were several kids familiar to Little Youzi from the West District. This arrangement also reassured Mr. and Jiao Ma.

Jiao Ma would teach in the middle school for another year; she could have transferred to the associated middle school next to Chu University long ago. With her capabilities, teaching high school was no problem, especially since she often subsituted at that school over the past three years, starting with first-year high school and later second-year, sometimes replacing teachers who couldn’t teach due to emergencies. Her experience was sufficient, and she was well past the examination period of the associated middle school. However, she hadn’t moved due to Jiao Yuan, and this year Xiong Xiong’s mother personally persuaded Jiao Ma to transfer earlier as the policies were changing and the competition was getting tougher, which might not allow such an easy transfer later. Jiao Ma agreed to stay on at the middle school for another year, mainly because she was concerned about Little Youzi, planning to move next year to Chuhua University Affiliated Middle School.

Mr. Jiao was also a very busy man, with many students and projects under him, and he had to deal with non-research related issues that couldn’t be avoided.

Thus, Zheng Tan found himself alone much more often. During the day, Mr. Jiao and Jiao Ma were not at home, Jiao Yuan came back once a week, and Little Youzi stayed at school during lunch, Zheng Tan sometimes went out with Jiao Ma and Little Youzi in the morning, dropping them off at school and then taking a stroll before returning home. Sometimes, he went with Mr. Jiao to the staff canteen for breakfast, afterwards pondering how to find some fun to pass the time. At noon, he hung out with Jiao Wei.

Thinking about this lifestyle, Zheng Tan felt, it was really boring. He truly admired Ah Huang and the others who could sleep all day in the courtyard or entertain themselves by playing with their tails as make-belief enemies.

Chairman Shu and Boss Cai had visited Chuhua City at the end of August and met with Ye Hao. During the meeting, Zheng Tan was lying on the sofa beside them, sleeping. As he stretched and yawned, he accidentally lost control of his claws and scratched a hole in the high-end sofa in Ye Hao’s “Triumph” office. Ye Hao just silently glanced at the hole and said nothing. At that moment, Chairman Shu was quite surprised. He couldn’t imagine how tolerant Ye Hao could be toward a cat. Considering himself shrewd, Chairman Shu’s mind twisted and turned as he tried to analyze the reasons; whether or not he guessed the true situation, he was at least certain about one thing–the Black Cat was special.

Chairman Shu stayed in Chuhua City for a few more days before leaving. He planned to invest in Chuhua City, so this visit was just a preliminary inspection. After finishing his business and the inspection, he left. Boss Cai, on the other hand, stayed in Chuhua City. His “Shiwei” was set to open when school started in September. Having prepared well in advance, the timing of the opening coincided perfectly with the start of school. Having spoken with Ye Hao, he felt much more assured and devoted more energy to studying the tastes of the people in Chuhua City, picking a few dishes that matched the local style to tryout at a special price to gauge the response.

The scale of “Shiwei” at Hengwu Square was not small, it had two floors, and the second floor mostly consisted of private rooms. There was another door at “Shiwei” that led directly to the second floor, where a door separated the restaurant from Boss Cai’s rest area. Sometimes, Zheng Tan would directly jump to the second floor and sleep in Boss Cai’s rest area.

Mr. Jiao wasn’t worried at all about Zheng Tan going hungry. To Zheng Tan, places where he could scrounge for food and sleep were too many to count. Sometimes, Mr. Jiao even reminded Zheng Tan not to eat too much as having too much nutrition could also bring troubles. Jiao Ma felt relieved that it was just Zheng Tan, for if it were another cat, it would probably be much harder to take care of since everyone in the Jiao family wasn’t home often, and their schedules were really not suitable for keeping a pet.

That day, it was one of Little Youzi’s classmates’ birthday over at West District courtyard, so some classmates were there to play, and thus Little Youzi would come home later. Jiao Ma went to the sports center to exercise, Mr. Jiao continued to toil in the yard, and Zheng Tan wouldn’t just stay home alone, watching melodramatic series. He decided to go out for a walk and take a stroll.

Having eaten too much dinner, Zheng Tan didn’t want to run too far, so he strolled around Chuhua University and played a game on his phone by the edge of the campus woods.

Liu Ba must have been busy recently as there were no text messages or phone calls bothering Zheng Tan, and Zheng Tan was happy for the peace.

After yawning, feeling full made him sleepy, and after playing a game, he was too lazy to move. Zheng Tan decided to take a short nap here, planning to go back later.

Unexpectedly, he overslept. Zheng Tan had planned to return by nine, but he forgot to set an alarm on his phone, and when he woke up, it was already half-past ten.

Zheng Tan thought this was bad, guessing he would be scolded when he got back. He had just been allowed more freedom after Jiao Yuan and Little Youzi started school, and now, being late again, he might cause Mr. and Mrs. Jiao to worry, thinking Zheng Tan had only stayed out of trouble for a few days before staying out late again.

He quickly got up, intending to leave through the tree hollow. Zheng Tan’s ears twitched, and as he was about to step out, he stopped and cautiously peered outside the tree hollow.

Someone was coming this way.

Generally, at this time, students wouldn’t come to this part of the woods; after all, it was very late, and it could be dangerous. For them, the woods did not feel safe at all.

Since someone was already almost here, Zheng Tan decided to check first; he could leave his phone here. Although he didn’t think anyone would climb the tree to reach into the hollow, Zheng Tan still wanted to be prepared just in case.

Why would someone come running into the woods at this hour, their footsteps even sounding all sneaky? It would be understandable if it were some couples, but it appeared to be two men, and though it was very dark around, Zheng Tan could still make out two figures approaching in the moonlight, one in his twenties and the other about forty.

The two men seemed exhausted, breathing heavily yet cautiously, trying not to breathe too loudly. They spoke in subdued voices; Zheng Tan couldn’t hear clearly since they were speaking quickly and in an accent not native to Chuhua City, leaving him to guess only a word or two from what he had heard.

Whenever there was a faint sound of students passing by on the path that led to the side gate at the edge of the woods, the two men would stop, hide behind trees or crouch behind bushes, and they wouldn’t move until the students were gone.

This made Zheng Tan even more curious. Admittedly, these two men’s hiding skills were poor, but they were excessively cautious. What exactly had they done that they didn’t want others to see?

They certainly didn’t look like good people.

As the two men neared the tree where Zheng Tan was, he tucked his head further inside the hollow. He noticed that the older man occasionally looked up at the trees as he walked.

The tree Zheng Tan was in had been chosen not only for its hollow but also for its camouflage. Except in winter, its branches and leaves provided cover, making it more secure, and normally nobody bothered to climb here. Up until now, no one had discovered the hollow; although sometimes people were active nearby, they never climbed the tree.

While he was thinking this, he heard the older one say something. Zheng Tan caught the words “tree up,” but didn’t understand the whole meaning.

With someone watching below, Zheng Tan didn’t stick his head out, instead straining his ears to try and figure out what they were doing. The next moment, Zheng Tan felt someone climbing the tree.

Zheng Tan was startled; someone was actually climbing?!

Were they trying to hide something too?

Zheng Tan silently cursed, “Damn it–just hide the thing. There are so many trees in the woods, why did these two ‘Haozis’ have to pick this one?”

Initially not planning to do anything, now Zheng Tan had no choice; he did not want these people finding his hiding spot, his hiding spot that was so hard to find and now someone wanted to take it over?

No way!

Upon sensing someone climbing the tree, Zheng Tan didn’t immediately react but instead shrank further into the hollow, trying to avoid being noticed.

Perhaps fearing detection, the two men didn’t use any flashlights or the like. Taking advantage of the darkness, one person climbed slowly upwards.

Feeling the person getting closer, Zheng Tan held his breath and quietly bent his paw to pick up a broken branch next to him, its end somewhat sharp.

A pair of hands appeared at the entrance of the hollow, likely belonging to the younger man.

Zheng Tan shrank back as much as possible into the hollow.

“Hey, Uncle, there seems to be a hollow!” The younger man felt around the edge of the hollow and excitedly bent down to speak softly to someone carefully surveilling the surroundings below. Having a hollow would be perfect to conceal something.

Zheng Tan understood this, but couldn’t quite catch what the elder quickly said below.

After the younger man had bent down and spoken, he prepared to climb up a bit more to have a closer look at the hollow. But as he turned his head and before he could continue climbing, a blurred shadow suddenly burst out from the hollow under the cover of night.

“Ha!” Zheng Tan exclaimed, as he jabbed the branch in his paw onto the man’s hand.

The young man’s legs went weak from the fright of the sudden emergence and the strange shout, coupled with the sharp pain in his hand. Already feeling guilty, now under this dual assault, he promptly fell down from the tree. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work and would like to support me, please head over to Qidian (NovelFire.net) to leave a recommendation or a monthly vote. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read further on m.NovelFire.net.)