Strange Life of a Cat
Chapter 322 - Chapter 322 Chapter 315 Please Call Me the Red Scarf

Chapter 322: Chapter 315: Please Call Me the Red Scarf Chapter 322: Chapter 315: Please Call Me the Red Scarf Upon returning to Chuhua City, Zheng Tan felt much more relaxed, probably because the psychological pressure had decreased significantly, and he slept soundly.

He had placed Tang Mo’s treasure box under Little Youzi’s bed. The room was too small to have many suitable places to keep things, so the space under the bed had to suffice.

Two days after getting back to Chuhua City, Zheng Tan found a moment when the house was empty to secretly turn on the computer and go online. He checked the news about Young Master Xiao and discovered that there weren’t many recent reports on him. It was only mentioned that two entertainment programs that had initially invited Young Master Xiao had replaced him, which upset his fans. However, it seemed that there were not yet many real reports about Young Master Xiao, and Zheng Tan guessed that most people were unaware that the police had taken him away and that his entertainment career was likely over.

Besides going online, Zheng Tan also paid attention to the newspapers the Jiao family subscribed to. Although there was no dedicated entertainment newspaper, some general news papers had one or two pages about entertainment, and Zheng Tan kept an eye on the news from that area too.

However, after only two days of relaxation, Zheng Tan was “kidnapped” to the Pet Center by Xiao Guo, who had personally come to fetch him. Seeing Xiao Guo’s deep dark circles under his eyes, Zheng Tan, for once, did not blow up over Xiao Guo’s kidnapping.

It wasn’t easy for anyone.

The Pet Center had been without Zheng Tan for a month because of his documentary filming, and two other cats had been loaned out for a movie. When they prepared to shoot the Christmas special, they realized that not only the main attraction but also two important supporting roles were absent, significantly impacting the quality. There were already numerous complaints online, and all sorts of speculations were brewing. Unfortunately, due to a confidentiality agreement, the Pet Center staff couldn’t tell the truth until they had permission from the filming crew. Thus, the rumors grew more outrageous, and some people came to the Pet Center specifically to confront Xiao Guo. Boss Guo hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a long time.

Therefore, as soon as they knew Zheng Tan was back, Xiao Guo promptly came over. This was after Mr. Jiao had managed to hide the news for two days. Otherwise, Xiao Guo would have likely kidnapped Zheng Tan the day he returned to clear up the rumors.

Fortunately, a couple of days before filming the New Year’s special, the cats from the movie were nearly done, and Xiao Guo took them to shoot together. This would shut up those people who thrived on chaos.

In addition to shooting the New Year’s special at the Pet Center, Zheng Tan had something else on his mind. Keeping the bag of diamonds felt uncomfortable, like a burning paw. He was only a cat now–of what use were these diamonds to him? Although they were valuable, to Zheng Tan, they were nothing but a hot potato he couldn’t openly dispose of. Giving them away would only pass the trouble on to someone else.

So, Zheng Tan thought, he might as well return the bag of diamonds. After all, the Jiao family was not living poorly, and Zheng Tan had earned a decent pay from filming the documentary and the Pet Center’s New Year’s special. That was enough; he had no use for more, and keeping the diamonds made him uneasy.

After deciding, Zheng Tan thought about how to get the diamonds into Tang Mo’s hands.

The previous day, Zheng Tan heard Xiao Guo on the phone with Tang Mo and learned that Tang Mo was staying in a hotel. During the time Zheng Tan was away, Tang Mo had also taken a trip abroad and had only returned a few days ago. Zheng Tan was familiar with the five-star hotel Xiao Guo mentioned; it wasn’t too far from Chuhua University, within Zheng Tan’s range.

Xiao Guo said on the phone that he would meet with Tang Mo around 7 p.m. on Friday to discuss a collaboration. They would insert a jewelry advertisement from Tang Mo’s company into the release of the New Year’s special. The details would be discussed when Xiao Guo went over.

Tang Mo wasn’t expected back at the hotel until about 6:30 p.m. on Friday, and early Saturday morning, he would fly across the ocean for an urgent matter, so time was tight.

Friday, which was tomorrow.

Now that he knew the general schedule, Zheng Tan contemplated how to return the diamonds. Should he just toss the whole bag as is?

Zheng Tan didn’t like that idea because the bag had some of his cat fur on it. If he returned it that way, he wasn’t sure if they would trace it back to him.

While pondering, Zheng Tan suddenly heard a snap. Turning his head, he saw a paper bag slapped against a tree trunk by the wind.

A paper bag?!

Zheng Tan walked toward it. It was already evening, and not many people passing by would notice Zheng Tan in the bushes.

It was the kind of paper bag used by stall vendors at the university gate to hold pancakes. Zheng Tan had seen similar ones before. This bag had no grease stains, indicating it was unused.

The first line on the paper bag in four large characters read “Domestic Pizza.”

The second line in five even larger characters read “Wutailang Pancakes.”

Zheng Tan stared at the character “Tai” for a long time. Was this some knock-off product?

There had been a strong wind earlier that day, blowing many plastic bags and such into the air, and this paper bag might have been swept along by it.

Walking towards the university gate, Zheng Tan found several more unused paper bags, which validated his guess.

Selecting the driest and cleanest one, Zheng Tan took it and headed toward the Old Tile House District. It was night, and as long as he was careful, no one would notice this cat running on two legs.

Taking the paper bag back to the room in the Old Tile House District where he hid the diamonds and cellphone, Zheng Tan carefully poured the diamonds inside. After making sure he hadn’t left any cat hair, he shook the bag to settle the diamonds in one corner at the bottom. He folded part of the bag and carefully rolled it up around the small corner at the bottom to prevent the diamonds from easily piercing through and falling out. Finally, he tucked the little excess at the top into the folds.

After some thought, Zheng Tan left the room and ran to the buildings where students’ clubs often met. One of the windows was not fully closed, and he climbed in. After searching, he found a short piece of an old pencil. Not finding anything else of use, he climbed out and returned to where the diamonds were. Bending his claws, he gripped the pencil and scribbled a few words on the paper bag.

Writing with a pencil was not easy for a cat’s paws, and since Zheng Tan had not written for a long time, even he couldn’t bear to look at his own writing afterward.

The next day, which was Friday.

Zheng Tan didn’t wait for dinner at home; wearing his small vest with the diamond tucked inside, he stealthily ran off.

In the winter, nightfall comes early, and by six o’clock, darkness had begun to settle in.

Zheng Tan took several less noticeable paths and by the time he reached the hotel, the sky had already turned pitch black.

Zheng Tan didn’t know what time it was now. He had thought that if he didn’t run into anyone today, he would have to wait until next time. But to his surprise, Zheng Tan was in luck today. Just as he arrived near the hotel entrance and hid behind a flower bed, he saw a car slowly pull up to the hotel doorway. Tang Mo got out of the car, followed by two people who seemed to be bodyguards.

Watching Tang Mo walk toward the entrance, Zheng Tan quickly took out the item hidden in his vest and threw it with all his might towards Tang Mo. After the throw, Zheng Tan swiftly changed his hiding spot, taking cover behind a nearby pine tree and observing the situation.

Before the object thrown by Zheng Tan could hit Tang Mo, one of the men by Tang Mo’s side raised his hand and deflected it, causing it to fall to the ground not far from them.

One of the men stayed close to Tang Mo, vigilantly scanning their surroundings, while the other, upon Tang Mo’s gesture, went to inspect the thrown object. After poking a hole and seeing a corner peeking out of the paper bag, the man’s expression changed abruptly, and he quickly presented it to Tang Mo.

“Boss, take a look!”

Tang Mo received it, and without needing to view the entire object, just catching sight of one corner was enough, even in the poor lighting, for him to recognize it as likely being the item he had lost.

Apart from that, Tang Mo carefully examined the poor-quality paper bag, noticing it was folded. The words “Wutailang Pancake” weren’t clear yet, but the writing on the bag was visible, a few scrawly pencil letters: “Don’t ask who I am, just call me ‘Red Scarf.'”

Tang Mo: “…”

Tang Mo felt that ever since he arrived in Chuhua City, he always encountered some very strange occurrences.

Zheng Tan only left after seeing Tang Mo take the item and enter the hotel. Before the man Tang Mo had left to find the thrower could discover him, Zheng Tan had already left the scene. The bodyguard who was ordered to search for the person who threw the object would never have guessed that the perpetrator was actually a cat.

In the following days, Zheng Tan paid attention to the surroundings of the school, especially to the vendor selling pancakes. Before, Zheng Tan hadn’t thought much about it. Now it occurred to him that he might have caused trouble for the pancake vendor.

After paying special attention, Zheng Tan learned some information about the pancake vendor.

He had always thought the “Tai” in “Wutailang” was a printing error or perhaps they were making counterfeit pancakes. Later, while listening to the vendors’ gossip during their chats, he found out that the pancake vendor’s name was Wutai, a laid-off worker with a limp. He was seen as a nice and honest person; the vendors around him and the students who bought his pancakes all had a good impression of him. Sometimes, when someone overpaid, he would even hobble over to return the excess money.

No one knew how his leg became injured, but the limp was very noticeable. The injury was several years old, and with no money for treatment, it remained untreated. It was also rumored that Wutai’s wife had left him with two little kids, and surviving on meager welfare, a thirty-year-old man appeared more like he was in his forties, clearly struggling to get by. After learning a bit about pancake-making from someone else and hearing that business was good near the university, he managed to scrape together some equipment and set up a small stall to do business with the students. With his good craftsmanship and generosity, his business was booming.

Then, suddenly one day, Wutai disappeared, gone for two whole days, leaving many students feeling sorry, having lost a rare pancake source that suited their taste.

Zheng Tan wondered if Tang Mo had caused trouble for Wutai and thought about asking around other places, but two days later Wutai appeared again at the school gate, unharmed and in good spirits, seemingly having encountered some good fortune.

Since the man seemed alright, and Zheng Tan didn’t notice anything unusual on his end, nor did he hear of any other disturbances at the Pet Center, he felt much more at ease.

As he walked back with a light step, Zheng Tan overheard the conversation of two middle school students returning home from school.

“I heard that Gu Youzi, the one who topped the midterm exams in her grade, knows someone from the underworld.”

“Ah? Really?”

“It’s said her boyfriend is from the underworld.”

…

Zheng Tan wanted to hear more, but the two students had already ridden their bikes far away.

Underworld?

Boyfriend?

The fuck, how come I don’t know about it?!

Damn, what the hell happened during the month I was away on a business trip to Beijing?!

If I find out which son of a bitch it is, I’ll kick him to death! (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to come to Qidian (NovelFire.net) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.NovelFire.net.)

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