Strange Life of a Cat
Chapter 329 - Chapter 329 Chapter 322 A Mistake Added an Extra Zero

Chapter 329: Chapter 322: A Mistake, Added an Extra Zero Chapter 329: Chapter 322: A Mistake, Added an Extra Zero That was a bank card specifically made for Zheng Tan by Mr. Jiao, where Zheng Tan’s salary and remuneration were deposited.

Zheng Tan hadn’t looked at the amount inside for a long time. The last time Mr. Jiao checked the balance on the online bank, Zheng Tan had a good laugh upon seeing the savings.

Before leaving the country, Mr. Jiao gave the card to Zheng Tan, and even after being back for so long, he still hadn’t asked for it back. It remained well hidden in the drawer under the cat climbing frame, locked away by Zheng Tan. When he left Chuhua City this time, aside from some cash and a card knife, he carried this bank card tucked in his vest pocket, just in case.

From the beginning until now, Mr. Jiao hadn’t really used the money in there, and the funds might not even be less than what was in his own salary card.

However, Mr. Jiao didn’t expect Zheng Tan to take the bank card out, and now, what did this mean?

Putting the newspaper in his hand aside onto the table, Mr. Jiao was no longer in a hurry to leave. He closed the door, dragged a chair over, and sat down.

Zheng Tan pushed the bank card he was stepping on towards Mr. Jiao.

Mr. Jiao asked in bewilderment, “Do you want to withdraw money?”

Zheng Tan turned his head to look around, then at the newspaper Mr. Jiao had just placed on the table. Song Ting had brought it over, a provincial paper, with the headline about the snow disaster and relief funds.

Following Zheng Tan’s gaze to the newspaper, Mr. Jiao’s eyebrows raised in a puzzled expression, “You want to donate.”

Zheng Tan nodded and pushed the card further towards Mr. Jiao. Being unable to speak was inconvenient, but fortunately, Mr. Jiao had long grown accustomed to this kind of communication. He had even stuck little notes for Zheng Tan in the past. If others knew about it, they would probably be shocked.

Mr. Jiao was silent for a few seconds, then laughingly touched Zheng Tan’s head, sighed, and looked out the window, not saying anything for a while.

Zheng Tan waited for a while without hearing Mr. Jiao continue and was about to remind him when he saw Mr. Jiao turn his head and say, “Are you seriously planning to make a donation?”

Zheng Tan glared. Was that even a question? Take advantage of my good intentions now, and hurry up and donate something while I’ve decided to be generous.

Seeing Zheng Tan’s expression, Mr. Jiao chuckled, “You little rascal!”

When Mr. Jiao discussed it with Song Ting, they had already decided to donate. Their area was part of the disaster zone, as were some poorer villages further away in the mountains, and Mr. Gu’s area; all were affected by the disaster. To prevent any fraud in the relief fund, Song Ting had also asked a few friends to get involved and act as supervisors. They would discourage anyone who tried to profit from the relief donations, and it was for this reason that Mr. Jiao felt secure about donating. Otherwise, he wouldn’t feel comfortable since even charity organizations could have their controversies these days.

If Zheng Tan were to donate, he could only do it together with the Jiao family members and not under any other name. Zheng Tan didn’t mind; did he really expect everyone to know it was donated by a cat like him? That would definitely draw unwanted attention. Furthermore, Zheng Tan wasn’t that selfless; his donation was just for peace of mind. After all, suddenly turning into a cat from a completely normal human and going back in time was a troubling thought for Zheng Tan. At times of sentimentality, he would stare at his distinctly non-human cat paws, wishing he could find some explanation. As for the donation, it didn’t matter whether others knew or not.

If, as the elders said, doing good deeds brought blessings, perhaps by doing more good, there might come a time when he could change back. This was the content of Zheng Tan’s optimistic thoughts while Mr. Jiao had entered, which he had been pondering.

“How much will you donate?” Mr. Jiao asked again.

Although Mr. Jiao had an idea, he now wanted to see what Zheng Tan had in mind. As he spoke, he picked up a large calculator from the table, turned it on, and placed it in front of Zheng Tan.

This calculator was frequently used by Old Sir Jiao and his wife. It was bought specifically for the elderly couple for the convenience of the large keys that were easy to see. Zheng Tan stared at the large calculator in front of him and placed his paw on the keys.

Since people usually donate round figures, Zheng Tan first pressed the number 1, then moved to the “0” key with the intention of pressing four zeros. However, his thoughts wandered as he contemplated, especially about the events of that year in May. After pressing the keys, Zheng Tan withdrew his paw, only to realize belatedly that he had pressed one too many.

Indeed, there was an extra zero.

Zheng Tan: “…” It was truly an accident!

Just now, he was reading a piece of news about donations in the newspaper where celebrities were donating amounts like ten or twenty thousand at the event, and he had decided to donate ten thousand himself. But as he was pressing the keys, his mind suddenly wandered off, not fully focused, and he accidentally pressed once more than intended.

Before Zheng Tan could regret it, Mr. Jiao had already taken the calculator to look at it.

Seeing “100000” on the display, Mr. Jiao was surprised for a moment. He knew that his cat had demanded a minimum wage of one hundred instead of fifty at the Pet Center during the New Year’s time. Xiao Guo had even mentioned it a few times jokingly during their phone calls. He never expected the cat to be so generous once he decided to act.

Compared to corporate donations, private donations were much less, especially among ordinary citizens. One hundred thousand yuan was a significant sum for many people, and the amount Zheng Tan donated was even more than what some celebrities listed in the newspapers had given for the widespread snow disaster.

Zheng Tan’s bank account was far from empty. Because of him, Ye Hao had deposited a considerable amount in the past, which still made up the bulk of the balance. Over the years, several more substantial sums had been transferred into it for various reasons, with Ye Hao always being generous with his contributions.

“Are you really donating that much? I was planning on giving one hundred thousand myself, but I never imagined you’d do the same,” Mr. Jiao said. Remembering what Jiao Yuan had told him about the New Year’s money, Mr. Jiao couldn’t help but shake his head with a smile. Their cat was truly something else…

Zheng Tan hesitated for a moment, but then considered the money in the account and decided, let it be one hundred thousand, no changes. He pushed the card toward Mr. Jiao and hopped off the table to leave.

A few days later, Song Ting made another visit. The young fellow who had been kidnapped with him was being discharged from the hospital and returned home. Song had his driver bring the young man over, as he had been a great help during the robbery and had almost lost his life this time. After learning about the young man’s family situation, Song recommended a food processing plant by the coast where the youngster could try his luck with a decent salary package, which pleased his family immensely.

Taking advantage of dropping the young man off, Song also had a chat with Mr. Jiao and brought the donation certificates with him.

Mr. Jiao indicated that the two hundred thousand was a family donation. When mentioning this to Song, he added, “The money earned by our cat is included in that,” which made Song chuckle, taking it as a joke. However, he had a good impression of Zheng Tan, as Song didn’t know how long he would have been undiscovered if not for the cat.

Besides, Mr. Jiao would also participate in the company’s donation on behalf of Yuan Zhiyi, and he wasn’t just contributing that much; the homeland disaster had left a deep impression on him. Moreover, Yuan Zhiyi was also considering improving the company’s public image.

While Mr. Jiao was talking with Song, Zheng Tan stepped outside to see that Song had arrived in a private car with a driver – though the driver seemed to be more than just a driver, likely doubling as a bodyguard to ensure nothing happened to Song in-transit.

However, from Song’s conversation, it was clear that he had a very favorable impression of the village, having spoken highly of it on several occasions. The young fellow who was dropped off also had the surname Jiao, but he was distantly related to Mr. Jiao’s family. Most people in the village shared the surname Jiao, with some families even having both men and women with the same surname. This was also why Mr. Jiao referred to the man driving the donkey cart as Fifth Uncle rather than Great-Uncle, though calling people by simpler terms like uncle or grandpa was far more common among Jiao Yuan’s generation.

Zheng Tan and his family weren’t planning to stay for the Lantern Festival; Little Youzi and Jiao Yuan needed to report back, and Mr. Jiao’s work also required an earlier start. Many graduate students returned to school around the tenth day of the Lunar New Year, especially in busy science and engineering programs with numerous projects. The official university website claims a longer holiday, but that’s nonsense; the internal rule, which wasn’t advertised, was only a week or two off.

On the day they were leaving Chuhua City, Song was at a fruit tree research station not far from there. Hearing that Mr. Jiao and his family were departing, he came over to say goodbye, bringing some fruit with him.

What irritated Zheng Tan was that when Fifth Grandpa came over leading his donkey, the donkey approached the car and made several odd brays at Zheng Tan, moving its mouth and squinting its eyes as if it were taunting him.

The day before, Zheng Tan had been perched in a tree admiring the rural winter scenery when that sneaky donkey passed by with Fifth Grandpa. Spotting Zheng Tan, the donkey had walked to the base of the tree and deliberately defecated towards the trunk, right under the branch where Zheng Tan was lying. After finishing, it took a glance at Zheng Tan, twitched its long ears, flicked its tail, and followed Fifth Grandpa away. Now, with that same sly demeanor, Zheng Tan was so angered he wanted to dash over and slap that donkey’s face and give it a few kicks. If not for Little Youzi holding him back, he would have done so already.

Glaring at the smug donkey, Zheng Tan gritted his teeth: Just wait, next year when I come back for the New Year, I’ll get you!

Inside Zheng Tan’s vest was another red envelope, “liberated” from Old Sir Jiao. Zheng Tan didn’t have much money on hand and planned to wrap another envelope for Zhuo Xiaomao when he got back. In fact, Zheng Tan also wanted to give one to Xiao Jiu, but considering the blind old man behind her, he decided against it. Drawing too much attention would be troublesome anyway, and Little Youzi was sure to bring plenty of treats for the girl.

After the fifteenth of the first lunar month, primary, secondary, and high schools all started the new term, and kindergartens also opened their doors to accommodate parents returning to work.

Zheng Tan had already gotten a handle on Zhuo Xiaomao’s curriculum schedule and found a time slot for outdoor activities. Wearing his black vest with the red envelope tucked inside, he ran to the kindergarten.

As usual, when they saw Zheng Tan, Zhuo Xiaomao came over. His classmates, long used to the sight, were no longer curious.

“Happy New Year, Black Brother~” Zhuo Xiaomao chirped merrily as he ran over.

Clearly, the kid was in a great mood.

Zheng Tan stood sideways to Zhuo Xiaomao and gestured towards the zipper pocket on his vest with his chin, signaling Zhuo Xiaomao to unzip and look inside.

Zhuo Xiaomao’s eyes sparkled. He quickly placed the crayon in his pocket and then unzipped the pocket on the vest to take out the red envelope inside.

Upon seeing the red envelope labeled with “New Year’s gift,” Zhuo Xiaomao’s eyes squinted with joy, recognizing the three characters from red envelopes he had also received during the New Year.

Just as Zhuo Xiaomao was beaming with delight, Zheng Tan heard a noise behind him and looked back. Shortly after, accompanied by few sounds of cats in battle, a gray-black shadow tumbled out from the bushes.

Zheng Tan: “…” These two were fighting again. (To be continued. If you like this work, we welcome you to Qidian to cast your vote of recommendation and monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.NovelFire.net.)

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