Strange Life of a Cat
Chapter 330 - Chapter 330 Chapter 323 Two Cats

Chapter 330: Chapter 323 Two Cats Chapter 330: Chapter 323 Two Cats The cat that rolled out of the bushes was somewhat larger than Zheng Tan, with grayish-black fur, short in length. Upon closer inspection, you could see some black spotted patterns within.

At the moment, after rolling out, the cat looked around cautiously, probably sensing the many strange scents and sounds around it. When its gaze fell on Zheng Tan and the others, it hesitated, twitched its ears, and then relaxed its vigilance a little. However, in the next instant, it seemed to hear some noise and sprang up high; at the next moment, a yellow and white figure pounced out of the bushes.

The two cats, with their ears pressed back and backs arched, stood their ground with fur bristling, giving each other a “I’ll scratch you to death” glare, while making the warning and combatting growls.

Zheng Tan looked at the clear sky; the weather was gradually warming, and the season of spring blossoms was fast approaching. The wars of the males in Nature had begun again.

The two cats facing each other were one that Zheng Tan had watched grow up, Huasheng Tang, which was the one that later leaped out; the other, the somewhat disgracefully rolling out from the bushes looking like a sorry figure, was Tiger, also raised under Zheng Tan’s watchful eye, adopted by Feng Baikin, who lived in the lakeside villa area.

Although Zheng Tan no longer frequently visited the lakeside villa area, on the occasional visit, he could still hear many embarrassing stories about this guy.

It’s still the same old saying: I remember the days when he was an innocent youngster.

Now that they’ve grown up, none of them save worries!

The tiny creature Zheng Tan had fished out from the dilapidated old district’s alleys had grown bigger than Zheng Tan by a whole size. It couldn’t be helped, this one had inherited its mother’s, the Leopard Cat’s, excellent genes. It wasn’t very noticeable as a kitten, but after growing up, it looked noticeably different from regular cats, clearly a mix of two different breeds.

Zheng Tan had heard Ermao and Qin Tao recounting the tragic story of the Leopard Cat. It seems that before giving birth to Tiger, she was sold to the Cat Fighting Arena. The cats there were all fierce, and Tiger’s father was probably one of those arena cats, because Tiger was just too restless. Feng Baikin couldn’t keep him confined at home, and he couldn’t be kept in. When Tiger grew up, he started to stroll around marking his territory. And Huasheng Tang was far from docile. After Heimi was temporarily taken away by Ermao, Huasheng Tang would run to the East District every now and then to call out, spending the rest of the time patrolling his territory and fighting.

Now their territories have overlapped, and the intersection point is right within the Chuhua University area. Thus Zheng Tan would occasionally hear their distinct cat calls, different from ordinary cats.

From what Zheng Tan had observed on multiple occasions, the outcome of their fights was generally in favor of Huasheng Tang, while Tiger often came back wounded, yet getting braver the more he was defeated, always returning to challenge as soon as his injuries had sufficiently healed.

Moreover, whenever these two got into a fight, there would be no other cats within a certain range. Many children had developed a fear of their fighting cries. It wasn’t just the kids; even some adults would feel creeped out by those sounds. In many people’s eyes, cat cries should be those coquettish meows and the kind of distinctive caterwauling during certain flirtatious seasons late at night. This was something everyone wished to avoid, fearing being affected by the clash; those claws coming at you were certainly not in play.

Noticing Zheng Tan right there, Huasheng Tang quickly glanced at Zheng Tan and then continued to confront Tiger, as if waiting for a moment when the other was not paying attention to swing a claw.

Having these two keep growling at each other here wasn’t a solution, especially since the kindergarten teachers had already taken notice. Although their guard against Zheng Tan had lessened a lot, they felt differently about other cats. This was a kindergarten, and hurting a child would be terrible, not to mention that even if no injuries were caused, frightening them was also not acceptable. In the end, these two would definitely suffer the consequences.

So, Zheng Tan jumped down from the concrete ledge of the railing.

The noise he made upon landing was not loud, almost imperceptible to human hearing, but for a cat, it was enough.

The two cats involved in the standoff, upon hearing the noise, didn’t even glance at Zheng Tan as they took off running. If they didn’t make a quick escape, they’d end up being hit by Zheng Tan. Whenever these two got into a fight before and it got too rowdy for the location, if Zheng Tan came across them, he would rush in with a slap and send them rolling away to fight elsewhere; they had to pick the right place and time for such scuffles.

Watching the two cats scamper off, Zheng Tan had no intention of chasing after them, letting them continue their fight elsewhere. He turned around, walked back to the fence, jumped onto the concrete ledge of the railing, and looked at Zhuo Xiaomao, who seemed as if he was about to say something a moment ago before being interrupted by Tiger, who came rolling in.

Zhuo Xiaomao didn’t continue to think about the two cats either. He really didn’t have any special thoughts about other cats or dogs. In his eyes, Zheng Tan was ‘Brother’, and other cats were just cats, nothing more.

Although the New Year had already passed, it did not affect Zhuo Xiaomao’s mood upon receiving the New Year’s money from Zheng Tan. He carefully tucked the red envelope into a small pocket inside his coat to hide it, and then, as usual, began his storytelling, this time talking about some things that happened during the New Year holidays.

With no other relatives around, Zhuo Xiaomao spent his New Year’s with ‘Buddha’, who took care of him. After briefly mentioning this, Zhuo Xiaomao excitedly said to Zheng Tan, “Black, my mom is coming back!!”

Zheng Tan was suddenly very surprised to hear this news. It had been a long time since Zhuo Xiaomao left. From what he understood, Xiao Zhuo had been working on some kind of research for the country that wouldn’t be made public in the short term. Moreover, the project he joined was different from the topic he had applied for at the university. Additionally, the project Zhuo Xiaomao was involved in would likely cause significant physical harm, and might even be life-threatening.

Zheng Tan didn’t know the specifics, but he could guess some of the possibilities. Similar to those researchers in the school, he sometimes overheard students gossiping about who was losing more hair, which teacher was not in good health, or which student got sick from doing certain experiments, and so on. Last year he even heard Mr. Jiao talking about several postgraduates from the Agricultural University of a certain province being infected with brucellosis, which was just one of many such incidents. Every year, the related colleges would hold a special safety lecture about the laboratory, and Mr. Jiao frequently emphasized laboratory safety to Yi Xin and the others.

Fortunately for them, the laboratory and the student study room were separate. The postgraduates would do experiments in the laboratory, wash their hands, take off their lab coats, and go back to the study room to rest. They would only return to the laboratory when they had experiments to conduct. However, in some schools and research groups, this was not the case. Zheng Tan had overheard while at a gathering at Jiao Wei’s small restaurant that in some university departments, the laboratory and student study area were in the same room: on one side there would be experiments involving PAGE (polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, commonly used for nucleic acid and protein analysis), while on the other side students would either be reading books or staring at computers, totally oblivious to the danger they were in.

And in chemical and physical experiments, there are some that also cause great harm to the body, such as the well-known issues with toxic reagents, heavy metal contamination and radiation problems.

Now that Xiao Zhuo can come back safely, it indeed is cause for joy.

No wonder Zhuo Xiaomao was in such a good mood today. Although he had the opportunity to video call with his mother several times a year over the past few years, each session was rather brief. Moreover, seeing each other in a video call and meeting in real life are two different things.

While Zheng Tan was happy for the mother and son, he heard Zhuo Xiaomao continue from behind, “However, I have to wait until I’m in the first grade.”

Zheng Tan: “…” So, the time hadn’t come yet.

Given Zhuo Xiaomao’s current level of knowledge, attending the first grade would be no problem at all, but he was still too young. Besides, this wasn’t an issue that could be resolved by simply enrolling him in the first grade. The main problem lay with Xiao Zhuo.

However, according to Zhuo Xiaomao, Xiao Zhuo would return in the second half of next year. It was just a little over a year away, which would pass quickly.

After listening to Zhuo Xiaomao grumble for a while about “why he couldn’t start first grade now,” with a high-five, Zheng Tan left as it was time for them to go back to the classroom for their outdoor activity period.

Zheng Tan decided to take a stroll outside the campus and headed towards the old street area.

He spent some time watching the entrance of Little Youzi’s school, then continued on, strolling out of the old street and arriving at Hengwu Square, just before noon.

The tempting aroma from some snack shops wafted out, and Zheng Tan thought that since it was already this time, he was too lazy to go back to the university for a meal at Mr. Jiao’s restaurant. So, he went to a familiar place in Hengwu Square, looking at the large “Shiwei” sign and realizing that the joint was already filled with many customers. He wandered around to the back of the shop, climbed up to a window on the second floor, and found the window unlocked.

The anti-burglary bars at the window were not dense, and Zheng Tan was able to squeeze through, slide the window open, and jump inside.

Boss Cai wasn’t in the room, but the temperature of the tea in the cup indicated that Boss Cai had already returned from South City. He must have been in the resting room not long ago and probably had some urgent matter that made him leave temporarily.

The computer on the desk was on, with several documents laid in front of it.

Zheng Tan jumped onto the desk to take a look at the materials.

Boss Cai and his team would not leave anything related to trade secrets here, given the diverse mix of people around–it wasn’t safe. So, what was generally left here were items not considered too important. Otherwise, Zheng Tan wouldn’t snoop; he had no interest in stealing others’ trade secrets. After all, the more you know, the more dangerous it is.

What lay on Boss Cai’s desk were several price lists, as well as some explanations that made Zheng Tan’s head spin.

Looking at the various food price trends and comparing them to the spreadsheet of past food prices open on the computer, Zheng Tan clicked his tongue. It was only while eating free meals at the cafeteria with Mr. Jiao and at Mr. Jiao Wei’s place that he hadn’t noticed anything, but he realized just how much food and vegetable prices had risen when he saw the figures.

Since costs had gone up, the prices on the menu must have increased as well, yet there were still so many customers. This proved that “Shiwei” really did have a good reputation. While walking down the old street, Zheng Tan had seen quite a few restaurants and eateries, none of which seemed as popular as “Shiwei.” He had to admit, the food at “Shiwei” was indeed good.

Below the food price trend analysis were a few wholesale price lists from suppliers. Zheng Tan only glanced at the top sheet briefly with his paw before he stopped looking. He waited for Boss Cai to come back, so he could have his lunch sorted out as well.

Zheng Tan didn’t have to wait long; the sound of keys unlocking the door was heard. Boss Cai walked in holding a folder, but he looked somewhat troubled, his brows furrowed. Following Boss Cai into the room was the manager of the eatery, a somewhat portly middle-aged man.

Seeing Zheng Tan, Boss Cai smiled and said, “Oh, Heitan’s here, happy New Year.”

Approaching his desk, Boss Cai pulled open a drawer and handed a neatly organized file to the manager, “Let’s go with this for now. Oh, and have them send up two meals later.”

“Okay, Boss.” The manager was already accustomed to Zheng Tan’s presence.

After the manager left, Boss Cai sank into his computer chair and pinched the bridge of his nose, saying to Zheng Tan, “Being a cat really is great. You don’t have to worry about anything.”

Zheng Tan: “…” Great my ass. (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to vote for it, and cast monthly votes at Qidian (NovelFire.net). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.NovelFire.net to read.)

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