Strange Life of a Cat
Chapter 342 - Chapter 342 Chapter 335 Family Reunion

Chapter 342: Chapter 335 Family Reunion Chapter 342: Chapter 335 Family Reunion Li Yuanba might be getting old and lazy to move, or perhaps he had changed his way of educating his child; or maybe he was aware that the kitten’s fur color could attract trouble. In any case, Little Sesame was not taken around by Li Yuanba like he used to do with others.

In the past, Huasheng Tang was often carried around by Li Yuanba in his mouth, but now Li Yuanba basically just stayed in Xiao Guo’s rest area and didn’t wander around everywhere, unlike Little Sesame.

Like Huasheng Tang in the past, Little Sesame grew quickly and was noticeably bigger than other cats of the same age. Moreover, this trend became more apparent as they grew older. At one month old, this little one began to show its restless side, running around energetically with “Gou Zai” and being the most active cat in the studio this summer, surpassing even Huasheng Tang.

Now there was a cat tree in Xiao Guo’s lounge, and sometimes when Li Yuanba was annoyed by Sesame, he would jump to the higher parts of the cat tree or lie on the couch. However, as the couch was too low, Little Sesame would still try to climb on it, or at least loiter around it provocatively.

There was also a cat nest near the bottom of the cat tree, where Little Sesame slept, and sometimes Li Yuanba would sleep there too.

Because the lounge had these two cats in it, Xiao Guo had to change his resting spot; otherwise, it would be impossible to get any quiet rest there–Sesame was just too restless.

At the end of July, Zheng Tan was picked up by Charlie and brought to the Pet Center for a routine workday.

The temperature had already soared to 38 degrees Celsius, and it was even hotter outdoors, especially on the main roads. The exhaust from cars and air conditioning units caused the city’s temperature to jump several degrees higher again.

However, one had to work no matter how hot it got.

The upside was that there was air conditioning inside the Pet Center studio, so Zheng Tan didn’t need to worry about fainting from the heat. Speaking of which, cats naturally have a higher body temperature than humans, so most cats have a higher tolerance for heat. Among the studio cats, some even enjoyed taking baths, and they were splashing around more enthusiastically now, while other cats would run at the sight of water.

It was said that Sesame was one of the cats that liked to take baths. One day, the little one managed to tumble into a basin full of water. When an employee went to wash their face and discovered a cat floating in the basin, they were scared witless–the distinctive spotted fur indicated it was the boss’s and his wife’s precious cat. The employee, who had placed the basin there, turned pale with shock, thinking that if the cat drowned there, they wouldn’t know how to explain it.

Trembling, they reached out to touch the cat, but Little Sesame impatiently pushed the employee’s finger away, then swam around twice in the basin, continuing to “float” inside.

A one-month-old cat has low immunity; even bathing had to be done with special care, let alone in cold water.

After hearing what the employee said, Xiao Guo, with a trembling heart, quickly dried off Little Sesame and checked his body, only to find that the little one was very healthy. Observing for a few days, there was not a single issue, and every time there was water, the little one would run towards it. Huasheng Tang and Li Yuanba let it be, not intervening at all. Helpless, Xiao Guo had to divide his attention to look out for this troublesome little one.

Today, as soon as Zheng Tan entered the studio, he sensed something was off.

Today, the full-bodied, spotted creature was nowhere to be found–only “Gou Zai” was at the shooting area. The other cats seemed off somehow, as if they were on alert or afraid, and one was even hiding in its nest, refusing to emerge despite the caregiver’s attempts at soothing. Having worked with them for so long, Zheng Tan knew that unless this cat was frightened, sensed a crisis, or felt an intense unease, it wouldn’t act like this.

Sniffing the air inside the studio, Zheng Tan was surprised.

That guy came over?!

Jumping onto a table by the window, Zheng Tan looked outside and saw two inconspicuous cars. He hadn’t paid attention when he entered just now, but upon closer inspection, he recognized one of the drivers–as either Mr. Tang Qi’s or Ye Hao’s.

It seemed someone had brought Lord over to see his wife and child.

No wonder the few cats in the studio were out of sorts, and even the normally good-tempered dogs seemed on edge, as if anticipating danger. In contrast, “Gou Zai” seemed quite special, acting as if it hadn’t noticed anything at all.

When “Gou Zai” was first rescued from a disaster area, it was around two months old in cat years. Now, by the end of July, it was four months old and no longer looked thin and pitiful as before–it had become much sturdier. Only short stumps remained of its two amputated front legs, and it stood quite often. At first, it hopped like a kangaroo, but later it even slowly tried walking on its two hind legs.

The staff at the Pet Center constantly monitored “Gou Zai”‘s health, and its food was specially formulated. To recover to its current state, aside from everyone’s hard work, “Gou Zai” was truly resilient.

Normally, if the other cats didn’t pay attention to it, it would play with Sesame, run around the studio, hang out with the few good-natured dogs that often participated in shoots, and sometimes even sleep in the same nest, perhaps because it couldn’t climb to high places like the other cats could, and also because it had been saved by dogs, “Gou Zai” spent more time with dogs. Staff sometimes teased it too.

Cats that had survived great disasters either became even more timid, startled by the slightest rustling, or like “Gou Zai” is now, with an exceptionally strong resilience. While so many cats from the Pet Center were out of sorts due to Lord’s arrival, maintaining a sense of alertness and fear, wishing they could hide in their nests and not come out, “Gou Zai” wasn’t bothered–in spite of having only two legs, it hopped around as usual.

This was something Xiao Guo and the studio staff were happy to see. A cat full of vitality like this, if filmed, could bring about a positive energy effect, and right now, society is just in need of such positive energy.

Since the other cats weren’t cooperating today, Xiao Guo had the staff start filming Gou Zai first, hoping that Zheng Tan would cooperate too, as they couldn’t count on the other cats anymore.

With Zheng Tan joining in, Gou Zai, who was still unsure about how to cooperate, made fewer mistakes. Often, it was Zheng Tan leading it through the moves, which also allowed the staff to breathe a sigh of relief. After all, even though Gou Zai was energetic, it was still just a kitten, and a disabled one at that. They would feel heartache if it got tired.

After the shoot ended, Zheng Tan thought that it had been a long time since he’d seen Lord, so he decided to go check if Lord had changed at all.

Following the scent, as well as the faint sounds coming from one of the rooms, Zheng Tan arrived at the door, looked at the lock, and jumped up to fiddle with it.

The door was unlocked.

After opening it, Zheng Tan peeked inside.

There stood four people inside the room: Xiao Guo, Yanzi, Mr. Tang Qi, and someone with Mr. Tang Qi. Four cats were present as well: Lord, Li Yuanba, Huasheng Tang, and Sesame.

Lord still looked the same, unchanged over the four years–just as he had four years ago. Many say that cats lose some of their wildness after being domesticated, like the relatively good-natured cats at the Pet Center. Lord had been with Ye Hao and Tang Qi for four years now, but the killer instinct hadn’t faded. Zheng Tan could feel that if Lord could kill a person back then, he still could now, and maybe he already had. After all, he was with Ye Hao and Tang Qi, and encountering dangerous situations was still possible.

However, no matter whether a cat was ferocious or not, Lord was quite good to Li Yuanba, Huasheng Tang, and Sesame. He lay next to Li Yuanba, letting Huasheng Tang and Sesame wrestle around him, biting at his paws and scratching.

Xiao Guo was sitting with Mr. Tang Qi, talking about his three cats, while Mr. Tang Qi, smiling, leaned on his cane and listened from the sofa.

Seeing Zheng Tan, Mr. Tang Qi even greeted him, as he knew Zheng Tan.

As for the affairs of Li Yuanba and the others at the Pet Center, Zheng Tan guessed that Mr. Tang Qi probably had everything figured out when he brought Lord in as a sidekick. Perhaps, Lord had been visiting often these last two years, likely with Mr. Tang Qi’s silent consent.

It is as Mr. Jiao previously said, Lord’s pedigree and history meant he was different from ordinary cats and it resulted in a low reproduction rate. Over the years, Li Yuanba had only given birth to two kittens, but both were “exquisite.” Huasheng Tang didn’t even need mentioning; his prowess was well known to those who keep cats in the neighborhood, having expanded his territory quite a bit, and his reputation for daring to confront dogs was very resounding. Even Sesame, who was still in his youth, had a robust constitution, a good spirit, and a unique coat color. It’s about quality and not quantity, as they say.

Mr. Tang Qi brought up the topic of buying Sesame again, but Xiao Guo declined politely, and Mr. Tang Qi wasn’t upset. He just mentioned it in passing; if he could have another one, he would. Otherwise, it didn’t matter. Having one such cat was enough; having more could lead to complications, they were hard to control.

Since it was a family reunion, Zheng Tan didn’t want to intrude. Just as he was about to leave, Xiao Guo called him.

“Heitan, come here for a moment,” Xiao Guo said as he walked out, taking Zheng Tan to another room, his current resting room.

Over the years, Xiao Guo had gotten used to speaking frankly to Zheng Tan and no longer treated him like an ordinary cat.

“Mr. Yang called me last week. That’s Yang Yi from Yixing Culture, you know him. He said the documentary is out and Central Television will broadcast it this week. At the same time, they’re planning to turn this documentary into a series. They’re preparing to film Mingzhu City for the second installment, and he was thinking, if needed, you might have to go there and lend a hand.”

Huh?

The film’s out?

Speaking of which, Zheng Tan rather valued that film, although it was just a documentary that wouldn’t be featured in prime time or on the big screen. It was the first film he had participated in–not a pet commercial, not a pet promo video, a formal, standardized documentary. He’d put effor into it, even getting makeup and hair dye.

He just didn’t know what kind of reaction the film would elicit, what kind of reviews it would receive.

“I’m thinking, Mr. Yang must still be eyeing you. His company seems to be investing in a few movies involving animals now. If this documentary gets a good response, he might want you for other shots. Yeah, the big screen ones.” He paused, then, worried that Zheng Tan might get annoyed, Xiao Guo quickly added, “Of course, what matters most is how you feel, whatever you and your Cat Dad decide. I won’t interfere. Even if the combined fee from those movies skyrockets, it’s just over a hundred thousand, right? But since Mr. Yang runs a big company, we still have to decline politely, not make a ruckus. If one day you reach the status of Crystal, that celebrity capuchin monkey, then it’s a different story–you can throw your weight around all you want, and we’ll still need to cling to your coattails,” Xiao Guo said with a laugh.

Zheng Tan sneered internally at the boastful “just over a hundred thousand” words, which were annoyingly begging for a punch, but who the heck is “Crystal”?

(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (NovelFire.net) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.NovelFire.net to read. )

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